Today in Great Lakes History

[yachtsmanwilly]

7/30 - Copper Harbor, Mich. – The Isle Royale Queen IV, operating out of Copper Harbor, ran aground Tuesday while on an evening cruise. U.S. Coast Guard was contacted by the Negaunee dispatch and told that the excursion vessel had run aground inside the harbor.

Lt. J.G. Derek Puzzouli of the Sault Ste. Marie Coast Guard station said in response to the call, Guardsmen from Coast Guard Station Portage in Dollar Bay were dispatched to the scene.

"By the time they (the crew from Portage) reached the scene," Puzzuoli said, "the passengers had already been gotten off the Queen by good samaritans in the area with boats."

The vessel had run aground on rocks near Porter's Island, on the north side of the harbor, but its crew was able to get the vessel free without assistance, Puzzuoli said.

The Coast Guard trailered a small boat at the Portage station in Dollar Bay, and launched it from the Copper Harbor marina, Puzzouoli said, but by the time they got to the scene, everything was under control.

There were no injuries, the Isle Royale Queen suffered no apparent damage in the incident and there was no fuel or oil leakage as a result of the mishap, said Puzzuoli, but the Coast Guard remained on the scene to monitor the situation.

The incident is under investigation by the U.S. Coast Guard Marine Service Unit out of Duluth, which investigates marine accidents. The Isle Royale Line Ferry Service, which operates the Isle Royale Queen, was unavailable for comment.

The Mining Gazette





United Taconite to be idled: Another blow for the mining industry

7/30 - CEO of Cliffs Natural Resources announced Wednesday on the company's earnings call that the company is going to idle United Taconite, which includes the mine in Eveleth and the plant in Forbes.

Lourenco Goncalves cited pellet inventory as the reason for the shutdown. He also said they are going to do the idle in a way that they can promptly bring back operations.

Around 500 people work at United Taconite, according to a statement from Cliffs in September of last year. That's when they celebrated 50 years in business. Goncalves thanked all of the employees who've worked hard to reduce their production costs.

He said the one good thing about idling UTac is it gives them a chance to start developing the transformation of the plant needed to make a certain pellet for ArcelorMittal.

Goncalves mentioned they have a partnership with NUCOR to develop Direct Reduced Iron grade pellets, for a DRI facility in the Great Lakes.

WDIO



Outline of shipwreck revealed near Ludington

7/30 - Grant Twp., Mich. – The full outline of a roughly 60-foot-long shipwreck is now showing under a few inches of Lake Michigan water off the shore of the Nordhouse Wilderness Area north of Ludington.

Chris Newhouse of Ann Arbor and his wife, Cathey, found the wreck while hiking about a week ago in the Nordhouse Dunes, about three and a half miles south of the U.S. Forest Service Lake Michigan Recreation Area.

Chris reported it is also about a mile south of the Nurnburg Road parking area.

Wayne Lusardi, maritime archeologist for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, isn’t sure what boat it is at this time. He said there are probably about 40 shipwrecks off shore near Ludington, including the Lizzie Doak, an 75-foot boat that sunk near the shore on Aug. 30, 1892.

“This year there’s a lot of sand that’s been moving around and a lot of near-shore wrecks are considerably more exposed than they have been in the past,” Lusardi said.

Kenneth Morris, a petty officer 1st class at Manistee’s U.S. Coast Guard station, said the wreck is not on Coast Guard charts.

Ludington Daily News





Great Lakes Commission gets $3.4M for Little Rapids Cut project

7/30 - Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. – The Great Lakes Commission is getting more than $3.4 million for a regional partnership focusing on habitat restoration in Sault Ste. Marie.

U.S. Sens. Debbie Stabenow and Gary Peters of Michigan on Tuesday announced the support through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The funding is for the ongoing Little Rapids project, which also involves state and local agencies.

Officials have said 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 project is designed to restore more natural currents and produce 50-to-70 acres of fish spawning habitat.

Associated Press


July 30, 1996 - CSL's self-unloader H.M. GRIFFITH, which was off Whitefish Bay in Lake Superior, and bound for Nanticoke, Ontario, with a load of 22,775 tons of western coal, had a spontaneous combustion fire in her number 2 cargo hold. Water was used to cool the fire and the GRIFFITH used her unloading boom to dump 3,000 tons of coal into Lake Superior. After an inspection by the USCG at the Soo the following day, revealed only minor damage, the vessel was cleared to proceed on her journey. Reconstructed and renamed b.) RT HON PAUL J. MARTIN in 2000.


GORDON C. LEITCH (Hull#36) was launched July 30, 1952, at Midland, Ontario, by Canadian Shipbuilding & Engineering Ltd. for the Upper Lakes & St. Lawrence Transportation Co. Ltd., Toronto, Ontario.

The Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker C.C.G.S. ALEXANDER HENRY entered service July 30, 1959. Since 1985, the HENRY has served as a museum in Kingston, Ontario.

On 30 July 1871, the 162-foot bark HARVEY BISSELL was carrying lumber from Toledo to Tonawanda, New York. When she was on the Western end of Lake Erie, she sprang a leak. Although the crew worked the hand-powered pumps constantly, the water kept gaining at a rate of about a foot an hour. The tug KATE WILLIAMS took her in tow, intending to get her to Detroit to be repaired, but this proved impossible. So the BISSELL was towed close to Point Pelee and allowed to sink in 14 feet of water. The WILLIAMS then left for Detroit to get steam pumps and other salvage equipment. On returning, they pumped out the BISSELL, refloated and repaired her. She lasted until 1905.

On 30 July 1872, the Port Huron Dry Dock launched SANDY, a lighter. Her dimensions were 75 feet x 20 feet x 5 feet.

On 30 July 1873, George Hardison of Detroit announced the beginning of a new shipyard in Port Huron, Michigan. It would be located above the 7th Street Bridge on the Black River on land owned by J. P. Haynes, accessible by River Street. Within 30 days of this announcement, the new yard had orders for two canalers three-and-aft rig for delivery in the spring of 1874. Their dimensions were to be 146 feet overall, 139 feet ¬keel, 26 foot beam and 11 foot 6 inches depth.

On 30 July 1866, CITY OF BUFFALO (wooden propeller, 340 foot, 2,026 tons, built in 1857, at Buffalo, New York as a side-wheeler) was unloading 72,000 bushels of wheat at the Sturgis Elevator at Buffalo, New York, when arsonists set fire to the complex. The fire destroyed the wharf, the elevator, several businesses and the ship. The arsonists were caught. Incidentally, the CITY OF BUFFALO was converted from a passenger side-wheeler to a propeller freighter during the winter of 1863-64. After the conversion, she was dubbed "the slowest steam-craft on the Lakes

[yachtsmanwilly]

7/31 - Ludington, Mich. – A wooden hulk showing up in the shallows of Lake Michigan near Ludington is no surprise to one Michigan official.

The shape of the ship could be clearly distinguished on Wednesday, July 29, in the shallows of the Nordhouse Dunes Wilderness Area north of Ludington – roughly a mile's walk south from the Nurnburg Road parking area.

"About 10 years ago I visited a shipwreck then on the shoreline north of Ludington," Michigan's Maritime Archaeologist Wayne Lusardi said in a written statement Wednesday. "With higher lake levels over the last few years I suspect that the same wreck is now inundated in very shallow water near shore."

Lusardi said the site he visited measured 94.5 feet in overall length – the size of hundreds of smaller schooners that were built on the Great Lakes between the 1840s and 1870s.

"Most of these schooners were rigged with two masts, could carry about 150 tons of cargo, principally lumber, grain, salt or coal, and were manned by a crew of four or five," Lusardi said. "Much of the fleet operating in or around Ludington was involved in carrying lumber to Chicago from ports in Western Michigan."

Jim Fey, a self-described "nautical nut" and board member of the Mason County Historical Society, said he planned to visit the site this weekend and take measurements of the wreck.

"We can narrow it down to a few ships, I think," Fey said. The work is difficult because many ships were lost in waters near Big Sable point. "It's a treacherous area -- there are a lot of sand bars.”

The shipwreck recently seen in the shallows could be one of many schooners lost in that area -- one example is the Lizzie Doak, which ran aground there in 1892.

But Lusardi said it could prove to be The George F. Foster, which was built by Jacob Randall in 1852 at present-day Saugatuck, then called Newark. The Foster was 93.6 feet long, 21.5 feet wide, and measured 123 tons.

"Bound from Grand Haven to Chicago with a load of lumber, the schooner was blown off course by an autumn gale and wrecked in October 1872," Lusardi wrote. "The Foster's class, dimensions, and location correspond favorably with the archaeological remains located near Ludington, though further research is required to make a positive identification."

Visitors are welcome to look at the wreck, but are asked not to dig on it or otherwise disturb the site, he said.

"The wreck will likely be reburied naturally as it has been covered and uncovered many times already," Lusardi wrote.

M Live



On this day in 1948, in a total elapsed time of 19 hours, the JAMES DAVIDSON of the Tomlinson fleet unloaded 13,545 tons of coal at the Berwind Dock in Duluth and loaded 14,826 tons of ore at the Allouez Dock in Superior.

