Today in Great Lakes History

[Avenger]

Almost seems an improvement from that box look most of them have.

[yachtsmanwilly]

Incredible what 70,000 tons will do eh? I never thought she be that smashed up when they were talking about it being a total loss; it sure looks like one now! ws

[ppat324]

The EDMUND FITZGERALD's first cargo of taconite pellets was loaded September 24, 1958 at Silver Bay, Minnesota for Toledo, Ohio.

The PERE MARQUETTE 22 entered service September 24, 1924.

In early morning fog on the St. Clair River on September 24, 1962, the J.L. REISS was hit three glancing blows by U.S. Steel's SEWELL AVERY. The AVERY had lost control just below Robert's Landing and crossed the channel from the Canadian side and struck the REISS, which was proceeding slowly by radar on the U.S. side.

On September 24, 1952, the CHARLES L. HUTCHINSON entered service. This vessel was renamed b.) ERNEST R. BREECH when it was sold to the Ford Motor Company in 1962, and it was renamed c.) KINSMAN INDEPENDENT, when it was sold to Kinsman Lines in 1988. Sold Canadian in 2005, and renamed d.) VOYAGEUR INDEPENDENT. She sails today as the motorship e.) OJIBWAY.

On September 23, 1991, J.W. MC GIFFIN rescued several people in a 24-foot pleasure craft off Presque Ile State Park. The group had been disabled since the day before. They were taken aboard the McGIFFIN and their boat taken under tow. The MC GIFFIN was rebuilt with a new forward section and renamed b.) CSL NIAGARA in 1999.

September 24, 1924 - The PERE MARQUETTE 22 arrived at Ludington, Michigan on her maiden voyage.

On 24 September 1902, H.A. BARR (3 mast wooden schooner, 217 foot, 1,119 gross tons, built in 1893, at W. Bay City, Michigan) was in tow of the saltie THEANO with a load of iron ore in a storm 30 miles off Port Stanley in Lake Erie. She broke her towline in giant waves and foundered. THEANO rescued her crew.

On 24 September 1879, the tug URANIA was towing the schooner S V R WATSON into Sand Beach at about noon when the schooner struck the tug amidships, cutting a hole in the hull and sinking her in three fathoms of water. No lives were lost.

1901: M.M. DRAKE was towing the schooner barge MICHIGAN across Lake Superior when the latter began to sink. The steamer came alongside to take off the crew when a towering wave bashed the two vessels together resulting in heavy damage. Both vessels went down, but all except one sailor were rescued by the passing ships NORTHERN WAVE and CRESCENT CITY.

1915: WESTERN STAR ran aground on Robertson Rock, Georgian Bay, while enroute to Little Current with a cargo of coal. The ship was badly damaged and early attempts to refloat the freighter failed. It was not released until September 18, 1917, and was rebuilt at Detroit. The ship returned to service as b) GLENISLA in 1918 and was scrapped at Hamilton as c) PRESCOTT in 1962-1963.

1937: NEEBING foundered with the loss of 5 lives in western Lake Superior while towing the barge COTEAU in a heavy storm. The crane-equipped ship was approaching the Nipigon Strait, with a load of gravel for Red Rock, ON at the time. Nine sailors were rescued.

1947: MILVERTON, downbound with a cargo of coal, and TRANSLAKE, upbound with crude oil, collided near Iroquois, ON. The latter got caught in the current and veered to port resulting in the collision. The former, one of the few oil-burning canal ships, had the fuel lines rupture, caught fire, drifted downstream and grounded at the head of Rapide Plat. The ship burned for two days and 11 sailors were killed. Despite the heavy damage, MILVERTON was refloated, repaired and later sailed as c) CLARY FORAN and d) FERNDALE (i) before being scrapped at Hamilton in 1963.

1952: BAYTON was loading at Pool 4A Elevator at the Canadian Lakehead when there was an explosion at the elevator and chunks of concrete rained down on the deck of the Colonial Steamship Co. (Misener) steamer. One person was killed and nine more were injured.

2008: DRAGOMIRESTI was a Romanian freighter that first visited the Seaway in 1992 to load a food aid cargo in Thunder Bay for Sudan & Yemen. The ship was driven aground as j) CHUN JIANG, about 22 miles from Macao in Typhoon Hagupit. The crew were removed by helicopter.

[yachtsmanwilly]

Mesabi Miner first laker to be converted to LNG-diesel dual fuel operation

9/25 - Interlake Steamship has chosen Toromont engines from Caterpillar-MaK as it converts its 1,004-foot Mesabi Miner to LNG-diesel dual fuel operation. Taylor-Wharton will supply the LNG fuel tanks, four of which will be mounted vertically in the vessels tail.

Interlake Steamship’s 1,004-foot Mesabi Miner is to be fitted with four vertically mounted LNG fuel tanks by Taylor-Wharton.

It will be the first such project on the Great Lakes. No timetable for the project was given.

These details were revealed at HHP Summit 2013 in Chicago Tuesday by Interlake president Mark Barker. His firm owns eight and operated nine Great Lakes cargo ships.

The key to the plan, which has been contemplated for several years, was the participation of Shell as a supplier-partner. “That’s what really catapulted this project to the next level,” Barker said in Chicago.

Shell is building a natural gas liquefaction and multi-modal fuel delivery facility, one of three in North America, at Sarnia, Ont.

The Mesabi Miner will be fitted with twin Caterpillar-MaK 6M 46DF Toromont engines, replacing venerable PC2.2 Pielsticks. The four Taylor Wharton tanks will each be able to hold 200 cubic meters, or 52,800 gallons, of liquefied natural gas.

HHP Insight



Algoma Central to name new ship after city of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.

9/25 - Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. – Algoma Central Corporation announced Tuesday that it will name one of its new environmentally-advanced Equinox Class vessels after the city of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.

Greg Wight, president and CEO of Algoma Central Corporation, revealed the news as part of a keynote speech delivered at a luncheon hosted by the Sault Ste. Marie Chamber of Commerce on the future of Great Lakes-Seaway shipping.

"We want to pay tribute to the long-standing relationship that has existed between our company and Sault Ste. Marie and to recognize the important role that marine shipping plays within this community," Wight said. "Accordingly, I am pleased to announce that Algoma Central will be naming one of its new Equinox Class vessels the Algoma Sault."

Algoma Central Corporation owes its formative years to Sault Ste. Marie. It was first incorporated in the city back in 1899 as the Algoma Central Railway Company, which created a rail line from Sault Ste. Marie to the main Canadian Pacific rail line for the transport of iron ore and timber.

Algoma Central, which is now headquartered in St. Catharines, has evolved into the largest Canadian-flag shipowner in the Great Lakes with 32 Canadian flag vessels.

The Algoma Sault is expected to arrive to trade in the Great Lakes-Seaway region for the beginning of the 2015 navigation season.

Algoma Central, and its customer the Canadian Wheat Board, have invested close to $500 million in 10 new vessels. The first Equinox Class vessel, the Algoma Equinox, is expected to arrive in the Great Lakes in November 2013.

These new lakers, which will carry a variety of cargoes that North American industry depends upon, including grain, iron ore, coal, construction materials and salt, are equipped with the latest technology to make them significantly more efficient and environmentally-friendly than any existing vessels.

"The Equinox Class will carry more cargo, at higher speeds using less fuel; resulting in a 45 percent reduction in greenhouse gases. Algoma will also be installing exhaust gas scrubbing systems for the eight new Equinox Class vessels that will virtually eliminate sulfur oxide emissions," Wight said.

Algoma Central Corporation



Hollyhock crew's getting homesick

9/25 - Port Huron, Mich. – The U.S. Coast Guard cutter Hollyhock will be back in Port Huron waters soon. Ensign Brendan Crowley said the 225-foot buoy tender and its crew will return to Port Huron in late October or early November.

The Hollyhock has been in dry dock since July 12 at the Coast Guard yard on Curtis Bay in Maryland.

During drydock, the Hollyhock has received maintenance such as sand blasting, repainting, and overhauls for the propeller and rudder system. Internal work has included resurfacing of the galley deck and mess deck.

