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Post by yachtsmanwilly on May 22, 2013 5:29:51 GMT -5
Tug removal underway from Duncan Bay 5/22 - Cheboygan, Mich. – The new owner of three derelict vessels abandoned in Duncan Bay nearly three years ago has contracted to dredge a grounded tugboat free from a sandbar. Stephen Ball of Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., arrived about a week ago and began preparations to hire Kokosing Construction Company’s Durocher Marine division of Cheboygan to dig out the tug, according to Larry Shepard, harbormaster of the Duncan Bay Yacht Club. Shepard has led an effort to have the three ghost ships removed from the bay. “He came in about a week ago and said he was planning to move the (tug) William Hoey,” Shepard said. “I told him that was great, but we’ve heard that before. It’s great to see something happening out there.” Durocher has assigned the workboat Marsha M and the barge MM 141 to dredge the area where the tug is grounded. As of late Monday afternoon, the Hoey had been freed from the sandbar and crews were digging a path to deeper water. “Once off the shoal, my understanding is he (Ball) plans to tow the Hoey to the Cheboygan River for inspection and any necessary work to repair leaks and broken windows,” Shepard explained. “Then, he said they are headed for the Sault.” Water levels in the bay are up about six inches from last fall, Shepard estimated, which should help efforts to free the Hoey. “We have about eight or nine feet in the harbor and the same in our channel, which was dredged last fall,” Shepard said. Sunday, the Joelle AnnMarie arrived to assist with the project. Ball has said that the car ferry would be a key in lifting the sunken Jenny Lynn from the bottom. “I couldn’t do it unless all three vessels were involved,” Ball said following visiting Charlevoix County Judge Richard Pajtas’ decision to uphold the DNR transfer of ownership of the William Hoey, the sunken Jenny Lynn and the car ferry Joelle Annmarie from Scotlund Stivers to Ball. “The ferry is the platform for raising the sunken tug.” Shepard said Ball told him he plans to remove the Jenny Lynn this summer. “Everybody wants to see it go,” Shepard said of his marina community. “It’s been a long time coming, but now they’ve regenerated activity out there. It’s time they’re gone. As the days go by, we will see.” Ball said at the hearing that he was unsure of specific plans for the three ghost ships of Duncan Bay, although he stated they wouldn’t be sold for scrap. Another year of exposure to the elements may have changed his plans. “It’s too bad, they could have been usable but now I don’t know what costs he’ll incur,” Shepard said of Ball’s plans for the tugs. “The car ferry is running again but the cracked plumbing and engine damage to the Hoey may be too much to fix.” The Jenny Lynn has been submerged for almost three years. Stivers abandoned the three vessels in the bay in July 2010. Subsequent efforts to cause him to forfeit the ghost fleet eventually resulted in a court action naming Ball as the owner in March 2012, when Stivers attempted to take his own life by ingesting sodium cyanide. In April 2013, a bail bondsman revoked Stivers’ bond after admitted that he had tried to sell the vessels in order to get money to leave the country. Stivers was jailed, but granted bond by another agency and is currently free on that bail. Cheboygan News Great Lakes Maritime Institute celebrates National Maritime Day at Detroit 5/22 - Detroit, Mich. – The Detroit/Wayne County Port Authority and the Great Lakss Maritime Institute will celebrate National Maritime Day on Wednesday, May 22, with a display of memorabilia honoring the S.S. Greater Detroit at the Port Authority office on the Detroit River at 10 a.m. The institute’s Underwater Research Team recently discovered the anchor from the Greater Detroit a classsic side-wheel overnight passenger and freight steamer that plied local waters for nearly 30 years in the Detroit River. The anchor has rested on the bottom of the river for more than five decades near the old Detroit & Cleveland Navigation Co. (D&C) docks. The 6,000-pound starboard bow anchor was left behind when the largest passenger steamer on the Great Lakes was burned as a spectacle in December 1956. Designed by Frank E. Kirby, the 530-foot-long steamer was built 90 years ago for the D&C. The American Ship Building Co. launched the hull on Sept. 15, 1923, at Lorain, Ohio. The vessel then was towed to Detroit, where workers added multiple wooden decks and an ornate interior to her steel hull. The Greater Detroit, which began passenger service in the summer of 1924, boasted accommodations for some 1,200 passengers. The vessel was placed on the overnight run across Lake Erie between Detroit and Buffalo, N.Y. She reportedly reached a speed of 21 miles per hour, with her feathering paddle wheels rotating at 29 revolutions per minute. The rise of the automobile later cut into the popularity of steamer travel on the Great Lakes, but the Greater Detroit enjoyed renewed usage during World War II, when gasoline was rationed and some of the D&C’s other ships were put into military service. The vessel was painted all white for the 1950 season and was laid up at the Detroit & Cleveland dock at the foot of Third Street in Detroit at the end of the navigation season. On May 9, 1951, D&C announced the suspension of service on the Great Lakes. In December 1956, in preparation for the ship’s scrapping, the Greater Detroit‘s anchor chain was cut. The vessel and her sister ship, the S.S. Eastern States, were towed into Lake St. Clair and set on fire. Both hulls then were towed to Hamilton, Ontario and scrapped by the Steel Company of Canada in 1957. The Great Lakes Maritime Institute has launched a fund-raising effort to raise the anchor. The goal is to place the iconic reminder of Detroit’s role in the Great Lakes passenger and freight transportation network on the grounds of the Detroit/Wayne County Port Authority. John Jamian, executive director of the Port Authority, is the honorary chairman of the project. Contributors who donate $1,000 to the cause will receive a series of three limited-edition Detroit Riverfront prints signed and numbered by marine artist William Moss, plus eight invitations to the anchor dedication and a Detroit River cruise. Those who contribute $250 will receive a signed, limited-edition print of the Greater Detroit passing under the Ambassador Bridge, two invitations to the anchor dedication and a Detroit River cruise. The Maritime Institute’s website www.glmi.org has additional information on the fund-raising project and the various donor levels. More information also is available by contacting John Polacsek at (313) 903-1043 or artistofdetroit@aol.com. Ice slowed resumption of lakes stone trade 5/22 - Cleveland, Ohio – Heavy ice cover on the Lakes that stretched well into April slowed resumption of the limestone trade. Shipments totaled only 1.8 million tons, a decrease of 28 percent compared to a year ago. Loadings are 21 percent off the month’s 5-year average. Shipments from U.S. ports totaled 1.6 million tons, a decrease of 24 percent compared to a year ago. Loadings at Canadian quarries totaled 247,670 tons, a decrease of nearly 50 percent from last year. Year-to-date the Lakes limestone trade stands at 2.1 million tons, a decrease of 22 percent compared to a year ago, and 12 percent below the 5-year average for the January-April timeframe. WW1 German sub on Lake Michigan, but only divers can see it 5/22 - Chicago, Ill. – It is no secret that one of the major attractions at Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry is a World War II German submarine, the U-505. What you may not know is that Chicago also has a World War I German submarine but it happens to be resting in a place where very few people can see it. In 1919 the City of Chicago became host to a German submarine that has disappeared, but never left. It was something of a trophy from the Great War. The German mine-laying sub U-C 97 was brought to the states in the summer of 1919. It toured some of the Great Lakes making stops in Racine, Milwaukee and its final destination Chicago. Along the way people could see, board, touch, perhaps curse this modern machine of war. "The U-Boat was on tour. It was kind of a post-war, 'we won' tour, and so people got to go on to it and see it, and then as a condition of the armistice, it had to be sunk," Pritzker Military Library CEO Ken Clarke said. Indeed, the order was to sink the UC-97 in deep water. In June of 1921, the sub was towed 20 to 30 miles off of Highland Park. The USS Wilmette was brought within range, and fired her four-inch guns. "My understanding is they fired about 15 shots and they hit her about the water line and she went down pretty quick. She nose down and down she went," well-known maritime searcher Taras Lyssenko said. And out there she rests - on the bottom of Lake Michigan. "You know where the submarine is. I can take you right to the submarine and put you in the hatch if you want to go," Lyssenko said. Cold, fresh water has kept the sub in pretty good shape as the years have passed. Lyssenko and colleagues spent four years searching for it, and found it back in the 1990s. In the years since, he's recovered numerous World War II fighter planes from the lake - now restored and displayed, but Lyssenko's continuing dream is to do the same with the sub. But raising, restoring, and finding a home for it would cost, he says, upwards of $50 million. "That's huge, but the value to this city and state and country is far, multiplier. It's an exponential multiplier of the value," Lyssenko said. "If I was a betting person, it's going to take somebody with a very particular specific interest and desire to see this piece of history come alive again," Clarke said. And here's one more piece of history. The ship that sunk the UC-97, The USS Wilmette, had different name and purpose a few years earlier. It was the steamship Eastland that in 1915 turned onto its