Terry Halifax
Northern News Services

Inuvik (July 12/02) - Shipping along the Mackenzie has never been an easy task.

Back in the early days, ship captains needed to be able to "read the river" -- watching the currents and sometimes guessing where the sandbars lay and finding the right routes to guide their ships and cargo.

Now captains have radar, sonar and depth finders to plot their course, but the Canadian Coast Guard helps the sailors out by mapping the river bottom from aboard the Dumit.

Captain Les Wiley is from Fort McMurray and has been with the Canadian Coast Guard for 30 years. He's spent the last six years as Captain of the Dumit.

"The name of the ship means 'Pathfinder,' and that's what we do; we mark the channels and find the paths for other vessels," Wiley said.

The vessel was built in Vancouver in 1979 and is powered by two 399 Caterpillar diesel engines.

The crew uses a series of four depth sounders and radar to feel out the bottom and mark the path with buoys for the barges to follow on their way up the Mackenzie.

The navigation of the river is the primary role of the Dumit, but she is equipped to handle a number of jobs in several jurisdictions.

"It's a multi-task vessel and if there is a search and rescue to do, we do that also," he said. "We belong to DFO (Department of Fisheries and Oceans) so we get tasked to do work for them as well."

"If there was an oil spill or environmental work, we'd be tasked with that too."

The river can be quite predictable, but Wiley says it all depends on the weather.

"This year is a weird year," he said. "The water is higher; the ice is still around; it's still winter."

"Usually we get out of Hay River about the fifth or sixth of June, but this year we didn't get out until the 17th of June."

She's equipped with VHF and HF radio, two radars, four depth sounders, cell, radio and satellite phones.

The Dumit also gathers hourly weather information for Environment Canada.

"It goes right off the ship directly to Edmonton," he said. "All we have to do is punch in the cloud cover and the wind velocity."

The crew of 10 stay aboard until the river freezes over -- usually around October.