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Post by yachtsmanwilly on Mar 24, 2016 9:22:41 GMT -5
That's OK Krush... I know the business at hand on the Flybridge can be overwhelming... Don't make that mistake on your engineers' license exam HA HA !! Shut down the generator that's good and the one with the overheated field runs away; Hmmmm.... ws
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Post by Peasifier on Mar 24, 2016 19:31:59 GMT -5
Hey Krusher, did you read this gem from above?
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Post by yachtsmanwilly on Mar 25, 2016 5:10:40 GMT -5
That's why I posted that; you know how kids are!! ws  HENRY G. DALTON (Hull#713) was launched March 25, 1916, at Lorain, Ohio by American Ship Building Co., for the Interlake Steamship Co., Cleveland, Ohio – the company's first 600 footer. FRANK R. DENTON was launched March 25, 1911, as a.) THOMAS WALTERS (Hull#390) at Lorain, Ohio by American Ship Building Co. for the Interstate Steamship Co., Cleveland, Ohio. On March 25, 1927, heavy ice caused the MAITLAND NO 1, to run off course and she grounded on Tecumseh Shoal on her way to Port Maitland, Ontario. Eighteen hull plates were damaged which required repairs at Ashtabula, Ohio. The steamer ENDERS M. VOORHEES participated in U.S. Steel's winter-long navigation feasibility study during the 1974-75 season, allowing only one month to lay up from March 25th to April 24th. March 25, 1933 - Captain Wallace Henry "Andy" Van Dyke, master of the Steamer PERE MARQUETTE 22, suffered a heart attack and died peacefully in his cabin while en route to Ludington, Michigan. 1966: The French freighter ROCROI made one trip through the Seaway in 1959. The ship arrived at Halifax on this date in 1966 with interior damage after the 'tween decks, loaded with steel, collapsed crushing tractors and cars beneath. The vessel was repaired and survived until 1984 when, as e) THEOUPOLIS, it hit a mine en route to Berbera, Somalia, on August 14, 1984. The vessel was badly damaged and subsequently broken up in India. 1973: The former MONTREAL CITY caught fire as b) RATCHABURI at Bangkok, Thailand, on March 24, 1973. It was loading a cargo of jute and rubber for Japan on its first voyage for new Thai owners. The vessel was scuttled and sank on March 25 in Pattani Bay, South Thailand. The ship began coming through the Seaway for the Bristol City Line when new in 1963. |
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Post by yachtsmanwilly on Mar 28, 2016 6:16:39 GMT -5
3/28 - Burns Harbor, Ind. – The international shipping season is underway along the St. Lawrence Seaway, which includes the Port of Indiana-Burns Harbor. The port recently reported its second-highest level of cargo tonnage in more than two decades in 2015.
The Port of Indiana-Burns Harbor says it handled 2.8 million tons of cargo in 2015, driven in part by increased heavy-lift project cargoes, limestone, carbon products and oils. Port leaders say, while steel shipments were below 2014 levels, they remained ahead of the five-year average.
Earlier this year, Governor Mike Pence called on the Ports of Indiana to "vigorously explore" the possibility of a fourth state port.
The Seaway's 58th navigation season began with the transit of Canada Steamship Lines' Thunder Bay carrying a load of road salt. Chief Executive Officer Terrence Bowles says warmer weather is allowing the Seaway to open earlier, giving clients "the opportunity to move cargo in a timely manner, and make the most of the navigation season."
Bowles says a rebound in Canadian manufacturing, a solid U.S. economy and the potential for more European trade could boost Seaway tonnage in 2016.
NW Indiana Times
3/28 - Aboard The Thunder Bay – Ship captain Andrew Ferris slides the 225-metre-long Thunder Bay between the lock walls with little room to spare. As he awaits the go-ahead from the operators of Lock 2 on the Welland Canal in Southern Ontario, the ship laden with 29,000 tonnes of road salt is somehow floating 12 inches from the bottom.
“Every inch counts,” says Jamie Thorne, the ship’s first mate.
The margins are even tighter for the Thunder Bay’s owner, Canada Steamship Lines Inc., and the other companies that carry coal, ore and other industrial commodities on the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway. There are too many ships chasing smaller amounts of cargo amid a decline in steel prices and a slowdown in Chinese economic growth.
On the world’s oceans, the crisis is playing out on a grander scale.
“This industry looks like it is going through one of the worst times in its history and things don’t look like they are picking up any time soon,” says Aidan Garrib, a strategist at Pavilion Financial Corp. in Montreal.
Beginning in the early 2000s, the world’s fleet of ships that carry industrial commodities to China from Australia and Brazil swelled, driven by the belief that China’s appetite for raw resources was insatiable. “They thought Chinese demand was going to go on forever and they built this glut of ships,” Mr. Garrib says.
Shipping rates for coal, iron ore and grain, measured by the Baltic Dry Index, have plunged to record lows this year. Shipowners sent nearly 100 bulk carriers to the scrapyard in 2015, but need to get rid of three times that number this year before the supply-demand balance is reached, according to Bloomberg data. At the same time, China has ordered 30 new bulk commodity ships, ensuring the overcapacity and low rates will persist.
“It’s pretty gloomy,” says Allister Paterson, president of Canada Steamship Lines, which has a fleet of 19 domestic ships that serve the mines, mills and grain elevators along the water route.
Canada Steamship Lines is the domestic subsidiary of CSL Group Ltd., a Montreal-based company that has a fleet of dozens of freighters around the world. In the Great Lakes, its ships built to carry grain, ore and other bulk commodities number 19, a figure Mr. Paterson says is too many, given the 30-per-cent plunge in commodity volumes over the past two years.
“I can get rid of two … but beyond that you kind of want to hang on to them for the markets to come back,” he said.
Rival Algoma Central Corp., meanwhile, is retiring five bulk carriers ahead of schedule as steel production and demand for ore and coal slump. Algoma’s profit fell 12 per cent to $414-million in 2015. CSL is owned by the sons of former prime minister Paul Martin and does not reveal its financial results. Mr. Paterson says the company is making money, but not much.
Altogether, there are about 80 ships – call them lakers – on the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway. A quarter of these should be tied up, Mr. Paterson said.
The Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway is the 3,700-kilometre inland water route that links the Atlantic Ocean and global ports with the industrial and agricultural heartland of North America. For decades, shipping companies have relied on a steady flow of grain from the elevators on the lakes – particularly Thunder Bay, Ont. – to the terminals east of Montreal, where the crops are loaded onto ocean-going vessels for Europe, Africa and elsewhere. The lakers then sail back up the Seaway with iron ore from the mines of Quebec’s lower north shore. Then there’s the internal flow of steel and ore among the mines and steel mills on the lakes. But consolidation and bankruptcies in the steel industry have disrupted this flow. Two of the major steel makers – U.S. Steel Canada Inc. and Essar Steel Algoma Inc. – are in creditor protection and up for sale. Minnesota’s ore industry has seen seven of its 11 mines halt production.
Since 1996, the volume of mining commodities moving through the Welland Canal has fallen 35 per cent. Last year, cargo shipments on the St. Lawrence River fell almost 10 per cent, led by coal’s decline of 41 per cent.
These volumes won’t increase until next year, Mr. Paterson predicted. Until then, “you have to scrap ships and stop building ships and some companies will go out of business. On the Great Lakes market, we’re getting hit by that. Maybe not as much, but we’re getting hit as well,” Mr. Paterson said, before climbing aboard the Thunder Bay for the season’s first voyage down the Welland Canal.
The ship, one of six new bulk carriers the company is launching on the Seaway, represents a bulwark against the low rates. It boasts a fuel-efficient engine and technology that allows it to use smaller crews. With a computer screen and a mouse, a crew member can unload 4,500 tonnes of iron ore in one hour.
On this day, the red-hulled Thunder Bay is flying flags to mark the opening of the sailing season as it glides through the eight locks in the Welland Canal. The ceremony to herald the occasion includes speeches from local mayors, a top hat presentation to the ship’s captain and a prayer. The mood is cheery, despite the economic clouds that springtime and an early start to the year can’t dispel.
Terence Bowles, chief executive officer of St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corp., which runs the Canadian side on behalf of the federal government, said he is “moderately optimistic” about the coming season. “We have the U.S., which is showing good signs, we have Europe, which is also starting to improve,” he says in an interview.
As steel and its related commodities have plunged in demand, grain has emerged as the Seaway’s top commodity, Mr. Bowles says. The port of Thunder Bay and, increasingly, Hamilton, are major links between farmers and grain traders and buyers in Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America. “Grain is a growing business,” he said.
Mr. Garrib, the strategist, isn’t so sure. He points to the 10-per-cent decline in grain shipments in 2015. Canadian growers are facing increasing competition from such places as Argentina, where production is expected to double by 2025. “In the Great Lakes, the outlook for the main products looks pretty bad,” he said.
For the start of season, the Thunder Bay’s holds are full of road salt, not grain, not iron ore. The salt is carved from the underground mine at K+S Windsor’s operation in Windsor, Ont., and shipped to cities and towns all around the Great Lakes-Seaway. It’s a commodity Mr. Paterson calls “steady Eddie” because winter, unlike steel prices, can be counted on.
For all the computer wizardry that surrounds Mr. Ferris, the captain, in the wheelhouse of the $45-million ship, he relies on his eyes and his crew to ease the Thunder Bay through the Welland Canal and the locks.
“We have a few more tools to play with,” Mr. Ferris said at the controls of the freighter, “but it’s still a lot of looking out the windows.”
“Just a little more to port. Just a shade,” he tells the wheelsman as he prepares to enter another lock.
It’s a delicate manoeuvre that ships perform eight times to traverse the length of the canal that connects Lake Erie with Lake Ontario. The locks gradually lower the ship by 100 metres over 43 kilometres; nearby Niagara Falls drops much more abruptly. At the helm of the Thunder Bay, Mr. Ferris is at home. He’s been sailing for 37 years and is passing through the town of St. Catharines, where he grew up and still lives. From high up on the bridge, he can look out at the streets and neighborhoods he has known all his life. But there’s little time for reminiscing. The Thunder Bay and its salt are due at Bowmanville that afternoon, and a choppy Lake Ontario is in the way. So there’s the weather, the markets and a world that is trying to adjust. But as he noses the Thunder Bay into the final lock on the Welland Canal, it seems the captain, at least, has it all under control.
Globe & Mail
Retired U.S. Coast Guard Bramble has big role in new Batman movie
3/28 - Port Huron, Mich. – Amid all the familiar Metro Detroit locales featured in the film "Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice" is one that has been part of Port Huron since 1975.
