Toronto Bound

Eventually the ship was bought by John Letnik a Toronto entrepreneur who owned a successful seafood themed boat restaurant on the Toronto waterfront with an 1902 boat named the MS Normac. The Jadran was perfect for expanding his restaurant and when the deal was finalized it cost Letnik $875,000 to purchase the ship, the only catch being he now had to get it from the Adriatic sea to the Toronto harbour.

The journey took little over 15 days with a crew of 16 to help navigate and ensure the safe voyage of the ship across the North Atlantic from Pula, Yugoslavia to Toronto. The trip was nothing short from hectic as she was caught in a massive storm and was hit constantly by huge waves, but eventually she made it across with little damage. The ship was actually given a speeding ticket when it entered the St. Lawrence Seaway, almost as it if the ship was in a hurry to being its new life.

When the Jadran arrived in Toronto in the fall of 1975 she was greeted by a crowd of 150 officials and a few onlookers as it made its way to what would become its permanent home for the next four decades. Letnik then began working on getting the ship ready for its new duties with numerous renovations totaling around $3 million Canadian dollars.

In 1981 the smaller ship MS Normac was struck by a Toronto island ferry and it sunk to the bottom of the harbor. Thankfully the MS Normac was raised and refurbished and was able to begin serving seafaring patrons as a restaurant ship in Port Dalhousie, Ontario. The Jadran was slightly renovated to take on the extra patrons that would now dine in its halls.

For years the restaurant was very successful, however in 1990's the business ran aground and after many legal deliberations and a failed deal to restore the ship, the Jadran was sold as scrap.

The Jadran in Toronto sitting next to the damaged former restaurant MS Normac.