Today in Great Lakes History

[Avenger]

May 17, 2016 5:05:27 GMT -5 yachtsmanwilly said:

U.S., Canadian Coast Guards save 4 from water in 2 separate incidents on Lake Erie

5/17 - Cleveland, Ohio – U.S. and Canadian Coast Guard crews collaborated to rescue four people in separate cases early Monday morning on Lake Erie.

Just before 3 a.m. watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector Buffalo, New York, heard a mayday call over VHF-FM channel 16 from a 37-foot sailing vessel that was taking on water with one man aboard. Sector Buffalo launched a Station Buffalo crew aboard a 45-foot response boat and requested the launch of a Dolphin helicopter crew from Air Station Detroit.

After determining the vessels position to be in Canadian waters in shoal water off Pt. Abino, Ontario, Joint Rescue Coordination Centre Trenton, Ontario, took control of the case, launching two surface vessels, a C-130 fixed-wing aircraft and requested that the Coast Guard assets continue en route.

The vessel's master reported he was abandoning ship into a dingy and was being swept out into the lake.

The Buffalo crew arrived on scene and located the man, who is a U.S. citizen, and the dingy. The crew confirmed he was the only person aboard and transported him to awaiting EMS for evaluation in Buffalo. EMS reported the man was cold but alert.

The man was wearing a life jacket and there are no reports of pollution. The sailboat remains sunk off Pt. Abino.

Shortly after that rescue, Sector Buffalo overheard a call on VHF-FM channel 16 that a 42-foot yacht with three people aboard was taking on water 20 nautical miles west of Long Point, Ontario, in Lake Erie. A woman then stated the vessel had capsized and they were clinging to the hull.

JRCC Trenton diverted their surface assets and relaunched the C-130. Sector Buffalo diverted the Air Station Detroit helicopter that had just completed the previous search.

"The sea state was approximately 6-foot swells," said Lt. Rachel Quatroche, the helicopter pilot from Air Station Detroit. "Had the survivors not been wearing their life jackets, it is unlikely they would have been able to remain floating in the rough conditions. It was wise of them to don their flotation devices when it became evident that capsizing was a very real possibility. According to the survivors, they were in the water for approximately two hours."

The Detroit crew located the vessel, but was beginning to run low on fuel. The crew jettisoned the on-board dewatering pump to reduce weight and deployed a rescue swimmer. Because the people were showing signs of hypothermia, the air crew hoisted the three people, who are all Canadian citizens, and took them to awaiting EMS in Erie, Pennsylvania. The swimmer was picked up and returned by a Canadian Coast Guard vessel that had arrived on scene just as the helicopter was departing.

Upon arrival, all three survivors declined medical assistance. Customs and Border Protection was notified and is making arrangements to return the people back to Canada.

The vessel was approximately 2.5 nautical miles offshore of Long Point when it broke apart and capsized. A large amount of debris was reported in the area, and Sector Buffalo is working with JRCC Trenton to recover the debris since forecasted weather may push it toward Dunkirk, New York.

The weather was reported as 20-knot winds, 6-foot seas and a water temperature of 46 degrees.

USCG

So, do dewatering pumps float, or did more tax dollars just get sent to Mr. Jones' locker?

[yachtsmanwilly]

So, do dewatering pumps float, or did more tax dollars just get sent to Mr. Jones' locker?

Read more: flybridge.proboards.com/thread/274/today-great-lakes-history#ixzz4905Akyol


That's a good question; Hmmm. I will ask the local USCG guys here next time I see them. Perhaps an inflatable device that's deployed then tossed? I couldn't imagine trying to get that set up and running wearing a PFD in a 6 foot swell. If I read it right, the boat was already capsized?? ws
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Researchers get fresh Great Lakes data from aboard Beaver Island ferry

5/18 - Tourists traveling by ferry between northwest Michigan and Lake Michigan’s Beaver Island will be riding with some groundbreaking cargo this summer.

The Beaver Island Boat Co.’s Emerald Isle ferry is fitted with equipment to detect changes in the temperature and chemistry of Lake Michigan, courtesy of researchers from Central Michigan University’s Institute for Great Lakes Research.

The equipment detects this data in real time aboard the ferry and distributes it via a website operated from the CMU Biological Station on the island, something never done before in northern Lake Michigan, said Dave Schuberg, an outreach coordinator and operations assistant at the station.

The equipment can also be turned on and off remotely from the research station, he said.

The research has far reaching benefits, said Don Uzarski, the institute’s director. High school educators will be invited to travel to his team’s Beaver Island research station and to use the research in their classrooms over the web.

The data collected on temperature may help recreational and commercial anglers predict fish behavior, Schuberg said. “Temperature really governs a lot of what happens out on the lake with things like fish spawning for salmon, whitefish (and) lake trout.”

Using the Emerald Isle, which travels between Charlevoix and the island, saves Uzarski and his team a hefty chunk of change, said Harvey Bootsma, a University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee researcher leading a similar program in conjunction with a ferry traveling between Muskegon and Milwaukee.

An average research vessel costs between $2,000 and $12,000 a day to operate, making long term projects like this difficult to fund under normal circumstances, he said.

There is a dearth of the types of data his team will collect on northern Lake Michigan, Uzarski said.

The sparse data collection is due to the ever-changing physical conditions and complexity of the lake, said Randy Claramunt, a biologist at the Michigan Department of Natural Resources’ Charlevoix Fisheries Research Station.

The physical conditions on the lake change dramatically even in a single day, he said. A single drop of water can contain many different elements that in turn support a rich ecosystem of algae, plankton, plants and aquatic wildlife.

That makes it hard to collect data in a way that is accurate and easy to comprehend in respect to how it relates to the greater Lake Michigan ecosystem, he said.

The Emerald Isle’s multiple daily trips will make it easier for researchers to account for these challenges, Uzarski said. And the research comes at an important time.

“These ecosystems are changing rapidly, faster than we can understand them,” he said. “We are at a critical time where we need the data so we can dampen the impacts we are going to see.”

The lake’s rising temperatures are changing life below its waves, he said. “We know we’re losing plankton and the salmon fisheries are doing worse.”

The plankton are losing out to the billions of invasive zebra and quagga mussels filtering nutrients out of the lake, he said. The mussels then produce nutrient-rich waste that stays trapped at the bottom of the lake.

The loss of plankton hurts the smaller, native fish that salmon eat, he said. “What could have been a very diverse ecosystem is instead limited to a few invasive species.”

Not all of the lake’s denizens are suffering, he said. Brown gobies, an invasive fish species, consume the mussels and have become a terrific food source for the lake’s growing trout population.

However the mussels absorb substantial amounts of lead and mercury from the water they filter. Those contaminants then pass on to the brown gobies that eat them which are in turn eaten by the trout, he said. As a result, people have to limit their lake trout consumption or risk being poisoned.

Michigan lake trout can contain unhealthy levels of dioxins, according to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services’ most recent fish consumption guide.

Women who are pregnant, breastfeeding or plan to become pregnant in the next several years should not consume wild caught Michigan lake trout, according to the guide. Children under age 15 and people with health problems such as cancer or diabetes should also avoid the fish.

Even those who fall outside those categories should not consume the fish more than once or twice a year, according to the guide.

“When you have consumption advisories that strict we’re going down a bad pathway,” Uzarski said.

Great Lakes Echo





Sturgeon Bay museum to air WWII documentary before national release

5/18 - Sturgeon Bay, Wis. – The Door County Maritime Museum is excited to host a preliminary screening of a World War II documentary set on Lake Michigan. It is an extended Maritime Speaker Series offering set for Thursday evening, May 26, at the museum in Sturgeon Bay beginning at 7:30 p.m.

The documentary “Heroes On Deck: WWII On Lake Michigan” stems from a short film created in 1988 by Director John Davies about an extraordinary Naval training operation that took place just off the Chicago shoreline during the war. It told the amazing story of young aviators who trained to fight in the Pacific by learning to land on and take off from makeshift aircraft carriers operating in Lake Michigan. Davies interviewed several pilots, and using old newsreels and stills, his film ran locally to critical acclaim.

Davies and his seasoned producing partners Harvey Moshman and Brian Kallies believed it was time to revisit this little known chapter of World War II history in their new documentary for National Public Television.

New to this one- hour film are digital recreations, declassified footage, a recently declassified photo archive and underwater recovery footage of priceless “warbirds” on the bottom of the lake.

“Naval and World War II historians consider the Lake Michigan Carrier Qualification Program to be a key event leading to victory in the Pacific,” explains Davies.

“Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the US Navy was desperate for pilots who could take off from aircraft carriers, strike the enemy, navigate their way back to the ship and land safely...no easy task in the vast Pacific,” Davies stresses. “With only seven real carriers left in the entire Navy, none could be spared for training. In order to quickly train thousands of aviators, Commander Richard F. Whitehead proposed a radical idea. He suggested that two coal-fired, side-wheeled, passenger steamers, the SS Seaandbee and SS Greater Buffalo, be converted into makeshift aircraft carriers.”

These “freshwater carriers” were commissioned the USS Wolverine and USS Sable. The two “oddball flattops” would facilitate pilot and crew training in the safety of Lake Michigan. Between 1942 and the end of the war, Whitehead’s ambitious year-round program qualified over 15,000 aviators including 41st President, George H.W. Bush. Eight successful takeoffs and landings, usually completed in a single day, were enough to guarantee a young pilot a trip to the Pacific. Landing on the pitching decks of these lake-based carriers proved too much for some. Onboard crashes, navigational errors and “water landings” often led to serious injuries and occasionally death. As a result, more than 100 classic WWII fighters and dive-bombers sank to the bottom of the lake.

Presented by WTTW National and American Public Television, “Heroes On Deck” is narrated by legendary CBS and A&E newsman Bill Kurtis and will premiere on Public Television stations across the United States on Memorial Day weekend. DVDs will be sold at the showing and can also be ordered at www.heroesondeck.com.

Admission is free with a donation to a local food pantry requested.

Door County Maritime Museum






Today in Great Lakes History - May 18

On 18 May 1872, the 3-mast wooden schooner MARQUETTE was holed in northern Lake Huron by a floating log. The crew manned the hand-operated bilge pumps but could not keep up with the incoming water. The steamer ANNIE YOUNG took the MARQUETTE in tow even though she was sinking and headed for Cheboygan, Michigan. During the tow, the schooner stopped sinking and arrived in port no lower in the water than she had been earlier. An investigation revealed that a large fish got caught in the hole and plugged it.

The WILLIAM C. ATWATER departed Sandusky, Ohio May 18, 1925, on her maiden voyage loaded with coal bound for Duluth, Minnesota. She was the first freighter on the Great Lakes equipped with a gyro compass. She was renamed b.) E. J. KULAS in 1936, c.) BEN MOREELL in 1953, d.) THOMAS E MILLSOP in 1955, e.) E. J. NEWBERRY in 1976, and f.) CEDARGLEN in 1982. She was scrapped at Port Maitland, Ontario in 1994.

Bethlehem Steel's steamer JOHNSTOWN cleared Erie May 18, 1985, for Quebec City under tow bound for Spain for scrapping. This vessel was the first post-war built U.S. laker to be scrapped.

On May 18, 1903, the MAUNALOA hit and sank the 69-foot wooden tug EDWARD GILLEN at Superior, Wisconsin.

May 18, 1992 -- The BADGER made her maiden voyage for the newly formed Lake Michigan Carferry Service.

On 18 May 1853, CITIZEN (wooden schooner, 54 tons, built in 1847, at Manitowoc, Wisconsin) was driven aground 6 miles north of Chicago. The U. S. Navy steamer MICHIGAN tried in vain to pull her off, breaking a 14" hawser in the process. She was reportedly the first vessel built at Manitowoc, Wisconsin.

On 18 May 1882, AMERICAN EAGLE (wooden propeller, passenger packet & tug, 105 foot, 161 gross tons, built in 1880, at Sandusky, Ohio) was racing off Kelley's Island on Lake Erie when her boiler exploded. Six lives were lost. She was later raised and repaired and lasted until 1908.

18 May 1894: A big storm swept the Lakes on 18 May 1894. The next day, the Port Huron Times gave the following account of the shipwrecks in that storm: "The big storm on Lake Michigan has cost the lives of many men. Only 2 men were saved from the schooner M J CUMMINGS, 6 lost. The C C BARNES is ashore at Milwaukee but the crew was saved. The schooner MYRTLE was wrecked just outside the government pier within a half mile of Michigan Blvd. in Chicago with 6 lost. The schooner LINCOLN DALL went to pieces at Glencoe, 8 miles north of Chicago. She was 196 tons. The schooner JACK THOMPSON, 199 tons, wrecked off 25th Street. The schooner EVENING STAR, 203 tons, wrecked off 27th Street but her crew was saved. The schooner MERCURY of Grand Haven, 278 tons, wrecked off 27th Street and her crew rescued. The schooner J LOOMIS McLAREN, 272 tons, wrecked off 27th Street. The schooner RAINBOW of Milwaukee, 243 tons, wrecked off 100th Street; the crew was rescued. The schooner C J MIXER, 279 tons, wrecked off 100th Street; crew rescued. The schooner WM SHUPE waterlogged and ashore at Lexington, Michigan on Lake Huron. Four were drowned in an attempted rescue. The scow ST CATHARINES is ashore at Rock Falls near Sand Beach. The crew reached shore safely but the boat will fare badly."

1919 – CITY OF MEAFORD, a wooden-hulled passenger freighter was destroyed by fire at the dock in Collingwood.

1922 – GLENFINNAN, downbound with grain, and MIDLAND KING collided in fog southeast of Passage Isle, Lake Superior, and both masters received two-month suspensions.

1928 – The whaleback steamer JOHN ERICSSON was heavily damaged in a collision with the A.F. HARVEY of the Pittsburgh SS Co. in fog on Lake Huron. The latter was lost as b) CEDARVILLE in another collision on May 7, 1965.

1971 – TRANSPACIFIC was entering the harbor at the island of St. Pierre in the Gulf of St. Lawrence to get technical help for a malfunctioning radar when the ship stranded on the rocks. The West German freighter, a regular Seaway trader since 1959, was abandoned. The hull has gradually broken apart by the elements over the years.

[yachtsmanwilly]

Chinese steelmakers hit with huge U.S. tariffs

5/19 - Beijing – The U.S. government has imposed massive tariffs on Chinese steelmakers in a bid to halt what American rivals have labeled as large-scale dumping by their Asian competitors.

The Commerce Department ruling levies import taxes of up to a whopping 522 percent — a 266 percent anti-dumping duty and a 256 percent anti-subsidy duty — on imports of Chinese cold-rolled flat steel.

Cold-rolled flat steel is typically used in car manufacturing and sheet metal for construction.

"The size of the tariff is really a surprise for China and a little abnormal," said Xiang Songzuo, chief Economist at the Agricultural Bank of China. "This new U.S. tariff could create back-and-forth retaliatory taxes which will not be good for China-U.S. economic relations and the global economy."

The steep tariff is narrowly focused on a specific type of metal, but is highly symbolic of U.S. frustration with China over its continued selling of products like steel at below market prices.

Similar dissatisfaction with dumping has been seen in Europe, India and Australia, where investigations and similar taxes have also been levied against Chinese steel.

According to a Wall Street Journal investigation, in the first three months of this year the American government has already launched seven investigations into Chinese steel dumping and unfair government subsidies for national steelmakers. These financial advantages led to Pittsburgh-based U.S. Steel Corp to lose a reported $1.5 billion last year and $340 million in the first quarter of 2016.

According to the Alliance for American Manufacturing, an estimated 12,000 steelworkers lost their jobs nationally.

"I think complaints from the international community on China's steel overcapacity has a point, we can't deny that China's steel capacity is huge at over 60 percent of global steel capacity," says Xiang, who notes that China could very nearly meet world demand for steel on its own. "I think China should face this issue … [but] there are a lot of mechanisms between China and the U.S. to negotiate and I think best way to solve this problem is through dialogue."

At an annual press conference in Salt Lake City earlier this year, American Iron & Steel Institute Chairman John Ferriola argued that global overcapacity for steel was an industry problem rooted in declining global demand from countries like China but exacerbated by Chinese subsidies of its own companies.

"China has subsidized the growth of its steel industry through grants, low-interest loans, free land, low-priced energy and other raw material inputs," Ferriola said. "Simply stated, the Chinese government is a company disguised as a country and they are waging economic war on the United States."

NBC





Shipping increases at Port of Green Bay

5/19 - Green Bay, Wis. – Much more cargo is coming through the Port of Green Bay this spring compared to last year. Port officials say total tonnage for the year is up 51 percent compared to the same time period last year. Most of that is because of increases in shipments of coal and petroleum products.

So far, 12 ships have gone through the port, one more than at this time last year.

"The trend among ports in the Great Lakes is that we are seeing fewer ships coming through, but the increased water levels mean that one ship can carry more tonnage than in previous years," Dean Haen, director of the Port of Green Bay, said in a news release. "Because of that, we are anticipating an increased amount of tonnage on fewer ships."

