Today in Great Lakes History

[yachtsmanwilly]

St. Marys Challenger barge conversion looking likely

10/25 - Chicago – Ask any Chicago-bred baby boomer to name a freighter that traversed the Chicago River in the past 50 years, and you will probably be told, “the Medusa Challenger.”

WBBM Newsradio has learned exclusively that time may be running out on the venerable cement hauler.

Back in the day, between 1968 and 1979, the ship was infamous for tying up downtown traffic. She was so long that three bridges at minimum had to be raised at once, and the fit was so tight that her passage often left bridges out of joint on her trips between Charlevoix, Mich., and Goose Island.

Problems were so frequent that the Chicago Tribune once published an article when no bridge leafs became stuck.

At 552 feet in length, the ship known today as the St. Marys Challenger remains the longest and largest ever to navigate the Chicago River. Since 1979, she has berthed at Lake Calumet, making the three-day round trip at a speed of 10.5 knots 70 or more times a year.

The Challenger wears another badge of distinction — at 107 years, she is the oldest U.S. flag merchant vessel in active service. Enthusiasts — and the ship has many of them — say the next oldest merchant ship on the Great Lakes is 36 years younger. But in weeks, the Challenger could be sliced down to a barge.

She is due for a five-year federal inspection, and owner Port Cities Steamship Services President Chuck Canestraight said at the very least she needs to be re-engined. He said the aging Skinner Marine Unaflow steam engine, which burns bunker oil, is no longer cost effective to maintain. Two nearly identical engines power the car ferry S.S. Badger, and Canestraight said the federal government has mandated that all such engines be replaced no later than 2025.

The final straw could be related to the engine, although Canestraight said it continues to run well. Canestraight said that over the past century, the vast majority of the ship’s steel plating and superstructure has been replaced with one exception — the plating and steel in the engine room area. He said if the inspection turns up no sizable problems with the engine room-area steel, at the rear of the ship, the cost of installing a modern diesel engine and cutting down the ship to a barge become virtually equal, in the $15-20 million range. But he said any mandate to replace that steel makes the decision easy — and one that preservationists won’t like.

“If the authorities were to say restore that entire hull under that stern and re-power it, we’d certainly be looking at a conversion to a notched, unmanned barge,” he said.

Canestraight said maintaining any piece of machinery that old can be interesting, and calls some of the repairs that have been made to the St. Marys Challenger “near misses.”

“On a year-to-year operating basis, I will say that it’s always interesting to have some old DC electric converter or some switch generated in the ’30s or what-not go bad on you and then hand it over to some contractor as you smile and look for a solution,” he said.

The ship was threatened with conversion to a barge once before, but the nosedive in the economy in 2008 postponed any change.

Those who have ridden aboard the Challenger — it has several aft passenger cabins — say it is a study in contrasts, with a modern satellite navigation and weather radar units sitting inches from a hand-crank phone linking the wheelhouse with the captain’s quarters. The phone system still works.

The Challenger is expected to make three more round trips before heading to dry dock at Bay Shipbuilding Co., in Sturgeon Bay, Wis. in early November, and the way Canestraight speaks makes preservationists take pause.

“If anyone wants to be assured to see her in her original shape as a 1906-built steamship, they ought do that” during one of this fall’s remaining trips, he said.

The Challenger would retain value as a barge for its main customer, St. Marys Cement Co., because of its size. Although small by today’s Great Lakes freighter standards, Canestraight said it transports an amount of powdered cement equal to what silos at Lake Calumet’s South Chicago Terminal can hold at any given time.

Port Cities operates another veteran cement hauler that was converted from ship to barge. The Challenger has a crew of 25, but a tug would have half the crew.

Fans of the ship have set up a Facebook page in recent days in an attempt to build support for its preservation, and have told WBBM a re-engined Challenger would suit them fine.

“It doesn’t look good at all,” one backer wrote WBBM.

The fan noted that the Challenger weathered a killer storm in 1913 in which 19 ships sank and 250 people died.

“This historic ship deserves a better fate than being a barge,” he wrote

CBS Chicago




Port Reports - October 25

Suttons Bay, Mich. - Al Miller
Steamer Manistee departed its anchorage in Suttons Bay, Michigan, at mid-morning Thursday and steamed up Grand Traverse Bay. The vessel returned to Suttons Bay by mid-afternoon Thursday and dropped anchor in the same spot where it spent the previous night.

Marblehead, Ohio - Jim Spencer
The tug Dorothy Ann and barge Pathfinder loaded overnight Wednesday and most of Thursday at the Lafarge stone dock. The duo sailed for Cleveland late Thursday afternoon.

Conneaut, Ohio - Tom Heagerty
Wednesday the Algosteel was under the coal loading rig at CN Dock Co., Conneaut, Ohio.

Sept-Iles, QC.
On Tuesday the CSL Laurentien was towed into Sept-Iles after reporting a severe water leak in the engine room due to a damaged ballast pipe while transiting in the Gulf of St. Lawrence off Cloridorme, QC.




Port at highest pace since recession began

10/25 - Shipments at the Port of Indiana - Burns Harbor are on pace to hit a new high since the recession, as the navigation season is winding down.

Last month's total tonnage that passed through the port in Portage jumped 16 percent, largely because of a bustling steel trade. The deepwater port on Lake Michigan's southern shore is on pace for its highest annual total in more than six years.

"Steel and steel-related byproducts continue to drive strong shipment numbers through the port in conjunction with a steady increase in other bulk commodities such as coal, fertilizer and limestone," port Director Rich Heimann said. "Looking ahead, we expect this trend to continue next month, as we already have on the books a shipment of distillery tanks from Germany bound for a brewery expansion in Chicago."

Steel is driving tonnage at Burns Harbor, but September shipments of iron ore and coal at U.S. ports were down by 18 percent and 2 percent, respectively. Iron ore and coal are the main raw materials in the steelmaking process.

Scrap metal shipments to the Great Lakes ports were up 22 percent in September, but grain posted the biggest gain. About 700,000 metric tons of U.S. grain passed through the ports, making a 27 percent year-to-date increase over the same period last year.

Year-to-date cargo shipments through the St. Lawrence Seaway and the Great Lakes are down 11 percent, as compared to last year. About 23 million tons have been shipped between March 22 and Sept. 30.

The shipping season ends soon.

"At least a dozen ships from Europe unloaded steel products at the ports of Cleveland, Milwaukee, Burns Harbor and Detroit over the past month – a clear sign that the end of the navigation season is approaching and shippers are working diligently to get products out of the mills and into the Seaway System before the end of the year," said Rebecca Spruill, director of trade development for the Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corp.

"Although overall cargo tonnage is down, September provided many positives signs that the next three months will be extremely busy for our ports and terminal operators in the Great Lakes-Seaway System."

Northwest Indiana Times



Maid of Mist ends an enduring run in Canada

10/25 - Niagara Falls, Ont. – At the end of the day today, workers will start packing up the ponchos for the final time at the small dock near the base of the Rainbow Bridge on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls. This is the last day the Maid of the Mist boats will set sail from here.

The company has operated the attraction in Canada and the United States without interruption since 1885, and has been under the management of the Glynn family of Lewiston since the ’70s. Its departure from the Canadian side of the river comes with Ontario’s Niagara Parks Commission’s signing of a new contract with a California company to run its tour boat concession – and the change is not without hard feelings.

Niagara Parks issued a statement on Wednesday thanking the Glynn family “for its 41 years of dedicated service,” and noted, “For more than a century, privately owned tour boats have operated from NPC lands ... and since 1972, NPC has been pleased to work with the Glynn family and Maid of the Mist Steamboat Co. ... ”

Management at Maid of the Mist did not return the niceties. It contended Niagara Parks was downplaying its place in building Falls tourism, and expressed its “disappointment” by issuing its own statement:

“Maid of the Mist Steamboat Co. is one of the oldest companies in Niagara Falls, Ont., and the only company to have ever operated below Niagara Falls, doing so for 128 consecutive years. This great history cannot be reduced to 41 years of ownership or by being referred to as simply ‘privately held tour boats,’ ” the statement said.

Hornblower Cruises of San Francisco won the rights through competitive bidding in early 2012 to operate boat cruises on the Canadian side of the falls – the side where the boats have traditionally been stored over the winter – starting next year. Under the 30-year contract with Hornblower, the Niagara Parks Commission will make $300 million more than it did from its long-standing deal with the Maid of the Mist. Hornblower reportedly will bring in new boats with “dry zones,” restrooms and on-board concessions and add a viewing deck with a dining area to an existing administration building.

But Maid of the Mist is not sailing into the sunset. Under a deal reached with New York State in December, the company has kept its contract to run the excursions from the U.S. side of the river and agreed to pay for construction of a $32 million storage facility for its vessels at the site of the former Schoellkopf Power Station.

The company also will increase its annual rent payments to the New York State Parks office to $105 million over the remaining three decades of the contract.

Hornblower objected to the company’s deal with the state and has said it was willing to pay the state $100 million more than the Maid over the same period. It challenged the agreement in court, but in August, a state judge dismissed the suit. Hornblower has said it plans to appeal.

Maid of the Mist spokesman Kevin Keenan on Wednesday said that construction of the storage facility is on schedule and that it will be ready to hold two of the 600-passenger Maids when they are removed from the water a few days after the season on the New York side ends Saturday. The two older, smaller Maid of the Mist boats will no longer be used by the company, he said.

Ridership on what is usually called “the American side” of the falls has increased in the past decade since tighter border-crossing regulations have gone into effect, and the U.S. departures cost less than on the Ontario side because of Canadian taxes and park fees.

“With the construction of a new drydock and maintenance facility in New York, the state and the Maid of the Mist will now have total control over operations,” Keenan said in an email. “In addition, the prospect of the enhanced hiking trails, public observation deck and possible future rock-climbing and rappelling that will be offered at the site will be unique to the New York side, as will the iconic Maid of the Mist boat rides.”

The company owns its world-famous name, which it announces every day as its boats pull away from the dock with decks full of passengers in blue plastic ponchos. They come from all over the world, and the behind-the-scenes drama means little to them compared with the vista they are heading into.

On Wednesday, riders took turns capturing water-spotted images of each other with the cataract plunging in the background.

Earlier this week, Maid of the Mist leadership announced that it will extend its season by two days on the U.S. side this year as a “thank you” and will offer free rides from Niagara Falls State Park from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday, and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday.

The Buffalo News




Today in Great Lakes History - October 25

On this day in 1975, a 96-foot mid-body section was added to the ARTHUR B. HOMER at Fraser Ship Yards, Superior, Wisconsin. The HOMER became the largest American-flagged freighter to be lengthened. This modification increased her length to 826 feet and her per-trip carrying capacity to 31,200 tons.

On October 25, 1872, the crew of the small tug P. P. PRATT (wooden propeller steam tug, 14 tons, built in 1866, at Buffalo, New York), went to dinner at a nearby hotel while the tug was docked in Oswego, New York. While they were gone, the tug's boiler exploded. A large piece of the boiler, weighing about five hundred pounds, landed on the corner of West First and Cayuga Street. A six-foot piece of rail impaled itself in the roof of the Oswego Palladium newspaper's offices. Amazingly, no one was hurt. The hulk was raised the following week and the engine was salvaged.

On October 25, 1888, AMETHYST (wooden propeller tug, 14 gross tons, built in 1868, at Buffalo, New York) caught fire and burned to a total loss at Duluth, Minnesota.