The historic and retired U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Bramble, which normally is docked at the Seaway Terminal in Port Huron, has a pivotal role in the movie. The Bramble portrays a tramp steamer used to smuggle a large shipment of kryptonite into Gotham City.
"It was a big part of the movie," said Bob Klingler, who has owned the Bramble since 2013 and operates it as a museum ship. This past summer, he and the crew finished returning the ship to working order and took two shakedown cruises into the St. Clair River and Lake Huron to work out the bugs in the vessel.
"We ended up in three different scenes (in the movie)," Klingler said.
He and about 52 Bramble crewmembers and employees of Malcolm Marine – who helped tow the Bramble to Detroit for filming in May 2014 – watched the movie Thursday at Riverside Cinemas in Marine City.
"It was a great experience," Kilngler said. "It’s crossed off the bucket list. I don’t think it will happen again, but it was pretty cool."
Klingler said he portrays the captain and can be seen in the movie using the ship's crane to unload the shipment of kryptonite.
Port Huron Times Herald
Army Corps under Congressional investigation for Cuyahoga River dredging plan
3/28 - Washington, D.C. – A U.S. Senate subcommittee is reviewing allegations that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers deliberately cut money budgeted for dredging the Cuyahoga River, so that it could avoid disposing of the toxic sludge safely.
Sen. Rob Portman sent a letter Thursday to Defense Secretary Ashton Carter, asking for all documents related to the Corps' 2016 federal appropriation, the money allocated to the agency by the federal government. Portman also asked for a list of other projects that the Corps singled out for less funding than the White House sought in its 2016 budget request to Congress.
Carter is ordered to provide the documents no later than April 7.
"I want answers," said Portman, a Republican who chairs the Senate's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, in a statement.
At issue is where to put the sludge dredged from the bottom of the Cuyahoga River, to make it possible for giant freighters to navigate the river.
Last year, Congress, as it has in the past, appropriated $9.54 million for Cleveland harbor. The bulk of that was to pay for dredging the full navigable length of the Cuyahoga River and for proper confined-facility disposal of that dredge.
That's as opposed to the Corps' preference to just dump much of that dredge directly into Lake Erie offshore of Cleveland -- a proposal vehemently, and so far successfully, opposed by Ohio officials and by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency because of toxins in the dredge.
In his letter, Portman cited a cleveland.com editorial that described how the Corps lobbied the House and Senate Appropriations Committees to reduce its funding for the Cleveland Harbor project.
Lt. Col. Karl Jansen later confirmed that the Corps did ask for less money than the White House allotted.
Portman described the move in the letter to Carter as an "apparently self-inflicted budget-cut."
The cut prompted Will Friedman, head of the Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority to alert Portman that the Corps was trying to "circumvent" a federal judge's order that banned open lake dump.
"Part of the frustration with the Corps is that it's not forthcoming with information," Friedman said. "I'm pleased Sen. Portman is using the authority of his committee to figure out what's going on."
Craig Butler, head of the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, also praised Portman for taking a "substantial action" against the Corps rather than just talking about it.
"The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Buffalo District has not received a letter from Sen. Rob Portman, and it would be inappropriate for us to comment at this time," a spokesman stated in an email.
Cleveland.com
3/27 - Marquette, Mich. – This time, it's official. The Empire Mine will close at the end of 2016.
"We are shutting down the Empire Mine by the end of this year. So we will start the process of winding down operations and the warning notice will be distributed to the employees in the next month or so," Cliffs Natural Resources, Inc. CEO Lourenco Goncalves said. 400 people will be put out of work when the mine closes. Some will be able to relocate to the United Taconite Mine in Forbes and Eveleth, Minnesota.
"We are offering to Empire employees to relocate to Minnesota to work at UTac at the time of the reopening," Goncalves said. That reopening is scheduled to happen late this year.
Cliffs held its "state of the company" meeting March 23 at the Holiday Inn in Marquette. The company assured attendees that the Tilden Mine has several decades of high-quality ore left. It will continue at full operation for the foreseeable future.
Meanwhile, demonstrators from the United Steelworkers Union lined up outside. There is still no contract between the union and Cliffs. Protesters said they were upset about healthcare costs for retired employees on pensions. Their premiums were raised 70 percent in January.
Global prices for iron ore have sagged in recent years, partly due to an overproduction of steel in China. The steel is imported to the United States. In fact, 29 percent of steel in the U.S. last year was imported. A glut of steel lowers demand for American steel. Then American steelmakers order less American iron ore, lowering demand and thus prices.
Goncalves said Cliffs is going back to basics and refocusing on domestic U.S. markets. He said he was confident in the 168-year-old company's future.
The company said it would follow all necessary environmental procedures when the Empire Mine closes. Goncalves said Cliffs plans to "leave the land the way it was before the mine started."
Upper Michigan’s Source
3/27 - Duluth, Minn. – Cliffs Natural resources CEO Lourenco Goncalves said Wednesday that the idled United Taconite operations in Eveleth and Forbes would reopen later in 2016, saying the reopening depends on the further resurgence of the domestic steel industry.
About 400 United employees have been out of work since August when the operations shut down due to a lack of demand for Cliff's taconite iron ore pellets. One Iron Range official asked point-blank Wednesday: "When are you going to open the bloody thing" and put people back to work?
As he said earlier this year while speaking with industry analysts, Goncalves again said UTac would open sometime in 2016.
"It's our plan to bring UTac back later this year," he said, saying the reopening will happen as soon as Cliffs renews a contract to supply pellets for ArcelorMittal steel mills. When that happens, Goncalves said, he will spend $65 million to upgrade United operations to produce a "superflux" pellet specifically designed for ArcelorMittal's steel mill in Gary, Ind.
That steel mill currently is being supplied by Cliffs' Empire operations in Michigan, which is slated to permanently close in coming months.
"Because we are going to invest $65 million in capital expenditures into that plant ... we are not going to deploy that capital until we have a contract," Goncalves said. "I know the anxiety of people, I understand that. But I can assure you we are going to have this plant running again this year."
Cliffs announced last week that it would reopen its Northshore Mining operations in Silver Bay and Babbitt in May after being idled since November.
Duluth News Tribune
3/27 - Duluth, Minn. – Cliffs Natural Resources CEO Lourenco Goncalves on Wednesday said he wants to build a direct-reduced iron plant in Minnesota and strongly hinted he'd like to do it at the now half-built Essar Steel Minnesota site in Nashwauk.
Goncalves, speaking at Cliffs' annual breakfast briefing with Iron Range business and civic leaders, said the strongest future for his company and for Minnesota's taconite iron ore industry lies in producing products — namely direct-reduced iron — that can be used in electric arc furnace steel mills that now supply nearly two-thirds of the domestic steel market.
Minnesota taconite iron ore now goes almost entirely to feed the older-technology blast furnaces that account for only about 35 percent of U.S.-made steel.
"We are only scratching the surface with one-third of the market" by producing traditional taconite pellets for blast furnaces, Goncalves said.
"We need to put a DRI facility in Minnesota," he said, adding that he needs support from state government and gas and electric utilities to make the project happen. "If Minnesota wants it, we are going to have a DRI plant here."
The electric arc mills mix that more-pure iron with recycled old steel to make new steel products. Most of the iron they now use comes from overseas, such as Brazil.
Goncalves said the new DRI facility would cost up to $750 million to build, unless he could find already existing infrastructure. If Minnesota regulators cooperate, Goncalves said, obtaining financing would not be difficult. The plant probably would employ dozens if not hundreds of people.
The DRI plant would produce iron pellets or nuggets made from Minnesota taconite iron ore that is first made into a DRI-ready pellet. Cliffs can now make those pellets at its Northshore Mining operations in Silver Bay/Babbitt, and pellets from there have gone to a DRI plant in Trinidad and Tobago.
But Goncalves said he would rather have a "dedicated" ore body, mining operation and processing plant to feed a new DRI iron production plant. And because the iron ore at the Essar site is unusually low in silica, Goncalves noted, it is perfect to be made into direct-reduced iron. The plant also already has all needed environmental permits.
He also implied that, if Cliffs could somehow take control of the half-built Essar site in Nashwauk, the cost to start up a DRI operation would be greatly reduced. That plant, owned by India-based Essar, has been under construction for years, with progress in fits and spurts. Work has been halted since Christmas with no sign the company can raise the money needed to finish the $1.9 billion project.
"It's clear something has to happen there ... We're going to deal with that situation," Goncalves said of the Nashwauk project.
When asked if he was thinking of buying the Nashwauk facility, Goncalves laughed and said "from now on, that will be on the top of my list," but then declined to make additional comments, saying he was bound by corporate governance regulations.
He earlier said the Essar plant as a taconite producer is "a place of imagination. ... A place of fiction" that may never produce any finished product. Goncalves has criticized state subsidies for Essar, saying that if the new plant opened it likely would put one of Cliffs' plants out of business in an already saturated domestic market.
Essar invited Goncalves to tour the Nashwauk site last year in an apparent effort to shop the project to Cliffs, but Goncalves at that point wasn't biting.
Now, Essar not only appears out of cash to move forward but has been sued by several vendors for not paying its bills, in some cases for tens of millions of dollars. The company also owes the state of Minnesota nearly $66 million for repayment of a state grant because it didn't create jobs at a proposed iron plant at the Nashwauk site by 2015. The first installment on that debt is due April 1. It's unclear if the company will make that deadline.
Goncalves met with Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton earlier this week and apparently talked about both the prospect of a DRI plant in the state and what will happen with Essar. Dayton told the News Tribune that the talks were "productive" but declined to elaborate.
Goncalves said he was optimistic about the long-term future of not just his company but the domestic steel industry and the iron ore industry that supplies it with raw material. He said federal efforts to crack down on illegally "dumped" steel in the U.S. have helped keep foreign steel out and are working to slowly increase production of U.S.-made steel.
"We are absolutely back on track," the outspoken CEO said.
Without that federal action, Goncalves said — praising Minnesota's congressional delegation for convincing the hateful muslim traitor administration to act — cheap, imported steel may have overwhelmed the U.S. steelmaking industry. Tariffs as high as 266 percent have been imposed on foreign steel.
He praised the late-December Iron Range meeting between Minnesota officials and White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough.
"That's the day everything changed" and the federal government began to take steel dumping seriously, Goncalves said.
Because the U.S. economy remains strong — with automakers, construction companies and other manufacturers busy — the steel and iron ore industries can make money in the U.S. as long as they compete on a level playing field, he said.
Goncalves also was bullish on the future of the 168-year-old company he has headed since August 2014.
"There is absolutely no threat of Cliffs going away," Goncalves said, noting he has reduced the company's debt from $3.6 billion to $2 billion even at a time the price for Cliffs' product is at historically low levels — and he vowed to cut that debt to $1 billion soon.
