Today in Great Lakes History

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On 16 June 1891, Alexander McDougall himself took his brand-new whaleback steamer JOSEPH L. COLBY (steel propeller whaleback freighter, 265 foot, 1,245 gross tons, built in 1890 at West Superior, Wisconsin) down the St. Lawrence River to the sea. The double-hulled COLBY left Prescott, Ontario at 3 p.m., drawing six feet nine inches aft and five feet six inches forward and started on her wild ride through the rapids. The whaleback freighter plowed through the Galops, Iroquois, Long Sault, Coteau, Cedar, Split Rock and Cascade Rapids. She grated the bottom a number of times and had a number of close calls. Captain McDougall stood immobile throughout the trip but great beads of perspiration broke out on his forehead. When the vessel finally made it through the Cascades and was safe on Lake St. Louis, the French Canadian pilot left and the crew let out shouts of joy with the whistle blowing. The COLBY was the first screw steamer to attempt running the rapids.

On 16 June 1892, GENERAL BURNSIDE (3-mast wooden schooner, 138 foot, 308 gross tons, built in 1862, at Wolfe Island, Ontario) foundered in a powerful northwest gale on Lake Erie near Southeast Shoal Light. Her crew was rescued by the tug GREGORY.

The steamer UNIQUE (wooden propeller passenger/package freight steamer, 163 foot, 381 gross tons) was built by Alexander Anderson at Marine City, Michigan. She was launched stern first at 3:00 p.m. on 16 June 1894. There was quite a crowd assembled to watch the launch. While waiting for the launch, Engineer Merrill of the steamer MARY composed the following verse:

"The new steamer Unique
Made a beautiful suique
On a direction oblique
Into a big crique,
So to spique."

The vessel was painted a bright yellow up to the promenade deck with white cabins and upper works. In 1901, she left the upper lakes and was chartered for the Thousand Islands cruise trade. Later that year, she was sold to Philadelphia buyers for Delaware River service. Her upper cabins were removed in 1904, when she was rebuilt as a yacht. She lasted until 20 November 1915, when she burned to a total loss in New York harbor.

On 16 June 1905, at 2:00 a.m., a fire was discovered around the smokestack of the North Shore Navigation Company's CITY OF COLLINGWOOD (wooden propeller passenger-package freight steamer, 213 foot, 1,387 gross tons, built in 1893, at Owen Sound, Ontario) burned at the Grand Trunk Railway docks at Collingwood, Ontario and was destroyed along with the dock and nearby sheds. Four died, but most of crew jumped overboard. Captain Wright had gone to his home on Pine St. about an hour before and was preparing for bed when he heard four whistles sounded by the steamer BRITTANIC, which was laying alongside. He ran to the dock, went aboard and woke the 1st mate J. D. Montgomery and a wheelsman. They had to jump to the dock to escape the flames. James Meade, Lyman Finch, A. McClellan, and another unidentified crewmember who had just joined the vessel at the Soo were all sleeping in the forecastle and lost their lives.

In 1967, the FEUX FOLLETS (Hull#188) was launched at Collingwood, Ontario, by Collingwood Shipyards Ltd., for Papachristidis Co. Ltd. She was the last steam-powered lake ship. Renamed in 1972 as b.) CANADIAN LEADER and scrapped in 2012.

Upbound in the Welland Canal on June 16, 1963, loaded with iron ore for Chicago, U.S. Steel's BENJAMIN F. FAIRLESS suffered bow damage in collision with Canadian steamer RALPH S. MISENER. In 1918, the WILLIAM P. SNYDER JR was in collision with the steamer GEORGE W. PERKINS in Duluth Harbor resulting in damage of $5,000 to both vessels.

On 16 June 1861, ANDOVER (2-mast wooden schooner, 98 foot, 190 tons, built in 1844, at Black River, Ohio) was carrying lumber in a storm and ground on Pointe aux Barques reef on Lake Huron. Though not thought to be seriously damaged, she resisted all efforts by the tug ZOUAVE to release her. She was finally stripped and abandoned.

On 16 June 1887, CHAMPLAIN (wooden propeller passenger/package freight vessel, 135 foot, 438 gross tons, built in 1870, at Cleveland, Ohio) was carrying passengers, merchandise and horses on Lake Michigan when an engine room lamp exploded. The fire spread so quickly that the pumps could not be started. She headed for Fisherman's Island, Grand Traverse Bay, Lake Michigan, but struck a bar and sank a mile short of the beach. 22 of the 57 persons aboard died, most from drowning. Although initially declared a total loss, the hull was towed into Harbor Springs, Michigan, then taken to Milwaukee, Wisconsin and rebuilt as CITY OF CHARLEVOIX. She was also lengthened to 165 foot. She lasted until 1924, when she burned at her lay-up dock in Manistee, Michigan. At that time, she was named KANSAS.

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Divers, archaeologists work to find out if wreck is La Salle’s Griffin

6/17 - On Lake Michigan Near Poverty Island, Mich. – Divers began opening an underwater pit Saturday at a remote site in northern Lake Michigan that they say could be the resting place of the Griffin, a ship commanded by the 17th century French explorer La Salle.

U.S. and French archaeologists examined sediment removed from a hole dug near a timber slab that expedition leader Steve Libert discovered wedged in the lakebed in 2001. They found a 15-inch slab of blackened wood that might have been a human-fashioned "cultural artifact," although more analysis will be required to determine whether it was part of a vessel, project manager Ken Vrana said.

Libert, who has spent about three decades searching for the Griffin (also known by its French equivalent Le Griffon), said he hoped that by Sunday, the excavation would reach what sonar readings indicate is a distinct shape beneath several feet of sediment. The object is over 40 feet long and about 18 feet wide dimensions similar to those the Griffin is believed to have had, Vrana said.

But he said it was too early to declare the site a shipwreck, let alone the object of their quest.

"Soon we will find out whether our assumption is correct or not," Vrana said aboard the Proud Maid, a 45-foot commercial fishing boat that ferried journalists and crew members to the search area near Poverty Island in Michigan waters north of the entrance to Green Bay. "We've got to get those test pits dug and hit (the) structure, because anything else is pure speculation."

After meeting with team members Saturday night, he told reporters that "within a couple of days we should know" whether a ship graveyard lies beneath the surface.

Although Libert and his associates have dived at the site numerous times and conducted several surveys with remote sensing equipment, they hadn't conducted archaeological excavations until receiving a permit from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources this month after years of legal squabbles. The agency claims ownership over all Great Lakes shipwrecks in the state's waters, although it acknowledges France would have rights to the Griffin because it was sailing under the authority of King Louis XIV.

Taking part in the dive Saturday were Michel L'Hour, director of the Department of Underwater Archaeological Research in the French Ministry of Culture and a noted authority on shipwrecks, and associate Olivia Hulot. The U.S. leaders said they hoped the visitors, with their knowledge of design and construction features of French ships from the 17th and 18th century, could help confirm whether the Griffin had been found.

"The Griffin is very important to the early history of America," L'Hour said in an interview before taking his first look at the site. "If this is the Griffin, it will teach us many things."

Rene Robert Cavelier de la Salle ordered the Griffin built near Niagara Falls in 1679 to support his quest for what was widely but erroneously believed to be a passageway to China and Japan. It was the first European-style vessel to traverse the upper Great Lakes, crossing Lake Erie and venturing northward to Lake Huron, then across Lake Michigan to the eastern shore of modern-day Wisconsin.

La Salle ordered the ship to return for more supplies and to deliver a load of furs, while he continued his journey by canoe. The Griffin was never heard from again. There are various theories about its fate, but none that have been proven. Libert, who spent years studying the writings of La Salle and a companion, believes it sank in a fierce storm only a few miles after setting sail.

Libert said Saturday the recovery of the slab of wood and prospects for reaching what may be the ship's hull shortly were promising signs.

"Right now I'm pretty excited, from what I know so far," he said, but added: "Scientific (proof) is 100 percent. It's not 99.9 percent."





Today in Great Lakes History - June 17

On June 17, 1895, the J. W. Westcott Co. inaugurated its unique mail delivery service.

On 17 June 1878, the Canadian schooner JAMES SCOTT of Port Burwell capsized and sank in Lake Erie. The captain's wife, their child and two seamen were drowned.

The wooden schooner MONTEREY, which stranded on Sleeping Bear Point on Lake Michigan in early December 1890, was released on 17 June 1891.

