Today in Great Lakes History

[yachtsmanwilly]

Port Reports - August 4

Buffalo, N.Y. – Brian W
English River departed around 10 a.m. Sunday. American Mariner was still unloading at General Mills.





Lookback #260 – Midland Queen lost to enemy action on Aug. 4, 1915

8/4 - The demand for ships during World War One and World War Two led to a number of lake vessels being sold or requisitioned for deep sea duty. These vessels were either canal-sized steamers that moved easily in and out of the lakes or larger ships that had to be cut in two to exit the inland seas.

The Midland Queen had been built at Dundee, Scotland, in 1901, and served several owners beginning with the Midland Navigation Co. and ending with Canada Steamship Lines. The 255-foot-long freighter was used in the bulk trades, mainly grain, but also saw some work, on charter to the Canadian Government, as a lighthouse tender.

Midland Queen survived a grounding near Sault Ste. Marie late in 1901 and a collision with the William G. Mather (i) near Amherstburg, on May 2, 1906. Both accidents required repairs.

The ship was requisitioned for war service in 1915 and initially carried Nova Scotia coal to Montreal. In June 1915, it loaded steel bars, barbed wire and shells and headed across the Atlantic and then made a second trip in July with war materials.

The ship was intercepted by U-28 99 years ago today and sunk, by gunfire, while about 70 miles southwest of Fastnet, Ireland. It was the first canal ship to be lost in the war. The German captain issued a warning to abandon ship and when the crew were safely in the lifeboat, the Midland Queen was shelled and sent to the bottom.

A Norwegian cargo ship found the drifting sailors on August 5 and took them to safety. U-28 was later lost with all hands on Sept. 2, 1917, when a ship it had shelled blew up in a monstrous explosion wrecking their submarine.

Skip Gillham





Today in Great Lakes History - August 4

On this day in 1896, the whaleback COLGATE HOYT became the first boat to transport a load of iron ore through the new Poe lock. The man at the wheel of the HOYT, Thomas Small, was also at the wheel of the PHILIP R. CLARKE when the second Poe lock was opened to traffic 73 years later.

On this day in 1910, a mutiny occurred aboard the Pittsburgh steamer DOUGLAS HOUGHTON when a deckhand was confined for peeping into the cabin window of 5 female passengers (relatives of officers of the United States Steel Corporation). It required one hour for Captain John Parke, loaded revolver in hand, to quell the mutiny, confine the ringleaders, and clear away the broken furniture.

On the clear, almost perfect night of 4 August 1902, the SEGUIN (steel propeller freighter, 207 foot, 818 gross tons, built in 1890, at Owen Sound, Ontario) collided with the CITY OF VENICE (wooden propeller freighter, 301 foot, 2,108 gross tons, built in 1892, at W. Bay City, Michigan) abreast of Rondeau, Ontario on Lake Erie. The CITY OF VENICE, which was loaded with iron ore, sank and three of her crew were drowned. The U. S. Marshall impounded the SEGUIN for damages

Two favorites of many boatwatchers entered service on August 4 – WILLIAM CLAY FORD on August 4, 1953, and EDWARD L. RYERSON on August 4, 1960.

Paterson’s ONTADOC, built in 1975, sailed to the Netherlands with a load of bentonite from Chicago on August 4, 1979. Renamed b.) MELISSA DESGAGNES in 1990.

The E. J. BLOCK was laid up for the last time at Indiana Harbor, Indiana on August 4, 1984. The E. J. BLOCK was sold for scrap in late May 1987.

The D.M. CLEMSON left Superior on August 4, 1980, in tow of Malcolm Marine's TUG MALCOLM for Thunder Bay, Ont., where she was dismantled.

HOCHELAGA (Hull#144) was launched August 4, 1949, at Collingwood, Ontario by Collingwood Shipyards Ltd., for Canada Steamship Lines Ltd., Montreal, Quebec.

On a foggy August 4, 1977, POINTE NOIRE went hard aground near the entrance to the Rock Cut in the St. Marys River and blocked the channel. After her grain cargo was lightered by Columbia Transportation's crane steamer BUCKEYE, POINTE NOIRE was released on August 6. She was reloaded in Hay Lake and continued her downbound trip. Repairs to her bottom damage were completed at Thunder Bay. Ontario.

August 4, 1935 - The only time the ANN ARBOR NO 7 had the full limit of passengers when she ran an excursion from Frankfort, Michigan around Manitou Island and back with 375 passengers on board.

LYCOMING (wooden propeller, 251 foot, 1,610 gross tons) was launched on 4 August 1880, at West Bay City, Michigan by F. W. Wheeler (Hull #7) as a 2-deck package freighter. She was rebuilt as a single deck bulk freighter after she burned in 1905. She was one of the few bulk freighters that still carried her arched hog-braces visible above deck.

HIRAM W. SIBLEY (wooden propeller freighter, 221 foot, 1,419 gross tons) was launched at East Saginaw, Michigan on 4 August 1890. She only lasted eight years. While carrying 70,000 bushels of corn from Chicago for Detroit, she stranded on the northwest corner of South Manitou Island in Lake Michigan during blizzard on 26 November 1898. The tugs PROTECTOR and SWEEPSTAKES were dispatched for assistance but the SIBLEY re-floated herself during high water the following night, then was stranded on the southwest side of North Fox Island to prevent sinking. She broke in half; then completely broke up during a gale on 7 December 1898.

1985 – REGENT TAMPOPO, enroute from Japan to the Great Lakes with steel, was heavily damaged in the Pacific after a collision with the MING UNIVERSE. The vessel, which first came through the Seaway in 1982, was towed to Los Angeles but declared a total loss. It recrossed the Pacific under tow in 1986 and arrived at Hong Kong for scrapping on October 26, 1986.

Data from: Skip Gillham, Max Hanley, Joe Barr, Dave Swayze, Russ Plumb, Military.com, Mike Nicholls, Father Dowling Collection, Ahoy & Farewell II and the Great Lakes Ships We Remember series from the Marine Historical Society of Detroit.






Captain John's saga may not be over: Costs could raise issues for winning bidder

8/3 - Toronto, Ont. – The winning bidder for Captain John’s Restaurant has bought himself a boatload of problems that could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to fix before the ship can be restored or even scrapped, marine experts say.

There was considerable surprise in the tight-knit marine community that anyone would make a positive bid for the aged Jadran, given the hefty price tag just for the approvals and insurance needed to tow it from the foot of Yonge Street.

On Thursday, Toronto entrepreneur James Sbrolla bought the boat for $33,501 at a court auction.

“It could cost them $100,000 just to move that ship one foot,” says Boston-area businessman John Scales, who decided, at the 11th hour, not to bid on the ship on behalf of five U.S. investors. They were fearful that the upfront costs would be too risky without any assurances beforehand of a new place to dock the former seafood restaurant.

Because the Jadran no longer has working engines, at least two tug boats will be needed to move it, one to steer the ship, the other to act as brakes.

That could cost anywhere from $25,000 for a short tow to at least $100,000 if it has to be taken through the Welland Canal to a scrap yard, according to experts interviewed by the Star. Insurance would add at least $25,000 more.

On top of that, the ship’s hull is stuffed full of asbestos removed from pipes and machinery, says Wayne Elliott, an experienced ship scrapper with more than 100 vessels under his belt.

Elliott, whose Marine Recycling Corp. of Port Colborne was the No. 2 bid for the Jadran, filed a three-inch binder with the Federal Court handling the complex case Thursday, outlining many of the problems. It set a price of $303,756 to tow and scrap the 300-foot ship by the Aug. 22 deadline set by the court.

Elliott estimates the costs of asbestos removal and disposal alone at $125,000.

“I mentioned to the (Toronto) port authority two years ago, when I first went on board, that people shouldn’t be wandering around the ship,” for fear of stirring up asbestos fibres, said Elliott in a telephone interview Friday.

Passenger cabins have been removed and bulkheads have been breached over the last few decades, leaving the Jadran compromised and so top heavy, “the stability of the vessel is questionable,” Elliott adds.

“That ship was once a very fine, elegant vessel, there’s no doubt about that. But here we are, 55 years later, and it’s full of mold and asbestos. Hopefully, whoever bought it knows what they are doing and understands the laws.”

“It will be quite the job to move it,” says Bill Provis, a senior marine surveyor with Mississauga-based Granite Claims Solutions, which provided the cost estimates for the court. “There is a lot of red tape involved.”

Moving a ship is much like flying a plane: You can’t just hook up a rope to a tug boat. A flight plan, of sorts, has to be filed and approved by various government bodies, including the Coast Guard, outlining the expected route and a specific destination. The whole thing has to be tightly sealed and heavily insured.

New owner Sbrolla says he’s working on all that.

“I’ve heard from dozens of people, some more credible than others,” looking to possibly partner and restore the floating restaurant to its former glory, he said a telephone interview.

“We’re cautiously optimistic. We’re looking at the logistics much more closely than we did before the bid. We’re talking to potential partners and looking, concurrently, at the potential for scrapping the ship if we can’t find a higher or better use.”

Sbrolla remains confident he can have the ship ready for towing from the prime Yonge St. slip in time, and that he will have somewhere to take it.

If not, he would most likely forfeit the $33,501 — it has to be paid in full by the end of next week — and the ship would go to the second-highest bidder.

But, under a court condition, a winning bid has to exceed the appraised value of the ship, set at negative $125,000 (the negative value is due to the fact that the $600,000 worth of metal in the ship doesn’t cover the cost of the scrapping process).

Marine Recycling’s second-place bid is, in essence, negative $303,756, because it is asking the port authority for that much to get rid of the waterfront landmark.

Those costs would be offset, somewhat, if the winning bid falls apart and Sbrolla forfeits his $33,501. But, either way, the sad saga of Captain John’s may be far from over.

Toronto Star





Port Reports - August 3

St. Marys River
The new cruise ship Pearl Mist was docked in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., all day Saturday. She departed downbound at about 5 p.m. for Little Current.

Sturgeon Bay, Wis. – Daniel Lindner
On July 22, Palmer Johnson launched its newest mega-yacht. The 150-foot Palmer Johnson 48M SuperSport is the first yacht of its kind. The ship is built for speed, topping out at 32 knots, or about 36 miles per hour. The ship's three decks can accommodate 12 passengers and nine crew members. About 200 workers spent the past year and a half finishing the yacht. The ship's original hull was constructed in Russia, and delivered to Sturgeon Bay by the heavy lift saltie Qamutik last spring for the remainder of the construction. The ship was moored at the CenterPointe Yacht Services dock in downtown Sturgeon Bay after launching. Workers can be seen swarming the ship, finishing up the interior. The yacht is expected to undergo sea trials before departing for the Mediterranean Sea in the coming weeks. Also, the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Mackinaw remains in one of Bayship's floating drydocks, and it is currently unknown why she is in port.

Saginaw River – Todd Shorkey
Robert S. Pierson called on the Saginaw River on Thursday, traveling up to the GM Dock in Saginaw to unload. The Pierson was outbound late that evening. Manitowoc was inbound on Friday, unloading at the Wirt Stone dock in Bay City. When finished, she turned off the dock in the Wirt Basin and was outbound for the lake early Saturday morning. A pair of American Steamship Co. vessels were inbound on Saturday, with the Sam Laud unloading at the Bay Aggregates Dock in Bay City and the John J. Boland unloading at the Burroughs North dock in Essexville. Both vessels were outbound later in the day. ASC vessels rarely call on the Saginaw River these days, so it was unusual the see two at the same time.

Vessel passages for the month of July totaled 16. This is two less compared to July of 2013. For the year to date, there have been 41 commercial vessel passages on the Saginaw River, 22 less than the same time period last year. Looking at the five-year averages, July was down one from the average of 17. Year to date numbers for the 2014 season show a decrease of 11 commercial vessel passages from the five year average of 52. Where the numbers really tell a story is looking back at the 10-year average. 2014 is 24 passages down from the 10-year and 50 passages down year to date. In 2005, there were 173 commercial vessel passages on the Saginaw River by July 31st, compared to only 41 in July 2014.

Lorain, Ohio – Phil Leon
Ashtabula and tug Defiance were inbound on Saturday.

Buffalo, N.Y. – Brian W.
American Mariner was unloading wheat at the General Mills Frontier Elevator Saturday morning. English River came in for Lafarge on Friday.