side while docked in the Chicago River. Over 800 lives were lost in one of the worst maritime disasters ever. The Eastland, later the Wilmette, was cut up for scrap after World War II. The UC-97 sits at the bottom, this appetizing, unseen pearl of history. Pearls are expensive, and raising this one, while doable, will most definitely require "digging deep" in many respects. WLS-TV/DT NOAA's latest mobile app provides free nautical charts for recreational boating 5/22 - As recreational boaters gear up for a summer of fun on coastal waters and the Great Lakes, NOAA is testing MyNOAACharts, a new mobile application that allows users to download NOAA nautical charts and editions of the U.S. Coast Pilot. The app, which is only designed for Android tablets for the testing period, was released yesterday. MyNOAACharts, which can be used on land and on the water, has GPS built-in capabilities that allow users find their positions on a NOAA nautical chart. They can zoom in any specific location with a touch of the finger, or zoom out for the big picture to plan their day of sailing. The Coast Pilot has "geotagged" some of the major locations--embedding geographical information, such as latitude and longitude, directly into the chart so it is readable in the app--and provides links to appropriate federal regulations. The app can be downloaded from the Google Play app store. "Easy and workable access to nautical charts is important for boating safety," said Rear Admiral Gerd Glang, director of NOAA Office of Coast Survey. "I've seen a popular t-shirt that has a 'definition' of a nautical chart splayed across the front: 'ch䲴, n: a nautical map that shows you what you just hit.' As creative as that is, a boating accident can kill. Keeping a nautical chart on hand - to avoid hitting something - can save lives." The beta test for MyNOAACharts will expire this Labor Day, Sept. 2. Coast Survey will then evaluate usage and user feedback to decide whether to release a finished version of the app. "Expanding the app across a multitude of platforms, ensuring easy accessibility to over a thousand charts and nearly 5,000 pages of U.S. Coast Pilot, will take considerable resources," Glang said. "We can do it if the boating community likes the app. We truly want the users to let us know if the app meets their needs." Boaters without an Android tablet should not despair. The Office of Coast Survey provides free BookletCharts, which are 8 " x 11" PDF versions of NOAA nautical charts that can be downloaded and printed at home. The U.S. Coast Pilot is also available in a free PDF version. Those products, and information for purchasing other nautical products, are available at www.nauticalcharts.noaa.govImportant notice for commercial mariners: The mobile app MyNOAACharts and the BookletCharts do not fulfill chart carriage requirements for regulated commercial vessels under Titles 33 and 46 of the Code of Federal Regulations. Today in Great Lakes History - May 22 On 22 May 1901, FRANK H. PEAVEY (steel propeller bulk freighter, 430 foot, 5,002 gross tons) was launched at the American Ship Building Company (Hull #309) in Lorain, Ohio, for the Peavey Syndicate. She lasted until 1934, when she struck the south pier while entering Sheboygan, Wisconsin, and was declared a constructive total loss and scrapped the following year. The A.H. FERBERT (Hull#289) was launched this day in 1942, at River Rouge, Michigan by Great Lakes Engineering Works for the Pittsburgh Steamship Co. May 22nd was the tenth National Maritime Day and on that day 21 other ships were launched nationwide to celebrate the occasion. The "super" IRVING S. OLDS was launched the same day at Lorain, Ohio, by American Ship Building Co. This marked the last of the "Super Carrier" build program. The others were the BENJAMIN F. FAIRLESS, LEON FRASER and ENDERS M. VOORHEES. The SIR THOMAS SHAUGHNESSY sailed under her own power down the Seaway on May 22, 1969, for the last time and arrived at Quebec City. BAYFAIR was launched as the a.) COALHAVEN (Hull#134) at Haverton-Hill-on-Tees, U.K. by Furness Shipbuilding Co. in 1928. While bound for Escanaba, Michigan to load ore, the JOSEPH BLOCK grounded at Porte des Morts Passage, on Green Bay, May 22, 1968, and was released the same day by the Roen tug ARROW. The BLOCK's hull damage extended to 100 bottom plates. Surrendered to the under-writers and sold in June that year to Lake Shipping Inc. Built as the a.) ARTHUR H. HAWGOOD in 1907, She was renamed c.) GEORGE M. STEINBRENNER in 1969, she was scrapped at Ramey’s Bend in 1979. The 143-foot wooden brig JOSEPH was launched at Bay City, Michigan, on 21 May 1867. She was built for Alexander Tromley & Company. CITY OF NEW BALTIMORE was launched at David Lester's yard in Marine City, Michigan, on 22 May 1875. Her master carpenter was John J. Hill. She was a wooden propeller passenger/package freight vessel built for the Detroit-New Baltimore route. Her dimensions were 96 foot keel, 101 feet overall x 20 feet x 6 foot 6 inches, 130 tons. Her boiler was made by J. & T. McGregor of Detroit. Her engine was built by Morton Hamblin & Company of St. Clair, Michigan. She was rebuilt as a tug in 1910, and lasted until abandoned in 1916. 1914: W.H. GILBERT sank in Lake Huron, about 15 miles off Thunder Bay Island following a collision with CALDERA. There was no loss of life. The hull was located in 1982 and rests at a depth of about 200 feet. CALDERA later became b) A.T. KINNEY and c) HILLSDALE. 1942: FRANK B. BAIRD was sunk by gunfire from U-158 on the Atlantic while bound for Sydney, NS with a cargo of bauxite. All of the crew were saved and later picked up by the Norwegian freighter TALISMAN and landed at Pointe Noire, French Equatorial Guinea 1968: JOSEPH BLOCK ran aground at Porte des Mortes Passage, Green Bay, and released the same day. It sustained heavy hull damage to the bottom plates and was surrendered to the underwriters. The vessel was later repaired and returned to service as c) GEORGE M. STEINBRENNER (ii). 1978: AGIOS NICOLAOS, a Seaway caller in 1968, was about 60 miles north of Bahrain in the Persian Gulf, enroute to Kuwait, when an explosion and subsequent fire erupted in the engineroom. The ship was gutted, towed into Kuwait and abandoned. The vessel was later broken up. As a) BORGHOLM, it began trading to the Great Lakes in 1953 and made 21 voyages through the Seaway from 1959 to 1967. 1979: IRISH PINE made 19 trips through the Seaway from 1960 through 1964 for Irish Shipping. It arrived at Kaohsiung, Taiwan, on this date in 1979 as c) ARAMON. The ship had been traveling from Piraeus, Greece, to Port Sudan, Sudan, when the cargo of bitumen solidified in the holds. The vessel was sold for scrap and dispatched to Kaohsiung to be dismantled by the Taiwan Ship Scrap Co. Ltd., with the cargo still on board. Work began on July 18, 1979.
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Post by yachtsmanwilly on May 23, 2013 6:04:10 GMT -5
GEEZ... AT FIRST I THOUGHT... ws
A black mound of Canadian oil waste rising over Detroit
5/23 - Windsor, Ont. – Assumption Park gives residents of this city lovely views of the Ambassador Bridge and the Detroit skyline. Lately they’ve been treated to another sight: a three-story pile of petroleum coke covering an entire city block on the other side of the Detroit River.
Detroit’s ever-growing black mountain is the unloved, unwanted and long overlooked byproduct of Canada’s oil sands boom.
And no one knows quite what to do about it, except Koch Carbon, which owns it.
The company is controlled by Charles and David Koch, wealthy industrialists who back a number of conservative and libertarian causes including activist groups that challenge the science behind climate change. The company sells the high-sulfur, high-carbon waste, usually overseas, where it is burned as fuel.
The coke comes from a refinery alongside the river owned by Marathon Petroleum, which has been there since 1930. But it began refining exports from the Canadian oil sands — and producing the waste that is sold to Koch — only in November.
“What is really, really disturbing to me is how some companies treat the city of Detroit as a dumping ground,” said Rashida Tlaib, the Michigan state representative for that part of Detroit. “Nobody knew this was going to happen.” Almost 56 percent of Canada’s oil production is from the petroleum-soaked oil sands of northern Alberta, more than 2,000 miles north.
An initial refining process known as coking, which releases the oil from the tarlike bitumen in the oil sands, also leaves the petroleum coke, of which Canada has 79.8 million tons stockpiled. Some is dumped in open-pit oil sands mines and tailing ponds in Alberta. Much is just piled up there.
Detroit’s pile will not be the only one. Canada’s efforts to sell more products derived from oil sands to the United States, which include transporting it through the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, have pulled more coking south to American refineries, creating more waste product here.
Marathon Petroleum’s plant in Detroit processes 28,000 barrels a day of the oil sands bitumen.
Residents on both sides of the Detroit River are concerned that the coke mountain is both an environmental threat and an eyesore.
“Here’s a little bit of Alberta,” said Brian Masse, one of Windsor’s Parliament members. “For those that thought they were immune from the oil sands and the consequences of them, we’re now seeing up front and center that we’re not.”
Mr. Masse wants the International Joint Commission, the bilateral agency that governs the Great Lakes, to investigate the pile. Michigan’s state environmental regulatory agency has submitted a formal request to Detroit Bulk Storage, the company holding the material for Koch Carbon, to change its storage methods. Michigan politicians and environmental groups have also joined cause with Windsor residents. Paul Baltzer, a spokesman for Koch’s parent company, Koch Companies Public Sector, did not respond to questions about its storage or the ultimate destination of the petroleum coke.