ALGOBAY departed on her maiden voyage October 25, 1978, from Collingwood light for Stoneport, Michigan, to load stone for Sarnia, Ontario.

STERNECLIFFE HALL entered service for the Hall Corporation of Canada on October 25, 1947.

HURON arrived at Santander, Spain, October 25, 1973, in consort with her sister WYANDOTTE, towed by the German tug DOLPHIN X. for scrapping.

October 25, 1895 - SHENANGO No. 2 (later PERE MARQUETTE 16) was launched in Toledo, Ohio. She was built by the Craig Shipbuilding Company for the United States & Ontario Steam Navigation Company and later became part of the Pere Marquette carferry fleet.

The engines of the propeller WESTMORELAND, which sank in 1854, near Skillagalee Reef in Lake Michigan, were recovered and arrived at Chicago on October 25,1874.

ARK was built on the burned out hull of the steamer E. K. COLLINS as a side-wheel passenger steamer in 1853, at Newport, Michigan, but she was later cut down to a barge. On October 25,1866, she was being towed along with three other barges down bound from Saginaw, Michigan, in a storm. Her towline parted and she disappeared with her crew of six. The other three tow-mates survived. There was much speculation about ARK's whereabouts until identifiable wreckage washed ashore 100 miles north of Goderich, Ontario.

On October 25,1833, JOHN BY (wooden stern-wheeler, 110 foot, built in 1832, at Kingston, Ontario) was on her regular route between York (now Toronto) and Kingston, Ontario when a storm drove her ashore near Port Credit, a few miles from York. Her terrible handling in open lake water set the precedent that stern-wheelers were not compatible with lake commerce.

On October 25,1887, VERNON (wooden propeller passenger/package-freight steamer, 158 foot, 560 tons, built in 1886, at Chicago, Illinois) foundered in a gale 6 miles northeast of Two Rivers Point on Lake Michigan. The death toll was estimated at 31 - 36. The sole survivor was picked up on a small raft two days later by the schooner POMEROY. He was on the raft with a dead body. Most casualties died of exposure. There were accusations at the time that the vessel was overloaded causing the cargo doors to be left open which allowed the water to pour in during the storm. This accusation was confirmed in 1969 (82 years after the incident) when divers found the wreck and indeed the cargo doors were open.

1911: The wooden schooner AZOV began leaking on Lake Huron. The ship came ashore north of Goderich and was broken up by the elements.

1980: The former SILVAPLANA, a Swiss saltwater vessel, was abandoned by the crew after going aground 125 miles SW of Pyongyang, North Korea, as d) HWA HO. The hull later broke in two and was a total loss. The vessel had traded through the Seaway beginning in 1959 and returned as b) CAPE MISENO in 1969.

1985: MAXI PORR first came inland under West German registry when new in 1965. It went aground on this date as b) LUANA while inbound at Port Sudan from Naples and heavily damaged. The vessel was refloated on November 20 but declared a total loss, sold to Pakistani shipbreakers and later arrived at Gadani Beach for scrapping.

1994: OCEAN LUCKY, an ocean going freighter registered in St. Vincent, sank following a grounding off the southern tip of Taiwan. All on board were rescued. The ship had begun Great Lakes trading in 1977 as b) FEDERAL ST. CLAIR and returned as c) TRANSOCEAN PEARL in 1981.

[skycheney]

Oct 25, 2013 6:07:12 GMT -5 yachtsmanwilly said:

St. Marys Challenger barge conversion looking likely

10/25 - Chicago – Ask any Chicago-bred baby boomer to name a freighter that traversed the Chicago River in the past 50 years, and you will probably be told, “the Medusa Challenger.”

WBBM Newsradio has learned exclusively that time may be running out on the venerable cement hauler.

Back in the day, between 1968 and 1979, the ship was infamous for tying up downtown traffic. She was so long that three bridges at minimum had to be raised at once, and the fit was so tight that her passage often left bridges out of joint on her trips between Charlevoix, Mich., and Goose Island.

Problems were so frequent that the Chicago Tribune once published an article when no bridge leafs became stuck.

At 552 feet in length, the ship known today as the St. Marys Challenger remains the longest and largest ever to navigate the Chicago River. Since 1979, she has berthed at Lake Calumet, making the three-day round trip at a speed of 10.5 knots 70 or more times a year.

The Challenger wears another badge of distinction — at 107 years, she is the oldest U.S. flag merchant vessel in active service. Enthusiasts — and the ship has many of them — say the next oldest merchant ship on the Great Lakes is 36 years younger. But in weeks, the Challenger could be sliced down to a barge.

She is due for a five-year federal inspection, and owner Port Cities Steamship Services President Chuck Canestraight said at the very least she needs to be re-engined. He said the aging Skinner Marine Unaflow steam engine, which burns bunker oil, is no longer cost effective to maintain. Two nearly identical engines power the car ferry S.S. Badger, and Canestraight said the federal government has mandated that all such engines be replaced no later than 2025.

The final straw could be related to the engine, although Canestraight said it continues to run well. Canestraight said that over the past century, the vast majority of the ship’s steel plating and superstructure has been replaced with one exception — the plating and steel in the engine room area. He said if the inspection turns up no sizable problems with the engine room-area steel, at the rear of the ship, the cost of installing a modern diesel engine and cutting down the ship to a barge become virtually equal, in the $15-20 million range. But he said any mandate to replace that steel makes the decision easy — and one that preservationists won’t like.

“If the authorities were to say restore that entire hull under that stern and re-power it, we’d certainly be looking at a conversion to a notched, unmanned barge,” he said.

Canestraight said maintaining any piece of machinery that old can be interesting, and calls some of the repairs that have been made to the St. Marys Challenger “near misses.”

“On a year-to-year operating basis, I will say that it’s always interesting to have some old DC electric converter or some switch generated in the ’30s or what-not go bad on you and then hand it over to some contractor as you smile and look for a solution,” he said.

The ship was threatened with conversion to a barge once before, but the nosedive in the economy in 2008 postponed any change.

Those who have ridden aboard the Challenger — it has several aft passenger cabins — say it is a study in contrasts, with a modern satellite navigation and weather radar units sitting inches from a hand-crank phone linking the wheelhouse with the captain’s quarters. The phone system still works.

The Challenger is expected to make three more round trips before heading to dry dock at Bay Shipbuilding Co., in Sturgeon Bay, Wis. in early November, and the way Canestraight speaks makes preservationists take pause.

“If anyone wants to be assured to see her in her original shape as a 1906-built steamship, they ought do that” during one of this fall’s remaining trips, he said.

The Challenger would retain value as a barge for its main customer, St. Marys Cement Co., because of its size. Although small by today’s Great Lakes freighter standards, Canestraight said it transports an amount of powdered cement equal to what silos at Lake Calumet’s South Chicago Terminal can hold at any given time.

Port Cities operates another veteran cement hauler that was converted from ship to barge. The Challenger has a crew of 25, but a tug would have half the crew.

Fans of the ship have set up a Facebook page in recent days in an attempt to build support for its preservation, and have told WBBM a re-engined Challenger would suit them fine.

“It doesn’t look good at all,” one backer wrote WBBM.

The fan noted that the Challenger weathered a killer storm in 1913 in which 19 ships sank and 250 people died.

“This historic ship deserves a better fate than being a barge,” he wrote

CBS Chicago


This is very sad. Being in the concrete business, my dad was invited to ride on the Medusa Challenger once back in the late 70's. I have passed her many times on the lakes and it would be a shame to see her turned into a barge.

[yachtsmanwilly]

That boat was Richard Js nemesis... it always came through downtown at rush hour and it wasn't unusual for it to smack a bridge and decommission it for a week. There was a concrete plant (Medusa Cement) at Goose Island on the north branch ws

[yachtsmanwilly]

From the GLHR in Grand Haven in 2010


Gale Blowing Across the Lakes

10/26 - Four of the five Great Lakes were posted with Gale Warnings Saturday, sending many freighters traversing the Inland Seas to anchor in the lee various islands and in bays. Forecasters said only Lake Superior was not included in the warnings.

Half a dozen vessels were anchored near St. Ignace in the Straits of Mackinac, and nearly as many were 'on the hook' in southern Lake Huron near the beginning of the St. Clair River.

At mid-morning winds on lakes Huron and Erie were gusting to more than 40-knots.

The end-of-October blow is expected to ease Saturday night and Sunday morning as a low pressure moves over and away from the Great Lakes.

Mariners on Lake Erie were also confronted by a warning of low water as a result of the storm which was pushing water toward the eastern end of the shallowest of the five Great Lakes.


Seaway reopens

Seaway Shut Down at Beauharnois Lock

10/27 - The Seaway shut down about 8 a.m. Saturday morning at Beauharnois, Quebec. Algoma Discovery, which was downbound hit the ship arrestor in Lock 4, collapsing the frame holding the cables that stop the ship from hitting the gates. Waiting in Lock 3 upbound is the new Wagenborg ship Exeborg. Several ships are waiting above and below the Beauharnois Canal for the ship arrestor to be replaced. High winds may slow the progress as craning heavy loads in these conditions may be unsafe. As of 10 p.m. Saturday the crane has yet to arrive.


10/28 - Sunday night the Seaway reopened as crews replaced the ship arrestor cables and frame on Lock 4, repairs were delayed as a crane was toppled by high winds. The Seaway shut down Saturday morning at Beauharnois, Quebec after the Algoma Discovery hit the arrestor.



Coast Guard helicopter crew airlifts man from Algoma Enterprise

10/28 - Cleveland, Ohio – A U.S. Coast Guard air crew airlifted a crewman Sunday afternoon from a commercial vessel in the Pelee Passage of Lake Erie.

The Coast Guard is not releasing the man's name, as they were assisting Joint Rescue Coordination Centre Trenton, Ontario.

Shortly after 2 p.m., a search-and-rescue controller at the Coast Guard 9th District command center, was contacted by a SAR controller at JRCC Trenton, requesting assistance with the medevac of a 57-year-old man aboard the motor vessel Algoma Enterprise. The man was reportedly suffering from severe bleeding. After conferring with the on-duty flight surgeon, the 9th District's SAR controller directed the launch of an air crew aboard an MH-65 Dolphin helicopter from Coast Guard Air Station Detroit, located on Selfridge Air National Guard base in the Northern suburbs of Detroit.

The air crew launched from Air Station Detroit at 2:38 p.m. and arrived on scene with the Algoma Enterprise at 2:55 p.m. The air crew lowered a rescue swimmer, who is a trained emergency medical technician, to the ship to facilitate the airlift. After the safe airlift of the patient, the air crew transported him to the Windsor, Ontario, Airport where emergency medical services were awaiting. The medevac was completed just after 4 p.m., with the man in stable condition.




Great Lakes coal shipments down

10/28 - Duluth, Minn. – Coal has been one of the largest exports in the Northland for decades, but recent energy-saving measures and stricter air pollution policies across the United States have taken a toll on coal exports.

The Great Lakes has seen a 13% decrease from a year ago, forcing ports across the states to adapt to the changes.

"What's happened in recent years is as Ontario, as a province of Canada, has moved towards renewable energy, they've been cutting their orders for coal," said Adele Yorde of the Duluth Seaway Port Authority.

Those cuts could have had a devastating economic impact on the Duluth-Superior port, but a new market has opened up easing the hit. While the demand for coal has gone down in the States it has increased in Europe.

"Midwest Energy is using the Great Lakes Seaway system to actually export that coal to Spain, the Netherlands, and other places in Europe," said Yorde.