Toronto, Ont. – Jens Juhl
A rather unusual sequence of events occurred at Redpath this past week. The bulker Mandarin finally departed Thursday morning assisted by one of the two tugs on standby. Upon arrival, both tugs would have assisted the Federal Nakagawa in docking at Redpath, but the Fednav bulker did not arrive. A check on the Marinetraffic live AIS map showed that the southbound Mandarin made an unusual maneuver when the bulker put the helm over hard to port and made a complete circle before getting back on course for the Port Weller anchorage. There are now two Redpath bound bulkers at anchor, likley incurring some hefty daily demurrage charges. A check with the Baltic Index pegs the daily hire for a handy size bulker at about $14,000 US per day give or take a thousand. The Federal Nakagawa has been on the hook at the anchorage for over a week, and this could detrimental to Redpath's bottom line.

[yachtsmanwilly]

First they are the best designed close in combat platform ever designed, then they are too heavy. BO order a dozen and then cancels about 8 of them putting 2000 skilled craftsmen back at mickey mutha fucking mac-dees. The town, (Menominee/Marinette) has put millions into infrastructure repairs, new schools, housing etc... should built that new McDonalds instead...Read on:

Report: Littoral combat ships too heavy

8/5 - Green Bay, Mich. – Four out of six ships that are part of a new class of vessels being developed for the U.S. Navy are too heavy, and that is affecting some areas of performance, according to a newly released federal audit.

A report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office says USS Freedom can meet its sprint speed of 40 knots; it hasn't been able to reach the distance and speed requirement of 3,500 nautical mile range at 14 knots, according to the report.

The report partially attributes the range issue to "excess weight growth."

"The Freedom-class Littoral Combat Ships meet weight requirements when delivered to the U.S. Navy, and the company has submitted all weight reports to the U.S. Navy in accordance with contractual requirements," a Lockheed Martin spokeswoman said.

The USS Freedom, and similar ships, are being built for Lockheed Martin at Marinette Marine Corp. in Marinette. Another design of the ship is being built by Austal USA in Alabama.

The lead ship of the Austal-designed vessels can only sprint at 39.5 knots — under the required 40 knots — and is at a weight where it could be "prone to failure in certain weather or damage conditions," according to the report.

The Littoral Combat Ship program, designed to operate in shallower waters and coastlines, has been under scrutiny for years, and a pair of recent reports have examined topics arising from the first deployment of one of those vessels last year, the USS Freedom.

The ships are intended to provide the Navy with speedy vessels that can carry out a number of different missions. But weight has affected performance in some areas of both ship designs and could be a limiting factor for future changes to the vessels and equipment, the report states.

Two of the first three Lockheed Martin ships meet weight requirements, while the USS Freedom is 24 tons too heavy. That could limit future changes to the vessel.

This is the second GAO report released in less than a month examining Freedom's 2013 deployment to Singapore. The earlier report raised questions about the operating costs of the LCS program, contending in some cases the costs were approaching that of other types of ships already in the fleet.

The Navy is working on modifying the fuel capacity on the Austal-built ships to increase weight allowances on that variant of ships.

"The Navy's ability to accommodate alterations and growth on these ships over their expected 20-year minimum service lives will be significantly more constrained than is typical for other surface ships," the report states of both ship designs. "Navy program officials told us they expect that most future weight — and capability — growth on LCS would occur within mission packages, not (the ship's basic structure).

"However ... the Navy is considering changes to the (ships') designs that could further increase weight estimates," the report said.

Those changes could include adding crew accommodations and switching to a heavier missile system on the Lockheed Martin version of the ship, the audit said.

"Navy officials stated that the possible changes are low risk and would not affect LCS performance requirements," the report states.

The scrutiny faced by the LCS program isn't unusual, said Daniel Gouré, vice president of the Lexington Institute, a Virginia-based think tank that focuses on defense programs.

"This is typical," he said. "This is a big program in terms of money spent, duration, number of ships, it has gone through a series of evolutions, struggled with a number of problems — many of which its overcome — and has been a source of debate."

The Navy had planned to acquire more than 50 of the ships earlier this year, but Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel scaled back plans for the program by 20 ships and called for a review of the ship's design.

Gouré said the GAO is supposed to point out issues, flaws and areas for improvement. He expects to see changes made to the ships and its systems, such as the addition of different weapons.

The Navy would like to spend more than $25 billion to buy as many as 32 of the ships and modular mission systems, the GAO said.

Lockheed Martin and Marinette Marine have delivered the USS Freedom and USS Fort Worth to the Navy. Other ships are under construction at the yard, which has more than 2,000 people working at the facility. Austal USA has delivered two ships to the Navy.

Lockheed Martin said it has incorporated the lessons learned on the first ships into the production process.

Early problems are nothing unusual for large weapons programs, Gouré said.

"There are no major weapon programs that don't have these problems, and, in many cases for surface ships, you don't get to a stable configuration until you are halfway through the predicted production run," he said. "You go down the road and a new technology pops up, or something goes wrong, that they have to change out, this is typical."

Green Bay Press Gazette


Then we are on to news that affects us all... "alcohol and speed may have been a factor..." Naw; pimplepopper was driving and piscal was navigating, from the command console with 8 flat screen monitors and a ear bud in each listening hole.... This kinda shit really IRKS me... ws


2 Dead, 3 hospitalized after boating accident on Lake St. Clair

8/5 - Harsens Island, Mich. – While a woman fights for her life after being injured in a boating accident that killed her husband and another person, police said Monday they are releasing a man connected to the accident Sunday evening on Lake St. Clair.

Authorities said Monday they expected to release a 32-year-old Chesterfield Township man, whose name is being withheld because he has not been charged. He did submit to a blood test to determine alcohol levels given that police say drinking and high speed may have been factors in the collision.

Sgt. Tim Donnellon, a spokesman for the St. Clair County Sheriff’s office investigating the accident, said the release is something common that gives investigators the proper time to interview witnesses, reconstruct the crash and await the blood results.

“We’re still piecing together the accident,” Donnellon said. “It’s a tedious process. We’re working with the prosecutor’s office. At this point we’re looking at witness statements. It’s tricky on the water.”

The St. Clair County Sheriff’s Office has identified the victims as Nancy Axford of Winnipeg, Manitoba, and Robert Koontz, who was in his 50s, of Chesterfield Township. Axford’s husband was uninjured but Koontz’s wife, who is in her 60s, was critically injured. A third unmarried couple on the cabin cruiser received minor injuries.

Marie T. Koontz, 78, who is the mother of the victim and lives in Phoenix, said her son was on the boat with his wife of 20 years, Marlene, in what was supposed to be one of their final trips of the summer on the water with friends. She said her son became a father figure to his wife’s children.

“He was a good guy,” she said. “I could always depend on him. I’m just trying to stay strong. I’m almost 79, but this is very difficult.”

There were no injuries on the 25-foot Baja boat that slammed into the cabin cruiser authorities say was carrying six people.

The crash occurred about 6:15 p.m. in the south shipping channel near Harsens Island, about 50 miles northeast of Detroit at the south end of the St. Clair River.

Algonac resident Alan Block, who is a local sailboat racer and senior reporter for Sailing Anarchy, was sailing in the southbound channel and was about 200 feet from the collision when it occurred.

“I came to a stop because I knew something was going to happen,” Block said. “There were two large boats — perhaps 40 footers — headed southbound and they were leaving large wakes. One of the boats looked like a fishing vessel and the other was a cabin cruiser with an upper deck. A third boat, a 25-foot Baja, which is a very fast speed boat, was headed northbound in the shipping channel doing about 45 to 50 mph.”

According to Block, the Baja failed to slow down for the large wakes caused by the bigger boats.

“I watched as the speed boat tried to go around the two boats, moving toward the Canadian side,” Block said. “He hit the wake of the second boat, flew into the air and came down on the second wake. People on his boat were being thrown around and he lost control of the boat.”

Block said he watched in disbelief as the Baja hit a third wake and was launched about 10 feet into the air.

“It was completely clear of the water,” Block said. “It crashed into the top deck of the cabin cruiser and basically smashed through to the other side. It actually knocked off the upper deck, which collapsed onto the hull of the boat. I’ve lived and worked on the water my entire life, and I’ve never seen anything like this.

According to Block, the impact threw a woman into the water.

“Myself and some other boats were looking for her,” Block said. “The body was picked up about 20 minutes later by a couple on a pontoon boat. They did CPR but to no avail.”

Another man on the cabin cruiser received a severe head injury.

Shipping traffic on the south channel was stopped for a period of time while rescue operations were underway.

The Detroit News

[Avenger]

How come there's never a shortage of dumb-@$$es?

Remember this cluck?:

[yachtsmanwilly]

Looks like a chapter from "Active Captain". I really like the "captains" positive control on the throttles! That guy looks like an accident waiting to happen. Hope he didn't lose the $100 shades! ws


First we primes the carbonator, bang on the dead starter, then spins it around and grinds the prop on the ramp, THEN we opens it up with the trim all the way up until the drive explodes... Notice the T shirt??? "South Africa".

[yachtsmanwilly]

Today in Great Lakes History - August 6

On this day in 1953, a record 176 vessels passed through the Soo Locks.

Early in the morning of 06 August 1899, the WILLIAM B. MORLEY (steel propeller freighter, 277 foot, 1,846 gross tons, built in 1888, at Marine City, Michigan) and the LANSDOWNE (iron side-wheel carferry, 294 foot, 1,571 gross tons, built in 1884, at Wyandotte, Michigan) collided head on in the Detroit River. Both vessels sank. The LANSDOWNE settled on the bottom in her slip at Windsor, Ontario and was raised four days later and repaired. The MORLEY was also repaired and lasted until 1918, when she stranded on Lake Superior.

The BELLE RIVER’s bottom was damaged at the fit-out dock and required dry docking on August 6, 1977, for repairs prior to her maiden voyage. Renamed b.) WALTER J MC CARTHY JR in 1990.

On 6 August 1871, the 3-mast wooden schooner GOLDEN FLEECE was down bound on Lake Huron laden with iron ore. The crew mistook the light at Port Austin for the light at Pointe Aux Barques and steered directly for the Port Austin Reef where the vessel grounded. After 200 tons of ore were removed, GOLDEN FLEECE was pulled off the reef then towed to Detroit by the tug GEORGE B MC CLELLAN and repaired.

On 6 August 1900, the Mc Morran Wrecking Company secured the contract for raising the 203-foot 3-mast wooden schooner H W SAGE, which sank at Harsen's Island on 29 July 1900. The SAGE had been rammed by the steel steamer CHICAGO. Two lives had been lost; they were crushed in her forecastle.

August 6, 1929 - The CITY OF SAGINAW 31 (Hull#246) was launched at Manitowoc, Wisconsin by Manitowoc Shipbuilding Co. for the Pere Marquette Railway. She was christened by Miss Ann Bur Townsend, daughter of the mayor of Saginaw.

On 6 August 1870, the wooden propeller tug TORNADO had her boiler explode without warning four miles northwest of Oswego, New York. The tug sank quickly in deep water. Three of the six onboard lost their lives. Apparently the tug had a new boiler and it had been allowed to run almost dry. When cold water was let in to replenish the supply, the boiler exploded.

1907 – A building fire at the Toronto Island ferry terminal spread to the ferry SHAMROCK and it was badly burned and sank. Running mate MAYFLOWER also caught fire but was pulled from the dock by TURBINIA and this blaze was extinguished. SHAMROCK, however, was a total loss and was towed to Hanlan's Point. The latter ship was replaced by the still-active TRILLIUM in 1910.

1924 – The Lake Ontario rail car ferry ONTARIO NO. 2 went aground in fog on the beach at Cobourg, Ont., but was refloated the next day.

1928 – HURONIC went aground at Lucille Island and needed hull repairs after being released.

1985 – VANDOC, enroute from Quebec to Burns Harbor, went aground in the St. Lawrence outside the channel near St. Zotique, but was released the following day.

1994 – CATHERINE DESGAGNES, outbound at Lorain, struck about 30 pleasure boats when a bridge failed to open.

2000 – ANANGEL ENDEAVOUR was in a collision with the IVAN SUSANIN in the South-West Pass and was holed in the #2 cargo hold and began listing. The ship was anchored for examination, then docked at Violet, La., and declared a total loss. It was subsequently repaired as b) BOLMAR I and was operating as c) DORSET when it arrived at Gadani Beach, Pakistan, for scrapping on April 24, 2009. The ship first came through the Seaway in 1983.