Crowley said the scheduled maintenance period takes place every few years. “For the most part, the crew has stayed here with the ship,” he said. “We act as inspectors while the drydock maintenance is being done.”

Crowley said some crew members take leave during the drydock period. “At any given time, probably about half the crew is here,” he added.

Depending on when maintenance work finishes, Crowley said the crew expects to leave drydock toward the end of October. “We’re looking at starting our fall buoy run just after Thanksgiving,” he said.

The trip back to Port Huron is about 1,900 nautical miles and takes about two weeks. Crowley said the crew is looking forward to getting back to family and friends in Michigan.

“Even with (the crew) being able to take a little leave, it’s been a long time away from home and away from families for a lot of people on board,” Crowley said.

When not handling buoys or handling other operations including breaking ice in the winter, the Hollyhock docks at 2700 Omar St. in Port Huron.

Port Huron Times Herald



Tata Steel ships iron ore from Canada to European plants

9/25 - Tata Steel has shipped first consignment of iron ore fines from its Canadian resource project to its European plants.

The consignment is from the project called the direct shipping ore (DSO) and is part of the several iron ore projects that Tata Steel is pursuing in Canada.

Tata Steel Minerals Canada (TSMC), an 80 percent-owned outfit by Tata Steel, sent across the North Atlantic 77,000 tonnes of fines on September 14 from Sept-Iles — an iron ore terminal on the St. Lawrence River that links Great Lakes to North Atlantic. During this fiscal, Tata Steel plans to ship one million tonnes of processed iron ore – fines or pallets.

To provide iron ore security to Corus units in the UK and the Netherlands, Tata Steel has been pursuing the projects since the 2006 acquisition. In 2013-14, Tata Steel planned to ship one metric ton and in 2014-15 its target is three metric tons.

The fines movement on rail had begun in July from TSMC’s crushing and screening plant to the terminal. TSMC had produced three long tons of fines last year and it has resumed production this summer in the sub-arctic eastern Canada, Tata Steel sources told Business Line.

“Production and rail haulage from the DSO project are now well established and seaborne shipments have now begun,” a statement from TSMC said. Sources, however, said the current port arrangement is interim. “We are working on an alternative plan – an access to an upcoming port facility,” a company official said.

The DSO project’s underlying asset contains 64.1 metric tons of proven and probable reserves of a little less than top grade iron (58.8 per cent) content.

Tata Steel also is involved in exploratory projects in Canadian Quebec and Labrador and Newfoundland.

Business Line



$7 million project keeps Apostle Islands lighthouses shining

9/25 - Bayfield, Wis. – They have stood sentinel on the Apostle Islands for decades, some for more than a century, helping boaters navigate tricky Lake Superior waters, lashed by wind and waves, sleet and snow. Now they're finally getting a makeover.

Lighthouses on five of the Apostle Islands are undergoing major restorations this year at a cost of $7 million.

"They're our rock stars," said Dave Cooper, Apostle Islands National Lakeshore cultural resource specialist. "People come from all around the country to see them. It's great to see them getting some TLC."

Lighthouses on Michigan, Devils, Long, Sand and Outer islands are being restored this year, with work expected to be completed next year. Crews had hoped to begin in April but got a late start because of weather — on May 6 there was still 14 inches of snow on the ground, and ice breakup at marinas was later than usual.

Among the lighthouse renovation work:

■ Michigan Island: Reroofing the old light, powerhouse and quarters for the keeper and assistant keeper; the interior of the old light is being rehabilitated for public access including refinished floors, doors and plaster with new exhibits planned next year; repairs to windows, plaster and iron columns to the new light tower base; repairs to bricks and porches on the keeper's quarters; dock repairs; and the old narrow gauge tramway will be restored with new ballast and ties.

■ Sand Island: New metal roof and repairs to gutters on the lighthouse.

■ Devils Island: Concrete footings of the light will undergo major repairs; windows, porches and interiors of keeper's and assistant keeper's quarters will be repaired along with brick re-pointing; fog signal building will be repainted along with repairs to the foundation and exterior.

■ Outer Island: Repainting and repair of the lantern; reroofing, re-pointing and repainting of the masonry tower; repairs to windows, interiors and repainting of outside trim on the lighthouse; improving ventilation; removing hazardous materials; foundation and roof repairs to the fog signal building.

■ Long Island: Major repairs to the concrete footings of the LaPointe light tower and minor repairs to the metal structure; improving ventilation; and efforts to combat moisture and mold in the keeper's quarters.

Sawyers are also clearing trees that have gradually encroached on some of the lighthouses.

"It's work a responsible steward needs to do when looking at a 100-plus-year-old structure and its surrounding landscape," Apostle Islands National Lakeshore Superintendent Bob Krumenaker said.

The work doesn't include Raspberry Island, whose lighthouse is the most accessible and therefore the most popular in the park, with 6,000 to 10,000 visitors a year. It has been renovated in recent years.

Park officials identified $14 million in needed renovations to Apostle Island lighthouses, not including Raspberry.

"But we didn't have $14 million. So we had to say, 'What are the highest priorities to keep these lighthouses standing and in reasonable condition for the next century?'" Krumenaker said. "What's being done this summer is stabilization, it's not restoration."

Like many lighthouses on the Great Lakes, the Apostle Islands structures, aside from Raspberry Island, have needed restoration for many years, said Terry Pepper, a lighthouse historian based in Mackinaw City, Mich.

The Apostle Islands facilities are an interesting assemblage of lights that run the gamut of styles, time periods and construction. Ranging from small stone lighthouses to among the tallest towers in the Great Lakes, they're made from both brick and cast-iron construction and were erected under incredibly difficult conditions. They include lighthouses built during the earliest days of lighthouse construction and some of the youngest on the Great Lakes.

"It's probably one of the more interesting geographically centered collection of structures in the country," said Pepper, executive director of the Great Lakes Lighthouse Keepers Association.

Renovation work has not been a picnic.

Travel time is about an hour between each of the lighthouses under renovation, with Outer Island more than an hour's boat ride from Bayfield. A large World War II landing craft is used to move big equipment, and most of the construction workers camp at the sites for four days before returning to shore. That means everything they need, from paint and windows to Weber grills and bug spray, must be transported by boat to the work sites. Often it's a long haul from where the boats land.

Crews stay in tents or in lighthouse keeper's quarters. There's no running water or electricity, but there are biting flies and mosquitoes.

Two of the lighthouses — at Devils Island and LaPointe on Long Island — are getting new concrete foundation pads to replace ones that are crumbling after more than a century, work that's delicate and difficult, Cooper said. Some of the light towers are undergoing repairs to the lanterns that involve installing wooden bracing so they're not damaged.

And it's not just 21st-century repairs and restorations — crews are ensuring the historic integrity of the buildings. And that can be part sweat and part detective work.

For example, crews are testing the plaster used on the Michigan Island original light tower constructed in 1857 that they know is not made from lime or portland cement plaster, said Jeff Ashton, the project's construction manager. They want to know what it's made from so it can be re-created.

"It's a cement plaster which was used in the 1800s and you just can't find that material. We use the term cement with sidewalks, but it's not the same cement as 100 years ago," Ashton said. "If you can't get the product and you're trying to do patches, how do you deal with that while respecting the historic fabric?"

Ashton and crew members repairing the old keeper's quarters and lighthouses have been impressed with the craftsmanship of the original construction workers, especially considering that every brick, every door knob, each Fresnel lens and door was brought from the mainland.

"Overall the buildings I've seen out here are top-notch," Ashton said. "The keeper's quarters at Devils Island, I would use the word exquisite. They hauled the bricks out there. I don't know how in the heck they got them out there. There's no easy way."

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel




Today in Great Lakes History - September 25

In tandem tow, MENIHEK LAKE and LEON FALK JR. arrived at Vigo, Spain, on September 25, 1985. The MENIHEK LAKE was scrapped at Vigo, and the FALK was towed to Gijn, Spain, for scrapping.