In April, the first full month of shipping through the Port of Green Bay, total tonnage was 125,690, up from 96,460 in April 2015. The Port of Green Bay imported and exported a total of 1.9 million tons of cargo last year.

Fox11


On 19 May 1894, LORETTA (wooden propeller freighter, 140 foot, 395 gross tons, built in 1892, at Sebewaing, Michigan as a schooner) was driven ashore near the mouth of the Au Sable River at Oscoda, Michigan in a terrible gale. She was heavily damaged but the crew was rescued. She was salvaged and put back in service but only lasted for two more years when she burned.

SIR THOMAS SHAUGHNESSY (Hull#164) was launched May 19, 1906 at Wyandotte, Michigan by Detroit Ship Building Co. for the National Steamship Co. She was scrapped at Castellon, Spain in 1969.

On May 19, 1973, the whaleback tanker METEOR was moved from the Pipeline Tankers dock to a permanent berth on Barkers Island at Superior, Wisconsin to serve as a museum ship.

B.F. JONES and EDWARD S. KENDRICK, towed by the Polish tug KORAL, arrived for scrapping at Castellon, Spain, near Barcelona on the Mediterranean Sea, on May 19, 1973, a trip of over 4,000 miles. The LAKE WINNIPEG in tow of the tug IRVING CEDAR arrived in Portugal on May 19, 1985. She was the largest Canadian laker and the first Seaway-sized ship, as of that date, to be scrapped.

On 19 May 1835, PARROTT (wooden 2-mast schooner, 43 foot, 20 tons, built in 1834, at Ashtabula, Ohio) sailed for Detroit, Michigan carrying iron, glass, whiskey, and hogs on deck. She never made it. The following day, west of Ashtabula, many of the hogs swam ashore and later a lot of gear from the boat drifted to the beach. No storm was mentioned and all six onboard lost their lives. She had been enrolled to a new owner the day before she set sail.

On 19 May 1876, the Port Huron Times reported that Capt. Alexander McDougall, formerly master of the steamer JAPAN, had built a large steam fish boat named SASKIWIT at Buffalo during the winter and was then sailing from there to Marquette, Michigan.

[yachtsmanwilly]

5/20 - Alpena, Mich. – The Michigan Department of Natural Resources will dedicate its newest research vessel this week — the 57-foot long R/V Tanner.

It will be based out of the Alpena Fisheries Research Station and used to survey fish populations in Lake Huron and the St. Marys River. It is one of four fisheries research vessels used by the DNR to examine and monitor Great Lakes fish and aquatic communities.

R/V Tanner replaces the 69-year-old R/V Chinook, and is named after Dr. Howard Tanner, the former DNR fisheries division chief and DNR director known for introducing Pacific salmon into the Great Lakes. It was designed by Seacraft Design of Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, and built by Andersen Boat Works of Saugatuck.

The DNR will host an online tour May 20 at 9 a.m. with crew and fisheries staff available to answer real-time questions. A public open house will be held May 23 from 10 a.m. to noon at the Alpena Fisheries Research Station located at 160 E. Fletcher St.

Traverse City Record Eagle


Shedd researchers give rare look at shipwreck, wild reef off shore of Lake Michigan

5/20 - Chicago, Ill. – Shedd Aquarium researchers revealed a rare underwater look at what they’ve found at a rocky outcrop off the shoreline of Lake Michigan.

Video shows a team of divers exploring the compressed remains of an incredible underwater coral reef at Morgan Shoal, found just a few hundred yards off the shore of Hyde Park.

Morgan Shoal is most notably home to a ship that sunk in 1914, which helped create the reef formed in shallow seas at the time, researchers said.

The 109-foot passenger steamer wrecked after hitting the rocks in the water, and because it was made out of wood broke up after two or three days under water – but the ship’s iron boiler is still there.

“As you’re driving up and down Lake Shore Drive and the water levels are low enough, you can actually see the remnants of this shipwreck,” said Shedd Aquarium’s senior research biologist Dr. Philip Willink.

Because most of Lake Michigan’s bottom is made of sand or mud, rocky outcrop spots create a unique habitat for hard-to-find creatures, including rare fish and prehistoric isopods.

NBC5


Port of Duluth-Superior to commemorate National Maritime Day Friday

5/20 - Duluth, Minn. – U.S. Merchant Marine veterans, current seafarers and maritime industry stakeholders will gather Friday, May 20, to commemorate National Maritime Day in the Port of Duluth-Superior. The event is set for noon in the Horizon Room at the DECC Harbor Side Convention Center in Duluth.

Mike Piskur, program manager for the Conference of Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Governors and Premiers, will deliver the luncheon’s keynote address, “Bringing out the Best in the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Maritime System.”

His remarks will highlight the Conference’s first-ever regional maritime transportation system strategy – a strategy to double trade, build new markets, support the region’s industrial core and grow its economy.

The Conference of Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Governors and Premiers is a non-partisan partnership of eight U.S. States and two Canadian provinces – chief executives from Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Ontario and Québec.

National Maritime Day honors the historic and ongoing service and sacrifice of our nation’s Merchant Marine and celebrates the contributions of the U.S. maritime industry. The commemorative event, which commences with the presentation of colors and a short memorial service to honor those seafarers, is hosted locally by the Propeller Club of Duluth-Superior. This year’s event in Duluth is being held in advance of the official date of May 22, which falls on Sunday.

Duluth Seaway Port Authority


Door County Maritime Museum hosts season opener on May 28

5/20 - Sturgeon Bay, Wis. – The Door County Maritime Museum in Sturgeon Bay will be offering free admission to children 12 and under when it hosts a day-long season opening celebration on Saturday, May 28. Of course, the museum is open throughout the year, but this particular day will highlight some of the museum’s newest additions for all ages.

Possibly the most unique addition is associated with the tug John Purves. A remarkable new parade float replicating the famous Great Lakes tug and the museum’s popular in-water exhibit will be on display. Featuring many of the same attractive features of the real tug with a working smokestack and horns, the self-propelled float rests on a truck chassis and will be a regular at upcoming Door County parades. This will be the first opportunity for the general public to see this one-of-a-kind attraction. As usual, tug tours will be offered throughout the day on Saturday.

Inside the museum, visitors will see a number of new interactives in the Horton Gallery. Particularly intriguing will be the addition to the Elba pilothouse where pilots of all ages will be able to grab the wheel and try and navigate the Elba through the Sturgeon Bay shipping channel and its bridges.

Seven video screens will simulate a real-time dynamic view from the actual bridge of the Elba, an historic 400-foot-long vessel. As the ship enters the man-made ship canal from the lake, clouds and fog may momentarily obscure vision from which the pilot will emerge to see the first bridge. Successful navigation of it will then include the city’s two downtown bridges. The wheelhouse’s audio environment will include water, birds, Kahlenberg engine sounds and on-board radio traffic to give the impression that the “captain” is actually navigating a ship.

Also in the Horton Gallery, the interactives in the adjacent “Sea Dogs” exhibit have been enhanced to better give visitors true-to-life examples of the significance of dogs in a maritime setting. The “Sea Dogs” chronicle some of those amazing “tails” and the enduring human-canine relationship forged on the high seas.

The museum also has a pair of new temporary exhibits inside the museum. “From Inside the Collections,” is a unique offering in that it will be a recurring exhibit with museum curator Adam Gronke promising to periodically launch different versions of the series at future dates. This first offering will concentrate on shipwreck items within the museum’s collection.

“An Architect and His Art,” is being shown in the Reddin Bridge Room and features the work of Ben Shenkelberg, who designed the Sturgeon Bay museum and is currently the architect for the proposed Maritime Tower project.

Visitors will also have the opportunity to explore three other galleries, including the Peterson Gallery and its remarkable view of Sturgeon Bay through a nuclear submarine periscope; the Baumgartner Gallery with is stunning models and lighthouse exhibit; and the John Roen Asher Gallery with it vessels and engines, original Marine Travelift as well the captivating stories surrounding Capt. John Roen.

Admission is $13 for adults (including the tug). Call the museum at [phone] or visit www.dcmm.org for more information.

DCMM


On 20 May 1872, the ironclad passenger/package freight steamer MERCHANT struck a rock and sank at the mouth of the Detroit River. No one was injured. The wrecking tugs MAGNET and HERCULES took off the cargo of railroad iron and general merchandise, then attached two pontoons, but the vessel would not budge. On 26 May, the steamers MACKINAW and SWEEPSTAKES joined the scene and d two more pontoons. With all the steam pumps working, the MERCHANT still would not budge. Two days later, two more pontoons were added and the MERCHANT finally floated free and was towed to Detroit for repairs. She had two holes in her hull, one of which was a gash 23 feet long.