Cruise ship makes stop in Cleveland, shows what city has to offer

8/6 - Cleveland, Ohio - People in Cleveland are used to seeing ships along the lake, but now they’re seeing a different kind of ship, a cruise ship.

“This is our first time in the city. We wanted to be in the city where LeBron James was winding up,” said Michael Harris. He and his wife are visiting from Dallas, Texas. They’re traveling around the Great Lakes aboard the Grande Mariner.

“We’ve never been to the Great Lakes so this is like an ocean to us. It’s just great,” said Harris.

The ship can carry 88 passengers and is on a 16-day excursion. Some of the stops include Mackinac Island in Erie, Pa., and Buffalo, New York. The cruise altogether costs about $5,000.

“A lot of people think of cruise ships of only going to Alaska and the Caribbean for example, but there are so many places to discover in the United States,” said Director of Destination Management Lynde Vespoli of Discover My Cleveland. “Especially along the Great Lakes and what a terrific waterway to be able to get to easily from port to port to see all these different places.”

Her group is taking the passengers on a town and country tour. The day will start off downtown and then end in Amish country.

The Grande Mariner isn’t the only one docking here this summer; others are coming through, too, and that’s good news for the economy.

“A 100-passenger ship can result in as much as a four million dollar boost to the economy so we really want to get them in here and show them what Cleveland has to offer,” said Betty Sutton of Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway.

Fox8





Port Reports - August 6

St. Marys River
Late Tuesday, Federal Katsura reported that it was around off the Export Dock at Essar Steel. The tugs Adanac III and W.I. Scott Purvis were assisting. No other details were immediately available. Other saltie traffic Tuesday included the Fortunagracht downbound and Lady Doris upbound.

Marquette, Mich. – Bruce Lolmaugh
On a beautiful sunny Tuesday, the Joseph H. Thompson unloaded into the hopper at LSI at the south end and Herbert C. Jackson at the north waited to load.

Midland, Ont. - Andre Blanchard
The cruise ship Pearl Mis departed Tuesday afternoon. According to the cruise schedule, the ship is due in Windsor, then Niagara Falls, and will end the voyage in Toronto.

Toledo, Ohio
The Cyprus-flagged Bulker Mandarin was loading grain at Andersons K in Toledo Tuesday morning.

Toronto, Ont.
After 10 days on the hook in the Port Weller anchorage the Federal Nakagawa arrived at Redpath Sugar early Tuesday morning. The Transportation Safety Board of Canada has released the investigation report on the Lyubov Orlova incident, and the report raises more questions than answers. The report can be viewed at this link

Oshawa, Ont. – Andre Blanchard
The tug Spartan and barge departed Oshawa Tuesday morning enroute to Ludington. Tug Victorious and barge arrived shortly after Spartan departed. Other vessels currently in port are the bulk carrier Zealand Juliana, and the tugs Omni-Richelieu and La Prairie.





Q&A with Toronto Harbormaster Angus Armstrong: Whalebones and porsches

8/6 - Toronto, Ont. – Whale bones, stolen cars, and trains in the lake: if anyone knows the mysteries of Toronto Harbor, it’s harbor master Angus Armstrong.

Born and raised in Toronto, Armstrong has spent the majority of his life working in the city’s harbor. At 17, he was a lifeguard at the eastern beaches, and became head lifeguard of Toronto Island in 1970. He worked for the Toronto Police Service Marine Unit in the summers of 1970-76, becoming an officer before moving into his current role as Harbour Master and Chief of Security for the Toronto Port Authority.

Armstrong recently sat down with the Star and revealed some of the little-known secrets of Toronto Harbor.

The original harbor used to be much larger, right?

Almost all of Front St. used to be the front of the harbor, if you can imagine. Most of that is land created by the Toronto Harbour Commission over the last 100 years, pushed all the way down to Queens Quay. You find a lot of things that are old in the harbour, just because of its history. There are also lots of weird and mysterious findings here, since the port has been around since the late 1700s.

What kind of strange things have you found?

I’ll give you an example. This used to be a landfill created by the Toronto Harbour Commission in about 1918. When they were digging the LRT tracks for Queens Quay, they dug up whale bones. They brought people from the Royal Ontario Museum down, and they said, “There should be no whale bones in Lake Ontario — but these are whale bones!” We found out that a little private zoo that was up on Front St. had gone bankrupt, and took all their exhibits — including a whale in formaldehyde — and dumped it into the landfill. For a while, people thought the whale that was dug up might be the one from the zoo, but it’s never been conclusively proven where the bones came from.

When was the zoo running?

I think about 1880 or so. We’ve also found parts of ships that had run aground. All they used to do was put dirt over top of them and use them as part of the landfill. When they put the landfill in, the citizens of Toronto would come down and use it as a garbage dump.

In your time working with the Port Authority, what incidents really stand out in your mind?

We do a lot of dredging to make sure the navigable channels stay clear. We were dredging the Keating Channel (which connects the Don River to the inner Toronto Harbour) using a big bucket that goes in, brings soil up and then puts it into a barge. They pulled up the bucket, and at the end of it was a Porsche! Just before we could take it over to the barge, the Porsche fell back into the water. We had to call the Toronto Police Marine Unit to pick it up.

Many years ago, when I was a senior diver with the police department, we ran across what looked like a miniature locomotive. And we realized it was one of those trackless trains from the CNE, do you remember those ones when you were a kid? The little train you could jump on for free and go around the CNE? Well, somebody had stolen it in the mid-1960s in the middle of the night, got it all the way down to the east end of Toronto, and then shot it into the water.

In the old days in the ’60s and the ’70s before all this waterfront development happened, a lot of stolen cars would be brought down here and put into the water. But nowadays that doesn’t really happen. The area is pretty populated and there’s lots of fencing, and so the access is kind of gone. But when it was the old port area we used to try and get rid of criminal activity.

Do you ever find bodies in the water?

Occasionally. Certainly that is not an issue now. There are, unfortunately, drownings, but that’s very rare nowadays because of the amount of condominiums and people we have around the area. I would say in the last 15 years, with the improvement in vessels, life jackets and safety equipment, certainly it has taken a huge plunge.

Is there anything going on in the harbour that you think is really unique or important?

Well, last year we moved almost 1.6 million tonnes of goods into Toronto Harbour. That is the equivalent of taking 37,540 semi trucks off the road. So we’re an industrial port that really does a lot of the work on the building industry in Toronto.

We also remove about 150 million pounds of debris from the harbour each year. And that’s stuff we have to get out of the harbour, because it would impede navigation. This harbour has about 7,000 pleasure boats that use it every year — it’s the most popular pleasure-boat harbour within the Great Lakes.

How clean is the water in the harbor today?

Boy, it’s cleaned up in the last 20 years! When I started diving in the ’70s you could never see anything on the bottom. It was like the moon — there was nothing alive. And now there are all sorts of fish down there, and there are all sorts of habitats. It really has improved.

Toronto Star





Lookback #262 – Vandoc aground in St. Lawrence on Aug. 6, 1985

8/6 - The second Vandoc joined the N.M. Paterson & Sons fleet in 1979 after years of service for Algoma as Sir Denys Lowson.

The 605-foot-long bulk carrier had been Hull 179 from the Collingwood shipyard and it was launched on Nov. 27, 1963. Despite a devastating fire in the forward cabin on Jan. 13, 1964, the ship was ready on schedule and up bound in the Soo Locks on April 2, 1964, to begin what was only a 27 year sailing career.

It was on Aug. 6, 1985, 29 years ago today, that Vandoc went aground in the St. Lawrence. The ship had loaded iron ore at Quebec City and was en route to Burns Harbor when it got stuck near St. Zotique after straying out of the shipping channel. The vessel was released August 7 and continued the voyage.

Vandoc had also survived a previous grounding in the Brockville Narrows, due to a steering failure, on Nov. 13, 1979, and landed on Harvey Island. This time the ship had to be lightered before being released and then spent time on Port Weller Dry Docks, undergoing repairs.

The vessel arrived at Thunder Bay for lay-up on Dec. 21, 1991, and never sailed again. It remained idle until sold to Purvis Marine in 2002. The tug Reliance took Vandoc in tow and they arrived at Sault Ste. Marie on June 10, 2002, where the 38-year old laker was gradually broken up for scrap.

[yachtsmanwilly]

Today in Great Lakes History - August 7

August 7, 1789 - President George Washington signed the ninth act of the first United States Congress placing management of the lighthouses under the Department of the Treasury. August 7 in now "National Lighthouse Day".

On 07 August 1890, the schooner CHARGER (wooden schooner, 136 foot, 277 gross tons, built in 1868, at Sodus, New York) was struck by the CITY OF CLEVELAND (wooden propeller freighter, 255 foot, 1,528 gross tons, built in 1882, at Cleveland, Ohio) near Bar Point near the mouth of the Detroit River on Lake Erie. The schooner sank, but her crew was saved.

The JAMES R. BARKER was christened August 7, 1976. She was to become Interlake's first 1,000 footer and the flagship of the fleet for Moore McCormack Leasing, Inc. (Interlake Steamship Co., Cleveland, Ohio, mgr.). She was built at a cost of more than $43 million under Title XI of the Merchant Marine Act of 1970. She was the third 1,000-footer to sail on the Lakes and the first built entirely on the Lakes.

On 7 August 1844, DANIEL WHITNEY, a wooden schooner, was found floating upside-down, with her crew of 4 missing and presumed dead. She was six miles off mouth of the Kalamazoo River in Lake Michigan.

August 7, 1948 - Edward L. Ryerson, chairman of Inland Steel Company announced that the new ore boat under construction for Inland will be named the WILFRED SYKES in honor of the president of the company. Mr. Sykes had been associated with Inland since 1923, when he was employed to take charge of engineering and construction work. From 1927, to 1930, he served as assistant general superintendent and from 1930, to 1941, as assistant to the president in charge of operations. He became president of Inland in May, 1941. He had been a director of the company since 1935. The new ship was to be the largest and fastest on the Great Lakes, having a carrying capacity in intermediate depth of 20,000 gross tons. The ship will be 678 feet long, 70 feet wide and 37 feet deep, and will run at 16 miles per hour when loaded.

While lying at the dock at the C & L. H. Railroad Yard in Port Huron on 7 August 1879, the scow MORNING LARK sank after the scow MAGRUDER ran into her at 4:00 a.m., MORNING LARK was raised and repaired at the Wolverine dry dock and was back in service on 20 September 1879.

1912 – A collision in heavy fog with the RENSSELAER sank the JAMES GAYLEY 43 miles east of Manitou Light, Lake Superior. The upbound coal-laden vessel was hit on the starboard side, about 65 feet from the bow, and went down in about 16 minutes. The two ships were held together long enough for the crew to cross over to RENSSELAER.

1921 – RUSSELL SAGE caught fire and burned on Lake Ontario while downbound with a load of wire. The ship sank off South Bay Point, about 30 miles west of Kingston. The crew took to the lifeboat and were saved. About 600 tons of wire were later salvaged. The hull has been found and is upright in 43 feet of water and numerous coils of wire remain on the bottom.

1958 – HURLBUT W. SMITH hit bottom off Picnic Island, near Little Current, Manitoulin Island, while outbound. The ship was inspected at Silver Bay and condemned. It was sold to Knudsen SB & DD of Superior and scrapped in 1958-1959.

1958 – The T-3 tanker GULFOIL caught fire following a collision with the S.E. GRAHAM off Newport, Rhode Island while carrying about 5 million gallons of gasoline. Both ships were a total loss and 17 lives were lost with another 36 sailors injured. The GULFOIL was rebuilt with a new mid-body and came to the Great Lakes as c) PIONEER CHALLENGER in 1961 and was renamed MIDDLETOWN in 1962 and e) AMERICAN VICTORY in 2006.

1964 – CARL LEVERS, a pre-Seaway visitor as a) HARPEFJELL and b) PRINS MAURITS, had come to the Great Lakes in 1957-1958. It had been an early Great Lakes trader for both the Fjell Line from Norway and the Dutch flag Oranje Lijn. The ship was cast adrift in a cyclone at Bombay, India, going aground on a pylon carrying electric wires off Mahul Creek and caught fire on August 24, 1964. The vessel was released and scrapped at Bombay later in the year.