Shipping companies in the area have decided to utilize the Canadian ports that were once the coal's destination as the new middle-man for overseas shipping... strengthening Duluth's reputation as an international port.

"Europe is very receptive to low sulfur coal," said Yorde.

Yorde says it's exciting to see our inland port used as a northern corridor to Europe.

"It bodes well for some future developments for export business," she said.

Port Trade Development Director, Ron Johnson, says Europe is also moving to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and says changing from Europe's high sulfur coal to the low sulfur of Western coal is a step in the right direction.

"They're burning a lot of wood pellets along with their existing supplies of coal. The thing about European coal, it's not low-sulfur coal like we have available here," said Johnson.

Johnson says this is a market that could be around for quite a while.

"Europe has a need and they were able to put together a sale, and the freight rates were okay and competitive, and so they started shipping coal to Europe last year and then it's increased this year," said Johnson.

Yorde says future coal shipments are dependent on a number of factors including stable freight rates, prevailing international attitudes toward Greenhouse gasses, and the United State's ever changing energy policies.

Northland’s News Center



Cheboygan moves ahead with port project

10/28 - Cheboygan, Mich. – Mark Lorenz, chair of the City of Cheboygan Port Action Committee, updated the Cheboygan City Council about the City of Cheboygan Port at its regular meeting Tuesday.

The City of Cheboygan took the lead role in the port project in early August and has made progress in its mission of developing the port through growth of existing businesses and fostering future development of jobs in Cheboygan.

The Cheboygan port meets all four functions of a port as identified by the Michigan Port Collaborative. The collaborative is a nonprofit organization that seeks to unite port communities working to develop the Great Lakes coastline.

The functions needed are a cargo port, ferry port, commercial port and a recreational port, according to Lorenz.

Cheboygan is also home to the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Mackinaw and the headquarters for the Great Lakes U.S. Fish and Wildlife and Geological Survey operations, which are favorable for growth of the port.

Members of the Cheboygan Port Action Committee visited with the Detroit Port Authority in September to learn how to engage and inform manufacturers from Detroit about the Cheboygan Port area and its importance in shipping and manufacturing in Michigan.

The committee also attended the Michigan Municipal League annual convention in Detroit, where local leaders learn strategic lessons in placemaking, civic engagement, entrepreneurism, urban planning and socioeconomic development.

Members of the committee have also met with Peter Astor of the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, MEDC, in Lansing.

“(Astor) said that we've done more in Cheboygan than anyone else that’s come forth in front of the MEDC,” said Lorenz.

“He saw what we have to offer and the possibilities,” added Dale Stuart, city manager.

According to Lorenz, a feasibility study has been completed along with a Michigan State University Port study. Zoning for the Port District is complete, and marketing brochures have been developed.

The Port District is also close to Cheboygan's industrial park, making manufacturing another large part of the plan to promote the port.

“We would like to make Cheboygan part of Michigan's logistics and supply chain,” said Lorenz.

The group is continuing to move forward with its strategic plan to develop the port. The City will utilize Kokosing/ Durocher Marine as Port of Cheboygan until future development is in place. Dredging the mouth of the Cheboygan River into Lake Huron is very important to the success of the port, said Lorenz.

On Tuesday, the Cheboygan County Board of Commissioners awarded a bid for the dredging of the Cheogyan County Marina harbor to Koskosing/Durocher Marine.

Those grant funds from the state were approved by the legislature for emergency dredging in communities with low water levels across the state.

The Port Action Committee also will need to review a study by Thomas Biehl to determine the use of city owned property as it applies to wetlands versus uplands.

Cheboygan Daily Tribune




Today in Great Lakes History - October 28

On this day in 1939, the Pittsburgh steamer D. G. KERR, Captain H. D. Mc Leod, rescued six men from the cabin cruiser FRANCIS J. H. that was disabled and sinking on Lake Erie.

On this day in 1953, the McKEE SONS loaded her first cargo of 17,238 tons of stone at Port Inland for delivery to East Chicago. Originally built as the C-4 MARINE ANGEL, the McKEE SONS was the first ocean vessel converted to a Great Lakes self-unloader.

On this day in 1978, a new 420 foot tanker built at Levingston Shipbuilding, Orange, Texas, was christened GEMINI during ceremonies at Huron, Ohio. The GEMINI was the largest American flagged tanker on the lakes with a capacity of 75,000 barrels and a rated speed of 15.5 mph. Sold Canadian and renamed b.) ALGOSAR in 2005.

On October 28, 1891, DAVID STEWART (3-mast wooden schooner, 171 foot, 545 gross tons, built in 1867, at Cleveland, Ohio) was dragged ashore off Fairport, Ohio, by a strong gale. She was stranded and declared a total loss. However, she was salvaged and repaired in 1892 and lasted one more year.

CANADIAN PIONEER's maiden voyage was on October 28, 1981, to Conneaut, Ohio, to take on coal for Nanticoke, Ontario.

CANADIAN TRANSPORT was launched October 28, 1978, for Upper Lakes Shipping Ltd., Toronto, Ontario.

FRED G. HARTWELL (Hull# 781) was launched October 28, 1922, by American Ship Building Co. at Lorain, Ohio, for the Franklin Steamship Co. Renamed b.) MATTHEW ANDREWS in 1951. Sold Canadian in 1962, renamed c.) GEORGE M. CARL. She was scrapped at Aviles, Spain, in 1984.

D. M. CLEMSON (Hull# 716) was launched October 28, 1916, at Lorain, Ohio, by American Ship Building Co. for the Pittsburgh Steamship Co., Cleveland, Ohio.

CHARLES M. WHITE was launched October 28, 1945, as a C4-S-A4 cargo ship a.) MOUNT MANSFIELD for the U.S. Maritime Commission (U.S.M.C. Hull #2369).

On October 28, 1887, BESSIE BARWICK, a 135 foot wooden schooner built in 1866, at St. Catharines, Ontario, as a bark, left Port Arthur for Kingston, Ontario, with a load of lumber during a storm. For more than ten days, her whereabouts were unknown. In fact, a westerly gale drove her into the shallows of Michipicoten Island and she was pounded to pieces. Her crew was sheltered by local fishermen and then made it to the Soo in a small open boat.

On October 28, 1882, RUDOLPH WETZEL (wooden propeller tug, 23 tons, built in 1870, at Buffalo, New York) was racing for a tow with the tug HENRY S SILL when her boiler exploded 12 miles north of Racine, Wisconsin. She quickly sank. All three on board were killed and none of the bodies were ever found.

1901: The wooden schooner JULIA LARSON sank in a gale a half-mile northeast of Grand Marais, MI. The ship was later recovered and returned to service.

1928: The newly built DEEPWATER ran aground at Sugar Loaf Point, west of Port Colborne, in fog. The ship was lightered and released four days later and went to Montreal for repairs. The vessel later sailed the lakes as b) KEYMONT and c) HAMILDOC (ii) before being scrapped at Port Dalhousie in 1962.

1939: The tug R.P. REIDENBACH, with E.A.S. CLARKE (ii) under tow at Ashtabula, rolled over and sank with the loss of 2 lives. It was refloated, became b) CONNEAUT in 1941 and was scrapped at Ashtabula about 1964.

1959: The tug BROWN BROTHERS, enroute to Port Burwell under tow of the tug LUKE, was overwhelmed by the waves and sank off Long Point with no loss of life. Originally a fish tug, the vessel served as the b) IVEY ROSE from 1946 to 1950 pushing the barge T.A. IVEY in the Lake Erie coal trade.

1964: BORGFRED, a Great Lakes visitor in 1952, caught fire in the engine room as g) GIANNIS and sank off Malta two days later while on a voyage from Romania to Algeria.

1970: WEARFIELD, a British freighter began Great Lakes visits in 1964 as the largest saltwater ship to yet use the Seaway, was blown aground at the entrance to the Soo Locks due to high winds on this date in 1970. It took over 5 hours to release the vessel. Service ended on arrival at Shanghai, China, for scrapping as f) FAIR WIND on March 15, 1985.

1979: PIERSON INDEPENDENT ran aground in the St. Lawrence near Brockville while downbound with a cargo of corn. The ship was released but then beached as it was taking on water. Temporary repairs allowed the vessel to be refloated again on October 31 and it sailed to Trois Rivieres to be unloaded. 2007: SEA MAID, a small Danish freighter, came through the Seaway in 1997 with steel for Cleveland. It was wrecked as d) OMER N. 18 miles west of Gedser, Denmark, and was dismantled in sections at Grenaa, Denmark, in 2008.



Weather bests lakes boats

10/27 - Great Lakes freighters were moving inshore along the Western shore of Lake Huron in an effort to avoid the remnants of gale force westerly winds which continued to blow across the entire lakes region Saturday night. Lake Erie sailors we handling the reduction of lake water levels caused by continuing west winds.

Lake Erie experienced a seiche, a weather phenomenon where the water is push from one end of the lake to the other.

The water level at Gibraltar, Michigan in the western basin dropped 15 between midnight and noon before returning at to normal levels at 9 p.m. On the opposite end of the lake in Buffalo levels raised an equal amount over the same time period.

Half-a-dozen vessels were tucked in behind Long Point in Eastern Lake Erie, while others were anchored in the open lake near Port Colborne and Sandusky.

The winds were expected to diminish overnight Saturday.

Jim Spencer


Suttons Bay report

10/27 - The steamer St. Marys Challenger and tug-barge Prentiss Brown and St. Marys Conquest remained at anchor Saturday in Suttons Bay, Michigan, after arriving late Friday afternoon to wait for weather to ease on Lake Michigan. With a storm warning posted Friday night for the upper half of Lake Michigan, the St. Marys Challenger anchored at its usual spot in deep water at the mouth of the small bay. The Brown and Conquest dropped anchor near shore a short distance north of the bay. Manistee spent the night in Grand Traverse Bay. At mid-afternoon Saturday, the vessel poked its nose out of the top of the bay but then reversed course and went into the west arm of Grand Traverse Bay.


Crew of Coast Guard Cutter Hollyhock to return home, begin Operation Fall Retrieve

10/26 - Cleveland, Ohio – The Coast Guard Cutter Hollyhock is scheduled to return to its homeport of Port Huron, Mich., after four months away, Saturday at about 3 p.m.

The cutter and its crew are returning from a dry dock maintenance period at the Coast Guard Yard in Baltimore.

"Four months away from home was a challenge for our crew and community, but we performed important maintenance and training in that time," said Commanding Officer Lt. Cmdr. Justin Kimura. "We ran 55 drills during our voyage home over the past two weeks, and return to port ready for some time with our families, followed by a busy fall buoy season."

Cutter Hollyhock returns just in time to begin Operation Fall Retrieve, a large-scale buoy maintenance operation in which most of the Coast Guard-maintained buoys across the Great Lakes are replaced with smaller, seasonal marks to prevent ice damage to the aids. Hollyhock is a 225-foot seagoing buoy tender.






A new (72'?) Hatteras TINKER TOY on board from Port Weller Canada to FTL. No spirit of adventure I guess! ws

[yachtsmanwilly]

New projects – including Challenger conversion – have Bay Shipbuilding hiring

10/30 - Sturgeon Bay, Wis. – Bay Shipbuilding Co. is hiring. An influx of new projects has put the Sturgeon Bay shipyard in a position where it needs in excess of 200 people over the next several months, and hiring is likely to continue into 2014, Vice President and General Manager Todd Thayse said Tuesday.

“This is across all disciplines of shipbuilding and manufacturing,” Thayse said — the company needs hands-on workers like fitters and welders as well as engineers, purchasers and support staff.