On this day in 1955, Al A. Wolf, the first Chief Engineer of a Great Lakes freighter powered by a 7,000 hp engine, retired as Chief Engineer of the WILFRED SYKES. Chief Wolf started as an oiler on the POLYNESIA in 1911, became Chief Engineer in 1921, and brought out the SYKES in 1948.

Sea trials took place for the JAMES R. BARKER this day in 1976. She was to become Interlake's first 1000 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 thousand-footer to sail on the Lakes and the first built entirely on the Lakes.

On July 31, 1974, the Liberian vessel ARTADI approached the dock at Trois Rivires, Que. where she damaged the docked GORDON C. LEITCH's stern.

The CEDARBRANCH was damaged and sunk by an explosion on July 31, 1965, several miles below Montreal, Quebec resulting in a loss of one life. Repaired and lengthened in 1965, she was renamed b.) SECOLA in 1978, and c.) KITO MARU in 1979, and scrapped at Brownsville, Texas, in 1985.

On 31 July 1849, ACORN (wooden schooner, 84 foot, 125 tons, built in 1842, at Black River, Ohio) was struck amidships by the propeller TROY near West Sister Island in Lake Erie. She sank quickly, but no lives were lost since all hands made it to the TROY.

On 31 July 1850, AMERICA (wooden side-wheeler, 240 foot, 1,083 tons, built in 1847, at Port Huron, Michigan) suffered a boiler or steam pipe explosion while sailing on Lake Erie. The explosion immediately killed nine persons and scalded others who died later. The vessel was repaired and sailed for three more seasons.

[yachtsmanwilly]

On this day in 1960, EDWARD L. RYERSON, new flagship of the Inland Steel fleet, successfully completed her sea trials.

Under tow, the AVONDALE, a.) ADAM E. CORNELIUS of 1908, in tandem with former fleet mate FERNDALE. a.) LOUIS R. DAVIDSON of 1912, arrived at Castellon, Spain for scrapping in 1979.

CANADOC left the St. Lawrence River on August 3, 1991, in tow bound for Mamonal, Colombia, for scrapping.

August 3, 1946 - The third officer of the ANN ARBOR NO 6, drowned while painting her draft marks. He had apparently leaned too far and fell out of the rowboat.

On 3 August 1900, FONTANA (wooden 2-mast schooner-barge, 231 foot, 1,164 gross tons, built in 1888, at St Clair, Michigan as a 4-mast schooner-barge) was carrying iron ore in tow of the steamer KALIYUGA. The FONTANA sheared off and collided with the big schooner-barge SANTIAGO and settled in the mouth of St. Clair River in the St. Clair Flats, one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world. After salvage was given up months later, she was dynamited several times to flatten and reduce her wreckage. Although officially no loss of life was reported, local newspaper reported that one crewman was drowned. The FONTANA was owned by Cleveland Cliffs Iron Co.

On 3 Aug 1857, R.H. RAE (3-mast wooden bark, 136 foot, 344 tons, built in 1857, at St. Catharines, Ontario) capsized and sank in a "white squall" off Duck's Creek on Lake Ontario. She went down slowly enough for her people to abandon in her small boat. They were later picked up by the propeller COLONIST. There was a big effort to salvage her the next summer, but to no avail. She was a total loss of $20,000. She was reportedly built for the trans-Atlantic trade and looked more like a seagoing schooner. Some sources give the date of the loss as 4 August 1857. The wreck is in very good condition. The Cousteau organization lost a diver on her in 1980.

On 3 August 1915, ALEXANDRIA (wooden sidewheel passenger/package freight, 174 foot 863 gross tons, built in 1866, at Hull, Quebec, formerly a.) CONSORT, was carrying foodstuffs in Lake Ontario when she was blown on a bar in a storm and fog. She broke up by wave action under the Scarborough Bluffs, east of Toronto. Lifesavers worked for hours and rescued the entire crew. GARDEN CITY was caught in the same storm as ALEXANDRIA. This ship sustained smashed windows and a hole in the hull but was able to reach safety.

1920 – The wooden steamer MAPLEGROVE sank in the Welland Canal. The vessel was salvaged and sold for further service as JED. It had been built at Marine City in 1889 as CHEROKEE.

1927 – The bulk canaller CASCO of the Lakes & St. Lawrence Transportation Co. went aground at Pipe Island in the lower St. Marys River and required lightering before floating free and proceeding for repairs.

1962 – MEDINA PRINCESS, a former “Empire ship,” first came to the Great Lakes under British registry in 1959. It made 5 trips through the Seaway but went aground on a reef near Djibouti while enroute from Bremen, Germany, to China. The hull was refloated August 31 but was laid up at Djibouti. It remained idle until breaking loose and going aground on September 4, 1964. The hull was a total loss and, at last report, the wreck was partially submerged.

1978 – The French freighter JEAN L.D. made 37 trips to the Great Lakes from 1959 to 1967. It was sailing as c) CAVO STARAS when the engine room become flooded during a voyage from Port Harcourt, Nigeria, to Buenos Aires, Argentina, in the overnight hours of August 3-4, 1978. The vessel was towed to Dakar, Sierra Leone, on August 14 and sold to Spanish shipbreakers, via auction, on May 8, 1979. It arrived at Barcelona, under tow, on June 18, 1978, and scrapping began July 5 of that year.

2010 – SIDSEL KNUTSEN lost power due to a fire in the engine room and went aground off St. Clair, Mich. It remained stuck until August 9 and was then refloated and cleared to proceed to Montreal. It was operating in Canadian service at the time under a special waiver.

[yachtsmanwilly]

8/4 - Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. – Mechanical problems have shut one of the two main locks at capable of handling commercial ships on the Great Lakes. It’s a rare occurrence of having only one lock during the shipping season, and the situation will likely lead to backups of vessels looking to pass between Lake Superior and Lake Huron. The shutdown of the lock could last as long as 10 days.

Lynn Rose, a spokesperson for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, said the issue that led to the shutdown of the MacArthur Lock occurred Thursday or Friday.

The problem involves a set of gates in the MacArthur’s navigation dock that will not close properly. Repair work requires the lock to be emptied of water before an assessment can be made.

“It’s unusual for there to be a closure of any of the locks this time of year,” Rose said. “Right now, we’re sending all of the larger ships through the Poe Lock.”

A 10-day closure would prove problematic for the shipping industry. The Poe Lock handles the largest freighters on the lake, but will now be asked to take on additional traffic. It’s still unclear how bad things might get, said Glen Nekvasil, vice president of the Great Lakes Carriers Association.

“Traffic right now is going through just one lock,” Nekvasil said. “This is going to be creating some delays and some bottlenecks. This isn’t something that happens often. In the past we’ve dealt with some short closures. This is probably going to be one of the biggest ones we’ve dealt with.”

The Coast Guard can’t forecast how many ships will use the locks in the next few days because there is no advance notice, said Rick Burch, vessel traffic controller. But the locks handled 82 ships from Wednesday through Sunday, Burch said. Thirteen ships had passed through the one lock Monday by 4:15 p.m., he said.

About 10,000 “lockages” or ships come through the Soo Locks during the navigation season.

While the work continues, Nekvasil said transportation companies will work with the Army Corps to coordinate arrivals and departures at the locks. But only so much can be accomplished through scheduling. Under normal circumstances, the Poe Lock handles 70 percent of cargo vessels passing through Sault Ste. Marie.

“You do the best you can ... but if your source of ore is Lake Superior, that’s where you have to go,” he said.

At 1,200 feet long, 110 feet wide and 32 feet deep, the Poe Lock is the largest of the pathways between the lakes on the U.S. side — capable of handling the largest of the freighters that pass through. The MacArthur Lock, by comparison, is 800 feet long, 80 feet wide and 29 feet deep.

Both the Davis and Sabin locks are larger, but they have been targeted for replacement. That’s something the shipping industry has lobbied for years to get. And this week’s closure, they said, is evidence of the need for another lock equivalent in size to the Poe.

Efforts to turn it into a reality have stalled over the years. In June, Democratic U.S. Senators Debbie Stabenow of Lansing and Gary Peters of Bloomfield Township renewed their call for funding to upgrade the Soo Locks. In a letter to the Office of Management and Budget, they outlined the worst-case scenario.

“An unscheduled outage at the Poe Lock would prevent the passage of large vessels carrying commodities critical to our national security and our regional and national economies,” the letter read. “A 30-day unscheduled outage at the Poe Lock would result in an estimated $160 million in economic losses.”

Among the ships that pass through on a regular basis are smaller vessels like those of Soo Locks Boat Tours. Company officials found out about the closure of MacArthur Lock on Monday, but have ways of maintaining their operations, which include 12 trips through the locks each day.

The tour boats can pass through the Poe Lock at the same time as larger ships do. In addition, they can utilize the smaller lock on the Canadian side of the waterway if necessary.

“We’ve seen a shutdown before of a couple of hours, or maybe a day or two,” said Marion Van Luke, who has worked in the company’s sales department for more than a decade. “But 10 days, that’s not something I’ve seen before.”