"Imagine what I can do when iron ore prices are better," Goncalves said.
He noted his company has shed unprofitable coal businesses in the U.S. and iron mining in Canada and has refocused solely on Minnesota and Michigan iron operations, with a remnant iron operation in Australia. That limited focus will help guarantee Cliffs' future for another "100 years," Goncalves said.
He said the company is virtually bankruptcy-proof — no bank or investor has the ability to force the issue — as long as it continues the cash flow to pay creditors and employees.
Goncalves on Wednesday also said Cliffs' Empire taconite operations in Michigan's Upper Peninsula will close down in a matter of months as the mine is virtually out of iron ore.
Goncalves was slated to go to Empire this week to tell employees in person that he will soon be giving the federal government official Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act notice of the shutdown that will affect 350 jobs. Some of those workers may go to the nearby Tilden operations, and others could backfill at Minnesota operations if openings become available. But Goncalves said it's likely most won't get positions in the company.
Goncalves said Tilden will continue to operate at its current production level for the foreseeable future, with decades of ore remaining at that site west of Marquette, but he said any future growth of iron ore production in his company will come from Minnesota and not Michigan operations.
"The growth is here" in Minnesota, he told reporters Wednesday.
Pellets that had been made at Empire will in the future be made at United Taconite in Eveleth/Forbes, Goncalves said
Goncalves urged Iron Range residents to battle back against perceptions that Minnesota iron ore mining is a threat to the environment, saying every piece of steel not made in China is good for the Earth because steelmaking in the U.S. produces far less pollution.
"If you really want to take care of the (global) environment, take care of the steel industry in the United States," he said. "Chinese steel hurts the environment."
Because Chinese steel is made with sinter ore, a process that spews particulate matter into the atmosphere, it causes far more environmental and human health damage. The lack of controls on that pollution is another reason Chinese steel has an unfair advantage, he said.
St. Louis County Commissioner Tom Rukavina asked Goncalves how to battle back against environmental groups and public perception labeling Iron Range mining as a polluting relic.
The News Tribune reported earlier this month that the Environmental Protection Agency is investigating state regulators over allegations that some mining pollution discharge permits have been expired for years, even decades.
"We're getting pounded with the incorrect message of what mining does in Northeastern Minnesota," Rukavina said.
"We need to start to deploy this message more and more" on the environmental stewardship of Minnesota iron mining, Goncalves told Wednesday's gathering.
Cleveland-based Cliffs owns both United and Northshore and is co-owner and operator at Hibbing Taconite and the Empire and Tilden operations in Michigan, as well as an iron ore mine in Australia.
Duluth News Tribune
The steamer b.) EDWARD S. KENDRICK was launched March 27, 1907, as a.) H.P. McINTOSH (Hull#622) at West Bay City, Michigan, by West Bay City Ship Building Co. for the Gilchrist Transportation Co., Cleveland, Ohio.
Nipigon Transport Ltd. (Carryore Ltd., mgr., Montreal, Quebec) operations came to an end when the fleet was sold on March 27, 1986, to Algoma Central's Marine Division at Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario.
On 27 March 1841, BURLINGTON (wooden sidewheeler, 150 tons, built in 1837, at Oakville, Ontario) was destroyed by fire at Toronto, Ontario. Her hull was later recovered and the 98-foot, 3-mast schooner SCOTLAND was built on it in 1847, at Toronto.
On 27 March 1875, the steamer FLORA was launched at Wolf & Davidson's yard in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Her dimensions were 275-foot keel x 27 foot x 11 foot.
On 27 March 1871, the small wooden schooner EMMA was taken out in rough weather by the commercial fishermen Charles Ott, Peter Broderick, Jacob Kisinger and John Meicher to begin the fishing season. The vessel capsized at about 2:00 p.m., 10 miles southwest of St. Joseph, Michigan and all four men drowned.
C E REDFERN (wooden schooner, 181 foot, 680 gross tons) was launched at West Bay City, Michigan by F. W. Wheeler (Hull #65) on 27 March 1890. Dimensions: 190' x 35' x 14.2'; 680 g.t.; 646 n.t. Converted to a motorship in 1926. Foundered on September 19, 1937, four miles off Point Betsie Light, Lake Michigan. The loss was covered in an unsourced news clipping from Sept. 1937: Freighter Wrecked Eleven Are Saved. Ship Founders in Lake Michigan. Sault Ste. Marie, Sept. 20 - (Special) - Eleven members of the crew of the 181-foot wooden-hulled freighter C. E. Redfern, which foundered in Lake Michigan on Saturday night four miles northwest of Point Betsie Lighthouse, were rescued by coastguard cutter Escanaba. The men were landed safely at Frankfort, Michigan, and it is reported that considerable wreckage of the cargo of logs, decking and deckhouse of the ill-fated vessel were strewn about and floating towards shore.
1916: The steel bulk carrier EMPRESS OF MIDLAND came to the Great Lakes for the Midland Navigation Co. in 1907 and left in 1915 when requisitioned for war service in 1915. The vessel hit a mine laid by UC-1 nine miles south of the Kentish Knock Light on this date in 1916. The ship developed a starboard list and 18 took to the lifeboat. Five more sailors jumped into the English Channel and were picked up by the lifeboat. The vessel, en route from Newcastle, UK to Rouen, France, with a cargo of coal, subsequently sank.
1964: The Victory ship MORMACPINE came through the Seaway on 13 occasions between 1960-1967. Fire broke out in the cargo hold on this date in 1964 while en route to Bermuda and U.S.C.G. HALF MOON escorted the vessel to safety. The ship resumed trading until arriving at the scrapyard in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, on July 18, 1970.
1965: The Norwegian tanker NORA began Great Lakes visits in 1960. It caught fire and burned in the English Channel after a collision with the large tanker OTTO N. MILLER 10 miles south of Beachy Head in dense fog at 0737 hours on March 27, 1965. The vessel was a total loss and arrived at Santander, Spain, under tow for scrapping in June 1965.
1979: FEDERAL PALM was built by Port Weller Dry Docks in 1961 and left the Great Lakes for Caribbean and later South Pacific service. The passenger and freight carrier was sailing as b) CENPAC ROUNDER when it was blown aground by Typhoon Meli on Vothalailai Reef in the late night hours of March 27, 1979. The hull was refloated on April 27 but was beyond economical repair and arrived at Busan, South Korea, for scrapping in June 1979. The image of this Great Lakes built ship has appeared on postage stamps issued for both Grenada and Tulavu.
Coast Guard ends Operation Taconite icebreaking effort
3/26 - Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. – Coast Guard Sector Sault Ste. Marie has concluded its domestic ice breaking operation, also known as Operation Taconite. With the ice throughout the western Great Lakes nearly melted, ice breaking in support of commercial navigation is no longer required.
Early Friday morning, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers opened the Soo Locks. The Roger Blough cleared the Poe Lock at 1:32 am signaling the start of the 2016 Great Lakes navigation season. Since the opening, two downbound ships and three additional upbound ships passed through the locks without delay.
This winter, ice coverage throughout the Great Lakes never significantly impacted commercial navigation. In contrast to the 2014 and 2015 winter navigation seasons, 2016 ice coverage pales in comparison. Nonetheless, the seven U.S. Coast Guard cutters assigned to Operation Taconite still conducted 1,200 hours of domestic ice breaking in support of United States and Canadian shipping interests.
It is estimated nearly 2 million tons of dry bulk and liquid cargoes, valued at more than $70 million dollars (US), were shipped during the 72-day winter navigation season. These commodities were crucial to sustaining industrial production and power generation for the Great Lakes region during the winter months.
USCG
3/26 - Duluth, Minn. – Armed with a dustcloth and toothbrush, Rebecca Gordon worked from a ladder to polish the replica pilothouse at the Lake Superior Maritime Visitor Center last week. Over her shoulder was a lake stirred up by a winter storm.
It was the right day to be inside as big waves crashed ashore and swells pulsed through the canal outside. Gordon, a park ranger with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, stopped cleaning for a moment to take stock of what was unfolding.
"I keep looking for whale spouts," said Gordon, a recent transplant from Alaska where she also worked as a park ranger. "It truly is an inland sea."
Gordon was joined throughout the center's two stories by a busy cadre of volunteers and fellow park rangers. They were getting the center into shipshape condition as it moved from weekend hours in winter to daily hours for the tourist season.
The gallery windows overlooking the lake from the center — especially on a bad-weather day — are one place tourists can use to take in the ships that arrive and depart through the canal. With the start of the Great Lakes shipping campaign this week, the system's most inland port becomes a gawker's paradise.
"The subculture of boatnerds and maritime enthusiasts — they're wonderful and passionate people," said Tammy Sundbom Otterson, executive director of the nearly 700-member Lake Superior Marine Museum Association. "We wouldn't exist without them. It's what Duluth is all about."
One of the first attractions tucked into Canal Park, the free museum has faced every sunrise, every squall and every visiting ship since 1973. It receives more than 400,000 visitors annually.
In the engine room below the gallery, Stan Salmi of Duluth and others employed sweet-smelling metal polish as they buffed every length of copper tubing, each brass fitting and all the bronze bushings they could reach across several antique marine engines.
"We like to have them sparkling before things open for the season," said Salmi, a longtime association member. Across the room from Salmi was Dave Poulin. Both 74, they were in the Navy together and go way back.
Poulin polished hard-to-reach places on a Loew-Victor gasoline engine he donated to the museum years ago. "I want to get down to the nameplate on it to take a picture of it," Poulin said. "It leaked an awful lot of oil, and it was hard to start."
After struggling earlier this century following personnel cuts within the Corps of Engineers, the museum is back on solid ground. "It's the volunteers that drive this," Sundbom Otterson said. "It's amazing the time they put in."
The center's exhibits evolve annually to stay current, and new pieces get introduced to the collection. The association also is using money from its membership drives, annual lake freighter cruise raffle and Gales of November conference to explore bigger projects outside of the museum.
Sundbom Otterson said the association recently received $5,000 worth of grant money to explore the possibility of restoring the Minnesota Point Lighthouse at the end of Park Point. The lighthouse is a graffiti-ridden relic and has appeared on the doomsday list of most-endangered lighthouses by Lighthouse Digest.
"We're waiting to get engineers out there to do a survey of what can be done," Sundbom Otterson said. "It's boarded up and looks pretty bad. It needs attention. Lighthouses are considered a national treasure."
Duluth News Tribune
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Post by yachtsmanwilly on Mar 29, 2016 4:31:13 GMT -5
N. M. Paterson & Sons, PRINDOC (Hull#657) of Davie Shipbuilding Co., Ltd., Lauzon, Quebec, was sold off-lakes during the week of March 29, 1982, to the Southern Steamship Co., Georgetown, Cayman Islands and was renamed b.) HANKEY. Later renamed c.) CLARET III in 1990, d.) S SARANTA in 1992, e.) PLATANA IN 1997, Scrapped at Alaiga, Turkey in 1997.
