Today in Great Lakes History

[yachtsmanwilly]

July 1, 1991 - The automobile/passenger ferry DALDEAN celebrated its 40th year in operation between Sombra, Ontario and Marine City, Michigan. She was built by Erieau Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company, Erieau, Ontario, for Bluewater Ferry Ltd. Service started between the two communities on July 1, 1951.

On this day in 1943, the nine loading docks on Lake Superior loaded a combined 567,000 tons of iron ore into the holds of waiting freighters.

At 16:00 hours on July 1, 2005, an explosion hit the Cargill elevator in Toledo, Ohio, which collapsed on one of the silos and fire was found in five of the silos.

On July 1, 1940, the HARRY COULBY became the first Great Lakes vessel to load in excess of 16,000 tons of iron ore when it loaded 16,067 tons of iron ore in Ashland, Wisconsin. Renamed b.) KINSMAN ENTERPRISE in 1989, she was scrapped at Port Colborne, Ontario in 2002.

On 1 July 1927, ROBERT C. WENTE (wooden, propeller, bulk freighter, 141 foot, 336 gross tons, built in 1888, at Gibraltar, Michigan) burned to a total loss in the St. Clair River. In 1911, she sank in Lake Michigan, but was raised and refurbished.

July, 1983 - The C&O sold its remaining 3 car ferries to Glen Bowden and George Towns. They begin operating cross-lake service between Ludington and Kewaunee under the name Michigan-Wisconsin Transportation Co. (MWT)

On 1 July 1852, CASPIAN (wooden side-wheeler, 252 foot, 921 tons, built in 1851, at Newport, Michigan) foundered a short distance off Cleveland's piers. Some of her gear and structural material were salvaged in the Spring of 1853, and the wreck was then flattened with dynamite.

July 1, 1900, the new wooden steam barge ALFRED MITCHELL started her maiden voyage from St. Clair, Michigan for Cleveland, Ohio, to load coal. She was owned by Langell & Sons.

On 1 July 1869, the wooden schooner GARROWEN was carrying coal from Cleveland to Toronto when she sprang a leak and sank in 60 feet of water about 10 miles from shore off Geneva, Ohio. The crew escaped in the yawl. She was only 19 years old and some of the crew claimed that she was scuttled as an insurance scam. However, a number of divers visited the wreck on the bottom of the Lake at the time and that claim was refuted.

On 1 July 1875, the iron carferry HURON (238 foot, 1052 gross tons, built at Point Edward, Ontario, with iron plates prefabricated in Scotland) made her trial voyage between Fort Gratiot, Michigan, and Point Edward, Ontario, across the St. Clair River. This vessel served the Grand Trunk Railway and ran between Windsor and Detroit for over a century.

In 1876, a 25-square-mile ice field was still floating at the head of Lake Superior in northwest Wisconsin.

1918: The wooden steam barge CREAM CITY stranded on Wheeler Reef in upper Lake Huron due to fog while towing the barge GRACE HOLLAND. All were rescued but the ship was abandoned. The hull caught fire and was destroyed in 1925. 1939: ALGOSOO (i) arrived at Collingwood for hull repairs after hitting bottom, in fog, near Cape Smith, Georgian Bay.

1964: WHITEFISH BAY went aground off in the St. Lawrence off Whisky Island while bound for Montreal with a cargo of grain. Six tugs pulled the ship free on July 3.

1975: VALETTA first came to the Great Lakes in 1962 and returned as c) ORIENT EXPORTER in 1966 and d) IONIC in 1972. The leaking ship was beached at Cheddar, Saudi Arabia, with hull cracks. It slipped off the reef July 11, 1975, and sank.

1972: H.M.C.S. COBOURG was built at Midland as a World War Two corvette and rebuilt as a merchant ship about 1947. It caught fire and burned as d) PUERTO DEL SOL at New Orleans while undergoing repairs and the upper works were gutted. The ship was sold for scrapping at Brownsville, TX, later in the year.

1980: The Swedish-flag freighter MALTESHOLM first came through the Seaway in 1963. It began leaking in the engine room as c) LITO on this date while bound from Kalamata, Greece, to Vietnam with bagged flour. It was abandoned by the crew and then sank in the eastern Mediterranean. The ship had been sold to Taiwan ship breakers and was likely bound for Kaohsiung after unloading in the Far East.

[yachtsmanwilly]

7/2 - Waukegan, Ill. – For the first time since wave action from Superstorm Sandy blocked the entrance to Waukegan Harbor with sediment in October 2012, a bulk freighter was able to sail through the entrance channel last weekend to unload material for harborside business.

Whether or not that continues to be the practice is a $1.4 million question, or the amount the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says is needed each year to dredge enough sediment out of the channel to allow for deep-draft shipping.

"Due to the long-term beach (growth) north of the shorearm breakwater, the shoaling rate for the approach channel has increased to 80,000 cubic yards per year," reads a January 2015 Army Corps report on Waukegan Harbor. "If dredging work is not funded every year, winter storms will close the port to all commercial traffic."

The report added that although $4.5 million has been spent since last summer to dredge both the outer and inner areas of the harbor, "funding for low-tonnage harbors has been a low national priority," which could lead to Waukegan Harbor being served entirely by trucking and rail traffic.

"Loss of eight feet of depth in the approach channel from winter storm results in port closure. The increased transportation cost of shipping materials via other methods is over $2 million annually," the report stated, adding that a shift to truck and rail delivery "would increase annual emission rates by over 543 tons of harmful particulate matter."

The current state of the approach channel allowed for the June 21 arrival of the Buffalo, a 634-foot, 23,800-ton freighter operated by the American Steamship Co. The self-unloading Great Lakes bulk freighter sports a draft of 27 feet and reportedly is used to transport iron ore pellets, coal, limestone and gypsum.

The ship was moored early in the week in a slip near the city's three harbor industries — Lafarge Cement, National Gypsum and St. Mary's Cement, Inc. — and headed out by midweek.

Seventh Ward Ald. Lisa May, who chairs the City Council's Economic Development Committee, said Friday that she is "very concerned about the future of our harbor and continued funding for the annual maintenance dredging in the approach channel," especially if city roadways would have to take on extra trucks in the absence of shipping.

"When the commercial boats cannot enter our harbor, it increases the transportation costs for the businesses, resulting in higher costs of their products," May said. "Plus, by trucking the material in, there is major wear and tear on our infrastructure. (Our) bridges and roads are already compromised by the heavy duty usage, especially over the past two years."

May added that due to additional trucking after Sandy closed the harbor — including rigs hauling soil for U.S. Environmental Protection Agency projects — lakefront roadways like Sea Horse Drive, Pershing Road "and our bridges have deteriorated faster than they would've under normal traffic conditions.

"Nobody wants major trucking operations coming through the heart of their city," May said.

The Army Corps report called for a "dredged material management plan" to reduce the need for the $1.4 million annual cost of removing sediment from the approach channel. It noted that Waukegan Harbor is interconnected to 10 other commercial ports and serves as a safe refuge for ships heading to or from the Port of Chicago.

With the city's master plan for lakefront development focuses on residential construction around the harbor, May said she believes "there is potential for viability with a mixed-use harbor," adding that commercial shipping "keeps the feds interested in funding our harbor, (and) a lot of people find the barges interesting. It actually draws folks to our shore."

Chicago Tribune





Container ship traffic a possibility for increasing Port of Muskegon traffic

7/2 - Muskegon, Mich. – Logistics professional Les Brand of Grand Rapids' Supply Chain Solutions spoke June 23 about the potential of container ships doing business in the Port of Muskegon.

Muskegon has the largest deep-water port on Michigan's west coast – but maintaining a steady stream of freight into that port is a concern this year with the planned closure of the power plant looming in the future.

The Army Corps of Engineers allocates dollars for port dredging based on the tonnage of freight to each port. Officials have said about half of all the freight shipped to the Port of Muskegon in recent years has been coal, burned by Consumers Energy B.C. Cobb power plant in Muskegon – which is scheduled to cease operations in April 2016.

But Brand had some encouraging words for the Muskegon crowd: other movers in the Midwest could be good partners in increasing shipping.

"Regional collaboration is what's going to make it work," he said.

He said that the Port of Cleveland in recent years has established the Cleveland-Europe Express, which moves cargo on a regularly-scheduled route between the Great Lakes and Europe via the Port of Antwerp.

"It cost the Port of Cleveland a significant amount to lease those boats," he said, but the program seems to be working.

At the same time, he said, Edison Chouest Offshore, also known as ECO, is seeking to put its boats on the Great Lakes.

"These are newer boats so we're using the good fuel, so to speak," Brand said. He said the size of the ships, once used for servicing offshore platforms, is comparable to the Lake Express, a Muskegon-Milwaukee passenger ship.

Another possible partner in the future could be Port of Milwaukee, which is a hub for rail traffic into the northwestern U.S. and Canada, he said.

The puzzle doesn't appear to be missing many pieces. "There's a significant amount of volume just in manufacturing," Brand said. "We wouldn't need any infrastructure to start this. All we need is some volume commitments."

He added that the B.C. Cobb shutting down on Muskegon Lake could be an opportunity in disguise as well.

"It makes more property available that could be strategically used to host this activity," he said.

Looking at the bigger picture, Brand talked about the logistics conditions that are causing the industry to look more closely at what he called "the rebirth of waterborne freight."

To start with, international business is becoming more commonplace.

"Instead of being driven by state-driven economics, the world is now driven by the marketplace," Brand said. He displayed a map of the world showing international shipping routes.

At the same time, there are some challenges to some of the old standbys of domestic transportation.

"Truck rates are going up," Brand said. "The driver shortage is getting more serious."

M Live



7/2 - A new firefighting boat will be named William Thornton, after Toronto's first-known fallen firefighter. Thornton, age 22, died in 1848, two days after responding with fellow volunteers to a major blaze in a block of King St. E. buildings near Church St. Falling parts of a building left him with serious head trauma.

