Today in Great Lakes History

[yachtsmanwilly]

International Ship Masters’ Association concludes annual convention

2/10 - The International Ship Masters’ Association 126th annual convention was held at Chicago February 4 – 8. In addition to business meetings, attendees heard speakers from industry and government organizations, including James H. I. Weakley, President of Lake Carriers’ Association, and Captain Amy B. Cocanour, Commanding Officer, US Coast Guard Sector Lake Michigan.

Other topics included maritime intelligence, virtual aids to navigation, the Great Lakes Conference of Governors and Premiers, updated products from the National Weather Service, economic trends, nautical history, the 2016 arrival of Tall Ships, and the upcoming America’s Cup races.

Elected as Grand President for the ensuing year was Capt. Robert Lund, master of the Chicago Fire Department boat, Engine 2, Christopher Wheatley, and captain of Calumet River Fleeting tugs. Also elected were 1st Vice President Capt. Lee Barnhill, 2nd Vice President Capt. Harold Dusseau, and Secretary-Treasurer Capt. Albert Tielke.

The International Ship Masters’ Association offers annual scholarships to persons preparing for careers as officers aboard US and Canadian vessels. This year’s awards were presented to Zachary Peters, a Navigation cadet enrolled at Great Lakes International Marine Training and Research Centre at Georgian College, Owen Sound, Ontario; Mark Andrasek, an Engineering cadet enrolled at Great Lakes Maritime Academy, Traverse City, Michigan; and Andrew Deegan, a currently-employed US mariner who is working toward completing his engineering license.

Several Grand President’s Awards for rescues on the Great Lakes during 2015 were presented by outgoing Grand President Capt. Joseph Walters. Receiving awards were Capt. Dino Dini, MV Algoway, for rescue of four persons in Lake Erie off Lorain, Ohio; Capt. Robert Schallip, MV Hiawatha, and Capt. Clayton Hill, MV Nokomis, for rescue of two kayakers in the St. Marys River at Sault Ste. Marie, Capt. Raymond Sheldon, MV Joseph L. Block, for rescue of a boater in Lake Michigan off Port Washington, Wis.; and Capt. Kenneth Rowe, MV Michipicoten, for coming to the assistance of two sailboaters in Lake Huron off Alpena, Mich.

International Ship Masters’ Association currently consists of 16 lodges in U.S. and Canadian ports around the Great Lakes, with members including both mariners and shore personnel involved in the maritime industry. The association dates to 1886, in Buffalo, N.Y., where it began as a benevolent fraternal organization to assist widowed spouses and families of Great Lakes vessel captains.

ISMA


2/10 - Cleveland, Ohio – The Great Lakes Ballast Water Working Group released its 2015 Summary of Great Lakes Seaway Ballast Water Management activities Thursday.

During 2015, 100 percent of vessels bound for the Great Lakes Seaway from outside the Exclusive Economic Zone received a ballast water management exam. In total, the BWWG assessed all 8,361 ballast tanks on the 455 vessels that transited during the 2015 navigation season.

The Great Lakes Seaway Ballast Water Working Group is a bi-national collection of representatives from the U.S. Coast Guard, the U.S. Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation, Transport Canada - Marine Safety & Security, and the Canadian St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation. The group’s mandate is to develop, enhance, and coordinate bi-national compliance and enforcement efforts to reduce the introduction of aquatic invasive species via ballast water and residuals.

This is the seventh consecutive year that BWWG agencies ensured the examination of 100 percent of ballast tanks entering the Great Lakes via the St. Lawrence Seaway, and the group anticipates continued high ship-compliance rates for the 2016 navigation season.

U.S. Coast Guard


UHLMANN BROTHERS was launched February 10, 1906, as a.) LOFTUS CUDDY (Hull#341) at Lorain, Ohio by American Ship Building Co. The MARKHAM (Twin Screw Hopper Suction Dredge) was delivered February 10, 1960, to the Army Corps of Engineers at Cleveland, Ohio.

In 1998, The Ludington Daily News reported that a private investment group (later identified as Hydrolink) was planning to start cross-lake ferry service from Muskegon, Michigan to Milwaukee running two high-speed ferries.

On 10 February 1890, NYANZA (wooden propeller freighter, 280 foot, 1,888 gross tons) was launched at F. W. Wheeler's yard (Hull #63) in W. Bay City, Michigan by West Bay City Ship Building Co. In 1916, she was renamed LANDBO and she lasted until abandoned in 1920.

In 1975, a fire onboard CRISPIN OGLEBAY a.) J.H. HILLMAN JR of 1943, caused $100,000 damage to the conveyor and tunnel while she was laid up at Toledo. The forward end of CRISPIN OGLEBAY is now ALGOMA TRANSFER (C.323003).

1973: The CUNARD CAVALIER was launched at Seville, Spain. It first appeared on the lakes in 1978.

