(Photo source: St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation and Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation)

As Niagara makes her way home through the St. Lawrence Seaway, it is exciting to see the ship returning to Erie. A transit of this kind is no small undertaking. Moving a traditional sailing vessel roughly 1,500 nautical miles through coastal waters, rivers, canals, and locks requires careful planning, experienced seamanship, regulatory coordination, pilotage, weather judgment, and coordination with various maritime and transit authorities along the route.

With Niagara now making that journey again, I wanted to better understand how the process unfolded during her 2025 transit from Erie to Maine. The public updates at the time gave the impression of a difficult but managed undertaking. However, the records obtained through Right-to-KnowA Right to Know (RTK) request is a request for information from a state or local government body in Pennsylvania. You are allowed to request any kind of information, and aside from... requests show a more complicated picture, including late-stage coordination issues, missed or unresolved Seaway requirements, payment delays, and confusion over responsibility for key administrative steps.

That does not take away from the effort required to move Niagara safely, or from the work of those who were trying to solve problems as they arose. But it does raise fair questions about whether the Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission (PHMCThe Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC) is the state agency that stewards the U.S. Brig Niagara and Erie Maritime Museum. The PHMC is responsible for the collect...) was as prepared for the transit as its public-facing statements suggested. I hope the transit north has been going smoother this time around.

On May 14, 2025 the U.S. Brig Niagara quietly departed Erie, PA bound for an undisclosed shipyard in Maine for a long-overdue refit. Captain Greg Bailey was hired in July 2024 and, as the only remaining PHMC staff with maritime experience in the tall ships industry, much of the planning and execution appears to have fallen to him without organizational support. This timeline documents the events and challenges reflected in the available records as Niagara made her way through the St. Lawrence Seaway. It is presented chronologically, with brief descriptions of events and links to supporting documents obtained through Right-to-Know requests. The purpose is not to assign motive or evaluate every decision, but to provide a clear chronology showing what transpired and when.

The St. Lawrence Seaway legally extends from Montreal to Lake Erie, including the Welland Canal and associated locks. Most of the locks are managed by the St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation (SLSMC) in Canada. From Montreal toward the Atlantic Ocean, the St. Lawrence River is managed under Canadian maritime authorities, including Transport Canada.

Timeline of Events:

September 2024

9/25/24: Greg Bailey (GB) is looking for pilotage requirements and costs for Spring 2025 departure.

October 2024

10/1/24: The Great Lakes Pilotage Authority, sends GB an estimate of fees to transit the St. Lawrence Seaway.

January 2025

1/17/25: GB sends exemption request draft to an Inspector for Marine Safety & Security at Transport Canada to be able to dock at more ports along the way.

February 2025

2/13/25:  GB asks The Great Lakes Pilotage Authority if fees are required up front for mid-April departure.

2/18/25: The Great Lakes Pilotage Authority tells GB he needs to pay in advance unless using a Seaway agent.

March 2025

3/21/25: GB asks the director of operations from Picton Castle, about ports along the St. Lawrence that could accommodate Niagara and notes that he has not transited the Seaway in roughly 20 years.

April 2025

4/15/25: GB asks Picton Castle’s Captain, Dan Moreland for advice for the stretch from St. Lawrence River to Maine.

4/16/25-4/24/25:  GB starts to order charts from Binnacle Yachting Equipment at a cost of $1025.77.

-GB asks Captain Moreland for help finding deckhands (need to be US citizens and have a US passport or paperwork to work in US)

4/17/25:  Captain Moreland gives GB some advice about the Seaway transit but refers him to Bluenose Captain Phillip Watson and Pride of Baltimore II’s Senior Captain Jan Miles.  GB contacts Captain Watson and gets more advice

4/19/25:  GB tells Captain Watson that he thinks he may rig a topmast with a main staysail for the transit and says Niagara hasn’t gotten the kind of care she should have the last 5-6 years.

4/22-25/25:  Tall Ships America’s Director of Events, gives Greg some contact names for the St. Lawrence ports.

4/23/25:  GB finds out Niagara needs a load line survey prior to departure (he wanted lay upAccording to official USCG guidelines outlined in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) and the guidance in CVC-WI-018(1), for commercial vessels, being "laid up" is a legal status... status).  The survey will cost @$1800 according to ABS.  On 5/6/25 Flagship Niagara League’s (FNL) Director of Marine Operations, forwards the invoice mistakenly sent to FNL to GB for $1371.48.

May 2025

5/2/25:  A Marine Officer at the St. Lawrence Seaway Management Company (SLSMC), emails GB and gives him key info about inspection in Port Colborne (ropes tie up, Seaway Handbook, link to Pre-Clearance and Security Fees).

5/5/25:  GB follows up with Transport Canada regarding Marine Seaway Exemption.  GB requests update on pilotage estimate from the the Great Lakes Pilotage Authority as trip is now on 5/9/25 and seeks clarification on how to pay the pilotage fee.

5/6/25: GB receives pilotage estimate for $23,062.35.

5/7/25:  The Regional Manager of Transportation Security Operations for Transport Canada, sends email to GB stating they are struggling to ensure there are no conflicts with Niagara’s passage.  She asks for a TEAMS meeting call ASAP. 

