he says . “ We think of a ton as 2,000 pounds , but in this instance , tonnage has nothing to do with weight . In the 1800 ’ s , it was tun not ton , and tonnage represented volume as opposed to weight . Tonnage has evolved over my 30 years . I try to be extremely honest and abide by the guidelines coming from Transport Canada and only sign documents that are 100 % accurate .”
“ Over my career ,” Melvin recalls , “ I have done factory trawlers , up to 3,600-ton boats , and one very well-known barge called the Irving Whale . It sank off the coast of Prince Edward Island in 1970 , and after sitting there for 25 years , [ it ] was brought up from the bottom of the ocean , renamed , and remeasured . I was responsible to do the remeasuring of tonnage for that vessel .”
When asked why he loves this job of measuring tonnage , Melvin answered by saying that he was just happy to get out of the boat shop : “ Being in a boat shop for most of my life , I really disliked that . When I sold my share of the boat shop , I met a man who was retiring from measuring tonnage , and I spent some time talking to him , and he helped me get into it . At that time , regulations had changed somewhat ,
requiring two people to do the job , and he and I began working together . I was quite computer savvy even back then , and I created a spreadsheet so that once we measured the boat , the calculations were being done electronically . He told me that previous to working with me , one of these projects could take him 8 or 9 hours with the calculator . With my spreadsheet , it would be done in 5 minutes .”
So , Melvin not only got out of the boat shop , but he also put his computer skills to work . He believes he is the only measurer with a spreadsheet to calculate tonnage in this way . His challenge was to create the form to do the calculations , and have it also appear identical to Transport Canada ’ s form .
“ When you love your job , it ’ s more like a hobby than a job . I do Grand Manan Boats , I do Cape Breton , I do A . F . Theriault & Son Ltd . in Meteghan River , Nova Scotia . Typically , I ’ m most often in Southwest Nova Scotia , but I go where the boat shops are .”
Another favorite part of his responsibilities over the last 30 years has been lines plans , which are studied in order to check the stability of the boat . Lines plans show the hull form of a vessel . A lines plan consists of three views :
• The plan view ( a top-down view of the vessel , with waterlines .)
• The profile view ( a side-view of the ship , with buttock lines .)
• The body plan view ( a view of the ends of the vessel , with station lines )
“ I stopped doing lines plans 4 years ago ,” says Melvin , “ but I taught someone , over a 16-month period to take over that job . It is actually a more intensive process to learn than measuring the tonnage . This shows the complete shape of the boat , and we measure to the millimeter . I hated to stop , but at my age , I found it a little too difficult physically , and it was time to slow down .”
At 74 years of age , it may be time to slow down , but not to stop ; not when you love your job ! Congratulations , Melvin , on a wonderful career !
“ Here is a picture of me in front of the last vessel that I measured . I have permission from the owner to use it . This vessel is 97.00 Gross tons and 72.75 Net tons . I also included a Lines Plan of a different vessel that I spoke to you about . I also had not mentioned to you that I have also assisted clients with the complete registry documents and Ship ’ s Name for the same 30 years ”.
Melvin Cottreau Tonnage Measurer | Marine Consultant
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