The Radium Lad was launched in 1937, and has been scrapped.[1][2]
The Radium Lad was operated by the Northern Transportation Company (NTCL), which was popularly known as the "Radium Line", because the first fifteen vessels is ordered all included "Radium" in their names.[1][3] The primary service the line provided was serving the Radium and Uranium mine at Port Radium, on Great Bear Lake.
The route required to ship supplies to the mine, and to ship ore south, was complicated.[3] The ore was packed into 100 pound sacks, which were then loaded onto bar.ges. Larger vessels pulled those barges from Port Radium, at the head of the lake, over two hundred miles to Fort Franklin (now Deline, where the Bear River drains the lake. Navigation on the 90 mile Bear River was split into two reaches, separated by a 7 mile portage around the St Charles rapids. Barges were then pulled up the Mackenzie River, to its source, Great Slave Lake, then across Great Slave Lake, to the Slave River. The Slave River also requires a long portage around a series of impassible rapids. Ore laden barges were them pulled across Lake Athabasca to the Athabasca River, and up the Athabasca River to a railhead at Waterways, Alberta.
The navigation on the Bear River was more difficult than on the rest of the journey, and Radium Lad, and three other vessels were designed to have shallower drafts, and pack more power per ton into their displacement, than other vessels in the fleet, for navigating the lesser shallow rapids found on the river.[3] The Radium Cruiser and the George Askew worked the lower Bear River, while the Radium Prince and the Radium Lad worked the reach above the St Charles rapids. The Radium Lad's engines produced 120 horsepower.
References
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Peter van Wyck (2010). Highway of the Atom. McGill-Queen's Press. ISBN 9780773581401. Retrieved 2012-12-03.
By 1936 Eldorado had purchased Northern Transportation, and successive boats were commissioned to service sections of the Highway: the Radium King (1937), the Radium Queen (1937), the Radium Lad (1937), the Radium Gilbert (1946), Radium Charles (1947), Radium Yellowknife (1948), Radium Franklin (1951), Radium Dew (1955), Radium Miner (1956), Radium Prospector (1956), and Radium Trader (1956).
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"Status Report for the Historic Northern Transportation Route redacted colour" (PDF). Atomic Energy of Canada. December 2005. p. 86. Retrieved 2018-01-13.
Ships were used along the NTR to move barges loaded with uranium ore and concentrates (among other materials and supplies). Some vessels also transported cargo on board. Fifteen Radium Series vessels used along the NTR were identified in SENES (1994). Three were ddetermined to have been scrapped, and the disposition of one, the Radium Cruiser, was unknown. Radiological investigations were conducted on the other eleven vessels. Only one, the Radium Gilbert, showed any evidence of contamination.
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B.T.R. (1948-09-09). "Down the ways at Waterways". Saskatoon Star Phoenix. Waterways, Alberta. p. 13. Retrieved 2020-12-23.
Up the Great Bear River from Fort Norman, the ships are the Radium Cruiser, 136 h.p., and the George Askew, 135 h.p. Beyond the St. Charles Rapids, in the upper stretch of the Great Bear River, the Radium Prince, 240 h.p., and the Radium Lad, 120 h.p., operate.
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