1981: A pair of former Seaway traders collided in the Mediterranean off Algiers and one sank. The FEDDY had been inland as b) SUNSEA in 1969, c) SAGA SAILOR in 1971 and as d) ELLY in 1976. It went to the bottom with the loss of 32 lives. This ship had been enroute from Boston to Volos, Italy, with a cargo of scrap steel. The second vessel, SOUNION, survived. It had been to the Great Lakes as a) SUGAR CRYSTAL in 1968 and was back as b) SOUNION in 1979. It sailed until scrapping at Gadani Beach, Pakistan, following arrival as c) MED VITORIA on April 17, 1993.

1982: TEXACO BRAVE (ii) was pushed off course by the ice and current and struck the bridge crossing the St. Lawrence at Quebec City damaging a mast and the radar. The vessel still sails as d) ALGOEAST.

1984: Scrapping of the Italian freighter b) VIOCA got underway at La Spezia, Italy. The ship made 8 trips through the Seaway as a) BAMBI from 1959 to 1964.

1984: The AEGIS FURY arrived at Shanghai, China, for scrapping as e) WELL RUNNER. The ship first came to the Great Lakes in 1972.

[yachtsmanwilly]

Bay City's Tall Ship Celebration returns in July

2/11 - Bay City, Mich. – Bay City’s Tall Ship Celebration will return to the region from July 14 to July 17.

The Bay City site has won the coveted “Port of the Year” award from Tall Ships America three times, more than any other host community in North America. Event organizers have been busy wrapping up details for the sixth event in 15 years.

The only official host port in Michigan for the Tall Ships Challenge Great Lakes, Bay City event organizers are hoping their efforts will bring home the title once again.

On July 14, 12 vessels will sail up the Saginaw River to downtown Bay City. Ten will remain dockside and will be available for touring July 15 through July 17. Bay City’s own tall ships, Appledore IV and V, will provide sail away trips. With appearance fees ranging from $12,000 to $45,000, the cost to secure the 2016 fleet is expected to be about $215,000.

New to the Great Lakes and the Bay City event is El Galeón Andalucía, a 160-foot replica of a 16th-17th century Spanish galleon; Draken Harald Hårfagre, a 115-foot replica of a traditional Viking long boat; and When and If, an 83- foot schooner built for General George S. Patton in 1939.

Returning vessels include the Pride of Baltimore II, a 157-foot Baltimore clipper, and Madeline, a 95-foot gaff topsail schooner from Traverse City, perennial favorites at every Bay City event since 2001. The Flagship Niagara is a 198-foot brig from Erie, Pa., that appeared at the Bay City festival in 2006 and 2013; Denis Sullivan is a 137-foot 3-masted schooner from Milwaukee, Wis., that appeared in 2010 and 2013; and Mist of Avalon is a 100-foot 2-masted gaff schooner that hasn’t appeared since 2003.

Negotiations are ongoing to secure two additional vessels.

The Tall Ships Challenge is a series of races and rallies produced annually by Tall Ships America, a nonprofit membership organization based in Newport, R.I. The event rotates between the east and west coast of the United States and the Great Lakes.

Tall Ship Celebration: Bay City hosts the fleet when it visits the Great Lakes; Bay City has been the only official host port in the state of Michigan since 2006.

BaySail, a non-profit educational organization that owns and operates the tall ships Appledore IV and V, is producing the 2016 maritime festival on behalf of the Tall Ship Celebration Board of Directors.

Midland Daily News


On 11 February 1994, the tug MARY E. HANNAH and an empty fuel barge became trapped in the ice in the Pelee Passage on Lake Erie. The vessels were freed by the U.S. Coast Guard cutter NEAH BAY and the Canadian Coast Guard ship SAMUEL RISLEY.

E. B. BARBER (Hull#111) was launched in 1953, at Port Arthur, Ontario by Port Arthur Ship Building Co. Ltd.

NIXON BERRY was sold to Marine Salvage for scrap on in 1970, she was the former a.) MERTON E. FARR.

BEN W. CALVIN (Hull#388) was launched in 1911, at Lorain, Ohio by American Ship Building Co.

The keel was laid for ROY A. JODREY (Hull#186) on February 11, 1965, at Collingwood, Ontario by Canadian Shipbuilding & Engineering Co. Ltd. The tanker IMPERIAL CORNWALL was retired on February 11, 1971.

Albert Edgar Goodrich, the founder of the Goodrich Steamboat Line, was born in Hamburg, New York, near Buffalo on 11 February 1826.

February 11, 1918 - Amid blasts of whistles from nearby ships and factories and the cheers of several hundreds of people, the cargo steamer Asp was launched at the Polson Iron Works. Fears that the launching could not be carried out because of the thickness of the ice proved unfounded. Gangs of men cut away the ice barrier and at 3:20 the vessel slipped easily into the water without any mishap. Curiosity was aroused when one of the ice cutters found a three-foot alligator frozen just under the surface of the ice. Whether or not it escaped from some sailor or from the local zoo is not known.