The SCOTT MISENER (Hull#11) was christened on June 17, 1951, for Colonial Steamships Ltd. She was the first vessel built at Port Weller Drydocks Ltd. Renamed b.) JOHN E. F. MISENER in 1954, she was scrapped at Cartagena, Columbia, in 1986.

The PATERSON of 1954 collided with the steamer EDMUND W. MUDGE in 1957, in fog on the St. Clair River opposite Marine City, Michigan.

The WILLIAM A. IRVIN was towed to the Duluth Convention Center on June 17, 1986, by the tugs SIOUX and DAKOTA to be on station as a museum ship at the new $3 million convention facility.

June 17, 1998 - The barge PERE MARQUETTE 41 and tug UNDAUNTED arrived Ludington, Michigan from Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, after the remainder of the conversion there.

The propeller OWEN SOUND was launched at Collingwood, Ontario, on 17 June 1875. She measured 900 tons and could carry 30,000 bushels of grain.

1909 – The iron hulled passenger and freight steamer CAMPANA had been cut in two to leave the Great Lakes in 1895, but the hull broke in 1909 where the sections had been rejoined and sank in the St. Lawrence at Point St. Michael a few miles below Quebec City.

1918 – JAY GOULD was loaded with coal and towing the barge COMMODORE when it began leaking and then sank eight miles southeast of Southeast Shoal, Lake Erie. The hull was later dynamited as a hazard to navigation. The barge was overwhelmed by the seas and rolled in the trough for about two hours before it also sank. All on board both ships were saved.

1941 – The Lake Ontario passenger steamer KINGSTON ran aground on a shoal in the St. Lawrence 15 miles SW of Ogdensburg, NY after losing her way in thick fog. The passengers were transferred to RAPIDS PRINCE and the ship was released with the aid of pontoons and repaired at Kingston.

1998 – MOUNTAIN BLOSSOM was downbound in the Seaway when it struck the approach wall at the Eisenhower Lock, opening a crack in the hull that allowed about 50 gallons of xylene to escape. The immediate area was evacuated but the problem was quickly cleaned up. The ship was a regular Great Lakes trader from 1986 to 2007 and was scrapped at Xinhui, China, after arriving on January 10, 2010.

[yachtsmanwilly]

Today in Great Lakes History - June 18

The steamer ILLINOIS was the first vessel to pass through the newly opened Soo Locks in 1855. To help commemorate the 100th anniversary of this event, an open house was held aboard the J. L. MAUTHE. While tied up at the Cleveland Lakefront dock, an estimated 1,700 persons toured the MAUTHE.

During a moonlight charter on 18 June 1936, the TASHMOO (steel side-wheel excursion steamer, 308 foot, 1,344 gross tons, built in 1900, at Wyandotte, Michigan) struck a boulder in the Sugar Island channel in the Detroit River. The vessel docked at Amherstburg, Ontario, where her passengers disembarked as the vessel settled to the bottom in 14 feet of water. Although the damage was not fatal, the salvage crew botched the job. The TASHMOO had one end raised too quickly and her keel broke. This ended this well-loved vessel’s too-short career.

The Soo Locks opened for their first season on 18 June 1855. The first vessel through the locks was the steamer ILLINOIS of 1853.

In 1949, the WILFRED SYKES (Hull#866) was launched at American Shipbuilding Co., Lorain, Ohio, for Inland Steel Co. At the time she was the largest and most powerful vessel on the lakes. The SYKES was also the first boat to have a poop deck. She was converted to a self-unloader in 1975.

In 1964, the bulk freighter SAGUENAY (Hull#647) was launched at Lauzon, Quebec, by Davie Ship Building Ltd., for Canada Steamship Lines Ltd.

In 1968, the ALGOCEN (Hull#191) was launched at Collingwood, Ontario by Collingwood Shipyards Ltd, for Algoma Central Railway. Renamed b.) VALGOCEN in 2005, she was used as a spoils barge in Keasby, New Jersey. She returned to the lakes in in 2008 as J.W. SHELLEY. Sold and renamed PHOENIX STAR in 2012.

On 18 June 1869, a little less than a week after being launched, the schooner DAVID A. WELLS sailed on her maiden voyage from Port Huron for Menominee, Michigan.

On 18 June 1858, the steamship CANADA left the Lakes via the St. Lawrence rapids since she was too large for the existing locks. She had been built by Louis Shickluna at the Niagara Drydock Company in 1853, at a cost of $63,000. She was sold for ocean service after the Depression of 1857. Her hull was rebuilt and she was renamed MISSISSIPPI. She foundered in a gale in the South Atlantic on 12 August 1862.

The venerable side-wheel passenger ferry TRILLIUM (Hull #94) was launched June 18, 1910, at Toronto, Ontario by Polson Iron Works, for the Toronto Ferry Co.

1905 –ETRURIA sank after a collision with the AMASA STONE off Passage Island Light, Lake Superior.

1942 – The steamer THOMAS MAYTHAM of 1892 vintage was rebuilt as the New York State Barge Canal tanker DOLOMITE 2 in 1938 and renamed MOTOREX in 1942. It was sunk by gunfire from U-172 near the Colon entrance to the Panama Canal and all on board were rescued.

1944 – ALBERT C. FIELD, a former Great Lakes bulk canaller, was hit by an aerial torpedo from German aircraft and broke in two and sank in minutes. There were 4 lives lost when the ship was hit in the English Channel while carrying munitions and 130 bags of mail in support of the Normandy invasion.

1959 – SPRINGDALE, a Great Lakes trader in the early 1950s and later operated on charter to Reoch Transports, capsized and sank in the Gulf of Bothnia after the cargo of timber shifted in heavy weather.

1960 – GEERTJE BUISMAN came to the Great Lakes in 1960 and ran aground on Vienne Shoal in northern Lake Michigan while outbound from Chicago with a cargo that included new Nash Rambler automobiles for Europe. The Dutch vessel was stuck for 4 days, and had to be lightered. It returned to the Seaway again in later years and was finally scrapped as f) MOUNT at Varna, Bulgaria, in 2003-2004.

1991 – The saltwater trader AKTI was driven aground 14 miles north of Necochea, Argentina, in a storm and sold “as lies” before being refloated as d) AKTO on July 27. Examination determined that the ship was a total loss but it was rebuilt by Chilean interests as e) RIO CIERVOS. The vessel had been through the Seaway as a) ASIA PROSPERITY beginning in 1974, as b) HAN PACIFIC in 1983, and c) AKTI in 1988. It was scrapped at g) AL GIORGIS after arriving at Chittagong, Bangladesh, on November 17, 2005.

1997 – CANADIAN MARINER ran aground in the St. Lawrence near Crossover Shoal after losing power. The vessel had to be lightered to be released and was repaired by Port Weller Dry Docks. The ship was scrapped at Aliaga, Turkey, in 2007.


Help wanted: Marine officers and engineers

6/18 - Fettes Shipping Inc. is offering full-time employment opportunities for deck officers and engineers for Canadian flag Great Lakes self-unloading tug/barge cement carriers. Needed are candidates with some dry bulk or tug/barge experience. We offer highest salaries and benefits in tug/barge operations including two months onboard with one month off paid vacation, medical coverage and Family Security Plan, all under a Collective Agreement. We expect from candidates strong communication skills and good work ethic. Candidates must be able to travel to the U.S. portions of the Great Lakes area and must have valid Canadian passport, all applicable Transport Canada certificates and valid medical certificate issued by Transport Canada.

Transport Canada Certificates required for following positions are:
Chief Mate Watchkeeping Mate NC or OOW-C, STCW II/2
Watchkeeping Mate Watchkeeping Mate NC or OOW-C, STCW II/1
Second / Third Engineer 3rd / 4th Motor Ship, STCW III/1 or 3

Please send your resume to:
Human Resources
Fettes Shipping Inc.
3385 Harvester Road, Suite 250
Burlington, ON L7N 3N2
Fax: [phone]
Email: [e-mail]



Port Reports - June 18

Marquette, Mich. – Rod Burdick
American Mariner and Capt. Henry Jackman arrived to load ore Monday evening at the Upper Harbor. Jackman's last visit was in the fall of 2011.

Escanaba, Mich. - Denny Dushane
Interlake Steamship's 1,000-footer Mesabi Miner arrived and loaded at the CN Ore Dock in Escanaba on Monday.