HENRY C. FRICK departed Bay City on her maiden voyage on September 25, 1905 and rammed and damaged the Michigan Central Railroad Bridge at Bay City.

On 25 September 1869, COMMENCEMENT (2-mast wooden schooner, 75 foot, 73 tons, built in 1853, at Holland, Michigan) was carrying wood in her hold and telegraph poles on deck from Pentwater, Michigan, for Milwaukee when she sprang a leak 20 miles off Little Sable Point on Lake Michigan. The incoming water quickly overtook her pump capacity. As the crew was getting aboard the lifeboat, she turned turtle. The crew clung to the upturned hull for 30 hours until the passing steamer ALLEGHENY finally rescued them. COMMENCEMENT later washed ashore, a total wreck.

1922: AUBE, on her first trip back under this name, went aground off Carleton Island, while carrying 65,000 bushels of grain. Tugs released the stranded vessel the following day.

1978: FRANQUELIN (ii) went aground in the Seaway below Beauharnois. Once refloated, the ship went to Canadian Vickers in Montreal for repairs and was caught there in a labor dispute.

1980: DERWENTFIELD, a British-flag freighter, first came through the Seaway in 1975. The ship grounded on this date as c) CAVO ARTEMIDI off Brazil, while enroute from Vitoria, Brazil, to Rotterdam, Holland, with a cargo of pig iron and broke in two as a total loss.

[yachtsmanwilly]

CSL to repower two vessels at Sturgeon Bay

9/26 - Sturgeon Bay, Wis. - Canada Steamship Lines will send CSL Niagara to Sturgeon Bay, Wis., in early December to be re-powered. She should be followed in mid-December by fleet mate Rt. Hon. Paul Martin, which will undergo the same process. Both vessels will have their Manchester-built 10-cylinder Pielstick engines replaced by new MaK engines of the new generation. This represents a significant investment as both vessels have two engines. The new engines will be more economical on fuel consumption and less polluting overall.

Nothing has been confirmed about the other sisters CSL Laurentien and CSL Assiniboine, but it is suspected that they will be next in line for the same conversion.


Buffalo River cleanup enters next phase

9/26 - Buffalo, N.Y. – The last mile or so of the Buffalo River’s 6.2-mile journey snakes past some of the city’s most promising real estate these days, magnifying the impetus for a hastened environmental recovery of this decades-long contaminated waterway.

Details about the next phase of revitalizing and restoring the river – a $44 million shot in the arm designed to cure its toxic ills – were revealed Monday in the Old First Ward Community Center.

The publicly and privately funded effort will be allocated to ridding chemically contaminated sediments left in the river from the city’s industrial heyday. Other aims include improving water quality in the river and promoting fish and wildlife habitats, according to Jill M. Jedlicka, executive director of Buffalo Niagara Riverkeeper.

“The river is our future,” Jedlicka said. “It’s defined our history. It’s going to define where we’re going.”

Construction crews have been mobilizing equipment for the last week or so, with plans to begin dredging operations along the “side slope” banks of the riverbed area near the South Park Avenue Bridge on Oct. 7.

This phase of the project will include removing the side slope sediments from the river, which contain more than 100 different industrial contaminants – consisting of mainly lead, mercury, PCBs and other pollutants. About 488,000 cubic yards – about the volume of 153 Olympic-size swimming pools – of contaminated sediment are expected to be removed.

A clamshell bucket will load the sediment onto barges. Most of it will be transported and disposed of at a confined disposal facility operated by the Army Corps of Engineers on the shore of Lake Erie about 3 miles south of the mouth of the river. A small amount – an estimated 4,200 cubic yards – of the most contaminated sediment will be removed to a yet-to-be-named hazardous-materials landfill.

By the end of this fall, two large segments upstream are expected to be dredged, along with portions of the City Ship Canal.

“This project is now moving,” said John J. Morris, the remediation director for Honeywell Inc., a significant private contributor to the project. “This is the opportunity to restore a river that is a part of the community and will be part of the community.”

The initial phase of the Buffalo River’s restoration project was undertaken in 2011 and 2012 by the Corps of Engineers. About 550,000 cubic yards of sediment were dredged from the river’s navigation channel over that time. Combined with this dredging and removal effort, more than 1 million cubic yards of toxic sediment will be extracted from the river as part of the cleanup.

“It’s a milestone,” said Mary Beth Giancarlo, a Chicago-based U.S. Environmental Protection Agency scientist who is also an East Aurora native and is assigned to the Buffalo River to provide technical assistance to the project. “It’s a major step.”

About $22 million will be contributed by the EPA to remediate this, one of its 30 designated “areas of concern” on the Great Lakes, and the other $22 million is contributed by private industry.

To date, 15 other Great Lakes sites with legacy waste from industry have been completed as part of the federal government’s Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, including those in Ohio, Indiana and Wisconsin.

“We’re working our way around the Great lakes, and now it’s Buffalo’s turn,” said Marc L. Tuchman of the EPA’s Great Lakes Office.

Dredging work will begin upstream and advance downstream during this next phase of work, officials said.

The final component of this stage of the project is scheduled to occur in 2015, with restoring aquatic habitat to the river and in-water plantings of a variety of vegetative species including wild celery. These plants are expected to assist in returning fish and other aquatic life to the river after the water is rid of the toxic chemical contaminants.

Buffalo News



Today in Great Lakes History - September 26

Capn Randy AKA FREETURDS, discovers previous sailors have made the Mississippi river trip from Cairo Illinois to Rock Island without any major catastrophes or involuntary crew abandonment. Cant quite seem to do the math.

September 26, 1930, the schooner OUR SON, launched in 1875, sank during a storm on Lake Michigan about 40 miles WSW of Big Sable Point. Seventy-three year old Captain Fred Nelson the crew of OUR SON were rescued by the self-unloader WILLIAM NELSON.

September 26, 1937, the Canadian Seaman's Union signed a tentative wage contract. Sailors would continue a two watch system (working 12 hours every 24 hours) and be paid the following monthly wages: Wheelsmen and Oilers - $72.50, Watchmen and firemen - $67.50, Second Cooks - $52.50, deckhands and coal passers - $50.00, porters - $45.00, Chief Cooks on the Upper Lakes - $115.00, and Chief Cooks on Canal boats $105.00.

September 26, 1957, Taconite Harbor, Minnesota loaded its first cargo of 10,909 tons of taconite pellets into the holds of the Interlake steamer J. A. CAMPBELL.

On 26 September 1892, JOHN BURT (3-mast wooden schooner, 138 foot, 348 gross tons, built in 1871, at Detroit, Michigan) was carrying grain in a strong northwest gale. Her rudder broke and she was blown past the mouth of Oswego harbor and was driven hard aground. Two died when the vessel struck. The U.S. Lifesaving Service rescued the remaining five crewmembers. The vessel quickly broke up in the waves.

CHI-CHEEMAUN cleared the shipyard on September 26, 1974.

H. M. GRIFFITH was christened on September 26, 1973 at Collingwood for Canada Steamship Lines.

C.C.G.S. GRIFFON (Hull#664) was launched September 26, 1969 by Davie Shipbuilding Ltd., Lauzon, Quebec for the Canadian Coast Guard.

ROGER M. KYES returned to service on September 26, 1984; she had grounded off McLouth Steel and ended crosswise in the Detroit River's Trenton Channel a month before. She was renamed b.) ADAM E. CORNELIUS in 1989.

The BELLE RIVER was sideswiped by the Liberian FEDERAL RHINE, of 1977, at Duluth on September 26, 1985. Both vessels received minor damage.

On 26 September 1914, MARY N. BOURKE (wooden schooner-barge, 219 foot, 920 gross tons, built in 1889, at Baraga, Michigan) was docked at Peter's Lumber Dock in St. Mary's Bay, 15 miles north of St. Ignace, Michigan. The crew was awakened at 9:30-10:00 p.m. by smoke coming from her hold and they escaped. The BOURKE burned to the waterline and the fire spread ashore, destroying the dock and a pile of lumber.