Detroit News





Tall ship Niagara will visit Algonac

8/4 - Algonac, Mich. – The city will be getting a visitor this weekend from the War of 1812. The U.S Brig Niagara, which was Oliver Hazard Perry’s relief flagship during the Battle of Lake Erie on Sept. 10, 1813, will be docked along the Algonac waterfront Friday and will be open for tours 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

“We’re always happy to have them because they bring people to the museum,” said Joan Bulley, a member of the Algonac-Clay Township Historical Society. The society’s two museums — the community museum at 1240 St. Clair River Drive and the maritime museum at 1117 St. Clair River Drive — will have extended hours from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

Marilynn Genaw, also a member of the society, said Algonac belongs to the American Sail Training Association and is known as the Great Lakes hospitality port for tall ships.

“When they’re in port, members of the historical society do what we can to make them comfortable,” Genaw said. “We take them to the laundromat, the grocery store and we provide showers for them.”

Members of the society in the past even have driven crew members to Detroit Metro Airport so the ship can change crews, she said.

The city waterfront has bollards and cleats where the tall ships can tie their mooring lines, she said. “We also are off the shipping channel, so we don’t have to worry about the freighters getting too close,” Genaw said.

Joe Lengieza, director of marine operations for the U.S. Brig Niagara and the Erie Maritime Museum in Erie, Pennsylvania, said the two-masted warship carries a crew of 38 and has two 32-pounder carronades.

“We’re just stopping in Algonac to open up for tours for the weekend,” he said. “It’s not a large organized event, but it is a convenient place to pull over for the weekend. And it’s a nice friendly town as well.”

He said the brig will have a free dockside display that consists of a miniature mast with the royals set. The royals on a square-rigged ship are the smallest and highest sails. Lengieza said the shop is a reconstruction of Perry’s flagship.

“The ship has had so much work done and so many overhauls over the past 200 years that there’s nothing left structurally” of the original ship, he said.

The Niagara also is the flagship of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Lengieza said, and is certified by the U.S. Coast Guard as a sailing school vessel.

Port Huron Times Herald


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.

[yachtsmanwilly]

8/5 - Toledo, Ohio – Mention the Boblo boats to a Detroit native and the memories come tumbling out. The heat and vibration of the engines. The tasty hot dogs from the steam table on the main decks. The 4-foot-4 Capt. Boblo — he of the glass eye and outsized captain’s hat – greeting children nearly as tall.

The two steamships, Columbia and Ste. Claire, are still around but could turn into memories as well.

The Columbia will be moved from Toledo to Buffalo for repairs in two weeks, then remain in New York as an attraction. The Ste. Claire, docked in Ecorse, may be scrapped if its owner, Ron Kattoo, can’t find a new home.

“I’d have no choice but to dismantle it,” said Kattoo.

The steamers moved generations of Metro Detroit residents to the Boblo Island amusement park in the Detroit River for 89 years. Residents said they were happy the Columbia may eventually return to the water, but wish it would happen a lot closer to them.

“It’s a crying shame she can’t stay with us,” said Martha Camp of Flat Rock.

The Columbia, 113 years old, and Ste. Claire, 105, are two of the oldest steamships in the U.S. They stopped ferrying people in 1991 when the amusement park, losing customers to Cedar Point, could no longer afford their expense. The Boblo amusement park closed two years later, and the island is being developed as an upscale residential community.

“They were the last of their kind,” Michael Conley, a maritime historian from Taylor, said about the two steamships.

The future of the Ste. Claire may be getting a lifeline, said Kattoo, a critical care doctor from West Bloomfield Township. The ship has languished for 20 years as its owners sought funding for its restoration.

Now it must move from U.S. Steel so work can be done on a seawall this fall.

Kattoo, who, along with another doctor bought the steamship in 2007, has tried to find a new home but has struck out with several locations. The size and shape of the ship limits his options. He’s looking for a dock or slip that is 200 feet long and 16 feet deep.

But recent publicity about his search has led to a flurry of offers from residents, mayors and private groups. “We went from having nothing to having a dozen to 15 possible spots,” he said. He and his partner are now sorting through the offers.

As for the delay in restoring the vessel, he attributed it to a number of factors, including a lack of money. He had depended on revenue from continuing to use the ship as a haunted attraction but the U.S. Coast Guard said it wasn’t sturdy enough.

Kattoo said structural engineers have reviewed the ship, and he’s waiting for estimates of how much the restoration would cost.

Residents’ memories of the Columbia could fill all three decks of the steamship, and that’s what a New York group intends to do. The SS Columbia Project wants people to send their recollections to [e-mail].

The group will make a video that will shown aboard the steamship once it’s eventually sailing along the Hudson River in New York.

The plan to use passengers’ remembrances struck some as a strange juxtaposition — Michigan memories shared along a New York river. “I have tons and tons of fond memories,” said Jimmy Cargill of Lincoln Park. “To go on that boat was an event.”

The Columbia is still several years and $15 million away from carrying passengers along the Hudson, said Liz McEnaney, executive director of the project.

When the Columbia Project arrived last year to move the steamer from Detroit to Toledo, it found the ship covered with plastic to protect it against the elements. It looked like a ghost, said McEnaney.

Two decades of Michigan winters left the 200-foot ship in woeful shape. The first order of business was scraping two tons of zebra mussels from the hull. The ship had chipped paint, a rusted hull and pockmarked floorboards that had buckled.

“It’s a big project,” said McEnaney. “The boat really needs a lot of tender loving care.” Since March, the Columbia Project has been patching numerous holes in the hull and replacing steel plates and rivets, said McEnaney.

After finishing work on the hull in Toledo, staffers will work on the rest of the ship for a year in Buffalo. The biggest challenge after that will be reawakening the triple-expansion steam engine and its 1,217 horsepower.

The makeover will cost $18 million. The group has raised $3 million through state grants, private foundations and individual contributions.

For many Detroiters, it was a rite of passage. Every summer, they took the Columbia or Ste. Claire to the Boblo Island amusement park. Just like their parents, and their grandparents before that.

“My folks had to scrimp and save for these adventures but we never missed a summer,” said Michael Johnston, a former Port Huron resident who lives in Albuquerque. “It was magical on that boat.”

People met their spouses on the boats. One even had a baby while aboard one. Named her Columbia. Part of the fun of the amusement park was the journey to get there. The 18-mile, 90-minute trip down the Detroit River was as iconic as the corkscrew roller coaster that awaited passengers.

When boarding the ships, passengers scrambled for a deck chair along the rail or headed for the music deck. “Music playing, bands playing, people dancing,” said Cargill. “Everybody’s in a good mood.”

Kids might take a peek at the pilothouse or even get a chance to blow the steamer’s whistle.

Old-timers also enjoy remembering the Faygo Boat Song, a catchy ditty from a 1970s commercial that showed people on the boat singing about the Detroit-made soda.

The only bad experience Cargill’s family ever had was a moonlight cruise his mom took in the early 1960s. Standing in the front of the Columbia, she became seasick when it turned around in the river.

Other than that, all the memories are good ones, said Cargill.

He still looks out at the river, hoping to catch a glimpse of the old steamer.

Detroit News







8/5 - Cape Vincent, N.Y. – It’s been anything but smooth sailing for passengers of the ferry between Ontario’s Wolfe Island and Kingston — a trend that has hampered cross-border trips among Canadian and American tourists.

That’s because the Wolfe Islander III — which can carry about 55 vehicles and 330 passengers — has been out of service since April to undergo repairs. The Wolfe Island Ferry service has instead been using the much smaller Frontenac II, which can carry about 33 vehicles and 275 passengers.

To get from Cape Vincent to Kingston, passengers must take two ferries: Horne’s Ferry in Cape Vincent, which only runs between Cape Vincent and the island, and the Wolfe Island ferry, which only runs between the island and Kingston, Ontario.

Changes to the Wolfe Island service has caused Horne’s Ferry, a multi-generational business, struggles by deterring tourists from making trips, owner George D. Horne said.

The Wolfe Island ferry service has been consistently “jammed up” because the smaller ferry “isn’t big enough to handle the traffic they get,” Mr. Horne said. He said Canadians and Americans have been taking fewer round trips using the pair of ferries than they normally would during the season.

“We don’t have so much traffic now because it’s a problem to get on the Wolfe Island ferry sometimes,” Mr. Horne said, adding that commuter traffic on the Wolfe Island ferry among Kingston residents who work on the island caused long delays in the morning and afternoon on workdays. “It gets filled up when everyone in the morning goes to work, and again when they come home from 3 to 5 p.m.”

The Wolfe Islander III was taken out of service in April and sent to dry dock for $2.5 million in inspections, repairs and upgrades, according to a report from The Kingston Whig-Standard. The work is part of a five-year schedule mandated by Transport Canada.

But while the ferry was originally projected to be back in business by July, Mr. Horne said, Canadian officials have said that timetable has been delayed. “It’s not supposed to be ready until after Labor Day,” he said.

Mr. Horne, 67, said that Horne’s Ferry carries about 10 vehicles and 90 passengers. Though he could not provide passenger statistics, he said the ferry is being used significantly less than it was last year.

“I haven’t bothered comparing, but it’s maybe half down,” he said, adding that the weaker Canadian dollar has also played a role because Canadians aren’t saving as much when they shop in the U.S.