Coke, which is mainly carbon, is an essential ingredient in steelmaking as well as producing the electrical anodes used to make aluminum.
While there is high demand from both those industries, the small grains and high sulfur content of this petroleum coke make it largely unusable for those purposes, said Kerry Satterthwaite, a petroleum coke analyst at Roskill Information Services, a commodities analysis company based in London.
“It is worse than a byproduct,” Ms. Satterthwaite said.“It’s a waste byproduct that is costly and inconvenient to store, but effectively costs nothing to produce.”
Murray Gray, the scientific director for the Center for Oil Sands Innovation at the University of Alberta, said that about two years ago, Alberta backed away from plans to use the petroleum coke as a fuel source, partly over concerns about greenhouse-gas emissions. Some of it is burned there, however, to power coking plants.
The Keystone XL pipeline will provide Gulf Coast refineries with a steady supply of diluted bitumen from the oil sands. The plants on the coast, like the coking refineries concentrated in California to deal with that state’s heavy crude oil, are positioned to ship the waste to China or Mexico, where it is burned as a fuel. California exports about 128,000 barrels of petroleum coke a day, mainly to China.
Tony McCallum, a spokesman for the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, played down the impact of Keystone XL. “Most of the Canadian oil earmarked for the U.S. Gulf Coast is to replace declining heavy oil imports from Mexico and Venezuela that produces the same amount of petcoke, so it doesn’t create a new issue,” he wrote in an e-mail.
Much of the new coking investment has gone into refineries in the Midwest to allow them to take advantage of the oil sands. BP, the British energy company, is building what it describes as the second-largest coke refinery in Whiting, Ind. When completed, the unit will be able to process about 102,000 barrels of bitumen or other heavy oils a day.
And what about the leftover coke? The Environmental Protection Agency will no longer allow any new licenses permitting the burning of petroleum coke in the United States. But D. Mark Routt, a staff energy consultant at KBC Advanced Technologies in Houston, said that overseas companies saw it as a cheap alternative to low-grade coal. In China, it is used to generate electricity, adding to that country’s air-quality problems. There is also strong demand from India and Latin America for American petroleum coke, where it mainly fuels cement-making kilns.
“I’m not making a value statement, but it comes down to emission controls,” Mr. Routt said. “Other people don’t seem to have a problem, which is why it is going to Mexico, which is why it is going to China.”
“One man’s junk is another man’s treasure,” he said. One of the world’s largest dealers of petroleum coke is the Oxbow Corporation, which sells about 11 million tons of fuel-grade coke a year. It is owned by William I. Koch, a brother of David and Charles.
Lorne Stockman, who recently published a study on petroleum coke for the environmental group Oil Change International, says, “It’s really the dirtiest residue from the dirtiest oil on earth,” he said.
Rhonda Anderson, an organizing representative of the Sierra Club in Detroit, said that the mountain’s rise took her group by surprise, but it had one benefit.
“Those piles kind of hit us upside to the head,” she said. “But it also triggered a kind of relationship between Canada and the United States that’s allowed us to work together.”
New York Times
Today in Great Lakes History - May 23
UNIQUE (wooden propeller passenger steamer, 163 foot, 381 gross tons, built in 1894, at Marine City, Michigan) was sold to Philadelphia parties for service on the Delaware River. She left Ogdensburg, New York, on 23 May 1901, for Philadelphia. Her name was changed to DIAMOND STATE. In 1904, she was rebuilt as a yacht and lasted until 1915, when she burned in New York harbor.
The WILLIAM J. DE LANCEY was re-christened on May 23,1990, as b.) PAUL R. TREGURTHA. She is the largest ship on the Great Lakes and was the last Great Lakes ship built at American Ship Building Co., Lorain, Ohio.
American Steamship's H. LEE WHITE completed sea trials on May 23, 1974.
FRED R. WHITE Jr. completed her two-day sea trials in 1979.
The Tomlinson Fleet Corp.'s steel freighter SONOMA (Hull#610) was launched at West Bay City, Michigan, by West Bay City Ship Building Co. on 23 May 1903. She was 416 feet long, 4,539 gross tons. Through her career she had various names: DAVID S TROXEL in 1924, SONOMA in 1927 and finally FRED L. HEWITT in 1950. She was converted to an automobile carrier in 1928, converted back to a bulk carrier in 1942 and then converted to a barge for grain storage in 1955. She was finally scrapped in 1962, at Steel Co. of Canada Ltd. at Hamilton, Ontario.
On 23 May 1889, the wooden steam barge OSCAR T. FLINT (218 foot, 824 gross tons) was launched at the Simon Langell & Sons yard in St. Clair, Michigan. She lasted until 25 November 1909, when she burned and sank off Thunder Bay Island in Lake Huron.
1910: The first FRANK H. GOODYEAR, with a load of ore for Cleveland, was almost cut in two and sank off Pointe aux Barques following a collision in dense fog with the JOSEPH WOOD. Only five sailors survived while another 16 were lost.
1954: The EASTDALE, operating on charter to Reoch Transports, ran aground at Collingwood and was refloated May 29. The ship had also visited the Great Lakes as SPRINGDALE and was lost in the Gulf of Bothnia on June 18, 1959, when the cargo of timber shifted in heavy weather.
1959: The Liberian freighter ANDORA, outbound with a cargo of barley, stranded on a shoal below the Snell Lock and proved to be a difficult salvage. The ship initially broke free, spun around and grounded again and was not released until June 18. The cargo was unloaded but ANDORA was deemed not worth repairing and arrived at Savona, Italy, for dismantling on August 15, 1959.
1974: The Canadian tanker CARDINAL, best known as the former IMPERIAL WINDSOR, was badly damaged following a collision with the HENRY STEINBRENNER (iii), in Lake Erie off Point Pelee. The former was never repaired and subsequently scrapped, while the latter went to Lorain for about $100,000 worth of repairs.
1974: A fire broke out in the engine room of the ONTARIO during a voyage from Santos, Brazil, to Montreal and assistance was requested. The Canadian owned vessel had been upbound through the Seaway for the first time on November 8, 1973. The blaze was put out and the ship arrived at Montreal June 6, 1974. It was sold the following month to Tunisian buyers and scrapped as c) REMADA following another fire at Barcelona, Spain, on January 2, 1987.
1988: The first ALGOCAPE, which had run aground in the Lake St. Louis section of the St. Lawrence on May 21, was refloated on this day and cleared to proceed to Baie Comeau, QC, to unload.
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Post by yachtsmanwilly on May 24, 2013 6:15:59 GMT -5
Historic number of tall ships to converge on Brockville
5/24 - Brockville, Ont. - It’s no tall tale when the director of economic development here says the tall ships event his city will host is a once-in-a-lifetime event. “It’s not likely we are going to have this many ships here in port in one place ever again,” said David Paul.
That may go for any port along the St. Lawrence River.
Ten tall ships will converge on Brockville, nearly opposite Morristown across the St. Lawrence Seaway, for the June 14 to16 Tall Ships 1812 Tour.
“As part of that whole event, there will be 15 Canadian and U.S. ports where the tall ships will be visiting as part of this commemoration programming,” said Mr. Paul.
Brockville is the tour’s first port of call. Mr. Paul said that, except for Toronto, Brockville will host the most ships of any of the other Canadian cities on the tour, which concludes Sept. 2 on Lake Erie in the Windsor, Ontario, area.
The tour is produced in partnership with the Tall Ships Challenge Great Lakes 2013 series. That tour will visit 22 ports along the Great Lakes and include five races. The Tall Ships Challenge is a program produced by Tall Ships America, a nonprofit organization dedicated to enriching youth through character building and leadership programs aboard the tall ships.
One of the tall ships in the festival, Empire Sandy, will stop in Clayton June 12 to kick off the Sailing Seaway Clayton festival, June 12 to 16, before arriving in Brockville June 14. Empire Sandy will join tall ship Lynx at the Clayton festival. The Lynx will remain throughout the Clayton festival.
Mr. Paul said that in addition to ship tours and public cruises, a variety of events is planned ashore, ranging from concerts, vendors, artisans, a “pirates’ village” and a “beverage garden.”
He said a key viewing time for spectators will be at approximately 4 p.m. June 14. “All the ships will be under sail,” Mr. Paul said. “They are going to make a big pass off city hall along the waterfront before they go back to their berthing areas.”
There are no shortage of those areas in Brockville, Mr. Paul said.
“We’re kind of blessed that way,” Mr. Paul said. “We’ve got good depth and good docking space because we were a commerce area for steamships.”
A “spectacular” fireworks show is planned for June 15, Mr. Paul said. A sound system will crank out Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s “1812 Overture.”
“We’re having the ships, their cannons and land-based cannons and the infantry (re-enactors) to all combine their fire at the crescendo of the overture,” Mr. Paul said.
Mr. Paul said there are a couple of options available for people who want to tour the tall ships. A $12 “passport” will allow patrons to tour all the ships.
“They are pretty high quality souvenir pieces in heavy parchment paper,” Mr. Paul said of the passports. He added that each ship will have its own customized stamp.