On 29 March 1888, D. D. JOHNSON (wooden propeller tug, 45 foot, 17 gross tons) was launched at E. Saginaw, Michigan. She was built for Carkin, Stickney & Cram and lasted until 1909.
1973: MANCHESTER TRADER, the second ship of this name to visit the Great Lakes, was owned by the Prince Line when it first came inland, on charter to Manchester Liners Ltd., in 1964. The ship was renamed e) WESTERN PRINCE in 1969 and also transited the Seaway that year. It became f) MARINER in 1971 and was abandoned in the Pacific on this date in 1973. The ship was leaking in heavy weather en route from Havana, Cuba, to Kobe, Japan, and was presumed to have sunk about 35.00 N / 152.47 E.
1973: DAVID MARQUESS OF MILFORD HAVEN, one of the longest named saltwater ships to visit the Great Lakes, was the first saltwater ship of the season upbound in the Seaway.
1990: The MAYA FARBER visited the Great Lakes in 1981. It arrived at Alang, India, under tow for scrapping on this date following an explosion and fire off Port Sudan as d) RAAD AL-BAKRY VIII on January 15, 1990.
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Post by yachtsmanwilly on Mar 30, 2016 3:40:26 GMT -5
Every day is an adventure on the Great Lakes
3/30 - Port Huron, Mich. – Just like the fickle waters he navigates, George Haynes’ job is always changing. Each day brings a new crew, a new ship, new weather, and a new challenge for the lakes pilot.
“I can be sent anywhere,” Haynes said. “I could be six hours on the river between Port Huron and Detroit or I could be 18 hours going across Lake Erie.”
Haynes is a pilot with the Lakes Pilots Association.
The company is one of three on the Great Lakes that provide piloting services to foreign vessels entering the lakes from the ocean. Foreign vessels are required by both the U.S. and Canada to have an American or Canadian pilot on board since the foreign ship officers aren’t licensed in the U.S.
The American or Canadian pilot helps handle communication with other vessels and ports, or gives them advice on how to safely navigate the rivers and waterways.
“That’s why they need a pilot, somebody who knows how to get a big ship through these narrow waterways,” Haynes said.
Lakes Pilots Association provides pilots on Lake Erie, the Detroit River, the St. Clair River and all the ports in between.
That means Haynes is getting on ships just north of the Blue Water Bridge, under the Ambassador Bridge at the entrance of the Welland Canal or at any port in the Lakes Pilots’ district. And getting on and off isn’t as easy as it sounds.
“We climb up the side of the ship on a rope ladder with wooden slats while the ship is moving,” Haynes said. The up to 35-foot climb — while the ship is in motion — is necessary to keep the ships on schedule.
“We’re all kind of used to it. I don’t think much about it unless we have 10-foot seas and then it’s kind of wild.”
Haynes said making decisions on high seas isn’t easy either. Haynes remembers, on one occasion, waiting for more than two days outside Toledo in November 2014 before he was able to bring a ship to port.
“There’s a lot of pressure,” he said. “The docks, the agents, and tugboats are waiting for you to come in, but it’s my decision. There’s a lot of money on the line.”
The Lakes Pilots busiest season is in the fall and early winter. The operations shuts down completely from January to March, when the closure of canals in the St. Lawrence Seaway make it impossible for foreign vessels to move into the lakes.
Haynes said the pay for the piloting job isn’t much when compared with pay for pilots outside of the Great Lakes. He declined to list an average pay as it fluctuates year to year. Haynes said lakes pilots are working on increasing the pay, especially considering the unique skills required of Great Lakes pilots.
“We have some of the most difficult routes and conditions on the Great Lakes in the country,” Haynes said.
“These are big ships and some of these channels, we have two feet or less beneath the ship to the bottom of the river. When the ships go into the locks, they might have two feet of extra space on either side.”
Haynes said he’s loved the Great Lakes since he was a boy, but it’s the constantly changing demands of his job that keep him on the water.
“In about five minutes after getting on board I have a good idea of what I need to do to get the ship from point A to point B,” Haynes said. “As we go I get a good feeling for how the ship is handling. Pilots are quick studies. You have to be.”
Port Huron Times Herald
The tanker CHEMICAL MAR arrived at Brownsville, Texas on March 30, 1983, in tow of the tug FORT LIBERTE to be scrapped. Built in 1966, as a.) BIRK. In 1979, she was renamed b.) COASTAL TRANSPORT by Hall Corp. of Canada, but never came to the lakes. She was sold by Hall and was renamed c.) CHEMICAL MAR in 1981.
March 30, 1985 - CITY OF MIDLAND's departure was delayed when her anchor snagged one that she had lost in Pere Marquette Lake the previous summer.
March 30, 1900, the carferry ANN ARBOR NO 2, grounded on the rocks east of the approach to the channel at Manistique, Michigan. She was pulled off quickly by the ANN ARBOR NO 3 and the tug GIFFORD. She was found to have bent a propeller shaft and broken rudder, resulting in a trip to the drydock at Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
1917: GERMANIC was the last wooden passenger ship built in Collingwood. It was completed there in 1899 and burned there, at the dock, on this date in 1917. The ship was part of Canada Steamship Lines at the time of loss. The hull settled on the bottom but was raised, towed towards Wasaga Beach, and run aground. The remains were torn apart for firewood during the Depression.
1940: The first THORDOC, a) J.A. McKEE, stranded at Winging Point, 10 miles southwest of Louisbourg, N.S., due to heavy fog. The ship was abandoned on April 1 and declared a total loss. This member of the Paterson fleet had been travelling in ballast and had been involved in Great Lakes trading since 1908.
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Post by yachtsmanwilly on Mar 31, 2016 2:56:23 GMT -5
Shippers concerned over increased pilotage rates on St. Lawrence Seaway 3/31 - Cape Vincent, N.Y. – The U.S. Coast Guard wants to add 18 pilots on the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway system over the next two years, a move shipping interests say will add about 50 percent to their pilotage rates. Every foreign-flagged commercial vessel that transits the Seaway system has to be guided by a U.S. or Canadian pilot. Under federal law, the Coast Guard annually reviews the amount shippers must provide three pilots’ associations to cover the costs of providing pilot services. In 2015, there were 36 registered pilots available for service, a number the Coast Guard wants to increase to 48 by the start of the 2017 shipping season and to 54 by the close of the season. The Coast Guard projects that in 2016 the new rate will result in shippers paying pilot associations an additional $1,865,025, or about 12 percent, more for the service. The Coast Guard also proposes that shippers pay a “temporary surcharge” of $1,650,000 for the cost of hiring and training new and current pilots. In all, the total cost increase in 2016 for shippers will be $3,515,025, or nearly 23 percent, over 2015 rates. When the additional costs are extrapolated for 2017, shippers fear they are facing more than a $6 million, or about 50 percent, increase in rates over a two-year period. In total, the cost shippers pay will increase from about $15.59 million in 2015 to $17.4 million in 2016. That comes on the heels of what shippers claim has been about a 115 percent increase in pilotage rates over the past decade. Several international shipping companies, along with the American Great Lakes Port Association, U.S. Great Lakes Shipping Association and the Shipping Federation of Canada have objected to the rate increase. The Coast Guard initially proposed in September to increase the rates by 50 percent for the 2016 season, but amended its order March 7 to call for a two-year implementation period after receiving comments from the shippers and associations. The new rates are due to take effect April 6, but the shippers and associations claim the Coast Guard has relied on faulty methodology in determining the rates and asking for its review to continue, with rates staying at 2015 levels until this is completed. “We’re asking them to hit the pause button,” Steven A. Fisher, executive director of the U.S. Great Lakes Shipping Association, Washington, said. “Our concern is that this is unsustainable in the long term.” In a March 14 letter to Coast Guard Rear Adm. Paul F. Thomas, the shippers question new methodology the Coast Guard adopted this year in calculating rates, which among other things ties U.S. pilots’ compensation to that of their Canadian counterparts, who are federal employees. The shippers contend that the Coast Guard simply employed a “random” multiplier to Canadian pilot compensation rates, rather than doing an economic analysis of numerous variables, including “cost of living, healthcare costs, pilotage costs, tax regimes, currency, government provided benefits and pilot work functions.” “The Coast Guard shouldn’t be picking numbers out the sky in determining what pilots are paid,” Mr. Fisher said. Shippers also question the need for 16 additional pilots, contending that the Coast Guard is basing that figure on 2014 numbers, when early season ice on the upper Great Lakes required an extended double pilotage period, but there was no atypical increase is overall ship traffic. The Coast Guard maintains that there is a shortage of qualified pilots, which has prompted it to propose an increase in targeted compensation from about $235,000 in 2015 to $326,000 in 2016 in order to attract new pilots. The compensation includes benefits and ancillary costs, in addition to wages. In the letter to Rear Adm. Thomas, the shippers argue that the Coast Guard has made no provision to ensure that additional rates going to the pilots’ associations will be used to pay for a full complement of 54 pilots, rather than “simply flow to the bottom line...of a smaller number of pilots.” “The impact of an allowance for attraction of potential new personnel before they appear creates a perverse incentive for pilotage associations to resist major staffing increases in favor of dividing increased revenue among fewer pilots,” the letter states. John Boyce, president of the St. Lawrence Seaway Pilots Association, Cape Vincent, which provides pilotage services on the St. Lawrence River and Lake Ontario, could not be reached for comment. The rate dispute highlights an ongoing concern the maritime industry has about the Coast Guard establishing the rates in the first place. The Great Lakes Pilotage Act of 1960 delegates the authority to set rates to the Coast Guard, but Mr. Fisher said shipping concerns “don’t like the regulated monopoly structure the Coast Guard uses.” “It leaves the Coast Guard and bureaucrats deciding the competitiveness of the St. Lawrence Seaway,” he said. Shipping companies are free to employ their own pilots, but those pilots would be subjected to the same pilotage rates as those dictated for the three pilots’ associations, which are not labor unions but help set schedules and work rules. In the 1990s, a ship captain from Massena, Richard J. Menkes, tried to form his own independent pilotage district, but after about a 10-year court battle was thwarted. Mr. Fisher said the current setup requires shippers to pay a set amount for pilotage services, but there is no mechanism in place for shippers to be given a “rebate” if actual pilotage costs in a given year are lower than projected. “I’ve been doing this for 20 years and we have never known the Coast Guard to initiate any cost-cuttings or cost returns in Great Lake pilotage,” he said. The Coast Guard’s final rule for 2016 pilotage rates sets the rates for this year only and will be reviewed and adjusted in subsequent years. Watertown Daily Times Michigan city leery of Coast Guard's plans to drop year-round rescue staffing 3/31 - Frankfort, Mi. – Josh Mills isn't going down without fighting for Frankfort. In this Northern Michigan community, where the U.S. Coast Guard has had a presence since before it even took that name, Mills, the