Horne’s Ferry is operated daily from May through Oct. 15. The ferry’s schedule is available at www.hferry.com.

Mr. Horne said fewer cross-border trips have been planned by Americans and Canadians because of the inconvenience caused by the smaller Canadian ferry.

“A lot of people normally leave Cape Vincent in the morning, take the ferries to go to Kingston for the day and drive back on the bridge. Canadians will go to Cape Vincent by the bridge and come back using the ferries,” he said. “It’s hurt both ways.”

Those who use the Wolfe Island ferry service also are inconvenienced by regulations that require the Frontenac II to be docked at the winter dock on the island — about three miles away from the dock normally used at Marysville. That’s because the Frontenac II requires higher water levels to operate than the Wolfe Islander III.

“It sits deeper in the water than the regular one does and we can’t use the normal dock because it’s shallow there,” Mr. Horne said. “You have to walk three miles from the other dock to get to town or take a bus that waits at the parking lot.”

Horne’s Ferry, which is staffed by four employees, has also been negatively affected by difficulties associated with crossing the border in recent years, Mr. Horne said.

“There have been fewer passengers every year since 9/11 because getting through customs is stricter,” he said.

Watertown Daily Times






8/5 - Raw steel production in the Great Lakes region dipped to 646,000 tons last week.

Local steel output has been much lower than normal all this year because of a surfeit of imports that now account for a record-shattering 32 percent of the total market share. Overall U.S. production trails 2014 by 7.7 percent.

Great Lakes steel production slid by 2,000 tons, or 0.3 percent, in the week that ended Saturday, according to an American Iron and Steel Institute estimate. Overall U.S. steel output grew by 1.1 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, ticked up to 598,000 tons last week, up from 596,000 tons the week before.

Total domestic raw steel production last week was about 1.76 million tons, down from 1.74 million tons a week earlier.

Nationally, domestic steel mills had a capacity utilization rate of 73.6 percent last week, up from 72.8 percent a year earlier. The capacity utilization rate had been a much more robust 79.6 percent at the same time a year earlier.

Year-to-date steel output has been 52.2 million net tons, at a capacity utilization rate of 72.5 percent, according to the American Iron and Steel Institute.

NWI Times





Postal Service marks Coast Guard anniversary with new stamp

8/5 - Washington, D.C. – The U.S. Postal Service commemorated the U.S. Coast Guard on its 225th anniversary today by dedicating a Forever Stamp to honor its role in protecting the security of the nation and advancing vital maritime interests.

The stamp shows two icons of the Coast Guard: the cutter Eagle, a three-masted sailing ship known as America’s Tall Ship, and an MH-65 Dolphin helicopter, the standard rescue aircraft of the Coast Guard. For more details on the helicopter, visit this link.

Aviation artist William Phillips painted the image using oil and Masonite. The back of the stamp sheet provides background on the Coast Guard.

“The Coast Guard is truly a symbol of safety to all Americans. Those who live in a coastal community, or spend time on our waterways and shores, know that the Coast Guard does whatever it takes to ensure that they are safe and protected,” said Postmaster General Megan Brennan.

Joining Brennan in the ceremony were Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson and Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Paul Zukunft.

During an average day, Coast Guard personnel assist more than 300 people in distress, save more than $2 million in property, board 90 large vessels for port safety checks, conduct 120 law enforcement boardings, and investigate more than a dozen marine accidents.

The Coast Guard today has more than 49,000 active-duty men and women; 7,300 reservists; 8,300 civilian employees and 30,000 volunteer auxiliary personnel. In addition to saving lives at sea, members of the Coast Guard enforce maritime law, oversee aids to navigation, conduct icebreaking operations, protect the marine environment, respond to oil spills and water pollution, ensure port security, support scientific research at sea, combat terrorism and aid in the nation’s defense.

USPS

On 05 August 1958, the tug GARY D (steel propeller tug, 18 tons) was destroyed by an explosion and fire near Strawberry Island Light on Lake Huron.

The RICHARD M. MARSHALL, later b.) JOSEPH S. WOOD, c.) JOHN DYKSTRA, d.) BENSON FORD, and finally e.) US265808, entered service on August 5, 1953. From 1966, until it was retired at the end of 1984, this vessel and the WILLIAM CLAY FORD were fleet mates. There is only one other instance of two boats being owned by the same company at some point in their careers with as close or closer age difference. The CHARLES M. BEEGHLY (originally SHENANGO II) and the HERBERT C. JACKSON.

The aft section of the BELLE RIVER (Hull#716), was float launched August 5, 1976. She was American Steamship's first thousand-footer and the first thousand-footer built at Bay Shipbuilding Co. She was renamed b.) WALTER J. MC CARTHY in 1990.

The G.A. TOMLINSON, a.) D.O. MILLS of 1907, was sold outright to Columbia Transportation Div. (Oglebay Norton Co.), on August 5, 1971, along with the last two Tomlinson vessels, the SYLVANIA and the JAMES DAVIDSON.

On 5 August 1850, ST. CLAIR (sidewheel steamer, passenger & package freight, 140 foot 210 tons, built in 1843, at Detroit, Michigan) was reported as lost with no details given whatsoever. The report of her loss was published 3 days BEFORE she was enrolled at Detroit by J. Watkin.

The motor vessel BEAVER ISLANDER completed her maiden voyage to Charlevoix in 1962. At the time, she was the largest, fastest, and most advanced ship built for the run. She served as the flagship for 37 years, a record, until the EMERALD ISLE arrived in 1997.

August 5, 1907 - A female passenger dived off the deck of the PERE MARQUETTE 18 of 1902, on a dare. Two of the 18's officers leapt over to rescue her. One of the officers nearly drowned and was rescued by the passenger.

On 5 August 1866, AUTOCRAT (2-mast, wooden schooner, 345 tons, built in 1854, at Caltaraugus, New York) was carrying 15,000 bushels of corn and was lying off Chicago, waiting for a storm to die down. Just before dawn, the schooner J S NEWHOUSE was also seeking shelter when she ran into AUTOCRAT, sinking her in 7 fathoms of water. The crew was rescued by the tug UNION.

On 5 August 1869, LAURA E. CALVIN (3-mast wooden schooner, 130 foot, 216 tons, built in 1863, at Garden Island, Ontario as a bark) sprang a leak during a storm and foundered 10 miles off Braddock's Point on Lake Ontario. No lives were lost.

1954 – A sudden blanket of fog descended on a section of the St. Lawrence near Waddington, N.Y., resulting in the two ships SELKIRK and DUNDEE losing their way and going aground. The former, a C.S.L. package freighter, was turned part way around by the current and was stuck until September 2. The latter was a British ship and was also spun by the current. The proximity of the rapids made salvage a challenge. The newly-built DUNDEE continued Great Lakes visits to the end of 1962. It foundered in the Mediterranean as g) VLYHO on September 15, 1978, following an engine room explosion.

1955 – FALCO, a pre-Seaway trader, hit a bridge at Montreal. The vessel later visited the Great Lakes as c) LABRADOR and was scrapped at Piraeus, Greece, as f) BONANZA in 1978

1972 – MANCHESTER VENTURE was built in 1956 and was a regular Great Lakes trader from 1956 to 1961. An explosion in the cargo hold as c) BAT TIRAN on this date in 1972 resulted in a major fire. The damaged hull was refloated in September and scrapped in Turkey in 1973.

1980 – The Liberian freighter BERTIE MICHAELS had been a Seaway trader in 1971 and had returned as the Greek flag c) DIMITRIS A. in 1976. It departed Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, on August 4, 1980, for Belize City and reported her position on August 5. The vessel was never heard from again and was believed to have been a victim of Hurricane Allen that was in the area at the time. All 27 on board were lost.

1994 – The recently completed French freighter PENHIR began Great Lakes trading in 1971 and returned as b) MENHIR under Liberian registry in 1979. It arrived off Tolognaro, Madagascar, on this date in 1994 with hull cracks as d) WELLBORN and abandoned as a total loss

[yachtsmanwilly]

8/6 - The level of Lake Superior rose by less than usual in July but the big lake still sits 7 inches above the long-term average for Aug. 1 and an inch higher than at this time last year.

The International Lake Superior Board of Control said water supply to the lake was average in July, but the lake rose only an inch in a month it usually goes up two inches.

The monthly mean level was also 7 inches above the long-term average and the highest for July since 1997.

Lakes Michigan and Huron were stable in July, a month they usually go up a half inch. The lakes now sit 6 inches above their long-term normal for Aug. 1, and 10 inches higher than one year ago.

The levels of Lake Superior and lakes Michigan and Huron are expected to begin their seasonal declines in August.

Duluth News Tribune





Two Canadian freighters arrive at Port of Muskegon on same day

8/6 - Muskegon, Mich. – It's been a slow season overall, but two large vessels arrived at the Port of Muskegon on Tuesday, Aug. 4.

The Algorail and Algomarine, two Great Lakes Self Unloading Bulk Carriers, made port in Muskegon Tuesday morning.