1970 – ORIENT TRANSPORTER first came through the Seaway in 1966. It arrived at Beaumont, Texas, on this day in 1970, following an engine breakdown. The 1949 vintage ship was not considered worth repairing and was broken up at Darica, Turkey, in 1971.

1972 – The small Canadian tanker barge TRANSBAY, loaded with liquid asphalt and under tow of the JAMES WHALEN for Sept Iles, sank in a storm on the Gulf of St. Lawrence. There were no casualties.

1989 – CLARENVILLE, a former East Coast wooden passenger and freight carrier, came to the Great Lakes in 1981 for conversion to a floating restaurant at Owen Sound. The restaurant declared bankruptcy in May 1989 and a fire, of suspicious origin, broke out on this date. It was a long and difficult blaze to control and the ship sank. It broke apart during salvage in September 1989. The bow was clammed out in December 1989 and the stern removed in April 1990 and taken to the city dump.

1991 – FINNPOLARIS first came through the Seaway in 1985. It struck an iceberg in the North Atlantic off Greenland and sank in deep water the next day. All 17 on board were saved.

1994 – GUNDULIC came inland under Yugoslavian registry for the first time in 1971. The ship caught fire as c) PAVLINA ONE while loading at Mongla, Bangladesh, on this date and was abandoned by the crew on August 8. The blaze was extinguished August 9 but the gutted and listing freighter was beached and settled in shallow water. The hull was auctioned to a local demolition contractor in 1996 but was still listed as a hazard to navigation in 1999.

Wisconsin-built Staten Island ferries to be retrofitted

8/7 - The Elliot Bay Design Group of Seattle has been awarded a contract by the New York City Department of Transportation to design a new class of ferries to service Staten Island.

The new ferry design is intended to replace the one remaining 1965-built Kennedy class boat in service and the two existing Barberi class boats, built in 1981 and 1982. The construction estimate for the vessels is $309 million, which is apparently for three vessels. They are expected to each have a capacity of 4500 passengers.

The design contract also calls for retrofitting the three existing Molinari class boats with new propulsion systems, likely Voith Schneider cycloidal drives. The Molinari- class boats were built by Marinette Marine Corp. of Marinette, Wis., and were delivered in 2005. They have a diesel-electric drive system with three EMD ME 16-710G7B diesel engines driving Ansaldo Sistemi Industriali direct current propulsion motors which turn a single fixed-pitch propeller on each end of the double-ended ferries.

The Molinari class ferries have been plagued with problems since delivery, most of which have been related to the propulsion system. The City of New York has spent almost $16 million on repairs and upgrades to the vessels, including contracting with another electrical propulsion manufacturer, Siemens, in an attempt to make the propulsion system more reliable.

Cycloidal drives are common on double ended ferries, and the New York City Department of Transportation has over 30 years’ experience with them on the Barberi class boats.

Compiled by Tom Hynes



USCG Mackinaw crew reunion this Saturday

8/7 - Mackinaw City, Mich. – The United States Coast Guard Cutter Mackinaw WAGB 83 (retired) and Queen of the Great Lakes, now a floating museum in Mackinaw City, will host a crew reunion on Saturday, Aug. 8, at St. Anthony’s Catholic Church friendship hall in Mackinaw City.

Former Coast Guardsmen from 1955 to the cutter's retirement will gather for laughter, sea stories and sharing heroic rescues of stranded lake freighters in the ice of the Great Lakes.

Tom Chastain, president of the Mackinaw Cuttermans Association, and reunion chair, said more than 200 reservations have been confirmed already, with additional reservations arriving daily.

A formal reunion dinner and dance will highlight the weekend events with guest speakers including Jeff Hingston, mayor of Mackinaw City; Bill Shepler, president Icebreaker Mackinaw Maritime Museum; Terry Pepper, director Great Lakes Lighthouse Keepers’ Association; Michael LeButt, local historian; and Coast Guard personnel.

A cookout will take place at the dock of the Icebreaker Mackinaw Maritime Museum and former car ferry Chief Wawatam dock on the waterfront of Mackinaw City. Shepler’s Mackinac Island Ferry will host a boat ride to Mackinac Island for all former crew members and families as part of Saturday’s festivities.

A wreath ceremony is planned on Saturday morning for former crew, deceased since the last reunion in 2009. Special guests include families of former captains and crew.

Icebreaker Mackinaw Maritime Musuem will also hold a “Mackinaw Memories Tool Sale” for former crew who would like to purchase part of Mackinaw’s history to remember their times on board. Tools, foul weather jackets, dishes, and more will be available.

The crew reunion was the original brainstorm of Ed Pyrzynski and Bob Henderson of Cheboygan, 50 years ago. They believed that a reunion of the former crew would be a tribute to all crew who served on the Mackinaw.

Pyrzynski, a retired Master Chief off the Mackinaw, went on to lead the local Veteran’s Affairs county office for more than 20 years. Pyrzynski helped many veterans of Cheboygan County in that role.

Henderson helped in Cheboygan’s growth as a general contractor, and was involved in building the Proctor and Gamble paper plant as well as the UAW Center on Black Lake.

Former sailors have confirmed reservations from as far as Hawaii, Alaska, Florida, Georgia and California.

Mackinaw reunions take place every five years. This reunion will celebrate the 10th of these reunions, spanning a time period of 50 years.

Special guests include the sons of two original Mackinaw sailors (now deceased) who brought the ship to Cheboygan in 1944.

The search for a permanent home for the Icebreaker Mackinaw, now in the hands of Icebreaker Mackinaw Maritime Museum, is progressing with the hopes that she may reside at the former car ferry loading dock on the waterfront in Mackinaw City. The dock is now a fishing pier.

Chastain says that the Cuttermans Association is in full support of the museum’s effort to secure a permanent home base. The Mackinaw City Village Council has approved a resolution of support, saying that they were willing to work with the organization and the State of Michigan to secure a permanent home at the former State Ferry Dock.

Shepler has provided the Mackinaw a safe home for the past six years until a permanent location can be secured. Shepler rescued the Mackinaw from the scrap yard destiny with only two weeks to spare by promising a safe home in Mackinaw City. The Mackinaw is open for tours from mid-May to October.

Visit www.themackinaw.org for Icebreaker Mackinaw Maritime Museum details. For additional Mackinaw reunion information, see www.icebreakermackinawreunion2014.com or contact president Tom Chastain, [phone].





Mount McKay: A tug at the heartstrings

8/7 - Duluth, Minn. – Don Bergholm remembered a time just a few summers ago when it seemed like he and the Mount McKay tugboat would never be apart. He was in the pilothouse while his trusted engineer, Bruce Lindberg, was down below, operating the unique Kahlenberg six-cylinder engine that required Lindberg to oil its moving parts by hand every hour.

Lindberg was so good at operating the converted diesel he had it bucking under the Aerial Lift Bridge in such a manner that smoke rings came out the stack. After a costly restoration of the sky-blue vessel which was built in 1908, it was a surreal time.

“I couldn’t get over it,” Bergholm said. “Everybody on the pier was clapping.”

Bergholm and Lindberg tooled around Lake Superior in the Mount McKay a half-dozen times that summer.

But never again. Cancer took Lindberg in early 2013.

“He was a genius,” Bergholm said of his late friend and colleague. “Certified machinist. Certified surveyor. Certified welder. You name it. He described himself as a ‘self-taught engineer,’ and he was.”

Standing by his father’s side, Don Bergholm Jr. echoed the sentiment, saying, “[Lindberg] was the kind of guy who was so smart he made you feel like a total idiot next to him.”

Losing Lindberg’s genius was the first blow to put the future of the Mount McKay in doubt. The 79-year-old Bergholm’s own brush with death in April 2013 struck next. A heart attack during a snowstorm left Bergholm to be rescued by his son-in-law, Barry Wain, who performed chest compressions for 10 minutes until paramedics could reach them through the snow.

Bergholm was outfitted with an internal defibrillator after the heart attack. He can’t get near an electrical field, meaning he can’t be around a working pilothouse. He’s restricted to touring the Mount McKay where she floats, in the Superior harbor, along the pier Bergholm owns as operator of Connors Point Storage on Connors Point Pier.

Up the pier is the J.B. Ford, a mildly historic steam ship scheduled for the salvage yard. There are working tugboats belonging to Heritage Marine that contrast the Mount McKay’s sky blue paint for being deep brown in color and still working vessels.

The Mount McKay will be sold either for pleasure — “if someone wants something different, other than your typical yacht,” Bergholm said — or for use as a historic museum piece.

It might be a hard sell. Today’s tugs, said Bergholm Jr., probably have a hemi engine down below that would not necessitate the presence of a skilled engineer.

The Mount McKay has known many lives.

First as a steamship that was later converted to run on diesel, she was constructed in 1907 in Buffalo, N.Y. She was first called the Walter Mattic, later the Esther S, then the Merchant and the Marinette. She finished her working days rounding up barges of floating logs for a paper mill in Thunder Bay, Ontario, where Mount McKay looked down on the work she did and provided her its latest name.

They politely referred the to the previous owner as "a business man that skipped town: That was the guy I worked for (no names please!), that "Flew the coup". Lotsa defaulted loans etc, but the McKay was a neat old boat...

Bergholm got her after a businessman skipped town several years ago, leaving behind debts, some damage to the pier and the Mount McKay. She wasn’t much at the time. Potato-chip looking paint flakes lined the hull, said Bergholm, who funded a restoration that was manageable only through the volunteer work of several friends and ship enthusiasts. Bergholm hosted cookouts throughout the restoration, flipping burgers while others sweated to get the vessel seaworthy once again.

Once, after the Mount McKay was restored, they cooked and ate a full Thanksgiving dinner aboard her.

Don Bergholm Jr. runs the family business now, filling the pier and warehouses with corporate storage. He and his father don’t want to scrap the Mount McKay, but they might have to if a buyer is not found. She’s an insurance liability sitting there unused, they say. If she sank, she wouldn’t be visible in the 29 feet of water off the pier.

Bergholm’s options may be shrinking, but he continues to marvel at the way the Mount McKay operates — the Kahlenberg six-cylinder engine his favorite feature, what with the massive 12¼-inch cylinders impressively buffed and in a line like dedicated soldiers.

“You’ve never seen an engine like that before,” he said, recalling the way his trusted engineer used to slip her into forward and reverse so skillfully and so quickly. “They’re as rare as hen’s teeth.”

Duluth News Tribune

Residents encouraged by prep work for removal of Canadian Miner

8/7 - Sydney, N.S. – Ongoing preparation work for the removal of the former motor vessel Canadian Miner is giving hope to Main-a-Dieu residents that the derelict vessel will soon be gone from the coastline of nearby Scatarie Island.

Controversy, including jurisdictional and logistical issues, has surrounded the abandoned vessel since it ran aground on the north shore of Scatarie Island almost three years ago.

The decommissioned Canadian lake freighter was being towed by a Greek tugboat from Montreal to Turkey, where it was to be scrapped, in September 2011 when the towline snapped during a gale.

Julian O’Neil of the Main-a-Dieu Coastal Discovery Centre said residents of the small fishing community are excited to finally see signs of work on the removal project.

“It’s a terrible eyesore and it has been in our backyard for almost three years now,” said O’Neil. “It will be nice to finally see it removed when that time does come.”

O’Neil said there has been recent activity on and around the island, which has been a provincially designated wildlife management area since 1976.

“We’ll be a little more excited when we see the ship being taken away,” he said.

The removal project is being overseen by Nova Scotia Lands, a Crown corporation with a mandate to remediate and redevelop government-owned properties.

In May of 2014, it was announced that Antigonish-based RJ MacIsaac Construction had been awarded the $12-million contract to remove the Miner.

Nova Scotia Lands president Gary Campbell said now that lobster season is over, preparation work necessary for the project has begun and is on schedule.

“There are a couple of minor regulatory issues to overcome yet but we don’t see anything that is a showstopper at this point,” said Campbell.

Rock and stone, intended for use on a new breakwater, is now being transported to Scatarie Island by barge from Louisbourg and a base camp that is being constructed on the island, whose last permanent residents left in 1957.

“We realized that moving people and equipment back and forth wasn’t going to work, so it made ultimate sense to build a camp out there and work right on the site,” said Campbell, who added that the camp should be completed within three weeks.

Once all the preparatory work is completed, Campbell said crews will work on removing the remaining asbestos from the ship before cutting the vessel up and transporting the scrap steel to Sydney to be sold.