The honor, pending city council approval, follows a 2003 ceremony in which the Toronto Fire Service put a marker on Thornton's barren grave in St. James Cemetery.

The decommissioned Canadian Coast Guard vessel will act as a backup to the current fireboat William Lyon Mackenzie and replace the Sora, another former Coast Guard vessel obtained by Toronto in 2006.

The Toronto Star





Canada creates huge Lake Superior conservation area

7/2 - The Canadian government has officially placed about half of its Lake Superior waters and much of its shoreline under its highest level of federal protection.

The Lake Superior National Marine Conservation Area (NMCA) in the province of Ontario was formally established on June 24, according to the Canadian government.

The designation prohibits dumping, mining, oil and gas exploration and extraction in the lakebed, islands and shore areas within the sanctuary boundary. The guiding management principle is "ecologically sustainable use," said Parks Canada.

It covers a 10,000 square kilometer (about 3,800 square mile) area from Thunder Cape at the tip of Sleeping Giant Provincial Park in the west, to Bottle Point just east of Terrace Bay, and south to the U.S.-Canada boundary mid-lake.

Parks Canada, roughly equivalent to the U.S. National Park Service, calls it "one of the world's largest freshwater marine protected areas."

The agency said the protected portion of the world's largest freshwater lake deserved the designation because of the area's natural beauty.

“The Lake Superior National Marine Conservation Area tells its own story through its many rich cultural, historical and natural characteristics, including First Nations history; unique geological features; dozens of shipwrecks; more than 70 species of fish along with critical spawning areas; shorebird and waterfowl staging areas; arctic and subalpine plants; and many breathtaking seascapes and landscapes."

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper first announced plans for the designation in 2007. Ontario legislator Bruce Hyer took credit for pushing the legislation through the Canadian Parliament earlier this month.

M Live

[yachtsmanwilly]

7/3 - Muskegon, Mich. – It was only a couple of years ago when low water levels were impacting Michigan's boating industry. Those levels reached record lows in January 2013. The result: empty docks and boats stranded in unexpectedly shallow waters. Some marinas even had to lower their docks so boaters could get to their vessels.

Fast forward to 2015. Lake levels are now rising dramatically, over a foot in each of the past two years. And while that's good news for those heading to the water for the 4th of July weekend, there are some drawbacks.

Using the eyeball test alone, lakeshore residents can see Lake Michigan getting deeper. The lake is one foot higher than July 2014 and the Army Corps of Engineers expects the water level to increase two or three inches more before the likely peak in August.

Detroit Free Press



On this day in 1943, the J. H. HILLMAN JR (Hull#524), the 14th of 16 Maritime-class ships being built for Great Lakes Service, was launched at the Great Lakes Engineering yard at Ashtabula, Ohio. After having the stern of the CANADIAN EXPLORER, ex CABOT of 1965, attached, her forward section still exists today as the ALGOMA TRANSFER.

The JOHN B. AIRD was christened June 3, 1983, at Thunder Bay, Ontario for Algoma Central Marine, Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario.

U.S. Steel's ROGER BLOUGH was moved out of the dry dock at Lorain, Ohio, on June 3, 1972.

In 1954, CLIFFS VICTORY successfully completed her sea trials.

FRANK ARMSTRONG departed light from Ashtabula, Ohio, on her maiden voyage in command of Captain H. Chesley Inches June 3, 1943, bound for Superior, Wisconsin, to load iron ore.

PATERSON (i) entered service on June 3, 1954, with 440,000 bushels of wheat from Port Arthur, Ontario. She was scrapped at Thunder Bay, Ontario, in 1985.

On 3 July 1872, the wooden steam barge MARY MILLS was launched at P. Lester's yard at Marysville, Michigan.

On 3 July 1872, GRACE DORMER (wooden propeller passenger & package freight ferry, 71 foot, 66 gross tons, built in 1868, at Buffalo, New York) had just finished loading a cargo of fish at St. James, Beaver Island, when she caught fire and burned. One life was lost. The vessel was rebuilt and lasted until she burned at the bone-yard at Grand Island, New York in 1925.

1964: The A. & J. FAITH, idle at Cleveland and under arrest, was struck by the MIKAGESAN MARU when the latter was caught by a wind gust. The former sustained $5,000 in damage. This ship was sold and renamed c) SANTA SOFIA at Cleveland in August 1964. It arrived for scrapping at Kaohsiung, Taiwan, as d) COSMOS MARINER in August 1970. The latter, a Japanese freighter that made 6 trips to the Great Lakes from 1962 to 1966, was scrapped at Kaohsiung, Taiwan, as b) UNION SINGAPORE in 1979

[yachtsmanwilly]

Preparations for salvage of two sunken tugs in Cornwall continues

7/6 - Cornwall, Ont. – Salvage of the two sunken tugs near the Seaway International Bridge in Cornwall has not yet begun, the Canadian Coast Guard said last week.

In a release, the coast guard said several measures have been taken to ensure the safety of all on the waterway and the protection of the environment as the salvage plans are finalized and enacted.

As a result, a safety notice to shipping has been issued to advise all boaters to stay clear of the salvage area. A barge is secured to the bridge by a 300 foot long cable marked with an orange ball buoy and flashing yellow lights. The safety notice is being broadcast by coast guard radio out of Prescott and is also posted to the Canadian Coast Guard's website.

The drinking-water advisory posted by the Mohawk Council of Akwesasne for Pilon, Hamilton, Calquohoun and Dickerson islands remains in effect until further notice. This will be kept in place throughout salvage operations, as the MCA would have difficulties in reaching the affected residents should any pollution be released into the river during the vessels' salvage.

Transport Canada has done three overflights of the area so far, confirming no active sheening or release of fuel. Other flights will take place periodically to provide this visual confirmation as salvage gets underway.

The coast guard also said no reported sightings of soiled wildlife along the St. Lawrence have yet been reported to the reporting hotline. Any such sightings should be phoned into 519-583-1080.

The two ships sunk more than a week ago while making preparations for the demolition of the old high-level north channel bridge. That project has been underway for almost 12 months and the vessels would have been used to assist with the demolition of the centre span over the river.

Standard Freeholder


7/6 - Sixteen people were rescued from a burning cabin cruiser off Oak Street Beach Saturday afternoon, but no injuries were reported.

The fire apparently broke out near the engine compartment of the 50-foot boat around 2:30 p.m., according to Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford. Someone on the boat broadcast a mayday and both the Fire Department and the Coast Guard responded.

A Coast Guard boat pulled the people off while a Fire Department boat put out the blaze, Langford said. "It was on fire as the Coast Guard was getting them off," Langford said. "That was quick action by the Coast Guard."

He said all of the people taken from the boat declined medical treatment.

The fire boat continued to pour water on the cruiser an hour after the fire, Langford said, adding "It was a very hot fire.”


CACOUNA's bow was damaged in a collision with the Greek tanker CAPTAIN JOHN on the fog-shrouded St. Lawrence River July 6, 1971. The CACOUNA of 1964, was repaired by replacing her bow with that of her near sistership the SILLERY, which was being scrapped. Later renamed b.) LORNA P and c.) JENNIFER, she foundered 20 miles Northeast of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on December 1, 1974.

Canada Steamship Lines’ ASHCROFT was used to haul ore, grain and coal only on the upper Great Lakes until July 6, 1932, when she was able to enter Lake Ontario through the newly expanded Welland Canal. On that trip ASHCROFT, loaded with grain from Fort William for Kingston, Ontario, was the largest vessel to traverse the canal to date.

The keel was laid for the Pittsburgh Steamship Co.'s, GOVERNOR MILLER (Hull #810) in 1937, at Lorain, Ohio, by American Ship Building Company.

COLUMBIA STAR set a record for the Head-Of-The-Lakes coal trade. The vessel loaded 70,903 net tons of low-sulfur coal at Superior Midwest Energy Terminal in Superior, Wisconsin, on July 6, 1997. She was renamed b.) AMERICAN CENTURY in 2006.

On 6 July 1836, YOUNG LION (2-mast, wooden schooner, 73 foot, 83 tons, built in 1830, at Buffalo, New York) was carrying railroad iron and lumber. About 12 miles from Erie, Pennsylvania, in rough weather, her seams opened and she quickly sank with just her topmasts left above the water. 3 died, but 5 managed to clamber up the masts and hold on until the schooner NEW YORK rescued them.

On 6 July 1871, CASTALIA (2-mast wooden schooner, 119 foot, 242 gross tons, built in 1847, as a brig at Sandusky, Ohio) was on her way to pick up lumber at the camp at Bying Inlet, Georgian Bay, when she came too close to Cove Island Reef and stranded in 3 feet of water. Although not badly damaged, she was about a mile from deep water. Tugs could not get to her and she was sailing light, so there was no cargo to lighten. She was stripped and abandoned. She finally broke up in a storm on 12 July 1871.

On 6 July 1871, the Detroit newspapers (Detroit Free Press and Detroit Daily Post) both published articles stating that there were rumors on the docks regarding the tug TAWAS having her boiler explode on Saginaw Bay. The rumors originated with sailors from Port Huron and proved to be unfounded. However, in a sense this rumor turned into a prediction since TAWAS did blow her boiler about three years later (14 May 1874) on Lake Huron off Rock Falls, Michigan. At that time 6 crewmembers perished.

1893: ROSEDALE, upbound and light, ran aground off Knife River, Lake Superior, in dense fog and was almost on dry land. The vessel was released July 10 and went to Superior for repairs. It combined Great Lakes and ocean service until sunk in the Bristol Channel, via collision, on April 8, 1919.

1941: RAPIDS PRINCE, enroute from Prescott to Montreal, went aground in an awkward position in the Lachine Rapids and was stuck for 2 months. The 218 passengers were removed in motorboats.

