John Oxenham enjoys passing his days watching ships from all over the world go through the locks of the Welland Canal. The canal's busiest time is late fall and winter.

Not everyone heads straight to Niagara Falls. About 400,000 people a year get diverted to the Welland Canal as, driving down the Queen Elizabeth Way, they approach St. Catharines. But none of these match John Oxenham for devotion.

Immediately after his retirement he started driving over from his home in Beamsville to watch the ships pass through. That is, he drove every day, from mid-April to mid-December. He took up station at Lock 3, which is where most visitors are found. He did that for nearly 10 years.

Late fall and early winter's the busiest time, especially the first weeks of December when the ships are passing through Lock 3 to head for the St. Lawrence Seaway before freeze-up, he told me recently.

Lock 3 is one of eight Welland locks between Port Colborne and Port Weller. Many combine it with Niagara Falls, or on their way to the Shaw Festival, or make it part of a wine tour.

Unlike them, Oxenham often stays at the canal from early morning until dusk.

If he couldn't go to the world, he reasoned, it could come to him. He proved the point while we talked. Two ships successively rose 14 metres in the lock, upbound to Lake Erie. Their ports of registry: Hong Kong and Cyprus. Their cargoes: Steel and flaxseed.

It takes eight to 10 hours for a ship to transit the canal, being lifted or dropped 100 metres in the process. Cyclists and hikers can follow them closely because of a bordering green trailway for much of the 43-km route.

En route, they get to see the dry docks at Port Weller, the twinned Flight Locks, 4, 5 and 6, which step ships up to Thorold, the waterside frontage of the city of Welland, and Port Colborne, where there is a marine museum.

But most visitors head for Lock 3 because it has the only viewing platform along the canal, a modern centre that includes a museum relating the history of the four Welland canals, a gift shop, snack bar and the upstairs Freighters restaurant with wraparound windows - good to watch the ships on inclement days.

Niagara Falls had to be bypassed if commerce was to be brought to the heart of the continent. Many, by the War of 1812, were thinking of this. It was William Hamilton Merritt who put it into action. His first canal was built with pick and shovel, oxen and Irish immigrant navvies (from "navigationers"), paid $17 a month. Shares were sold. The Duke of Wellington, victor of Waterloo, bought a few - he thought it strategically beneficial.

That first canal had 39 small locks with wooden gates, all raising or lowering the water a metre and a half. Horses pulled boats through them. A schooner, the Ann and Jane, from York (now Toronto) was the first ship through, on Nov. 29, 1829, which is still celebrated as Merritt Day at Lock 3.

The other annual official celebration is when the master of the first ship through each spring receives a top hat.

The first canal was quickly followed by a second, third, then the present one. It took nearly 20 years to build and was opened in 1932.

Although Great Lakes traffic isn't as heavy as in the 1960s (when the tonnage of ships transiting the Welland Canal exceeded that of the Suez and Panama Canals combined) nearly 4,000 ships a season pass through.

Grain, iron ore and coal (in that order) are the principal cargoes, but pleasure craft also use the canal. For less than $100, cruise liners, like the German ship Columbus, have passed through. In 2001 a dozen tall ships were locked through for a gathering of sailing ships at Port Colborne.

The centre at Lock 3 provides a daily board showing the names of ships to pass through the lock (a procedure that takes about 20 minutes), arrival times, ports of registry, type of cargo and sometimes destinations.

Apart from watching ships, the centre's museum --$1 admission -- can help make up a full day's outing. It has a video on the canal, many historical exhibits and is also the museum for the city of St. Catharines.

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BOTTOM LINE

WHEN TO GO: The Royal Henley Regatta is the biggest rowing event in Canada. It attracts U.S. and Canadian competitors. The course is a wide stretch of one of the former Welland Canals, starting right beside the QEW and finishing in Port Dalhousie. At the finish line is a grandstand and, opposite, a park that provides a good view of the entire race course. This year's regatta is Aug 2-7.

WELLAND CANAL: For more information, e-mail chamber@thorold.com.