Two ships, Empire Sandy and Liana’s Ransom, will offer sailing excursions for $30. Dinner cruises have been sold out.
Tickets can be purchased from the Brockville Tourism office in downtown Brockville, 10 Market St., W., or by calling the office at 888-251-7676
Watertown Daily Times
Regulations preserve Great Lakes shipwrecks, history
5/24 - Most of the time, ships that ply the Great Lakes do so in anonymity. It’s only when tragedy befalls them that their name and their service record become history for the rest of the world to learn about.
The Edmund Fitzgerald was just another ship carrying iron ore through the Great Lakes until it famously sank in 1975 in Lake Superior. Singer/songwriter Gordon Lightfoot took it on a rocket ride to legendary status.
Even the Titanic, perhaps the most famous of all time, would have been just another luxury steamer until it sunk in the mid-Atlantic in 1912. Sure, at the time it was lauded as one of the biggest, fastest, most luxurious ships ever built. But a lifetime of safe, comfortable ocean crossings would have surely helped it vanish into a mere footnote of history.
Valerie van Heest of Michigan Shipwreck Research Associates, an award-winning author and filmmaker from Holland, Mich., spoke about how ships become famous at a presentation titled “Lost and Found — Legendary Wrecks” at the 32nd Great Lakes Shipwrecks Festival.
“The fact is we learn more about the ship from the discovery of the wreck and the evolution of diving rather than the incident that put the ship on the bottom,” van Heest said.
Archaeologically, van Heest said, we can study artifacts and personal objects left in the vessels after they have foundered. We can learn more about the crew onboard than simply a list of the names of those who perished. She described one vessel she dived in which she found personal objects, such as a crew member’s sock with a hole in it, indicating the man wasn’t well-to-do and couldn’t afford new socks. She’s found ships with an array of coins inside from various Scandinavian countries that provide a window into the geographic makeup of the crew.
“These are tremendous artifacts that speak to us by allowing us to study them,” van Heest said.
Today, shipwrecks owe their survival in large part to relatively new state and federal regulations enacted to protect them from scavengers and treasure hunters looking to either remove things from the ships or lift the vessel itself out of the water altogether.
In 1987, the Abandoned Shipwreck Act was introduced in Congress and signed into federal law in 1988. That law mandated that each state write its own laws to protect shipwrecks and turned over ownership of the wrecks from the federal government to individual state governments.
In Michigan, for example, the Aboriginal Records and Antiquities and Abandoned Property statute, which includes the Natural Resources and Environment Protection Act that protects shipwrecks, only became law in 1994. That law updated legislation enacted in the state in the late 1970s but was not as comprehensive in scope.
Prior to that, anyone who had the wherewithal to lift a wreck, and the money to pay for it, simply had to obtain the salvage rights. Prior to the writing of the Shipwreck Act, “looting was standard practice by divers, including myself,” van Heest said. But doing so would gut the wreck of important artifacts, and bringing it to the surface would almost certainly spell an end to the vessel.
Van Heest cited as an example the case of the Alvin Clark, a ship that went down in Green Bay, Wis., in 1864. In 1969, a team headed by scuba diver Frank Hoffman lifted the Alvin Clark from the bottom of the bay in what was considered an extraordinary event that was praised by the government, the press and the public alike.
The ship was designated a Michigan State Historic Site in 1972 and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.
The ship was raised legally in extraordinary condition, completely intact and actually floated once water was removed from its holds. It quickly became a tourist attraction after Hoffman built a museum nearby and exhibited the ship as a tourist attraction at the “Mystery Ship Seaport” in Menominee.
But neither Hoffman nor its crew accounted for the environmental damage the ship would suffer out of the water — from weather, wind, extreme hot and cold temperatures — much different conditions from the cold, low-oxygen environment at the bottom of Green Bay.
The ship quickly began to deteriorate, decayed and started to fall apart. Hoffman had neither the expertise nor the money to restore the Alvin Clark. His search for grants to pay for repairs fell upon deaf ears.
Finally, in 1994, the same year shipwreck protection was updated in Michigan, the ship was considered beyond saving and deemed a hazard. The Alvin Clark, one of the oldest merchant ships to ply the Great Lakes, with its origins in 1847, was bulldozed and lost to history.
And everyone involved learned a valuable lesson. According to van Heest, states across the country were influenced by the story of the Alvin Clark and used it as an example of what could go wrong while authoring their own legislation.
Thanks to improving side-scan sonar technology, van Heest believes all existing shipwrecks will be found in the next 15-20 years. In addition, she said it will take at least another 100 years before time and zebra mussels break down the oldest shipwrecks and turn them into a pile of planks. But fortunately, van Heest’s research has shown the older the shipwreck is, the better it’s made.
Remember how your parents would constantly complain things aren’t built the way they used to be? Well, according to van Heest, that also applies to ship building nearly 200 years ago.
Not only are ships that sit in deeper water better preserved due to colder temperatures and less environmental activity, but older ships, in van Heest’s experience, were simply made better.
“In the heyday of the schooners in the 1870s-’80s, they were cranking these things out, and I don’t think they were all that well built compared to the ones built in the early 1800s,” she said. “Back then, they weren’t as plentiful, and they were building them better.”
The Oakland Press
Today in Great Lakes History - May 24
On 24 May 1872, the wooden schooner SAM ROBINSON was carrying corn from Chicago, Illinois, to Kingston, Ontario, in dense fog on Lake Michigan. At 7:30 a.m. the propeller MANISTEE collided with the schooner and almost cut her in two amidships. When the MANISTEE backed away, the schooner went over on its starboard side and its masts smashed the MANISTEE's pilothouse and cabins. Luckily the ROBINSON's crew launched their lifeboat before the schooner sank and they were picked up by the MANISTEE and taken to Milwaukee.
In 1980, the 1,000-foot BURNS HARBOR was christened for the Wilmington Trust Co., (Bethlehem Steel Co., Mgr.) Wilmington, Delaware.
The CANADIAN OLYMPIC (Hull#60) was launched in 1976, at St. Catharines, Ontario by Port Weller Drydocks Ltd. for Upper Lakes Shipping Ltd.
CHICAGO TRADER arrived at Ashtabula, Ohio on May 24, 1977, for scrapping (scrapping did not begin until May 1, 1978, by Triad Salvage Inc.).
The CLIFFS VICTORY set a record (by 2 minutes) for the fastest time from Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, to Duluth, Minnesota, in 1953. She logged a time of 17 hours and 50 minutes. The CHARLES M. WHITE had been declared the fastest earlier that year by the Cleveland papers.
ALEXANDER B. MOORE was launched at Bangor, Michigan, on 24 May 1873. She was built by Theophilus Boston at a cost of $85,000. She was 247 foot overall, 223 foot keel and could carry 70,000 bushels of grain. Although designed as a 4-mast schooner, she was built as a 3-master. The fourth mast was added two years later.
On 24 May 1875, the schooner NINA was bound from Michael's Bay to Goderich, Ontario, when she sprang a leak and went down in mid-lake. Her crew escaped in the yawl, but was adrift on Lake Huron for two days and two nights with only one loaf of bread to divide among themselves.
1953: The TERNEFJELL of 1948 first came to the Great Lakes that year for the Fjell Line and made 17 inland voyages through 1953. It sank on this date off Start Point in the English Channel following a collision with the DOTTERELL.
1980: LAKE WINNIPEG struck the breakwall at Duluth departing with a cargo of grain, and stranded the next day in the St. Marys River near Detour Village, after a steering gear problem.
1982: CORONADO visited the Great Lakes in 1972 and returned as c) HOLSTENBURG in 1974. It went aground on this date in 1982 as e) ARISTEA T. in the eastern Mediterranean enroute from Port Sudan, Sudan, to Lisbon, Portugal. The ship was refloated on June 6 but deemed a total loss and, on November 2, 1982, was scuttled off Pylos, Greece.
1983: LAKE NIPIGON went aground off Port Colborne following a power failure and was released the next day with bow and bottom damage. The ship was repaired at Montreal.
2005: SEAPRINCESS II first came through the Seaway in 1988 and returned as c) SEARANGER II in 1994. It ran aground as e) STARLUCK off Necochea, Argentina, and about 7,000 tons of wheat had to be removed before the ship floated free. Later in the year, the vessel was sold for scrap and it arrived at Chittagong, Bangladesh, for dismantling on November 21, 2005.
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Post by yachtsmanwilly on May 25, 2013 5:54:38 GMT -5
Lake Michigan Carferry moves to two sailings a day two weeks early
5/25 - Ludington, Mich. – Lake Michigan Carferry is starting its double sailing season two weeks early, Sunday, May 26. The early move to two round-trips a day is to accommodate wind turbine parts the SS Badger moves across Lake Michigan. The original double sailing date had been scheduled for June.
"When men were steel and boilers were wooden..."
Obituary: Capt. Harry “Heavy Weather” Anderson
5/25 - Capt. Harry Axel Anderson, 103, a retired Great Lakes Master for the Cleveland Cliffs Iron Company and a well-known docent at the William G. Mather Museum Ship, passed away in Ohio on May 22, 2013.