The various projects were announced to the staff on Friday. “We wanted them to hear it from us first,” Thayse said.

Bay Ship has been successful in negotiating four significant repowering projects with Canada Steamship Lines (CSL). The first vessel is expected to arrive on or about Dec. 7 and the second vessel will arrive in later December. Both are scheduled for completion in April 2014. The third and fourth repowering projects for CSL are planned to start in December 2014 and expected to complete in spring 2015. These are diesel to diesel repowerings similar to projects Bay Ship has completed in the past. The vessels’ two existing Crossley Pielstick engines will be removed and new MAK 6M32 engines will be installed, complete with new gear boxes and Shottel CPP propulsion shafting and control systems.

The company also has an option for a fifth CSL vessel that has not yet been exercised, Thayse said.

The company has also reached an agreement with Port City Steamship Holdings Co. to convert the steamer St. Marys Challenger to an articulated tug barge (ATB) that will be mated with a tug for future operations. This project has been a long time in the works going back to 2005 or so, Thayse said. At 107 years old, the St. Marys Challenger is the oldest vessel actively transiting the Great Lakes and is a riveted hull. The vessel is expected to arrive on or about Nov. 7 to begin the conversion process.

The conversion involves removing the existing stern end and its existing steam propulsion plant, fabricating and installing a new Bludworth-style ATB notch and modifying the forward end accommodations to allow for a forward-end machinery area that will house new ship service Generators and switch gear.

BSC has agreed to complete the conversion by end of May 2015.

Bay Shipbuilding has reached an agreement with a currently unnamed customer to build its next ATB barge, which will be designated as BSC hull 774. The barge will be 491 feet in length overall with a 78-foot beam and 41-foot depth, with a design draft of 28 feet 3 inches. It will have a 150,000-barrel gross capacity and is designed to haul petroleum product, Thayse said.

The barge is currently in process of being engineered by Guarino and Cox. “We expect to begin receiving steel in house by December 2013 with construction slated to begin in January 2014,” he said. Vessel hull will begin erecting midsummer of 2014 with delivery scheduled for May 2015.

Bay Shipbuilding Co. is a part of the Fincantieri Marine Group, a subsidiary of one of Europe’s largest shipbuilding companies that also includes Marinette Marine and ACE Marine of Green Bay. “The investments Fincantieri has made in our yard over the last four or five years have put us in a position to be very competitive as we seek these projects,” Thayse said.

The company has built 22 ATBs since the late 1990s. “It’s a niche market we’ve become very good at,” he said. “It highlights the core competencies of our yard.”

Bay Ship also has a full slate of 16 winter vessels lined up for this winter, Thayse said. The company’s “winter fleet” has become a familiar sight as giant Great Lakes cargo vessels are parked at and near the yard for maintenance and repair during the off-season.

Door County Adovcate



Future of 107-year-old St. Marys Challenger uncertain

10/30 - Chicago, Ill. – Future of 107-year-old St. Marys Challenger uncertain Chicago, Ill. – The rust-streaked freighter, once notorious for snarling downtown traffic, steamed into Chicago on Monday on what could be one of its final trips in its current form.

Mark Wolodarsky said he flew from his home in New York City to photograph the St. Marys Challenger as it moseyed, slowly but surely, down the Calumet River and into port. Though the ship's owners say they won't know until next month what its future holds, Wolodarsky feared the worst for the 107-year-old freighter.

"It's a fantastic vessel," he said. "It doesn't deserve the fate that it's going to meet. They're going to chop it down into a barge."

Older than the Titanic and longer than a football field, the venerable ship is soon heading to dry dock for an inspection. The Challenger's owner said that inspection will help determine whether it is outfitted with a new diesel engine costing perhaps $15 million to $20 million and returned to Lake Michigan as a freighter, or instead transformed into a barge.

"The condition of the hull under the engine room could be subject to a lot of scrutiny for repairs," said Chuck Canestraight, president of Port City Steamship Holding, which owns the ship. "If that's the case, it makes it much more likely we'd remove the hull and convert it to a barge. It's one thing if we just have to put in a new diesel engine and another if we need a new diesel on top of the new stern section."

Once called the Medusa Challenger, the giant ship became a tired sight in Chicago in the 1960s and '70s. The 562-foot vessel was the longest ship to use the Chicago River, and navigating the downtown bustle often proved a challenge. The Tribune reported at least 20 instances of bridges malfunctioning while the vessel was nearby from 1968 through 1979, often stranding drivers and earning the freighter a nickname as Chicago's "jinx ship."

The bad luck became a running joke. "It's the Medusa Challenger again, and she's in the Chicago River again, and a bridge is stuck again," reads a Tribune caption from New Year's Day 1977. In the photo, the freighter is seen spewing steam as stabilizing locks on the Franklin Street Bridge were thawing.

The Challenger, which enthusiasts say is the oldest ship still trading on the Great Lakes, long ago switched to using the Calumet River. As the freighter steamed through the city's Southeast Side on Monday, a small but enthusiastic fan club gathered to pay its respects.

"I've been following this ship since it was on the Chicago River back in the 1970s," said Mike Garza, who was using a marine radio to track the vessel and traveling from bridge to bridge to watch as it moved inland. "It was unreal back in the day."

Jim Bartke, who used to work downtown, said he also remembered the days the Challenger would come through the city center and leave suspended bridges in its wake. Bartke, who wants it to remain a freighter, spent about four hours waiting for the Challenger to cross under the 95th Street bridge Monday on one of its final runs this shipping season. Weather permitting, company officials said, the ship could make up to three more trips to Chicago before heading to dry dock.

Canestraight, whose company owns the St. Marys Challenger, said he understands the nostalgia but will have to weigh whether restoring it as a freighter would be cost-effective. If the ship becomes a barge, he said, its 25-person crew would be about halved.

"It's hard to balance between the history and the need for ongoing business capacity," Canestraight said. "We want to be mindful of history, but to us, even though it's old, it's still a working asset in an industrial trade. We know that's hard for some fans."

Chicago Tribune




Thunder Bay divers discover historic wreck

10/30 - Thunder Bay, Ont. – Two shipwreck hunters have discovered the wreck of the first ship to be registered in Canada. David Shepherd and Robert Valley recently discovered the tugboat Mary Ann, which they say was registered the same year as Confederation — 1867.

The wreckage of the tug, which was intentionally sunk in the 1930s, is located in waters near the Welcome Islands, just a few kilometres from Thunder Bay.

"This was the 'No.1' ship for Canada," Shepherd said. "To actually have a chance to dive on it is phenomenal."

Shepherd said he's not sure why the ship was scuttled so close to shore, as it was supposed to be located closer to Sleeping Giant. Nevertheless, he said it was a thrilling find.

"As someone who looks for shipwrecks, it's just this feeling of overwhelming awe that we were the first divers ever to be on this shipwreck,” he said.

Shepherd said he and other area divers hope to connect with the organization Save Ontario Shipwrecks, to ensure wreck sites such as the Mary Ann are properly protected.

CBC News




Today in Great Lakes History - October 30


The whaleback barge 127 (steel barge, 264 foot, 1,128 gross tons) was launched by the American Steel Barge Company of W. Superior, Wisconsin, on 29 October 1892. She lasted until 1936, when she was scrapped at New Orleans, Louisiana.

On 29 October 1906, the schooner WEST SIDE (wooden schooner, 138 foot, 324 gross tons, built in 1870, at Oswego, New York) was carrying pulpwood from Tobermory, Ontario, to Delray, Michigan, when she was caught in a severe gale on Lake Huron. There was no shelter and the vessel was lost about 25 mile off Thunder Bay Island. The skipper and his crew, consisting of his wife and three sons aged 10 to 18, abandoned in the yawl. They all suffered from exposure to the wind and waves, but luckily the FRANK H. PEAVEY (steel propeller freighter, 430 foot, 5,002 gross tons, built in 1901, at Lorain, Ohio) picked them up and brought them to Port Huron, Michigan.

ALGOLAKE (Hull# 211) was launched October 29, 1976, at Collingwood Shipyards, Ltd. for the Algoma Central Railway.

On October 29, 1986, the JAMES R. BARKER, which had suffered an engine room fire, was lashed side-by-side to the thousand-foot WILLIAM J. DE LANCEY and towed to Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin for repairs.

The pieced-together CANADIAN EXPLORER (Hull#71) was christened on October 29, 1983, at Port Weller Dry Docks. She was created from the bow section of the NORTHERN VENTURE and the stern of the CABOT. The stern of the EXPLORER is now the stern of the ALGOMA TRANSFER.

The National Transportation Safety Board ruled on October 29, 1991, that Total Petroleum was responsible for the fire that destroyed the tanker JUPITER because of faulty moorings and exonerated the BUFFALO from primary responsibility.

On the afternoon of October 29, 1987, while upbound with coal from Sandusky, Ohio, the ROGER M. KYES went aground on Gull Island Shoal in Lake Erie's Middle Passage and began taking on water. About 3,000 tons of coal was transferred to the AMERICAN REPUBLIC after which the KYES freed herself the next morning. Damage from the grounding required extensive repairs. She was renamed b.) ADAM E. CORNELIUS in 1989.

The tug portion of the PRESQUE ISLE departed New Orleans, Louisiana, on October 29, 1973.

The H. C. HEIMBECKER's last trip started at Thunder Bay, Ontario, with a load of grain bound for Owen Sound, Ontario where, on October 29, 1981, it was discovered that one of her boilers was cracked. When unloading was completed on October 30th, the HEIMBECKER proceeded under her own power to Ashtabula, Ohio, for scrapping.

On 29 October 1892, ZACH CHANDLER (3 mast wooden schooner-barge, 194 foot, 727 gross tons, built in 1867, at Detroit, Michigan) was carrying lumber from Ashland, Wisconsin, in tow of the steamer JOHN MITCHELL when the two became separated in a northerly gale in Lake Superior. The CHANDLER was overwhelmed and broke up on shore about three miles east of Deer Park, Michigan. Five of the crew made it to shore in the lifeboat and the Lifesaving Service saved two others, but one perished. Three years earlier, the CHANDLER stranded at almost the same spot and sustained heavy damage.

On 29 October 1879, AMAZON (wooden propeller freighter, 245 foot, 1,406 tons, built in 1873, at Trenton, Michigan) was carrying "provisions" - 900 tons of freight plus 7,000 barrels of flour - from Milwaukee to Grand Haven, Michigan. She struck the notorious bar off of Grand Haven in a gale and broke up. All 68 aboard survived. Her engine was later recovered.

On 29 October 1880, THOMAS A. SCOTT (4-mast wooden schooner-barge, 207 foot, 1,159 tons, built in 1869, at Buffalo, New York as a propeller) was riding out a storm at anchor one mile off Milwaukee when she was struck by the big steamer AVON (wooden propeller, 251 foot, 1,702 gross tons, built in 1877, at Buffalo, New York). The SCOTT sank quickly. She had been bound from Chicago for Erie, Pennsylvania, with 44,000 bushels of corn. Three of her crew scrambled onto the AVON while the seven others took to the yawl and were towed in by the Lifesaving Service.

1887: VERNON, enroute from Cheboygan to Chicago, foundered off Two Rivers, Wisconsin, in a sudden and violent Lake Michigan storm. Only one on board was saved while another 36 lives were lost.