1965: LAKE TRAVERSE, built at Duluth in 1918, sank off Tortuga Island, in the Caribbean after hull plates were sprung.



PAUL H. CARNAHAN was launched in 1945, as a.) HONEY HILL, a T2-SE-Al World War II tanker, for U.S. Maritime Commission.

July 5, 1991 - Charles Conrad announced he had formed a corporation to purchase the Ludington, Michigan, carferry operation from Michigan-Wisconsin Transportation Company.

JUSTIN R. WHITING was launched on 5 July 1874, at Langell's yard at the mouth of the Pine River in St. Clair, Michigan. Her dimensions were 144 feet X 26 feet 2 inches X 11 feet 6 inches. Although built to be a self-powered steam barge, she was towed as a regular barge during her first season of operation.

IDA CORNING (2-mast wooden barge, 168 foot, 444 gross tons) was launched in East Saginaw, Michigan, on 5 July 1881. She was built for L. P. Mason & Company of East Saginaw. In 1858, her rig was changed to that of a 2-masted schooner. She lasted until abandoned at Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, in 1928.

1940: MAGOG, part of convoy HX-52, was hit by gunfire from U-99, torpedoed and sank stern first. The crew was eventually rescued by the Finnish freighter FIDRA. There are conflicting dates for this event but many sources agree on this date for the loss of the former C.S.L. canaller.

1969: The crew of the W.F. WHITE rescued eight from a foundering pleasure boat off Southeast Shoal, Lake Erie.

1973: The British freighter TRELEVAN visited the Seaway in 1961. It caught fire while pumping oil bilge in the engineroom at Halifax as d) BAFFIN BAY and was a total loss. The ship was sold for scrap to Marine Salvage of Port Colborne but resold to Spanish shipbreakers and arrived at Valencia, Spain, under tow for dismantling, on October 4, 1973.

1975: The T-2 tanker NASSAU CAY, formerly the IMPERIAL TORONTO, visited the Seaway in 1960. It was converted to a dry bulk carrier in 1961 and was abandoned by the crew, in sinking condition, as f) NICHOLAS C. some 200 miles off Beira, Somalia, and was not seen again. The ship was enroute from Sorel to Basrah, Iraq, when it ran out of fresh boiler water and had been drifting.

1979: The Swedish freighter MONICA SMITH was built in 1952 and came to the Great Lakes that year. It returned on a regular basis through 1966 and again, as b) MONICA S. in 1967. It sank in the Mediterranean soon after leaving Cartagena, Spain, for Port Said, Egypt, as c) MESSINA II.

[yachtsmanwilly]

7/8 - Cleveland, Ohio – Shipments of limestone on the Great Lakes totaled 4,042,766 tons in June, an increase of 6 percent compared to May, and 9-plus percent compared to a year ago. The June stone float is also the highest monthly total since July of 2014.

U.S. quarries shipped 3.3 million tons in June, an increase of 6.8 percent compared to a year ago. Shipments from Canadian quarries totaled 765,000 tons, an increase of 21 percent.

Year-to-date the Lakes limestone trade stands at 9.9 million tons, an increase of 24.4 percent compared to a year ago. Market conditions alone do not explain the increase. The ice on the Lakes was so formidable in March, April, and early May of 2014 that the limestone trade got off to one of its latest and slowest starts in recent memory. Other cargos were similarly impacted.

Congress is aware of the delays Lakes shipping has suffered these past two winters. As a result, the Senate’s FY16 Homeland Security Appropriations bill directs the Coast Guard to conduct a Great Lakes mission analysis study within 180 days of the bill’s enactment to determine the assets necessary to effectively and reliably keep commerce moving during the ice season, including consideration of a second Mackinaw-class icebreaker. The House’s Coast Guard Authorization Act authorizes the Commandant to design and build a new icebreaker for its Lakes fleet.

An icebreaker with capabilities that match the Mackinaw is estimated to cost $151 million. Cargos cancelled or delayed by ice these past two winters have cost the region an estimated 5,800 jobs and $1.1 billion in economic activity.

Lake Carriers’ Association





Carferry Badger designated as the continuance route of U.S. 10

7/8 - Ludington, Mich. – Since 1926, U.S. 10 has been broken into two segments by Lake Michigan between the port cities of Ludington, Michigan, and Manitowoc Wisconsin.

The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials have notified Lake Michigan Carferry that the route traveled by the Historic SS Badger will now be designated as the continuance route of U.S. 10.

AASHTO is a nonprofit, nonpartisan association representing highway and transportation departments in the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico and work in tandem with Michigan DOT and WI DOT. AASHTO represents all five transportation modes: air, highways, public transportation, rail, and water.

“The Michigan Department of Transportation is happy to be a partner with the Michigan-based Lake Michigan Carferry Service and the Wisconsin Department of Transportation in creating this U.S. 10 designation across Lake Michigan,” said MDOT Chief Operations Officer Greg Johnson. “The ferry service plays an important role in the tourism industry, as well as the efficient movements of goods in our two states.”

The SS Badger transports passengers, vehicles and commercial traffic between the two ports from mid-May through mid-October. The ship is the last remaining operating coal-fired passenger steamship in the United States and is currently being considered for National Historic Landmark Designation from the United States Department of Interior.

The 410-foot historic Badger plays a major role in the connectivity of the U.S. 10 route by linking millions of travelers, hundreds of thousands of vehicles and commercial cargo throughout the upper Midwest.

“We are very pleased that both states recognize the current and historic importance of the Ludington to Manitowoc ferry route serviced by the SS Badger,” said Pat McCarthy, vice president of shore operations.

U.S. 10 is an east-west United States highway connecting the states of Michigan with Wisconsin, Minnesota and South Dakota by means of ferrying across 60 miles of Lake Michigan.

U.S. 10 is one of only two U.S. highways with a ferry service/connection.

Ludington Daily News



7/8 - Sault Ste. Marie, Mi. – Officials say construction will begin next year on a 625-foot bridge on the St. Marys River, an important step toward repairing more than a century of environmental damage.

The river links Lakes Huron and Superior. Navigation projects have disrupted its water flow, and bottomlands around Sault Ste. Marie were coated with industrial discharges.

The latest project in the Little Rapids area involves building the pedestrian and vehicle bridge between Sugar Island and another island (not the mainland) with a ferry landing. It's designed to restore more natural currents and produce 50-to-70 acres of fish spawning habitat.

The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality says it's expected to be the final action needed to remove the U.S. side of the St. Marys River from a list of heavily degraded Great Lakes sites.

9 & 10 News





National Museum remembers Eastland disaster

7/8 - Toledo, Ohio – On Saturday, July 18, the National Museum of the Great Lakes will remember the victims of the SS Eastland disaster with a program by PhD candidate Cailtyn Perry Dial. This July 24th is the 100th anniversary of the Eastland disaster. Perry will present her research, “Only the River Remains: Memorializing the Eastland Disaster 1915-2015” at 1:00PM at the Crown Plaza Hotel in downtown Toledo.

The Eastland disaster at the time was one of the worst transportation disasters in American history. Perry will discuss the disaster’s quick fade from public memory and efforts to restore its place in the public consciousness.

The program is $12 per person but free to members of the National Museum of the Great Lakes/Great Lakes Historical Society. RSVP’s are required and can be made by calling Ben at 419214-5000 extension 204 or emailing [e-mail]. The Crown Plaza is located at 444 N. Summit St., Toledo, Ohio.

National Museum of the Great Lakes

[yachtsmanwilly]

WILLIAM R. ROESCH, renamed b.) DAVID Z. NORTON in 1995, loaded her first cargo in 1973, at Superior, Wisconsin where she took on 18,828 tons of iron ore bound for Jones & Laughlin's Cuyahoga River plant at Cleveland.

The BENJAMIN F. FAIRLESS and her fleet mate IRVING S. OLDS passed through the Panama Canal on July 9, 1988, under tow of the German tug OSA RAVENSTURM. The pair was on a 14,000-mile journey to Kaohsiung, Taiwan, arriving there on November 8, 1988, for scrapping by Sing Cheng Yung Iron & Steel Co. Ltd.

On 9 July 1876, ST CLAIR (wooden propeller freighter with some passenger accommodations, 127 foot, 326 gross tons, built in 1867, at Algonac, Michigan) had 14 crew and 18 passengers aboard along with cargo of flour, feed and deck loads of cattle as she sailed on Lake Superior. At 2:00 a.m., she caught fire about five miles off shore from 14 Mile Point. She was a wood burner and had a history of shipboard fires. The fire spread so quickly that only one boat could be launched and being overloaded, it capsized. The cries of those left on the vessel, along with the bellowing of the cattle, were heart rending. Only six survived in the one lifeboat since the cold water took its toll on those who clung to it. Eventually they righted the boat and paddled to shore, leaving the ST CLAIR burned to the waterline.

On 9 July 1891, W A MOORE (wood propeller tug, 119 foot, 212 gross tons, built in 1865, at Detroit, Michigan) burned to a total loss at Cleveland, Ohio.

1917: The bulk carrier WILLIAM S. MACK collided with the passenger freighter MANITOBA in fog off Whitefish Point and had to be beached. It was subsequently refloated and repaired. The ship was renamed HOME SMITH on October 10, 1917, and last sailed as ALGORAIL in 1963 before being scrapped at Toronto.

1967: The NEW YORK NEWS (iii) and the saltwater ship NORDGLIMT collided off Escoumins, QC, with only minor damage.



7/9 - Goderich, Ont. – Deep under Lake Huron, five kilometres from shore, miners work in a cloud of fine particles, the beams from their headlamps piercing the darkness. The rooms and tunnels they have dug out are huge, the ceilings 20 metres from the floor.

Trucks load and scurry about, tipping their loads of freshly mined salt into crushers connected to long, fast-moving conveyor belts.