On May 20, 1909, while lying at the Lackawanna Coal Dock at Buffalo, New York, the LeGRAND S. DEGRAFF was struck by the SONORA, which caused $4,000 in damage to the DEGRAFF. Later renamed b.) GEORGE G. CRAWFORD in 1911. She was scrapped at Duluth, Minnesota in 1976.

The STANDARD PORTLAND CEMENT sank on Lake Huron two miles above Port Huron, Michigan in a collision with the steamer AUGUST ZIESING on May 20, 1960, with no loss of life.

On May 20, 1967, during docking maneuvers in the Trenton Channel of the Detroit River, the W.W. HOLLOWAY's KaMeWa propeller shaft sheared off and the propeller reportedly sank to the bottom.

The RENOWN (Hull#396) was launched May 20, 1912, at Lorain, Ohio by American Ship Building Co. for the Standard Oil Co. Renamed b.) BEAUMONT PARKS in 1930 and c.) MERCURY in 1957.

WILLIAM A. McGONAGLE (Hull#154) was launched May 20, 1916, at Ecorse, Michigan by Great Lakes Engineering Works for the Pittsburgh Steamship Co. Renamed b.) HENRY STEINBRENNER in 1986.

On 20 May 1862, BAY CITY (wooden propeller tug, 199 foot, 480 tons, built in 1852, at Trenton, Michigan) sprang a leak in a storm and sank near Port Burwell, Ontario. She then washed in to shallow water. Her crew was rescued by the tug WINSLOW. Her engine and boiler were removed in June and July of that year.

On 20 May 1875, the passenger package freight vessel GLADYS was launched at D. Lestor's yard in Marine City, Michigan for the Toledo & Saginaw Transportation Company. Her dimensions were 135 feet overall x 26 feet x 10 feet. She had twelve staterooms and along with ample cargo space. The pilot house was forward, 8 feet square and 11 feet high. The engines, from the old ESTABROOK and, previous to that, from DAN RHODES, were two high-pressure double engines acting on one shaft with an 8 foot propeller. She also had a pony engine to feed water to the boilers and wash the decks. She was sold Canadian in 1877, and renamed NORTHERN BELLE and lasted until November 1898, when she burned on Georgian Bay.

1923 – The steel bulk carrier EDWARD U. DEMMER sank in the deep waters of Lake Huron after a collision with the SATURN at 0740 hours, in heavy fog, while about 40 miles southeast of Thunder Bay Island. All on board were saved.

1924 – STATE OF OHIO, an iron sidewheel passenger steamer, burned at Cleveland on this date in 1924. It was rebuilt as a barge but stranded on the main breakwall at Lorain on December 17, 1929, and became a total loss.

1928 – CLEARWATER stranded near Trinity Bay, in the St. Lawrence while inbound with a cargo of pulpwood and was blown on the beach. The brand-new vessel was abandoned to the insurers but the hull was salvaged in July, repaired and returned to service later in the year as TRENORA. It last sailed as KEYSHEY in 1963.

1942 – TORONDOC of the Paterson fleet went south for the bauxite trade during World War Two. German broadcasts reported that it was torpedoed and sunk by U-69 on this date. All of the 23-member crew were lost when the ship went down in the vicinity of the French island of Martinique.

1945 – CALGARY had operated on the Great Lakes from 1912 to 1916 but left for the sea and was converted to a tanker in 1921. The ship was renamed b) BACOI and served on coastal runs for Standard Oil and even returned to the Great Lakes in 1938. It suffered an explosion and fire while in the Cape Cod Canal on this date in 1945 and had to be beached. It was scrapped at Jersey City in 1948.

1946 – The Georgian Bay area passenger ship MANITOULIN stranded at Clapperton Island but was released the next day by the tug NORTHERN.

1960 – The STANDARD PORTLAND CEMENT settled on the bottom of Lake Huron, with her decks above water, after a collision in fog with the upbound AUGUST ZIESING. The former was refloated, sold to Redwood Enterprises and came into Canadian service as ELMDALE. The latter resumed trading for U.S. Steel after bow repairs.

1960 – PAUL H. TOWNSEND was hit from behind by the British freighter TYNEMOUTH on foggy Lake Huron while trying to avoid the wrecked STANDARD PORTLAND CEMENT and the anchored AUGUST ZIESING. The PAUL H. TOWNSEND had stern plates damaged while the salty sustained bow damage. TYNEMOUTH had become a regular Seaway trader in 1959 and made 18 trips inland through 1967. It ran aground off Fuga Island, the Philippines as b) EASTERN RIVER on April 24, 1971, and became a total loss.

1981 – The West German freighter VIRGILIA made 30 trips to the Great Lakes between 1959 and 1967. It was renamed b) MARIA in 1974 and suffered an engineroom fire in the Red Sea and had to be abandoned while enroute from Mersin, Turkey, to Bombay, India, on this date in 1981. The hull was towed to shallow water and beached about 5 miles south of Suez. It was later sold, via auction, and apparently scrapped as c) FARIDA II at Gadani Beach, Pakistan, in 1989.

[yachtsmanwilly]

William Lafferty named Historian of the Year by Detroit group

5/23 - Detroit, Mich. – William Lafferty, award-winning author, twice winner of the Broadcast Education Association's History Award, and winner of the Association of Great Lakes Maritime History Barkhausen Award, has been selected as the Marine Historical Society of Detroit’s 2016 Historian of the Year.

He is a frequent contributor to the BoatNerd site, most often answering questions on the Information Search page.

Born in Oak Park, Ill., Lafferty grew up in the western suburbs of Chicago. He spent his summers at Ludington, Mich., where his interest in Great Lakes maritime history began at a very early age, encouraged by his Irish mother whose family included a master and a chief engineer for Clyde Shipping Company, and his father, who for many years was the general manager and chief engineer of General Motors' Marine Division at McCook, Ill.

Over the years, Lafferty has built an extensive collection of material, especially photographs, related to Great Lakes shipping. His chapter "Technological Innovation in Great Lakes Shipping: Leathem D. Smith and the Rise of the Self-Unloader" in Victoria Brehm’s "A Fully Accredited Ocean" is a precursor to "Buckets and Belts: Evolution of the Great Lakes Self-Unloader."

Lafferty is a partner in Lafferty van Heest & Associates, museum exhibit designers, which has recently completed design of the future Port of Ludington Maritime Museum. He holds BS and MA degrees from Purdue University and a PhD from Northwestern University. After a stint at Iowa State University, Lafferty founded the film and video production program at Wright State University at Dayton, Ohio.

With the dedication of the new Tom Hanks Center for Motion Pictures at Wright State by its namesake this April, Lafferty has retired as an emeritus professor after 35 years at Wright State.

Marine Historical Society of Detroit


5/23 - Duluth, Minn. – A memorial service was held Saturday for Diane Hilden of Duluth, who passed away earlier this week at age 63.

Hilden's name was a familiar one on the pages of the News Tribune, thanks to the many photos of freighters she shared for the daily "Shipping Traffic" column. Hilden was among the most dedicated ship-watchers in town, and was among the ship photographers featured in a News Tribune story in March.

There's camaraderie among the ship fans who flock to the Duluth ship canal, at any time of day or night, to catch a freighter's passage. Hilden was a part of that, sharing her photos with family, friends and the community.

"We always say 'Check this out' to each other," she told the News Tribune for the story earlier this year. "You don't keep it to yourself."

Hilden had retired in February after a 37-year career with St. Louis County, and was on the board of directors of the Lake Superior Marine Museum Association. She is survived by three children and six grandchildren, as well as other family and friends.

Duluth News Tribune


Steamer Alpena back in service after December fire

5/22 - The 1942-vintage steamer Alpena, reentered service Saturday, departing Bay Shipbuilding at Sturgeon Bay, Wis., after repairs from what could have been a career-ending fire last December.

According to AIS, the Alpena is bound for her namesake port to load.

Alpena was in the drydock at Bayship for inspection and maintenance when a fire broke out in the aft end the night of Dec. 11, 2015. Crews from nine fire departments responded to the blaze and there were no injuries. Fire officials said the blaze had nothing to do with the work being done on the vessel, but rather with faulty wiring on an aft mooring winch.

The former Leon Fraser, owned by Inland Lakes Management Inc. of Alpena, Mich., is the oldest steam-powered vessel operating on the Great Lakes.

5/21 - Massena, N.Y. – A proposal by a Utah senator to fully defund the St. Lawrence Seaway Development Corp. has died without reaching the U.S. Senate floor for consideration.

Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, had filed an amendment to the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development Funding Bill that would have stripped more than $36 million from the Seaway Development Corp. that is included in the Senate funding bill.

Conn Carroll, communications director for Sen. Lee, said Thursday the measure was designed to call on the federal government to privatize the corporation and end all federal subsidies to it, as has occurred with its Canadian counterpart, the St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corp.

“Anytime you have a semi-private, semi-governmental entity that is costing taxpayers millions of dollars, we think it is better to fully privatize it,” Mr. Carroll said.

Mr. Carroll said the proposed amendment was one of hundreds submitted regarding the Senate funding bill, with all but seven being rejected by the Senate prior to being debated or voted upon. Sen. Lee also filed multiple proposed amendments in addition to the one filed seeking to defund the Seaway Development Corp.

“This was not one of our top priorities,” Mr. Carroll said of the Seaway Development Corp. amendment.

Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., said in a prepared statement that he would fight any effort to eliminate funding for the corporation.

“The attempt to defund this vital entity is misguided. It will hurt our economy and cost us jobs and I will fight overtime to defeat it,” Sen. Schumer said. “Defunding the St. Lawrence Seaway would threaten local jobs, revenue and the ability to operate our waters and maintain our maritime infrastructure, so I am making it crystal clear to my colleagues in the Senate that the SLSDC is here to stay, and I will work to make sure that any attempt to eliminate it is dead-on-arrival in the Senate.”

The Seaway Development Corp., an agency of the U.S. Department of Transportation, operates and maintains the waters and infrastructure on the United States side of the St. Lawrence Seaway system between the Port of Montreal and Lake Erie, including Eisenhower and Snell Locks here.

According to Sen. Schumer’s statement, maritime commerce on the system sustains more than 225,000 U.S. and Canadian jobs annually, creating $14.1 billion in personal income, $33.6 billion in transportation-related business revenue, $6.4 billion in local purchases and $4.6 billion in federal, state, provincial and local taxes.

Watertown Daily Times


5/21 - Detroit, Mich. – Michigan Sens. Debbie Stabenow and Gary Peters are stepping up pressure on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to speed up a cost-benefit study of building an additional passageway for Great Lakes freighters at the Soo Locks in Sault Ste. Marie.

The two senators sent the Army Corps of Engineers a letter Thursday requesting that a $1.35 million analysis of replacing the Davis and Sabin locks be completed “as quickly as possible,” citing the “critical importance” of the Soo Locks to commerce for Michigan and the country as a whole.

“The recent meetings we have both held at the Locks with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers highlighted the profound harm that an outage would have on the economy and security of Michigan, the Great Lakes region, and the entire nation,” Stabenow and Peters wrote in a letter to Jo-Ellen Darcy, assistant secretary of the Army.

An Army spokesman recently told The Detroit News the corps needs at least two years to complete the study.

“We’re trying to accelerate that,” Peters told The News on Thursday. “It’s clear that every day that goes by we just increase the risk that something could happen to the locks.”

Last summer, the 73-year-old MacArthur Lock was closed for 19 days to repair a broken gate in the middle of the shipping season. The MacArthur Lock, built during World War II, is only long and wide enough for small tugboats, the popular lock-touring boats and recreational boats to pass through.

For several years, Michigan’s congressional delegation has been seeking more than $500 million needed to build a new 1,200-foot-long lock to mirror the Poe Lock, which handles the largest freighters carrying iron ore.

The 48-year-old Poe Lock handles 70 percent of the freight that flows through the locks during the 10-month shipping season.

The Army Corps of Engineers has long planned to tear out the decommissioned Sabin Lock and rarely used Davis Lock in the north channel of the Soo Locks and build a new lock to match the length and width of the Poe Lock. The Sabin and Davis locks were built in 1919 and 1918, respectively.

But securing funding from Congress for the project has proved difficult, despite heavy lobbying from the shipping industry and elected officials from Great Lakes states.

A recent U.S. Department of Homeland Security study concluded that a long-term shutdown of the Poe Lock could trigger a national economic recession, effectively crippling the steel business by preventing ore-hauling freighters from passing through the St. Marys River that connects Lake Superior to Lake Huron.

Stabenow, D-Lansing, and Peters, D-Bloomfield Township, cited the Homeland Security report in their letter to the Army Corps of Engineers.

“The disruption of shipping from even a short-term closure of the Poe Lock would devastate the automobile, mining, appliance, and other manufacturing industries in the Great Lakes region and across North America,” the senators wrote.

The Army Corps of Engineers recently gave Peters an extensive tour of the Soo Locks, going deep underground into what he called “the bowels” of the facility to get a first-hand look at the aging infrastructure.

One glaring aspect of the facility that stood out to Michigan’s junior senator is that the water pumps that fill and drain the locks date back to the World War I.

“We can’t keep living off of the infrastructure investment made by our grandparents,” said Peters, 57. “It’s time we put money into it.”

Detroit News



On 21 May 1883, SAILOR BOY (2-mast wooden scow-schooner, 75 foot, 76 net tons, built in 1866, at Algonac, Michigan) was carrying wood from Pierport, Michigan to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She anchored outside Milwaukee harbor waiting for a gale to abate but she broke her anchor chains and was driven aground. Her crew of three made it to shore on a line with help from bystanders on the beach.

AMERICAN REPUBLIC's maiden voyage was on May 21, 1981, from Sturgeon Bay light to Escanaba, Michigan, to load ore pellets for Cleveland, Ohio. She now sails as GREAT REPUBLIC.

Interlake Steamship Co.'s HENRY G. DALTON's maiden voyage was on May 21, 1916. She was scrapped at Vado, Italy, in 1973.

UNITED STATES GYPSUM in tow of the German tug FAIRPLAY X was lost in heavy weather on May 21, 1973, near Sydney, Nova Scotia.

G.A. TOMLINSON, a.) D.O. MILLS, stranded near Buffalo, New York, on Lake Erie on May 21, 1974, suffering an estimated $150,000 in damage.

The 143-foot wooden brig JOSEPH was launched at Bay City, Michigan, on by Alexander Tromley & Company. She was built by the owner.

On 21 May 1864, the NILE (wooden passenger/package freight vessel, 190 foot, 650 tons, built in 1852, at Ohio City, Ohio) was sitting at her dock in Detroit, Michigan, with passengers, household goods, and horses and wagons aboard when her boiler exploded, destroying the ship and killing eight of the crew. Large pieces of her boiler flew as far as 300 feet while other pieces damaged houses across the Detroit River in Windsor, Ontario. A large timber was thrown through the brick wall of a nearby shoe store, striking the cobbler in the back of the head and killing him. At least 13 other crew members and passengers were injured. The wreck was moved to the foot of Clark Street in Detroit in July 1864, where it remained until it was finally dynamited in August 1882.

May 21, 1923 - ANN ARBOR NO 4 was refloated after sinking at Frankfort, Michigan, the previous February.

After spending three weeks in quarantine at Buffalo, New York, because of the discovery of smallpox on board, the steamer JOHN OADES has been released and has started on her way to Duluth.

1919: FERDINAND SCHLESSINGER, enroute from Erie, Pa., to Port Arthur, Ont., with 3,514 tons of coal, began leaking in a storm and sank 15 miles off Passage Island, Lake Superior. The crew was picked up by the ASSINIBOIA

1932: The C.P.R. passenger ship MANITOBA goes aground in Georgian Bay off Cape Croker in heavy fog and has to be lightered before being released the next day.

1942: TROISDOC is the latest member of the Paterson fleet to be a victim of enemy action in World War Two. It was torpedoed by U-558 about 40 miles west of Jamaica and the crew escaped in the lifeboats. The vessel was enroute from Mobile, AL to Georgetown, British Guiana, with 55,700 bags of cement, vegetables, 1600 cases of beer and cigarettes.

1963: The Taiwanese freighter VAN YUNG had visited the Great Lakes in 1960 and 1961. It was laid up at Keelung, Taiwan, on this day due to fire damage and was sold for scrap in October 1963.

1965: Leaks developed in the boiler room of the Norwegian freighter LIONNE and the ship, enroute from Caen, France, to Montreal, sank in the Atlantic. Two members of the crew were lost. The vessel had made 5 trips through the Seaway from 1961 to 1963.

1973: The retired American Steamship Company self-unloader UNITED STATES GYPSUM, under tow for scrapping at Vado, Italy, broke loose in the Atlantic off Sydney, NS and sank.