1907: CITY OF GRAND RAPIDS, a wooden passenger steamer recently brought into Canadian registry, caught fire while stopped at Tobermory for the night while enroute from Wiarton to Manitoulin Island. The blazing ship was cut loose, drifted into the bay and sank

1917: RISING SUN stranded at Pyramid Point, Lake Michigan, in snow and the 32 on board were rescued before the ship was broken apart by the surf.

1924: GLENORCHY sank in Lake Huron, six miles ESE of Harbor Beach after a collision with the LEONARD B. MILLER. Dense fog mixing with smoke from forest fires were blamed for the accident. All on board were saved. No lives were lost but the GLENORCHY sank and the estimated damage to the two vessels was $600,000.

1926: TORHAMVAN, built at Midland as CANADIAN LOGGER, was wrecked off Newfoundland after going aground in fog enroute to Montreal. Area residents rescued the crew.

1929: The passenger and freight carrier WISCONSIN foundered off Kenosha, Wisconsin, with the loss of 16 lives.

1942: NORLUNA, built at Chicago in 1919 as LAKE GETAWAY, stranded in Ungava Bay, off the coast of Labrador near Fort Chimo, and was a total loss.

1951: After unloading grain at Buffalo, the PENOBSCOT was in a collision on the Buffalo River with the tanker barge MORANIA 130, pushed by the tug DAUNTLESS NO. 12. The barge was carrying gasoline and a terrible fire broke out. A total of 11 sailors, including two on the freighter, died from burns.

1959: MARISCO had visited the Great Lakes as a) MOYRA and b) HEIKA. The ship foundered in the Gulf of Laconia, off Gythion, Greece, after developing a leak in the engineroom. It was enroute from Varna, Bulgaria, to Genoa, Italy, with iron ore.

1968: GLOUCESTER CITY began Great Lakes trading in 1966. The ship was sailing as b) ST. JOHN when it put into Fort Dauphin, Malagasy Republic, with engine trouble on a voyage from Montreal to Djakarta, Indonesia. Two days later the vessel broke its moorings in a gale and was blown on a sandbank as a total loss.

1978: The Swedish freighter FREDBORG, b) FREDRIK RAGNE, a Great Lakes visitor under both names before and after the Seaway was opened, returned as c) ANASTASSIA in 1968. The vessel was towed out of Tema, Ghana, as e) GAYTA on this date in 1978 and scuttled in the deep waters of the Atlantic.


On 30 October 1863, TORRENT (2-mast wooden schooner, 125 foot, 412 gross tons, built in 1855, at Newport [Marine City], Michigan) was carrying railroad iron from Buffalo to Little Bay de Noc when she foundered in a storm on Lake Erie, 10 miles east of Port Stanley, Ontario. No lives were lost.

On 30 October 1870, JOSEPH A. HOLLON (wooden barge, 107 foot, 158 gross tons, built in 1867, at E. Saginaw, Michigan) was in tow of the tug CLEMATIS (wooden tug, 179 tons, built in 1863, at Cleveland, Ohio) in a terrific gale on Lake Huron. The barge broke free and drifted off. The waves washed completely over her and the captain was swept overboard. Her cabins were destroyed. The next day the wife of the mate and another crewmember were rescued by the bark ONEONTA (wooden bark, 161 foot, 499 gross tons, built in 1862, at Buffalo, New York) and taken to Detroit, but the HOLLON was left to drift on the Lake. The newspapers listed her as "missing". Five days later the vessel was found and was towed into Port Elgin, Ontario. A total of four lives were lost: three were missing and the fourth was found "lashed to a pump, dead, with his eyes picked out.”

The tugs GLENADA and MOUNT MC KAY towed AMOCO ILLINOIS from Essexville, Michigan, on October 30, 1985, and arrived at the M&M slip in Windsor, Ontario, on November 1st. where she was to be scrapped.

The Maritimers CADILLAC and her fleetmate CHAMPLAIN arrived under tow by the Dutch tug/supply ship THOMAS DE GAUWDIEF on October 30, 1987, at Aliaga, Turkey, to be scrapped.

The ISLE ROYALE (Canal bulk freighter) was launched October 30, 1947, as a.) SOUTHCLIFFE HALL for the Hall Corporation of Canada Ltd. (which in 1969, became Hall Corporation (Shipping) 1969 Ltd.), Montreal.

On 30 October 1874, LOTTA BERNARD (wooden side wheel "rabbit", 125 foot, 147 tons, built in 1869, at Port Clinton, Ohio) was carrying general merchandise from Silver Islet to Duluth when she foundered in a terrific gale off Encampment Island in Lake Superior. Three lives were lost. She was capable of only 4 miles per hour and was at the mercy of any fast-rising storm.

During a storm, the schooner ANNABELLA CHAMBERS was wrecked on the islands off Toronto, Ontario, on 30 October 1873. One sailor was washed overboard and lost. The skipper was rescued, but he had the dead body of his small son in his arms.

On 30 October, 1971 - The PERE MARQUETTE 21 was laid up due to a coal strike. She never sailed again as a carferry.

On 30 October 1877, CITY OF TAWAS (3-mast wooden schooner, 135 foot, 291 tons, built in 1864, at Vicksburgh [now Marysville], Michigan as a sloop-barge) was carrying 500 tons of iron ore when she struck a bar outside the harbor at St. Joseph, Michigan, while attempting to enter during a storm. She drifted ashore with a hole in her bottom and was pounded to pieces. One brave crewman swam ashore with a line and the rest came in on it.

1918: The bulk carrier VULCAN went aground off Point Abbaye, on Lake Superior and the pilothouse caught fire and burned. The ship was enroute to Hancock, MI with coal and, after being released, was towed to Houghton, MI. The vessel was repaired and became b) VINMOUNT in 1919.

1960: JOHN SHERWIN went aground several miles above the Soo Locks and received serious bottom damage. The vessel was pulled free on November 7 and went for repairs.

1973: AIGLE MARIN, enroute to Thorold with 600 tons of ferrous chrome, went aground in the Seaway near Cornwall, ON. The tug ROBINSON BAY helped pull this small coastal freighter, a product of the Collingwood Shipyard, free on October 31.

1974: JOHN O. McKELLAR of the Misener fleet went aground in the St. Marys River and had to be lightered before being refloated. It was stuck for 3 days.

1978: The Cypriot freighter KARYATIS came through the Seaway in 1973. The ship, later under the Greek flag, was damaged in a collision on the Western Mediterranean with the SPRING. The latter, as a) IRISH ROSE, had made been a Great Lakes visitor from 1956 through 1958, and was declared a total loss after the collision. It was scrapped at Santander, Spain, in 1979. KARYATIS was repaired and was later broken up at Gadani Beach, Pakistan, as e) NOURA after arrival on April 7, 1987.

1980: The wooden-hulled former coastal freighter AVALON VOYAGER II, enroute to Owen Sound for planned use as a restaurant, had pump problems, lost power and struck bottom off Cape Hurd. The anchors failed to hold. The ship drifted into Hay Bay and stranded again. All on board were saved but the ship was a total loss



It's full steam ahead for SS Badger

10/29 - Ludington, Mich. – A collective sigh of relief could be heard on both sides of Lake Michigan earlier this month when a federal judge cleared the way for the SS Badger to continue its car ferry operation beyond next season.

After nearly 60 years of hauling families and their cars across the lake during the summer months, the Badger’s run appeared last year to be ending. Officials with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency had targeted the operation for its production of coal ash — material that is dumped into the water during each crossing.

For Ludington on the Michigan side and Manitowoc on the Wisconsin side, the stakes were high. The economies of both communities are bolstered each year by an influx of tourist dollars that are directly attributable to the Badger — an estimated $7 million in Wisconsin and an estimated 700 jobs in the Ludington area.

But on Oct. 10, U.S. District Judge Janet Neff approved a consent agreement between Lake Michigan Carferry and the EPA that would allow the company to continue operating while it makes technological changes to the Badger during the next year. The modifications would allow the Badger to capture coal ash generated during a crossing instead of pumping it into Lake Michigan.

It’s welcome news for people like Tom Holly, owner of the Jamesport Brewing Company, which sits three blocks north of the Badger’s dock in Ludington.

“We know that the Badger has an impact on our business here,” he said. “It’s a seasonal impact, but we estimate between 15 and 20 percent of our business comes from the Badger during the summer months.”

Holly described the Badger as a “big part” of the Ludington community and an “icon.” Across Lake Michigan, it’s more than that.

A year ago, with the Badger facing an uncertain future, officials with the Manitowac County Chamber of Commerce were bracing for the worst. The ferry service contributes an estimated $7 million a year to the region’s economy.

“There are a cross section of businesses that are impacted — the downtown businesses, restaurants and hotels,” said Karen Szyman, the chamber’s executive director. “In addition, we have a number of different companies that transport things via the ferry.”

As an example, she pointed to Broadwind Energy, which transports massive wind turbine pieces across the lake on the ferry. This year, Lake Michigan Carferry extended its season a few weeks to allow the company to ship more parts.

Last year’s concerns have given way to a new sense of optimism. The approved consent agreement requires the Badger’s operators to gradually reduce the amount of coal ash released during the 2014 sailing season and to have a capture system on board by the start of the 2015 season.

Back in 2008, Lake Michigan Carferry’s outlook for such a system was pessimistic. In a letter to the EPA, a company consultant wrote: “... there currently exists no available off-the-shelf plan, system, technology or process that would allow the vessel to operate but contain its ash.”

Earlier this month, company officials greeted the consent agreement with much more optimism. “(LMC) has also been proactive working toward eliminating the ash discharge during the Consent Decree review process by starting the engineering and design work necessary for the installation of a sophisticated ash retention system — a technology never before implemented on a steam ship,” the company said in a press release.

This week, a company spokesperson said two contractors are tackling the dual issues of creating a combustion system and a retention system for the ship, which was built in 1952.

“LMC’s main focus at this time is on the combustion system,” said Terri Brown, the company’s director of marketing and media relations, in a response to questions. “In the next couple of weeks we hope to be purchasing components for the combustion controls. The new combustion system will allow the ship to burn less coal and generate less ash.”

Brown said the potential costs of the upgrades are “not available at this time.”

For John Henderson, however, the costs will undoubtedly be worth it. Last year, Ludington’s mayor estimated a total of 700 jobs in the region — 200 directly and 500 indirectly — were affected by the Badger’s operation. Had the car ferry stopped operating, he anticipated the local unemployment rate jumping by 5 percentage points.

“We would have survived — that’s not in doubt — and you have to roll with the punches ... ,” he said. “But we’re very excited to have the ferry and have Ludington by the home port for it.”

Detroit News

[yachtsmanwilly]

Early 20th century Canadian steamer Roberval discovered in Lake Ontario

10/31 - Rochester, New York – The National Museum of the Great Lakes has announced the discovery of the lost Canadian steamer Roberval, which foundered in 1916 when struck by a rogue wave in Lake Ontario. The Roberval is one of only two undiscovered steel-clad ships still in the lake and has been heavily sought after by shipwreck hunters.

In mid-October, shipwreck explorers Jim Kennard, Roger Pawlowski and Roland Stevens located the steamer off Oswego, NYm while surveying a section of Lake Ontario for historic ships. The National Museum of the Great Lakes helps underwrite Kennard and his crew’s operational expenses for shipwreck searches in a collaborative effort to fully discover the submerged history of Lake Ontario.