Alpena, Mich. - Ben & Chanda McClain
Monday brought two vessels to Lafarge. The tug G.L Ostrander and barge Integrity were loading cement for Detroit during the morning. Manitowoc arrived by early evening and tied up to unload coal.

Cedarville & Port Inland, Mich. - Denny Dushane
At Cedarville the Cason J. Callaway was expected to arrive in the early morning on Monday to load for Duluth. Following the Callaway will be the Joseph L. Block on Tuesday in the early afternoon and the Wilfred Sykes rounds out the Cedarville schedule arriving on Wednesday in the early afternoon.

At Port Inland, the barge Ashtabula and tug Defiance arrived in the morning on Sunday and was due out in the evening on Sunday. Wilfred Sykes also arrived in the morning on Sunday and was due out either late in the evening on Sunday or early on Monday. Joseph L. Block was expected to arrive at Port Inland during the late evening on Monday to load. Sam Laud rounds is expected to load on Tuesday in the early afternoon.

Stoneport & Calcite, Mich. - Denny Dushane
At Stoneport, the Lewis J. Kuber loaded on Monday and expected to depart at around 5 p.m. Two other vessels, the Joseph H. Thompson along with the Great Republic, were also expected on Monday. The Thompson was due to arrive in the late morning, while the Great Republic was due to arrive in the late afternoon. For Tuesday, the Manitowoc is expected to arrive in the early morning to load. There are three vessels on the schedule for Wednesday with the Lewis J. Kuber returning in the late morning to load, followed by the Great Lakes Trader also late in the morning on Wednesday, and the Manistee arriving at noon.

At Calcite, the James L. Kuber loaded from the North Dock and was due to depart around 9 a.m. There are no vessels scheduled at Calcite's Docks for Tuesday. On Wednesday there are two vessels, American Courage and St. Clair, due to load limestone. American Courage will arrive in the early morning for the North and South Docks, while the St. Clair will make a rare visit in the late evening, loading at the South Dock.

Toledo, Ohio - Denny Dushane
American Mariner is due to arrive at the Torco Dock to unload a cargo of iron ore pellets on Wednesday in the early afternoon. There are three vessels due to arrive on Thursday with iron ore. Sam Laud is due in first in the late morning, followed by the Lee A. Tregurtha for a noon arrival. Rounding out the lineup is the Lakes Contender in the late afternoon. There is nothing due at the Midwest Terminal Stone Dock at this time. Vessels scheduled to load coal at the CSX Coal Dock includes American Mariner on Thursday just after midnight along with the Saginaw on Friday during the morning. Algoma Progress is also due on Friday in the early afternoon. Algosoo is due to load coal at the CSX Coal Dock on Sunday, June 23, in the early evening. Finally, the Algoma Enterprise is expected to arrive on Tuesday, June 25, during the early evening to load coal at the CSX Dock.

Ashtabula Ohio - Duff Rawlings
The tug John Francis is conducting dredging operations from up river and dumping dredged material North East of Ashtabula Light in the lake. Federal St Laurent is being unload at the Pinney Dock. The Calumet arrived and turned around inside outer harbor to back into coal dock for loading.

Oswego, N.Y. - Ned Goebricher
The cement carrier Stephen B. Roman and research vessel Lake Guardian were in port Monday.



U.S.-Flag cargo movement on Lakes Up 3.3 percent in May

6/18 - Cleveland, Ohio – U.S.-flag Great Lakes freighters carried 10.1 million tons of dry-bulk cargo in May, an increase of 3.3 percent compared to the corresponding period last year. The May float was also largely in line with the month’s long-term average.

U.S.-flag lakers moved 4.9 million tons of iron ore in May, 76 percent of all ore moving on the Lakes/Seaway that month. The 4.9 million tons represent a slight increase compared to a year ago, but a decrease of 3 percent compared to the months long-term average.

Coal shipments in U.S. hulls totaled 1.8 million tons, 69.6 percent of all coal moving on the Lakes/Seaway in May. The fleets May coal total was, however, a decrease of 6.2 percent compared to a year ago.

The 2.8 million tons of limestone hauled by U.S.-flag lakers in May represent both 79.1 percent of the trade that month and an increase of 14.6 percent compared to a year ago.

Through May, the U.S.-flag float stands at 22.6 million tons, a decrease of 7.4 percent compared to a year ago. Iron ore cargos are down by 7.4 percent. Coal loadings trail last year by 13.5 percent. Shipments of limestone are 2.4 percent off last years pace.

Lake Carriers' Association

[yachtsmanwilly]

Griffin investigators: Timber found in Lake Michigan centuries old

6/20 - Fairport, Mich. – Scientists say a wooden beam extending from the floor of northern Lake Michigan appears to have been there for centuries, an important finding as they try to determine whether it’s part of the Griffin, the first European-style ship to sail on the upper Great Lakes.

Marine archaeologists from the U.S. and France are studying the timber and digging a pit beneath it. They said Tuesday a probing device has detected what appears to be a solid surface 18 to 20 feet below the lake floor.

They say they’re still not certain they’re dealing with a shipwreck. But Michel L’Hour of Frances Department of Underwater Archaeological Research says the timber appears to be a bowsprit, which is a pole that extends from a vessel’s stem. The Griffin disappeared in 1679.

Rene Robert Cavelier de la Salle ordered the Griffin built near Niagara Falls in 1679 to support his quest for what was widely but erroneously believed to be a passageway to China and Japan. It was the first European-style vessel to traverse the upper Great Lakes, crossing Lake Erie and venturing northward to Lake Huron, then across Lake Michigan to the eastern shore of modern-day Wisconsin.

La Salle ordered the ship to return for more supplies and to deliver a load of furs, while he continued his journey by canoe. The Griffin was never heard from again. There are various theories about its fate, but none that have been proven.


International Tugboat Race this weekend on the Detroit River

6/20 - Detroit, Mich. – The annual International Tugboat Race will take place this Saturday on the Detroit River at 1 p.m. The race can be viewed from Windsor or from the river aboard the tour boat Friendship departing from Wyandotte, Mich.. Click here for race details www.tugrace.com Click here for Cruise information




Today in Great Lakes History - June 20

On 19 June 1889, NORTH STAR (steel propeller freighter, 299 foot, 2,476 gross tons, built in 1889, at Cleveland, Ohio) collided with CHARLES J. SHEFFIELD (steel propeller freighter, 260 foot, 1,699 gross tons, built in 1887, at Cleveland, Ohio) about sixty miles west of Whitefish Point on Lake Superior in heavy fog. The NORTH STAR kept her bow in the SHEFFIELD's side after the impact, giving the crew time to board. The SHEFFIELD then sank in 8 minutes. Her loss was valued at $160,000. The courts found both vessels to be equally at fault after years of litigation.

In 1954, GEORGE M. HUMPHREY (Hull#871) (named for President Eisenhower's Secretary of Treasury) was launched at Lorain, Ohio, by American Shipbuilding Co, for National Steel Co., M.A. Hanna, mgr.

In 1978, ALGOBAY (Hull#215) was launched by Collingwood Shipyards Ltd. for Algoma Central Railway. Renamed b.) ATLANTIC TRADER in 1994, and renamed c.) ALGOBAY in 1996 and d.) RADCLIFFE R. LATIMER in 2012.

On 19 June 1836, DELAWARE (wooden passenger/package freight side wheeler, 105 foot, 178 tons, built in 1833, at Huron, Ohio) was carrying general merchandise and passengers in a storm on Lake Michigan when she was thrown ashore off Niles, Illinois. She broke in two and was wrecked. No lives were lost.

On 19 June 1900, the wooden schooner THOMAS L. HOWLAND was raised and towed to Buffalo, New York for repairs. She had been sunk by the ice off Windmill Point in the Detroit River early in the season.

At 5:30 p.m., on 19 June 1872, the wooden package freight/passenger propeller MONTANA (236 foot, 1,535 gross tons) was finally afloat at Port Huron, Michigan. She was successfully launched at the Port Huron Dry Dock Company on Saturday, 15 June, but she got stuck in the mud. The tugs VULCAN, PRINDEVILLE, BROCKWAY and BURNSIDE were all employed to free her and the MONTANA's engines were also going. It took four days of pulling, hoisting and dredging to free her. The effort to get her free and afloat cost Alexander Muir, her builder, over $3,000 (in 1872 dollars). She lasted until 1914, when she burned near Alpena, Michigan.