Captain Anderson was born October 5, 1909 in the Swedish province of Dalsland. In 1919 the family emigrated from Sweden to the United States and settled in Marquette, Michigan. He married Louise Herman of Marquette, Michigan, in 1934 and they resettled in Cleveland in 1938. He resided in Lakewood most of his life.
It was during the voyage from Göteborg, Sweden to New York as a 10-year-old boy that Captain Anderson decided that he would pursue a seafaring career and aspired to someday become a ship captain.
His sailing career, spanning 48 years on both the ocean and Great Lakes, began at the age of 17 when in 1927 he shipped out in Milwaukee as a deckhand. During his earlier years on the ocean he sailed around the world on the Dollar Line, to South America on the Grace Line, to Central America on the United Fruit Line, and on board various U.S. coastal tankers and cargo ships.
During World War II he served as an officer on board the famed Liberty ships resupplying Europe with war materiel. He sailed on numerous Great Lakes ships and his career with Cleveland Cliffs lasted nearly half a century. He earned his First Class Pilot’s License in 1934 and served as third mate on board the Str. Joliet. His first year as second mate came in 1939 on board the Str. Marquette, and in 1942 he sailed as first mate on board the Str. Peter White.
A year later, at the urging of his friend Jack McCarthy, they both earned their master’s licenses. McCarthy left Cliffs for Oglebay Norton and 32 years later perished on the Edmund Fitzgerald. Captain Anderson served on over 30 Cleveland Cliffs ships and was master of such notable vessels as the steamers William G. Mather, Walter A. Sterling, and the Edward B. Greene, the latter Cliffs’ flagship and his last command.
He often said his pride and joy was the Cliffs Victory, known for her distinctive profile and high speed runs, given informal title "Speed Queen of the Lakes.”
Of the Cliffs Victory, his son, Rickard, recalled his dad “truly enjoyed sailing this unique ship both as its master and many times earlier in his career as a mate. With cold seawater and a good vacuum in the condenser, its speed in ballast was 23 mph and 20 mph loaded (this was with 6 nozzles out of 24 welded shut on the high pressure turbine years earlier to save fuel).
“While master of Victory, my father said he was only overtaken once by another ship, and it was one of Farrell Line’s fast oceangoing African Class cargo ships. The Victory overtook everybody else, including oceangoing ships and the faster lakers (Patton, Girdler, White, Thompson, Fort Henry, Fort York et al). It had good sea-keeping ability in heavy weather and could break ice really well with its power. Because of its speed, the Victory could frequently outrun bad weather. It was the only ship my father sailed that could lock up in ballast and lock down loaded at Sault Ste. Marie in the same day (i.e. lock up after midnight, sail to Marquette, load, return to the Soo, and lock down the evening of the same day.”
In the seafaring community, Anderson earned the nickname “Heavy Weather Harry.”
“Amongst all the Cleveland Cliffs skippers, my father always had the least amount of weather delay, Anderson’s son said. “Right after the Fitzgerald sinking, the Cliffs’ office called the ship and asked my father why he didn’t seek shelter more often in bad weather. He said “I never encounter any heavy weather.” Having experienced his share of bad winter storms on both the north Atlantic and Pacific, I suppose what the Lakes could dish out didn’t much worry him. By the way, my father was a good friend of Ernie McSorley, master of the Fitzgerald.”
Following his mandatory retirement at age 65, he volunteered for many years aboard the museum ship William G. Mather, docked near the Great Lakes Science Center at the foot of E. 9th Street in Cleveland. Countless schoolchildren have memories of visiting with the distinguished captain with the white beard dressed in his impeccable Cleveland-Cliffs uniform.
He was recently honored for his distinguished service in the U.S. Merchant Marine with a Veterans Recognition Ceremony at his home at the Harbor Court Retirement Community in Rocky River, Ohio.
Captain Anderson was also a long-standing member in the International Ship Masters Association, flag number 7007. He was predeceased by his wife Louise in 2007, and his daughters Sandra May in 2005 and Cheryl Faith in 1951. Survivors include daughter Harriet Waller of Rochester, Michigan, son Raymond Anderson of Long Key, Florida, daughter Ruth Danio of Cleveland, Ohio, son Rickard Anderson of Bowie, Maryland, 15 grandchildren, 20 great grandchildren, and one great, great grandchild.
Friends may call in the chapel at Sunset Memorial Park, 6245 Columbia Rd. North Olmsted, OH 44070 from 4-8 p.m. Tuesday, May 28, where funeral services will be held Wednesday, May 29, at 10 a.m.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Mariner’s Church, 170 E. Jefferson, Detroit, MI 48226 or to the William G. Mather Museum, 601 Erieside Ave., Cleveland, OH 44114
Today in Great Lakes History - May 25
On 25 May 1889, JAMES GARRETT (3-mast wooden schooner, 138 foot, 266 gross tons, built in 1868, at Sheboygan, Wisconsin) was driven ashore at Whitefish Bay near Sheboygan, Wisconsin, on Lake Michigan in a gale. She was pounded to pieces by the end of the month. No lives were lost.
On May 25, 1898, the PRESQUE ISLE (Hull#30) was launched at the Cleveland Shipbuilding Company in Cleveland, Ohio. The vessel is much better known as the cement carrier E.M. FORD, recently scrapped.
May 25, 1941: The former Pere Marquette carferry PERE MARQUETTE 17 was re-christened CITY OF PETOSKEY.
The wooden schooner J C DAUN was in her first year of service when she encountered a squall in Lake Erie on 25 May 1847, and she capsized five miles off Conneaut, Ohio. Four of the 11 on board were able to make it to her upturned keel, but one of them died of exposure during the night. In the morning, the schooner UNCLE SAM rescued the three remaining survivors. Later the steamer SARATOGA found the DAUN floating upside down, fully rigged with the bodies of some of the crew still lashed to the rigging. The DAUN was righted a few days later and towed in by the schooner D SMART.
On 25 May 1854, DETROIT (wooden side-wheeler, 157 foot, 354 tons, built in 1846, at Newport, Michigan) was sailing from Detroit to Chicago with two lumber scows in tow. On Lake Huron, she collided with the bark NUCLEUS in heavy fog and sank. The exact location (15 miles off Pointe aux Barques) was not known until the wreck was discovered in 200 feet of water on 5 June 1994, by Dave Trotter and his determined divers.
1906: The HOWARD L. SHAW was in an unusual accident and passed between the cable of the CORALIA and her barge MAIA, raking the top of the pilothouse, deck, stack and spars before the ship went aground. The hull of HOWARD L. SHAW survives today as a breakwall at Toronto.
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Post by yachtsmanwilly on May 26, 2013 6:11:37 GMT -5
Today in Great Lakes History - May 26
On 26 May 1888, BLANCHE (2-mast wooden schooner, 95 foot, 92 gross tons, built in 1874, at Mill Point, Ontario) was carrying coal with a crew of five on Lake Ontario. She was lost in a squall somewhere between Oswego, New York and Brighton, Ontario.
In 1979, the FRED R. WHITE JR. departed the shipyard on her maiden voyage to load iron ore pellets at Escanaba, Michigan for Cleveland, Ohio.
The J.A.W. IGLEHART began its maiden Great Lakes voyage in 1965, for the Huron Portland Cement Co. The straight deck bulk freighter FRANKCLIFFE HALL began its maiden voyage in 1963. Deepened and converted to a self-unloader in 1980. She was renamed b.) HALIFAX in 1988.
SCOTT MISENER (Hull#14) was launched in 1954, at St. Catharines, Ontario by Port Weller Drydocks Ltd. for Colonial Steamships Ltd. She was scrapped at Alang, India in 1990.
In 1923, the ANN ARBOR NO 4 was towed to the shipyard in Manitowoc, Wisconsin by the ANN ARBOR NO 5 with the assistance of the tug ARCTIC. The NO 4 was completely overhauled and had all new cabins built on her main deck.
QUEEN OF THE LAKES was launched at the Kirby & Ward yard in Wyandotte, Michigan on 26 May 1872. She was the first iron-hulled vessel built in Michigan.
On 26 May 1873, the iron propeller revenue cutter GEO S. BOUTWELL (Hull#15) was launched at D. Bell Steam Engine Works in Buffalo, New York. Her dimensions were 140 feet x 22 feet x 17.5 feet, 151 gross tons. She served out of Savannah, Georgia (1874-1899) and Newbern, North Carolina (1899-1907).
The tug GORMAN, which was sunk by the steamer CITY OF BUFFALO was raised today. She is not much injured. The local steamboat inspectors have taken up the case of the collision. The crew of the tug claim that their boat was run over by the CITY OF BUFFALO and the appearance of the wreck carries out their declaration, for the tug shows that the steamer struck her straight aft.
1926 The self-unloader ALPENA delivered the first cargo of coal, 4,000 tons, to the new Detroit Edison steam generating power plant at Marysville, MI.
1982 ROLAND DESGAGNES ran aground off Pointe au Pic, Q.C . The ship floated free with the high tide only to sink on May 27 at 4 am due to hull damage. All on board were saved and the cargo of salt dissolved. The hull rests upright on the bottom in about 300 feet of water.