5/13/25:  GB says still in Erie awaiting contract with yard to be signed.

5/14/25:  GB asks for permission to repost 2nd Mate job due to continued delay.  Says he’s almost constantly on the phone and may need support from “higher in the government” to get crew into Canada to join the ship.

– Niagara departs Erie in the evening, without any notification to the media or the public.

5/15/25:  A Ship Inspector/Enforcement Officer from the SLSMC emails GB that he didn’t follow radio communications calling-in procedures when arriving at Port Colborne and he didn’t take directions from traffic controller for docking.  He sends GB the pages from the Seaway Handbook that apply.

5/19/25:  GB reports to PHMC that there is an electrical issue affecting his internet access, that Niagara was just exiting St. Lambert (east Seaway lock in Montreal), and that a 2nd Mate issue was found along with an engineer to join the ship in Quebec City on 5/23/25.

5/21/25:  The Credit, Billing & Statistics Officer at SLSMC, notifies GB that Niagara had required an application for vessel pre-clearance and payment before transiting the Seaway locks.  This application includes name of ship owner, liability insurance, characteristics of ship, and guaranteeing payment of fees plus security of fees to cover fees for tonnage, cargo, lockage tolls). The application had not been provided prior to transiting the locks.

5/21/25 – 7/17/25:  PHMC accounting tries to figure out pilotage invoices since Great Lakes Pilotage Authority is not a state vendor and that Invoices require approval by Erie Maritime Museum’s site administrator Jim HallJames E. Hall is the Site Administrator for the Erie Maritime Museum and a PHMC staff member. He replaced Walter Rybka in December of 2020. His background includes 13 years with th....  GB paid $8,314.96.  Invoices were included for C$5,982.16, dated 5/21/25 and due 6/19/25 and for C$4490.70, dated 5/27/25 and due 6/26/25.

5/22/25:  SLSMC thanks GB for finally registering for a Seaway account. 

5/27/25:  SLSMC asks GB to please submit the pre-clearance application that was due before transiting the Seaway.

June 2025

6/5/2025: Niagara arrives in Bristol Marine Sample’s Shipyard in Boothbay Harbor, Maine.

6/11/25:  SLSMC sends an email to FNL’s Executive Director, notifying him that Niagara transited the Seaway without vessel pre-clearance, thinking FNL is still responsible for Niagara.

6/12/25:  FNL’s Executive Director forwards SLSMC’s email to Jim Hall.  Hall replies to SLSMC and copies GB.

6/13/25:  SLSMC restates that Niagara needed SLSMC application before transiting locks and a security deposit.  They attach an invoice for C$441.09.

6/26/25:  The Great Lakes Pilotage Authority notifies Tyler Gum, PHMC Western Division Chief, that the invoices are now 30 days past due for a total of C$31,847.94.  Emails continue back and forth.  Gum asks for complete invoice.  Then he asks for a consolidated invoice to be resubmitted in US dollars. 

Summary

The records reviewed for this timeline show that Niagara’s 2025 transit through the St. Lawrence Seaway involved several late-stage logistical, regulatory, and administrative challenges. These included pilotage coordination, Seaway pre-clearance requirements, payment processing, vendor approval issues, crew coordination, and communication with Canadian maritime authorities.

Some of these challenges may reflect the inherent difficulty of moving a traditional sailing vessel through an international waterway. Others appear to raise reasonable questions about whether PHMC had the necessary maritime operations support, administrative structure, and institutional knowledge in place before the transit began.

In the past, Niagara’s major transits were supported by a broader team that extended beyond an onboard captain to a group of support and professional maritime personnel around an experienced nonprofit support structure. That model allowed operational needs, regulatory requirements, payments, and public communication to be handled across multiple people with direct experience in Niagara’s program.

The 2025 records suggest that much of this work instead fell to a smaller PHMC structure, with the captain appearing to carry a significant portion of the planning and coordination burden. The resulting timeline raises several questions for Niagara’s future:

• Despite having months to prepare for the transit of Niagara through the St. Lawrence Seaway, it appears that all of the logistical planning occurred right before her departure. Previously, Niagara had someone whose primary role handled that administrative burden. Who will handle it moving forward?
• Records indicate several required procedures were not completed before Niagara transited the Seaway. Has PHMC identified what went wrong, and did it correct those issues before the return voyage? PHMC expects contractors and partners to follow state procedures. Will PHMC hold itself to the same standard with national and international authorities?
• PHMC was also overdue on several transit-related payments. Can PHMC reliably meet the myriad of Niagara’s time-sensitive operational expenses, including pilotage, fuel, port costs, and emergency needs? If PHMC no longer has the flexibility of a private-public partnership to advance costs while state payments are processed, what system has replaced it?

Planning and executing the transit of a tall ship is a complicated endeavor, and Niagara has historically benefited from a deep bench of maritime experience, institutional knowledge, and community support. That experience mattered. It helped carry the burden of planning, operations, compliance, maintenance, and public engagement that a vessel like Niagara requires.

As Niagara’s bright future comes back into view, the question is whether PHMC can build or restore the support structure needed to care for her well. Mistakes can happen in any difficult undertaking. What matters now is whether the agency tasked with her stewardship has learned from the challenges of the Maine transit and is prepared to rise to the occasion.