rfmcdonald | [PHOTO] Goodbye, Captain John (Reply)

Yesterday, Captain John's floating restaurant was towed out of its dock on Queens Quay at the base of Yonge Street to the scrpayard. The Toronto Star's Susan Pigg described the scene.

Waterfront resident Ed Hore had the best seat in the harbour Thursday as a giant piece of Toronto history was hauled away with surprising speed and grace from the Yonge St. slip where it’s been a fixture for 40 years.

“We’re pretty fed up with Captain John’s, so we’re glad to see it go,” said Hore, a Yonge St. condo resident who manoeuvered his kayak as close as possible to record the rusting relic’s final moments on Toronto’s waterfront.

Hundreds came by foot and boat to Queens Quay for the sunny, warm send-off of the ship, the Jadran, for many reasons: to salute the end of an era, to say good riddance, or simply to be there if something went wrong with the delicate operation.

But nothing did.

After 40 years at foot of Yonge St., Captain John's ship is on its way to the scrap yard.

“It went perfectly, just like it’s supposed to,” said Wayne Elliott in a phone call from the middle of Lake Ontario, a veteran ship scrapper with more than 100 ships under his belt.

For a brief time, there was concern that mounting winds might delay the move again. But just after 10:30 a.m., as planned, super tug Jarrett began to pull on a harness attached to the stern and a cheer went up from folks crowded around the watery slip or watching from condo balconies as the ship smoothly edged out of her long-time berth.

On Sunday, while heading towards the Redpath sugar refinery, I stopped to take some pictures.