At 3 a.m., 26 September 1876, the steam barge LADY FRANKLIN burned while moored near Clark's dock, about three miles from Amherstburg, Ontario in the Detroit River. One life was lost. This vessel had been built in 1861, as a passenger steamer and ran between Cleveland, Ohio and Port Stanley, Ontario. In 1874, she was converted into a lumber freighter, running primarily between Saginaw, Michigan and Cleveland. The burned hull was rebuilt in 1882.

1979: MAHONI, an Indonesian-registered freighter, went aground on the west coast of Taiwan and was abandoned by the crew. The ship was refloated in June 1980 and sold to Taiwanese shipbreakers for scrapping at Kaohsiung. It had been a Seaway saltie as b) CLARI beginning in 1968 and returned as c) ARNIS in 1970.

[yachtsmanwilly]

‘Whistles on the Water’ connects visitors with history of Great Lakes shipping

9/27 - St. Clair, Mich. – More than three dozen steam whistles from bygone lake freighters and passenger ships will be on display in St. Clair on Saturday, Sept. 28, as part of the fifth annual “Whistles on the River.” Many of the antique whistles will be attached to a huge steam boiler and blown on site.

“Ours is probably the greatest gathering of large steam whistles the world,” said Dave Michelson, the local whistle maestro and the onsite narrator for Whistles on the Water.

“When you’re close to them, they’re too loud to hear,” said Al Johnson, who owns Johnson Hydraulics in St Clair and built the boiler. “You don’t get the true sound unless you stand back 200 feet.”

Johnson has assembled perhaps the largest portable steam boiler on earth, specifically designed to blow whistles – a diesel-powered, 175 horsepower engine and a huge Johnston fire-tube boiler capable of generating 250 pounds of steam pressure per square inch, mounted on a 24-foot trailer. The rig stands 13.5 feet high. He fitted the boiler with a movable manifold with 20 ports for mounting 20 whistles.

“The boiler gives you an accurate reproduction of what the whistles actually sounded like,” said Michelson, of New Baltimore. “The boiler trailer is amazing. There is nothing like it in the world. Al has gone all out on it.”

Free ear plugs will be available to all visitors. The event runs 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on the boardwalk.

One of the whistles that will be sounded during the event is that of the South American.

The South American was a 314-foot passenger excursion ship built in 1914 in Ecorse, Mich., for the Georgian Bay Line. It cruised on the Detroit River, Lake St. Clair, the St. Clair River and Lakes Huron, Michigan and Superior during the warm months, May through September.

“In these parts, it was very well known, especially by high school students in Marine City, St. Clair and Algonac who took senior class trips on the South American,” said Michelson. “Both of my uncles, who went to Marine City High, took their senior class trips on the South American.”

The students took the first trip of the year, from the ship’s winter port in Holland to Mackinac Island, then traveling through the locks to Duluth before returning to the island and onto Detroit – all in four days. During its regular schedule, the ship stopped in Chicago, not Holland.

“They were powerful, fast vessels,” Michelson said, with oil-fired engines and horsepower topping 2,000.

Its sister ship, the North American, ran the same route, roughly in the opposite direction, which would allow passengers to leave Detroit on the South American on a Sunday night, spend Monday night at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island and head back to Detroit aboard the North American on Tuesday.

The South American’s three-chamber whistle was manufactured by Crosby Steam Gage and Valve Company of Boston, standing 30 inches high and 12-inches in diameter.

“Its three-note chord is considered by many to be the nicest sounding whistle ever made,” said Michelson, although he prefers the eight-inch Crosby. “This whistle really brings back memories.”

As a boy, Michelson remembers the South American heading upstream on the St. Clair River on Sunday evenings just after dinner.

“We’d be standing on the shore waving towels and bed sheets, whatever we could find, to get it to blow the whistle.”

The North American was retired in 1965 and the South American in 1967 due in part to stricter fire regulations for overnight vessels, Michelson said.

“And our whole way of looking at travel was changing due to the growing popularity of the automobile and the interstate highway,” he said.

Michelson and his crew will blow steam whistles from several freighters during the event, including the Sidney E. Smith, Jr.

“The Sidney E. Smith, Jr. was in a collision and sank in the St. Clair River under the Blue Water Bridge on June 5, 1972,” said Michelson of the 480-foot vessel was built in Toledo in 1905. “It was a major six-month salvage operation involving the U.S. Navy.”

The freighter was headed upriver with a load of coal when it veered across the river and struck the down-bound vessel Parker Evans.

“No lives were lost, but it rolled on its side and sank right in the shipping channel,” said Michelson. The whistle is owned by the Port Huron Museum.

The two large side-by-side whistles from the tanker Mercury, on display in the River Crab restaurant in St. Clair Township, will also see action Saturday. Built in 1911, the petroleum tanker operated until 1974, when it was sold for scrap.

Chuck Muer, who established the River Crab, was a fan of old steam whistles and acquired the Mercury whistles. He collaborated with maritime artist Jim Clary to stage a whistle blow at the restaurant in the early 1970s, using compressed air, not steam.

The Voice




Today in Great Lakes History - September 27

September 27, 1959: The West Neebish Channel, through which downbound traffic normally passes, was temporarily closed to permit dredging to the maximum Seaway depth of 27 feet. Two-way traffic was instituted in the Middle Neebish Channel until dredging was completed.

On 27 September 1877, the HIPPOGRIFFE (wooden schooner, 295 tons, built in 1864, at Buffalo, New York) had just left Chicago for Buffalo, loaded with oats, on a fine day with clear weather. The crew saw EMMA A. COYNE (wooden schooner, 155 foot, 497 tons, built in 1867, at Detroit, Michigan) approaching from a long way off loaded with lumber. The two vessels' skippers were brothers. The two schooners collided about 20 miles off Kenosha, Wisconsin. The COYNE came along side and picked up the HIPPOGRIFFE's crew a few minutes before that vessel rolled over and dove for the bottom.

The CITY OF GENOA arrived with the first cargo of iron ore for the new factory at Zug Island, reported The Detroit Free Press on September 28, 1903.

The H. M. GRIFFITH experienced a smoky conveyor belt fire at Port Colborne, Ontario on September 27, 1989. Repairs were completed there.

ROGER M. KYES proceeded to Chicago for dry-docking, survey and repairs on September 27, 1976. She struck bottom in Buffalo Harbor September 22, 1976 sustaining holes in two double bottom tanks and damage to three others.

GEORGE M. HUMPHREY under tow, locked through the Panama Canal from September 27, 1986, to the 30th on her way to the cutter’s torch at Kaohsiung, Taiwan.

The tanker IMPERIAL COLLINGWOOD (Hull#137) was launched September 27, 1947, at Collingwood, Ontario by Collingwood Shipyards Ltd. for Imperial Oil Ltd., Toronto, Ontario. Renamed b.) SEAWAY TRADER in 1979, sold off the Lakes in 1984, renamed c.) PATRICIA II, d.) BALBOA TRADER in 1992.

September 27, 1909 - The ANN ARBOR NO 4 entered service after being repaired from her capsizing at Manistique, Michigan the previous May.

On 27 September 1884, WALDO A. AVERY (wooden propeller, 204 foot, 1,294 gross tons) was launched at West Bay City, Michigan. Her construction had been subcontracted by F. W. Wheeler & Co. to Thomas F. Murphy.

On 27-29 September 1872, a big storm swept the lower lakes. On Lake Huron, the barges HUNTER and DETROIT were destroyed. The tug SANDUSKY rescued the 21 survivors from them. The schooner CORSAIR foundered off Sturgeon Point on Saginaw Bay at 4 p.m. on Sunday the 29th and only 2 of the crew survived. The barge A. LINCOLN was ashore one mile below Au Sable with no loss of life. The barge TABLE ROCK went ashore off Tawas Point and went to pieces. All but one of her crew was lost. The schooner WHITE SQUALL was sunk ten miles off Fish Point -- only one crewman was saved. The schooner SUMMIT went ashore at Fish Point, 7 miles north of Tawas with two lives lost.