In late September 1916, the Roberval carried a load of 248,000 board feet of lumber destined to be made into matchsticks and boxes by the Diamond Match Company in Oswego. The steamer departed Cape Vincent along the St Lawrence River in the early afternoon and within an hour was on Lake Ontario heading south to its final destination. As the afternoon progressed, northwest winds on the lake increased to over 30 miles per hour. These winds were not typically excessive for this ship but the large stack of lumber piled on deck was acting as a sail making it very difficult for the steamer to stay on course. As the winds increased so did the waves, reaching heights of over 8 feet, which continually hit the Roberval, rolling her from side to side. Eventually, several waves combined into one huge rogue wave that caused the steamer to roll over on its starboard side spilling a portion of the deck cargo. This was followed by another large wave, which caused the remaining loose cargo to slide off the deck and into the cabin at the aft portion of the steamer.

Everything happened so fast there was little time to know just what was going on. The waves smashed the galley window and flooded the gangway. The upper structure of the cabin area was bashed in and one of the lifeboats was smashed. As water filled the engine room the stern slowly sank. Four sailors were attempting to man the remaining lifeboat when suddenly the Roberval took another list, throwing three men into the water and the Chief Engineer into the lifeboat.

First fireman Messenau opted to stay with the pile of floating lumber while the other men climbed into the damaged lifeboat. The second fireman, Seguin, who had been down in the firehole, managed to reach the deck just as the ship plunged under. While he stood on the port side bewildered, a pile of sliding timber struck him in the back and head, knocking him into the lake where he drowned. His body could be seen about five feet below the surface of the water when the three sailors started to pull away from the wreck. The cook, Miss Patent, was hanging on for dear life at the bow rail. Captain Eligh brought her aft where he told her to hang on to the iron railing running around the cabin structure. However, as the stern of the ship sank deeper into the water she was thrown over the starboard side into the lake. Following her, the captain grasped several timbers, slid down the deck and then leaped, landing in the water within a few feet of where the cook had sunk several feet underwater. He grabbed her by the hair and dragged her to a nearby timber for support. A short distance away the first mate was struggling to get enough lumber to make a raft. The three of them combined their efforts to build a larger raft to float on. Above them in the forward deckhouse of the sinking ship, which was now nearly vertical in the water, appeared the wide-eyed young deckhand, Leroy, in one of the porthole windows. His calls for help could not be heard over the roar of the wind and waves.

It was nearly sunset when the Roberval lost its deck load and began to slowly sink below the surface of Lake Ontario. It was temporarily stopped in a near vertical position by the floatation provided by150,000 board feet of dry spruce lumber in the hold of the steamer. The Glen Allen, a sister ship 7 miles behind the Roberval at the time of the accident, saw what they thought was the sun reflecting off the cabin windows. In fact, it was a reflection of the sun off the vertical wet hull that was now protruding high out of the water.

The bow of the lifeboat had been severely damaged and was leaking badly. The three men in this small craft bailed water and rowed for nearly 9 hours all the way to the port of Oswego, a distance of over 16 miles. For the next 22 hours, Captain Eligh and three crewmembers tried to hold their makeshift raft together. The winds abated by morning and then shifted from out of the southwest blowing the mass of lumber and raft away from the eastern shore of Lake Ontario and out into the open water of Lake Ontario. For nearly a day the Coast Guard from Oswego and the Big Sandy Life-Saving Station searched for survivors of the Roberval. In mid-afternoon the following day a flock of birds resting on debris in the water were sighted by the crew of the Big Sandy life-saving station boat. They headed to that location to find the four survivors of the Roberval alive and sitting on top of the pile of lumber that constituted their life raft. By the next day the deck load of lumber could be found from the east shore of Lake Ontario all the way to the St. Lawrence River.

The Roberval was built by the Polson Iron Works in Toronto, Ontario, Canada in 1907 and was owned by Captains Eligh and Hall of Ottawa. The steamer had a registered length of 128 feet, a beam of 24 feet and a capacity of 344 net tons. The Roberval was known as one of the staunchest steel boats on Lake Ontario at this time. She was built for the salt water trade, but had been on the lakes for years carrying lumber between Ottawa and Oswego, and returning with coal back to Canada from the Oswego terminal.

GLHS



Demolition of Muskegon's B.C. Cobb plant up for consideration by commission

10/31 - Muskegon, Mich. – Consumers Energy has asked the Michigan Public Service Commission to approve a special bond issue that will allow it to close down and demolish the B.C. Cobb Generating Plant beginning in April 2016.

The firm date and demolition plan for the two coal-fired units remaining in operation at the 65-year-old plant outline a different posture than previously signaled by the Jackson-based public utility. The same closure and demolition plans are being made for Consumers Energy coal-fired units at the J.R. Whiting plant in Luna Pier in Monroe County and J.C. Weadock plant in Hampton Township on Saginaw Bay, company officials said.

The plants receive coal by Great Lakes freighter.

Consumers officials initially announced in late 2011 that the B.C. Cobb plant was slated to be mothballed early in 2015 but that date was extended to 2016 in September. Such a suspension of operations would have allowed the plant to be brought back on line in the future.

The Cobb plant is the largest taxpayer in Muskegon County, representing 17 percent of the city of Muskegon’s property tax base in 2011 along with employing approximately 115 workers.

The three coal-plant closures are being driven by stricter federal environmental protection standards for such facilities. Consumers officials have said the company will not invest new environmental technology into its aging coal plants during a time that electrical use in Michigan has stabilized and the company is preparing to build a new natural gas generating plant in Thetford Township in Genesee County near Flint.

If the MPSC approves a $454 million securitized bond issue Consumers is seeking from the states utility regulators, the company is prepared to move forward with its April 2016 closure and plans for demolition of the three plants, company spokesman Dan Bishop said.

The specific closure and demolition plans for B.C. Cobb and the other two plants were disclosed Monday, Oct. 28 in company filings with the MPSC in the bond case before state regulators. Bishop said Consumers officials expect a MPSC decision on the bond issue before the end of the year.

Part of the process will be planning for redevelopment of the property, in total about 1,000 acres on a site where the Muskegon River flows into Muskegon Lake, Marvin said. Community leaders have been told of the company’s current decision for closure and demolition of the Cobb plant, Marvin said.

The Cobb plant has the newest deep-water access to Muskegon Lake, a dock built about a half dozen years ago that can serve 1,000-foot lake freighters the largest on Lake Michigan that bring coal to the plant. Those docking facilities and eventually a cleared Cobb site provide plenty of opportunities for redevelopment, community economic developers have said.



U.S. Steel to close Hamilton iron and steel operations

10/31 - Hamilton, Ont. – United States Steel Corp. will permanently discontinue its iron and steel making at Hamilton Works in Ontario, Canada, on Dec. 31, CEO Mario Longhi said Tuesday.

"Decisions like this are always difficult, but they are necessary to improve the cost structure of our Canadian operations," he said.

It wasn't immediately clear how many employees would be impacted at Hamilton Works, however, Executive Vice President and CFO David Burritt said the impact would be minimal, as the hot operations have not been active in recent years.

U.S. Steel idled the Hamilton blast furnace in October 2010. Sarah Cassella, a spokeswoman for the company, said the company will continue coke and finishing operations that are currently active at the plant.

As a result of the closure, Longhi said U.S. Steel will record a noncash charge in the fourth quarter of approximately $225 million to write down these assets, but it will ultimately result in annual savings of roughly $50 million.

Longhi also announced U.S. Steel will be ceasing operations at two of its oldest coke batteries at its Gary Works in Gary, Ind., and dissolving Double Eagle Steel Coating Co., its joint venture with Severstahl North America. Additionally, the company will not renew two iron ore purchase agreements, one ending in December and the other in 2014.

These actions are part of the Longhi-led Project Carnegie, a value-enhancement initiative aimed at creating drastic improvements on cost and revenue. Burritt said the company is tightening up and being careful where it spends its money.

"These actions represent just the beginning of the project," Longhi said.

Hamilton Spectator




Today in Great Lakes History - October 31

On this day in 1984, at approximately 10:30 p.m., the international railroad bridge at Sault Ste. Marie went askew and blocked boat traffic until 3:40 p.m. on Nov. 2. Twelve boats were delayed up to 41 hours by the incident, costing the operators an estimated $350,000.

On 31 October 1888, A W LAWRENCE (wooden propeller tug, 72 foot, 51 gross tons, built in 1880, at Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin) blew her boiler at 2:30 a.m. off North Point near Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The tug quickly sank. Four of the six aboard were lost. None of their remains were ever found. The tug MERRILL rescued the cook and a passenger. The LAWRENCE was owned by Capt. Mc Coy & Banner and valued at $5,000.

CANADIAN EXPLORER's sea trials were conducted on October 31, 1983, on Lake Erie where a service speed of 13.8 m.p.h. was recorded.

The EDWIN H. GOTT was christened October 31, 1978.

On October 31, 1973, the H. M. GRIFFITH entered service for Canada Steamship Lines on her maiden voyage bound for Thunder Bay, Ontario to load iron ore for Hamilton, Ontario. The GRIFFITH was rebuilt with a new larger forward section and renamed b.) RT. HON PAUL J. MARTIN in 2000.

The CADILLAC was launched October 31, 1942, as a.) LAKE ANGELINE.

ELMGLEN cleared Owen Sound, Ontario on October 31, 1984, on her first trip in Parrish & Heimbecker colors.

On October 31, 1966, while down bound in the St. Marys River loaded with 11,143 tons of potash for Oswego, New York, the HALLFAX ran aground on a rocky reef and settled to the bottom with her hold full of water. She had grounded on Pipe Island Twins Reef just north of DeTour, Michigan.

The CHARLES L. HUTCHINSON, a.) WILLIAM C. MORELAND, struck a reef the night of October 31, 1925 three miles south of Manitou Island, off the Keweenaw Peninsula, on Lake Superior.

On October 31, 1983, the SYLVANIA was towed out of Toledo’s Frog Pond by the harbor tugs ARKANSAS and WYOMING. She was handed over to the tug OHIO for delivery to the Triad Salvage Co., at Ashtabula, Ohio, arriving there on November 1st. Dismantling was completed there in 1984. Thus ended 78 years of service. Ironically the SYLVANIA, the first built of the 504-foot-class bulkers, was the last survivor of that class. During her career with Columbia Transportation, the SYLVANIA had carried over 20 million tons and netted over $35 million.

On 31 October 1883, CITY OF TORONTO (wooden passenger-package freight sidewheeler, 207 foot, 898 gross tons, built in 1864, at Niagara, Ontario) caught fire at the Muir Brothers shipyard at Port Dalhousie, Ontario and was totally destroyed. She previously had her paddle boxes removed so she could pass through the Welland Canal, and she was in the shipyard to have them reassembled that winter.

On 31 October 1874, the tug FAVORITE was towing the schooner WILLIE NEELER on Lake Erie. At about 10:30 p.m., near Bar Point, the schooner suddenly sheered and before the to line could be cast off, the FAVORITE capsized and sank. One life was lost. The rest of the crew clung to the upper works, which had become dislodged from the vessel, and were rescued by the schooner's lifeboats.

On 31 October 1821, WALK-IN-THE-WATER (wooden side-wheeler, 135 foot, 339 tons, built in 1818, at Black Rock [Buffalo], New York) was wrecked on Point Abino, on the Canadian shore of Lake Erie during a storm. She was the first steam-powered vessel above Niagara and her frequent comings and goings during her career were very much in the newspapers in Detroit but her loss was not mentioned not at all since this steamer was virtually the only source of news from the east. Her engine was installed by Robert Fulton himself. After the wreck, it went into the steamer SUPERIOR and later ran a lumber mill in Saginaw, Michigan.

