The tug/ workboat/ diving tender Dominion Bearcat is back in the water after a thorough refit at its base in Dartmouth Cove. Owners Dominion Diving Ltd do all their own maintenance and refit work and have also done extensive rebuilds "in house".
![]()
![]()
Late in December I noted Dominion Bearcat hauled out at its Dartmouth Cove base.
Dominion Bercat was built in 1987 by Georgetown Shipyards Inc in Prince Edward Island to their own account as a tug/ workboat named G.S.I. No.1. In 1992 it was sold to the Mersey Paper Co in Brookyln (Liverpool), NS as a ship docking tug / lineboat, named Mersey Pride. When Mersey Paper shut down it newsprint mill and export dock, the boat was acquired by Dominion Diving and renamed in 2014.
It has since been fitted with an A-frame and other gear and primarily supports diving operations in Halifax.
Dominion Bearcat returns to base this morning with a bit of snow clinging to its fenders, like icing on a cake.
(Atlantic Larch and the former RCN fireboat Firebird in the background, are similarly decorated.)
(Atlantic Larch and the former RCN fireboat Firebird in the background, are similarly decorated.)