1979: The second PRINS WILLEM V, a Dutch freighter of 1956 vintage, was damaged extensively by a fire amidships while idle at Port Elizabeth, South Africa as f) ARAXOS. It has been for sale and was scrapped at Durban, South Africa, in 1981.

2007: A fire broke out in the engine room of the Canadian-owned salty UMIAVUT while enroute from Kolundborg, Denmark, to La Corogne, Spain, with 8600 tons of flour. The ship was towed into Brest, France, and repaired. It visited the Great Lakes as b) LINDENGRACHT in 2000 and was back as c) UMIAVUT in 2011.


On 22 May 1901, FRANK H. PEAVEY (steel propeller bulk freighter, 430 foot, 5,002 gross tons) was launched at the American Ship Building Company (Hull #309) in Lorain, Ohio, for the Peavey Syndicate. She lasted until 1934, when she struck the south pier while entering Sheboygan, Wisconsin, and was declared a constructive total loss and scrapped the following year.

A.H. FERBERT (Hull#289) was launched this day in 1942, at River Rouge, Michigan by Great Lakes Engineering Works for the Pittsburgh Steamship Co. May 22nd was the tenth National Maritime Day and on that day 21 other ships were launched nationwide to celebrate the occasion. The "super" IRVING S. OLDS was launched the same day at Lorain, Ohio, by American Ship Building Co. This marked the last of the "Super Carrier" build program. The others were the BENJAMIN F. FAIRLESS, LEON FRASER and ENDERS M. VOORHEES.

SIR THOMAS SHAUGHNESSY sailed under her own power down the Seaway on May 22, 1969, for the last time and arrived at Quebec City.

BAYFAIR was launched as the a.) COALHAVEN (Hull#134) at Haverton-Hill-on-Tees, U.K. by Furness Shipbuilding Co. in 1928.

While bound for Escanaba, Michigan to load ore, the JOSEPH BLOCK grounded at Porte des Morts Passage, on Green Bay, May 22, 1968, and was released the same day by the Roen tug ARROW. The BLOCK's hull damage extended to 100 bottom plates. Surrendered to the under-writers and sold in June that year to Lake Shipping Inc. Built as the a.) ARTHUR H. HAWGOOD in 1907, She was renamed c.) GEORGE M. STEINBRENNER in 1969, she was scrapped at Ramey’s Bend in 1979.

The 143-foot wooden brig JOSEPH was launched at Bay City, Michigan, on 21 May 1867. She was built for Alexander Tromley & Company.

CITY OF NEW BALTIMORE was launched at David Lester's yard in Marine City, Michigan, on 22 May 1875. Her master carpenter was John J. Hill. She was a wooden propeller passenger/package freight vessel built for the Detroit-New Baltimore route. Her dimensions were 96 foot keel, 101 feet overall x 20 feet x 6 foot 6 inches, 130 tons. Her boiler was made by J. & T. McGregor of Detroit. Her engine was built by Morton Hamblin & Company of St. Clair, Michigan. She was rebuilt as a tug in 1910, and lasted until abandoned in 1916.

1914: W.H. GILBERT sank in Lake Huron, about 15 miles off Thunder Bay Island following a collision with CALDERA. There was no loss of life. The hull was located in 1982 and rests at a depth of about 200 feet. CALDERA later became b) A.T. KINNEY and c) HILLSDALE.

1942: FRANK B. BAIRD was sunk by gunfire from U-158 on the Atlantic while bound for Sydney, NS with a cargo of bauxite. All of the crew were saved and later picked up by the Norwegian freighter TALISMAN and landed at Pointe Noire, French Equatorial Guinea

1978: AGIOS NICOLAOS, a Seaway caller in 1968, was about 60 miles north of Bahrain in the Persian Gulf, enroute to Kuwait, when an explosion and subsequent fire erupted in the engine room. The ship was gutted, towed into Kuwait and abandoned. The vessel was later broken up. As a) BORGHOLM, it began trading to the Great Lakes in 1953 and made 21 voyages through the Seaway from 1959 to 1967.

1979: IRISH PINE made 19 trips through the Seaway from 1960 through 1964 for Irish Shipping. It arrived at Kaohsiung, Taiwan, on this date in 1979 as c) ARAMON. The ship had been traveling from Piraeus, Greece, to Port Sudan, Sudan, when the cargo of bitumen solidified in the holds. The vessel was sold for scrap and dispatched to Kaohsiung to be dismantled by the Taiwan Ship Scrap Co. Ltd., with the cargo still on board. Work began on July 18, 1979



UNIQUE (wooden propeller passenger steamer, 163 foot, 381 gross tons, built in 1894, at Marine City, Michigan) was sold to Philadelphia parties for service on the Delaware River. She left Ogdensburg, New York, on 23 May 1901, for Philadelphia. Her name was changed to DIAMOND STATE. In 1904, she was rebuilt as a yacht and lasted until 1915, when she burned in New York harbor.

The WILLIAM J. DE LANCEY was re-christened on May 23,1990, as b.) PAUL R. TREGURTHA. She is the largest ship on the Great Lakes and was the last Great Lakes ship built at American Ship Building Co., Lorain, Ohio.

American Steamship's H. LEE WHITE completed sea trials on May 23, 1974.

FRED R. WHITE Jr. completed her two-day sea trials in 1979.

The Tomlinson Fleet Corp.'s steel freighter SONOMA (Hull#610) was launched at West Bay City, Michigan, by West Bay City Ship Building Co. on 23 May 1903. She was 416 feet long, 4,539 gross tons. Through her career she had various names: DAVID S TROXEL in 1924, SONOMA in 1927 and finally FRED L. HEWITT in 1950. She was converted to an automobile carrier in 1928, converted back to a bulk carrier in 1942 and then converted to a barge for grain storage in 1955. She was finally scrapped in 1962, at Steel Co. of Canada Ltd. at Hamilton, Ontario.

On 23 May 1889, the wooden steam barge OSCAR T. FLINT (218 foot, 824 gross tons) was launched at the Simon Langell & Sons yard in St. Clair, Michigan. She lasted until 25 November 1909, when she burned and sank off Thunder Bay Island in Lake Huron.

1910: The first FRANK H. GOODYEAR, with a load of ore for Cleveland, was almost cut in two and sank off Pointe aux Barques following a collision in dense fog with the JOSEPH WOOD. Only five sailors survived while another 16 were lost.

1954: EASTDALE, operating on charter to Reoch Transports, ran aground at Collingwood and was refloated May 29. The ship had also visited the Great Lakes as SPRINGDALE and was lost in the Gulf of Bothnia on June 18, 1959, when the cargo of timber shifted in heavy weather.

1959: The Liberian freighter ANDORA, outbound with a cargo of barley, stranded on a shoal below the Snell Lock and proved to be a difficult salvage. The ship initially broke free, spun around and grounded again and was not released until June 18. The cargo was unloaded but ANDORA was deemed not worth repairing and arrived at Savona, Italy, for dismantling on August 15, 1959.

1974: The Canadian tanker CARDINAL, best known as the former IMPERIAL WINDSOR, was badly damaged following a collision with the HENRY STEINBRENNER (iii), in Lake Erie off Point Pelee. The former was never repaired and subsequently scrapped, while the latter went to Lorain for about $100,000 worth of repairs.

1974: A fire broke out in the engine room of the ONTARIO during a voyage from Santos, Brazil, to Montreal and assistance was requested. The Canadian owned vessel had been upbound through the Seaway for the first time on November 8, 1973. The blaze was put out and the ship arrived at Montreal June 6, 1974. It was sold the following month to Tunisian buyers and scrapped as c) REMADA following another fire at Barcelona, Spain, on January 2, 1987.

1988: The first ALGOCAPE, which had run aground in the Lake St. Louis section of the St. Lawrence on May 21, was refloated on this day and cleared to proceed to Baie Comeau, QC, to unload.

[yachtsmanwilly]

5/24 - Sturgeon Bay, Wis. – A barge and a tug were christened at Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding Co. in Sturgeon Bay last Friday morning.

The Barbara Carol Ann Moran is named after Barbara "Bobbie" Stiles, the wife of Peter Minwegen Jr., who is credited with bringing Moran Towing Corp. and CF Industries, a fertilizer manufacturer and distributor, together. The articulated tug barge (ATB) is a steel-hull tug and is 121 feet long. Also christened Friday was the barge Louisiana. The barge is 468 feet long.

Ted Tregurtha, president of Moran, gave the welcoming remarks, "We're really proud to use the name Barbara Carol Ann," Tregurtha told the crowd of more than 500 workers, staff and additional attendees.

The Louisiana is one of three barges Bay Ship has built for Moran. The others are the Texas and the Mississippi.