city's superintendent, is pushing back against plans that apparently will leave the Lake Michigan shoreline without a year-round station north of Manistee. Mills, however, isn't looking for a scorched-earth battle. Rather he's advocating for the region and the safety of its residents who live, work and play – and the tourists who fuel part of the economy - in what he calls the big lake's most dangerous stretch of waters. "We cherish the Coast Guard being here," said Mills. "But it's of great concern to everyone if they are not here. It's a treacherous stretch of water and it's too far to not have personnel here. Any rescue, I fear, will be too late." Mills is on edge over the Coast Guard's message to him that they want to meet on April 5 to talk about "modern response capabilities and plans for optimization and seasonalization." LINK: By Nate Reens | nreens@mlive.com Follow on Twitter on March 30, 2016 at 8:20 AM Michigan city leery of Coast Guard's plans to drop year-round rescue staffing FRANKFORT, MI – Josh Mills isn't going down without fighting for Frankfort. In this Northern Michigan community, where the U.S. Coast Guard has had a presence since before it even took that name, Mills, the city's superintendent, is pushing back against plans that apparently will leave the Lake Michigan shoreline without a year-round station north of Manistee. Mills, however, isn't looking for a scorched-earth battle. Rather he's advocating for the region and the safety of its residents who live, work and play – and the tourists who fuel part of the economy - in what he calls the big lake's most dangerous stretch of waters. "We cherish the Coast Guard being here," said Mills. "But it's of great concern to everyone if they are not here. It's a treacherous stretch of water and it's too far to not have personnel here. Any rescue, I fear, will be too late." Mills is on edge over the Coast Guard's message to him that they want to meet on April 5 to talk about "modern response capabilities and plans for optimization and seasonalization." The plan calls for the Frankfort station to be staffed essentially from Memorial Day to Labor Day. The officers would then shift 35 miles south to the Manistee station for the off-season months while still being responsible for the waters north of Arcadia to Leland and the Manitou Passage. Rescue operations could also come from helicopters stationed in Traverse City about 40 miles away In Mills' mind, that's too broad of an area to respond in an emergency situation. "There's no boat in the world that can get from Manistee to our area efficiently and there are situations where helicopters are not effective," he said. Coast Guard officials in Milwaukee did not return requests for comment. Frankfort appears to be the only target for contraction along the Michigan coast. City leaders fended off a similar attempt in 2000, Mills said. Two years later, the Coast Guard built a new station in the city and the old structure was purchased and renovated as the Elizabeth Lane Oliver Center for the Arts. Rescue services began in Frankfort with the U.S. Lifesaving Service, the predecessor to the U.S. Coast Guard, in 1887. There has been a year-round presence in the area since While the Northern Michigan summer season marks the busiest time of the year, the activity level is growing across the year, Mills said. Off-season surfing and diving has picked up and kayakers and stand-up paddleboard interest takes people on the lake at all times. "Recreation doesn't start or stop at the holidays," Mills said. "There are still activities in full force that could require a need for their service and the demand is always going to be expanding. "The Coast Guard fills a huge void for safety and for mutual aid of our local departments." Mills said the Coast Guard members and their families are part of the area socially and economically. He says the presence gives the community a sense of place, noting personnel volunteer at events and become woven into the region during their assignments. Seven former station leaders have found Frankfort such an important part of their lives that they have retired and returned to the area. One was recently hired as the city's harbormaster. "Our mentality is that this a critical component of our area and we are going to fight to keep them here," Mills said. Fitzgerald program caps Door County Maritime Museum speaker series 3/31 - Sturgeon Bay, Wis. – The Door County Maritime Museum’s Maritime Speaker Series concludes Thursday, April 7, with a program by photographer and Great Lakes historian Christopher Winters on the Edmund Fitzgerald. His presentation is centered on the new book “The Legend Lives On” which he produced along with Bruce Lynn, Executive Director of the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society. The program begins at 7 p.m. at the museum in Sturgeon Bay. It corresponds with the closing of the museum’s 40th anniversary tribute exhibit to the Great Lakes’ most famous shipwreck, which will run through the following week. Winters, whose maritime photo essays have previously been exhibited at the museum, is the staff photographer at the Discovery World Museum in Milwaukee and three-term board member of the Great Lakes Historical Society (GLSHS). “I’ll be talking about the Fitzgerald, about GLSHS operations at Whitefish Point, and about the book – what it is, and what it is not, and how it came to be over the course of a dozen years,” said Winters, whose award-winning “Centennial: Steaming Through the American Century,” chronicled life aboard the century-old steamer St. Marys Challenger. Maritime Speaker Series programs are free of charge with a nonperishable food donation requested. Call (920) 743-5958 or visit www.dcmm.org for more information. Door County Maritime Museum On 31 March 1971, the American Steamship Company's RICHARD J. REISS grounded at Stoneport, Michigan, while moving away from the dock. She damaged her number nine tank. Christening ceremonies took place at St. Catharines, Ontario, on March 31, 1979, for d.) CANADIAN PROSPECTOR, lengthened by Port Weller Drydocks Ltd. ROGER M. KYES (Hull#200) was launched March 31, 1973, at Toledo, Ohio, by American Ship Building Co. Renamed b.) ADAM E. CORNELIUS in 1989. WILLIAM R. ROESCH was renamed b) DAVID Z. NORTON in christening ceremonies at Cleveland, Ohio, on March 31, 1995. The PAUL THAYER was also renamed, EARL W. OGLEBAY, during the same ceremonies. JOSEPH S. WOOD was sold to the Ford Motor Co. and towed from her winter lay-up berth at Ashtabula, Ohio, on March 31, 1966, to the American Ship Building's Toledo, Ohio, yard for her five-year inspection. A 900 h.p. bowthruster was installed at this time. She would be rechristened as c.) JOHN DYKSTRA two months later. The steamer b.) J. CLARE MILLER was launched March 31, 1906, as a.) HARVEY D. GOULDER (Hull#342) at Lorain, Ohio, by American Ship Building Co., for W.A. & A.H. Hawgood of Cleveland, Ohio. On March 31, 1927, the WILLIAM MC LAUGHLAN entered service for the Interlake Steamship Co. when she departed Sandusky, Ohio for Superior, Wisconsin, on her maiden trip. Later renamed b.) SAMUEL MATHER in 1966, sold Canadian in 1975, renamed c.) JOAN M. MC CULLOUGH, and finally d.) BIRCHGLEN in 1982. Scrapped at Point Edward, Nova Scotia, by Universal Metal Co. Ltd. On 31 March 1874, E. H. MILLER (wooden propeller tug, 62 foot, 30 gross tons) was launched at Chesley A. Wheeler's yard in E. Saginaw, Michigan. The power plant from the 1865, tug JENNIE BELL was installed in her. She was renamed RALPH in 1883, and spent most of her career as a harbor tug in the Alpena area. She was abandoned in 1920. 1974: The nine-year old Liberian freighter CAPE PALMAS first came through the Seaway in 1969 after it had been purchased from Swedish interests. The vessel was at Bilbao, Spain, undergoing repairs, on March 31, 1974, when a blaze broke out aft and caused extensive damage. This was repaired and the ship resumed trading. It was converted to the cement carrier c) ASANO in 1978 and served until arriving at Shanghai, China, for scrapping on September 10, 1993. 1999: VARADERO was the first new ship of the 1991 season to use the Seaway. It was bound for Toronto with a cargo of sugar. This bulk carrier was sailing as e) MANPOK, and under North Korean registry, when it sank on this date in 1999 following a collision with HYUNDAI DUKE some 500 miles off Colombo, Sri Lanka, while inbound from Jakarta, Indonesia, with a cargo of cement. Two crew members were rescued while another 37 were posted as missing. 2011: BBC STEINHOEFT got stuck in the Seaway on this date in 2011. The Liberian registered freighter had just been renamed at Toronto, having entered the lakes as BELUGA FUSION. It lost power near the St. Lambert Lock and ended up sideways and blocking the channel until she was refloated and realigned. |
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Post by yachtsmanwilly on Apr 1, 2016 5:12:35 GMT -5
4/1 - Cleveland, Ohio – Every urban spelunker knows the site – the abandoned and shuttered U.S. Coast Guard Station that has stood sentry off the shores of Cleveland's Whiskey Island for decades. But this spring, the historic structure will begin its new life. Thanks to a partnership between the city, Cleveland Metroparks, the Cleveland Foundation, PNC Bank and the Burning River Foundation, the station's crumbling concrete façade and the grounds upon which it sits will be refurbished, repainted, planted and restored. And one day, in the not-too-distant future, the facility could become home to a youth rowing program, a kayak or standup paddleboard rental operation or agencies focused on conservation, said Sean McDermott, chief planning and design officer for the Metroparks. "Those will come with time," McDermott said in a recent interview on the steps of the old station. "But we need to take this first step to clean and green the property to show the public just the potential that the property does have." Earlier this month, City Council approved legislation permitting the Metroparks to adopt the city-owned station for three years, during which the Metroparks will maintain the facility and oversee $500,000 worth of improvements funded by the other project partners. The upgrades will include repairs to the concrete on and around the structure, fresh white paint on the exterior, grass and landscaping and new windows with the historic look and feel of the originals. McDermott said the public might eventually be able to access the lookout tower, too. The inside of the facility will be designed based on how it will be used, he said. City Councilman Matt Zone, who sponsored the legislation and represents the ward that includes Whiskey Island, said during a recent council Finance Committee meeting that he had been searching for the perfect operator for the old station for years. It was built in 1938 – designed by J. Milton Dyer, the same architect who designed Cleveland City Hall. It was abandoned in 1976, when the U.S. Coast Guard moved its base to East 9th Street. And two years later, ownership was transferred to the city, which initially planned to use it as a water quality station. Those plans never panned out, and the property eventually ended up in the hands of the Jacobs Investments Management Co., which attempted to operate it as a bar and disco for one season in the early 1990s. A vestige of that failed venture -- a decrepit wooden deck -- hangs off the station's boathouse today. The city acquired the station again in 2003 -- buying it from Jacobs for $1 -- and since then has invested in a new roof, has pumped water from the flooded basement and has kept it relatively secure from vagrants and vandals, Zone said. Beyond that, the city just hasn't had the money to do much else with it. When the Metroparks took over management of Whiskey Island last year, Zone said, it just made sense to make the coast guard station -- located on the mouth of the Cuyahoga River, at the end of a 1,000-foot pier -- a part of that arrangement. Metroparks conducted a feasibility study on the project and presented the city with a list of potential partners. The rest, as they say, is history – and hopefully, a future for a long-abandoned Cleveland landmark. Cleveland.com American Great Lakes Pilots increase ranks by 22 percent 4/1 - All three of the American