A target date of mid-November has been set for the completion of the project, but Campbell admits that uncertain maritime weather may jeopardize the timeline.

“We had fog so bad last week our helicopter could only make one trip out to the island and, of course, there are predictions of another storm coming up the coast,” he said.

“It would be very costly for the contractor to have to remobilize in the spring so they are quite anxious to get out there and get at it,” said Campbell.

Cape Breton Post

[yachtsmanwilly]

July is best month for Lakes limestone in 2 years

8/8 - Cleveland, Ohio – Shipments of limestone on the Great Lakes totaled 4,090,079 tons in July, the highest total for the trade since July of 2012. Loadings that month totaled 4,083,753 tons.

Loadings out of U.S. quarries totaled 3.5 million tons in July, an increase of 17.7 percent compared to a year ago. Shipments from Canadian quarries totaled 555,000 tons, a slight increase over a year ago.

Year-to-date the Lakes limestone trade stands at 12 million tons, a decrease of 6.1 percent compared to a year ago. Much of the decrease is the result of the brutal winter of 2013/2014. Ice conditions were so formidable that the limestone trade did not resume in earnest until late April.

Lake Carriers’ Association





Lakes rising, but group warns it won't last

8/8 - Owen Sound, Ont. – Lake levels have risen more than 30 centimetres above those seen this time last year, thanks largely to a memorably cold winter which froze lakes, limited evaporation and let snow pile up.

They've continued to rise over the summer thanks to a wetter June and are now 37 cm above last year's levels in the lake Michigan/Huron/Georgian Bay basin as of Aug. 4, said Chuck Southam, an Environment Canada lake levels expert.

Now levels are within 10 cm, or about four inches, of the long-term average for this time of year. With a wet late summer and fall, they could hit or beat the average by year's end, Southam said.

Average July levels haven't been so high since July 1998, when levels were still above the long-term average, Southam said.

But Mary Muter, chair of the Great Lakes section of Sierra Club Canada, said don't be fooled by unusually high precipitation over the past 1 1/2 years and by last winter's cold stretches which froze the lakes and minimized evaporation. “This is temporary relief,” she said.

“We are about to be hit with the next cycle of warm weather,” she said, referring to an El Nino weather pattern which is setting up, causing forecasters to predict next winter will be warmer than average.

The Sierra Club is aligned with Restore Our Water International, a collection of Canadian and U.S. Groups that are concerned about lake levels and increased basin outflows caused by dredging of the St. Clair River most recently in the 1960s.

Last year, the International Joint Commission, after years of study, advised both Canada and the U.S. to investigate an old plan to install speed bumps or sills on the floor of the St. Clair River to slow the flow of water out of the Michigan/Huron/Georgian Bay basin.

The commission estimated slowing the flow could gradually increase lake levels by 13 to 25 cm. The work would cost U.S. and Canadian governments an estimated $100 million to $200 million.

The U.S. contributed $50,000 to review the plans and update them as needed. The Canadian government has been silent, Muter said. That study is expected to take three years.

IJC said the St. Clair River floor is stable but, Muter said, there's no proof of that and she fears it is unstable. If so, it would let increasing amounts of water out of the basin unless something is done.

The speed bump plan was part of an agreement in return for allowing navigation dredging of the river in 1962. The work was never done because, Muter said, Canada argued too few sills were being installed. Congress withdrew the funding but not authorization for the work, she said.

Sun Times, Owen Sound





Tall ship Niagara to visit Algonac

8/8 - Algonac, Mich. – Algonac residents will have a visitor from the 19th century this weekend. The tall ship U.S. Niagara, one of the last surviving warships from the War of 1812, will be docked along the city’s waterfront as part of a visit sponsored by the Algonac-Clay Township Historical Society Maritime Museum on Saturday and Sunday.

The Niagara is based in Erie, Pennsylvania. The ship was part of Oliver Hazard Perry’s command at the Battle of Lake Erie on Sept. 10, 1813. Nine U.S. vessels defeated and captured six British vessels, ensuring American control of the lake.

The Niagara served as Perry’s flagship after its sister ship, the Lawrence, sank during the battle.

The ship, which has been rebuilt four times, provides visitors an opportunity to see a living piece of American history, said Joe Lengieza, director of marine operations and day sail and trainee operations for the Niagara.

“It’s unusual to see an actual, functional piece of American history out moving under its own power,” Lengieza said. “This is not a museum exhibit in a glass case. You can go out on it, sailing on it for weeks at a time.”

He said the cannons are crowd favorites. “The Niagara carries two carronades,” Lengieza said. “These are large cannons that carry a 32-pound ball. It weighs as much as a Volkswagen.”

The ship is manned by 40 crew members — 20 are professionals and the remainder are trainees.

“People are always surprised to see that the trainee crew, 20 of 40, are people just like them,” Lengieza said. “Often the trainee who’s been there for a week has a better perspective that is more accessible than a professional of 15 years.”

Marilyn Genaw, the tallship coordinator for the museum, said the Niagara was a frequent visitor. “The Niagara stops here just about once a year,” Genaw said.

She said the city has a reputation as the “hospitality port,” for all the members of the museum do to aid the crew members of the ship, ranging from acting as drivers, to providing a place to take a hot shower.

“We are hosting the ship because Algonac is the hospitality port for the tall ships,” Genaw said. “They like to stop in Algonac because of the park, and the shopping.”

The Niagara will be docked along the Algonac waterfront from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday and Sunday.

Port Huron Times Herald





Port Reports - August 8

Green Bay, Wis. – Jeff Rueckert
The steamer Alpena arrived on Thursday at Lafarge and was expected to depart on Friday.

Sturgeon Bay, Wis. – Daniel Lindner
The tall ship Peacemaker departed Sturgeon Bay via the bay of Green Bay on Thursday morning, after a day in port. She turned south and headed towards Green Bay, Wis., after departing.

Saginaw River – Todd Shorkey
Alpena was outbound from the Saginaw River on Thursday after unloading at the Lafarge Cement dock in Essexville. Manitowoc was inbound during the early afternoon, calling on the GM dock in Saginaw to unload. She was outbound later in the evening. Olive L. Moore - Lewis J. Kuber were inbound during the late afternoon, stopping at the Bay Aggregates dock in Bay City to unload.





USGS research boat for Lake Ontario gets christened at Oswego Harbor

8/8 - Oswego, N.Y. – A $4.1 million research vessel being used by U.S. Geological Survey staff to study Lake Ontario and its fishery has been christened and commissioned in Oswego Harbor.

The 70-foot, R/V Kaho, which is docked at the USGS's Lake Ontario Biological Field Station in Oswego, replaced an aging vessel by the same name that's been used on the lake for research purposes since 1978.

The boat was commissioned by Pamela Dei, a mechanical engineer for the USGS. USGS Director Kimball christened the boat, breaking a champagne bottle across the bow. In addition, Henry Lickers, director of the Department of Environment for the Mohawk Council of Akswesanse, gave the vessel a tribal blessing.

According to the USGS, "the new vessel will provide a safe and reliable platform for scientists and will be equipped with state-of-the art scientific and marine instrumentation; hydro-acoustic fish detection systems; wet and dry laboratories; gear for fish, limnological and contaminant sampling, and advanced navigation and propulsion systems.

The boat's hull is made of aluminum, "allowing for lighter weight and increased speed and stability.

"The new vessel will allow USGS scientists to improve understanding of deep-water ecosystems and fishes in Lake Ontario and expand the scientific information to our partners who manage the $54 million fishery in this lake," the USGS said.

The boat, which has been in active use on Lake Ontario since last year, was one of two boats built in Cleveland, Ohio by the Great Lakes Towing Company under a American Reinvestment & Recovery Act grant. It is one of five research vessels the USGS is currently using to study the five Great Lakes.

The name Kaho was originally a shortened version of the colloquial Ojibwe word, "kahoasad," which means "searcher" or "hunter." Ojibwe, also known as Chippewa, is a North American indigenous language of the Algonquian language family.

Syracuse.com





Behind Toledo’s water crisis, a long-troubled Lake Erie

8/8 - Toledo, Ohio — It took a serendipitous slug of toxins and the loss of drinking water for a half-million residents to bring home what scientists and government officials in this part of the country have been saying for years: Lake Erie is in trouble, and getting worse by the year.

Flooded by tides of phosphorus washed from fertilized farms, cattle feedlots and leaky septic systems, the most intensely developed of the Great Lakes is increasingly being choked each summer by thick mats of algae, much of it poisonous. What plagues Toledo and, experts say, potentially all 11 million lakeside residents, is increasingly a serious problem across the United States.

But while there is talk of action — and particularly in Ohio, real action — there also is widespread agreement that efforts to address the problem have fallen woefully short. And the troubles are not restricted to the Great Lakes. Poisonous algae are found in polluted inland lakes from Minnesota to Nebraska to California, and even in the glacial-era kettle ponds of Cape Cod in Massachusetts.

Algae fed by phosphorus runoff from mid-America farms helped create an oxygen-free dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico last summer that was nearly as big as New Jersey. The Chesapeake Bay regularly struggles with a similar problem.

When Mayor D. Michael Collins told Toledo residents on Monday that it was again safe to use the city’s water, he was only replaying a scene from years past. Carroll Township, another lakefront Ohio community of 2,000 residents, suspended water use last September amid the second-largest algae bloom ever measured; the largest, which stretched 120 miles from Toledo to Cleveland, was in 2011. Summertime bans on swimming and other recreational activities are so routine that the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency maintains a website on harmful algae bloom.

Five years ago this month, the federal Environmental Protection Agency and state water authorities issued a joint report on pollution of the nation’s waterways by phosphorus and other nutrients titled “An Urgent Call to Action.”

“Unfortunately, very little action has come from that,” said Jon Devine, the senior lawyer for the water program at the Natural Resources Defense Council in Washington.

“When we bring this subject up for conversation with the regulators, everyone sort of walks out of the room,” Donald Moline, the Toledo commissioner of public utilities, said in an interview on Monday. “The whole drinking-water community has been raising these issues, and so far we haven’t seen a viable response.”

Lake Erie’s travails — and now, Toledo’s — are but the most visible manifestation of a pollution problem that has grown as easily as it has defied solution. Once the shining success of the environmental movement — Lake Erie was mocked as dead in the 1960s, then revived by clean-water rules — it has sunk into crisis again as urbanization and industrial agriculture have spawned new and potent sources of phosphorus runoff.

In Lake Erie’s case, the phosphorus feeds a poisonous algae whose toxin, called microcystin, causes diarrhea, vomiting and liver-function problems, and readily kills dogs and other small animals that drink contaminated water. Toledo was unlucky: A small bloom of toxic algae happened to form directly over the city’s water-intake pipe in Lake Erie, miles offshore.

Beyond the dangers to people and animals, the algae wreak tens of billions of dollars of damage on commercial fishing and on the recreational and vacation trades. With conservationists and utility officials like Mr. Moline, representatives of those industries have for years called for some way to limit the phosphorus flowing into waterways.

There are practical and political reasons, environmental activists and other say, why it has not happened. The biggest, perhaps, is that the government has few legal options to impose limits — and voluntary limits so far have barely dented the problem.

The federal Clean Water Act is intended to limit pollution from fixed points like industrial outfalls and sewer pipes, but most of the troublesome phosphorus carried into waterways like Lake Erie is spread over thousands of square miles. Addressing so-called nonpoint pollution is mostly left to the states, and in many cases, the states have chosen not to act.

Beyond that, the Supreme Court has questioned the scope of the Clean Water Act in recent years, limiting regulators’ ability to protect wetlands and other watery areas that are not directly connected to streams, or that do not flow year-round.

Wetlands, in particular, filter phosphorus from runoff water before it reaches rivers and lakes. A federal Environmental Protection Agency proposal to restore part of the Clean Water Act’s authority has come under fire in Congress, largely from Republicans who view it as an infringement on private rights and a threat to farmers.

Some efforts to control pollution have found powerful opponents in agriculture and the fertilizer industry, which, for example, has fought limits on lawn fertilizers in Florida towns and on overall pollution of the Chesapeake Bay. The principal industry lobby, the Fertilizer Institute, is part of a coalition of industry and agricultural interests that are opposing federal efforts to restore some coverage of the Clean Water Act.