1905 – The wooden passenger and freight steamer CITY OF COLLINGWOOD of 1893 vintage was destroyed by a fire at Collingwood and four lives were lost.

1917 – The Canadian bulk carrier NATIRONCO was beached in the Detroit River after a collision with the ASTERN STATES and was deemed a total loss. It was raised and repaired at Toledo and survived until scrapping at Civitavecchia, Italy, as d) SAN CARLO in 1929.

1925 – The wooden freighter MAPLEGLEN (i), is scuttled in Lake Ontario, west of Kingston, near Amherst Island. It had been idle since 1921 and was originally the WYOMING of 1881.

1929 –JOHN HANLAN was torched as a spectacle off the Sunnyside area of Toronto after having failed an inspection to continue service as a Toronto Island ferry.

1933 – MEADCLIFFE HALL sustained rudder damage after being struck by the CALGADOC (i) at Thorold. The grain-laden canaller was towed back to Port Colborne, unloaded, and repaired at Port Dalhousie.

1962 – Hatch cover planks give way at Cleveland aboard FLOWERGATE and a forklift and two men fell into the cargo hold, striking a third man. All were badly injured. The British freighter later returned through the Seaway under Panamanian registry as b) AMENITY and was scrapped at Troon, Scotland, in 1977.

[yachtsmanwilly]

Today in Great Lakes History - June 20

On this day in 1943, the IRVING S. OLDS departed Two Harbors with 20,543 tons of ore and the BENJAMIN F. FAIRLESS departed Two Harbors with 20,386 tons of ore. It was the first time that two lakers departed the same harbor on the same day with cargos in excess of 20,000 tons.

The SENATOR (steel propeller freighter, 410 foot, 4,048 gross tons) was launched by the Detroit Dry Dock Company (Hull #122) at Wyandotte, Michigan, on 20 June 1896, for the Wolverine Steamship Company. She lasted until 31 October 1929, when she collided with the steamer MARQUETTE in fog off Port Washington, Wisconsin, and sank with her cargo of 241 automobiles.

On 20 June 1893, GEORGE STONE (wooden propeller freighter, 270 foot, 1,841 gross tons) was launched by F. W. Wheeler & Co. (Hull #98) at West Bay City, Michigan. She lasted until 1909, when she stranded and burned on Lake Erie.

The WILLIAM P. COWAN (Hull#724) cleared Lorain, Ohio on her maiden voyage in 1918. Renamed b.) AMOCO ILLINOIS in 1962. Scrapped at Windsor, Ontario, by M & M Steel Co., in 1987.

In 1903, the twin-screw rail car ferry GRAND HAVEN (Hull#92) was launched at Toledo, Ohio, by the Craig Ship Building Co., for the Grand Trunk Carferry Line, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

1953 – The Paterson steamer SCOTIADOC sank in Lake Superior near Trowbridge Island after a collision in wind and fog with the BURLINGTON of Canada Steamship Lines. One man was lost when the starboard lifeboat was swamped after being launched

1954 – The bulk carrier PATRIA, built in Canada during World War Two as the tanker MOOSE MOUNTAIN PARK, was declared a total loss after coming ashore 1 mile northwest of East Point, Santa Rosa Island, California. The ship was salvaged, repaired and made one trip through the Seaway in 1961 as PATAPSCO RIVER before being scrapped at Hirao, Japan, in 1963.

1973 – The bulk carrier ATLANTIC TRADER first traded through the Seaway in 1961 and returned on a regular basis as INVEREWE beginning in 1962. It was back again as d) THEOKEETOR in 1972 but sank June 20, 1973, after a collision with MARINA L. in dense fog off the Baja Peninsula of Mexico. All on board were saved.

1978 – A fire broke out in the cargo of coal aboard WILLIS B. BOYER and the ship docked at River Rouge where part of the cargo was unloaded to get at the fire. The vessel was enroute from Toledo to Silver Bay.

1995 – SAULT AU COCHON, built by Port Weller Dry Docks as a pulpwood barge in 1969, buckled and sank at Forestville, QC. The hull was refloated and taken to Hamilton for repairs later in the year.

2007 – KAPITAN RADIONOV first came to the Great Lakes in May 1992 with coal tar for Cleveland. It sank in severe weather on this date in 2007 as i) ALEXANDRA C. after flooding began in the engine room the previous day. The vessel went down 95 miles off Socotra Island, Yemen, while enroute to Australia with ammonium nitrate. All 19 crew on board were rescued.

On June 20, 1959, the SEAWAY QUEEN began her maiden voyage. The vessel was appropriately named, as at the time she was the largest Canadian vessel on the Great Lakes, the 2nd largest on the Great Lakes overall (behind the EDMUND FITZGERALD), and she entered service the same week that Queen Elizabeth II and President Dwight D. Eisenhower formally dedicated the St. Lawrence Seaway. She was one of the more popular and classic looking vessels on the Great Lakes.

June 20, 1936 - PERE MARQUETTE 21 was blocked in Manitowoc following an accident that disabled the Manitowoc Tenth Street Bridge, making it impossible to raise the structure.

June 20, 1993 - BADGER struck the Ludington breakwall while arriving Ludington. She was sent to Sturgeon Bay for repairs. Ten operating days and 21 sailings were lost.

The 230-foot wooden freighter JAMES DAVIDSON (Hull#4) was launched at West Bay City, Michigan, for James Davidson at his shipyard on 20 June 1874. JAMES DAVIDSON was wrecked in Lake Huron in 1883.

The MINNEHAHA, a wooden "clipper" schooner, was launched at James A. Baker's shipyard in Oswego, New York, on 20 June 1857. Her dimensions were 110 foot keel, 125 foot overall, x 25 foot 6 inches x 10 foot 6 inches. She could carry 13,000 bushels of grain. Mr. James Navagh, her master builder, received a gold watch and chain worth $200 in appreciation of his fine work on this vessel.

On Wednesday night, 20 June 1877, the schooner EVELINE (wooden schooner, 118 foot, 236 gross tons, built in 1861, at Litchfield, Michigan) was struck by lightning about sixty miles out from Alpena, Michigan. The bolt shattered the mainmast, throwing three large pieces over the vessel's sides. The large spar was split perpendicularly in two and the lightning bolt followed the grain of the wood in a circular manner until it reached the main boom jaw, which is enclosed in a band of iron fastened by a large bolt. This bolt was literally cut in two. The mate, George Mayom, had the left side of his body blistered and the skin burned off from the shoulder to the foot. His right leg, hands and arm were also severely burned, and he suffered internal injuries and bled freely. The vessel made it to port and she was repaired. She lasted until September 1895, when she sank off Kewaunee, Wisconsin.



Welcoming ceremony held for USCG Morro Bay to new homeport of Cleveland

6/20 - Cleveland, Ohio – The Coast Guard 9th District welcomed a new addition to the service's Great Lakes cutter fleet during a ceremony Wednesday at the Coast Guard's Cleveland Moorings facility.

Rear Adm. Michael Parks, Coast Guard 9th District commander, Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson, and other local and military agency representatives were on hand to welcome the ship and 17 crewmembers to their new homeport.

"She's pretty unique, but a constant has always been operational excellence, and my crew and I look forward to continuing that tradition in the Great Lakes," said Lt. Cmdr. Ben Keffer, the commanding officer of Coast Guard Cutter Morro Bay. "As an Ohio native, there's no better place to be than Cleveland."

Cutter Morro Bay was commissioned in 1981, homeported in Yorktown, Va., and operated mainly on the Chesapeake Bay, until decommissioning in 1998. However, after the 9/11 attacks, the Coast Guard wanted more resources in the Northeast for security operations and brought the ship back to service. The Coast Guard shifted its homeport to New London, where the vessel fell under the operational control of the Coast Guard 1st District.

For the past several winters, the Coast Guard has temporarily assigned one of the 1st District's Bay Class ice-breaking tugs to the Great Lakes to assist the 9th District's crews with domestic ice-breaking operations. However, these seasonal deployments were not ideal due to the high cost, the operational hours lost in transit, and the toll on personal lives of the crewmembers and their families.