Great Lakes Pilotage Districts added three pilots each to their ranks to start out the 2016 shipping season, bringing the total number of pilots from 41 to 50. The U.S. Coast Guard’s 2016 Pilotage Rate Methodology has increased funding to provide for 48 pilots. The U.S. Coast Guard increased the funding of pilotage based on complaints and comments from shipping industry users in 2014 and 2015 to reduce delays and the costs associated. In July 2014, the Shipping Federation of Canada wrote to the U.S. Coast Guard, “We therefore respectfully request the U.S. Coast Guard take prompt action to correct the untenable situation that exists today, including moving forward on the recommendations noted and any other changes required to improve the pilotage system in the Great Lakes.” The Federal Great Lakes Pilotage Advisory Committee (GLPAC) also made recommendations to increase the amount of pilots. Recommendations by the National Transportation Safety Board were made in 2013 to maintain adequate levels of pilots in the United States to reduce fatigue levels. For many years, U.S. Great Lakes pilots have been the lowest paid pilots in the country considering the difficulty of routes, hours and conditions. Therefore, they have been unable to attract qualified and experienced pilots. Their numbers have dropped to the lowest levels since the St. Lawrence Seaway opened in 1959. The Coast Guard is now getting criticism for bringing the number of pilots, and their compensation level, to a fair and comparable rate to other United States coastal ports and waterways. Since 2007, nine ocean shipping companies that provide frequent service to the Great Lakes have built 117 Seaway size bulk and general cargo vessels that have traded on the Great Lakes. Total U.S. and Canadian Great Lakes pilotage costs account for 2% of total voyage costs for foreign flag shippers. In 2014, Canadian pilotage charges were $111.7 million and U.S. pilotage charges were $13.0 million, or 90% and 10% respectively. The Canadian portion of the Seaway charged lockage fees of $76.2 million while the U.S. portion, which includes the Soo Locks, was free. Icebreaking fees to shippers for the Canadian Coast Guard are estimated to be between $6 and $21 million depending on the severity of the season. Icebreaking service provided by the U.S. Coast Guard is free to shippers. American pilots work for the interests of the United States people in protecting the U.S. Great Lakes environment, ports and waterways infrastructure and security. Since 1959, they have provided safe, reliable and efficient service to the users of the Great Lakes/Seaway System. Lakes Pilots Association, Port Huron, Michigan Coast Guard seeks comment on demolition of keeper’s dwelling at Sturgeon Bay 4/1 - Sturgeon Bay, Wis. – The U.S. Coast Guard is proposing to demolish a housing unit located on federal property at Coast Guard Station Sturgeon Bay. Originally built in 1896 as a lightkeeper's dwelling, the building has undergone numerous interior and exterior renovations over its history and is no longer used for housing personnel. It was first altered in 1904 when an extension was added, more than doubling its original size. It was later converted into a carpentry shop, then back to housing for Coast Guard personnel. The building is currently unoccupied and is deemed substandard and unlivable because it is no longer structurally sound. It has potential health and safety hazards to would-be residents because of asbestos in the plaster and prior use of lead-based paint. The Coast Guard has made a determination that the proposed demolition will not adversely affect the nearby historic structure, the Sturgeon Bay Canal Lighthouse. The public is invited to send comments or input regarding this proposed undertaking to Wayne Kean at wayne.e.kean@uscg.mil or 216-902-6258 by April 8. USCG 4/1 - Detroit, Mich. – If Canadian oil transport giant Enbridge's twin, 62-year-old underwater pipelines in the Straits of Mackinac were to burst, areas from Harbor Springs on the Lake Michigan side down to Saginaw Bay and the Thumb area on the Lake Huron side could be affected by the escaping oil, the latest computer modeling research shows. All told, under all of the 840 different time-of-year and weather scenarios, a total of more than 700 miles of Great Lakes shoreline could be vulnerable to a Line 5 leak, in both the U.S. and Canada. That's about the distance between Detroit and Omaha, Neb. And up to 152 miles of coastline could face an onslaught of oil under one particular, worst-case-scenario spill. Under almost all of the spill possibilities considered in the modeling, Mackinac Island, Bois Blanc Island, and the coastline around Mackinac City face oil landing on shorelines, the study shows. Read more, and view charts at www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2016/03/31/enbridge-line5-pipeline-oil-spill-straits-study/82442480/ Army Corps threatens to cut Lake Erie projects if blocked from open-lake dumping 4/1 - Cleveland, Ohio – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has threatened to cut Lake Erie projects to fight algae blooms and Asian carp if the agency is prevented from dumping dredged sediment into the open lake, U.S. Sen. Rob Portman said today. "They haven't said this publicly yet, but I just did," Portman told a meeting of officials from the Port of Cleveland, the Ohio EPA, the Greater Cleveland Partnership and reporters Thursday morning. An Army Corps spokesman said no determination has been made on which projects or regions would be impacted by the Cleveland Harbor dredge-disposal decision if additional funds are required. Portman came to Cleveland to discuss the ongoing conflict over open-lake dumping between the Army Corps, the Port Authority and the EPA, and to provide an update on an investigation underway by a Senate subcommittee he chairs. The Army Corps maintains that the dredged sediment is clean enough for open-lake dumping. Port and EPA officials disagree, contending the sediment is too contaminated with PCBs and other pollutants to dump untreated into the lake about nine miles from shore. The Senate's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations is reviewing allegations that the Army Corps deliberately cut more than $3 million budgeted for dredging the Cuyahoga River, then claimed it didn't have enough money to dispose of the sediment in containment dikes. Portman has asked Defense Secretary Ashton Carter for all documents related to the Corps' 2016 federal appropriation. Carter was given an April 7 deadline for providing the documents. Port officials told Portman that the Cleveland Harbor dredging project was the only example where the Army Corps asked Congress for a cut in funding in the Lower 48 states last year. With a week left until the deadline, Portman said he had no indication that Carter would attempt to block or delay turning over the requested documents. But he said he would be prepared to act if problems arise. "We have subpoena power and we intend to use it if necessary," Portman said. Meanwhile, Port President and CEO Will Friedman said he is "very likely" to file motions in federal court for an injunction and temporary restraining order if the Army Corps fails to comply with a 2015 court order to dredge the shipping channel and dispose of the sediment in a containment dike. "This bureaucratic gamesmanship won't work," Portman said. "I want to be darn sure that dredging occurs and that we have predictability there...to get the iron ore shipments up the Cuyahoga River." Last week, the EPA certified the Army Corps' request to dredge the six-miles of Cleveland's shipping channel, but denied permission to dump the sediment in the open lake. The Army Corps' Lt. Col. Karl Jansen responded with a letter asking the agency to reconsider its decision, said Kurt Princic, chief of the EPA's Northeast District Office. "We are currently analyzing Ohio EPA's Section 401 water quality certification, and seeking to understand the scientific basis of the director's decision," Jansen said today. The Army Corps maintains that its open-lake disposal plan "would comply with applicable water quality standards, would not pose an unacceptable risk to Lake Erie, and would not result in a measurable increase of PCB bio-accumulation in fish populations," Jansen said. By capturing much of the river sediment before it reaches the shipping channel, and recycling and selling a large quantity for construction purposes, the Port Authority has greatly reduced the need for lakefront storage facilities, Friedman said. The current storage dike being used has a life of at least 20 years, and as much as 80 years, before it is filled, Friedman said. Cleveland.com On 01 April 1887, W. T. Botsford & Company of Port Huron, Michigan bought the COLORADO (wooden propeller package freighter, 254 foot, 1,470 gross tons, built in 1867, at Buffalo, New York). She was added to their two other vessels: DEAN RICHMOND and ROANOKE. STEWART J. CORT was commissioned on April 1, 1972. In April 1965, Interlake's steamer J. A. CAMPBELL was renamed c.) BUCKEYE MONITOR after being purchased by the Buckeye Steamship Co. Realizing that the bulk trades were too competitive, Captain John Roen's Roen Transportation Co. sold the CAPTAIN JOHN ROEN to the American Steamship Co. (Boland & Cornelius, mgr.) on April 1, 1947, for $915,000. ROY A. JODREY started her first full season opening navigation at the Soo Locks April 1, 1966, with a load of stone for Algoma Steel. Dismantling of the G. A. TOMLINSON, a.) D. O. MILLS, began in Ashtabula, Ohio, on April 1, 1980, and was completed eight months later. April 1, 1903 - Gus Kitzinger of the Pere Marquette Line steamers, acquired the PERE MARQUETTE 3 & 4 from the Pere Marquette Railway Co. Sailors at Chicago went on strike on 1 April 1871, for an increase in pay. They were getting $1.50 a day. Some ship owners offered $1.75 but when word came that the Straits of Mackinac were clear of ice, the sailors demanded the unheard of daily wage of $3.25. Although some ships stayed in port, the $1.75 wage was accepted and the barks MARY PEREW, J G MASTEN and C J WELLS, along with the schooners DONALDSON, PATHFINDER and CHAMPION set sail on 1 April 1871 On 1 April 1904, CONDOR (2-mast wooden schooner, 58 foot, 22 gross tons, built in 1871, at Sheboygan, Wisconsin), while lying at anchor in the Kalamazoo River at Singapore, Michigan, was crushed by ice moving out in the spring breakup. 1941: ROBERT W. POMEROY had served the Eastern Steamship Co. as well as Upper Lakes & St. Lawrence Transportation Co. while on the Great Lakes from 1923 to 1940. It went overseas and worked for the British Ministry of War Transport hauling coal on coastal routes. While north bound on April 1, 1942, the ship hit a mine and, four minutes later, a second mine and went down in the North Sea off Norfolk, U.K. Twenty-two survived although two were injured when the boiler exploded. 1942: The Norwegian salty GUDVANG came to the Great Lakes in 1939. It was intercepted by a German patrol boat between Denmark and Norway, while trying to escape to England, on this date in 1942. The ship was sunk by gunfire and the crew became prisoners of war. 1968: GHISLAIN was more at home on the St. Lawrence, but had delivered pulpwood to the Great Lakes in the late 1960s. It had several escapades during these years including a grounding while entering Yarmouth, NS with 1400 tons of herring on this date in 1968. The vessel was repaired at Liverpool, NS. It was listed as g) ANIK in 1974 and in need of repairs. While it was not deleted from LR until 1986, the ship was likely broken up in the mid-1970s. 1983: REGENT MARIGOLD visited the Great Lakes in 1975 under Panamanian registry. It was sailing as d) LEXINGTON when the hull fractured in a storm while en route from Bukpyong, South Korea, to Bangladesh. It went down on this date about 200 miles northwest of Penang, Malaysia. |
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Post by yachtsmanwilly on Apr 4, 2016 5:29:18 GMT -5
04 April 1903: The first steamer to pass upbound through the Straits of Mackinac was the LUZON (steel propeller bulk freighter, 353 foot 3,582 gross tons, built in 1902 at Chicago, Illinois). She was heavily coated with ice, even to the top of the pilothouse due to fighting a gale on Lake Huron.