With Lake Erie in peril, both Ohio and federal authorities have taken some steps to rein in phosphorus pollution. Some of the $1.6 billion that Congress has allotted for a Great Lakes Restoration Initiative has gone to create wetlands and teach farmers ways to reduce fertilizer use and runoff. The Ohio government runs a Lake Erie Phosphorus Task Force that brings together interests from conservation to agriculture to industry to devise solutions to rising pollution.

But as in many places, Ohio has stopped well short of actually ordering the sources of phosphorus runoff to cap their production. A hefty Nutrient Reduction Strategy paper issued last year cites sheaves of demonstration projects, voluntary phosphorus reduction goals and watershed plans, but makes no mention of enforceable limits on pollution.

A spokesman for Gov. John R. Kasich, a Republican, did not return a call seeking comment on the state’s phosphorus initiatives.

The legislature this year passed a law requiring farmers and other major fertilizer users to apply for licenses and undergo certification, but limits control of pollution to voluntary measures.

All mention of one contributor to the pollution problem — so-called confined animal feeding operations, the industrial-size feedlots that produce manure en masse — was stripped from the version that was enacted.

Environmental advocates say they agree that voluntary measures to limit phosphorus pollution, such as targeting fertilizer to precisely the locations and amounts that are needed, are a big part of any solution.

“We’ve worked with farmers, and we know it works,” said Jordan Lubetkin, a Great Lakes spokesman for the National Wildlife Federation. “Voluntary programs will take you so far. But at the end of the day, you need numeric standards. You’ve got to limit the amount of phosphorus coming into the lake. That’s why you see what we’re seeing in Toledo.”

New York Times





Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder weighs in on Muskegon river barges proposal

8/8 - Grand Haven, Mich. – Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder made his first-ever trip to the Coast Guard Festival in Grand Haven when he spoke at the U.S. Coast Guard National Memorial Service at Escanaba Park on Aug. 1.

During his speech, Snyder consistently encouraged the public to honor and remember the duties and contributions of the Coast Guard. Following the ceremony, he took a few minutes to share some of his thoughts on one of those contributions.

The U.S. Coast Guard is currently taking public comments until Aug. 25 on a proposed river barge program in Muskegon, which aims to allow barges from the Mississippi River system to travel on Lake Michigan along the western shore of Michigan.

Snyder was aware of the proposal and said the comment period is something he and his staff will be paying close attention to.

"There are some important issues and that's the good part about having the comment period," he said. "I'm actually very interested in making sure that we're reviewing those comments, too."

Snyder said there are two facets of the proposal he is most interested in: the condition of the barges and the threat of invasive species.

"Two things really stand out to me are one, how seaworthy is the barge since we're bringing barges that are made for rivers across the Great Lakes. We don't want to see challenges there," he said. "The second is the whole question of invasive species with the Asian carp and such."

The concern of whether or not the barges are seaworthy may be answered in the Coast Guard's stipulations for such a program.

If the program -- which requires the obtaining of a load-line exemption -- is approved, barges would be permitted to travel on Lake Michigan under the same stipulations presently observed by barges traveling to Wisconsin. These guidelines require barges to remain within five miles of the shoreline, transit only under favorable weather conditions, and only carry dry, non-hazardous cargoes.

The governor wasn't ready to fully support a barge program but did say he is encouraged by such ideas.

"It's not an easy question to answer and there are some challenges that need to be addressed before I think we'd want to be supportive of something like that," he said. "It's always good that people have innovative ideas; we just need to make sure we're doing it in the context of making sure that things are safe and we're protecting the Great Lakes also."

Comments on the proposed river barge system in Muskegon can be made at this link

M Live





Lookback #264 – Ellen Klautschke lost power and rammed Nordia at Toronto on Aug. 8, 1964

The West German freighter Ellen Klautschke was preparing to dock at Toronto on Aug. 8, 1964, when the engine failed. The out-of-control vessel narrowly missed the tug Terry S. and Toronto fireboat William Lyon Mackenzie. It then struck the docked Swedish vessel Nordia, which was operating on charter to the Cunard Line.

The two saltwater ships were damaged in the accident of 50 years ago today. The tug Graeme Stewart was summoned to tow the two-year old, 321 foot, 3 inch long Ellen Klautschke to Port Weller for repairs. It was back through the Seaway again in 1965.

Ellen Klautschke was sold to the Thakur Shipping Co. and registered in India as Varuna Yan in 1972. The vessel was detained at the Shatt-Al-Arab Waterway in 1980 due to the conflict between Iran and Iraq. Varuna Yan was shelled and sunk there on April 3, 1984, as a total loss.

Nordia was a regular Seaway trader and made a total of 16 inland voyages between 1964 and 1967. It dated from 1961 and became Tevega in 1974 and Dimmer in 1981. Following a sale to Pakistani shipbreakers, the former Nordia arrived at Gadani Beach on April 1, 1987, and was broken up.

Skip Gillham





Today in Great Lakes History - August 8

August 8, 1991 - The excursion ferry AMERICANA has been sold and passed down the Welland Canal bound for the Caribbean with registry in Panama. She was the former East Coast ferry BLOCK ISLAND that arrived in Buffalo just three years ago.

On 08 August 1878, the Buffalo (wooden propeller package freighter, 258 foot, 1,762 gross tons) was launched at the yard of Thomas Quayle & Sons in Cleveland, Ohio for the Western Transportation Company. Her engine was a double Berry & Laig compound engine constructed by the Globe Iron Works in Buffalo, New York. She lasted until 1911, when she was abandoned at Marine City, Michigan.

The JAMES R. BARKER became the longest vessel on the Great Lakes when it entered service on August 8, 1976. It held at least a tie for this honor until the WILLIAM J. DELANCEY entered service on May 10, 1981. The BARKER's deckhouse had been built at AmShip's Chicago yard and was transported in sections to Lorain on the deck of the steamer GEORGE D. GOBLE.

The BUFFALO was christened August 8, 1978, for the Connecticut Bank & Trust Co. (American Steamship Co., mgr.)

The E.B. BARBER along with the motor vessel SAGINAW BAY, a.) FRANK H. GOODYEAR of 1917, arrived August 8, 1985, under tow in Vigo, Spain. Demolition began on August 9, 1985, by Miguel Martins Periera at Guixar-Vigo.

The Soo River Company was forced into receivership on August 8, 1982.

On 8 August 1887, CITY OF ASHLAND (wooden sidewheel tug, 90 feet long 85 gross tons, built in 1883, at Ashland, Wisconsin) was towing a log raft near Washburn, Wisconsin in Lake Superior. Fire broke out near the boilers and quickly cut off the crew from the lifeboat. They jumped overboard and all but 1 or 2 were picked up by local tugs. The burned hull sank soon afterward.

The wooden tug J E EAGLE was destroyed by fire at about 4:00 p.m. on 8 August 1869, while towing a raft of logs on Saginaw Bay to Bay City. Her loss was valued at $10,000, but she was insured for only $7,000.

August 8, 1981 - The Ann Arbor carferry VIKING took part in a ceremony christening a body of water between Manitowoc and Two Rivers as "Maritime Bay".

August 8, 1999 - The KAYE E. BARKER delivered the last shipment of limestone for Dow Chemical, Ludington. The plant later closed its lime plant and began lime deliveries by rail.

On 8 August 1813, the U. S. Navy schooner HAMILTON (wooden 10-gun schooner, 112 foot, 76 tons, built in 1809, at Oswego, New York as a.) DIANA, was lying at anchor off the mouth of the Niagara River on Lake Ontario with her armed fleet-mate SCOURGE awaiting dawn when they planned to attack the British fleet. However, a quick rising storm swamped and sank both vessels. Since they were both built as commercial vessels, it has been suggested that their cannons may have made them top-heavy. The HAMILTON was found by sonar in 1975, sitting upright almost completely intact at the bottom of Lake Ontario. The Cousteau organization has dived to her and she was the subject of a live television dive by Robert Ballard in 1990.

August 8, 1882 - An August snowstorm was reported by a ship on Lake Michigan, dumping 6 inches of snow and slush on the deck. Snow showers were reported at shore points that day.

In 1942, the seven shipyards at Duluth-Superior were in full production and announced three launchings in two days. The submarine chaser SC-671 was launched on August 8, at Inland Waterways, Inc. on Park Point.

1941 An explosion aboard the Canadian tanker TRANSITER at River Rouge resulted in the loss of 2 lives. The ship was towed to Port Dalhousie for repairs and returned to work as b) TRANSTREAM in 1942. It was sold for off-lakes service as c) WITSUPPLY in 1969 and sank in heavy weather off Cabo de la Vela, Colombia, while apparently enroute to Cartagena, Colombia, for scrap, on February 23, 1981.

1964 ELLEN KLAUTSCHE suffered an engine failure while berthing at Toronto and rammed the docked NORDIA after just missing the tugs TERRY S. and WILLIAM LYON MACKENZIE. The West German freighter was towed to Port Weller for repairs by the GRAEME STEWART. Later, as b) VARUNA YAN, it was detained in the Shatt-Al-Arab waterway and then, on April 3, 1984, was shelled becoming a CTL.

[yachtsmanwilly]

Today in Great Lakes History - August 11

On 11 August 1899, the SIMON LANGELL (wooden propeller freighter, 195 foot, 845 gross tons, built in 1886, at St. Clair, Michigan) was towing the wooden schooner W K MOORE off Lakeport, Michigan on Lake Huron when they were struck by a squall. The schooner was thrown over on her beam ends and filled with water. The local Life Saving crew went to the rescue and took off two women passengers from the stricken vessel. The Moore was the towed to Port Huron, Michigan by the tug HAYNES and placed in dry dock for inspection and repairs.

The H.M. GRIFFITH was the first self-unloader to unload grain at Robin Hood's new hopper unloading facility at Port Colborne, Ontario on August 11, 1987. She was renamed b.) RT HON PAUL J. MARTIN in 2000.

On August 11, 1977, the THOMAS W. LAMONT was the first vessel to take on fuel at Shell's new fuel dock at Corunna, Ontario The dock's fueling rate was 60 to 70,000 gallons per hour and was built to accommodate 1,000- footers.

Opening ceremonies for the whaleback tanker METEOR a.) FRANK ROCKEFELLER, museum ship were held on August 11, 1973, with the president of Cleveland Tankers present whose company had donated the ship. This historically unique ship was enshrined into the National Maritime Hall of Fame.

The T.W. ROBINSON departed Quebec City on August 11, 1987, along with US265808 (former BENSON FORD in tow of the Polish tug JANTAR bound for Recife, Brazil where they arrived on September 22, 1987. Scrapping began the next month.

On 11 August 1862, B F BRUCE (wooden propeller passenger steamer, 110 foot, 169 tons, built in 1852, at Buffalo, New York as a tug) was carrying staves when she caught fire a few miles off Port Stanley, Ontario in Lake Erie. She was run to the beach, where she burned to a total loss with no loss of life. Arson was suspected. She had been rebuilt from a tug to this small passenger steamer the winter before her loss.

On 11 August 1908, TITANIA (iron propeller packet/tug/yacht, 98 foot, 73 gross tons, built in 1875, at Buffalo, New York) was rammed and sunk by the Canadian sidewheeler KINGSTON near the harbor entrance at Charlotte, New York on Lake Ontario. All 26 on board were rescued.

The wooden scow-schooner SCOTTISH CHIEF had been battling a storm on Lake Michigan since Tuesday, 8 August 1871. By late afternoon of Friday, 11 August 1871, she was waterlogged. The galley was flooded and the food ruined. The crew stayed with the vessel until that night when they left in the lifeboat. They arrived in Chicago on Sunday morning, 13 August.

1865: A fire broke out at Sault Ste. Marie in the cargo of lime aboard the wooden passenger and freight carrier METEOR that was involved in the sinking of the PEWABIC on August 9. METEOR was scuttled in 30 feet of water to prevent its loss. The hull was pumped out and salvaged four days later and repaired.

1919: MURIEL W. hit a sunken crib off Port Weller and was partially sunk. An August 15, 1919, storm broke up the hull.

1928: W.H. SAWYER stranded off Harbor Beach Light in a storm. Her barges, A.B. KING and PESHTIGO, were blown aground and broken up by the waves. The trip had run for shelter but the effort ended 100 yards short of safety. The cook was a casualty.