1987: UNILUCK first came through the Seaway in 1977. The vessel was sailing as b) TINA when it reported water entering the engine room and cargo holds in the Sula Sea off the Philippines. The crew said they were abandoning the ship but no trace of them or their vessel was ever found.

[yachtsmanwilly]

RED WING was launched February 12, 1944, as a.) BOUNDBROOK (Hull#335) at Chester, Pennsylvania by Sun Shipbuilding & Drydock Co., a T2-SE-A1 Ocean Tanker. She was renamed b.) IMPERIAL EDMONTON in 1947. In 1959, she was brought to Port Weller Drydocks for conversion to a bulk freighter for Upper Lakes Shipping Ltd., renamed c.) RED WING. Scrapped at Kaohsiung, Taiwan in 1987.

1965: MARGIT, a Danish vessel, came inland in 1964 for one trip. It suffered an explosion and fire in the engine room about 1,000 miles southwest of Honolulu on a voyage from Vancouver, British Columbia, to Calcutta, India, and had to be abandoned. Three members of the crew were killed and the ship was burning fiercely when last seen. The drifting hull later grounded at Wotje Atoll, Marshall Islands, and was found, still burning, on March 11, 1965. The ship was a total loss.

1975: E.B. BARBER was in winter quarters at Port Colborne when a fire broke out in the engine room. Local fire fighters contained and extinguished the blaze.


2/12 - Erie, Pa. – El Galeon, a reconstruction of a 16th century Spanish galleon, will appear at the Tall Ships Erie 2016 Festival, which begins Sept. 8 and concludes Sept. 11.

The three-masted wooden vessel is 170 feet in length and weighs 495 tons. The vessel's home port is Seville, Spain.

Flagship Niagara League officials announced the addition to their lineup today at a news conference outlining a partnership with Erie Insurance and Tall Ships America.

"Right now, (El Galeon) is in San Juan, Puerto Rico, basking in the sun and giving tours to people there,'' Flagship Niagara League Executive Director Shawn Waskiewicz said. "From there, it's going to Florida for appearances and tours. Then they will make their way up the Atlantic and they will be sailing in all the Great Lakes this summer and will be at a majority of the tall ships festivals. I've been working on their contract for the past couple months and it finally worked out.''

Ten ships are scheduled to appear at the four-day Erie festival, including the U.S. Brig Niagara and the schooner Porcupine, a historical "representation'' of a War of 1812 gunboat that is being built at Erie's Bayfront Maritime Center.

Goerie.com

[yachtsmanwilly]

In 1961, HARRY R JONES, a.) D.G. KERR arrived at her final port of Troon, Scotland, where she was cut up for scrap the same year.

1990: The tug LOIS T. was swamped while docked at Hamilton and sank in a storm. The vessel was pumped out, refloated and repaired. It now serves as the Port Colborne based tug CHARLIE E.

1993: BELLE ISLE, an SD-14 cargo carrier, visited the Seaway when new in 1971. It was sailing as g) VAST OCEAN when it reported in on this day as sailing on the Sea of Japan. It was never heard from again and disappeared with all hands on a voyage from Vanimo, Russia, to Shanghai, China.

MESABI MINER (Hull#906) was launched on this day in 1977, at Lorain, Ohio by American Ship Building Co. becoming the fourth 1,000-foot bulk carrier on the Great Lakes and Interlake's second. She had been built under Title XI of the Merchant Marine Act of 1970 at a cost of $45.1 million.

Ford Motor Co., looking to expand its fleet, purchased the JOSEPH S. WOOD, a.) RICHARD M. MARSHALL on February 14, 1966, for $4.3 million and renamed her c.) JOHN DYKSTRA. In 1983, she was renamed d.) BENSON FORD. Renamed e.) US.265808, in 1985, she was scrapped at Recife, Brazil in 1987.

On February 14, 1973, the LEADALE’s forward cabins burned during winter lay-up at Hamilton, Ontario and were later repaired. Built in 1910, at Great Lakes Engineering Works (Hull#77) as a,) HARRY YATES, for the American Steamship Co. renamed b.) CONSUMERS POWER in 1934, c.) FRED A. MANSKE in 1958 and d.) LEADALE in 1962. Scrapped at Cartagena, Columbia in 1979.

1997: The SD 14 cargo ship PATRICIA M. was a Seaway trader in 1974 and returned as c) SELATAN in 1991. It was sailing as d) NIKA II when it stranded on a breakwall near Veracruz, Mexico, while inbound, in ballast, to load sugar. The hull was refloated on March 8, towed to an anchorage and declared a total loss. It was broken up for scrap at Tuxpan, Mexico, beginning on April 27, 1997.