On 31 October 1880, TRANCHEMONTAGNE (wooden schooner, 108 foot, 130 tons, built in 1864, at Sorel, Quebec) was loaded with rye and sailing in a storm on Lake Ontario. She struck the breakwater at Oswego, New York head-on at about 3:00 a.m. She stove in her bow and quickly sank. The crew took to the rigging, except for one who was washed overboard and rode a provision box from her deck to shore. The Lifesaving Service rescued the rest from the breakwater. The schooner broke up quickly in the storm.

1885: WILLIAM T. GRAVES stranded at North Manitou Island, Lake Michigan, and was a total loss.

1911: The wooden lumber carrier D. LEUTY hit a squall off Marquette. The wooden steamer ran on the rocks off Lighthouse Point while trying to return to the harbor and was a total loss. The crew was saved and later the machinery was salvaged.

1929: SENATOR and MARQUETTE collided in fog on Lake Michigan and the former sank with the loss of 10 lives.

1952: The Swedish vessel RYHOLM was hit portside ahead of the bridge by the Swiss freighter BASILEA and beached 23 miles below Quebec City. The former had been a pre-Seaway visitor to the Great Lakes and was not salvaged until June 6, 1953. It became CARLSHOLM in 1957 and last came inland in 1967. The ship was scrapped at Aviles, Spain, as d) ARCHON in 1972.

1975: The tug JESSE JAMES operated on the Great Lakes from 1923 to 1966. It caught fire and sank as c) BALEEN about 30 miles southeast of Boston. All on board were saved.

1991: The MAHOGANY visited the Seaway in 1978 and as b) CARDIFF in 1981. It was sailing as f) PANAGHIA PHANEROMENI when in collision with the AQUILLA off Piraeus Roads. The ship was repaired at Perama, Greece, before it returned to service in January 1992.

2005: The Canfornav bulk carrier EIDER was only one year old when it ran aground near Famagusta, Chile, while inbound to load copper ore. The ship was damaged but refloated and repaired at Balboa, Panama. It was back through the Seaway in 2006 and has been a frequent caller since then.

[yachtsmanwilly]

Today in Great Lakes History - November 1

The LEHIGH, Captain Edward P. Fitch in command, cleared the Great Lakes Engineering Works yard at River Rouge, Michigan, to begin her maiden trip on this day in 1943. The LEHIGH was one of two Maritimers (the other was the STEELTON) acquired by Bethlehem Steel Corp. as part of a government program to upgrade and increase the capacity of the Great Lakes fleet during World War II. Bethlehem exchanged three older vessels, the JOHNSTOWN of 1905, the SAUCON, and the CORNWALL, plus cash for the two Maritimers.

On 01 November 1880, NINA BAILEY (wooden schooner, 30 tons, built in 1873, at Ludington, Michigan) filled with water and went out of control in a storm on Lake Michigan. She struck the North Pier at St. Joseph, Michigan and capsized. Her crew climbed up on her keel and was rescued by the Lifesaving Service. The vessel later broke up in the waves.

The Grand Trunk Western Railway was granted permission by the Interstate Commerce Commission on November 1, 1978, to discontinue its Lake Michigan service between Muskegon, Michigan and Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

MAITLAND NO 1 made her maiden voyage on November 1, 1916, from Ashtabula, Ohio to Port Maitland, Ontario, transporting rail cars with coal for the steel mills at Hamilton, Ontario.

SCOTT MISENER of 1954 returned to service in the grain trade on November 1, 1986, after a 3-year lay-up

On 1 November 1917, ALVA B (wooden steam tug, 74 foot, 84 gross tons, built in 1890, at Buffalo, New York) apparently mistook amusement park lights for the harbor markers at Avon Lake, Ohio during a storm. She struck bottom in the shallows and was destroyed by waves.

On 1 November 1862, BLACK HAWK (wooden brig, 138 foot, 385 tons, built in 1854, at Ohio City, Ohio) was carrying 19,000 bushels of corn and some stained glass when a gale drove her ashore and wrecked her near Point Betsie. In 1858, this vessel had sailed from Detroit, Michigan to Liverpool, England and back.

On 1 Nov 1862, CHIEF JUSTICE MARSHALL (2-mast wooden schooner, 105 foot, 182 tons, built in 1830, at Cape Vincent, New York) was driven aground between Dunkirk and Barcelona, New York during a storm. All hands were lost and the vessel was a total loss.

The Mackinac Bridge was opened to traffic on 01 November 1957.

The CITY OF MILWAUKEE (steel propeller carferry, 347 foot, 2,988 gross tons, built in 1931, at Manitowoc, Wisconsin) made her last run for Grand Trunk's rail car ferry service on 01 November 1978. In the fall of 1978, after termination of Grand Trunk's carferry service, she was then chartered to Ann Arbor Railroad. She is currently a museum ship at Manistee, Michigan.

Port Maitland Shipbreaking Ltd. began scrapping P & H Shipping's f.) ELMGLEN on 01 November 1984. She had a long career, being built in 1909, at Ecorse, Michigan as the a.) SHENANGO (steel propeller bulk freighter, 580 foot. 8,047 gross tons).

1907: WILLIAM A. REIS settled on the bottom of the St. Clair River following a collision with the MONROE C. SMITH. It was finally refloated for good on December 7 after several earlier efforts were short lived. The former last sailed as SASKADOC in 1966.

1908: TELEGRAM, a wooden passenger and freight carrier, stranded at Horse Island, Rattlesnake Harbour, Georgian Bay. The ship caught fire when the stove upset and the vessel was a total loss. All on board were rescued.

1912: The barge P.B. LOCKE, under tow of the JUNO, was lost in a storm on Lake Ontario enroute from Pointe Anne to Toronto.

1921: The Canadian wooden freighter CANOBIE, a) IRON KING received major storm damage on Lake Erie and arrived at Erie, Pa., in a leaking condition. The ship was stripped of valuable parts and abandoned. It later caught fire and subsequently scuttled about 2 miles offshore.

1924: GLENLYON stranded at Menagerie Island, Siskiwit Bay, Lake Superior while enroute to Port Colborne with 150,000 bushels of wheat. It had been seeking shelter in a storm but grounded as a total loss and then sank over the winter. All on board were saved.

1929: KEYSTATE and the schooner MAGGIE L. collided in the St. Lawrence near Clayton, NY, and the latter was lost.

1956: JAMES B. EADS and fleetmate GREY BEAVER were in a collision in western Lake Ontario and both received bow damage.

1965: High winds blew the Taiwanese freighter KALLY aground on a mud bank at Essexville, MI while inbound to load a cargo of scrap. The ship was released the next day.

2000: The Panamanian freighter OXFORD was only two years old when it came through the Seaway in November 1984. It got caught in typhoon Xangsene, as d) MANILA SPIRIT, on this date in 2000. The ship, still flagged in Panama, was driven aground and then sank off Hualien, Taiwan. One crewman was apparently able to swim to shore but the other 23 sailors were missing and presumed lost.




Port Reports - November 1

Munising, Mich. - Rod Burdick
Sam Laud unloaded coal for Neenah Paper on Wednesday.

Straits of Mackinac
Arthur M. Anderson anchored for weather Thursday night in the lee of the Upper Michigan shoreline north of St. Ignace. Strong southwest winds are expected Friday.

Cedarville & Port Inland, Mich. - Denny Dushane
At Cedarville, the next vessel to load will be the Wilfred Sykes, due in on Saturday in the early morning. The Joseph L. Block is due to arrive on Wednesday in the early morning. Rounding out the schedule will be the Lewis J. Kuber due on Sunday, November 10 in the early morning. Vessel arrivals are subject to change due to weather.

At Port Inland, the next vessel due to load will be the Arthur M. Anderson due on Saturday in the early morning. Wilfred Sykes is also due in on Saturday in the evening to load. Rounding out the schedule will be the Manitowoc due on Sunday in the early afternoon. Vessel arrivals are subject to change due to weather.

Stoneport, Mich. - Denny Dushane
Michipicoten loaded a limestone cargo on a very windy and rainy Halloween. It was expected to depart at 5 p.m. Also arriving on Halloween was the Lewis J. Kuber in the early afternoon. The Kuber went to anchor and was expected to get a dock around 6 p.m. Also expected in the late evening on Halloween was the James L. Kuber. The weekend lineup for loading is subject to change due to weather. Vessels due to load on Friday include Arthur M. Anderson in the morning followed by the Joseph H. Thompson and Pathfinder in the early afternoon. Due on Saturday is the Kaye E. Barker in the mid-afternoon and rounding out the schedule is the Philip R. Clarke on Sunday in the early morning.

Calcite, Mich. - Denny Dushane
The next vessel due to load will be the Buffalo due in on Friday in the early afternoon for the North Dock. Vessel arrivals are subject to change due to weather. There are no vessels scheduled for Saturday. The Buffalo returns to load on Sunday in the early afternoon at the South Dock. There are no vessels scheduled to load on Monday. The Arthur M. Anderson is due to arrive on Tuesday in the late afternoon for the South Dock, and rounding out the schedule is the James L. Kuber due on Wednesday very early in the morning.

Toledo, Ohio - Denny Dushane
The H. Lee White was expected to load at the CSX Coal Dock in the early evening on Halloween. Following is American Courage, due on Friday late in the evening. The H. Lee White returns to load at the CSX Coal Dock on Saturday in the morning. Following will be the James L. Kuber due on Sunday in the morning and the Algoma Transport, due to arrive on Wednesday, November 6 in the early morning. There is nothing due at the Midwest Terminal Stone Dock. Vessel arrivals for the Torco Dock include CSL's Whitefish Bay on Wednesday, November 6 in the early evening. There are four vessels due at the Torco Dock on Friday, November 8. Due first is Algoma Navigator in the early morning followed by the Atlantic Erie. Due in later in the early afternoon is Algoma Progress, and Lakes Contender is also due in the late afternoon. John D. Leitch rounds out the schedule and is due at the Torco Dock on Wednesday, November 13 late in the evening. Tecumseh was also in Toledo upriver loading a grain cargo at one of the grain elevators at the time of this report.

Rochester, N.Y. - J Testa
Robert S. Pierson was anchored all Thursday afternoon in Lake Ontario, off Rochester pier.

[yachtsmanwilly]

This is the William Hoey that was abandonded in Duncan bay 2 years ago. I believe its been moved to the SOO...









Today in Great Lakes History - November 2

On 02 November 1924, TURRET CROWN (steel propeller "turret ship,” 253 foot, 1,827 tons, built in 1895, in England) was driven ashore in a gale on Meldrum Point on the north side of Manitoulin Island on Lake Huron. Her hull was wrecked during the storms that winter. She was cut up and removed for scrap the following year.

On November 2, 1984, the tugs ATOMIC and ELMORE M. MISNER towed the ERINDALE, a.) W.F. WHITE, to the International Marine Salvage scrap dock at Port Colborne, Ontario, where demolition began that month.

H.C. HEIMBECKER proceeded under her own power to Ashtabula, Ohio, for scrapping, arriving there November 2, 1981.

On November 2, 1948, FRANK ARMSTRONG collided head-on with the c.) JOHN J. BOLAND of 1905, a.) STEPHEN B. CLEMENT, in a heavy fog on Lake Erie near Colchester, Ontario. Both vessels were badly damaged and resulted in one fatality on the BOLAND. The ARMSTRONG was towed to Toledo, Ohio, for repairs.