1911: The water-logged wooden steamer THREE BROTHERS was beached off South Manitou Island, Lake Michigan. The cargo of lumber was salvaged but the 23-year-old vessel was left to rot.

1912: The wooden steamer GEORGE T. HOPE, loaded with 2,118 tons of iron ore, foundered in Lake Superior near Grand Island when it began leaking in heavy weather. All on board were saved.

1934: SASKADOC departed Erie, Pa., for the short run to the Welland Canal with 7,500 tons of coal and the hatches left open. The vessel encountered a storm on the lake, developed a list and arrived 11 hours late.

1943: NORMAN B. MACPHERSON, a small canaller in the Upper Lakes fleet, went aground on Hammond Shoal in the American Channel of the St. Lawrence near Alexandria Bay, N.Y.

1969: OPHELIA was a Great Lakes caller before the Seaway opened. The West German freighter also made 16 trips inland from 1959 to 1964. It was under Greek registry when it was abandoned off Sibu, Sarawak, with a fire in the engine room, on this date in 1969. The vessel was enroute from Sibu to Kuching, China, and the hull drifted aground as a total loss.

1991: OGDENSBURG was built as a barge to ferry rail cars across the St. Lawrence between Prescott and Ogdensburg. The vessel had joined McKeil as a regular deck barge in 1988 and broke loose in a storm on this date in 1991 while working off Blanc Sablon, Q.C. carrying heavy construction equipment. Refloated, the hull was towed to Hamilton and became one of three former railway barges rebuilt as a floating drydock

[yachtsmanwilly]

Today in Great Lakes History - September 28

On September 28, 1980, BURNS HARBOR entered service, departing Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, bound for Superior, Wisconsin, to load pellets.

THOMAS WILSON left Toledo on September 28, 1987, in tow of the tug TUSKER for overseas scrapping. WILSON had been laid up since December 16, 1979.

On 28 September 1891, THOMAS PARSONS (2 mast wooden schooner, 135 foot, 350 tons, built in 1868, at Charlotte, New York) was carrying coal out of Ashtabula, Ohio, when she foundered in a storm a few miles off Fairport in Lake Erie.

On 28 September 1849, W.G. BUCKNER (wooden schooner, 75 foot, 107 tons, built in 1837, at Irving, New York) was carrying lumber in a storm on Lake Michigan when she sprang a leak, then capsized. The man to whom the cargo belonged was aboard with his wife and five children. One child was washed overboard while the wife and three children died of exposure. The schooner ERWIN took off the survivors plus the bodies.

1921: The W.H. RITCHIE caught fire and sank at Port Arthur, ON where it had become a bulk grain transport vessel. The remains were uncovered during dredging work in 1961.

1946: BRIG. GEN. M.G. ZALINSKI, built at Lorain in 1919 as a) LAKE FROHNA and later operated inland in the package freight trade as b) ACE, hit the rocks off Pitt Island, British Columbia. The vessel was enroute from Seattle to Whittier, Alaska, with a cargo of army supplies, and sank in 20 minutes. All on board were rescued by the tug SALLY N. and taken to the fishing village of Butedale.. The hull was located in June 2011 and is upside down.

1960: CHICAGO TRIBUNE and SHENANGO II were both damaged in a collision in the St. Clair River off Marysville.

1973: FRANK R. DENTON and FEDERAL SCHELDE (i) collided in the St. Marys River with minor damage to both ships. The former was scrapped at Ashtabula in 1985-1986. The latter began Seaway service when new in 1968, returned as b) C. MEHMET in 1977 and was delivered to the scrappers at Nantong, China, on March 16, 1999.

1998: ANDROS TRANSPORT, a Fortune Class cargo ship, first came through the Seaway in 1978. Flooding occurred in the engineroom in the Caribbean off Trinidad as d) GRIGOROUSSA on this date while traveling in ballast. The crew of 15 were removed and the ship was towed into Port au Spain. It was declared a total loss, sold to Mexican shipbreakers, and arrived at Tuxpan, under tow for dismantling on December 4, 1998.


Deliberate sinking of ships panel added to October 5 Blue Byway Seminar

9/28 - Oswego, NY/Great Lakes Seaway Trail – A panel discussion of the deliberate scuttling of historic ships with ties to the Great Lakes Seaway Trail waters of the St. Lawrence River, Lake Ontario, Niagara River and Lake Erie has been added to the October 5 Great Lakes Seaway Trail Blue Byway Seminar at SUNY Oswego in Oswego, NY.

Sarah Tichonuk , a sa Nautical Archaeologist with the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum, Vergennes, VT, will join Dive Captain Dale Currier and New York Sea Grant Coastal Recreation and Tourism Specialist Dave White for the panel and open discussion at the 9am to 1pm event.

The practice of deliberately sinking ships from significant military to commercial vessels creates artificial reefs suitable for recreational divers, diver training programs, and tourism promoters.

Other presenters on the 9 am-1 pm program include Christopher Nicholson, designer of the remotely-operated underwater vessel used by National Geographic to film the wrecks of the War of 1812 schooners in Lake Ontario. National Weather Service Forecaster Bob Hamilton will present information on the historic weather conditions that influenced the Revolutionary War wreck of the HMS Ontario. He will also share his recent research into the 1913 White Hurricane on the Great Lakes.

The event is part of the Great Lakes Seaway Trail Underwater Series of maritime heritage and recreation programs Find more information on the October 5 at www.seawaytrail.com/dive.



Richelieu beached at scrapyard in Turkey

9/28 - In the past week, the retired Canada Steamship Lines bulk carrier Richelieu (III) has been beached for scrapping at Aliaga, Turkey. The vessel was brought ashore between the Rochdale One, a former passenger ship, and the ACIF. The latter was best known as Pacific Princess and was the featured vessel in the television show "The Love Boat.”




Port Reports - September 28

Buffalo, N.Y. – Brian W.
Algosteel arrived in Lackawanna at 12:30 p.m. with salt for the Gateway Metroport Main Dock. Robert S. Pierson arrived this evening around 6:30 p.m. for the Lake & Rail Elevator but was delayed by a malfunction at the Ohio Street bridge. The ship waited in the turn off the Lafarge Cement dock but the operator was still unable to lift the bridge after about 45 minutes of trying. She backed down the river and tied up for the evening at the Burnette Trucking dock along Ganson Street. This was the first time that a self-unloader had tied up there since the days when it was owned by Penn Dixie many decades ago and it was also only the third time a large vessel had docked there in at least the last 30 years.

[yachtsmanwilly]

Yesterdays' news today... ws


Today in Great Lakes History - September 29

September 29, 1930, for the first time in the history of Pittsburgh Steamship Company, the boats of the fleet loaded more than one million tons in a seven-day period. The 64 Pittsburgh boats loaded 1,002,092 tons of cargo between 9/23 and 9/29.

The J. H. SHEADLE (Hull#22) of the Great Lakes Engineering Works, was launched September 29, 1906, for the Grand Island Steamship Co. (Cleveland-Cliffs Iron Co., Cleveland, Ohio, mgr.) Renamed b.) F. A. BAILEY in 1924, c.) LA SALLE in 1930. Sold Canadian in 1965, renamed d.) MEAFORD, and e.) PIERSON INDEPENDENT in 1979. She was scrapped at Santander, Spain, in 1980.

Henry Ford II, 70, of Grosse Pointe, Michigan, passed away on September 29, 1987. Mr. Ford's namesake was the Ford Motor Company self-unloader.

On September 29, 1986, the Polish tug KORAL left Lauzon, Quebec with the JOHN E. F. MISENER and GOLDEN HIND enroute to Cartagena / Mamonal, Columbia, for scrapping.

September 29, 1892 - The ANN ARBOR NO 1 was launched.