2000: ZAFIRO, a Seaway trader in 1984, sank as d) ZAFIR off Calabria, Italy, after a collision with the ESPRESSO CATANIA while carrying 6000 tons of cement clinker. Thirteen sailors were lost or missing



2/14 - Algonac, Mich. – Residents and property owners will have their chance to share concerns about the proposed Harsens Island bridge project.

A public comment period is now underway in connection to the potential two-lane bascule bridge, which would span roughly 1,750 feet across the north channel of the St. Clair River, and will continue 10 additional days after a public hearing that’s been set for March 9.

The hearing is being held by the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality’s Water Resources Division in response to a state permit application.

Clay Township Supervisor Artie Bryson lives on the island and had requested a public hearing about the project.

The project — and the DEQ permit application — is a pursuit of the Detroit International Bridge Company, whose owner also owns property on Harsens Island. The bridge company also operates the Ambassador Bridge over the Detroit River to Canada.

Katie Fairchild, an environmental quality analyst with the Department of Environmental Quality’s water resource division, said the hearing is not required. She said the DEQ would have a decision on the permit by the end of April.

According to the permit application, plans for the proposed bascule, or movable drawbridge, structure would also entail an administration building, toll plaza and two storm water basins.

Times Herald


2/14 - Lorain, Ohio – Although spring may feel like it is ages away, Lorain’s lighthouse and river tour information already is shaping up for 2016. The Lorain Port Authority will expand its riverboat tour schedule to 130 cruises planned this year from 90 trips last summer.

Meanwhile, the Lorain Lighthouse Foundation Inc. has changed its name, added board members and released the schedules for 2016 Lorain Lighthouse Sunset Dinners and tours.

The developments took shape since the start of 2016 in preparation for the summer season. The expanded schedule means the Lorain Port Authority will have a boat tour on the Black River planned for every day of July and August this year, said Port board member Steve Bansek.

The Port Authority will increase the number of trips and ticket prices in hopes of lowering the per-trip cost for the agency. Ticket prices also will go up from $12 to $14, $15 or $16, depending on the type of cruise.

That will allow the riverboat program to break even, or at least come close to breaking even, said Tiffany McClelland, economic development specialist, and Port Executive Director Rick Novak.

Last year, more than 1,000 people rode aboard the “Lady Charleston” and “Pride of Lorain,” the two, 26-foot charter boats operated by the Port.

Even so, the Port in 2015 lost about $10,000 operating the riverboat tours; the figure is based on factors such as what the Port spends each year on insurance, maintenance, repairs, cleaning, captain salaries. Staff noted the Port Authority is not a for-profit organization.

There were 90 tours scheduled and 78 completed in 2015, with a dozen canceled, usually due to bad weather. Ridership decreased slightly from 2014 to 2015, but Port staff attributed that to confusion about the online ticketing system for the boat rides.

For 2016, there will be short and long river tours, with the longer tours heading out past the Lorain Lighthouse. There will be more fall foliage tours, which tend to be sellouts, and some evening “haunted” cruises in October leading up to Halloween.

“Really, what it comes down to is we really think that it’s necessary to have a better brand on these trips,” McClelland said. “People need to know what they’re getting when they’re going on a trip.”

There will be Friday and Saturday evening walk-on cruises and Sunday brown bag brunch cruises.

“People are constantly asking to be able to bring food on the boats, our answer has always been ‘no,’” McClelland said. But this year, the Port will encourage picnic lunches on the boats, she said.

Passengers also frequently request to bring beer or wine on board, but that cannot be permitted because the vessels don’t have restrooms, Novak said. The vessels are rated to carry 18 passengers, and last year, operated with an average of 12 passengers a trip.

“In theory, if we were to max out all the boats, we would make money,” McClelland said. “But that’s not going to happen.”

The Port’s new online ticket system is scheduled to go live on March 1 at www.lorainportauthority.com.

This year, there also are changes for the Lorain Lighthouse Foundation.

The Port of Lorain Foundation Inc. formally changed its name to the Lorain Lighthouse Foundation Inc., which for years was the nickname of the nonprofit group that preserves and upgrades the Lorain Lighthouse.

Frank T. Sipkovsky has replaced Steven Luca as Lighthouse Foundation board chairman. New trustees are Rachel Costello, James Lumadue, Ron Mantini, Frank Papay and Carolyn Sipkovsky.

This year’s lighthouse tours are scheduled May 21 and 25; June 1, 12 and 29; July 13, 20 and 24; and Aug. 14 and 24.

The Lorain Lighthouse Sunset Wine Dinners will run on Tuesday nights from June 7 to Sept. 13. The cost is $125 and includes the boat ride to the lighthouse, a tour, wine and dinner catered by Jackalope Lakeside Restaurant.

The reservation line is 440-984-1012 for the lighthouse dinners.