Some 500 people work in this mine in Goderich, Ont., exploiting a massive and almost pure deposit that is the small town's ace in the hole.

"There is salt underground in this seam for 100 years of mining, " said Gerry Rogers, the Compass Minerals executive in charge of the operation. "It will last a long time."

The company says the salt mine in Goderich, a town about 100 kilometres northwest of London, is the largest in the world. And business is good.

Almost all of the salt that comes out of the mine will be used as road salt, spread on highways and sidewalks in cities and towns around the Great Lakes.

Many of those cities have endured two tough winters in a row, which used up their stockpiles of salt.

They are now ordering more, which means the mine is near peak production this summer, trying to keep up with demand.

Ships call regularly at the port in Goderich to be loaded with freshly mined salt.

Derek Hoggarth, a recent hire, is grateful to have a well-paying mining job in a community he has called home "forever." "We're busy," he said. "It's a mainstay for 500-plus people. It's what is needed to keep the community alive and keep it youthful."

Goderich has had its share of job losses. A big Volvo plant that made road graders shut down in 2008, a move that eliminated 500 manufacturing jobs and damaged the town's economy.

Mayor Kevin Morrison said the blow was devastating to Goderich. And when a large manufacturing operation leaves, it can't be replaced.

"What we are finding is the days of the large industry coming to a community like this, it's gone," Morrison said. "You hear the doom and gloom throughout the province, throughout the country."

Goderich still has the mine, however. It is now the town's biggest employer. And it isn't going anywhere.

But some residents still worry about the future.

At the community ballpark, fans taking in a youth baseball game were lamenting the loss of stores and services in Goderich's beautiful downtown square, (which is actually round).

"The salt mine is OK, but that's the only thing we got," said Jan Kinahan. "We've lost a lot. The square has not recovered. There is no shopping around here for young people. They have to go to the city."

Beside her, Meiva Alves nodded in agreement. "I have a small motel," she said. "Things are closing, like Volvo and Zellers. Young people have no option."

Still, Goderich is better positioned than most small towns, with an employer that can't leave, producing a product that is needed every winter. And when bad weather hits, business gets even better.

CBC





Steel production rises by 6,000 tons

Raw steel production in the Great Lakes region rose to 628,000 tons last week, the second straight week it's increased.

Local steel output has been much lower than normal all this year amid a flood of imports that now account for a historic 32 percent of the total market share. Overall U.S. production trails 2014 by 7.6 percent.

Great Lakes steel production increased by 6,000 tons, or 0.9 percent, in the week that ended Saturday, according to an American Iron and Steel Institute estimate. Overall U.S. steel output fell by 2.82 percent over the same period.

Most of the raw steel production in the Great Lakes region takes place in the Chicago area, mainly Lake and Porter counties in Northwest Indiana. Indiana has led the nation in steel production for more than 30 years.

Production in the Southern District, which encompasses mini-mills across the South, plunged to 555,000 tons last week, down significantly from 597,000 tons the week before.

Total domestic raw steel production last week was about 1.684 million tons, down from 1.733 million tons a week earlier.

Nationally, domestic steel mills had a capacity utilization rate of 71.2 percent last week, down from 73.3 percent a year earlier. The capacity utilization rate had been a much healthier 79 percent at the same time a year earlier.

Year-to-date output has been 45.2 million net tons, at a capacity utilization rate of 72.4 percent, according to the American Iron and Steel Institute.

NW Indiana Times



7/9 - Grand Rapids, Mich. – Weather officials say water temperatures in the Great Lakes are higher than at the same time a year ago.

Warmer Great Lakes waters could help keep Michigan from having an extremely cold winter.

The data from the Great Lakes Environmental Research Center covers lake temperatures from Sunday and July 5, 2014. Lake Superior has the biggest difference in average surface water temperature, up 3.5 degrees this year to 48 degrees. Temperatures for Lake Michigan and Lake Huron are roughly 3 degrees higher on the surface than last year.

Surface temperatures are about 2 degrees higher on Lake Ontario and 0.4 degrees higher on Lake Erie.

M Live





First European cargo since 1960s unloads at Port of Monroe

7/9 - Monroe, Mich. – The Port of Monroe received its first European cargo since the 1960s Monday, signaling what Port Director Paul LaMarre III calls the port’s initiation into the modern, global transportation industry.

After a two-week journey from Bremen, Germany, the 411-footlong Faglegracht, a Spliethoff Lines container vessel out of Amsterdam, unloaded its cargo of windmill blades for Ventower and 127 sections of 40-foot long pipes for the Ohio gas line. What is Port of Monroe?

Port of Monroe is a commercial harbor established in 1932. It is located off E. Front St. and intended to provide easy access for cargo to the interstate and railway transportation networks in southeast Michigan.

After overseeing what he calls a significant increase in cargo coming through the port over the past three years, Mr. LaMarre, 34, who celebrates his three-year anniversary with the Port of Monroe this week, said this event marks a milestone in the port’s history and a preview of the kind of transportation services he hopes to see the port offer more often in the years to come.

“I think the Port of Monroe has not necessarily been seen as a potential gateway to international trade in recent history, but this is proof that our capabilities are far-reaching,” Mr. LaMarre said. “It essentially takes our port from being a highly productive domestic cargo hub and broadens its reach across oceans.”

Patric Drewes, 34, Chief Executive Officer of Carl Polzin, the logistics company handling the cargo, also acknowledged the importance of this venture. Mr. Drewes said that choosing a comparably small port like Monroe seemed a little strange, but intimate nature of the port proved beneficial in such a complex exchange due to the care everyone puts into their job.

“It is a big deal, and not just for the Port of Monroe,” Mr. Drewes said. “We hope this is the start of regular business. There are a lot of clean energy products coming into the Great Lakes, as well as gas and oil projects. In the Port of Monroe, we have definitely found a port that can handle this kind of cargo.”

Mr. LaMarre adds that the benefits of this operation extend beyond the port in terms of revenue and job creation. He says that the pipe being unloaded will be used in the natural gas line that will span from Ohio, through Michigan to Ontario, and the project will be staged in Dundee.

“We see Monroe potentially being a major spoke in the wheel of construction for the larger project,” Mr. LaMarre said.

According to Mr. LaMarre, the port’s opportunity to receive international cargo is attributable to several factors, including the significant dredging of the port over the past two shipping seasons, which deepened the main channel draft to a low-water average of 21 feet and the turning basin to 18 feet. Mr. LaMarre added that the recent rainfall and winter precipitation certainly helped, too, raising the water levels in the lake nearly 3 feet. The Faglegracht required a draft of 19 feet.

“While the rain has been a challenge to many, it has been of great benefit to the port,” Mr. LaMarre said.

The successful transportation required the coordination of six entities beyond the Port of Monroe, including: DRM Terminal Services and Barnhart Crane and Rigging for the unloading of the cargo in the port, Carl Polzin, Mund and Bruns cargo surveyors and Logistics Plus, and Spliethoff Lines. As Port Director, Mr. LaMarre said his responsibility was not only to identify the port’s capabilities, but to ensure adequate communication between every element of the operation.

Mr. LaMarre said no more European vessels are presently scheduled.

Monroe Evening News

[yachtsmanwilly]

7/10 - Cornwall, Ont. – The Canadian Coast Guard reported Thursday evening that work to recover fuel from two capsized tugboats in the St. Lawrence River have been temporarily suspended due to strong water currents.

A release said the decision was made by the vessel's owner to protect salvage crew safety. The situation is “stable,” the release stated, with no observed pollution. Active sheening of oil on the water has not been detected for over a week.

Any sightings of soiled wildlife along the St. Lawrence River, Cornwall area, should be reported. A wildlife reporting hotline has been established at [phone].

Standard-Freeholder





Minnesota Power to idle coal-burning power plant

7/10 - Taconite Harbor, Minn. – Minnesota Power, long the state’s most coal-dependent electric utility, said Thursday that it will stop burning the fuel next year at a large power plant on Lake Superior’s North Shore.

The utility, whose 144,000 northern Minnesota customers include power-hungry iron ore plants, said idling and eventually retiring the Taconite Harbor power plant in Schroeder, Minn., will save money and help meet a goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

One of the three generating units at the plant already has stopped burning coal, and the remaining two will be idled in 2016, probably in the fall, the company said. To replace the plant’s power, the company said it intends to purchase electricity off the Midcontinent power grid, where favorable wholesale prices make it a good time to buy.

“The decisions we are making here are in the best interest of customers,” Al Rudeck, vice president of strategy and planning for the Duluth-based utility, said in an interview. “This is being done for economic reasons because of the wholesale market prices.”

Rudeck said the decision to idle the Taconite Harbor plant is not related to cutbacks in the taconite industry, its largest power user. The 42 power plant employees will be offered other utility jobs next fall, though plant won’t be retired until 2020, he said.

The utility, a unit of Duluth-based Allete Co., also said it plans to boost its energy efficiency efforts, add 33 megawatts of solar power and build up to 300 megawatts of natural gas-fired generation by 2030. A megawatt is 1 million watts.

These steps are part of Minnesota Power’s plan called Energy Forward announced in 2013. The goal is to get one third of the utility’s electricity from renewable sources, one third from natural gas and one third from coal. The utility, which once got nearly all its power from burning coal, now relies on it for about 75 percent of its energy.

“This is a critical step for Minnesota. As renewable energy like wind and solar continue to undercut the costs of new natural gas, they can provide a lower-cost, cleaner option than natural gas for new electricity,” said J. Drake Hamilton, science policy director at Fresh Energy, a St. Paul nonprofit that advocates for cleaner energy. “Those renewable resources, together with vastly improved energy efficiency, will allow Minnesota Power to shut down dirty, inefficient coal plants ….”