On 29 September 1872, ADRIATIC (3-masted wooden schooner-barge, 139 foot, 129 net tons, built in 1865, at Clayton, New York as a bark) was in tow of the tug MOORE along with three other barges in Lake Erie in a heavy gale. She became separated from the tow and foundered. The entire crew of 7 was lost. The wooden schooner DERRICK was used in salvage operations. On 29 September 1854, she had just positioned herself above the wreck of the steamer ERIE off Silver Creek, New York on Lake Erie when she went down in a gale. She had spent the summer trying to salvage valuables from the wreck of the steamer ATLANTIC.

On 29 September 1900, the steamer SAKIE SHEPARD was re-launched at Anderson's shipyard in Marine City. She had been thoroughly rebuilt there during the summer.

1974: J.A.Z. DESGAGNES and HAVRE ST. PIERRE collided while trying to pass on the St. Lawrence. The former often visited the Great Lakes but was scrapped in Croatia as e) A. LEGRAND in 2003-2004. The latter, originally a Dutch coastal vessel, worked on the St. Lawrence and around Eastern Canada but was deleted from Lloyds Register in 1999.

1982: ATLANTIC SUPERIOR went aground off Wellesley Island in the American Narrows of the St. Lawrence. This new member of the Canada Steamship Lines fleet was released October 1 and repaired at Thunder Bay. It was back on the Great Lakes in 2012.

EASTERN FRIENDSHIP first came to the Great Lakes in 1986. It had been stranded off the coast of Bangladesh as d) TONY BEST since April 10, 1993. While refloated on June 21, the anchors dragged on July 24 and the ship went aground again. The hull later cracked and the ship sank on this date in 1993.

[yachtsmanwilly]

Obituary: Captain William Hoey

10/1 - Captain William “Bill” Hoey, a long-time Detroit River master mariner and tugboat captain, passed away on Saturday, Sep. 28 after a nine-year battle with multiple myeloma.

He was owner and operator of Diamond Jack's River Tours and the Gaelic Tugboat Company on the Detroit River.

A strong supporter of BoatNerd since the beginning, and a member of its board of directors, Captain Hoey was also a member of a multitude of maritime history groups and was on the advisory council of the Marine Historical Society of Detroit. He was particularly knowledgeable about the Detroit River, with wisdom gained from a lifetime spent navigating its waters, and was always willing to share information and photographs with others.

Captain Hoey had been a member of International Shipmasters Association Detroit Lodge No. 7 for nearly 50 years and served as Grand Lodge President in 1983.

Funeral arrangements are incomplete.



Great Lakes Shipyard replaces main propulsion controls on USCG Cutter Mobile Bay

10/1 - Cleveland, Ohio – Great Lakes Shipyard is completing the replacement of the main propulsion control system on the United States Coast Guard Cutter Mobile Bay.

This work marks the final installation under a five-year contract with the USCGs Engineering Logistics Center, Baltimore, Md. This contract included installation of new main propulsion control systems for the entire fleet of nine 140-foot Bay Class of ice breaking tugs.

The shipyard’s mobile vessel crew is conducting the work on-site in Sturgeon Bay, Wis. It is to be completed in early October.

To learn more, visit www.thegreatlakesgroup.com.




Today in Great Lakes History - October 1

In 1986, the HERBERT C. JACKSON rescued Carl Ward and his nephew after they had been adrift on lower Lake Michigan for 80 hours.

On October 1,1888, the ST CLAIR (3-mast wooden schooner, 156 foot, 296 gross tons, built in 1859, at Montreal as a bark) was carrying coal in a storm on Lake Huron as part of a 5-barge tow of the tug CHAMPION. She broke loose and came to anchor off Harbor Beach, Michigan. The anchor dragged and she sank near the mouth of the harbor. The crew was rescued by the U.S. Life Saving Service. However, this rescue was ill fated since all were taken in the lifesavers surfboat and the boat was rowed 23 miles to Port Sanilac. 100 yards from shore, just a half mile from Port Sanilac, the surfboat capsized and five lives were lost. The wreck of the ST. CLAIR was later lightered, raised and towed out into the lake and re-sunk.

CHICAGO TRADER, a.) THE HARVESTER of 1911, was laid up on October 1, 1976, at the Frog Pond in Toledo, Ohio.

Dismantling commenced October 1, 1974, on the KINSMAN INDEPENDENT a.) WILLIAM B. KERR of 1907, at Santander, Spain.

October 1, 1997 - The CITY OF MIDLAND 41 was towed out of Ludington to be converted to a barge.

On October 1, 1843, ALBANY (wooden brig, 110 tons, built in 1835, at Oswego, New York) was carrying merchandise and passengers when she went aground in a storm and was wrecked just a few miles from Mackinaw City, Michigan.

The steam barge C. H. GREEN was launched at E. Saginaw, Michigan, for Mason, Green & Corning of Saginaw on October 1, 1881. She was schooner rigged and spent her first year as a tow barge. The following winter her engine and boiler were installed. Her dimensions were 197 feet X 33 feet X 13 feet, 920 tons. She cost $70,000.

On October 1,1869, SEA GULL (wooden schooner, 83 tons, built in 1845, at Milan, Ohio) was carrying lumber in a storm on Lake Michigan. She was driven ashore and wrecked south of Grand Haven, Michigan. The wreck was pulled off the beach a few days later, but was declared a constructive loss, stripped and abandoned. She was owned by Capt. Henry Smith of Grand Haven.

1918: The Canadian bulk carrier GALE STAPLES was blown ashore Point au Sable about 8 miles west of Grand Marais. All on board were saved but the wooden vessel, best known as b) CALEDONIA, broke up.

1942: The former CANADIAN ROVER, Hull 67 from the Collingwood shipyard, was torpedoed and sunk as d) TOSEI MARU in the Pacific east of Japan by U.S.S. NAUTILUS.

1946: KINDERSLEY, loaded with 2074 tons of excess munitions, was scuttled in the deep waters of the Atlantic. The former C.S.L. freighter had been on saltwater to assist in the war effort.

1984: ANNEMARIE KRUGER arrived at Finike, Turkey, as e) BANKO with engine damage on this date and was laid up. The ship, a frequent Seaway visitor in the 1960s, was sold for scrap and arrived at Aliaga, Turkey, under tow on August 3, 1986, and was dismantled.

1998 The tank barge SALTY DOG NO. 1 broke tow from the tug DOUG McKEIL and went aground off Anticosti Island the next day. The vessel was released and it operated until scrapping at Port Colborne in 2005.

[yachtsmanwilly]

Great Lakes cruising expected to grow in 2014

10/3 - The Great Lakes cruise industry is about to experience a substantial increase in berths for 2014 - with the entry of six quite different ships, including the new Pearl Seas Mist and the return of C. Columbus, under the new name Hamburg. In 2014 five cruise ships will offer 6000 guest-berths - 52 departures - and visit 67 different ports.

The Pearl Seas Mist - based in Guilford, Ct. - is part of a firm that operates a fleet of American Cruise Line coastal ships, as well as a riverboat on the Mississippi river. At 335 feet long, offering 108 suites with outside balconies, Pearl Seas’ Mist will accommodate 210 guests in an atmosphere of refined comfort. For 2014 the ship will offer six round trip enrichment voyages between Toronto and Chicago. The firm has already developed their 2015 cruises, which will offer 25 percent increase in its inventory over 2014. www.pearlseascruises.com

The German firm Plantours, which operates cruise ships and river boats, will be cruising the 420-guest capacity MS Hamburg in the Great Lakes for 2014. Formerly named C. Columbus and operated by Hapag Lloyd, the renamed MS Hamburg will cruise between Montreal, Toronto and Chicago with mostly German guests. www.plantours.com

Travel Dynamics the creative New York-based firm, will return for another season with the 138-guest capacity Yorktown - one of the few US-flagged cruise ships in service. The Yorktown will operate 12 enrichment cruises in all five of the Great Lakes between May and October. www.traveldynamics.com

Blount Small Ship Adventures, formerly known as American Caribbean Canadian Cruise Line (ACCL), is one of the most versatile cruise firms in the Great Lakes. This fleet of 100-guest capacity purpose-built shallow draft vessels can slide into many small ports that are inaccessible to the larger vessels. Blount will be cruising the Grand Mariner and the Grand Caribe to ports between Chicago, Toronto, Quebec City, Kingston and along the Erie Canal between Lake Ontario and New York City. www.blountsmallships.com

St Lawrence Cruise line is the boutique firm that operates the family-owned, 64-guest capacity Canadian Empress along the St. Lawrence River between Kingston Ontario and Quebec City, North America’s only walled city. The Canadian Empress was designed to replicate a typical river boat and cruises The St. Lawrence River visiting ports in the Thousand Islands, Kingston, Montreal, Ottawa and Quebec City. www.stlawrencerivercruise.com/

The Great Lakes Cruising Coalition



Dunes at Holland State Park being leveled to protect channel wall

10/3 - Holland, Mich. – Work is underway to level the sand hills along the channel at Holland State Park, leaving Mike Mooney to shake his head.