Morning Journal


Seaway Notice No. 1 – Opening of the 2016 Navigation Season and Maximum Allowable Drafts

2/13 - The opening of the 2016 navigation season is scheduled to take place on the following dates at 8 a.m.
• Welland Canal: March 21
• Montreal / Lake Ontario Section: March 23.

Vessel transits will be subject to weather and ice conditions. Restrictions may apply in some areas until lighted navigation aids have been installed.

Opening of the Sault Ste. Marie Locks (U.S.A.) is currently scheduled for March 25, 2016. Please note the Notice to Navigation Interests released by the USA Army Corps of Engineers for further information.

Allowable Draft

In the Montreal / Lake Ontario Section, the maximum allowable draft will be 80.0 dm (26' 3") until the South Shore Canal is ice-free or April 15th, whichever occurs first, at which time, if water levels are favorable, the maximum draft will be increased to 80.8 dm (26' 6") for all vessels. In addition, there will be zero tolerance for ship's draft in excess of 80.8 dm (26' 6").

Mariners are reminded that for ships loaded to a draft greater than 80.0 dm (26' 3"), speeds will be monitored carefully between St. Lambert Lock and St. Nicolas Island. In the Welland Canal, a maximum allowable draft of 80.8 dm (26' 6") will be in effect from the start of the navigation season for all vessels. In addition, there will be zero tolerance for vessel drafts in excess of 80.8 dm (26' 6'').

Vessels equipped with an approved and operational draft information system will be permitted to transit at a draft of up to 7cm above the maximum allowable draft. Please note that, for vessels loaded to a draft greater than 80.0 dm (26' 3"), speeds will be monitored carefully between the upper entrance to Lock 7 and former Bridge 12 in order to reduce bank erosion in this area.

Great Lakes group enforces ballast water regulations on foreign vessels

2/13 - Cleveland, Ohio – Stowaways in the ballasts of European ocean freighters brought such insidious invasive creatures to Lake Erie as sea lampreys, zebra and quagga mussels, and round gobies.

But in recent years, increased enforcement of the Clean Water Act by the EPA and the U.S. Coast Guard has tightened controls on ships dumping ballast water into the Great Lakes, which has caused billions of dollars in economic and ecological damages.

This week, the Coast Guard announced that in 2015, every vessel bound for the Great Lakes Seaway from outside the Exclusive Economic Zone was subjected to a ballast water management exam.

According to the news release, the Great Lakes Seaway Ballast Water Working Group assessed all 8,361 ballast tanks on the 455 foreign-flagged vessels that passed through the Great Lakes during the 2015 navigation season.

The bi-national group consists of representatives from the Coast Guard, the U.S. St. Lawrence Seaway Development Corp., Transport Canada - Marine Safety & Security, and the Canadian St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corp. The group's mandate is to develop, enhance and coordinate bi-national compliance and enforcement efforts to reduce the introduction of invasive species via ballast water.

This is the seventh consecutive year the group ensured the examination of every ballast tank entering the Great Lakes via the St. Lawrence Seaway, according to the news release.

Last year, a federal appeals court ruled that the U.S. EPA had failed to adequately protect the Great Lakes from aquatic invasive species introduced in ballast water by ships from foreign countries after environmental groups sued the EPA. The court ordered the EPA to rewrite its regulations governing ballast water discharges from ships into the U.S. waterways.

Live creatures in ballast water can be removed or killed via filtration systems that remove oxygen from the water, the use of ultraviolet light to shock the water, or by the purification of the water with chlorine.

Ships pump ballast water into their holds to maintain stability in rough seas, or as cargo is loaded and unloaded. More than 21 billion gallons of ballast water are dumped in the United States each year.

Cleveland.com

[yachtsmanwilly]

Interesting article in the Detroit News this morning.

www.detroitnews.com/story/news/l . /80355380/



Sounds like by reading their Wiki page, everything was taken care of so Arnold could continue to operate.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnold_Transit_Company


I live in Mackinaw City and as the General Manager of a Hotel/Conference Center I work closely with all 3 ferries lines.We sell ferry tickets directly at the hotel for all 3 companies. The franchise for Island ferry service are regulated by the Island Village Government and Arnolds is the only company currently allowed to run during the "off season".
The past few years only Sheplers and Star Line have been able to offer high speed ferry service, 25 minutes one way allowing for several trips per hour based on several boats in the fleet. Arnold averages 45 minutes currently without their catamaran boats using only the slower old boats and running only one boat from Mackinaw City and St. Ignace per hour. This has put them at a disadvantage.
This all started some years back when Winn and his partners bought Arnold from the original owners. They tried through some underhanded maneuvering to block Sheplers and Star from having their franchises renewed when the time came due. Then they merged with Star for a season and again due to some devious actions on Arnolds part, the merger fell though.
The local business communities in Mackinaw City and St. Ignace were not happy with all the shenanigans and basically stopped promoting Arnolds. Many of the hotels on Mackinac Island canceled their freight contracts with Arnolds also.
In the past year with Winn now deposed, things have improved and hopefully they will be able to pull out of this death spiral.
Its a small community up here and we are all looking forward to the company and the jobs they provide being saved.