On 04 April 1908, ALEXIS W. THOMPSON (steel propeller bulk freighter, 504 foot, 6,437 gross tons) was launched by West Bay City Shipbuilding Co. (Hull #625) at W. Bay City, Michigan for Valley Steamship Co. (W.H. Becker, Mgr.). She lasted until 1962, when she was towed to Hamilton, Ontario, for scrapping by Steel Co. of Canada, Ltd.
The keel was laid at Bay Shipbuilding, Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin on April 4, 1978, for the Columbia Transportation Div., Oglebay Norton Co.'s FRED R. WHITE JR (Hull#722).
Sea trials of the tanker ROBERT W. STEWART (Hull#802) of American Shipbuilding Co., Lorain, Ohio were run on April 4, 1928. Renamed b.) AMOCO MICHIGAN in 1962, she was sold off the lakes in 1969 and renamed c.) SHUKHEIR. Scrapped in Egypt in 1989.
WILLIAM C. ATWATER (Hull#249) was launched on April 4, 1925, by the Great Lakes Engineering Works, for the Wilson Transit Co. Renamed b.) E. J. KULAS in 1936, c.) BEN MOREELL in 1953, d.) THOMAS E. MILLSOP in 1955. Sold Canadian in 1976, renamed e.) E. J. NEWBERRY and f.) CEDARGLEN 1981. Scrapped at Port Maitland, Ontario in 1994.
FRED G. HARTWELL (Hull#112) was launched April 4, 1908, by the Toledo Shipbuilding Co., for the Mutual Steamship Co., G. A. Tomlinson, mgr. Renamed b.) HARRY W. CROFT in 1917. Scrapped at Santander, Spain in 1969.
Interlake Steamship's E.G. GRACE became the first Maritimer to be sold for scrap when she was acquired by Marine Salvage on April 4, 1984.
JEAN-TALON was launched April 4, 1936, as a.) FRANQUELIN (Hull#1517) by Swan, Hunter and Wigham Richardson Ltd. for the Quebec and Ontario Transportation Co. Ltd.
The harbor tug and fire boat EDNA G was launched April 4, 1896, by the Cleveland Ship Building Co., as (Hull#25), for the Duluth, Missabe & Iron Range Railroad Co.
On April 4, 1983, and on April 4, 1984, the WILLIAM CLAY FORD, opened the shipping season at Duluth, Minnesota. While the WILLIAM CLAY FORD was traditionally among the first vessels to visit Duluth-Superior, it was coincidence that she opened the port on the same day during her last two seasons in service.
On 4 April 1872, the schooner JOHN WESLEY was launched from Bailey's yard at Toledo, Ohio. She was built for Skidmore & Abairs. She was classed as a full-sized canaller and cost $22,000.
On 4 April 1881, the last two vessels of the Northern Transit Company, CHAMPLAIN and LAWRENCE, were sold to D. H. Day & Company of Grand Haven, Michigan.
1969: The Liberty ship CORINTHIAKOS made three trips to the Great Lakes beginning in 1960. It had been built as a tanker but rebuilt as a bulk carrier in 1955. The ship was sailing under Liberian registry as h) PACSTAR when it ran aground in a storm on the north shore of Toshima, Tokyo Bay en route from Kure, Japan, to Portland, Oregon, in ballast. The bottom was opened to the sea and the engine room was flooded. Salvage efforts were unsuccessful and the ship was abandoned as a total loss and sold for scrap.
1969: The self-unloader HOCHELAGA of Canada Steamship Lines hit the breakwall stern first while turning with the help of tugs at Conneaut, Ohio. The cargo of coal was lightered to MANITOULIN and HOCHELAGA had to go to Port Colborne for repairs.
1997: ELIJIANNI, a Greek bulk carrier, had visited the Great Lakes in 1979. It was sailing as d) KEKOVA when it was in a collision with the VASILIOS III, a Greek tanker, in the Sea of Marmora on this date in 1997. There were temporary repairs to the port bow but the 27-year-old vessel was sold for scrap and arrived at Aliaga, Turkey, for dismantling on June 2, 1997.
Ex-Canadian Miner scrap deal leads to court battle
4/3 - Antigonish, N.S. – Antigonish marine building and demolition company R.J. MacIsaac Construction is suing Inmarca Holdings for breach of contract, according to a lawsuit filed in Supreme Court of Nova Scotia this week.
R.J. MacIsaac was contracted to remove the wreck of bulk carrier Canadian Miner off Cape Breton’s Scaterie Island for $11.9 million after the ship ran aground in 2011. The lawsuit alleges that Ontario-based Inmarca failed to pay an agreed $230 per metric tonne for 8,000 tonnes of scrap metal resulting from the ship’s scrapping.
R.J. MacIsaac, headed by Boyd MacIsaac, is seeking damages for alleged breach of contract, interference with contractual and economic relations and bad faith.
The company further alleges that Inmarca agreed the demolition company would buy a ship called the Catherine Desgagnes, deliver it to Louisbourg then sell it to Inmarca, to transport the metal. This part of the deal was valued at $500,000, the suit said. The ship was delivered to Sydney Harbour in January but Inmarca did not pay for or take the ship, the lawsuit said.
The company also alleges it then tried to mitigate losses by selling the ship and the metal to India-based Aim Recycling Group, but that Inmarca then called Aim and interfered with that deal by claiming to own both, resulting in R.J. MacIsaac getting a lower price for the ship and the scrap.
Inmarca has not filed a defense.
The Chronicle Herald
Michigan Coast Guard station gets helicopter with 'throwback' design
4/3 - Traverse City, Mich. – A life-saving piece of history touched down in Northern Michigan on Friday when the U.S. Coast Guard Air Station in Traverse City took delivery of its new MH-65D helicopter.
The helicopter, which will be used for search-and-rescue missions among other work, is one of just eight helicopters nationwide that the military has adorned with its centennial "throwback" paint design, according to the station's Facebook page.
It brings the number of helicopters based at the Traverse City station to four. With her tail number as a moniker, she's known as "Coast Guard 6517"
"Look for her over the skies of the Great Lakes as she is a permanent addition to our other 3 MH-65Ds based in Traverse City!" Coast Guard staff said on social media.
Its retro look is part of the U.S. Coast Guard's Aviation Centennial, which this year is celebrating 100 years of Coast Guard aviators.
Read more and see a video at this link
On 03 April 1969, RALPH MISENER (steel propeller bulk freighter, 730 foot, 19,160 gross tons, built in 1967, at Montreal, Quebec) suffered serious fire damage to her engine room during fit-out at Port Colborne, Ontario. She went overseas for scrap in 2012 as b.) GORDON C. LEITCH (ii).
On April 3, 1991, the pilothouse of the WILLIAM CLAY FORD of 1953 was moved by a barge towed by Gaelic tug's CAROLYN HOEY and placed on a specially built foundation at the Dossin Museum for display facing the Detroit River as a fully equipped pilothouse.
The tanker a.) TEMBLADOR (Hull#15) of the Barnes Ð Duluth Shipbuilding Co., was launched April 3, 1943, for the Creole Petroleum Corp, for off lakes use. She later sailed on the lakes as b.) LIQUILASSIE.
On 3 April 1872, the passenger/package freight steam barge ROBERT HOLLAND was launched at Marine City, Michigan. She was towed to Detroit by the propeller TRADER to have her machinery installed.
On 3 April 1876, the Port Huron Times reported "The wreck of the schooner HARMONICA, which has been missing for a month or more, has been discovered on the beach near Whitehall, Michigan completely buried in the ice. Four are supposed to have perished."
On 3 April 1894, WILLIAM H. BARNUM (wooden propeller freighter, 219 foot, 937 gross tons, built in 1873, at Detroit, Michigan) was carrying corn on her first trip of the season. She was reportedly in poor condition and was insured only for this voyage. Her hull was cut by floating ice and she sank in the Straits of Mackinac about two miles east of present Mackinac Bridge. The tug CRUSADER got her crew off before she sank.
1942: The second TABORFJELL to visit the Great Lakes for the Fjell Line was torpedoed and sunk in the Atlantic east of New Jersey on this date by U-576. The vessel was en route from Matanzas, Cuba, to New York and Montreal with sugar. The three survivors waited for 20 hours before being rescued. Another 17 crewmates perished. The 1339 gross ton vessel first came inland shortly after being delivered in August 1938.
1975: The self-unloader J.W. McGIFFIN of Canada Steamship Lines was blown aground in the Welland Canal near Thorold. Two holes were punched in the hull and they were repaired at Port Weller Dry Docks. The ship was rebuilt as CSL NIAGARA in 1999.
Lead concerns halt work on Herbert C. Jackson
4/2 - Superior, Wis. – The presence of lead paint has halted work on a project at Fraser Shipyards in Superior. According to an email from Fraser President James Farkas, the company "has confirmed the existence of lead paint on some recent work areas and surfaces."
Work on the affected areas stopped Tuesday and a certified remediation organization has been contracted to remove paint in all areas that will be disturbed, Farkas said. The shipyard also will provide free lead level screening for all team members through Essentia Health.
When work resumes on the project, additional safety precautions will be used, including air monitoring testing, HEPA vacuums for spot cleanups and improved ventilation.
"Fraser takes the health and safety of our team members very seriously," Farkas wrote in the email. "Our team is committed to work to ensure a safe and hazard-free workplace."
The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) began investigating Fraser Shipyards in February in response to a complaint. In addition to lead, the OSHA website indicates that the investigation also is looking into levels of chrome 6, also known as hexavalent chromium, which may be generated during welding on stainless steel or metal coated with chromate paint. The OSHA investigation remains open.
Officials with Boilermakers Local 647 told WDIO-TV that the lead paint was found on the 57-year-old freighter Herbert C. Jackson, which is being converted to a diesel-propulsion system.
Duluth News Tribune
USCG seeks help, offers reward for information on laser incident in Grand Haven
4/2 - Milwaukee, Wis. – The Coast Guard announced Friday a monetary reward for validated information leading to the individual or individuals responsible for the illumination by green laser of a Coast Guard boat in Lake Michigan near Grand Haven, Mich., Saturday.