Todd Thayse, vice president of Bay Shipbuilding, thanked not only the Moran and CF Industries, but also everyone who worked to complete the latest ATB. Francesco Valente, president and CEO of Fincantieri Marine Group, said the tug is "deceptively small in appearance" but it is "powerful and tough."

Stiles' husband was asked by Moran if they could name the tug after his wife.

"Of course it's such a high honor for both of us," Stiles said. "I thought the name Barbara Carol Ann Moran ... would be perfect. It is the longest name they've ever done and then I turned out to be so petite."

Green Bay Press Gazette

5/24 - Massena, N.Y. – The Dwight D. Eisenhower Visitors' Center, located at the U. S. Eisenhower Lock, will open on Friday, May 27, and remain open daily, including weekends, through Labor Day, September 5. Hours of operation are from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. and it is free to the public.

The Seaway Visitors' Center provides tourists and ship watchers with an observation deck where they can view commercial vessels and cruise ships from around the world as they transit the lock. Guides are available to provide additional information to tourists.

The Massena Chamber of Commerce will operate a gift shop featuring items from local vendors and Seaway memorabilia, as well as provide tourist information to visiting guests. Starting May 27, the gift shop will be open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., and Saturday/Sunday from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Due to security measures, visitors will be asked to leave all packages, bags, backpacks etc. in their vehicles. For those necessary items that need to be carried into the viewing area, you may be asked to present them for inspection or have them checked by a metal detecting wand. This will be conducted at a manned checkpoint as you enter the Visitors’ Center area from the parking lot. The Center maybe periodically closed to visitors at the discretion of the Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation. The top deck is open to the public.

The Center is located off Route 37 in Massena, N.Y. Turn right at the traffic light at the St. Lawrence Centre Mall main entrance if approaching westbound or left if heading eastbound. The Visitors' Center entrance is 1.5 miles on the right.

For up-to-date information on estimated vessel transit times, call [phone] for a voice recording of that day’s projected lockage schedule.

Saint Lawrence Seaway Authority


5/24 - New Buffalo, Mich. – Lake Michigan’s water level is up. Beachgoers may have to get cozier with each other on slimmed-down beaches. Motorized boats will find easier access to marinas.

But in New Buffalo, high water has aggravated the annual loss of sand — blamed on the harbor that was built in 1974 — and that's causing homeowners to spend six-digit amounts this year to secure their shorelines and save their homes.

The “poster child” of New Buffalo’s headaches, said City Manager Rob Anderson, is a house that had to be torn down from a bluff a few months ago. A poorly built barrier had washed out with a storm in 2014. Erosion continued, and neighbors say it’s getting worse — though no one’s stepping up to help pay for solutions.

Local parks and harbor managers say they’ve watched lake levels hit several highs and lows over the decades. But whenever it rises, it puts erosion perilously closer to homes and beaches.

Since it hit a record low in January 2013, Lake Michigan has risen 4 feet, the Chicago Tribune reported last week. The lake is expected to keep rising by more than 10 inches over the next six months, which would put it 1 foot shy of the record high set in 1986, according to data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Beyond that, scientists say, it’s difficult to predict.

While this winter was relatively mild, the region is still recovering from the severity of the two prior winters, plus more rainfall than usual, said Keith Kompoltowicz, chief of watershed hydrology for the Army Corps of Engineers in Detroit.

"To simply put it,” he told the Chicago Tribune, “the problem is more water is coming into the lakes than leaving."

Lake levels never declined in the fall, as they typically do, Drew Gronewold, a NOAA hydrologist who has studied more than 100 years' worth of data on the Great Lakes' water levels, told the Chicago Tribune.

“We just came out of one of the longest low-level periods in history,” he said. “Water levels were below average for more than 16 years. During that time, people have gotten used to lower water levels and have put in infrastructures and have adapted.”

Tiscornia Beach in St. Joseph has lost so much ground that an annual war re-enactment in June, Lest We Forget, will move this year from Tiscornia to the airport in Benton Harbor. Erosion is now eating away at the back end of the beach, said Greg Grothous, the St. Joseph’s deputy director of public works.

But bigger changes are seen at Lions Park Beach in St. Joseph, where the beach is 40 feet shorter than last summer and where the groins — protective walls that are buried in the sand, running perpendicular to the water — have become exposed, he said.

Lions Park Beach will gain some sand when the St. Joseph River is dredged leading into the city harbor this summer. Sand that’s pulled out of the river will be dumped, as usual, at the beach. But it’s unclear whether that will make up for what the beach has lost.

In between the two beaches, the county’s popular Silver Beach remains stable, and Berrien County Parks Director Brian Bailey can only guess that’s because it’s protected by the adjacent pier.

But at Rocky Gap County Park in Benton Harbor, Bailey said the county has adjusted a handicapped-accessible ramp that it’s installing by 20 feet, because of this year’s high water, adding about $6,000 in design and construction costs. Officials realized they had to make the change in April as survey stakes went in and, he said, “8- to 10-foot waves came in.”

The Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore closed its Central Avenue Beach, just west of Mount Baldy and Michigan City, last summer. It remains closed because of erosion from both rising waters and a harbor structure that has limited the natural flow of sand, said spokesman Bruce Rowe.

The beaches are narrower because of lake levels. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has replenished sand in years past, but now the money is lacking to do that, he said.

“We are working with other agencies and local communities to explore ways to accomplish beach nourishment projects for the park's hardest hit beaches,” Rowe said.

In Michigan City’s harbor, boaters can now dock their vessels at about 20 to 30 slips that were inaccessible two years ago because of low water, said Tim Frame, harbormaster for the city’s port authority.

The only inconvenience that higher water creates for boats is that some are too tall to pass underneath the railroad bridge on Trail Creek. The bridge turns and closes when trains pass about a half dozen times a day, Frame said, adding that it’s just “a matter of waiting.”

The city will still seek to dredge the harbor’s portion of Trail Creek since it takes so long to secure the permits and money to do it — even if the creek doesn’t seem to need it right now, he said.

“Yeah, the lake’s up this year, but what’s it going to be next year?” Frame said. “It has shown us it can change quite a bit from year to year. Sooner or later it’s going to go down.”

Almost all of the neighbors of the home that New Buffalo had to remove, on Shore Drive, are exploring whether and how they’ll rebuild the piles of boulders that line their shores.

Neighbor Ted Grzywack said his wife recalls about 100 feet of beach here in the early 1970s. Two years ago, it was down to 10 feet. Now his boulders are soaked in 2 feet of water.

By many accounts, the blame falls on the New Buffalo harbor. Its break-walls extend into the lake and keep the city beach stable. But, like any man-made structure, they interrupt the natural flow of sand.

To fix this, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers replaced sand along beaches from 1975 to 1995, but this “beach nourishment” stopped as the corps lacked money.

Homeowners have formed a committee to urge the federal government’s help and reached out to state Rep. Dave Pagel and U.S. Rep. Fred Upton.

Residents of the Warwick Shores subdivision spent about $1.5 million recently to bolster their shoreline.

That is next to the house that the city removed. Its fate started Halloween night 2014 when a powerful storm and waves raked the protective boulders, called riprap, out of place, causing the home’s deck to collapse, said next-door neighbor Ed Oldis.

Feeling that it was unsafe to remain, the owner quickly moved to Indianapolis, where she had family, Oldis recalled.

Oldis said that, without anything to protect the shoreline, the soil is quickly eroding. With the property still in legal limbo, Anderson said he’s asking adjacent property owners to pay for shore protection. Anderson said the city isn’t prepared to spend an estimated $30,000 on temporary stabilization.

Oldis said that he, like his neighbors, expects to spend $150,000 to $200,000 this year to bolster his shore. That’s on top of the $35,000 he’d spent last year to top off his protective boulders.

The city’s pump house, feeding the city’s water supply, sits two houses over. Neighbors believe it’s at risk. Anderson said he’s consulted engineers who say it’s safe.

Down the street, crews are using riprap to replace a decades-old metal seawall that collapsed three months ago. Waves had broken over the wall, penetrating the soil and causing it to weaken, said Josh Walk, manager for the Impact Site Contracting crew from Granger.

The boulders won’t protect a house unless they are big and heavy enough and laid onto the shore at the right slope, said structural engineer Tony Rusiniak with Radtke Engineering in LaPorte. The boulders must dissipate the waves and give them a large landing area.

“You’re trying to keep it (waves) from hitting the land real hard,” he said.