[Avenger]

Finest politicians money can buy!

[yachtsmanwilly]

All them bastards gotta have the fingers in the pie. Even MAC City (Pop 5000 year round; MAYBE), just a major tourist destination. Theyre all just greedy... ws

[skycheney]

Feb 16, 2016 7:21:03 GMT -5 yachtsmanwilly said:

Interesting article in the Detroit News this morning.

www.detroitnews.com/story/news/l . /80355380/



Sounds like by reading their Wiki page, everything was taken care of so Arnold could continue to operate.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnold_Transit_Company


I live in Mackinaw City and as the General Manager of a Hotel/Conference Center I work closely with all 3 ferries lines.We sell ferry tickets directly at the hotel for all 3 companies. The franchise for Island ferry service are regulated by the Island Village Government and Arnolds is the only company currently allowed to run during the "off season".
The past few years only Sheplers and Star Line have been able to offer high speed ferry service, 25 minutes one way allowing for several trips per hour based on several boats in the fleet. Arnold averages 45 minutes currently without their catamaran boats using only the slower old boats and running only one boat from Mackinaw City and St. Ignace per hour. This has put them at a disadvantage.
This all started some years back when Winn and his partners bought Arnold from the original owners. They tried through some underhanded maneuvering to block Sheplers and Star from having their franchises renewed when the time came due. Then they merged with Star for a season and again due to some devious actions on Arnolds part, the merger fell though.
The local business communities in Mackinaw City and St. Ignace were not happy with all the shenanigans and basically stopped promoting Arnolds. Many of the hotels on Mackinac Island canceled their freight contracts with Arnolds also.
In the past year with Winn now deposed, things have improved and hopefully they will be able to pull out of this death spiral.
Its a small community up here and we are all looking forward to the company and the jobs they provide being saved.

The link to Det news didn't work, but I found the story. Interesting how those people live in the winter.

[yachtsmanwilly]

I didn't read the story in the Detroilet paper, but knowing how things don't work over there don't surprise me none. For a hundred years that was such a BOOM town and has now degraded to not much more than a BOON town. Many fortunes were made there...What a pity. ws

[yachtsmanwilly]

2/17 - The Ports of Indiana, which includes Northwest Indiana's deepwater Lake Michigan harbor, handled a record 12.2 million tons of cargo in 2015.

Last year was the first in the Indianapolis-based port authority's history that Indiana's three ports handled more than 12 million tons. The tonnage surpassed the previous annual shipping record set in 2014 by a whopping 18 percent – about 1.8 million more tons of cargo.

The self-funding port authority operates the Port of Indiana-Burns Harbor, which is split between Burns Harbor and Portage, as well as two ports on the Ohio River in southern Indiana.

"Our port companies and stevedores who attract cargo to our ports did a tremendous job in 2015," Ports of Indiana CEO Rich Cooper said. "They've become masterful in leveraging Indiana's ports' year-round maritime access to world markets as well as connections to multiple Class I railroads and major highways and interstates. Their business performance in this uncertain economy is highly commendable, particularly in the coal and steel sectors."

Coal shipments rose by 69 percent as compared to 2014, and dried distiller grains shot up by 64 percent over the same period. Cement increased by 17 percent, and limestone posted a 12 percent year-over-year gain.

Steel imports, which have led to layoffs and idlings of domestic mills nationwide, increased by 18 percent in Indiana in 2015, as compared to 2014. Nationally, cheap and often illegally subsidized imports grabbed a record 29 percent of the U.S. market share.

"While we savor the victories our port companies achieved in 2015, we are mindful of the challenges they continue to face with the pressure on fossil fuels and steel prices," Cooper said. "Despite the difficult economy, steel shipments at our ports still reached an all-time high in 2015 with many of our 28 steel companies processing steel for the record number of new cars and trucks sold by the U.S. auto industry last year."

The Port of Indiana-Burns Harbor handled a total of 2.8 million tons of cargo, including dozens of fermentation tanks for the booming craft brewing industry. The Port of Indiana-Jeffersonville across from Louisville got 2.8 million tons of cargo last year, while of the Port of Indiana-Mount Vernon near Evansville handled 6.6 million tons.

The ports are doing so well Gov. Mike Pence has proposed building a fourth port in the southern part of the state. Gary and East Chicago also have expressed interest in another deepwater Lake Michigan port.