The Coast Guard conducted a mission analysis in March 2011 to consider such things as search-and-rescue readiness, distribution of workload on ice-breaking assets, and overall readiness and maintenance of the cutter fleet. That study determined Lake Erie to be the best fit for a homeport. A feasibility study conducted later determined the Coast Guard-owned Cleveland Moorings facility to be the best location for the ship's homeport, where it will join Coast Guard Cutter Neah Bay as the eastern-most ice-breaking cutters in the Great Lakes. There are no Coast Guard icebreakers homeported in Lake Ontario.

The crew of cutter Morro Bay will serve across the Great Lakes region, contributing to Operations Taconite and Coal Shovel, the nation's largest domestic ice-breaking operations. During the winter months, the 9th District's fleet of cutters provides ice-breaking services for search and rescue, other emergency operations, flood mitigation, and the facilitation of navigation to meet the reasonable demands of commerce. During the summer months, the cutters are still available to aid in search and rescue and other emergency operations.

[yachtsmanwilly]

Today in Great Lakes History - June 21

On 21 June 1868, the D&C Line's MORNING STAR (wooden side-wheel steamer, 243 foot, 1,075 tons, built in 1862, at Trenton, Michigan) was late in leaving her dock in Cleveland, Ohio, because she was loading some last-minute freight (iron bars and glass). As she sailed on Lake Erie to Detroit during the dark and rainy night, she collided with the heavy-laden bark COURTLAND and sank quickly, 10 miles off Lorain, Ohio. Twenty feet of the steamer's bow had been torn off while the bark was swept into one of the paddle wheels and destroyed. The side-wheel steamer R N RICE arrived on the scene at 3 a.m. and picked up the survivors - only 44 of them. In September, MORNING STAR was raised, towed to Lorain and re-sunk in 55 feet of water, for possible future rebuilding. Attempts were made to raise her again several times, but in the summer of 1872, she was abandoned because it was determined that the previous attempts had reduced her to rubble.

On 21 June 1878, the small passenger steamer J. HOLT, which ran between Chatham and Wallaceburg, Ontario, burned on Lake St. Clair. The passengers and crew escaped in the lifeboats.

On June 21, 1942, the LEON FRASER entered service as the largest vessel on the Great Lakes. The Pittsburgh Steamship Co. bulk freighter, originally 639 foot 6 inches long, retained at least a tie for that honor until the WILFRED SYKES entered service in 1949. She was shortened, converted to a self-unloading cement carrier and renamed b.) ALPENA in 1991.

June 21, 1942, the U.S. Steel bulk freighter EUGENE J. BUFFINGTON ran hard aground on Boulder Reef in Lake Michigan and broke in two. The vessel was subsequently recovered and, after a long career with U.S. Steel, was finally sold for scrap in 1980.

The m/v RANGER III (Hull#385) was side-launched at Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin by Christy Corporation, on Saturday, June 21, 1958. The vessel was custom designed by R.A. Stearns (Bay Engineering) also of Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, for the National Park Service, Isle Royale National Park.

On June 21, 1986, during a severe thunderstorm (and unofficial observations of a funnel cloud) in the Duluth area, the JOSHUA A. HATFIELD broke loose from Azcon Scrap Dock in Duluth and was blown across the harbor and ended up hard aground on Park Point (Minnesota Point). She remained stuck for nearly 3 weeks when a storm with east winds pushed the HATFIELD free and she blew most of the way back across the harbor back to the scrap dock. Tugs were dispatched in time to safely guide the HATFIELD back to the scrap dock. (June seems to be a bad month for U.S. Steel in accidents, with the June 7, 1977, accident involving the WILLIAM A. IRVIN, the June 15, 1943, collision between the D. M. CLEMSON and the GEORGE M. HUMPHREY, and the June 21, 1942, grounding of the EUGENE J. BUFFINGTON on Boulder Reef.)

June 21, 1916 - The ANN ARBOR NO 5, after departing the shipyards in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on June 21, 1916, where 3 buckets (blades) were replaced on her starboard propeller, arrived in Manistique, Michigan. While maneuvering around in the harbor she struck the rocky bottom and broke off the same three blades off her starboard propeller.

June 21, 1994 - The Ludington Daily News reported a planned sale of the CITY OF MIDLAND 41, to Contessa Cruise Lines of Minnesota. The deal included an option to sell the SPARTAN and Contessa was prohibited from competing against Lake Michigan Carferry Co., but it fell through.

The 3-mast wooden schooner GEORGE MURRAY was launched in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, on 21 June 1873. At the time, she was billed as the largest vessel ever built on Lake Michigan. Her dimensions were 299 foot long x 34 foot beam x 14 foot depth, with the capacity to carry 50,000 bushels of grain. She was built by G. S. Rand for J. R. Slauson of Racine, Wisconsin.

1910 – The tug C.W. ELPHICKE sank at Michigan City, Indiana, after a bizarre accident. The steamer UNITED STATES had struck the Franklin Street Bridge, which then collapsed on the tug. The tug was salvaged on July 12.

1941 – BOMMESTAD, a small Norwegian freighter, came to the Great Lakes in the 1920s and 1930s. It was sold and renamed HILDA in 1934 and registered in Finland when it was torpedoed and sunk by U-52 in the Bay of Biscay while enroute from Dunkirk, France, to the U.K. with a cargo of wheat.

1964 – The Norwegian freighter STELLA NOVA ran aground off Alexandria Bay, N.Y., while enroute from Duluth to Bombay, India. It was refloated June 24 with major bottom damage but was repaired. It had been a Seaway trader as a) VITO in 1959 and was scrapped as f) CORALBA after arriving at Split, Yugoslavia, on September 19, 1978.

On 21 June 1900, the wooden bulk freighter R C BRITTAIN was raised at Toledo, Ohio. She was brought to Sarnia where repairs were made and the engine of the tug F A FOLGER was installed in her. She had previously sunk at Toledo and remained there for several years before being raised. She lasted until 1912, when she burned at Sarnia.



Sarnia sub chaser Duc d'Orleans restoration abandoned

6/21 - Sarnia, Ont. – First her hull was stripped down, and then came the wheelhouse, railings and fuel tanks. Now the Q105 Second World War submarine chaser is stripped of any chance of restoration.

The volunteers, who lifted the original Duc d'Orleans boat out of the water nearly six years ago to rebuild her, have declared defeat.

They knew it was a challenging project but believed they could restore her back to her original condition when she was built for the war at Mac Craft in Sarnia in 1942. They believed the Q105 would become the only remaining Second World War Canadian naval vessel still under power.

But their elaborate – and expensive – plan was abandoned six weeks ago, says Paul Woolley of the Friends of Q105.

“Every time we turned around, our ability to raise money fell through,” he said. “There was a pretty large group of people working on it when we started and they got frustrated as we kept getting turned down for grants and fundraising events.”

The 70-year-old ship was lifted from the water on Dec. 9, 2007 at the end of Exmouth Street. About 200 people watched as a 500-ton super crane safely set her down on a triangle of land owned by Central Machine & Marine.

Work began right away and volunteers anticipated it would take three years max.

At least $12,000 was donated toward restoration of the old warship, which was used locally as a cruise boat years later. Woolley estimated another $100,000 was given in kind.

“But we knew we needed more than $1 million,” he said. “We went after government grants but they were all drying up. It was bad economic timing.”

Woolley said most of the money raised was needed to pay for insurance, electricity and taxes at the restoration site. He now believes the Q105 will be destroyed and hauled off to the dump. The engine has already been removed and sold, leaving a gaping hole in the side of the hull.

Former city councillor and mayoral candidate Joe Murray said he's sorry to see “another piece of history go.”

Years ago, he was interested in incorporating the restored Q105 into a historic village project he called Port Sarnia. Both projects are defunct now.

“It breaks my heart,” Murray said. “It's a crime. When all this started, we were as excited as can be.”

Ken Bracewell is the former owner of the Q105 and operated her as the Duc d'Orleans cruise boat out of Sarnia Bay for 26 years. He donated the ship to Friends of Q105 and said he's sad to see the restoration never took off.

“A lot of people were willing to put effort into it,” said Bracewell, who replaced the Q105 with a new cruise boat. “But these guys did themselves in by infighting. I talked to a lot of people who said they weren't getting along.”

Bracewell said he offered a free annual cruise to fundraise for the Friends of Q105 but it never happened. “They just couldn't get it together,” he said.

A spokesman for Central Machine & Marine could not be reached for comment.