1984 The Norwegian freighter WILFRED first visited the Seaway in 1966. It went aground on this day in 1984 as b) PSILI at Buenos Aires, Argentina. The vessel was refloated and returned to service. It last sailed as c) GLORY BAY and arrived at Dalian, China, for scrapping on September 18, 1986.
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Post by yachtsmanwilly on May 27, 2013 6:41:39 GMT -5
GET OUT AND FLY YOUR FLAGS!
Today in Great Lakes History - May 27
Today in Great Lakes History - May 27 CANADIAN PIONEER (Hull#67) was launched May 27, 1981, at St. Catharines, Ontario, by Port Weller Drydocks Ltd. for Upper Lakes Shipping Ltd. She was renamed b.) PIONEER in 1987.
NANTICOKE was christened in 1980, for Canada Steamship Lines Ltd.
CHARLES DICK (Hull#71) was launched in 1922, at Collingwood, Ontario, by Collingwood Shipbuilding Co. Ltd. for National Sand & Material Co. Ltd.
The PETER REISS left Duluth, Minnesota May 27, 1910, on her maiden voyage with iron ore for Ashtabula, Ohio. She was converted to a self-unloader in 1949, and scrapped at Ramey's Bend in 1973.
HENRY STEINBRENNER was towed from Toledo's Lakefront Dock in 1994, for the scrap yard at Port Maitland, Ontario.
The tug SMITH burned near Bay City, Michigan, on 27 May 1872. Her loss was valued at $7,000 but there was no insurance on her.
The ferry SARNIA made her first trip as a carferry between Port Huron and Sarnia on 27 May 1879. She had burned in January 1879, then was converted to a carferry and served in that capacity during the summer. In September, 1879, she was converted to a barge.
The tug GORMAN, sunk by the steamer CITY OF BUFFALO was raised. She is not much injured. The local steamboat inspectors have taken up the case of the collision. The crew of the tug claim that their boat was run over by the CITY OF BUFFALO and the appearance of the wreck carries out their declaration, for the tug shows that the steamer struck her straight aft.
27 May 1898 - The tug WINSLOW arrived in Bay City, Michigan, from Georgian Bay with a raft of logs for Eddy Bros. & Co. The tug NIAGARA arrived from the same bay with a raft for Pitts & Co. The sawmills along the Saginaw river are now nearly all in operation.
1933 GEORGE M. COX hit Rock of Ages Reef in Lake Superior on its first trip after previous service as PURITAN. The vessel had 121 passengers and freight on board when it struck the reef in the early morning in fog. The ship hung at a precarious angle until all were rescued and then, during an October storm, the vessel slid back into deep water.
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Post by yachtsmanwilly on May 28, 2013 5:55:52 GMT -5
USCG locates 4 boaters on overdue vessel, concluding 9-hour search
5/28 - Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. – Crews concluded a nine-hour search effort for four people reported overdue when they were found safe Sunday in western Lake Superior.
The search began when a family member of one of the boaters called the Lake County, Minn., emergency dispatch to report that the vessel was overdue at about 1 a.m. Sunday.
According to the overdue vessel report, the boat had four people aboard and was supposed to begin the 35-mile transit to the Apostle Islands from Silver Bay, Minn., at about noon. At some point, the operator indicated to the reporting source that plans had changed and the new destination was Palisade Head, which is a 10-mile round-trip that should have taken about two hours to complete. When the vessel did not return to Silver Bay from Palisade Head, the reporting source called the authorities.
Search-and-rescue controllers at Coast Guard Sector Sault Ste. Marie directed the search efforts until the vessel was located in the vicinity of Sand Island in the Apostle Island range at about 10 a.m. Repeated attempts to hail the overdue vessel over VHF-FM radio during the search and once on scene with the vessel were unsuccessful. All persons aboard were found in good health and there were no vessel, mechanical or structural problems reported. The operator indicated that there was a miscommunication of the destination, which resulted in the report that the vessel was overdue.
"Providing a detailed float plan with voyage contingencies and alternate plans to a trusted shoreside contact is extremely important," said Lt. Richard Sansone, a search-and-rescue mission coordinator at Sector Sault Ste. Marie.
"If you become overdue, it can help the Coast Guard locate you faster and assist you if you are in distress. If you are not in distress, it allows the Coast Guard to reallocate its resources to help those who are."
Great Lakes region pins economic hopes on water
5/28 - Milwaukee, Wis. – A century ago, the seven-story brick building a few blocks from downtown was a factory — a symbol of an era when Milwaukee and other cities ringing the Great Lakes were industrial powerhouses churning out steel, automobiles and appliances. Eventually the region's manufacturing core crumbled, and the structure became an all-but-forgotten warehouse.
Now it's getting a makeover and a new mission. It will reopen this summer as a hive of business experimentation swarming with scientists, engineers and entrepreneurs. They'll share a lab where new technologies can be tested. Office suites will host startup companies, including one devising a system for cultivating algae as biofuel, another producing a type of pavement that lets rainwater seep into the ground instead of flooding sewers.
The center is part of a broader effort unfolding across the Great Lakes region to regain lost prosperity by developing a "blue economy" — a network of industries that develop products and services related to water, from pump and valve manufacturers to resorts offering vacations along redeveloped lakeshores.
As growing water scarcity casts a shadow over the economic boom in warmer states, many in the long-scorned northlands are hoping they can finally make their abundance of freshwater a magnet for businesses and jobs that are now going elsewhere. The idea is either a perfect nexus of opportunity and timing, or— as some in the Sun Belt believe— just another long shot attempt by a cold and downtrodden region to reverse history.
In the eight Great Lakes states, organizations devoted to the venture are springing up, with headquarters, government grants and binders full of Power Points and five-year plans. Universities are establishing freshwater science and engineering programs. Businesses are developing products such as advanced filtration systems for sale in countries where water isn't just scarce, but also polluted. Milwaukee has taken a pivotal role from its perch beside Lake Michigan, with $83.5 million in public and private money budgeted over the next year to support water-related businesses and research.
"We all recognize that water has become more and more of a precious commodity," said Tom Barrett, mayor of Milwaukee. "We have to do a much better job of promoting it."
The Great Lakes — Superior, Huron, Michigan, Erie and Ontario — hold nearly one-fifth of the freshwater on the Earth's surface. But in one of the nation's most vivid anomalies, some of the saddest, most bedraggled urban wastelands sit on the shores of the vast inland seas. After the collapse of heavy manufacturing unleashed an exodus of jobs to the South and West, one proposal after another for turning things around fell short.
But drought has gripped the Sun Belt in recent years, and federal scientists predict recurrent periods similar to the 1930s Dust Bowl if climate change models prove accurate. Worried leaders there are floating increasingly radical proposals, from billion-dollar pipelines traversing hundreds of miles to creating artificial lakes.
"I don't like to get into an us-versus-them situation, but the drought in these other locations is going to get worse and worse and what we have to offer is going to get more and more attractive," said David Ullrich, executive director of an organization representing the Great Lakes region's mayors.
Sun Belt leaders, while acknowledging the problem, scoff at the idea of companies choosing the Midwest instead. They say they're already working on solutions. Texas voters in 2011 authorized a $6 billion bond issue for water infrastructure, including building more than two dozen reservoirs in coming decades.
Besides just warm weather, "We provide economic opportunity," said Tom Hayden, mayor of the Flower Mound, Texas, a Dallas suburb of 70,000 where the population has tripled in the past two decades. "We help businesses grow instead of seeing how much we can squeeze them with taxes."
Water availability is just one factor that influences where businesses locate, said Jason Morrison of the Pacific Institute, author of a report on likely economic fallout from a drier climate. Still, he acknowledged, the outlook is disconcerting.
"It's pretty certain that water-related risk for business will increase over the long haul in more places," he said.
Al Henes, who runs a brewery and pub in Flagstaff, Ariz., has waterless urinals and reuses water in his beer-making operation, but worries about the future as housing developments and golf courses keep springing up. Even so, he said, he's not ready to forsake his beloved canyon country's stunning scenery and outdoorsy lifestyle.
"You guys get a little colder up there," Henes said dryly. Recalling childhood winter visits with his grandmother in Michigan, he added: "Some of my words would just freeze in my mouth and fall on the ground and shatter.
Milwaukee reflects the grandeur of the lake region's past as well as its decline and the quest to rebuild. A downtown statue of "The Fonz" evokes wistful memories of "Happy Days" prosperity, when more than half of the adult workforce had factory jobs with manufacturers like Allis-Chalmers, now defunct. Some warehouses and storefronts still sit empty, and the remnants of beer giants Schlitz, Pabst and Blatz have been turned to other uses.
Though brewing is a shadow of its former self here, local leaders are newly mindful that the industry, which used huge volumes of water, attracted other businesses that still remain vibrant. Worldwide, water technology— pumps, valves and more— generates $500 billion a year and is growing rapidly, said John Austin, director of the Brookings Institution's Great Lakes Economic Initiative.
The Milwaukee-based Water Council, a research and networking organization, now has more than 100 members, including the brewer MillerCoors. The technology center is expected to host a half-dozen startups at a time, with frequent turnover as companies grow and move to bigger locations.