In 1972, the A. E. NETTLETON's towline parted from the OLIVE L. MOORE during a snowstorm with gale force winds 17 miles west of the Keweenaw Peninsula on Lake Superior. The barge developed a 15-degree list when her load of grain shifted. Three of her five-member crew were air lifted by a U.S.C.G. helicopter to the MOORE to assist in re-rigging the towline. The NETTLETON was towed the next day into the Lily Pond on the Keweenaw Waterway to trim her cargo.

The WILLIAM C. MORELAND was abandoned to the underwriters on November 2, 1910, as a constructive total loss, amounting to $445,000. She had stranded on Sawtooth Reef off Eagle Harbor, Michigan, on Lake Superior in mid October.

The keel of the new section, identified as Hull #28, was laid down on November 2, 1959. A new forward pilothouse and a hatch crane were installed and her steam turbine engine and water tube boilers were reconditioned. The vessel was named c.) RED WING after the Detroit Red Wing hockey team, honoring a long association with Upper Lakes Shipping and James Norris, the founder of ULS, and his two sons, James D. and Bruce, owners of the National Hockey League team.

In 1971, the Lake Michigan carferry BADGER was laid up due to a coal strike.

On 2 November 1889, FRANCIS PALMS (wooden schooner, 173 foot, 560 tons, built in 1868, at Marine City, Michigan, as a bark) was sailing from Escanaba to Detroit with a load of iron ore when she was driven ashore near Beaver Island in Lake Michigan. Her entire crew was taken off by the tug GLADIATOR that also pulled in vain while trying to free the PALMS. The PALMS was pounded to pieces by the storm waves. November was a bad month for the PALMS since she had previously been wrecked on Long Point in Lake Erie in November 1874, and again at Duluth in November 1872.

During the first week of November 1878, The Port Huron Times reported wrecks and mishaps that occurred during a severe storm that swept over the Lakes on Friday and Saturday, 1-3 November. The information was reported on 2, 4 & 5 November as the reports came in. The same reports will appear here starting today: The Port Huron Times of 2 November 1878: "The schooner L. C. WOODRUFF of Cleveland is ashore at the mouth of the White River with her foremast gone. She is loaded with corn. Three schooners went ashore at Grand Haven Friday morning, the AMERICA, MONTPELIER, and AUSTRALIAN. One man was drowned off the AUSTRALIAN. The schooner WORTS is ashore and full of water on Beaver Island. Her cargo consists of pork for Collingwood. The tug LEVIATHAN has gone to her aid. The schooner LAKE FOREST is ashore at Hammond's Bay, Lake Huron, and is full of water. She has a cargo of corn aboard. The tug A J SMITH has gone to her rescue. The barge S. C. WOODRUFF has gone down in 13 feet of water off Whitehall and her crew is clinging to the rigging at last accounts. A lifeboat has been sent to her relief. The barge RUTTER is in 25 feet of water and all the crew are now safe."

On 2 November 1874, PREBLE (2-mast wooden schooner, 98 foot, 166 tons, built in 1842, at Buffalo, New York as a brig) was lost in a storm off Long Point on Lake Erie and broke up in the waves. The steamer ST PAUL rescued her crew.

On 02 Nov 1862, BAY STATE (wooden propeller, 137 foot, 372 tons, built in 1852, at Buffalo, New York) was bound for Lake Erie ports from Oswego, New York when she broke up offshore in a terrific gale in the vicinity of Oswego. All 22 onboard, including six passengers, lost their lives. The shoreline was strewn with her wreckage for miles.

PAUL H. CARNAHAN was christened at the foot of West Grand Boulevard in Detroit, Michigan on 02 Nov 1961. She had been converted from the tanker b.) ATLANTIC DEALER to a dry bulk cargo carrier by American Ship Building Co. at Lorain, Ohio and came out on her maiden bulk freighter voyage just two weeks before this christening ceremony.

1912: JUNO, which had lost the barge P.B. LOCKE the previous day on Lake Ontario, arrived safely at Cobourg and then sank at the dock.

1923: The wooden steamer WESEE caught fire in Lake Erie off Middle Bass Island and burned as a total loss. The crew took to the yawl boats and all were saved.

1956: The former schooner J.T. WING, which had operated as a museum at Belle Isle in Detroit until condemned due to rotting timbers, was burned.

1981: FROSSO K., an SD 14 ocean freighter, suffered an engine room fire enroute from Vancouver to Japan. The ship was towed back to Vancouver November 15 and repaired. It first came through the Seaway in 1974 and arrived at Cartagena, Columbia, under tow, for scrapping on February 15, 1995, as e) MAMER.

1981: The West German freighter POSEIDON first came through the Seaway in 1962 and became a regular inland trader. It was abandoned, in leaking condition on this date, as e) VIKI K. in the Red Sea. There was some suspicion that the vessel was scuttled as part of an insurance fraud.

1988: PETER MISENER struck a shoal while upbound in the Saguenay River for Port Alfred with coke. There was major damage and the ship went to Montreal for repairs.

2001: AUDACIOUS stranded at Keleman Island, Indonesia, but was refloated two days later. The damage was severe and the vessel was laid up at Singapore and then sold to shipbreakers. The ship arrived at Alang, India, to be broken up, on April 27, 2002. The ship visited the Great Lakes as a) WELSH VOYAGER in 1977, and returned as b) LONDON VOYAGER in 1982 and c) OLYMPIC LEADER in 1983. It made its first inland voyage as d) AUDACIOUS in 1996 and its final call in 2000.



Goderich plans events Nov. 9-10 to mark the Great Storm of 1913

11/2 - Goderich, Ont. – The Port of Goderich and Lake Huron shore communities are honoring the lost souls and ships of “The Great Storm 1913” with several remembrance activities Nov. 8, 9 and 10. A permanent memorial is also being built, for which donations are being accepted.

Museums along the lakeshore communities will host special displays. Art galleries in Goderich will present special exhibitions. And the Goderich Little Theatre will mount the musical drama “November 9, 1913: The Great Storm,” written and directed by Warren Robinson, with production and music by Eleanor Robinson. See a preview of the play here:

The Goderich activities will also include a exhibition combining heritage and education displays with a marine trade show and job fair exhibition called “Careers on the Water and More.”

Participation has been confirmed by major partners in the marine shipping industry as well as marine heritage and education groups from across the Great Lakes basin. The Georgian College International Marine Training Program will be a major player with their on-site simulators, as will the International Shipmasters Association. Government agencies including the Canadian Coast Guard & Hydrographic Services are expected to be present.

There will also be special commemorative ceremonies at the memorial plaque overlooking Goderich Harbor, at the plot for the unknown “Sailors” in Maitland Cemetery, Goderich, and the unveiling of a special permanent memorial sculpture on a bluff overlooking the lake.

For details and times, consult www.1913storm.ca

[skycheney]

Nov 2, 2013 7:31:43 GMT -5 yachtsmanwilly said:

This is the William Hoey that was abandonded in Duncan bay 2 years ago. I believe its been moved to the SOO...

It was moved. I was at Duncan Bay Boat Club this summer and the bay was empty.

[yachtsmanwilly]

The WILLIAM HOEY was last reported to have been salvaged along with the smaller sunken tug and carferry abandoned at Duncan Bay by MCM Marine Inc in the SOO.


Thunder Bay Bridge open to rail; vessels can still load grain

11/3 - Thunder Bay, Ont. - The James Street Swing Bridge is now open to rail traffic. CN Rail, which owns the bridge, reopened it for trains early Friday morning. The bridge, however, remains closed to vehicle traffic.

CN Rail regional manager Lindsay Fedchyshyn said examiners have concluded their inspections, and made repairs to the ties and supports impacted by Tuesday evening’s fire.

“We wouldn’t have resumed train traffic if we weren’t 100 per cent confident in our engineering,” Fedchyshyn said. As for vehicular traffic, that is still a little ways off.

Fedchyshyn said the company can only attest to the rail section, and has hired a structural consulting expert to examine the road. That expert began an evaluation Thursday night, and she said a conditioning report is not expected back until the middle of next week.

The bridge, which links the city to the Fort William First Nation, has been closed since being engulfed by flames shortly after 7 p.m. on Tuesday. However, the impact for at least one area business is not as bad as it could have been.

Superior Elevators general manager Darin D’Aleo said the fire happened during a lull period, and impacts of the temporary loss of the bridge have been minimal. D’Aleo added next week is scheduled to be a busy time for the company and they are happy to see the transportation resume.

“We’re happy as clams right now,” he said. “The rail traffic is going to come in, and we have vessels that are going to be taking grain away so it’s a perfect situation.”

The port’s grain elevators rely on rail cars to deliver grain on a frequent basis.

"Well all the grain that comes into the terminal comes in by rail," said Paul Kennedy, manager of Mission Terminal. "So we would be effectively cut off from our supply."

Management at the nearby Cargill elevator shares Kennedy's concerns. More grain is enroute to that elevator, coming in by rail.

A spokesperson for Cargill said using trucks to bypass the James Street swing bridge is not an idea solution, as the facility is not set up to handle truck traffic.

TB News Watch and CBC News





Today in Great Lakes History - November 3

On 03 November 1907, tug ESCORT (wooden propeller, 45 foot, 40 gross tons, built in 1894, at Port Colborne, Ontario) tried to pass the barge BENJ HARRISON at the mouth of the Niagara River. In a navigational error, the tug sheared under the barge’s bow, was run over and sunk. Three lives were lost.

B. A. PEERLESS sailed on her maiden voyage November 3, 1952, bound for Superior, Wisconsin, where 110,291 barrels of crude oil were loaded destined for British-American's refinery at Clarkson, Ontario. The PEERLESS was built for the express purpose of transporting crude oil from the Interprovincial / Lakehead Pipeline terminus at Superior to B / A's Clarkson refinery. The vessel lasted until 1991, when she was broken up.

On 3 November 1898, PACIFIC (wooden propeller passenger/package freighter, 179 foot, 918 gross tons, built in 1883, at Owen Sound, Ontario) caught fire at the Grand Trunk dock at Collingwood, Ontario. She burned to a shell despite a concerted effort to save her. She was later towed out into Georgian Bay and scuttled.

On 3 November 1855, DELAWARE (wooden propeller, 173 foot, 368 tons, built in 1846, at Black River, Ohio) was carrying general merchandise from Chicago to Buffalo with a stop at Milwaukee. She was driven ashore by a gale eight miles south of Sheboygan, Wisconsin and sank. Ten or 11 of the 18 on board lost their lives. Within a few days, only her arches were visible above the water.

Dismantling of the H. C. HEIMBECKER began on 03 Nov 1981, by Triad Salvage Company at Ashtabula, Ohio, and was completed the following year. This vessel was originally named GEORGE W. PERKINS (steel bulk freighter, 556 foot, 6,553 gross tons, built in 1905, at Superior, Wisconsin.)

1928: CANADIAN TRADER was Hull 39 of the Port Arthur shipyard. Following a sale to Japanese interests, the ship departed Seattle on this date in 1928 on its delivery voyage, still as c) GUILDA SCUDERI, and was never seen again.

1953: The tug J.A. CORNETT went hard aground about seven miles north of Clayton, NY and was leaking badly. The vessel was eventually refloated and survived at Port Dover, ON at least as recently as 2011. It has been laid up there since 1992 and is now in derelict condition.

1965: The tug MISEFORD was towing the barge CHARLES W. JOHNSON when they were caught in a storm on the St. Marys River. The tug was pulled over on her side and rested on the bottom. MISEFORD was salvaged in the spring of 1966 and remains in service in 2012 as a harbor tug at Thunder Bay, Ont.