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étaient privés pendant l’hiver ainsi que des dernières
créations de la mode de Paris et de Londres.
À l’âge des grands voiliers, il arrivait souvent que les
capitaines qui connaissaient bien le puissant fleuve se
livrent des courses effrénées pour remporter le trophée
du premier arrivé. Plus tard, quand la voile céda la place
à la vapeur, le départ de ces courses se fit souvent loin
de Montréal, dans le golfe du Saint-Laurent, parmi ses
formidables radeaux de glace.
Pendant longtemps, les vainqueurs les plus fréquents
furent des navires britanniques. Les dernières décennies
du XX e siècle virent l’arrivée à Montréal de navires russes,
danois, norvégiens, italiens et chinois, entre autres.
En rétrospective, peu d’observateurs de l’industrie
ont oublié l’époque où Dominic Taddeo, qui a dirigé le
Port de Montréal pendant 23 ans, jusqu’à sa retraite en
2007, présidait les cérémonies de remise dans l’immeuble
administratif du port.
M. Taddeo se piquait d’ajouter systématiquement une
touche spéciale en présentant la Canne à pommeau d’or
dans la langue du capitaine vainqueur. On pense qu’il a
appris des phrases clés dans pratiquement une douzaine
de langues – et il paraît que l’allemand, l’hindi et le grec
surtout lui donnaient du fil à retordre.
Une anecdote historique: en 1999, le capitaine Roger
various stakeholders
in the supply chain, including
ourselves.”
It was on January 4,
1964 that Denmark’s
Lauritzen Lines ocean
freighter, the Helga
Dan, made its way up
the St. Lawrence River
and berthed at Montreal.
This, in fact, came
two years after the
newly-created Canadian
Coast Guard was
given the mandate to
keep channels open between
Quebec City and
Montreal during the
winter months, mainly
for flood control. The
great skills of navigators
and pilots guided
vessels through narrow,
ice-covered channels
without lighted
buoys.
It is generally believed
that the custom
of the annual award
was instituted in approximately
1840, a
decade after the establishment
of the Harbour
Commission. The
Gold-Headed Cane
replaced the top hat. When the award was first created,
Canada only traded with Europe.
With the advent of year round navigation in 1964,
what was for decades a spring custom became a tradition
in the first days of January.
Otherwise, for centuries, the Port of Montreal was
enshrouded by ice and snow during four months, and
commercial freighters with goods destined for Montreal
called at Saint John and Halifax until the 1950s and early
1960s.
Ice jams in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and upstream
from Quebec City as well as sheets of ice on the Lachine
Rapids virtually sealed Montreal off from Europe from
mid-December to mid-April.
Renewed contact with Europe was marked by the
eagerly-awaited arrival of the first transatlantic vessel – a
major event in the lives of the city’s inhabitants.
It was not uncommon to see Montrealers by the
thousands flocking to the wharves greeting the first ship
of the season in April. There was, indeed, much to cheer
about since its holds were laden with food they craved as
well as the latest fashions from Paris and London.
In the age of tall ships, captains familiar with the
mighty river would often engage in all-out races to capture
the trophy for the first arrival. Later, when steam re-
On January 1, 1980, two ships arrived neck and neck at the Port of Montreal. Captain H.E. Jones (left), master of the British
ship Cast Beaver, and Captain Y. Kovalenko, master of the Russian vessel Nemirovich Danchenko, receive their Gold-
Headed Canes from Nicholas Beshwaty, general manager of the port, in the presence of Roger O. Beauchemin, port chairman.
Le 1 er janvier 1980, deux navires arrivaient en même temps au port de Montréal. Le capitaine H.E. Jones (à gauche), commandant
du navire britannique Cast Beaver, et le capitaine Y. Kovalenko, commandant du navire soviétique Nemirovich
Danchenko, reçoivent leur Canne à pommeau d’or de Nicholas Beshwaty, directeur général du port, en présence de Roger
O. Beauchemin, président de l’Administration portuaire.
66 Maritime Magazine 71