Sarnia Observer

[yachtsmanwilly]

Today in Great Lakes History - June 22

On 22 June 1959, BAYPORT (steel propeller tug, 72 foot, 65 gross tons, built in 1914, at Cleveland, Ohio, formerly named a.) FAIRPORT) had the steamer MOHAWK DEER in tow when she was hooked by her own tow cable, capsized and sank at Collingwood, Ontario. Three lives were lost. The tug was later raised and converted from steam to diesel. Later renamed c.) TWIN PORT, and d.) ROD MC LEAN in 1974. She was scrapped in 2008 at the Purvis west yard at Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario.

On 22 June 1909, W.P. THEW (wooden propeller freighter, 133 foot, 207 gross tons, built in 1884, at Lorain, Ohio) was in ballast, creeping through the fog off Alpena, Michigan on Lake Huron when she was rammed by the WILLIAM LIVINGSTONE (steel propeller freighter, 532 foot, 6,634 gross tons, built in 1908, at Ecorse, Michigan). After the collision, the LIVINGSTONE drifted away and lost track of the THEW. The THEW sank in 80 feet of water. Fortunately the steamer MARY C. ELPHICKE answered the distress whistle and picked up the THEW's crew from the lifeboat. No lives were lost.

The WILLIAM R. ROESCH (Hull#901) was launched and christened at Lorain, Ohio by American Ship Building Co., on June 22, 1973, for the Union Commerce Bank, Ohio (Trustee) and managed by the Kinsman Marine Transit Co., Cleveland, Ohio. Renamed b.) DAVID Z. NORTON in 1995, c.) DAVID Z in 2007 and d.) CALUMET in 2008.

June 22, 1957 - W. L. Mercereau, known as the Father of the Fleet, died. Mercereau developed the Pere Marquette fleet of car ferries into the largest in the world.

On 22 June 1853, CHALLENGE (wooden propeller freighter, 198 foot, 665 tons, built in 1853, at Newport, Michigan) was bound from Chicago for Buffalo with barreled pork and oats on one of her first trips. However, her boiler exploded off Cheboygan, Michigan. She burned and sank. Five died. The schooner NORTH STAR heard the blast ten miles away and came to the rescue of the rest of the passengers and crew.

On 22 June 1875, The Port Huron Times reported that "the Northern Transportation Company's fleet of 20 propellers, which have been idle all the season owing to difficulties between the Central Vermont and the Ogdensburg & Champlain Railroad Companies, have passed from the control of the Central Vermont Railroad Company and will commence regular trips as soon as they can be fitted out."


Baie Comeau Canadian registry opened

6/22 - The CSL Group Inc. registered Baie Comeau in Montreal June 21. The ship was assigned Official Number 837075. Number four in the Trillium class, the ship was built by Changxi Shipyard in China, and comes in at 24,430 gross tons.

[yachtsmanwilly]

Today in Great Lakes History - June 23

Thirty one years ago this morning, the NEPCO 140, carrying six million gallons of No. 6 bunker oil and being pushed toward Oswego by the tug EILEEN C., grounded on the shore of Wellesley Island in the American Narrows section of the St. Lawrence River, just upstream from Alexandria Bay, N.Y. The grounding occurred about 1:35 a.m. in heavy fog and was followed by a second apparent grounding further up river, just before the barge reached the Seaway anchorage site off Mason's Point, some four miles above the initial grounding site. In all, over 300,000 of the thick crude was spilled into the River, creating the largest slick ever to pollute an inland U.S. waterway to that day.

Seaway traffic was halted immediately, sending at least 20 ships to anchor. Within hours, over 20,000 feet of boom were deployed, but the spill moved steadily down river, coating granite shoreline, trapping waterfowl, forcing boat owners to pull their boats, and oozing into sensitive marshland, particularly Chippewa Bay in New York waters. Some oil eventually reached as far down the river as Lake St. Lawrence and coated shoreline along the Long Sault Parkway on the Canadian side of the lake. Clean-up lasted into the fall and cost in excess U.S. $8 million.

On 23 June 1903, the tug O.W. CHENEY steamed out of Buffalo harbor in heavy fog to tow the steamer CHEMUNG into the harbor. The tug ran too close to the oncoming steamer, was struck by the bow, and the CHENEY overturned and sank. Three crewmen were killed; two survivors were picked up by the tug FRANK S. BUTLER.

On 23 June 1969, RALPH MISENER (steel propeller bulk freighter, 730 foot, 19,160 gross tons, built in 1968, at Montreal, Quebec) transited the Soo Locks upbound for the first time. She had an innovative self-unloading system with twin booms. The movable crane was equipped with a chain of buckets so it could discharge cargo from either side. This unloading system only lasted until 1976, when it was severely damaged in a squall on Lake Michigan. The vessel was then converted from a combination self-unloader/bulk carrier to a bulk carrier. She was renamed b.) GORDON C. LEITCH in 1994.

In 1926, the GLENMHOR (Hull#16), the name was soon corrected to GLENMOHR, was launched at Midland Ontario by Midland Shipbuilding Co., for Great Lakes Transportation Co., (James Playfair). She was 6 feet wider and 4 feet shallower than the largest ship at that time. Purchased by Canada Steamship Lines in 1926, renamed b.) LEMOYNE. Scrapped at Santander, Spain in 1969.

In 1929, the WILLIAM G. CLYDE (Hull#804) was launched at Lorain, Ohio, by American Shipbuilding Co., for the Pittsburgh Steamship Co. Converted to a self-unloader and renamed b.) CALCITE II in 1961. Renamed c.) MAUMEE in 2001.

Launched in 1972, was the ALGOWAY (Hull#200) at Collingwood, Ontario, by Collingwood Shipyards Ltd., for Algoma Central Railway.

The first whaleback barge, 101, was launched along the shore of St. Louis Bay near Duluth, Minnesota, on 23 June 1888. Captain Alexander Mc Dougall, the inventor and designer, was there along with his wife, her sister-in-law and several hundred spectators. As the vessel splashed in to the bay, Mrs. Mc Dougall is supposed to have muttered, "There goes our last dollar!"

On 23 June 1900, the 450 foot steel steamer SIMON J. MURPHY (Hull#135) was launched at Wyandotte, Michigan, by the Detroit Ship Building Co., for the Eddy - Shaw Transportation Co. of Bay City, Michigan.

On 23 June 1873, B. F. BRUCE was launched at Crosthwaite's yard in East Saginaw, Michigan. She is not properly a schooner, but what is known as a "three-and-after" in nautical terms. Her capacity was 50,000 bushels of grain (800 tons) and the building cost was $50,000.

1942 – EUGENE J. BUFFINGTON struck Boulder Reef, Lake Michigan and the hull cracked in two places. The vessel as on the rocks for 25 days until it coould be strapped together and refloated. The ship was towed to Chicago for one of the largest repair jobs in Great Lakes history.

1948 – CRETE and J.P. MORGAN JR. were in a head-on collision, in fog, off the Apostle Islands, Lake Superior. Both ships suffered extensive damage. Two were killed, 3 more injured, aboard the latter steamer. ALTADOC and E.A.S. CLARKE also collided in fog near the Apostle Islands but the damage, while requiring repairs, was less serious.

[yachtsmanwilly]

Tug and barge ground Saturday in Huron Cut

6/24 - Port Huron, Mich. – The tug Ken Booth Sr. and its barge, Lakes Contender, ran aground Saturday about 9:15 p.m. just above Port Huron. The Great Lakes Towing tugs Idaho and Wyoming were dispatched from their homeport of Detroit to assist in freeing them. They were downbound in the St. Clair River Sunday headed for Detroit River’s Belle Isle anchorage for inspection prior to proceeding on to Toledo. By evening they had been cleared and were downbound off Amherstburg, Ont., at 10:30 p.m.



Whats black and white, and getting whiter? DETROIT!


One pet-coke mound on Detroit River is gone, and it won't be back

6/24 - Detroit, Mich. – One of the two giant mounds of petroleum coke that sparked an outcry from community activists and environmentalists along both sides of the Detroit River is no more.

Nicholson Terminal and Dock, which manages operations at the Detroit/Wayne County Port Authority site southwest of the Ambassador Bridge along the river, has opted to get out of the petroleum coke, or pet coke, business.

Company treasurer Patrick Sutka said the company will focus on its core business: handling aluminum and steel-related products.

Sutka said Nicholson had informed its customer that it would not be accepting any more of the material. The pet coke is a by-product of tar sands oil refining from the Marathon refinery in southwest Detroit. The pet coke is handled by Detroit Bulk Storage and owned by Koch Carbon.

