User:Geo Swan/J.W. Cooper

The J.W. Cooper is a long-serving pilot boat that carries pilots to freighters transitting the Welland Canal.

According to the Inport News the JW Cooper has a long-standing tradition of carrying a symbolic stand-in of Santa Claus on ceremonial visits to the harbour master's office, and other locations, to help celebrate Christmas.

On December 22, 2010, the JW Cooper was one of several vessels that responded to an emergency on board the Hermann Schoening. Sixteen crew members on board the German vessel were accidentally intoxicated by exposure to Phosphine, that had been used in a routine fumigation of its cargo of grain.

The pilot boat is owned and operated by Cooper Marine Ltd.