1944: The Norwegian freighter ERLING LINDOE was built in 1917 and came to the Great Lakes for the first time in 1923. The ship struck a mine in the Kattegat Strait, off Varberg, Sweden, and sank with its cargo of pyrites. The number of casualties varies with one report noting the loss at 19 members of the crew, another at 17 and, yet another, had the death toll at 13. There were 6 survivors.

1976: The Panamanian freighter WOKAN was beached off Oman with a fractured hull enroute from the Ulsan, South Korea, to Kuwait. It was declared a total loss and abandoned. The 1952-built vessel first came through the Seaway as b) DAUPHINE in 1968 and returned as d) SPACE KING in 1975.

2001: Bridge 11 of the Welland Canal was lowered prematurely striking the downbound bulk carrier WINDOC taking the top off the pilothouse, toppling the stack and igniting a fire. The massive damage to the ship was never repaired and efforts for find work for the vessel as a barge were not a success. The hull arrived at Port Colborne for dismantling on November 9, 2010.

2004: ONEGO MERCHANT came through the Seaway for the first time in May 2004. Later that summer, the vessel sustained bow damage in a grounding near Larvik, Norway, but was refloated within hours. It returned to the Great Lakes in 2005 and 2006 and has sailed as b) VRIESENDIEP since 2009.

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







3 more ships carrying wind turbine parts to arrive in Muskegon this month

8/10 - Muskegon, Mich. – Three more large cargo ships are set to arrive in the Port of Muskegon this month, according to Ed Hogan, vice president of operations for Port City Marine Services.

All three "salties" will be carrying wind turbine parts bound for the Beebe Community Wind Farm in Gratiot County, south of Mount Pleasant and north of Lansing. The first ship of the year, the Hansa Heavy Lift (HHL) Elbe, a 454-foot cargo ship, arrived at Muskegon's Mart Dock on July 8.

The next ship, the HR Constitution, is due to arrive on Aug. 13, Hogan said. The vessel is carrying wind turbine towers from Korea. As of 12:30 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 7, it was located in St. Lawrence River. Hogan said he wasn't sure what time of day the ship would arrive.

Two more ships will follow the Constitution. The HHL Congo, carrying wind turbine blades from Germany, is scheduled to arrive on Aug. 17. It will be followed by the HR Maria, which is carrying wind turbine towers, on Aug. 24.

All the arrival dates are subject to change, Hogan said. As of the 12:30 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 7, the Congo was located in the Celtic Sea while the Maria was located in the Mediterranean.

"The Constitution was originally supposed to arrive on Sunday," he said. "Dates can always fluctuate. There's a hurricane in the Atlantic right now and that seems to be slowing things down."

Those interested in seeing the ships come into the Port of Muskegon can do so at the Muskegon Channel although it's impossible to tell what time of day they will come in as of now. Still, the presence of the ships in the area is exciting, Hogan said.

"I think it's really a positive for the whole area," he said. "People are really excited; it's so nice to see all the activity from the public."

Muskegon Chronicle


Port Reports - August 11

Saginaw River - Todd Shorkey
Traffic on the Saginaw River was reminiscent of days about 10 years ago, as there were four vessels moving in the river on Sunday. Algorail was outbound after unloading at the Sagrent dock in Zilwaukee. Robert S. Pierson was outbound after unloading at the Buena Vista dock in Saginaw. Olive L. Moore - Lewis J. Kuber were outbound after unloading at the Burroughs dock in Zilwaukee. Inbound on Sunday was American Courage, calling on that Bay Aggregates dock in Bay City. The tug Zeus and her tank barge, Robert F. Deegan, were outbound late Saturday night after unloading at the Dow Chemical dock in Bay City.

Lorain, Ohio
Calumet was inbound at just after 8 p.m. Sunday, headed for the LaFarge/Jonick docks.

Erie, Pa. - Gene
Manitowoc arrived in Erie harbor at 2 p.m. to unload stone at the old ore dock, surrounded by the weekend boaters. Likely she will move to the Mountfort terminal after unloading and pick up a load of sand to take a short distance across the channel and unload it at Presque Isle State Park where it will be used on the beaches. The sand came from Lake Erie via the J.S. St John dredger but cannot unload it directly to Presque Isle. This will be the third time this summer that the Manitowoc has unloaded stone and moved sand in Erie.

Toronto, Ont. - Jens Juhl
Saturday the laker Cuyahoga delivered another cargo of salt at Cargill. English River departed late Saturday afternoon followed by the Cuyahoga. The classic steam sidewheeler ferry Trillium was pressed into service this weekend to handle the heavy day-tripper traffic to the Toronto Island parks. The cruise ship Pearl Mist departed at 6 a.m. this morning bound for the Welland Canal.





Buyer of Captain John's fails to make final payments

8/11 - Toronto, Ont. - Friday was the deadline for new buyer of Captain John's. James Sbrolla had to pay the full $33,051 for a ship that's turned out to be a much bigger project.

The Toronto Port Authority is considering its options after the winning bidder for financially troubled Captain John’s Restaurant reneged on making final payments Thursday.

“We are working with the port authority on an extension,” said Toronto entrepreneur Sbrolla on Friday, almost 24 hours after he was to have made final payments of about $30,000 for the 300-foot ship, the Jadran.

So far, he’s only put down a deposit of $3,000 and missed three deadlines — the 4 p.m. Thursday deadline set by the court, which was extended at his request until 6 p.m. and eventually to midnight by port authority officials.

“We have not delivered the money,” he confirmed Friday afternoon. “We are hoping we can still do the transaction.”

But, as has been the case with almost everything related to the years-long saga of the financially crippled ship, the deal turned out to be far more complicated than Sbrolla, an avid sailor, had anticipated.

And the August 22 deadline for having the ship removed from the foot of Yonge St. has turned out to be onerous: Even having the high-risk hydro line that powers the ship disconnected is likely to delay the move beyond Aug. 22. The process is tricky because it’s dependent on temperatures being less than 24C and requires transiting other area customers linked to the line to other power systems.

The port authority, however, really doesn’t have many options. “Captain” John Letnik, who owes close to $2 million in outstanding realty taxes, berthing fees and mortgages on the defunct floating restaurant, has tried for years to sell the ship.

It could be listed for sale, again, but it’s unlikely another buyer would be found.

And there was only one other credible bid earlier to this month, from a veteran ship recycler asking more than $303,000 to tow and scrap the ship.

A group of Boston-based investors have been closely watching the sale, anticipating that Sbrolla might have taken on more than he could handle, and haven’t counted themselves out of trying to restore and revive the ship as a possible restaurant or entertainment venue.

The condition — which waterfront officials have refused to really consider so far — is that the investors would need another waterfront slip, and a long-term lease, on Toronto’s waterfront to make the business viable.

Toronto Star





Lookback #267 – Erling Lindoe hit a mine in Kattegat Strait on August 11, 1944

8/11 - The 236.9-foot-long Erling Lindoe was a general cargo carrier from the pre-Seaway era. The ship had been built at Ablasserdam, Netherlands, and completed in June 1917 for Norwegian interests.

The vessel came to the Great Lakes in 1923 and returned on several occasions in the 1930s. Destinations included South Haven, Mich., and Menominee, Mich., in 1933 and it was noted to have departed Little Current, on Manitioulin Island, for Sharpness, England, in 1934.

A collision in the Thames River late in 1933 put the ship on the bottom but it was pumped out and repaired in time for two trips to our shores in 1934.

The ship was attacked by aircraft on the North Sea on March 20, 1940, while on a voyage from Casablanca, Morocco, to Lysaker, Norway.

The accident of Aug. 11, 1944, 70 years ago today, was caused by striking a mine in the Kattegat Strait near Varberg, Sweden, while carrying pyrites from Ballengren, Norway, to Holtenau, Germany. Accounts vary on the number of casualties by it appears there were 19 lost while only 6 on board survived when the ship went down.

The hull rests in on the bottom with a mangled bow and the wooden bridge is gone. The latter reportedly was removed by being struck by a trawler

[yachtsmanwilly]

Sometimes its a toss up between puke and shit... this is the delivery paint job BTW... I hate people with too much money or time!






Today in Great Lakes History - August 12

The C&O carferry SPARTAN, in a heavy fog while inbound from Kewaunee on the morning of August 12, 1976, struck rocks at the entrance to Ludington harbor. She suffered severe damage to about 120 feet of her bottom plating. She was taken to Bay Shipbuilding in Sturgeon Bay on August 18th for repairs. There were no injuries as a result of this incident.

TOM M. GIRDLER was christened August 12, 1951; she was the first of the C-4 conversions.

MAUNALOA (Hull#37) was launched August 12, 1899 at Chicago, Illinois by Chicago Shipbuilding Co. for the Minnesota Steamship Co. Sold Canadian and renamed b.) MAUNALOA II in 1945. She was scrapped at Toronto in 1971.

WILLIAM E. COREY sailed from Chicago on her maiden voyage August 12, 1905, bound for Duluth, Minnesota to load iron ore. She later became b.) RIDGETOWN in 1963. Used as a breakwater in Port Credit, Ontario, in 1974, and is still there.

On 12 August 1882, FLORIDA (3-mast wooden schooner, 352 tons, built in 1875 at Batiscan, Ontario) was carrying 662 tons of coal from Black River to Toronto when she sprang a leak and sank 12 miles from Port Maitland, Ontario. She hailed from Quebec and was constructed mostly of pine and tamarack.

1941: The first EAGLESCLIFFE HALL was attacked by a German bomber from the Luftwaffe and was struck aft. The vessel was two miles east of Sunderland, England, at the time and one member of the crew was killed. The ship reached Sunderland for repairs and, at the end of the war, resumed Great Lakes service for the Hall Corporation. It later joined the Misener fleet as DAVID BARCLAY.

1960: A collision on the Detroit River between the Finnish freighter MARIA and the ALEXANDER T. WOOD damaged both vessels and put the latter aground in the Ballard Reef Channel. After being lightered of some grain by MAITLAND NO. 1, the vessel was released with the aid of the tug JOHN PURVES. MARIA, a pre-Seaway caller to the Great Lakes as BISCAYA and TAMMERFORS, was towed to the Great Lakes Engineering Works at Ecorse for repairs. It was eventually scrapped in Yugoslavia in 1968. ALEXANDER T. WOOD sank as VAINQUER after an explosion in the Gulf of Mexico on March 15, 1969.

1980: An explosion in the crankcase of the bulk carrier RALPH MISENER left one crew member killed and another four injured. One of the injured later died. The ship was loaded with coke and on the Saguenay River bound for Port Alfred. Repairs were carried out at Montreal.


Saltwater vessel Fritz impounded at Toledo

8/12 - Toledo, Ohio – A freighter delivering steel to the Port of Toledo has been impounded by the U.S. Marshals Service because of an unpaid fuel bill, a marshals service representative said.

It’s still up in the air whether the current or previous owner of the motor vessel Fritz, registered in Liberia, owes the unpaid $900,000 in fuel bills.

“That will have to be worked out in court,” said Steve Miller, a supervisory deputy for the marshals service in Toledo. But until legal arrangements are made to release the vessel, he said, it will remain “arrested” in Toledo.

Joe Cappel, the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority’s director of cargo development, said the matter does not affect the port authority or Midwest Terminals of Toledo International — the stevedore that operates the port-owned international cargo docks on the Maumee River — because Midwest’s services are paid for by the steel shipper, not the ship operator.

“In 10 years, this is the first time I can recall something like this” happening to a ship at Toledo’s port, Cappel said, noting that most of the freighters that call on Toledo are owned by large fleets, while the Fritz is an independent, or “tramp,” vessel.

The Toledo impoundment is not the Fritz’s first trouble during its current Great Lakes voyage. Late last month, it was delayed in Oshawa, Ont., when Transport Canada placed a detention order on it, according to the Oshawa Express, a local newspaper. The order applied to the ship’s physical condition, and was rescinded July 23, which was long enough for the Fritz to travel to Hamilton, Ont., for repairs, the newspaper reported.

While in Oshawa, the ship’s crew protested not having been paid and being short on food and water, but the ship’s acquisition by a new management company appeared to have resolved those issues, according to the newspaper. Oshawa is a suburban city east of Toronto on Lake Ontario.

Toledo Blade





Smoother sailing as Great Lakes levels continue their rebound

8/12 - Detroit, Mich. – The story of improving Great Lakes water levels can be discerned in the things unheard this summer – like complaints.