The view from a boat in the Detroit River on Wednesday showed what appeared to be a relatively small amount of the material still at the Nicholson-operated site. Despite the removal of the material from the location near Clark and Jefferson, the larger of the two mounds remains in place northeast of the Ambassador Bridge on property owned by the family of billionaire Manuel (Matty) Moroun and leased to Norfolk Southern railroad. The material is owned and managed by the same companies at both sites.

State Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Detroit, said she’s focused on the larger pile, where dust continues to be a problem.

“We’re eager to see those piles trimmed down, and I want them ultimately covered,” she said. “Petroleum coke should not be so close to the waterfront.”

Tlaib has proposed legislation mandating enclosed storage and transportation for pet coke.

The decision by Nicholson comes as the Detroit City Council has directed the city’s Law Department to develop an ordinance addressing the storage of the material. It also followed a hearing last week before the Industrial Review Committee of the city’s Buildings, Safety Engineering and Environmental Department, where Nicholson was attempting to get the OK from the city to allow it to store pet coke on the site.

Critics have blasted the location of the material, which is used as a cheap fuel source when blended with coal, without any permitting process ahead of time.

Detroit Bulk Storage has asked for a permit hearing for the remaining mound with the Industrial Review Committee, but Paul Max, an environmental specialist with the department, said the company’s site plans were inadequate. He said the company is now having a survey conducted of the area to provide engineering drawings that show features such as fire hydrants and storm drains.

Detroit Bulk Storage spokesman Daniel Cherrin released a statement Thursday noting that the company has been working in the city for 13 years. “We continue to work with the city in making sure we have what is required to continue to operate in the city,” Cherrin said in the statement.

Michigan Department of Environmental Quality Director Dan Wyant met with Canadian officials and representatives of Detroit Bulk Storage at the site northeast of the Ambassador Bridge on Tuesday, according to MDEQ spokesman Brad Wurfel.

Wurfel said residents need not be concerned of an imminent public health threat from the material, which he said is of a very low toxicity, but that it is a nuisance because of the dust that continues to blow from the top of the pile, which Tlaib said is 40 feet high. She said the company has been unable to spray the top of the pile with an encrusting agent designed to control the dust because the pile is so tall.

Detroit Bulk Storage officials understand “they need to do more to control that if they want to keep it there,” Wurfel said.

U.S. Rep. Gary Peters, a Bloomfield Township Democrat, who has proposed legislation calling for a study of the health and environmental effects of pet coke, issued a statement Thursday about the dust, which has been clearly visible in recent days.

“While I appreciate the efforts under way to correct problems with dust and contaminated runoff, these reports raise serious questions about how pet coke dust and runoff has affected our community and the Great Lakes watershed,” Peters said in the statement.

It’s unclear whether the Nicholson decision will affect Detroit Bulk Storage’s operations. The company used the material at the Nicholson-operated site to top off the pet coke loaded onto freighters at the other location, which is hampered by shallower water.


Cliffs sees no flood of iron ore in Great Lakes

6/24 - Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. does not expect a flood of new supply in the Great Lakes iron ore pellet market over the next few years, the company's chief executive said on Wednesday, playing down concerns expressed by some analysts.

Credit Suisse and Morgan Stanley both warned earlier this year that a looming pellet surplus in the Great Lakes region could hit Cliffs' earnings, sending the miner's shares down sharply.

But Cliffs' CEO Joseph Carrabba told Reuters on Wednesday that the extension of its supply contract with Essar Steel Algoma announced last week suggests that Essar's greenfield iron ore project in Minnesota could be delayed.

"We see a real tightening," said Carrabba, of the isolated Great Lakes market. "Clearly, Essar's project is not coming in the time frame they said."

The first phase of the Essar project is set to start up in the second quarter of next year, and ramp up to full capacity by the end of the year, according to the company's website.

A spokeswoman for Essar Steel Algoma, a subsidiary of India's Essar Group, was not immediately available for comment. In the release that announced the contract extension, the company said Cliffs' iron ore would supplement material from the Minnesota project.

Both AK Steel and US Steel are working on smaller iron ore projects in the region. Shares of Cliffs closed down 0.75 percent at $18.45 in New York on Wednesday.


Low Great Lakes water levels costing shippers millions

6/24 - Windsor, Ont. – Record low water levels on the Great Lakes are costing the shipping industry and economy millions of dollars each year, say insiders.

Jack Frye, vice president of Southwestern Sales, which operates two shipping terminals in Windsor, Ont., estimates the low levels cost shipping companies $20,000 per freighter, or $500 million a year, in lost revenue.

Ed Dewling, captain of the Algoma Enterprise and a captain for 30 years, just passed through the Detroit River loaded with petroleum coke. His 222-metre freighter, which has a 24,494-tonne capacity cap, was running 907 tonnes light. "We're running light all the time now," Dewling said.

Water levels are down because warmer air and water temperatures accelerate evaporation and the region hasn't been getting as much rain or snow in recent years.

Al Vanagas, senior vice-president of technical operations at Sterling Fuel on the banks of the Detroit River, says the low levels cost everyone, not just shippers. "It drives the cost of buying product up when you're an end user or shipping cargo because you can't ship as much as you used to," he said.

Dewling refused to say how much of the 907 tonnes he couldn't haul this trip cost the company. But he called it "significant." The cost of fuel and number of crewmembers remain constant. So fixed costs never change, he said.

"At some point you're going to have to pass it along to the end receiver of your product," said David Cree, head of the Windsor Port Authority.

Every year, the port authority receives tonnes of aggregate, used in road construction in regions outside Windsor.

"You have to look around the entire province and [at] the costs municipalities are going to be paying for road work if the cost of moving product around by water gets more expensive," Cree said. "That's going to affect the cost of those products."

Vanagas, though, says water levels have to drop several more metres before shipping costs more than ground transportation.

Dewling said his freighter needs only 30 centimetres of clearance to navigate the channels from Lake Huron to Lake Erie. He has to slow down in shallower water to remain safe.

"The deeper the water, the better she handles, though," he said.

Saad Jasim, former director of the International Joint Commission in Windsor, said people should take note of the levels sooner rather than later. "Civilization starts around the water sources. So we have to maintain our water sources," he said. "We need to look at the challenges that are facing us and not wait until it becomes a major problem."

The International Joint Commission, which regulates shared water uses and recommends solutions to problems on shared waterways, is urging both Canada and the U.S. to consider installing water retention structures to boost lake levels. Frye suggested something similar.

"If I was to suggest something, I would suggest strategically located weirs, built out of stone, so it would retard the water from flowing as fast down the Great Lakes, rising the waters. But again, it would have to be strategically placed, and [require] approval of both the Canadian and American governments," he said. "The natural solution, of course, is more rain."



Facelift due for Lorain lighthouse

6/24 - Lorain, Ohio – The Jewel of the Port of Lorain will get some home improvements this year.

New windows, paint, cabinetry and a display case for the lighthouse lens all are in the works this summer. The Port of Lorain Foundation Inc. is in the planning stages for a renovation to be paid for with a $190,000 grant from the Ohio Cultural Facilities Commission.

The lighthouse has been renovated in stages with donated time and materials. The Port of Lorain Foundation also has fundraisers including lighthouse tours to raise money.

“Our biggest thing is over the years, we did so much with so little,” said board member Alan Pollock, “with the volunteer board begging and borrowing whatever supplies could help. It’s a labor of love and there’s a hell of a lot of people here in this town that think that way,” Pollock said.

The $190,000 investment will mark the lighthouse’s fourth paint job and the first set of new windows since the early 1990s. The board members said it will be a major step in putting a high shine on the Jewel of the Port.

Replacing 31 windows and adding a fresh coat of exterior paint could be daunting tasks on any honey-do list, and the lighthouse will have additional challenges. There is no way to get workers, tools and replacement materials out to the Lorain light over land, and docking at the lighthouse can be dicey. It’s a factor that landlubbers sometimes forget.

On a recent summer day, the sun was shining and the weather was nice, but for a brisk easterly breeze whipped up Lake Erie, preventing a boat from landing.

When the wind and waves flow between Lorain’s outer breakwalls, the lighthouse foundations boat takes a pounding. Pollock, board President Ed Baker and member Matt Dempsey rode to the outer harbor, but Pollock couldn’t pilot the craft to the lighthouse dock without risk.