Ed Hogan, vice president of operations for Port City Marine Services, said the 638-foot Algorail is likely carrying salt and routinely arrives in Muskegon, but he didn't know if the 730-foot Algomarine had ever made port in the area.

The Algomarine made port at the Mart Dock in downtown Muskegon while the Algorail arrived at a dock just east of that location.

As it turns out, it wasn't a smooth first stop in Muskegon for the Algomarine. The ship had an issue with its bow thruster while making port and required assistance from a tug from Ashton Marine. Hall Jones Electric also assisted the vessel, Hogan said.

The ship is carrying a slag product that will be purchased by Verplank Trucking Co. in Muskegon.

The 2015 shipping season has been a slow one in Muskegon, especially since there haven't been any foreign vessels, or "salties" making port. Twelve foreign cargo ships visited the Port of Muskegon between 2012 and 2014.

The Port of Muskegon is the largest natural deep-water port in West Michigan.

M Live





Navy to make history when it commissions new USS Little Rock next to its namesake

8/6 - Buffalo, N.Y. – Two pages of history will be written when a sleek new combat vessel cruises into Canalside and is commissioned as the USS Little Rock beside its namesake.

The commissioning will mark the first time in modern Buffalo history a ship has been accepted into the U.S. Navy’s fleet here, and the first time in Navy history that a ship has been commissioned beside a decommissioned ship bearing the same name, according to officials at the Buffalo & Erie County Naval and Military Park.

And though the commissioning isn’t expected to happen until December 2016 or May 2017, depending on the weather in the Great Lakes and on when the new USS Little Rock completes its trial runs in Lake Michigan, park officials say it will mark a proud day for Buffalo and the region.

“As the time gets closer, it will give us an opportunity to showcase a little bit of the history of the Navy and its ships, and we’ll also be able to showcase the waterfront and really show off Buffalo,” said John M. Branning, superintendent of ships at the park.

The new USS Little Rock, built in Marinette, Wis., near Green Bay, got its name after crew members from the old USS Little Rock persuaded Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus to assign the name to one of the Navy’s newest warships.

The new Little Rock is an LCS, or Littoral Combat Ship, which means it will operate in waters close to shore. The ships have a helicopter launch pad, a ramp for small boats, and can be used by small assault forces.

“LCS is designed to satisfy the urgent requirement for shallow draft vessels to operate in the littoral (coastal waters) to counter growing potential ‘asymmetric’ threats of coastal mines, quiet diesel submarines and the potential to carry explosives and terrorists on small, fast, armed boats," according to Navaltechnology.com.

It wasn’t exactly a hard sell to get Mabus on board with naming the new ship the Little Rock. He served as a junior officer on the USS Little Rock in 1971 and 1972 and is a long-standing member of the USS Little Rock Association, which gathered in Buffalo about two weeks ago for its annual reunion. Mabus was among the more than 200 former shipmates who attended.

The name of the original Little Rock and the new one, of course, pay tribute to Arkansas’ capital city.

Initially Mabus kept association members guessing on whether he would keep the old ship’s name alive.

“When we presented this question regarding the naming of the ship to Secretary Mabus, he appeared to be skeptical, pointing out quite eloquently that there is a lot of political pressure in naming a ship. He genuinely left us with a question of whether it would happen,” said Art Tilley, the association’s webmaster and a guided missile technician on the ship in 1962 and 1963.

“I’m ecstatic, to say the least,” he added. “This preserves the legacy of those who previously served on Little Rock.”

The original USS Little Rock began its service as a light cruiser in 1945, when World War II was coming to an end. In 1949, it was decommissioned, but it was recommissioned in 1960 as a guided missile cruiser, patrolling the Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean and Mediterranean seas, before it was permanently taken out of service in 1976 and brought to Buffalo.

So what officially happens at a commissioning?

Unlike the christening of a ship, when a bottle of champagne is broken on the bow and the vessel is launched into the water for the first time, a naval commissioning represents the start of the ship’s career.

“When the ship is commissioned, it is actually being brought into the United States Navy,” Branning said. “It’s when the Navy and its crew take charge of it. The commanding officer takes possession and his first order to the crew will be ‘bring the ship to life.’ Then the crew runs aboard.”

It is expected that many members of the USS Little Rock Association will attend the commissioning.

“Usually things like this do not happen in the lifetime of living ex-crew members,” Tilley said. “Come hell or high water, I’m planning to be there. It’s the culmination of a dream.”

Buffalo News





Maritime Museum dedicates utility boat 41410

8/6 - Sturgeon Bay, Wis. – The Door County Maritime Museum celebrated the United States Coast Guard’s 225th birthday Tuesday with the formal dedication of its new outdoor exhibit.

Originally placed in front of the museum along Madison Avenue in May, city officials, DCMM staff members, active and retired Coast Guardsmen, and members of the community welcomed the CG Utility Boat 41410 to its final port. Executive director Rick O’Farrell says the 41-foot boat will serve as a major exhibit for the museum.

O’Farrell says the boat will open to the public at select times during the year. The CG 41410 spent nearly its entire career in Lake Michigan, serving two tours in Sturgeon Bay. Since 1973, 41-foot utility

Door County Daily News





Lake Superior Maritime Visitor Center hosts 13th annual lighthouse days Aug. 6 –9

8/6 - Duluth, Minn. – The Lake Superior Maritime Visitor Center, located in historic Canal Park in Duluth, will host the 13th annual Lighthouse Days from Thursday, August 6 to Sunday, August 9. The event will feature lighthouse films, history walks and children activities from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily.

All programs are free and open to the general public.

Twin Ports Lighthouse Days is a celebration of the five distinctive lighthouses of the Twin Ports and lighthouses of Lake Superior. The annual event is held near the anniversary of August 7, 1789 – the date former president George Washington signed the Ninth Act of Congress federalizing the nation’s lighthouses.

Daily Activities and Times:
11 a.m. – 4 p.m. – Activity Tables at the Visitor Center
12:45, 1:45, 2:45, 3:45 p.m. – Films at the Visitor Center
1:15 and 3:15 p.m. – History Tour: Join former Maritime Visitor Center Director, Thomas Holden on a walk into the past. Learn about the Twin Ports lighthouses and the history that surrounds us in Canal Park.

Lake Superior Marine Museum Association


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.

[yachtsmanwilly]

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 suHispanic dirtbagious 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.





8/7 - Washington, D.C. – Larger swaths of the Great Lakes could be designated as federally protected waters under a bill introduced recently by Sens. Debbie Stabenow and Gary Peters.

The legislation would recognize historically significant underwater areas in the Great Lakes as national marine sanctuaries, such as Thunder Bay in northern Michigan that preserves dozens of sunken vessels in an area of Lake Huron once known as “Shipwreck Alley.”

Last year, Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary received approval to expand its size nearly tenfold to 4,300 square miles to include the waters off Alcona, Alpena and Presque Isle in the northeastern Lower Peninsula and to the maritime border with Canada, doubling the number of estimated shipwrecks to roughly 200.

Democrats Stabenow of Lansing, Peters of Bloomfield Township and co-sponsor Sen. Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin hope to build on the success of Thunder Bay, which drew more than 80,000 visitors in 2013.

“This legislation will allow more areas in the Great Lakes to be recognized as sanctuaries, which will bring new visitors to Michigan and help preserve our national treasures for future generations,” Stabenow said in a statement.

A similar piece of legislation introduced by former Sen. Carl Levin never made it out of committee last year.

In addition to congressional action, communities may nominate an area for designation as national marine sanctuaries, which are intended to protect natural and cultural features underwater, while still allowing people to access and use marine areas.

Some activities are usually prohibited in protected areas, such as dredging, drilling and attempting to alter or recover underwater resources or artifacts.

Traditional fishing and boating would typically be allowed, said Matt Brookhart, acting director of the Office of National Marine Sanctuaries. “In the one (Great Lakes) model that we have — Thunder Bay — fishing is not part of the suite of regulations that we implement,” Brookhart said.

While the National Marine Sanctuaries Act requires the management of both biological and cultural resources, in some sanctuaries like Thunder Bay, only the cultural resources (the wrecks) are managed, Brookhart said.

“Thunder Bay has really become an incredibly popular tourist destination, to dive those wrecks,” he said. “The regulations we implement are really against taking those resources. The wrecks are just beautifully preserved because of the cold waters of, in that case, Lake Huron.”

In other cases, the sanctuaries provide a safe habitat for species near extinction, such as the humpback whale in Hawaii. Currently, 14 marine protected areas are part of the National Marine Sanctuary System, ranging in size from 137,792 square miles to less than a square mile.

“Tourism in the Great Lakes is vital to Michigan’s economy, and it’s critical that we continue to protect our state’s treasured natural resources for many years to come,” Peters said in a statement.

Brookhart’s office is considering a “very strong” nomination for a new national marine sanctuary in Lake Michigan submitted by organizations affiliated with the Wisconsin state government and endorsed by Gov. Scott Walker, Brookhart said.

The nomination focuses on preserving 34 known shipwrecks within a 875-square-mile area covering 80 miles of Wisconsin’s Lake Michigan shoreline from Port Washington to Two Rivers.