NWI Times





First-of-its-kind Pere Marquette car ferry made maiden voyage on this day in 1897

2/17 - Ludington, Mich. – One-hundred and nineteen years ago Tuesday, the legacy of modern Lake Michigan car ferries began. It was Feb. 16, 1897 when the Pere Marquette 15, the first all-steel car ferry, made its first crossing between Ludington and Manitowoc, Wis.

Built in 1896 by F.W. Wheeler Co. in Bay City and designed by naval architect Robert Logan, the vessel set the standard for Great Lakes car ferry design.

The "15" was the first of the Pere Marquette/C&O Fleet that would eventually include 12 more car ferries. The last, the still-in-operation SS. Badger, made its maiden voyage in 1957.

www.mlive.com/





Today in Great Lakes History - February 17

In heavy weather on February 17, 1981, the WITSUPPLY, b.) TRANSTREAM foundered in the Caribbean Sea off Cabo de la Vela, Colombia. She was being towed to the scrap yard at Cartagena, Columbia when she sank.

February 17, 1977 - The CITY OF MIDLAND 41 shortly after departing Ludington encountered a heavy ridge of ice that snapped all the blades off her starboard propeller. One of the blades ripped a hole two feet long by three inches wide, which caused the 41 to take on water, but pumps were able to keep her afloat. SPARTAN came out to free her but also became mired in the ice. On February 18 the cutter MACKINAW freed them.

1962: PINEMORE began Seaway service when the waterway was new in 1959. The ship was heavily damaged from a collision on Delaware Bay with the AMERICAN ARCHER and had to be beached. It was refloated on February 21, 1962, repaired and made it back to the Great Lakes later in the year. The vessel was lost as c) MALDIVE MAIL off Veravel, India, on May 31, 1975, following a fire and subsequent grounding.

1966: A rogue wave smashed the British freighter RIALTO on the Atlantic enroute from Saint John, NB to Aberdeen, Scotland, damaging the bridge. The ship was a regular Seaway trader beginning with 5 trips in 1962. It was ultimately scrapped at Whampoa, China, as b) SANDRA in 1971.

2010: The crankshaft aboard the Turkish freighter YAZUV SULTAN SELIM broke, disabling the vessel in the Ionian Sea southwest of Zakynthos. The ship was towed to Sicily and declared a total loss. Following a sale to Turkish shipbreakers, it arrived at Aliaga March 10, 2010, for dismantling. The ship had been a Seaway trader as a) RIO EXPLORER beginning in 1976 and as c) TURKAY B. beginning in 1993.


Fraser Shipyards in Superior buzzes around major project

2/16 - Superior, Wis. - No fewer than four wintering ships are visible on a trip over the Blatnik Bridge that connects the Twin Ports. Lyle McCorison came from three hours away to work aboard a ship during winter layup.

He stays with extended family in Oliver and relishes the opportunity. During a tour Friday of Fraser Shipyards' repowering of the 690-foot Herbert C. Jackson at drydock in Superior, McCorison described the work as the perfect respite from the power plants and oil refineries that dominate his other seasons.

"This is a change," he said, clapping his heavy cowhide gloves together. "It's fun to get on the ships."

The son of a ship's helmsman, Lyle Sr., McCorison started out himself as a merchant marine for four years on the oceans. The Edgar, Wis., man is now a longtime and proud member of the Boilermakers Local 107, based in Wisconsin.

"My dad drives 'em and I fix 'em," McCorison said of the ships.

An experienced welder and rigger, the bearded McCorison was one of a cast of men scrambling over steel as sparks flew below deck on the Jackson.

Having used the heavy crane positioned dockside to pluck the smokestack from the ship to gain access to the core, two shifts a day totaling 60 men are now dismantling her old steam engine. Awaiting installation are boulder-sized twin diesel engines shrink-wrapped on pallets on the dock.

The Jackson will be 57 years old on Saturday; the lake freighter is undergoing a process that will give it new life. "After this she'll have anywhere from 20-30 years left," Fraser President and Chief Operating Officer James Farkas said.

With the crane hook operating through the open void left by the smokestack removal, miles of piping and wiring and a half-million pounds of gears, steel housings and other stuff are being reduced to scrap that's hoisted and piled onto a nearby barge. Pipes that once ran continuously are now sheared and look fit for organ music.

"The boilers were 48 feet tall but now we're getting down to the nitty gritty," said Tom Curelli, yelling above the din as cutting torches flared all around him.

As Fraser Shipyards' vice president and a co-manager of the project, Curelli is overseeing a repowering that is the first of its kind at Fraser this century.

"I don't know how many gazillion times those gears have spun around," he said, pointing down at parts that dwarfed the men. "But they're still absolutely gorgeous."