In those windy conditions, it is possible to rope up along the seawall on the lee side of the lighthouse, but workers must haul items up a ladder, not steps.

The new windows will be custom built to fit the spaces. The windows look rectangular, but their frames bow in slightly due to reinforcement bars inside the walls corroding and expanding, which pushes against the metal window frames. They also are not interchangeable in size.

The window repairs are estimated to cost $67,000. A new paint job is expected to cost $55,000. The temperature controlled display case for the lens will cost $10,000 and the lens cleaning will be $8,000.

The state grant first was announced in February 2011. But it also takes time to coordinate the work with the groups that have an interest in the building and to find contractors for the jobs.

The state of Ohio owns the lake bottom that the lighthouse crib sits on. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers maintains the breakwall and lighthouse base. The foundation owns the building, but the U.S. Coast Guard sets guidelines for the red navigational marker light on top.

The building also is on the National Register of Historic Places, and the Ohio Cultural Facilities Commission is supplying the money for this year’s renovations. The Lorain Port Authority coordinates tours and will display the Fresnel lens at its new ferry terminal building at Black River Landing.

Lorain Morning Journal

[yachtsmanwilly]

Today in Great Lakes History - June 25

The whaleback steamer WASHBURN (steel propeller freighter, 320 foot, 2,234 gross tons) was launched by the American Steel Barge Co. (Hull #124) at W. Superior, Wisconsin on 25 June 1892. She lasted until 1936, when she was scrapped at Cleveland, Ohio.

On this day in June 25, 1892, the American Steel Barge Company, West Superior Wisconsin, Captain Alexander Mc Dougall manager, held the first triple launching on the Great Lakes, which included the whalebacks PILLSBURY, WASHBURN and the small tug ISLAY. A crowd in excess of 10,000 people witnessed the event. Only the tug ISLAY remains.

On 25 June 1892, the PILLSBURY (steel propeller whaleback bulk freighter, 320 foot, 2,234 gross tons) was launched by the American Steel Barge Co., at West Superior, Wisconsin. She was rebuilt at Conneaut, Ohio in the winter of 1918-1919 (315.75 feet x 42.25 feet x 24.16 feet; 2,394 gross tons- 1,465 net tons) when she received straight sides and a flattened deck. In 1927, she was converted to crane vessel, with two cranes on deck. In November 1934, she stranded on the north pier at Muskegon, Michigan in a storm and then broke in half. She was scrapped the following year.

In 1927, the B. F. AFFLECK (Hull#178) was launched at Toledo, Ohio by Toledo Shipbuilding Co., for the Pittsburgh Steamship Co.

On June 25, 1938, the WILLIAM A. IRVIN began her maiden voyage for the Pittsburgh Steamship Co., leaving Lorain, Ohio for Duluth to load iron ore.

INDIANA HARBOR set a record cargo on June 25, 1993, loading 71,369 tons of western low sulfur coal at Superior's Midwest Energy Terminal and transporting it 50 miles to Silver Bay, Minnesota.

At 1:00 a.m. on 25 June 1878, the 161 foot, 3-mast wooden schooner PESHTIGO and the 143 foot, 3-mast wooden schooner ST ANDREW collided and sank near Cheboygan, Michigan and the Straits of Mackinac. Newspapers of the time claimed that forest fire smoke hampered visibility. Both vessels sank quickly. Two of the crew of PESHTIGO were lost, but the rest were rescued by the schooner S V R WATSON. The entire crew of ST ANDREW was rescued by the Canadian propeller OCEAN.

On the afternoon of 25 June 1885, the tug NIAGARA had the schooner MOUNT BLANC in tow while coming rounding to pick up the schooner REINDEER near Stag Island on the St. Clair River. The MOUNT BLANC struck the wreck of the tug B.B. JONES. The JONES had exploded in Port Huron on 25 May 1871, and the wreck was towed to the head of Stag Island where it was abandoned. After striking the wreck of the JONES, the ore laden MOUNT BLANC sank. She was later recovered and repaired and lasted until 1901.

1903 – JOHN CRAIG was seriously damaged in a grounding on Simmons Rock in the Straits of Mackinac. Once refloated, the wooden steamer was taken to St. Ignace and declared a total loss. It was subsequently rebuilt as PANAMA only to be lost in a storm on November 1, 1906.

1950 – Five lives were lost and another 12 passengers injured aboard the passenger ship CITY OF CLEVELAND III when it was in a collision with the Norwegian freighter RAVNEFJELL in fog on Lake Huron. The former was a total loss while the latter was repaired and returned to service. It became b) RINGSTEIN in 1955 and visited the Great Lakes through 1958. It was wrecked near Achona Point, Ghana, on September 11, 1966.

1959 – The Liberian registered MONROVIA became the first saltwater vessel of the Seaway era to sink on the Great Lakes. It went down in heavy fog on Lake Huron after going off course and colliding with the downbound ROYALTON off Thunder Bay Island. The vessel landed upright on the bottom and some of the cargo of steel was salvaged in the 1970s.

1980 – MONTREALAIS of Upper Lakes Shipping and ALGOBAY of Algoma Central collided head-on in heavy fog on the St. Clair River and both suffered massive bow damage. These vessels were repaired and today both sail in the Algoma fleet with the former as ALGOMA MONTREALAIS and the latter, later rebuilt with a new forebody in China, as RADCLIFFE R. LATIMER.

1980 – JEAN LYKES collided with and sank an 18-foot fishing boat in the St. Clair River, 2 miles north of St. Clair, MI. The American flag saltwater vessel was later beached at Alang, India, for scrapping as b) VELMA LYKES on July 9, 1994

1994 – While departing Bay City, McKEE SONS was swept crossways in the Saginaw River and went aground. Four tugs pulled the ship free without damage save for some shoreline erosion.



EPA research vessel cruises Lake Ontario

6/25 - Bay City, Mich. – The R/V Lake Guardian, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s largest Great Lakes’ research and monitoring vessel, left Wednesday for a four-day research voyage.

A crew of researchers will collect water and sediment samples from Lake Ontario in order to study chemical contaminants found in the lake’s food web. The purpose of the cruise is to collect water, pelagic micro-fauna, benthic invertebrates and ambient aerosol samples for organic chemical analysis.

This survey is part of a Lake Ontario assessment of organics contaminant cycling. The survey will provide dissolved and particulate phase samples as well as atmospheric concentrations.

In 2011, the EPA awarded Clarkson University a $6.5 million five-year grant to continue a partnership with SUNY Fredonia and SUNY Oswego to conduct the Great Lakes Fish Monitoring and Surveillance Program. The funding is part of the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative.

The EPA has had the Lake Guardian since 1991; prior to that, it was a personnel supply vessel in the Gulf of Mexico. The ship has been modified for science research on the Great Lakes.

Operating from April to September, the Guardian has 13 full time crew members, including a chef, a stewardess, mates, marine techs and engineers. Bob Christensen has been the captain of the Guardian since 1998.

The ship has a maximum capacity of 28 people and has sleeping quarters for those on board. With the ship in operation for 24 hours a day, at any given time, someone is sleeping before their next shift.

The Lake Guardian also has a lounge, a galley offering three meals a day, and a chemistry and biology lab. Researchers on the ship use state-of-the-art data collection techniques and instruments during the biannual spring and summer surveys.

A green lab is used to do chlorophyll analysis. The lab is also used to sort through samples, picking out the different species and freezing them so that Clarkson University can analyze the tissues.

The Lake Guardian is the only self-contained, non-polluting research ship on the Great Lakes. Operated by the EPA’s Chicago-based Great Lakes National Program Office, the ship conducts monitoring programs that sample the water, aquatic life, sediments, and air in order to assess the health of the Great Lakes ecosystem. Researchers can sample a chunk of the lake bottom by using sediment grabs. The grabs are capable of sampling the deepest spot of Lake Superior.

The Valley News




Port Reports - June 25

Marquette, Mich. - Rod Burdick
Sam Laud arrived Monday morning at the Upper Harbor to load ore on her first visit of the season.

Toledo, Ohio – Jim Hoffman
Workers have removed the stern anchor and lifeboats from the Phoenix Star, which is still in the Ironhead drydock. Hazardous material trucks are parked near her stern and several holes have been cut in the side of her hull on the starboard side by welding crews. The radar and ship’s bell have also been removed. This may indicate the vessel will be scrapped where she sits.