Detroit News

[yachtsmanwilly]

Coast guard rescues five people on Lake Erie

8/10 - Five people were rescued from the rocky waters of Lake Erie Friday night after their boat ran aground near the Sandusky Bay entrance breakwall and began to sink. U.S. Coast Guard officers first received a distress call at 11:40 p.m. while all the passengers were still on the boat.

“The (41-foot-Maxum speedboat) ran aground over in the area of Cedar Point and was sinking,” said a petty officer at the Marblehead Coast Guard station. As the boat was going down, the five people aboard were forced to jump into the choppy water, which is where Coast Guard officers found them when they soon arrived at the scene.

“One of our boats went out and picked the victims up, and Lake Erie Towing brought the boat back to shore,” the officer said. The group was distraught, according to the officer, but believed they may have struck some rocks near the breakwall.

A Lake Erie Towing crew spent the night salvaging the vessel and delivered her to the boat hoist this morning,” Sanders wrote. Officers had the group safely back on shore by 1 a.m. Saturday.

Sandusky Register



On 10 August 1890, TWO FANNIES (3-mast wooden bark, 152 foot, 492 gross tons, built in 1862, at Peshtigo, Wisconsin) was carrying 800 tons of iron ore on Lake Erie when a seam opened in rough weather. The crew kept at the pumps but to no avail. They all made it off of the vessel into the yawl just as the bark sank north of Bay Village Ohio. The CITY OF DETROIT tried to rescue the crew but the weather made the rescue attempt too dangerous and only two men were able to get to the steamer. The tug JAMES AMADEUS came out and got the rest of the crew, including the ship's cat, which was with them in the yawl.

On August 10, 1952, the ARTHUR M. ANDERSON entered service for the Pittsburgh Steamship Co. Exactly 14 years later, on August 10, 1966, the vessel's namesake, Arthur Marvin Anderson, passed away.

In 1969, the EDMUND FITZGERALD set the last of many cargo records it set during the 1960s. The FITZGERALD loaded 27,402 gross tons of taconite pellets at Silver Bay on this date. This record was broken by the FITZGERALD's sister ship, the ARTHUR B. HOMER, during the 1970 shipping season.

On 10 August 1937, B.H. BECKER (steel tug, 19 tons, built in 1932, at Marine City, Mich.) foundered in heavy seas, 9 miles north of Oscoda, Mich.

In 1906, JOHN H. PAULEY (formerly THOMPSON KINSFORD, wooden propeller steam barge, 116 foot, 185 gross tons, built in 1880, at Oswego, New York) caught fire at Marine City, Mich. Her lines were burned through and she then drifted three miles down the St. Clair River before beaching near Port Lambton, Ont. and burning out.

On 10 August 1922, ANNIE LAURA (wooden propeller sandsucker, 133 foot, 244 gross tons, built in 1871, at Marine City, Mich.) beached near Algonac, Mich., caught fire and burned to the waterline.

1899: The whaleback steamer JOHN B. TREVOR was rammed and sunk by her barge #131 in the St. Clair River. The accident was caused by CRESCENT CITY crossing the towline. The sunken ship was refloated and, in 1912, became the ATIKOKAN.

1967: PAUL L. TIETJEN and FORT WILLIAM were in a head-on collision on Lake Huron about 25 miles north of Port Huron. Both ships were damaged but were repaired and returned to service.

1975: CIMBRIA came through the Seaway for the first time in 1965 under West German registry. The ship was sailing as c) KOTA MENANG when it stranded on Nyali Reef, off Mombasa, Tanzania, due to a steering failure on August 10, 1975. The vessel received severe hull damage and was deemed a total loss.

1979: The Indian freighter JALARAJAN and the British flag LAURENTIC sustained minor damage in a collision at Kenosha, Wis. The former was dismantled at Calcutta, India, in 1988 while the latter was scrapped at Karachi, Pakistan, in 1984.

1992: MENASHA was set adrift and then sank in the St. Lawrence off Ogdensburg, N.Y. The former U.S. Navy tug was refloated and repaired. After some later service at Sarnia, the tug was resold and moved for Montreal for work as c) ESCORTE.

2007: NORDSTRAND came to the Great Lakes in 1990 and sank at the stern, alongside the Adriatica Shipyard at Bijela, Montecaucasianally challenged individual, as c) MEXICA, when the engine room flooded on this date. The ship was refloated on September 1, 2007, and arrived at Aliaga, Turkey, for scrapping on May 5, 2010.

8/8 - Superior, Wis. – A Wisconsin refinery that planned to ship heavy Canadian crude oil across the Great Lakes in tankers has dropped the $20 million project.

Minnesota Public Radio reports Indiana-based Calumet Specialty Products no longer is pursing plans for a crude oil loading dock on Lake Superior that would have filled ships with oil from Canada and North Dakota.

The Wisconsin Department of Environmental Resources delayed the project by ordering an environmental assessment last year.

Calumet told Wisconsin earlier this year it would withdraw its permit application because the market no longer supported the project, MPR reported.

The plans met heavy opposition from environmental groups and others concerned with the risk of an oil spill in the Great Lakes. Last year, the Coast Guard said it was not prepared to clean-up a spill of heavy crude in deep lake waters.

Heavy tar sands products such as diluted bitumen oil are tougher than light crude products to clean up in bodies of water because the bitumen part of the crude sinks.

Calumet said oil tanker transport would alleviate bottlenecks on crude oil flow through pipelines and in rail cars. The company and its dock partner Elkhorn Industries hoped to begin shipments this year.

MLive



On 09 August 1910, the Eastland Navigation Company placed a half page advertisement in both the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Cleveland Leader offering $5,000 to anyone who could substantiate rumors that the excursion steamer EASTLAND was unsafe. No one claimed the reward.

The keel was laid for the INDIANA HARBOR (Hull#719) on August 9, 1978, at Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin by Bay Shipbuilding Co. for Connecticut Bank & Trust Co. (American Steamship Co., mgr.).

The HAMILDOC (Hull#642) was christened on August 9, 1963.

The G.A. TOMLINSON (Hull#370) entered service August 9, 1909. Renamed b.) HENRY R. PLATT JR in 1959. Hull used as a breakwall at Burlington Bay, Ontario in 1971.

The SIR THOMAS SHAUGHNESSY with the former CSL steamer ASHCROFT in tow of the Polish tug JANTAR arrived in Castellon, Spain for scrapping in 1969.

On August 9, 1989, the tug FAIRPLAY IX departed Sorel with the FORT CHAMBLY and NIPIGON BAY in tandem tow bound for Aliaga, Turkey for scrapping.

On the night of August 9, 1865, METEOR met her running mate, the propeller PEWABIC, off Thunder Bay on Lake Huron around 9 p.m. As the two approached, somehow METOER sheered and struck her sister, sinking the PEWABIC within minutes in 180 feet of water. About 125 people went down with her, and 86 others were saved.

On 9 August 1850, CHAUTAUQUE (wooden sidewheel steamer, 124 foot 162 tons, built in 1839, at Buffalo, New York) caught fire in the St. Clair River and burned to a total loss. In previous years she had been driven ashore 1844, and sank twice - once in 1846, and again in 1848. In September 1846, she made the newspaper by purposely ramming a schooner that blocked her path while she was attempting to leave the harbor at Monroe, Michigan.

On 9 August 1856, BRUNSWICK (wooden propeller, 164 foot, 512 tons, built in 1853, at Buffalo, New York) was carrying corn, scrap iron and lard from Chicago when she sprang a leak in a storm and was abandoned by the crew and passengers. One passenger drowned when one of the boats capsized, but the rest made it to shore near Sleeping Bear in the three other boats. BRUNSWICK went down in 50 fathoms of water, 6 miles south of South Manitou Island on Lake Michigan.

On 9 August 1875, The Port Huron Times reported that the schooner HERO, while attempting to enter the piers at Holland, Michigan, was driven two miles to leeward and went to pieces. Her crew took to the boats, but the boats capsized. Luckily all made it safely to shore.

August 9, 1938 - The Pere Marquette car ferries 17 and 18 left Milwaukee for Grand Haven carrying 600 United States Army Troops, bound for Army war maneuvers near Allegan and at Camp Custer.

On 9 August 1870, ONTONAGON (wooden propeller bulk freight, 176 foot, 377 tons, built in 1856, at Buffalo, New York by Bidwell & Banta) sank after striking a rock near the Soo. She was initially abandoned but later that same year she was recovered, repaired and put back in service. In 1880, she stranded near Fairborn, Ohio and then three years later she finally met her demise when she was run ashore on Stag Island in the St. Clair River and succumbed to fire.

The 204-foot wooden side-wheeler CUMBERLAND was launched at Melancthon Simpson's yard in Port Robinson, Ontario on 9 August 1871. She cost $101,000. Too large for the Welland Canal, she was towed up the Welland River to Chippewa and then up the Niagara River to Lake Erie. She operated on the Upper Lakes and carried soldiers to put down the Red River Rebellion. She survived being frozen in for the winter near Sault Ste. Marie in 1872, grounding in 1873, sinking in 1874, and another grounding in 1876. But she finally sank near Isle Royale on Lake Superior in 1877.