This incident follows eight others on the western shoreline of Michigan over the past year, during which a Coast Guard search and rescue vessel or aircraft was deliberately illuminated by a laser.
About 11:30 p.m. Saturday a boat crew from Coast Guard Station Grand Haven was conducting a routine patrol when the side of the vessel was illuminated with a high-intensity green laser. The Coast Guard members immediately noticed the green laser, originating from either the north or south pier head entrance light, and quickly turned away. The laser hit the side of the vessel and did not injure any of the crewmembers' eyes.
Green lasers present a significant risk to boat crews operating at night, and a delay during a search could result in the death of the person or people the Coast Guard is attempting to rescue.
Anyone who witnesses someone committing this federal crime should immediately call 911 to report the incident. Anyone with information about this or any previous case should contact the Coast Guard Investigative Service at 216-902-6140 or the Ottawa County Dispatch at 1-800-249-0911. Callers can remain anonymous and may receive a cash reward for validated information.
USCG
Today in Great Lakes History - April 2
A total of 60 ore boats departed Cleveland between March 31 and April 2 to start the 1948 shipping season.
On 02 April 1900, the JOHN MINER (wooden 3-mast schooner, 134 foot, 273 gross tons, built in 1866, at Detroit, Michigan as a bark) was purchased by S. R. Chamberlain from Frank Higgie for $800. She only lasted until 19 October 1902, when she was lost in a storm on Lake Huron.
On April 2, 1951, CLIFFS VICTORY was towed, bound for New Orleans, Louisiana, with her deck houses, stack, propeller, rudder and above deck fittings stored on or below her spar deck for bridge clearance. She was outfitted with two 120-foot pontoons, which were built at the Baltimore yard, that were attached to her hull at the stern to reduce her draft to eight feet for passage in the shallow sections of the river/canal system.
LEON FALK JR. was launched April 2, 1945, as a.) WINTER HILL, a T2-SE-Al, World War II, a single-screw fuel tanker for U.S. Maritime Commission.
CLIFFORD F. HOOD was launched April 2, 1902, as the straight deck bulk freighter a.) BRANSFORD for the Bransford Transit Co., (W. A. Hawgood, mgr.).
SENATOR OF CANADA sailed under her own power on April 2, 1985, to Toronto, Ontario, where she was put into ordinary next to her fleet mate the QUEDOC. She was scrapped in Venezuela in 1986.
WHEAT KING was lengthened by an addition of a 172 foot 6 inch mid-section (Hull #61) and received a 1,000 h.p. bowthruster. This work reportedly cost $3.8 million Canadian and was completed on April 2, 1976.
On April 2, 1953, the straight deck bulk freighter J. L. MAUTHE (Hull#298) of the Great Lakes Engineering Works entered service for Interlake Steamship Co. She operates currently for Interlake as the self-unloading barge PATHFINDER.
April 2, 1975 - The State of Michigan filed a Federal Court suit to stop the Grand Trunk Railway from selling the GRAND RAPIDS. It was felt that selling the ferry would build a stronger case for abandonment of the entire ferry service.
On 2 April 1874, A. H. HUNTER (wooden propeller tug, 58 foot, 28 gross tons) was launched at Saginaw, Michigan. She was built for Donnelly & Clark of Saginaw by Wheeler. The engine was built by Bartlett & Co. of Saginaw. Her boiler and some other equipment were from the almost new tug KATY REID that burned at Salzburg, Michigan in October 1873.
1976: WHEAT KING was refloated at Port Weller Dry Docks. It had arrived on December 12, 1975, and was lengthened to 730 feet over the winter. The ship would only sail six years with the new dimensions and was retired at the end of the 1981 season.
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Post by yachtsmanwilly on Apr 5, 2016 6:07:17 GMT -5
Harsens Island drawbridge under review
4/5 - Clay Township, Mich. – Officials are reviewing a proposal for a drawbridge connecting the St. Clair County mainland to Harsens Island, northeast of Detroit. The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality has received about 280 written comments on the Detroit International Bridge Co.'s proposal. A permit application shows the 1,750-foot bridge would cross the St. Clair River's north channel.
Access is currently only possible via boat, ferry or small plane.
Katie Fairchild, an environmental quality analyst with the DEQ's water resource division, told the Times Herald of Port Huron that a "review of the proposed impacts, including consideration of the comments received" is next in the process. A public hearing was held in March and the exact timing of a decision hasn't been announced.
The bridge company operates the Ambassador Bridge connecting Detroit with Windsor, Ontario. It first proposed the Harsens Island project in 2001. In 2005, the U.S. Coast Guard denied permit requests because that proposal, which included a fixed bridge, would have interfered with clearance requirements.
The DEQ denied a permit request from the bridge company in 2007, saying in part it could impact lake sturgeon habitat and spawning.
Bourke Thomas, a natural resources team leader at engineering firm Atwell, said the state has 150 days from the time it has accepted the complete project application to make a decision. Atwell is working with the DEQ on behalf of the bridge company.
The proposed bridge would stretch between the Riverview Campground Marina on the mainland and just west of the Sunset Harbor Marina on Harsens Island.
The Republic
Coast Guard making some Muskegon operations seasonal
4/5 - Muskegon, Mich. – The U.S. Coast Guard plans to shift some operations from its Station Muskegon in West Michigan. Search and rescue operations from the station will switch to summer only after the end of this summer, MLive.com reported Friday.
Operations currently are year-round. Response crews will staff the station Friday through Sunday each week starting in summer 2017.
Some Muskegon staff will be moved to Grand Haven. Coast Guard members still will be in the Muskegon building year-round to maintain aids to navigation along Lake Michigan's eastern shore.
Search and rescue operations at the Muskegon Station could start in early spring or extend into late fall when necessary.
"It's important to keep in mind that Muskegon is not losing people or boats, and this is not a cost-saving initiative," Coast Guard Sector Lake Michigan Capt. Amy Cocanour said. "We're planning to make a few adjustments that make the most sense so we can provide an even higher level of response than we have right now. Our crews will still be on the water in Muskegon ready to respond to emergencies and enforce laws and regulations."
Separating functions is the method used in other parts of the country and allows more specialization and proficiency, according to the Coast Guard.
Local authorities in the Muskegon area will continue to work year-round with the Coast Guard.
Crain’s Detroit Business
On 05 April 1890, INDIANA (wooden propeller passenger/package freight steamer, 220 foot, 1,178 gross tons) was launched by Burger and Burger at Manitowoc, Wisconsin, for the Goodrich Transportation Company. The total cost of the vessel was $135,000.
On April 5, 1984, the joined sections of the HILDA MARJANNE and CHIMO emerged from Port Weller Dry Dock Ltd., as the b.) CANADIAN RANGER.
Sea trials for Canada Steamship Lines new bulk freighter, PRAIRIE HARVEST (Hull#227) of Collingwood Shipyards Ltd., were complete on April 5, 1984. She operates on the Lakes today as the self-unloader d.) ATLANTIC HURON.
The a.) LUZON (Hull#54) of the Chicago Ship Building Co. was launched for the Erie Steamship Co., E.D. Carter, mgr., on April 5, 1902. Renamed b.) JOHN ANDERSON in 1924 and c.) G. G. POST in 1933. She was scrapped at Izmir, Turkey, in 1972.
April 5, 1977 - The Chessie System announced that the CITY OF MIDLAND 41 would be withdrawn from service and only the SPARTAN and BADGER would run for the season.
On 5 April 1854, AMERICA (wooden side-wheeler, 240 foot, 1,083 tons, built in 1847, at Port Huron, Michigan) was bound for Cleveland from Detroit. After the captain had set her course and gone to bed, the 2nd mate changed the course to the north. The 1st and 2nd mates disagreed about the course and as they awoke the captain, the ship ran aground near Point Pelee, Ontario. Wave action reduced the vessel to rubble but no lives were lost.
On 5 April 1879, the 3-mast wooden schooner RESUMPTION was launched at the Wolf & Davidson yard in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Her dimensions were 143 foot x 29 foot x 10 feet, 294 gross tons, 279 net tons.
April 5, 1962, the tanker ROBERT W. STEWART was renamed b.) AMOCO MICHIGAN, The WILLIAM P. COWAN was renamed b.) AMOCO ILLINOIS, the EDWARD G. SEUBERT was renamed b.) AMOCO WISCONSIN and the RED CROWN was renamed b.) AMOCO INDIANA, after being transferred from Standard Oil Company in a sale to the American Oil Company for $10 for each ship. Each ship traded in their names and their well-known red superstructure for a typical white paint job which stuck with them until their end. The only change came to the AMOCO INDIANA when she traded in her black hull for the blue paint of c.) MEDUSA CONQUEST, d.) SOUTHDOWN CONQUEST, e.) CEMEX CONQUEST and f.) ST MARYS CONQUEST. She operates today as a self - unloading cement barge.
1921: The Imperial Oil tanker IMPOCO (ii) had combined Great Lakes and coastal trading and had gone as far afield as the Mediterranean Sea and the Falkland Islands during World War One. The 8-year old vessel stranded at Blonde Rock, Cape Sable, Nova Scotia, on this date in 1921 while en route from Halifax to Saint John with a cargo of gasoline. The ship was lightered, salvaged on May 4, and beached at Charles Harbour and then at Halifax as not worth repair. The hull was apparently not scrapped until 1953.
1983: The small Finnish freighter KENITRA visited the Great Lakes in 1957. It was abandoned by her crew in the Red Sea while sailing as d) ALASKA on this date in 1983. It had developed a severe list while traveling from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, to Mersin, Turkey, and sank the same day.
1996: The Liberian freighter STEEL FLOWER ran aground in the St. Lawrence near Wellesley Island while upbound on this date in 1996 and was stuck for two days. The ship had also been a Seaway trader as a) FEDERAL RHINE (i) from 1978 to 1992, as STEEL FLOWER from 1994 to 1996 and as c) NARRAGANSETT from 1997 to 1999 before going to Alang, India, for scrap later in 1999.
1999: The PATERSON (ii) ran aground in Lake St. Francis and was stuck for two days. The ship went to Les Mechins, QC for repairs and returned to work on May 13. The vessel now sails for Canada Steamship Lines as b) PINEGLEN (ii).
1999: ALGONTARIO ran aground at Johnsons Point in the St. Mary's River while upbound with a load of cement from Clarkson to Duluth. The ship was released April 7 and, after unloading, was laid up at Thunder Bay until eventual repairs and a return to service on October 10, 2004. The vessel was towed to Aliaga, Turkey, for scrapping in 2011.
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