“That will be sorely missed,” he said as he stowed his fishing gear in the back of his pickup this morning. “That’s so picturesque.”

Crews hired by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began Monday to remove the trees and dune grass so the 18,000 cubic yards of sand can be spread along the shore. The work should be done in about three weeks.

The sand on the north side of the channel is putting pressure on the sea wall and engineers are afraid the structure could collapse, said Tom O’Bryan of the Grand Haven office of the Corps.

“It’s not meant for that kind of load,” he said.

The work will cost $182,000 and is funded from last year’s budget so it is not affected by the U.S. government shutdown, O’Bryan said.

The mature trees, mostly cottonwood, are being ground into chips to be used in natural areas and the dune grass is being harvested so it can be transplanted, said Jody Johnston, park supervisor. The clean sand will then be pushed onto the state park beach.

Plans are also in the works to widen the walkway along the channel.

The Holland Sentinel



More dredging for the Great Lakes

10/3 - Lexington, Mich. - The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says dredging work is planned at harbors in Michigan along Lake Huron and Lake Superior.

The Corps' Detroit District said Tuesday that a $334,000 contract with Sault Ste. Marie-based MCM Marine Inc. will dredge Lexington Harbor in Sanilac County along Lake Huron.

Separately, the Detroit District said a roughly $283,000 contract with Muskegon-based Great Lakes Dock & Materials LLC will dredge Big Bay Harbor and Lac La Belle Harbor along Lake Superior in the Upper Peninsula.

Work on the projects is expected to begin in mid-October and be completed by mid-November.

The Associated Press




Today in Great Lakes History - October 3

On October 3,1887, EBENEZER (3-mast wooden schooner-barge, 103 foot, 158 gross tons, built in 1847, at Buffalo, New York) was driven ashore off the breakwater at Holland, Michigan, during a storm. She had sprung a leak in the terrific storm, lost her deck load of shingles and struck the pier trying to get into the harbor. She broke in two but was later raised and rebuilt. She lasted until 1903.

On October 3,1887, CITY OF GREEN BAY (3-mast wooden schooner, 145 foot, 346 gross tons, built in 1872, at Green Bay, Wisconsin) was carrying iron ore from Escanaba to St. Joseph, Michigan, on Lake Michigan and having difficulty in a strong westerly gale. She sprang a leak and anchored four miles from South Haven and put up distress signals. The wind and waves were so bad that the crew could not safely abandon the vessel. She slipped her anchor and was driven on to a bar at Evergreen Point, just 500 feet from shore. The crew scrambled up the rigging as the vessel sank. The South Haven Life Saving crew tried to get a breeches buoy out to the wreck, but their line broke repeatedly. So much wreckage was in the surf that it fouled their surfboat. Soon the masts went by the board and the crew members were in the churning seas. Six died. Only Seaman A. T. Slater made it to shore. The ineffective attempts of the Life Saving crew resulted in Keeper Barney Alonzo Cross being relieved of his command of the station.

The E. G. GRACE was delivered to the Interlake Steamship Co., Cleveland on October 3, 1943. The GRACE was part of a government program designed to upgrade and increase the capacity of the U.S. Great Lakes fleet during World War II. In order to help finance the building of new ships, the U.S.M.C. authorized a program that would allow existing fleets to obtain new boats by trading in their older boats to the government for credit. As partial payment for each new vessel, a fleet owner surrendered the equivalent tonnage of their existing and/or obsolete vessels, along with some cash, to the Maritime Commission.

October 3, 1941 - The CITY OF FLINT 32, eastbound from Milwaukee, collided with the PERE MARQUETTE 22 westbound. The PERE MARQUETTE 22 headed directly for Manitowoc for repairs while the CITY OF FLINT 32 continued to Ludington where she discharged her cargo, then headed for the shipyard in Manitowoc, Wisconsin.

The barges BELLE CASH and GEO W. HANNAFORD, owned by Capt. Cash of East China Township, Michigan, were driven ashore on Long Point in Lake Erie on 3 October 1875.

On October 3, 1900, the steel freighter CAPTAIN THOMAS WILSON left Port Huron on her maiden voyage for Marquette, Michigan, where she loaded 6,200 tons of iron ore for Cleveland, Ohio.

ARK (3-mast iron-strapped wooden scow-schooner-barge, 177 foot, 512 tons, built in 1875, at Port Dalhousie, Ontario) was in tow of the steam barge ALBION (wooden propeller, 134 foot, 297 gross tons, built in 1862, at Brockville, Ontario) on Lake Huron when a terrific storm struck on October 3,1887. Both were loaded with lumber. Both vessels were driven ashore near Grindstone City, Michigan. The U.S. Lifesaving Service rescued the crews. The ALBION was pounded to pieces the next day and the ARK was declared a total loss, but was recovered and was sailing again within the month.

1907: The wooden tug PHILADELPHIA dated from 1869 and briefly served in the Algoma fleet. It was wrecked at Gros Cap, Lake Superior, on this date in 1907.

1911: The wooden freighter A.L. HOPKINS had cleared Bayfield the previous day with a full load of lumber and foundered in a storm on this date near Michigan Island, Lake Superior. Buoyed by the cargo, the hull floated a few more days before it disappeared. All 15 on board were picked up by the ALVA C. DINKEY.

1928: The steel bulk carrier M.J. BARTELME ran aground at Cana Island, Lake Michigan. The bottom was ripped open and the ship was abandoned. It was dismantled on site in 1929.

1953: The superstructure of the idle passenger steamer PUT-IN-BAY was burned off in Lake St. Clair and the remains of the iron hull were later dismantled at River Rouge.

1963: The Liberian flag Liberty ship TRIKERI, on her only trip to the Great Lakes, swung sideways in the Welland Canal near Welland, blocked the waterway and delayed traffic for 4 hours. The ship arrived at Kaohsiung, Taiwan, for scrapping as e) DAHLIA on December 27, 1967.

1963: A fire broke out in the cargo hold of the FRED CHRISTIANSEN while downbound at Sault Ste. Marie. The stubborn blaze took 4 hours to put out and was believed caused by some of the grain igniting as it was close to a steam line. The Norwegian freighter began Seaway trading in 1959 and returned as b) HERA in 1964. It arrived at Pasajes, Spain, under this name for scrapping on May 30, 1974.

1969: JOSEPH H. ran aground at Bic Island, in the St. Lawrence while enroute from Milwaukee to Russia with a cargo of rawhides. The Liberian-flag vessel sustained heavy bottom damage. It was refloated on October 6, taken to Levis, QC, and subsequently broken up there for scrap. The ship was operating under her fifth name and had first come through the Seaway as a) GRANADA in 1959.

1980: POLYDORA first came inland for four trips as a) FERNFIORD in 1963 and returned under her new name in 1964 on charter to Canadian Pacific Steamships. The ship had been at Marina di Carrara, Italy, and under arrest as d) GEORGIOS B., when it sailed overnight without permission. A fire in the engineroom broke out the next day and, while taken in tow, the ship foundered east of Tavolara Island, Sardinia.

1999: MANCHESTER MERCURIO traded through the Seaway in a container shuttle service beginning in 1971. It was abandoned by the crew and sank off the coast of Morocco as f) PHOENIX II on this date in 1999.