In 1942, the sea-going tug POINT SUR was launched at Globe Shipbuilding Co. in Superior, Wisconsin and the Walter Butler Shipbuilders, in Superior, launched the coastal freighter WILLIAM BURSLEY.

1968 Labrador Steamships agreed to sell POINTE NOIRE to Upper Lakes Shipping. The vessel was operated by U.L.S. on charter until the sale was approved.


8/8 - Washington, D.C. – For back-to-back years, Great Lakes shippers and the ports and businesses they service have been howling for a new heavy-duty icebreaker as near-record ice cover on the Lakes has led to canceled or delayed shipments and damaged vessels, costing the industry more than $1 billion.

But despite pleas from shipmasters and steelmakers, not to mention key members of Michigan’s delegation to Congress, it remains far from certain whether the U.S. House and Senate will authorize a new icebreaker, much less appropriate funds for its design and construction in the near future.

Competing interests — including those for a new polar icebreaker, as well as ongoing funding constraints, partisan bickering and questions whether the Lakes’ recent winters are a climatological anomaly — make a new Great Lakes icebreaker, costing about $200 million, a hard sell in Congress.

“It’s a disappointment,” said U.S. Rep. Candice Miller, a Republican from Harrison Township who won passage of a provision in a Coast Guard bill to authorize using funds for a new icebreaker only to see no money appropriated for it. “I’m not sure how we’re going to do this year, but we have to keep trying.”

For now, the focus is on keeping the authorization alive in the hopes funding becomes available later, but even that’s in doubt: After it passed the House, a Senate committee stripped the provision out, prompting U.S. Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., and steelmakers relying on iron ore delivered across the Lakes to urge its inclusion in whatever final version of the bill is hammered out by the two chambers.

“Certainly nothing’s easy around here,” said Peters, who this week wrote a letter to Senate Commerce Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., and others, citing reports that ice cover resulted in 10 million fewer tons of cargo being transported on the Lakes the last two years and noting that the entire U.S. relies on keeping Great Lakes shipping lanes open.

“My focus here in the Senate is with the conferees (who will write the final version) to make sure they keep it in the final bill. … Then we can build the case for the appropriation (to fund it),” the Bloomfield Township lawmaker told the Free Press this week.

But for businesses, shippers and officials at the Lake Carriers’ Association, the trade group that represents 16 companies operating U.S.-flag vessels, tugs and barges on the Lakes, the case is an easy one to make: While the Coast Guard has seven smaller icebreakers on the Lakes, most of them are more than 30 years old and unsuited to break heavy ice.

Only one heavy icebreaker, the 240-foot Mackinaw, capable of cruising through fresh water ice up to 32 inches thick, is active on the Lakes and, as LCA President James H.I. Weakley put it, “it can’t be in two places at once.”

But the consequences of that can be costly, such as in February, when the 767-foot, 7,000-horsepower Arthur M. Anderson sat stuck within sight of its destination at Ashtabula, Ohio, where it was to pick up iron ore pellets for delivery to Gary, Ind.

For five days it waited for help, the Mackinaw laid up with a propulsion problem in its port in Cheboygan. Eventually, a Canadian icebreaker responded, but the delay was so great, the Anderson canceled its call and proceeded to port. A trip that usually takes 50 hours stretched out 10 days.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, maximum ice cover in the Lakes the last two years has been greater — at 93% in 2014 and 89% earlier this year — than at any time since 1979. Companies doing business on the Lakes say they have borne the brunt of it.

Patricia Persico, a spokeswoman for Cliffs Natural Resources, a major supplier of iron ore with mines and plants in Michigan and Minnesota, said shipping seasons have had to be suspended early, delaying shipments to steelmakers and driving down volume or increasing costs. The company, she added, “is reliant on the safe, efficient maritine transit of its products.”

For now, however, those pleas — including those from some of the nation’s largest steelmakers, who last week complained that interruptions like those two years ago, when ice was at its worst, could be “economically disastrous” — don’t seem to be getting far in Congress.

Legislation funding the Coast Guard for next year, passed by the House Appropriations Committee, made mention of funding for a revamped polar icebreaker — a $1-billion project that many in Washington see as an economic and national security priority — but was silent on one for the Lakes.

Meanwhile, with the appropriations process at a standstill because of partisan concerns, it’s looking increasingly possible no icebreaker will get funding this year. And while there is much debate among scientists and researchers, no one can say whether the ice cover in the Lakes the last two years is part of a longer trend or simply an outlier in an era of climate change.

Even if it is, however, that doesn’t mean there won’t be years, or several years at a time, when ice cover is a problem in the Great Lakes and shipping comes to a standstill. But it’s still making it hard for the case to be made in an era when funding is tight.

“It has been a challenge to convince people,” Weakley said. “We’re in a different, longer-term winter pattern. No one can tell you what it’s going to be (next year). Five years ago, they were telling you about climate change and year-round shipping.”

Detroit Free Press

[yachtsmanwilly]

8/11 - Middleburg Heights, Ohio – The James R. Barker, one of three thousand-foot freighters in the Interlake Steamship Company fleet, experienced a mechanical issue at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday in the ship’s starboard main engine.

The crew remained in full control of the vessel and deftly transitioned operation to the ship’s second engine. At no time was the crew or vessel in any danger.

The Barker, which was on the open water of Lake Michigan at the time the difficulty was identified, was rerouted to Bay Shipbuilding in Sturgeon Bay, Wis., where it will undergo immediate repair.

“We take pride in our fleet-wide preventative maintenance program but unfortunately some mechanical issues can’t be prevented,” says Interlake Steamship Company President Mark Barker. “Through intentional foresight and proactive planning, we are prepared with the necessary replacement crankshaft in inventory that will allow us to return this ship to service as quickly as possible with the least amount of downtime.”

The replacement parts were sent to Bay Shipbuilding from the company’s long-term equipment storage facility in Detroit. The repair is expected to take 20 days.

“We already have people aboard to start the repair process,” Barker says. “And we applaud our crew for its rapid response and ability to navigate to the shipyard quickly and safely.”

Interlake Steamship Co.


8/11 - Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said Monday one of the Soo shipping locks at Sault Ste. Marie, which has been out of commission since July 29, probably won’t be repaired until about Aug. 19.

That’s double the time originally thought. The Corps determined the gates were not closing properly, and is making repairs.

As of Sunday, 61 ships were delayed a total of 78 hours at the locks due to the shut down of the MacArthur Lock.

Additional delays are being experienced by the shipping companies as they are slowing down in the system and holding at dock facilities to minimize the time they wait at the Soo Locks facility to lock through.

Detroit News


8/11 - Cleveland/Ottawa – U.S. and Canadian vessel operators on the Great Lakes are urging the public to not participate in the Port Huron Float Down scheduled for Aug. 16.

This unsanctioned event fills the St. Clair River from Port Huron to Marysville, Mich., with persons in all manner of craft, something the operators say needlessly jeopardizes participants and hinders commercial navigation at the height of the shipping season.

“We recognize that the Great Lakes and their connecting channels are wonderful venues for recreation and when carefully planned and supervised, recreational activities and commercial navigation can co-exist,” said James H.I. Weakley, president of Lake Carriers’ Association (LCA), the trade association representing U.S.-flag vessel operators on the Great Lakes.

“However, based on past experience and the tragic loss of life at past events, the Port Huron Float Down is neither carefully planned nor adequately supervised, and when coupled with the expected consumption of alcohol, this is an invitation to disaster. The fast-running and chilly waters of the St. Clair River between Port Huron and Marysville are a Federal navigation channel, not a playground.”

Robert Lewis-Manning, President of Canadian Shipowners Association (CSA), stressed Canadian fleets share LCA’s concern for public safety.

“The Float Down is not permitted or sanctioned by federal agencies in either country. Although the event may appear benign, there are a host of risks to participants that are not evident to non-mariners. This is a waterway that deserves the utmost of respect and this unsanctioned event does not have sufficient safety measures.”

Weakley and Lewis-Manning further noted this unauthorized closure of that portion of the St. Clair River has a significant economic impact on commercial navigation and its customers.

“Our members’ vessels cost thousands of dollars an hour to operate,” said Weakley. “While companies attempt to schedule around the Float Down, it is inevitable that ships will end up at anchor and the loses can quickly reach five digits.” Lewis-Manning further noted the delays don’t end when the Float Down is over. “It takes several more hours to clear all the traffic that has accumulated as a result of the Float Down.”

Lakes Carriers’ Association / Canadian Shipowners Association


8/11 - Toledo, Ohio – When the Boblo boat Columbia left Michigan for the last time last fall, many metro Detroiters were upset that they didn't have a chance to say good-bye. Well, here's your chance.

The SS Columbia Project is inviting the public to take a free tour of the beloved steamship one last time before it's moved to New York state. From 3-6 p.m. this Wednesday, you can take a 20-minute tour of the vessel. However, tours are limited to a walk around the main deck and a view of the ballroom because of the state of disrepair on the upper decks. The Columbia Project crew will also talk about the repair work it has done to the boat, as well as what the future holds for the beloved steamer.

Reservations are required and extremely limited. No one will be allowed into Ironhead Shipyard without a reservation. All inquiries about the tour should be directed to [e-mail].