Rudeck said Taconite Harbor won’t be a potential site for a new natural gas power plant because there is no gas pipeline serving it. He said the company is working with community officials to repurpose the plant, but has no specific plans yet. Minnesota Power acquired it from a bankrupt taconite company in 2001.

The utility also recently stopped burning coal at its Laskin Energy Center in Aurora, Minn., after converting its two units to burn natural gas. The utility’s other coal power plant, the four-unit Boswell Energy Center in Cohasset, Minn., will remain in operation. The largest Boswell unit, which is part owned by another utility, is undergoing a $325 million pollution-control upgrade.

With Minnesota Power’s announcement, a total of 14 coal-burning generators at six Minnesota power plants are now retired or will be by 2020. The other plants are owned by various utilities, including Xcel Energy, Rochester Public Utilities and Otter Tail Power Co.

Star Tribune


On this day in 1979, Captain Thomas Small had his license for Master of Steam and Motor Vessel of any gross tonnage renewed at the St. Ignace Coast Guard Station. Captain Small, a retired Pittsburgh Steamship employee and 106 years of age, was the oldest person to be licensed and the issue number of his license is the highest ever issued by the Coast Guard 14-17 (14th masters license and 17th license as a pilot, mate, or master).

On July 10, 2005, noted marine photographer Paul Wiening passed away at his residence in Port Washington, Wisconsin.

G. A. TOMLINSON (Hull#370) was launched at the American Ship Building Co., Lorain, Ohio, on July 10, 1909, for the Douglas Steamship Co (J.J.H. Brown, mgr.), renamed b.) HENRY R. PLATT JR in 1959. The hull was used as a breakwater in Burlington Bay, Ontario, in 1971.

In 1998, the ALGOWEST was re-dedicated at Port Weller Dry Docks. The $20 million conversion of the ship to a self-unloader from a bulk-carrier was completed by 400 shipbuilders at Port Weller Dry Docks during the previous eight months. Renamed in 2001, she sails for Algoma today as b.) PETER R. CRESSWELL.

On 10 July 1866, COQUETTE (1-mast wooden scow-sloop, 90 foot, 140 tons, built in 1858, at Perry, Ohio as a schooner) capsized in a storm on Lake Michigan and was lost with her crew of four. She had originally been built for the U.S. Government.

On 10 July 1911, JOHN MITCHELL (wooden propeller bulk freighter, 420 foot, 4,468 gross tons, built in 1907, at St. Clair, Michigan) was carrying wheat off Whitefish Point on Lake Superior when she was rammed broadside by the coal-laden steel steamer WILLIAM HENRY MACK (steel propeller bulk freighter, 354 foot, 3781 gross tons, built in 1903, at Cleveland, Ohio). The MACK tried to keep her bow in the hole, but the MITCHELL still sank in 7 minutes. Quick work saved most of her crew and all 7 passengers. Three of the 34 onboard were lost. The MACK got most of the blame for the accident. The MITCHELL's wreck was discovered upside-down on the bottom in 1972. (Note: Bowling Green's database gives the date of this accident as 19 July 1911 and Dave Swayze's Shipwreck database gives the date as 10 July 1911.)

1930 YORKTON was beached with only the top of the pilothouse above water after a head-on collision in fog on Whitefish Bay with the MANTADOC. The ship was later salvaged and repaired at Collingwood.

1938 RAHANE ran aground on a shoal in the American Narrows of the St. Lawrence while downbound with steel, package freight and grain. Some cargo was removed by the lighter COBOURG and the ship was refloated with major bottom damage. The vessel last sailed on the lakes as A.A. HUDSON before departing for saltwater service in the fall of 1965.

[yachtsmanwilly]

Algoma's straight-deck bulk freighter ALGOWEST was christened at Collingwood on July 13, 1982. She was converted to a self-unloader in 1998, and renamed b.) PETER R. CRESSWELL in 2001.

SASKATCHEWAN PIONEER (Hull#258) was launched July 13, 1983, at Govan, Scotland, by Govan Shipbuilders Ltd. for Pioneer Shipping Ltd. (Misener Transportation Ltd., mgr.). Renamed b.) LADY HAMILTON in 1995. Purchased by Voyageur Marine Transport in 2006, she now sails as KAMINISTIQUA.

The LIGHTSHIP 103 was opened to visitors on July 13, 1974, at the city's Pine Grove Park along the St. Clair River.

The rebuilt BOSCOBEL was launched at the Peshtigo Company yard at Algonac, Michigan, on 13 July 1876. Originally built in 1867, as a passenger/package freight propeller vessel, she burned and sank near Ft. Gratiot in 1869. The wreck was raised, but no work was done until January 1876, when she was completely rebuilt as a schooner-barge at Algonac. She sank again in the ice on Lake Erie in 1895, and was again raised and rebuilt. She lasted until 1909, when she sank in the middle of Lake Huron during a storm.

On 13 July 1876, the Port Huron Weekly Times listed the following vessels as being idle at Marine City, Michigan: Steam Barges BAY CITY, D W POWERS and GERMANIA; steamer GLADYS; schooners TAILOR and C SPADEMAN; and barges MARINE CITY and ST JOSEPH.

On 13 July 1876, The Detroit Tribune reported that "the captain of a well-known Oswego vessel, on his last trip to Oswego, found that the receipts of the trip exceeded the expenses in the neighborhood of $250, and stowed $210 of the amount away in a drawer of his desk on the schooner. The money remained there some days before the captain felt the necessity of using a portion of it, and when he opened the drawer to take out the required amount he found that a family of mice had file a pre-emption claim and domiciled themselves within the recess, using the greenbacks with the utmost freedom to render their newly chosen quarters absolutely comfortable. A package containing $60 was gnawed into scraps the size of the tip of the little finger, while only enough of the larger package containing $150 remained to enable the astonished seaman to determine the numbers of the bills, so that the money can be refunded to him by the United States Treasury Department. The captain made an affidavit of the facts, and forwarded it and the remnants of the greenbacks to Washington, with the view of recovering the full value of the money destroyed. He is now on the way to Oswego with his vessel, and no doubt frequently ruminates over the adage, "The best laid schemes of mice and men . . .”

1941: The first COLLINGDOC was inbound with coal for the Thames River when it struck a mine off Southend, England, and sank. There were at least two casualties. The hull was later refloated and sunk along with another ship, believed to be the PONTO, as part of the Churchill Barriers off Scapa Flow, in the northern United Kingdom. In time, sand has blown in and covered much of the hull with only the cement-encased pilothouse visible at last report.

1978: OLAU GORM, best remembered as one of 4 freighters that had to spend the winter of 1964-1965 on the Great Lakes due to ice closing the Seaway, ran aground as f) FAST BREEZE in the Red Sea. The ship was enroute to from Piraeus, Greece, to Gizan, Saudi Arabia, and was refloated, with severe damage, on July 16. It was soon sold to Pakistani shipbreakers and was broken up at Gadani Beach in 1979.


/12 - Mackinaw City, Mich. – There's a new Miss Margy in Mackinaw City.

The $3.8-million, 85-foot boat, which reprises an honored family name, is joining the fleet of five passenger ferries at Shepler's Mackinac Island Ferry Co. The first ferry built in northern Michigan, it will be christened Sunday at 3 p.m. at Shepler’s Ferry Marine Service on Huron Street in Mackinaw City by Gov. Rick Snyder and Bill Shepler, the son of William Shepler, founder of the family-owned ferry line that carries tourists from Mackinaw City and St. Ignace to Mackinac Island.

The former Miss Margy, named for William Shepler's wife, Margaret, was one of the company's first two ferry boats when it began in 1950 to carry visitors to what locals simply call the island, a popular summer tourist destination. Two other ferry services also run the route: the Arnold Mackinac Island Ferry and the Star Line.

"We know we had to have the capacity to continue to handle increased island traffic, along with the increasing demand for charter cruises, and we knew capacity is needed," said Chris Shepler, son of Bill Shepler. "Things are good on Mackinac Island, and things are good in the ferry boat world."

The vessel is state of the art, with three 2,000 horsepower engines, a climate-controlled interior with air conditioning and fog-free windows. The Miss Margy will carry 281 passengers at 40 mph. Shepler's will add up to 10 employees with the new vessel, adding to its high-season workforce of 210.

The ship was built at Moran Iron Works in Onaway, 50 miles south of its home port, and transported over land to Rogers City, where it made its way to the Shepler Marina in May for completion of its wiring, paint and seating.

William Shepler came home from World War II to his hometown of Mackinaw City and opened a snack shack for visitors traveling to the island, in the straits between the Upper and Lower peninsulas. Shepler added two charter boats, each carrying just six passengers and not considered ferries.

"The two boats, the Miss Penny and the Fiji, were Hacker Craft kits and there was no protection from the weather," said Chris Shepler, who as president of today's Sheplers Mackinac Island Ferry Co. is the third generation family member to run it.

Then, in 1950, William Shepler, who died in 1988, built a 30-foot cabin cruiser with twin gasoline engines, and named her "Miss Margy." That was the first enclosed ferry to the island for the company and could hold 24 passengers. Today, after 70 years of growth, the company has five ferries and one service vessel.

The Shepler family wanted to use all Michigan material, if possible. The aluminum came from Alabama; most of the other materials are from Michigan.

Some 12,000 construction hours over four months with specially trained welders put the all-aluminum ship together.

Arnold Transit, the oldest in the Straits of Mackinac that began service in 1878, also runs to the island. "We run two ferries out of St. Ignace, and two out of Mackinaw City," said Heather Tamlyn, sales and marketing manager for Arnold Transit. Two other catamaran ferries were sold at auction this spring. Star Line has six boats in its fleet, CEO Jerry Fetty said.

Detroit News


7/12 - Port Huron, Mich. – About a month before thousands of people flock to the St. Clair River for the Port Huron Float Down, the U.S. Coast Guard will address city leaders about the risks of the annual event.