John Gurda, a local historian, said it's about time Milwaukee gave up chasing the same high tech medicine and computer software companies sought by every other city.
"The strength of this (water-oriented) strategy is that it's playing to Milwaukee's natural and historical strengths."
But Austin, the Brookings analyst, said economic revival also depends on doing more to make the region's 10,000 miles of Great Lakes shoreline and many rivers and inland lakes a draw for tourists and for service companies that want a beautiful setting.
During the first half of the 20th century, the steel plants, paper mills and auto factories that employed millions along the lakes also left behind blight. The Lake Michigan city of Gary, Ind., is riddled with the hulks of abandoned buildings and the Grand Calumet River bottom is caked with a 20-foot-deep layer of gunk including toxic PCBs.
An hateful muslim traitor administration initiative has pumped more than $1 billion into Great Lakes environmental cleanup, and a regional partnership has raised hundreds of millions to beautify Gary's industrial waterfront.
"People will pay more for an office with a water view," Austin said. "But not if it's a cesspool."
ABC News
West Michigan lighthouses welcome visitors
5/28 - Three more Michigan lighthouses have been opened to the public for seasonal tours. The Ludington North Breakwater Light, White River Light Station in Whitehall, and Little Sable Point Light Station in Mears are open to the public, joining Big Sable Point Lighthouse, which opened to visitors and school groups on May 1. Lighthouses are generally open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. White River is closed on Monday.
All four lighthouses boast towers you can climb, from the shortest at White River and the breakwater light to two of the tallest in Michigan, the Little and Big Sable sister lights. At the top of these Sable lights, views include a 100-foot tall vantage point of the Silver Lake Sand Dunes and the Nordhouse Dunes.
The Annual Michigan’s West Coast Lighthouse Festival is held annually the first weekend of June. Over the course of the weekend, festivalgoers can visit six lighthouses along 90 miles of Lake Michigan shoreline, including the only annual openings of the Muskegon South Pierhead Light and the Manistee North Pierhead Light.
Ludington Daily News
Today in Great Lakes History - May 28
On 28 March 1997, the USS Great Lakes Fleet's PHILIP R. CLARKE set a record for a salt cargo on a U.S.-flag laker when she loaded 25,325 tons at Fairport, Ohio for delivery to Toledo, Ohio. The previous record was 25,320 tons carried by American Steamship's AMERICAN REPUBLIC in 1987.
On 28 March 1848, COLUMBUS (wooden sidewheeler, 391 tons, built in 1835, at Huron, Ohio) struck a pier at Dunkirk, New York during a storm and sank. The sidewheeler FASHION struck the wreck in November of the same year and was seriously damaged.
1935: THOMAS LYNCH and the Norwegian freighter BA collided on a foggy Lake Superior and the former received a hole above the waterline. The saltwater vessel dated from 1921 and was torpedoed and lost in the North Atlantic on July 8, 1941, as c) INGA I.
1942: JACK was torpedoed by U-155 and sunk on the Caribbean while about 100 miles southwest of Port Salut, Haiti. There were 37 lives lost among the 63 reported on board. The ship had been built at Lorain, Ohio, as a) LAKE FRESCO in 1919 and returned inland for package freight service as b) JACK in 1925.
1942: TINDEFJELL came to the Great Lakes for the Fjell Line beginning in 1937. It was taken over by the Germans in April 1941, while at a Norwegian port, and renamed SPERRBRECHER 174 in December. It is reported to have hit a mine and sunk off Dunkirk, France, on this date in 1942.
1982: The tug COMANCHE had an electrical fire while at DeTour, MI, and the blaze destroyed the cabins and pilothouse. The hull was surrendered to the underwriters on June 14 and it later sank while under tow off Ludington on December 12, 1985.
2006: The pilot boat PLACENTIA PILOT was built at Wheatley, ON, in 2000 and left the Great Lakes that December for service at Newfoundland. The ship hit the rocks and had to be beached while trying to put a pilot on the tanker TUVAQ. The ship was listed as a total loss but was salvaged. At last report, it was on a trailer at Port Hawkesbury, NS, pending repairs as b) STRAIT EAGLE.
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Post by yachtsmanwilly on May 29, 2013 5:55:39 GMT -5
Today in Great Lakes History - May 29 The 71-foot tug and patrol boat CARTER H. HARRISON was launched at Chicago, Illinois, on 29 May 1901, for the City of Chicago Police Department. The STADACONA (Hull#66) was launched in 1909, at Ecorse, Michigan, by Great Lakes Engineering Works for the Stadacona Steamship Co. (James Playfair, mgr.). Renamed b.) W.H. MC GEAN in 1920, and c.) ROBERT S. McNAMARA in 1962. JAMES R. BARKER (Hull#905) was float launched in 1976, at Lorain, Ohio, by American Ship Building Co. for the Interlake Steamship Co. May 29, 1905: The PERE MARQUETTE 20, while leaving Milwaukee in a heavy fog struck the scow HIRAM R. BOND of the Milwaukee Sand Gravel Company. The scow sank. In 1909, the ANN ARBOR NO 4 capsized at Manistique, Michigan, as a result of an error in loading a heavy load of iron ore. On 29 May 1889, BAVARIA (3-mast wooden schooner-barge, 145 foot, 376 gross tons, built in 1873, at Garden Island, Ontario) was carrying squared timber when she broke from the tow of the steamer D D CALVIN and began to founder near Long Point in Lake Erie. Her crew abandoned her, but all eight were lost. The abandoned vessel washed ashore with little damage and lasted until 1898 when she was destroyed in a storm. PLEASURE (wooden passenger ferry, 128 foot, 489 gross tons) (Hull#104) was launched at West Bay City, Michigan by F.W. Wheeler & Co. on 29 May 1894. She was a small but powerful ferry, equipped with a 1600 h.p. engine. She operated on the Detroit River year round as a ferry and small icebreaker for the Detroit, Belle Isle and Windsor Ferry Company. She was broken up at Detroit in 1940. 1943: LAKE GEORGE was built for French interests at Ashtabula in 1917 but was launched for and named by the U.S. Shipping Board. It was seized as e) FOLOZU by the Japanese at Shanghai on December 8, 1941, and sunk as f) EISHO MARU after being torpedoed by the U.S.S. TAMBOR in the South China Sea. 1964: A. & J. MERCURY was seized on this date while upbound in the Welland Canal to load coal at Ashtabula for non-payment of stevedore fees at Toronto and Hamilton. While eventually released, it was re-arrested on a complaint by the S.I.U. over non-payment of crew wages. The ship was later put up for auction and resumed service as d) SANTA MONICA. It was scrapped at Kaohsiung, Taiwan, as e) COSMOS TRADER in 1969. A. & J. FAITH, a fleetmate, was seized by the U.S. Marshal at Cleveland while about to leave for Singapore. It remained idle until being sold and renamed c) SANTA SOFIA in August. 1969: The new self-unloader TADOUSSAC launched itself prematurely at Collingwood. Two workers were killed and several others injured. 1974: BANIJA, a Yugoslavian freighter, was inbound in ballast at Port Weller through fog when it hit the pier and required repairs before continuing to Duluth to load. This vessel arrived at Alang, India, as b) STOLIV for scrapping on May 1, 1987. Steel imports edge up in April but remain depressed from 2012 levels 5/29 - Falls Church, Va. – Steel imports increased 4.2 percent in April compared to March according to preliminary government reporting. Imports increased in April primarily due to an increase in arrivals of semifinished slab imports for further processing by the domestic integrated industry, suggesting a anticipation of improved conditions in the US market going forward. Imports of rebars posted a decline, said David Phelps, president, AIIS. Imports in the first four months of 2013 compared to 2012 posted a decline of 11.7 percent. Year-to-date imports remain weak, which reflects the slow start to the year experienced by all suppliers of steel to the US market. With inventory levels currently low and demand in several sectors strong, such as autos and strong consumption in oil and gas related products, there is increasing optimism that the market is on the mend as we move to the mid-point in the second quarter, concluded Phelps. Total steel imports in April 2013 were 2.679 million tons compared to 2.570 million tons in March 2013, 4.2 percent increase, and a 14.8 percent decrease compared to April 2012. For the year- to - date period, imports decreased from 11.748 million tons in the first four months of 2012 to 10.374 million tons in the same 2013 period, an 11.7 percent decrease. The data show that imported semifinished products decreased by 10.3 percent in April 2013 compared to April 2012, from 661 thousand tons in 2012 to 593 thousand tons in 2013, based on preliminary reporting. For the year- to - date period, imported semifinished products decreased from 2.759 million tons in the first four months of 2012 to 2.197 million tons in the same 2013 period, a 20.4 percent decrease. The American Institute for International Steel Grabbed this today off Boatnerd... Upper lakes bound in Detroit; any pals out there?? ws
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Post by yachtsmanwilly on May 30, 2013 6:14:58 GMT -5