The Columbia will leave Toledo early next month and make the 235-mile trek across Lake Erie to Buffalo, N.Y., where renovation work will continue.

The steamer is being restored by the nonprofit Columbia Project, which has spent years working on a plan to return the boat to service in the Hudson River Valley. The cost of getting Columbia back up and running is estimated to run anywhere from $10 million to $20 million.

Detroit Free Press


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.

[yachtsmanwilly]

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.


Two additional Interlake ships to be outfitted with exhaust gas scrubbers

8/12 - Middleburg Heights, Ohio – Building on the successful implementation of exhaust gas scrubbers on its self-unloading motor vessel Hon. James L. Oberstar, the Interlake Steamship Co. plans to expand its emission-reduction efforts to one-third of its fleet by installing similar scrubber systems on the motor vessels Lee A. Tregurtha and James R. Barker early next year.

In April 2015, Interlake became the first U.S.-flag fleet to test freshwater scrubbers on the Great Lakes when the system became operational on the 806-foot Oberstar. The 826-foot Tregurtha and 1,003-foot Barker will be equipped with the same single-inlet, closed-loop DuPont Marine Scrubbers from Belco Technologies Corp. (BELCO), a division of DuPont Sustainable Solutions.

“This technology allows us to achieve our goal of continually shrinking our fleet’s environmental footprint while dependably, safely and efficiently delivering raw materials to our steel, construction and power generation customers throughout the Great Lakes,” says Interlake President Mark Barker. “We have proven the technology on our 800-foot traditional laker and now we’re ready to scale up to our 1,000-foot class ships with our first installation on the James R. Barker.”

A total of five Interlake vessels – including two additional 1,000-footers: the Paul R. Tregurtha and Mesabi Miner - will be outfitted with these types of scrubbers by 2017.

“The Great Lakes is a shared community. Many of the men and women on our ships not only work on our ships, they live in the Great Lakes region,” Barker says. “This important effort benefits the environment that we all live, work and play in, and has a positive impact on the health of the Great Lakes for the long term.”

The scrubber units, which are attached to the exhaust system of each of the ship’s two engines, effectively strip the majority of sulfur from its stack emissions. Here’s how the systems work: Exhaust gas from the engine is sent through a series of absorption sprays that “wash” and remove impurities, specifically sulfur and particulate matter. That washed gas then travels through a droplet separator before a clean plume of white steam is discharged into the atmosphere.

“The sulfur reductions have exceeded our expectations,” Barker says, adding that the additional reductions make an even stronger case for marine transportation – the most environmentally friendly way to deliver raw materials. “DuPont/BELCO has been an incredible partner in working with us on this effort of implementing freshwater closed-loop scrubbers on a retrofit basis. We are pleased with the performance of not only the scrubber units but DuPont/BELCO’s level of service, expertise and dedication to these important projects. We look forward to working with them further as we continue to supply our fleet with these scrubber systems.”

At the end of the 2015 navigation season, the Tregurtha and Barker will sail to Bay Shipbuilding in Sturgeon Bay, Wis., to have the scrubbers and associated equipment installed during winter layup, in early 2016. Bay Shipbuilding is where the first successful installation on the Oberstar was completed earlier this year.

As the first U.S.-flag fleet to implement the scrubber technology, the company was not only tasked with proving its emission-reduction capability but also taking the lead in developing a sustainable supply-and-delivery infrastructure to support its widespread use on the Great Lakes.

Specifically, the scrubber system relies on an injection of sodium hydroxide -- to neutralize and remove sulfur from the exhaust gas -- and that chemical has to be delivered to the vessel about twice a month.

Working with partners, Hawkins Inc., PVS Chemicals Inc., Garrow Oil & Propane and OSI Environmental, the Company has established waterfront supply capability at Sturgeon Bay, Wis., and Detroit, Mich., and expects to develop a similar capability in Duluth, Minn., hopefully within the next month. From there, the supply-and-delivery infrastructure will be built out at ports located near East Chicago, Ill., and Burns Harbor, Ind.

The scrubber expansion announcement comes only weeks after the Company announced its plans to repower its last steamship – the S.S. Herbert C. Jackson – in the final phase of a 10-year, $100 million modernization effort.

Interlake Steamship Co.





Lakes limestone trade tops 4 million tons again in July

8/12 - Cleveland, Ohio – For the second month in a row, shipments of limestone on the Great Lakes topped 4 million tons in July. This is the first time loadings have topped the 4-million-ton mark for more than one month in a shipping season since 2008.

Loadings at U.S. quarries totaled 3.5 million tons, a virtual repeat of a year ago. Shipments from Canadian quarries – 560,000 tons – also were a near carbon copy of a year ago.

Year-to-date the Lakes limestone trade stands at 14 million tons, an increase of 16 percent compared to a year ago. That increase in part reflects just how severely stone shipments were impacted by the near-glacial ice that covered the lakes into May of 2014. Ice also slowed the resumption of the stone trade this spring; several boats in the stone trade did not sail until late April, but the shipping lanes were ice-free by May.

Lake Carriers’ Association





To call or not to call: Canadian border rules confuse boaters on the St. Lawrence

8/12 - Clayton, N.Y. – If you cross the international border between the U.S. and Canada by land, there’s an official border crossing. But if you're traveling across the border on a boat in the St. Lawrence River, the process isn’t so clear.

The border splits the river, threading through the Thousand Islands. For over a century, this was a “soft” border, barely acknowledged by generations of boaters.

That changed with the September 11 terrorist attacks. But hardening this border is tricky, and the effort has produced a set of confusing rules and practices. Boaters say this year is worse than ever.

It all started with a meeting at the Antique Boat museum in Clayton on a Saturday in June. Here’s a report from Channel 7 News in Watertown:

"Canadian and U.S. officials met with boaters to tell them the new rules for crossing by water between the two countries. The meeting left many people upset."

The Canadian border agents made it clear that if American boats are weaving back and forth across the border, they have to call the Canadian Border Services Agency the moment they cross into Canadian waters. Even if they never set foot on Canadian land. This upset people. Assemblywoman Addie Russell showed a lot of frustration with the new regulation.

Pat Simpson was as that meeting with border agents. He summers on his houseboat in Alexandria Bay with his wife, who’s Canadian.

“So half my family is in Canada and we travel over there by car and by boat.”

Simpson was mayor of Alex Bay for seven years, so he figures he knows a bit about the rules. He says he’d never heard of this new one that says you have to stop your boat and call on your cell phone to Canada the first time you cross the border. Simpson admits he hasn’t bothered to make that call. And he weaves back and forth between the islands on both sides of the border a lot.

“I haven’t done it because a lot of people have told me we don’t have to call in,” Simpson said.

This is where it gets confusing. The word on what American boaters are supposed to do changes, depending on who you ask. Boaters who’ve called in have been told by Canadian border agents that they don’t have to call in.

Take Ken Federici for example. He was in Alex Bay one weekend in July. He was planning on sightseeing on the Canadian side of the St. Lawrence. So he spoke to a Canadian agent before he went out.

“He asked are you going to be anchoring. I said no. Are you going to be fishing? I said no. And I told him I don’t plan on setting foot on Canadian soil.”

Federici says what the agent told him he didn't have to call in. He was confused. Federici had heard everywhere that boaters who cross into Canadian waters have to call in right away. So, why did this agent tell Federici he didn’t?

So I called the Canadian Border Agency myself. I asked the agent on the phone what should an American do when they cross into Canadian waters on their boat?

“For people who do not intend to land on Canadian soil but may have crossed the water while cruising they can use their cell phone to report their presence in Canadian waters," said the agent.

I asked the agent why he thought other boaters had been hearing from other agents over the phone that calling in wasn't necessary.

“You know what? I don’t know why they would provide that answer.”

I called the agency back later to talk to someone else. I told this agent I was planning to be on a boat that afternoon. But I added a little something else. I told him I'd be stopping my boat for a swim. A pretty typical boat ride. And that prompted a totally different response:

“Basically, If you’re in transit from one point in the United States to another point in the U.S. you just go straight through Canadian waters, you don’t stop or swim or do anything. You just go from point A to point B, you don’t have to report. If you stop to do anything along the way, fish, swim, you do have to call."

So to recap, this agent says boaters must call Canada only if they stop – even to swim -- in Canadian waters. Still, its not clear if this is the definitive rule. And these subtle differences in interpretation are important. Canada can seize the boat and impose a large fine if someone breaks the rules.

Doug McCleland says all this confusion is ridiculous. He’s Canadian and owns an island on the river. He says he’s seen fewer boaters on the river every year.

“And the talk is if you’re at a cocktail party or having a coffee with someone it invariably comes around to these silly rules that are confusing and make it more difficult for everybody,” McCleland says.

McCleland presented a petition on behalf of the Thousand Islands Association to Gord Brown, the local member of Canadian Parliament, demanding the U.S. and everyone in the Canadian Border Agency be on the same page. McCleland says Americans who signed the petition left comments.

“The message is very clear from Americans … coming to Canada is simply not worth the hassle.”

So far this season, no American boats have been seized. And no boaters have been fined.

WRVO / National Public Media