Members of the U.S. Coast Guard will make a presentation to the Port Huron City Council on Monday to discuss safety concerns related to the event, according to Operations Specialist Chief Gabriel Settel, assistant public affairs officer for the U.S. Coast Guard Sector Detroit.

“We would like to express to all that attend the Float Down this year to be aware of the hazards of the river and the overall safety concerns with the event,” Settel said in an email.

Each year, area authorities recommend caution before the unsanctioned event in which thousands of participants on flotation devices drift from Lighthouse Beach in Port Huron to Chrysler Beach in Marysville.

The route is nearly seven miles long and can take up to six hours depending on weather conditions. The packed waterways, commercial and recreational boating traffic, and the route’s proximity to the Canadian border can make assistance or rescue efforts difficult for authorities.

During the 2014 event, a 19-year-old Fenton man drowned while floating down the river with a group of about 40 friends. His friends told authorities Brady Morton decided to leave his raft to go swimming. He never returned to his raft. Morton’s body was found after a 4-day search that involved helicopters, rescue boats, sonar, remote operated underwater vehicles and cameras.

Settel said cold air and water temperatures have a quick effect on those taking part in the event, as do winds that blow flotation devices away from shore and toward Canada. “Safe alcohol consumption should be adhered to, if of age, and having a life jacket for everyone on the floats should be recommended,” Settel added.

This year’s Float Down will begin at 1 p.m. Aug. 16 at Lighthouse Beach in Port Huron, according to the event website.

Port Huron Times Herald


Ex-Boblo boat Columbia to travel to Buffalo for further restoration

7/11 - Windsor, Ont. – As a teenager growing up in Amherstburg in the late 1970s, I did what most kids did – I spent my summers working on Boblo Island. Each day I would climb aboard the Papoose ferry for a five-minute ride to the island’s amusement park. But the lucky passengers arrived after a 90-minute river cruise from Detroit on one of two steamers — the SS Columbia or the SS Ste. Claire.

I can still hear the distinct sound of the steam whistle blowing to announce an arrival or departure. That sound was silenced in 1991 when the ships stopped running, followed by the amusement park’s demise in 1993.

The steamers sat virtually abandoned and unprotected from harsh winters at a dock in Ecorse, Mich., slowly decaying until a group from New York called The SS Columbia Project began the slow work to breathe new life back into the 113-year-old Columbia.

Executive director Liz McEnaney estimates the restoration project will cost US$18 million.

Work on the hull was completed two weeks ago in a shipyard in Toledo, Ohio. Now the Columbia awaits the next step on her journey, which will see her eventually working again as an excursion steamer but this time on the Hudson River in New York state.

New York’s gain is our loss. No longer will we see her gliding quietly up and down the Detroit River.

I can recall the Columbia pulling up to dock at Boblo Island and all I would hear were the voices of excited children and happy adults ready to disembark to enjoy a day of picnicking and playing.

“The thing about a steam engine is the engine is perfectly silent,” McEnaney said. “That makes it quiet when it’s moving.” She said the boat’s whistle is in a private collection currently.

“We have to get the original whistle back because everyone describes the whistle as kind of this unmistakable sound,” McEnaney said.

Restoration work will continue once the Columbia is towed to Buffalo in August. The ship is expected to remain there until next summer when she’ll make a more difficult voyage to Kingston, N.Y., on the Hudson River.

“The majority of the work we’ll be doing will be when the boat gets to the Hudson River,” McEnaney said. “The summer of 2016 we’ll make the big tow to the Hudson River and the boat’s too big for the Erie Canal so it has to go through the Welland Canal, up the St. Lawrence Seaway and then down the eastern seaboard.”

The Columbia is registered as a National Historic Landmark and is America’s oldest surviving passenger excursion steamer. The ship, designed by Frank E. Kirby, was built in 1902 in Wyandotte, Mich. It took almost a year to stabilize the steel hull and repair over 900 rivets.

The boat’s superstructure is wood and shipwrights – artisans skilled in building vessels – will do the restoration work with guidance from New York’s historical preservation department, McEnaney said.

“They’ve been helpful in offering advice and guidance in making sure that we maintain as much of the historic fabric that we can,” she said. Much of the interior woodwork has rotted so a lot of replacement will need to be done.

McEnaney said the group has raised over $3 million through state grants, private foundations and individual contributions and a business plan has been developed to keep the project “sustainable because when she’s docked in New York she’ll also serve as an event space … able to hold over 500 people for a sit-down dinner.”

Donations can be made through the group’s website at sscolumbia.org.

McEnaney said the group earlier this week launched an oral history initiative and is looking for stories and memories from anyone who remembers riding on the Columbia. There is a link on the group’s Facebook page at SSColumbiaProject or you can email [e-mail].

“We want to make sure that those stories stay with the boat when she’s moved to New York and become part of the permanent exhibition,” McEnaney said.

Windsor Star

[yachtsmanwilly]

7/14 - Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. – Deep in the river connecting Lake Superior and Lake Huron, construction has begun on a long-awaited project in the Soo Locks that will accommodate thousands of freighters traveling the Great Lakes Navigation System.

Workers built two dams and drilled through bedrock to add another lock to the Soo Locks, which pass about 4,000 vessels carrying nearly 80 million tons of cargo every shipping season.

The new $580 million lock would be just as large as the Poe Lock — the only lock in Sault Ste. Marie that is capable of allowing passage of the largest vessels, which carry tons of raw materials to the steel, power and construction industries supporting the nation's economy.

Five years have passed since the first stage of building, which took nearly a year and cost $17 million — but that has been the only construction on the new lock authorized by Congress three decades ago.

Pressure has since been mounting from lawmakers and those in the shipping industry to find funding to finish construction on the additional lock. But the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has shown that it is not economically justified, though a soon-to-be released report from U.S Department of Homeland Security is expected to demonstrate the opposite.

For now, advocates say a new lock is needed to avert any economic crisis if the 47-year-old Poe Lock became inoperable. If that were to happen, costs to the economy could escalate to upwards of $160 million, including some that are immeasurable.

"If the Poe Lock goes down, there is a large majority of the U.S. fleet that won't be able to go through the Soo Locks," said Mark Barker, president of the Cleveland-based Interlake Steamship Company, the largest privately held vessel operator in the nation. "It is imperative we have a redundant system to ensure we can maintain this critical supply system we have on the Great Lakes for the country's manufacturing sector."

The Soo Locks are part of the Great Lakes' 1,600-mile-deep water navigation system connecting channels from Duluth, Minnesota, to Ogdensburg, New York. They are on the St. Marys River, at the river's falls, in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. The city by the same name in Canada also has a lock at the river's falls but it is small and used only for recreational boats.

There are four parallel locks in the Soo Locks but only two are currently in operation: the Poe Lock, used by vessels up to 1,100 feet in length and 105 feet in width, and the MacArthur Lock, used by tour and recreational boats and smaller freighters. The Davis Lock is rarely used and Sabin Lock, which would be the site of the new Poe-sized lock, is decommissioned.

The 42-week shipping season generally begins in March, and ends in January, with vessels transporting iron ore, coal and other commodities from mines in Minnesota and northern Michigan. But iron ore and taconite are the primary commodities, supplied to steel mills along the Great Lakes to produce steel for automakers and other industries.

Of the 77.5 million net tons of freight that were recorded in 2014, 70 percent was restricted to the Poe Lock because of the size of the vessel carrying it. A report by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers showed that the if the Poe Lock were to shut down for 30 days, it could have an economic impact of $160 million.

The amount of commodities traveling through the lock with no backup alternative is why Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Lansing, recently began lobbying federal officials to fund the new lock to mitigate any unforeseen closures that would disrupt shipping in one of the largest economies in the world.

"There is a great sense of urgency to get this done," said Stabenow, co-chair of the Senate Great Lakes Task Force. "We are in a global economy. We are shipping in and out of those locks all the time. We cannot rely on just one lock that has 70 percent of the traffic going through it."

Sen. Gary Peters, who is also on the Senate Great Lakes Task Force, has joined Stabenow in trying to get the project funded. "This is really critical," said Peters, D-Bloomfield Township. "We are really concerned we have just the one lock. We need to have two locks. It is so apparent for the economy, but also for the entire country."

While minimal work has been done on the new lock, further construction has been impeded partly by a 2004 economic analysis by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The report showed the new lock would cost more than the benefits, and not justified economically.

"To meet administration policy, a project has to (have benefits exceeding costs) to be budgetable," said Kevin Sprague, an engineer with the Army Corps based in Sault Ste. Marie.

But that analysis included some assumptions that are very concerning, Sprague said. Chief among them: If the Poe Lock were out of service, commodities could be delivered by rail and or truck. But Sprague said that is not the case with iron ore, which must be delivered by ship.

Because of the problems with that analysis, federal funding is being secured by lawmakers to re-evaluate it. "We think that will bring the benefit-cost ratio much higher," Sprague said.

Meanwhile, a broader report from the Department of Homeland Security is in draft form, and was overviewed last month at a meeting of the Great Lakes governors and premiers from the U.S. and Canada.

Barker, who has a draft copy of the report but declined to release it, said it could be what is needed to finally kick-start the project.

He summarized Homeland Security's conclusion of the Poe Lock shutting down without a backup this way: "It is a critical piece of infrastructure for moving commerce. The country would go into a serious recession without it."

The Detroit News


7/14 - Cleveland, Ohio – Shipments of iron ore on the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway totaled 6.2 million tons in June, a decrease of 6 percent compared to May, and nearly 5 percent below the level of a year ago.

Loadings at U.S. ports totaled 5.5 million tons, a decrease of 7 percent compared to a year ago. Shipments from Canadian ports in the Seaway totaled 695,000, an increase of 19 percent, but in terms of tons, the trade rose perhaps five cargos for the month.