Federal air-quality regulations and new efficiencies in engines are driving the industry's modernization movement. Work aboard the Jackson marks the fifth engine replacement or overhaul for Ohio's Interlake Steamship Co. since 2006. Locally, the 63-year-old, 768-foot steamer John G. Munson that's owned by Canadian National Railway's Duluth-based Great Lakes Fleet is being converted this offseason to diesel power at Bay Shipbuilding Co. in Sturgeon Bay, Wis. All told, United States vessel operators will spend $50 million in 2016 on modernizing ships.

It's attractive work for those qualified to do it — a group that includes workers from the Boilermakers Local 647 out of Minnesota and both Dakotas.

"I've done these a few times," McCorison said of repowering a ship, adding that there's strong camaraderie among the fresh-faced apprentices and rugged veterans who do the work. They appreciate the work almost as much as they appreciate their foreman, Troy Adams, whose modesty was on display as he preferred to let McCorison do the talking. "He's a great foreman," McCorison said in a sentiment echoed by others wearing the heavy canvas and leathers common to boilermakers.

"There is a romanticism for these guys in working on the ships," said Farkas, who led a small parade of observers over the gangway onto the ship.

Among those stepping cautiously over the red acetylene and green oxygen hoses that snaked throughout the vessel and fueled welders and torches alike was the Duluth Seaway Port Authority's Kate Ferguson. The Port Authority's director of business development, she professed her own affection to being around ships and took great interest in the goings on aboard the Jackson.

"Was there asbestos removal involved?" Ferguson asked.

"Every pipe carrying hot water or steam was insulated with asbestos," Curelli said. "We took close to 25,000 pounds of asbestos out of here."

When sailing the Great Lakes, the Jackson can regularly be found shuttling iron ore from Marquette, Mich., on Lake Superior to Detroit, just beyond the southern tip of Lake Huron. But for now, the hulking ship rests on blocks and is being prepped and readied for the installation of engines at the beginning of April. At least two days of sea trials on Lake Superior are set to begin June 23. Everyone expects the Jackson will be able to show off enhanced propulsion capabilities then, but the six-month project remains in its early stages.

"That will be the new control room over there," said Curelli, pointing to a hollowed out space below deck near a chopped and exposed fire pan that crawled with men using torches. The pan is a relic the size of a living room. It's on short-time now but for the longest time it dominated the stern end of the ship as its hearth.

"That's where the fuel was injected," Curelli said.

A dozen additional workers inside Fraser's on-site workshop have been fabricating new structural steel since last fall. The old hearth will give way to new structure and new components. Once installed, the Jackson's old-style riveted hull will disguise her modern appeal.

In addition to her new engines, the ship will receive a new gearbox and propeller system, exhaust gas economizers and an auxiliary boiler. The economizers allow the ship to harness the waste heat and energy from the main engine exhaust and produce "free steam" to heat the crew's accommodations and other systems.

Fraser hopes the work on the Jackson ushers in a new era for the 125-year-old company. In recent years, the shipyard had become a wintering place for maintenance work, like replacing worn-out steel plates on a hull. But $10 million worth of recent upgrades to the yard and its dock walls have companies like Interlake looking at Fraser with new eyes.

"We felt Fraser has proven its ability to do this repower," Interlake President Mark W. Barker said in December.

"This is a huge step forward for our shipyard and what we hope is the first of many large projects," Curelli said at the time.

Once the Jackson's old engine is completely dismantled, the installation of the new engine and its components will require the crew to take a more delicate and surgical approach, said McCorison.

"It's high-dollar stuff," he said. "We can't wreck anything."

Duluth News Tribune


EDWIN H. GOTT sailed on her maiden voyage February 16, 1979, in ballast from Milwaukee, bound for Two Harbors, Minnesota. This was the first maiden voyage of a laker ever in mid-winter. She was in convoy with three of her fleet mates; CASON J. CALLAWAY, PHILIP R. CLARKE and JOHN G. MUNSON each needing assistance from the U.S.C.G.C. MACKINAW to break through heavy ice 12 to 14 inches thick the length of Lake Superior. The GOTT took part in a test project, primarily by U.S. Steel, to determine the feasibility of year around navigation.

JAMES E. FERRIS was launched February 16, 1910, as the ONTARIO (Hull#71) at Ecorse, Michigan by Great Lakes Engineering Works.

On February 16, 1977, a four-hour fire caused major damage to the crews' forward quarters aboard the W.W. HOLLOWAY while at American Ship Building's South Chicago yard.

February 16, 1939 - The state ferry CHIEF WAWATAM was fast in the ice in the Straits of Mackinac. She freed herself the next day and proceeded to St. Ignace.

The little tug JAMES ANDERSON burned on Long Lake near Alpena, Michigan, on the morning of 16 February 1883. Arson was suspected.

1943: WAR OSIRIS was built at Port Arthur, Ontario, now part of Thunder Bay, in 1918. It was mined and sunk as c) LISTO near Spodsbjerg, Denmark, while enroute from Larvik, Norway, to Emden, Germany, with iron ore.