{"id":1376,"date":"2014-11-15T00:32:20","date_gmt":"2014-11-15T04:32:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/robinerikhamilton.com\/?p=1376"},"modified":"2014-11-15T00:32:20","modified_gmt":"2014-11-15T04:32:20","slug":"the-metis-in-toronto-harbour-november-14-2014","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/robinerikhamilton.com\/index.php\/2014\/11\/15\/the-metis-in-toronto-harbour-november-14-2014\/","title":{"rendered":"View from the Harbour: The Metis"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The

The cement barge Metis, November 14, 2014 in Toronto. Photo: Robin Hamilton<\/p><\/div>\n

Toronto’s waterfront is under\u00a0\u00a0development<\/a>. \u00a0It’s exciting. We even have fancy new beach parasols.\u00a0\"Beach<\/a>More importantly, the Toronto Port Authority<\/a>\u00a0is almost finished the\u00a0new tunnel \u00a0to Billy Bishop, where 2 million passengers arrived in 2013. There’s a real port out there, however, not just a few tour boats. Visiting the Port Lands is less common, but the actual port of Toronto<\/a> is a connection to the world of shipping on the Great Lakes. The Metis, a cement barge built in 1956, is a testament to the real world of shipping, and at 58, an impressive feat of longevity.<\/p>\n

The Metis, rust and all, is a viable commercial tool, the kind we can forget about in our excitement over new online business models, idea incubators, gentrification. She’s a cement barge, and while I’m not much of a fan of cheap condos, the fact is we have a tax base downtown because we laid some more cement. Until 3d printers become a little more robust, we’ll keep shipping cement, and grain, and iron, by water. Shipping via the Seaway and the Lakes is up, slightly, in 2014, to 29, 586 tonnes. I checked<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Shipping keeners can read\u00a0more about the history of the Metis at\/ thanks to http:\/\/tugboathunter.wordpress.com\/metis\/<\/p>\n

Looking to reconnect with the water? Join me next paddling season.<\/p>\n

\"Photo:<\/a>

Photo: Robin Hamilton. Summer 2014. (Objects may seem farther in a 28 mm lens.)<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Photo: Robin Hamilton, night, 2013, a lucky shot with a cellphone.<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Toronto’s waterfront is under\u00a0\u00a0development. \u00a0It’s exciting. We even have fancy new beach parasols.\u00a0More importantly, the Toronto Port Authority\u00a0is almost finished the\u00a0new tunnel \u00a0to Billy Bishop,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1376","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/robinerikhamilton.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1376","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/robinerikhamilton.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/robinerikhamilton.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robinerikhamilton.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robinerikhamilton.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1376"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/robinerikhamilton.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1376\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/robinerikhamilton.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1376"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robinerikhamilton.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1376"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robinerikhamilton.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1376"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}