Through June, the Lakes/Seaway ore trade stands at 21.1 million tons, an increase of 10 percent compared to a year ago. However, when compared to the 5-year average for the first half of the year, the trade is off by 10 percent. Comparisons with the long-term average clearly illustrate how the severe ice conditions that prevailed on the Lakes from early January to late April of this year have impacted cargo movement.

Given that Great Lakes shipping is the nation’s raw materials lifeline, both houses of Congress are addressing the need for more U.S. Coast Guard icebreaking resources on the lakes. The House’s Coast Guard Authorization bill authorizes the Commandant to design and build a new icebreaker for the lakes. The Senate’s FY16 Homeland Security Authorization Act, once enacted, directs the Coast Guard to study if its icebreaking resources are adequate to perform that mission on the Great Lakes.

Lake Carriers’ Association


7/14 - Chicago, Ill. – Since hitting a record-low water level two years ago, Lake Michigan has been replenishing at an almost unprecedented rate, rising more than 3 feet since January 2013, according to government agencies.

Experts say the swift, unexpected resurgence has provided relief to commercial shipping, recreational boaters and wildlife. However, the rising waters have also contributed to significant erosion that threatens local beaches and may damage other shoreline properties as forecasts anticipate this pattern to continue through summer.

The Great Lakes are the world's largest source of freshwater, and some of those lakes have experienced a decade and a half of below-average levels. Lake Michigan lost 4 feet of water in the late 1990s, and its levels remained low for an unusually long period.

"It just stayed below average for 15 years, which was the longest persistent below-average (stretch) on record," said Drew Gronewold, hydrologist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. "People were asking, 'Will the water levels ever go up again?'"

For the first time since the late 1990s, the water levels of the Great Lakes rose above their historical averages late last year. Lakes Michigan and Huron, at their highest levels since 1998, experienced the second-largest gain over a 24-month span since the Army Corps of Engineers began keeping records in 1918. For measurement purposes, the two lakes are considered one body of water because they are linked by a strait.

While a number of factors contribute to fluctuations in lake levels — including air temperature, humidity and wind speeds — research suggests that the catalyst of the 15-year drought was a strong El Nino, an ocean current that brought about warmer waters and greater evaporation rates.

"The bottom line was, in the Great Lakes, water was warming faster than the air," Gronewold said. "When you have warmer water temperatures and colder air, there is more evaporation."

The weather system's impact was exacerbated by hot, dry summers and winters with minimal snow, according to Keith Kompoltowicz, chief of watershed hydrology for the Army Corps of Engineers in Detroit. The combination of the dry spell and El Nino eventually culminated in water levels for Lakes Michigan and Huron plummeting to a record low of 576 feet, 2 3/4 feet below the historical average, in January 2013.

"For visitors, where there was water, there was the emergence of aquatic vegetation, and the nice sandy beaches became these overgrown weedy areas," Kompoltowicz said.

While 2 feet might seem minuscule, the impact on the shipping industry was colossal. For every inch of immersion a freighter loses to low water, it must forgo 270 tons of cargo, according to Glen Nekvasil, vice president of the Lake Carriers' Association, an organization that represents 16 American companies that transport raw materials, such as iron ore, coal and flux stone, for the steel industry.

At the time of the January 2013 drop, the decrease could have cost some of the large freighters as much as 7,000 tons of cargo per trip.

Because of restored lake levels, one freighter shipped nearly 70,000 tons of iron ore, almost a full load, across Lake Michigan in June, Nekvasil said.

The Great Lakes Basin has largely been rejuvenated thanks to rain-induced runoff and higher amounts of precipitation, which have continued in Chicago as the National Weather Service recorded more than 7 inches of precipitation in June — double the monthly normal. Lower temperatures also mitigated evaporation, in addition to ice cover from the past two winters affected by polar vortexes.

"All three components have led to a surge in water levels," Gronewold said. "It's not just more rain. It's not just less evaporation."

But Gronewold said it's hard to predict all the factors that might affect the lakes.

"Not a lot of people forecast the Arctic polar vortexes six months out, and those had a tremendous impact," Gronewold said. "There are a lot of long-term trends on the regional scale that have an indirect effect on long-term climate."

While water levels grew 3.1 feet in Lakes Michigan and Huron, bested only by a rise recorded in 1950-51, Lake Superior, the largest of the Great Lakes, also saw dramatic gains from the beginning of 2013 through the end of 2014. It rose roughly 2 feet, its highest net increase ever recorded for a two-year period.

However, Lakes Michigan and Huron are currently less than a foot above average, far from when their levels swelled to a record 582 feet — more than 3 feet above average — in 1986, experts said.

The current lake levels are forecast to rise in July and August before receding for the following four months, prompting some concerns about storms conditions.

"With the higher water levels, it'll be interesting in the fall months to see if there are very strong storms that get the lake churned up with waves and the impact on the shoreline," Kompoltowicz said.

Chicago Tribune


7/14 - Cross Village, Mich. — A lighthouse off the coast of Cross Village is up for sale in an online auction. The Isle Aux Galets lighthouse, located on Skillagalee Island about eight miles west from the shoreline, is being sold through the U.S. General Services Administration.

The sale is through the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act, where the General Services Administration, the U.S. Coast Guard and the National Park Service develop an annual list of light stations that could be transferred to new ownership.

"Isle Aux Galets is available for sale because advancements in navigation technology have reduced the Coast Guard's requirement to own and operate houses," said Catherine Langel, a spokesperson with the General Services Administration. "While the USCG may continue to maintain active aids to navigation, the structures themselves are often no longer critical to the coast guard's mission needs."

Built in 1888, the lighthouse is on the National Register of Historic Places and remains an active light. The sale is pending on the requirement that the new owner maintains the light following the Secretary of Interior's Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties.

The auction for the lighthouse began on July 1. The current bid is at $5,000, and bids must be in increments of $1,000. The auction has no set closing time yet, but Langel said a closing date will be announced in the near future.

Petoskey News-Review



The AMERICAN REPUBLIC (Hull#724) was launched July 14, 1980, by the Bay Shipbuilding Co., Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, for the American Steamship Co. She was renamed b) GREAT REPUBLIC in 2011.

While upbound in the St. Lawrence River on July 14, 1970, for Saginaw, Michigan, with a load of pig iron from Sorel, Quebec, the EASTCLIFFE HALL, of 1954, grounded in mud near Chrysler Shoal six miles above Massena, New York, at 03:00 hours but was able to free herself. A few hours later, approaching Cornwall, Ontario, she struck a submerged object and sank within a few minutes in 70 feet of water only 650 feet from the point of impact. The submerged object was believed to be an old aid to navigation light stand. Nine lives were lost. Divers determined that her back was broken in two places. After salvaging part of the cargo, her cabins were leveled and her hull was filled.

In 1988, the JOHN T. HUTCHINSON and tow mate CONSUMERS POWER passed through the Panama Canal heading for the cutter’s torch in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. On 14 July 1908, MENTOR (wooden propeller tug, 53 foot, 23 gross tons, built in 1882, at Saugatuck, Michigan) burned south of Chicago, Illinois. No lives lost. Her original name was HATTIE A. FOX.

On 14 July 1891, T H ORTON (wooden barge, 262 gross tons, built in 1873, at Buffalo, New York) anchored off Marblehead, Ohio, on Lake Erie to ride out a storm. She dragged her anchors and was driven ashore where she was declared a total wreck. She may have been recovered though. Just two years earlier, this vessel went through a similar incident at the same spot.

1891: ATHABASCA and PONTIAC collided head-on in the Sugar Island Channel of the St. Marys River and the latter settled on the bottom. The former arrived at Sault Ste. Marie, with wreckage draped across her bow. Both ships were repaired and returned to service.

1931: The bulk canaller TEAKBAY hit a rock in the Brockville Narrows of the St. Lawrence and went aground while enroute from Sandusky to Quebec City with coal. It was refloated but was listing and in need of repairs.

1964: DANIEL PIERCE, a former Great Lakes tanker, ran aground at Guanica, Puerto Rico. The ship was leaking sulphuric acid into the bilges mixing with salt water. The town was evacuated due to the potential for an explosion. The hull was condemned and eventually scrapped.

1966: The Israeli freighter ELAT, on her second trip to the Great Lakes, and LEMOYNE were in a collision near Lock 2 of the Welland Canal, with only minor damage. ELAT arrived at Kaohsiung, Taiwan, for scrapping by September 7, 1982, while LEMOYNE was broken up at Santander, Spain, in 1969.

1993: CALCITE II lost steering and ran aground in the Amherstburg Channel of the Detroit River. The ship was lightered, released with the help of the tugs PATRICIA HOEY, OREGON and STORMONT and, after unloading at Ecorse, headed for Toledo to be repaired.

[yachtsmanwilly]

7/15 - Cleveland, Ohio – The Great Lakes Towing Co., which operates the largest fleet of ship docking tugboats on the U.S. Great Lakes-Saint Lawrence Seaway, has announced the addition of four more tugboats to its fleet.

The four newly purchased tugs will be named after four of the Great Lakes – Michigan, Huron, Ontario and Erie. (A tug named Superior has been in service for years, operating in the port of Detroit.)

“These four tugs will be immediately added to the fleet, and provide some new life and operational stability to our day-to-day business,” says Gregg Thauvette, Vice President – Operations, The Great Lakes Towing Co. “The equipment and machinery onboard, including the towing gear and firefighting equipment, are ideal for our operations across the Great Lakes, and will help us to continue to provide harbor towing services to our customers in more than 35 U.S. ports, in all 8 U.S. Great Lakes’ states.”

In addition to the four newly purchased tugs, Great Lakes Shipyard is in the process of reactivating the tugs Louisiana and Pennsylvania from its existing fleet, both of which have been out of service for several years. Once completed and back in service, the Company plans to also reactivate the tugs Idaho and California, which were taken out of service over the last two seasons. The company is also in the process of drydocking, refurbishment and major maintenance on 15 tugs as part of the company’s ongoing major fleet overhaul program. The schedule for this program includes recently completed overhauls on Vermont, Missouri, New Jersey, Indiana, Arkansas, North Dakota, Kentucky, Florida and New York.