Today in Great Lakes History - May 30 On 30 May 1896, ALGERIA (3-mast wooden schooner-barge, 285 foot, 2,038 gross tons) was launched by J. Davidson (Hull #75) at West Bay City, Michigan. She lasted until 1906, when she foundered near Cleveland, Ohio. COLUMBIA STAR began her maiden voyage in 1981, from Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, to load iron ore pellets at Silver Bay, Minnesota, for Lorain, Ohio. She was the last of the 1,000 footers to enter service and, excluding tug-barge units or conversions, was the last new Great Lakes vessel on the American side. During the economic depression known as the "Panic of '73", shipbuilding came to a standstill. Orders for new vessels were cancelled and worked was stopped on hulls that were on the ways. On 30 May 1874, the Port Huron Times reported that a recovery from the "Panic of '73" resulted in a surge of shipyard work at Marine City. "Shipyards are getting ready to start business again with full force. Mr. Fin Kenyon has begun building a steam barge for Kenyon Bros. [the PORTER CHAMBERLAIN]; Mr. George King is going to build a steam barge for Mr. Henry Buttironi [the GERMANIA]; Messrs. Hill and Wescott are going to build a side wheel passenger boat for Mr. Eber Ward [the NORTHERNER]; Mr. David Lester will build another steam barge [the CITY OF DULUTH]. There is one barge on the stocks built by Mr. Hill for Mr. Morley, that will soon be ready to launch [the N K FAIRBANK]. At about 1a.m. on 30 May 1882, the lumber hooker ROCKET, carrying shingles from Manistee to Charlevoix, capsized about four miles abreast of Frankfort, Michigan on Lake Michigan. The tug HALL found the vessel and towed her inside the harbor. The crew was saved, but the vessel was split open and was a total wreck. 1900: SEGUIN, an iron-hulled steamer, was released with the help of the tug FAVORITE after being stuck near Mackinaw City after going off course due to thick fog. 1918: The first IMPOCO came to the Great Lakes for Imperial Oil in 1910. It was sunk by U-101 as b) WANETA enroute from Halifax, NS, to Queenstown, Ireland, with a cargo of fuel oil. The vessel was torpedoed 42 miles SSE of Kinsale Head on this date and 8 lives were lost. 1942: FRED W. GREEN was attacked by three German submarines in the South Atlantic and sunk by U-506 with the loss of five lives including the master. The vessel had been built for saltwater service at Ecorse, Mich., as CRAYCROFT in 1918 and returned to the Great Lakes in 1927 before departing again for deep sea trading in November 1941. 1969: The Toronto Islands ferry SAM McBRIDE ran aground in fog after missing the dock at Centre Island. Coast Guard rescues man who jumped into Straits of Mackinac 5/30 - St. Ignace, Mich. – U.S. Coast Guard personnel plucked a man from the chilly waters of the Straits of Mackinac early this morning after he survived what appears to be a failed suicide attempt. Michigan State Police from the St. Ignace Post confirmed that a 59-year-old Petoskey man jumped from the Mackinac Bridge just before 6 a.m. today between piers 19 and 20 — described as the portion of the bridge just south of the south tower. The first responders, reports indicate, could hear yelling coming from the water, prompting a call to the U.S. Coast Guard. Chief Matthew Henry of the Sault Base said the call came in at 6 a.m. with Station St. Ignace scrambling the 25-foot RBS (Ready Small Boat) powered by twin 225 horse outboards to the scene. “He was in the water for the better part of an hour,” said Henry, noting that due to the strong currents in the Straits of Mackinac the man had drifted approximately a mile east of the Mackinac Bridge by the time he was recovered. After spending that long in the water, which was reportedly less than 40 degrees according to Coast Guard data, the man was likely experiencing hypothermia. Henry explained the rescue crew would have followed standard procedure of trying to re-warm the man and assess his injuries. The Petoskey man, whose name was not released, was conveyed to the Mackinaw City where he was conveyed by ambulance to an unspecified hospital. Soo Evening News Experts to talk low water levels at Ann Arbor seminar 5/30 - Ann Arbor, Mich. – Federal experts will discuss the causes and potential consequences of low Great Lakes water levels during a Thursday seminar in Ann Arbor that also will be broadcast on the Web. The program will feature presentations by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Detroit district, and the University of Michigan's School of Natural Resources and Environment. Levels on most of the Great Lakes have been below average since the late 1990s. Scientists say lack of precipitation and high evaporation rates are the primary causes. The seminar is open to the public. It begins at 3 p.m. Thursday on the University of Michigan campus. Register to attend or see the webcast: sustainability.umich.edu/events/low-great-lakes-water-levels-understanding-causes-and-potential-consequencesWind towers headed for Michigan project 5/30 - Manitowoc, Wis. – A wind farm development in Munger, Mich., is helping keep busy workers at Broadwind Towers & Heavy Industries’ manufacturing plant on the Manitowoc River peninsula. It also is providing a nice boost of commercial traffic for the S.S. Badger, supplementing fare revenue from tourists and other business-related Lake Michigan crossings of the 410-foot vessel. Pat McCarthy, shore operations vice president for Lake Michigan Carferry Service, said Monday about 280 oversized truckloads have started going 60 miles east to Ludington, Mich., for Phase II of a wind farm development. With four tower sections for each 330-foot industrial turbine monopile, some 70 towers are part of the project. The sections are bolted together in the field, oftentimes with the aid of Manitowoc Company cranes using special attachments to lift them into place. “We’ve estimated probably about 300 highway miles is saved by the Badger,” McCarthy said of the road travel that would be necessary to get the tower sections from Manitowoc to Munger, northeast of Saginaw. He said the trucks transporting the tower sections get about 5 miles per gallon. Doing the math, some 16,400 gallons of diesel fuel is not burned with exhaust into the atmosphere for just the Munger wind farm project. Shipments via the Badger are expected to continue into late July or early August. Terri Brown, LMC spokeswoman, said in 2012 the Badger transported 25,000 tons of wind tower sections, saving some 150,000 miles of driving and 30,000 gallons of diesel fuel. McCarthy said up to four wind tower section shipments can be accommodated on each crossing, departing Manitowoc daily at either 2 p.m. or 1 a.m. While each section weighs several hundred tons, the Badger can transport 4 million pounds of cargo — or 2,000 tons — on each voyage. Even with four tower shipments, McCarthy said the Badger can hold about 100 cars, including some that are driven on to an upper vehicle deck in the hold. “We’ve done many types of oversize load transport, including big boats from manufacturers in Wisconsin,” McCarthy said. The broadest beamed boats are about 15 feet, he said, though the car ferry can accommodate transports up to 22 feet wide. “We’ve also transported industrial presses, hydroelectric generating units, prefab concrete buildings, communication and cellular towers,” he said. McCarthy said the Badger can also transport cargo exceeding the standard 13-foot-6-inch height of a semi. Manitowoc Police Department Lt. Karl Puestow said officers often provide escort for wind tower sections from the peninsula to the car ferry dock on Quay Street. Puestow said the route traveled includes 16th Street to Franklin Street, west to Sixth Street, north one block to Quay, turning right and going past the ferry dock staging area before backing into the parking lot, and subsequently, into the hold of the Badger. Puestow said to make the turn at Quay and Sixth streets, trucking firm workers remove a stop sign, unscrewing it at the base, laying it down, and then putting it back up after completing the turn. Herald Times A BIGGY for SCROD! Fireboat called upon to battle fire at Buffalo grain elevator 5/30 - Buffalo, N.Y. – Land-based Buffalo firefighters were unable to battle a blaze at the top of a grain elevator on the city’s waterfront Monday night, so the department’s rarely-used Edward M. Cotter fireboat was called into service. “We couldn’t get to the fire by land. There was no way to access it, so we called up the fireboat to get water on it,” Buffalo Fire Commissioner Garnell W. Whitfield Jr. said Tuesday. The former grain elevator complex, known as the Concrete Central Elevator, at 750 Ohio St., was abandoned years ago. On a remote section of land, bordered on one side by the Buffalo River, it is linked to the mainland by railroad bridges. Firefighters who initially responded in fire trucks at 7:02 p.m. and at 8:38 p.m. called in the Cotter. All fire equipment was picked up from the scene at 11:42 p.m. No damage estimate was listed, and no injuries were reported, Whitfield said. It is believed that wood caught fire atop the elevator, though a cause for the blaze has not been determined. Requesting the Cotter to assist at a fire, the commissioner said, is a rare occurrence these days, compared with decades ago, when the waterfront thrived with warehouses and other mercantile enterprises. “It doesn’t happen very often with structures along the waterfront, but with the waterfront’s resurgence, we believe the Edward M. Cotter fireboat will be a resource we’re glad we have,” Whitfield said. Abandoned since 1966, Concrete Central is the largest of the grain elevators along the Buffalo River. The elevator, built from 1915 to 1917, is a quarter-mile long, and when it was finished, it was the biggest transfer elevator in the world. The facility had the capacity to store 4½ million bushels of grain. A decade ago, the elevator was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Coincidentally, in 1996, the Edward M. Cotter was designated a National Historic Landmark. The Buffalo News
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Post by Avenger on May 30, 2013 7:33:25 GMT -5
What? No pictures?
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