Record snowfalls last winter, coupled with a rainier-than-usual spring and summer, have Great Lakes levels recovering faster than they have in decades. With a second straight year of rebounding from record-low lake levels, gone are the panicked harbormasters, concerned marina owners, grumbling charter fishermen and befuddled freight shippers. No longer are city officials expressing urgent need for dredging funds.

“You can get in and out of more harbors – the water’s actually up to the docks again,” said Raymond Raab of Holly, who operates Lil Red Fishing Charters on Lakes Michigan and Huron. Just two or three summers ago, “some harbors you couldn’t even get into,” he said.

All of the Great Lakes, with the exception of Lakes Michigan and Huron, are above their long-term average depths going back to 1918. And Michigan and Huron are at their highest water levels since 1998, said Keith Kompoltowicz, chief of watershed hydrology for the Army Corps of Engineers’ Detroit District.

Lakes Michigan and Huron are only 4 inches below long-term average, but have recovered more than 2½ feet since their record lows in January 2013.

“That we’re not quite back to average speaks to how low we actually were at the end of 2012 and the beginning of 2013,” Kompoltowicz said.

One of the hardest-hit industries during the low levels around 2012 was Great Lakes freight shipping. Vessels had to leave iron ore, cement and the other products they ship on the docks, needing lightened loads to avoid scraping the lake bottom.

“When you can only haul 75 percent of your cargo, it affects your financial bottom line,” said Martin Cottle, manager of Soo Marine Supply Inc. in Sault Ste. Marie, which provides supplies to freighters on the Great Lakes.

“There were times when the vessels had to wait to get through the Soo Locks because of a storm or low-pressure system, waiting for the water levels to return to a sufficient level,” he said.

The rapid recovery isn’t unprecedented. Previous record-low Great Lakes levels were recorded in the 1960s. But by the 1970s, they reached their high-water marks, Kompoltowicz said.

“Over the course of a decade, we covered the range of historical fluctuation,” he said.

The Army Corps issues lake level forecasts for the next six months and predicts water levels will remain above average and above the depths of a year ago. Lakes Michigan and Huron are predicted to reach their long-term average in November. “If that were to play out, it would be the first time they were at or above average since the late ’90s,” Kompoltowicz said.

The record-setting cold, snow and Great Lakes ice cover of last winter is having another lasting effect — though it’s one that anyone taking a dip in the waters this summer could tell you: Great Lakes water temperatures are down on every lake from last year, and far below average – particularly on Lake Superior, which was at just more than 50 degrees on Aug. 1, about 7.73 degrees below its long-term average for that day, and Lake Michigan, which at 62.78 degrees was 6.49 degrees below long-term average.

Detroit Free Press





Coast Guard and Lake Carriers Association sign training agreement

8/12 - Cleveland, Ohio – The Coast Guard 9th District and the Lake Carriers’ Association jointly signed a Mutual Training Agreement, Monday, that further promotes cooperation and education opportunities between the Association’s seventeen member companies that operate cargo vessels on the Great Lakes and the Coast Guard as their primary regulatory agency.

This agreement was reached under the Coast Guard’s Merchant Marine Indoctrination Ship Rider Program, which provides for valuable professional exchange opportunities for the mutual benefit of both the Coast Guard and the merchant marine industry.

The MTA will allow Coast Guard marine inspectors to join a vessel’s crew while underway and act as a riding observer, giving the inspectors a practical knowledge of the performance and operating characteristics of the vessels, equipment, the waterways they transit and the vessel crews. Since many Coast Guard marine inspectors come to the Great Lakes after learning their trade in coastal ports, these training opportunities serve to increase and expand their knowledge of the unique Great Lakes maritime industry.

“We’re extremely pleased with this opportunity to strengthen our relationship with the Lake Carriers’ Association and their member companies," said Rear Adm. Fred Midgette, commander of the Coast Guard 9th District. "This agreement will enable Coast Guard marine inspectors develop a more comprehensive understanding of commercial vessel operations and enhance the level of marine safety and security across the entire Great Lakes region.”

The Coast Guard 9th District is headquartered in Cleveland and oversees all Coast Guard operations on the U.S. portions of the Great Lakes. The Lake Carriers’ Association represents 17 member companies that operate 57 vessels on the Great Lakes that can carry more than 115 million tons of cargo in a year.

Lake Carriers’ Association





Port Reports - August 12

Port Inland, Mich. – Denny Dushane
John J. Boland is expected to arrive on Tuesday in the late evening. Manistee is expected to arrive on Wednesday in the late evening. The John J. Boland returns to load again on Thursday in the late evening.

Cedarville, Mich. – Denny Dushane
Wilfred Sykes is due to arrive on Tuesday in the late afternoon followed by the Philip R. Clarke due on Wednesday in the early morning. Also due on Wednesday in the early morning will be the barge Ashtabula and tug Defiance.

Alpena, Mich. – Ben & Chanda McClain
Friday evening the tug Leonard M and barge Huron Spirit arrived at Lafarge. The barge had some type of cargo that was unloaded at the dock. The tug G.L Ostrander and barge Integrity were at Lafarge loading cement on Sunday. On Monday the Alpena was in port taking on product for delivery to Superior, Wis.

Calcite, Mich. – Denny Dushane
John G. Munson loaded at the North Dock on Monday and was due to depart around 1:30 p.m. American Courage was also expected to arrive on Monday in the late morning for the South Dock. Sam Laud is due on Tuesday in the early morning for the North Dock. There are no vessels due on Wednesday. Rounding out the schedule is the Cason J. Callaway, due on Thursday in the early evening for the South Dock.

Toledo, Ohio – Denny Dushane
Algoma Olympic loaded at the CSX Coal Dock #4 on Monday. Due next at the CSX Coal Dock will be the H. Lee White on Tuesday during the early morning. The Algoma Progress is due on Thursday in the late evening. Sam Laud is due on Friday in the late afternoon along with the James L. Kuber also on Friday in the late evening. There is no activity scheduled at the Midwest Terminal Stone Dock. Vessels arriving at the Torco Dock with iron ore cargoes include the James L. Kuber due on Friday in the early afternoon along with the Hon. James L. Oberstar also due on Friday in the late evening. The H. Lee White is expected to arrive on Sunday, August 17 in the late morning. Whitefish Bay is due on Monday, August 18 in the early evening and the Manitowoc is due on Tuesday, August 19 in the early evening. Adam E. Cornelius along with American Fortitude and American Valor remain in lay-up.

Toronto, Ont. – Jens Juhl
Federal Nakagawa departed from Redpath at 5 pm Monday afternoon assisted by the tug Omni-Richelieu. The bulker had barely cleared the slip when it blew five shorts in order to clear a pesky sailboat out of the way. The Omni-Richelieu then went alongside at Redpath awaiting the imminent arrival of the Chestnut. Stephen B. Roman was back at the Villiers Street Essroc dock unloading cement.

Buffalo. N.Y. – Brian W.
The tug Paul Luedtke was westbound from Buffalo Monday, passing Dunkirk at 8:30 p.m.





Columbus ships Nina, Pinta return to Wyandotte Aug. 13-17

8/12 - Wyandotte, Mich. – Replica Columbus ships were such a big hit in 2012, Opportunity Grosse Ile and the city of Wyandotte have teamed up to bring them back.

The city and nonprofit organization are co-hosting the visit of two of the three ships -- the Nina and the Pinta -- that Christopher Columbus commanded when he explored the American continents starting in 1492 and set the stage for European colonization of the New World.

The ships will dock at Bishop Park, 2802 Van Alstyne, located along the Detroit River, where they’ll be open to tours by the public from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Aug. 13 through Aug. 17. The ships will arrive at the park on the afternoon of Aug. 12. Only members of the media will be allowed to tour the ship on the day of its arrival.

Craig Pilkington, president of Opportunity Grosse Ile and chief coordinator of the event, said the visit to Wyandotte will be the only stop by the ships in eastern Michigan before sailing to the Lake Michigan coast and destinations in other Great Lakes states.

The Nina and Pinta replica ships serve as floating museums operated by the Columbus Foundation, located in the British Virgin Islands. They are considered to be the most historically accurate reproductions of the famous ships ever built. During 2014, the Columbus Foundation scheduled public tours of the ships at United States ports in the East, Great Lakes region and in the South.

"A tour of the Columbus ships is educational for the entire family,” Pilkington said. “ The Nina and Pinta provide a hands-on experience representative both of early European exploration of the Americas and of those vessels that 150 years later first sailed the Great Lakes under explorers such as LaSalle and Cadillac – both of whom landed on Grosse Ile.”

“Wyandotte’s Bishop Park proved a wonderful venue for the 2012 visit attended by 6,000 plus, and is a great asset for the historically rich Downriver region,” he added.

According to Pilkington, the ships rarely return to one location year after year. He said it was difficult to persuade the organization to come every other year. However, he said that schedule works well for Opportunity Grosse Ile.

“If we did the same thing every year, it would wear thin fairly quickly,” he said. “Next year we might want to go to the War of 1812 period, which involves a different group of ships. In those off years we can have other vessels from other times in Downriver’s history.”

News Herald





US Brig Niagara to visit Toledo Boat Show Aug. 23-24

8/12 - Toledo, Ohio – The US Brig Niagara will participate in the Toledo Antique and Classic Boat Show on August 23rd and 24th 2014 at the National Museum of the Great Lakes in Toledo, Ohio.

“The Niagara might not be the oldest boat at the show, but it certainly represents one of the most important naval battles in American history,” Christopher Gillcrist, Executive Director of the museum said.

The Toledo Antique and Classic Boat Show is presented by Ramsey Brothers Restoration and the National Museum of the Great Lakes. Besides the Niagara, the show will feature boats by Chris Craft, Dart, Lyman, Mathews and other builders, many of whom operated in and around the Great Lakes.

“Recreational boats may not be as big as the freighters but they are spectacularly beautiful,” Gillcrist added.

The museum expects as many as 50 boats in the water and another 20 on land. In addition, vendors of all sorts will populate the grounds of the museum. Live entertainment will be offered at various times throughout both days. Visitors have two levels of admission from which to choose. Visitors can purchase a $5 ticket for the boat show only which gives access to the marina and museum grounds only. A $15 ticket gives access to the boat show, the National Museum of the Great Lakes and its Col. James M. Schoonmaker Museum Ship, and deck tours of the US Brig Niagara.

“We created the two levels so that everyone can participate in the show at some level,” said Gillcrist. “Don’t forget, children five and under are free and we discount seniors and kids 6-18.”

Members of the National Museum of the Great Lakes/Great Lakes Historical Society are admitted to the show free of charge. Members are asked to present their membership cards at the admission kiosk.

The museum will hold a special “Members Only War of 1812 Commemorative Reception” on Friday Aug. 22 from 7-9 p.m. Members of the museum will get to tour the Niagara privately. There is no charge for the reception but space is limited and RSVP is required. People wanting to join the museum to participate should contact the museum at 419-214-5000.





Lookback #268 – Ralph Misener rocked by crankcase explosion on Aug. 12, 1980

8/12 - The Canadian bulk carrier Ralph Misener was up bound in the Saguenay River 34 years ago today when the crankcase exploded. The blast left one sailor dead and four injured. One of the latter also succumbed to his burns and died. The ship was bound for Port Alfred with a cargo of coke, and had to be towed to its destination to unload.

The 730-foot-long vessel was repaired at Montreal and resumed service. It had been built at Montreal by Canadian Vickers in 1968 and first sailed as a self-unloader utilizing a deck-mounted Conflo system. It was not a success in this trade and the equipment was removed at Lauzon in 1978.

Despite not meeting the original expectations of the first self-unloader in the Misener fleet, the ship proved to be a good carrier. It set the record for loading barley at Thunder Bay on May 5, 1970, only to see it surpassed the next day by Algocen.

In addition to the usual ore and various grains, the Ralph Misener also carried tree bark from Thunder Bay to Detroit. After becoming the Gordon C. Leitch for ULS Shipping in 1994, the ship had a winter storage load of sugar at Toronto in 1997-1998.

The vessel was sold to Algoma in 2011 and tied up at Montreal at the end of that season. It was sold for scrap in 2012 and renamed Don, by painting out most of the letters of the previous name.

Don left for overseas, under tow, on Aug. 15, 2012, and arrived at Aliaga, Turkey, for dismantling on Sept. 10, 2012

[Avenger]

Aw geez Bill it's too early in the morning to have to look at something like that.