Overhauls are currently in progress on North Carolina, Rhode Island and Ohio. Next up for overhaul are Superior, Wyoming and Mississippi.

“As the Towing Company continues maintain and upgrade the tugs in its fleet, the shipyard will also continue to expand and grow,” said Joe Starck, president of the Towing Company and Great Lakes Shipyard.

“We are currently in progress of building one of two new tugboats for New York Power Authority (NYPA) Niagara Power Plant’s operations in Buffalo, N.Y., and we are also building two small work barges for the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Rock Island District.

Great Lakes Towing Co.


July 15, 1991 - The Spanish, 1975-built, 7,311 gross ton, ocean motor bulk carrier MILANOS, anchored in the Detroit River since July 2, began the long slow trip home. Auxiliar de Transporte Maritimos, the ship’s owners, decided it would be cheaper to tow the crippled ship home for repairs rather than have the repairs performed locally. The ship's engine seized after the crankshaft broke. She departed Detroit, bound for Montreal under tow of Malcolm Marine's TUG MALCOLM and McKeil's tug ARGUE MARTIN. The tow passed down the Seaway on July 19.

On July 15, 1961, the d.) WALTER A. STERLING, now f.) LEE A. TREGURTHA), entered service on the Great Lakes for Cleveland Cliffs Steamship Co., after conversion from a T-3 tanker. The next day, on July 16, 1961, the d.) PIONEER CHALLENGER, now f.) AMERICAN VICTORY, entered service for the Pioneer Steamship Co (Hutchinson & Co., mgr.).

The CHICAGO TRADER was launched as a.) THE HARVESTER (Hull#391) at Lorain, Ohio, by American Ship Building Co. in 1911, for the Wisconsin Steel Co.

In 1946, the NORISLE (Hull#136) was launched at Collingwood, Ontario, by Collingwood Shipyards Ltd. for the Dominion & Owen Sound Transportation Co. Ltd. In 1934, the ANN ARBOR NO 4 collided with the steamer N. F. LEOPOLD in a heavy fog.

On Saturday, 15 July 1871, an argument between Captain James Bradley and Mate John Reed started while the schooner ROBERT EMMETT was docked at Erie, Pennsylvania unloading iron ore. They were still shouting at each other as the ship sailed out of the harbor. In short order, the ship turned around and anchored in the harbor. At 3 the following morning, Reed rowed ashore, went directly to the police station and charged that Capt. Bradley had assaulted him with a knife. At dawn, as the police were on their way to question Capt. Bradley, they found him stepping ashore from the deck of a tug, fuming that Reed had stolen the ship's only small boat. Bradley and Reed were at each other again and the police arrested both men. Bradley then filed charges against Reed for mutiny, assault and theft of the ship's boat. The case went to court the very next day. Justice of the Peace Foster saw his courtroom packed with curious sailors and skippers. Reed and Bradley were both still fuming and after listening to just a little testimony, Foster found both men guilty, fined them both and ordered both to pay court costs. The matter didn't end there since Reed later had to get a court order to get his personal belongings off the EMMETT. There is no record of what the disagreement was that started this whole mess.

The iron side-wheel steamer DARIUS COLE (201 foot, 538 gross tons) was launched at the Globe Iron Works (Hull #10) in Cleveland, Ohio on 15 July 1885. During her career, she had two other names b.) HURON 1906 - 1921, and c.) COLONIAL 1921 - 1925. She burned off Barcelona, New York, on Lake Erie on 1 September 1925, while on an excursion. The hull was beached and later towed to Dunkirk, New York, for scrapping.

1885: The rail car ferry LANSDOWNE and the CLARION were in a collision on the Detroit River.

1895: CIBOLA caught fire and burned at the dock at Lewiston, NY, with the loss of one life. The hull was towed to Toronto and used in a fill project.

1943: GEORGE M. HUMPHREY sank off Old Point Mackinac Light following a collision with the D.M. CLEMSON. The ship was salvaged in 1944 and rebuilt at Sturgeon Bay as b) CAPTAIN JOHN ROEN in 1945 and became c) ADAM E. CORNELIUS in 1948 and d) CONSUMERS POWER in 1958.

1977: The ore- laden CADILLAC went aground in the St. Marys River after missing a turn in fog. It was released the next day with the help of 3 tugs.

1986: The C.S.L. self-unloader MANITOULIN went aground at Sandusky, off Cedar Point, after losing power. The ship was released with the help of tugs.

1998: LITA hit the knuckle at the Eisenhower Lock and sustained damage to the starboard side. The vessel later hit bottom of the channel near the Snell Lock but there was no additional damage. The ship was enroute from Toledo to Algeria. The 11,121 gross ton saltwater vessel was still in service as of 2012.


7/15 - For sale: three working Michigan lighthouses. The catch? Buyers must be non-profit organizations that will maintain the historic structures and keep the lights on.

The U.S. General Services Administration, the agency that among other tasks manages much of the federal government's property, said on Friday it was looking to dispose of the "excess government real estate assets."

"Lighthouses like these in Michigan have deep roots and sentimental value as local historic landmarks. Through public sales, GSA helps the U.S. Coast Guard find owners for lighthouses that aren't critical to its mission," GSA Great Lakes Regional Administrator Ann Kalayil said in a statement.

The lighthouses are still active, but are no longer needed by the U.S. Coast Guard, which has made advancements in navigation technology, GSA spokeswoman Catherine Langel said.

The GSA is offering them through an online auction as part of the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act.

Interested bidders must be non-profit groups; obtain a private use agreement from the state of Michigan, which owns the land on which the structures sit; and agree to maintain and operate the lights.

Up for sale are the Gravelly Shoal Light in Saginaw Bay in Lake Huron; the Spectacle Reef Light, also in Lake Huron; and the Isle Aux Galets Light Station, commonly known as the Skilligalee, 7 miles offshore from Cross Village in Lake Michigan.

The oldest of the three is the Spectacle Reef Light, an 86-foot tower constructed in 1874. The 52-foot Isle Aux Galets was built in 1888 while Gravelly Shoal is the newest, dating from 1939, and stands 65 feet high.

As of Monday afternoon, Spectacle Reef and Ile Aux Galets had garnered bids on the GSA's website (http://realestatesales.gov) of $10,000 and $5,000, respectively. The deadlines for bids were listed as TBD, or "to be determined."

Since 2000, more than 100 lighthouses have been sold or transferred out of federal ownership, with 73 given free to preservationists and 41 sold through similar auctions, the GSA said.

Reuters via Maritime Executive


7/15 - Lansing, Mich. – Banning heavy tar sands oil from ever flowing through the aging twin Straits of Mackinac pipelines is one of about a dozen recommendations included in a state task force report on the status and future of Michigan pipelines.

The report, released jointly by the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality and the Attorney General's office after a yearlong inquiry, mandates full insurance coverage for the 62-year-old Straits pipelines, owned by Enbridge Energy Inc.

The report also calls for independent assessments of the risk to the Great Lakes posed by the pipeline, and alternatives to its future operation. The pipeline's days "are numbered," said Bill Schuette, state attorney general.

The task force has reviewed documents and heard testimony from pipeline owner Enbridge Energy Inc., state university professors, federal regulators, business groups, environmental groups and other concerned citizens.

The report's key recommendations are:

• Ban transportation of heavy crude oil through the Straits pipelines.
• Require an independent risk analysis and full insurance coverage for the pipelines.
• Require an independent analysis of alternatives to the existing pipelines.
• Obtain additional information from Enbridge relating to the pipelines.

Other recommendations included in the report would require action by the governor, state agencies and the Michigan Legislature. They are:

• Coordinate mapping of existing pipelines among state agencies.
• Ensure that state agencies collaborate on emergency planning and spill response.
• Ensure coordinated emergency response training exercises and drills.
• Ensure regular state consultation with the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) on hazardous liquid (including petroleum) pipelines.
• Consider legislation requiring state review and approval of oil spill response plans, improved spill reporting, and more robust civil fines.
• Evaluate whether to establish a state Hazardous Liquids Pipeline Safety Program.
• Consider legislation or rules to improve siting process for new pipelines.
• Consider an Executive Order creating an Advisory Committee on Pipeline Safety.
• Create a continuing pipeline information website.

Schuette said the company could have chosen to transport heavy crude through the pipeline prior to the task force recommendations.

Enbridge spokespeople were not immediately available Tuesday morning, but the company posted on Twitter that there have never been "any prior, current, or future plans to move heavy crude" through the straits pipelines.

M Live


7/15 - Cleveland, Ohio – The United States Coast Guard cutter Katmai Bay (WTGB-101), homeported in Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., arrived at Great Lakes Shipyard, Cleveland, Ohio, for drydocking, inspection, maintenance, and repairs on July 8. The contract includes hull, propulsion and steering system inspections, as well as steel repairs, hull cleaning and painting. The 140-foot Bay-class icebreaking tug was hauled out on July 13 using the shipyard’s 770-ton Marine Travelift – the largest on the Great Lakes.

Unit missions for Katmai Bay include Icebreaking, Homeland Security patrols, lighthouse projects, law enforcement and public affairs. The Katmai Bay serves throughout the entire Great Lakes system. This is the third USCG icebreaking tug to be hauled-out using the Marine Travelift at Great Lakes Shipyard.

Great Lakes Shipyard has performed work aboard all of the USCG’s Bay class ice breakers, including the fleet- installation of new Avtron Main Propulsion Control Systems at the cutter home ports. The Katmai Bay received its MPC system installation at Sault Ste. Marie in 2012.

Great Lakes Shipyard