MS Normac

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The Motor Ship Normac was originally launched as a fire tug named the James R. Elliot. She was built at the Jenks Shipbuilding Company in Port Huron, Michigan, in 1902.

After she lost her usefulness as a fire tug, she was sold in 1930 to the Owen Sound Transportation Company Limited. At that time she was taken to the Georgian Bay Shipbuilding Company at Midland for conversion into a combination package freighter and passenger ferry.

In 1931 the vessel was renamed the Normac which was the namesake of her captain "Norman Mackay", founder and president of Owen Sound Transportation Company, which is still running today. Captain Mackay was the president of the company until November 21, 1936 when the ship he was sailing, The Hibou, sank.

The Normac originally sailed the Owen Sound to Sault Ste. Marie route via Killarney and the North Channel, commencing July 16, 1931. Later she sailed the Manitoulin Island - Tobermory route along side the S.S. Norisle and after the M.S. Norgoma was dieselized and placed on the Tobermory run, the Normac took up the role as an automobile ferry across the North Channel from Meldrum Bay to Blind River, a portion of its former run from Owen Sound. Normac remained on this route until the close of the 1968 season when she was retired.

Sold in 1969, to John Letnik, the Normac was converted into Captain John's Harbour Boat Restaurant a floating restaurant in Toronto Harbour. Although the Normac arrived at Toronto in her Owen Sound colors, she was soon painted all white, then shortly afterward the steel hull was repainted bright red, to make it more noticeable from the street. Permanently moored at the foot of Yonge Street, she was severely damaged in 1981 when a Toronto Island ferry struck her, causing a slow leak and, unfortunately, she sank a month later.

The Normac was raised and refurbished and served as a floating restaurant in other communities. With her amidships state rooms removed, she now serves as a floating restaurant and cocktail lounge at Port Dalhousie, Ontario.