2000: The tug KETA V. usually operated on the St. Lawrence for Verreault Navigation but came to the Great Lakes with barges for Windsor in 1993. It ran aground and sank near Liverpool, NS on this date in 2000 but all on board got away safely on life rafts.

Data from: Skip Gillham, Joe Barr, Dave Swayze, Max Hanley, Jody Aho, Father Dowling Collection, Ahoy & Farewell II and the Great Lakes Ships We Remember series




Arrangements set for late Captain William Hoey

10/2 - Detroit, Mich. – On Saturday, September 28, 2013 Detroit Lodge No. 7 lost one of its senior members when Captain William “Bill” Hoey passed away at the age of 75 after a nine-year battle with multiple myeloma. Born and raised in the Detroit area, Captain Hoey grew up in Ferndale, the son of Winston A. and Florence Hoey.

As a youngster he spent summers at his uncle's cottage in northern Canada, which nurtured his interest in boats. Through a neighbor who was involved with the Detroit Historical Society, he was introduced to their museum ship at the time, the J.T. Wing. At a young age, he joined the Great Lakes Maritime Institute, and served as an early editor of their publication, the Telescope.

After graduating from Ferndale High School in 1956, Captain Hoey spent a brief period in the U.S. Navy before returning to Detroit and going to work for the Michigan Bell Telephone Co. At the same time, he worked part-time on the Fuller and Becker tugs and began what was to be his permanent career. In 1964, he formed the Gaelic Tugboat Co. and purchased his first tug, the Tipperary. When Warren Fuller retired in 1965, he acquired Fuller Marine Towing Company, and in June 1968, he obtained his master’s license. Shortly thereafter, he left Michigan Bell so he could devote all of his time to Gaelic, which continued to grow with the 1971 acquisition of the Frank Becker Towing Co. By the late 70s, the Gaelic fleet had grown to number 15 tugs.

In 1982, he achieved a life-long ambition when his tug William A. Whitney captured the overall prize in the International Freedom Festival Tugboat Race.

During the 1983 ISMA Grand Lodge convention at the Northfield Hilton in Troy, Captain Hoey was elected to the office of Grand Lodge President. One of the notable accomplishments of his time in office was the establishment of Niagara District Lodge No. 20.

In 1991, he began a new venture, Diamond Jack's River Tours, with the purchase of a 65-foot former Arnold Line Mackinac Island ferry that was renamed Diamond Jack. The company has since grown to a fleet of three vessels.

In 1992, the Great Lakes Maritime Institute recovered an anchor that the Edmund Fitzgerald lost in the Detroit River in 1974, one year before the Fitzgerald sank on Lake Superior. Captain Hoey played a major role in the recovery of the anchor, donating both his time and the assets of his company. Along with Mal Sillars, Captain Hoey was active in planning the live TV broadcast of the anchor recovery, which aired on July 20th, 1992 from the bottom of the Detroit River. "Live Dive: the Legend of the Edmund Fitzgerald" was the talk of the town. Today, the anchor is on display on the grounds of Dossin Museum thanks in no small part to his efforts.

Now managed by Bill's daughter, Patty Hoey-Carrothers and her husband Steve, the vessels of Gaelic Tugboat Company and Diamond Jack's River Tours continue to be familiar sights on the Detroit waterfront.

Captain Hoey was preceded in death by his son, William A. Hoey IV, who passed away in 2001. He is survived by his wife Katy; two daughters, Patricia (Steve) Carrothers, and Susan Pomerleau; grandson Nicklaus Carrothers; and sister Catherine (Michael) Roberts.

Thanks to the Marine Historical Society of Detroit and the Great Lakes Maritime Institute for providing some of the above bibliographical information. He was a member of both organizations for over 50 years.

A memorial service is planned for Saturday, Oct. 5, at the John Molinar Funeral Home - Brownstown Chapel, 23700 West Road, Brownstown, MI 48183. Visitation at 3 p.m., followed by a service at 4 p.m.



Chicago’s plan to privatize port still afloat

10/2 - Chicago, Ill – Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s plan to privatize, improve and market one of Chicago’s greatest untapped assets — the nation’s largest inland general cargo port — is still afloat, a top mayoral aide said Tuesday.

One day after the Colorado-based Broe Group “amicably suspended” exclusive negotiations on a 62-year master lease, Port Authority Board Chairman Michael Forde vowed to forge ahead with negotiations with Broe’s competitors.

The Broe Group, which had pledged to invest $500 million in port facilities over the next decade, could not be reached for comment.

“We had several very compelling proposals. Those bidders remain interested. We’re going to continue to negotiate with everybody who made good proposals in response to the RFP. That may include the Broe Group. Their press release left that possibility open. All that stopped was exclusivity,” Forde said, refusing to identify the snag.

“We remain very optimistic that we’ll be able to get a very good deal that maximizes economic development on the Southeast Side. If we can’t, we’re not going to do a deal. No deal is better than a bad deal.”

Last month, Emanuel grounded plans to privatize Midway Airport after one of only two remaining bidders dropped out. On Tuesday, Forde stressed the difference between the port and airport deals.

“This transaction we hope to achieve is not about monetizing the asset. What we are most concerned with is maximizing job creation at the Port District and attracting capital investment,” he said.

What happens if negotiations bog down again? Forde said there is no Plan B.

“I remain optimistic that we’ll get Plan A. People in the industry have said what a unique asset this is [because of] its access by rail, road and maritime and its proximity to downtown Chicago,” he said.

When the mayor announced his privatization plan in late July, he told reporters that it would create up to 1,000 permanent jobs and 3,000 construction jobs.

The Port District, which has roughly $30 million in outstanding debt, would have received $1 million in annual revenues, along with ten percent of new revenue that came into the port.

Chicago Sun Times



Shipwreck site dedicated as state's first underwater preserve

10/2 - Chesterton, Ind. – Indiana officials dedicated the state's first-ever underwater preserve at the Indiana Dunes State Park on Monday at the site of the shipwreck of the J.D. Marshall.

"It's in honor of the men who served on the J.D. Marshall that we dedicate this preserve today," said Mike Molnar, program manager for the Lake Michigan Coastal Program.

The Natural Resource Commission approved the creation of the preserve on Sept. 17. The 100-acre J.D. Marshall Preserve is due north of the pavilion at the Indiana Dunes State Park.

The site is open for diving and fishing but precautions will be in place to try to prevent treasure-hunters from removing items from the wreckage and to keep boat anchors from damaging it.

Dan Bortner, director of Indiana State Parks and Reserves, said the J.D. Marshall is a preserve dedicated to preserving and teaching about the maritime history on Indiana's Lake Michigan shores.

"We're here today to honor that history in a way that's never been done before," Bortner said.

The J.D. Marshall was built in 1891 in South Haven, Mich., and converted from a timber hauler to a sand barge in 1910 after its sister ship, the Muskegon, burned and sank near Mount Baldy in Michigan City.

On June 11, 1911, the J.D. Marshall was taking on water, capsizing in a storm and sank, trapping three crew members beneath it and killing them along with one other crew members.

At the dedication ceremony, Molnar read the names of each crew member killed and a bell tolled with the reading of each name. Mate Martin Donahue, Fireman Gus Jake, Assistant Engineer Charles Langeman and Seaman John Wisemann died in the wreck.

Cameron Clark, director of the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, said park staff developed the program "Tragedy Beneath the Waves" to tell the story of the J.D. Marshall. Plans are underway for the site to be part of Duneland Chamber of Commerce's Beyond the Beach Trail as well, Clark said.

The wreckage was discovered in 1970 by an early explorer of Lake Michigan shipwrecks. The ship was raised in 1982 by salvage crews from Michigan who planned to sell it for scrap. The crew was stopped by conservation police, but not until after the propeller and other pieces had already been removed.

As conservation officers were investigating the scrapping operation, the lines holding the ship broke, sending it plunging back into Lake Michigan.

The rudder and deck were recovered and have been preserved in Michigan City. The propeller is on display outside the pavilion at Indiana Dunes State Park.

Chesterton News