South Bend Tribune

On 24 May 1872, the wooden schooner SAM ROBINSON was carrying corn from Chicago, Illinois, to Kingston, Ontario, in dense fog on Lake Michigan. At 7:30 a.m. the propeller MANISTEE collided with the schooner and almost cut her in two amidships. When the MANISTEE backed away, the schooner went over on its starboard side and its masts smashed the MANISTEE's pilothouse and cabins. Luckily the ROBINSON's crew launched their lifeboat before the schooner sank and they were picked up by the MANISTEE and taken to Milwaukee.

In 1980, the 1,000-foot BURNS HARBOR was christened for the Wilmington Trust Co., (Bethlehem Steel Co., Mgr.) Wilmington, Delaware.

CANADIAN OLYMPIC (Hull#60) was launched in 1976, at St. Catharines, Ontario by Port Weller Drydocks Ltd. for Upper Lakes Shipping Ltd.

CHICAGO TRADER arrived at Ashtabula, Ohio on May 24, 1977, for scrapping (scrapping did not begin until May 1, 1978, by Triad Salvage Inc.).

CLIFFS VICTORY set a record (by 2 minutes) for the fastest time from Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, to Duluth, Minnesota, in 1953. She logged a time of 17 hours and 50 minutes. The CHARLES M. WHITE had been declared the fastest earlier that year by the Cleveland papers.

ALEXANDER B. MOORE was launched at Bangor, Michigan, on 24 May 1873. She was built by Theophilus Boston at a cost of $85,000. She was 247 foot overall, 223 foot keel and could carry 70,000 bushels of grain. Although designed as a 4-mast schooner, she was built as a 3-master. The fourth mast was added two years later.

On 24 May 1875, the schooner NINA was bound from Michael's Bay to Goderich, Ontario, when she sprang a leak and went down in mid-lake. Her crew escaped in the yawl, but was adrift on Lake Huron for two days and two nights with only one loaf of bread to divide among themselves.

1953: The TERNEFJELL of 1948 first came to the Great Lakes that year for the Fjell Line and made 17 inland voyages through 1953. It sank on this date off Start Point in the English Channel following a collision with the DOTTERELL.

1980: LAKE WINNIPEG struck the breakwall at Duluth departing with a cargo of grain, and stranded the next day in the St. Marys River near Detour Village, after a steering gear problem.

1982: CORONADO visited the Great Lakes in 1972 and returned as c) HOLSTENBURG in 1974. It went aground on this date in 1982 as e) ARISTEA T. in the eastern Mediterranean enroute from Port Sudan, Sudan, to Lisbon, Portugal. The ship was refloated on June 6 but deemed a total loss and, on November 2, 1982, was scuttled off Pylos, Greece.

1983: LAKE NIPIGON went aground off Port Colborne following a power failure and was released the next day with bow and bottom damage. The ship was repaired at Montreal.

2005: SEAPRINCESS II first came through the Seaway in 1988 and returned as c) SEARANGER II in 1994. It ran aground as e) STARLUCK off Necochea, Argentina, and about 7,000 tons of wheat had to be removed before the ship floated free. Later in the year, the vessel was sold for scrap and it arrived at Chittagong, Bangladesh, for dismantling on November 21, 2005.

[yachtsmanwilly]

$2.1 million repair to close iconic Lake Michigan pier for nearly a year

5/25 - Grand Haven, Mich. – Planned repairs to the Grand Haven South Pier will close the iconic walkway for nearly a year. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is scheduled to begin a $2.1 million repair project in August. It's the first major overhaul of the worn structure since the mid-1950s.

The project would close the pier until July 2017, but it is one that is badly needed, said City Manager Patrick McGinnis.

"It's long overdue," he said. "The surface has been compromised and the subbase could have some washed away where we can't see it. It's in pretty rough shape. The Army Corps will take off the top portion and reveal what is underneath and secure the steel side walls."

5/25 - Charlevoix, Mich. – Researchers from Central Michigan University’s Institute for Great Lakes Research will be collecting data from the Great Lakes and using part of Beaver Island Boat Company’s fleet to help collect data to be used in their study.

The research being done is one-of-a-kind on the Great Lakes and could offer some important insight into the changing conditions of Lake Michigan. Beaver Island Boat Company was brought in to help aid the research by providing equipment that could be revamped to fit the needs of researchers and the studies being done.

Fitted with equipment to detect changes in the temperature and chemistry of Lake Michigan and data systems in place that can be turned on and off remotely from the research station, the Emerald Isle ferry, has been busy helping research crews. Tim McQueer, operations manager at Beaver Island Boat Company, said the ferry service worked closely with Central Michigan University and the United States Coast Guard so the ferry could best be outfitted and equipped in a way that would satisfy researchers project needs.

“When were approached by CMU to be part of the project and immediately we were interested in learning more. As a tourism company based on the Great lakes and this being our home, lake stewardship is something we take very seriously,” McQueer said.

The monitoring system the groups came up with is the only one of its kind operating in the state. With the Great Lakes containing nearly 20 percent of the world’s surface fresh water, studies such as those being done by Central Michigan University will help researchers understand environmental issues affecting the Great Lakes basin.

Dr. Donald Uzarski, Director of Central Michigan University Institute for Great Lakes Research and the Central Michigan University Biological Station located on Beaver Island, noted the importance of the work.

“The bottom line is that we have to be monitoring these changes in real time so that we can alter management practices and be adaptive before it is too late to respond,” Uzarski said.

While the research will be conducted indefinitely, recent studies have shown that the northern lakes are warming faster than the southern lakes with climate change so the need to be proactive is great. Currently while the Environmental Protection Agency, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and a handful of universities monitor much of the state, there is very little work being done in northern Michigan.

With research being conducted on a daily basis, the university and its team are very grateful to the helping hand in facilitating these studies by Beaver Island Boat Company.

“I especially want to thank BIBCO (Beaver Island Boat Company) for being a partner in this important work,” Uzarski said. “ This is a great example of how academic, government, and private partners can come together to tackle issues that impact our economy.”

The Central Michigan University Biological Station is located on Beaver Island, 32 miles from Charlevoix, Michigan in northern Lake Michigan. The unique setting of the station provides a wealth of opportunity for scientific research for faculty, students, teachers, and visiting researchers.

Petoskey News Review


Donations put Port Sheldon buoy back on the water

5/25 - Port Sheldon Township, Mich. – The Port Sheldon buoy is back online and it’s all thanks to community members.

The buoy anchored off the shore of Port Sheldon is the most popular buoy in the Great Lakes. Every 10 minutes, it spits out near real-time observations to a free website. Last year, the buoy website had almost 1 million clicks, many of those being to the buoy camera mounted at the top of the device.

Dozens of community members have pulled together to fund the launch this year. Donations have ranged from a few bucks to thousands of dollars. The goal for the season was to raise $25,000. That goal was reached last week. The Great Lakes Observing System (GLOS), a nonprofit in Ann Arbor, was also key in organizing donations and support.

The buoy is run and deployed by a company called LimnoTech. In conjunction with GLOS, it is working to deploy near-shore buoys to help improve forecasts and to warn boaters, fisherman and beach-goers when conditions are dangerous. It transmits observations on wind speed, wave height, surface water temperature and water temperature for about 80 feet down to the surface of the lake bed, as well as other readings. The buoy data is free and can be viewed online.

“Our goal was to get it in before Memorial Day. I think we’re really going to see activity pick up this coming weekend,” LimnoTech Project Engineer Ed Verhamme said.

The buoy was originally funded by a grant. When that money ran out, the buoy was not able to launch on its usual date in April. Verhamme says it would cost less to launch all buoys at the same time. So far this month, LimnoTech has already launched four, including one in South Haven.

Verhamme says it will likely be up to the community to raise enough money to get the Port Sheldon buoy back in the water the following spring. That’s not an uncommon practice — South Haven’s buoy is supported by locals, as is a buoy in Petoskey.

While grant money could be available in the future, there no guarantee. The buoy will be anchored three miles off the shore of Port Sheldon until the end of October.

View the feed from the buoy here: greatlakesbuoys.org/station_page.php?station=45029

WOOD-TV


On 25 May 1889, JAMES GARRETT (3-mast wooden schooner, 138 foot, 266 gross tons, built in 1868, at Sheboygan, Wisconsin) was driven ashore at Whitefish Bay near Sheboygan, Wisconsin, on Lake Michigan in a gale. She was pounded to pieces by the end of the month. No lives were lost.

On May 25, 1898, PRESQUE ISLE (Hull#30) was launched at the Cleveland Shipbuilding Company in Cleveland, Ohio. The vessel is much better known as the cement carrier E.M. FORD, recently scrapped.

May 25, 1941: The former Pere Marquette carferry PERE MARQUETTE 17 was re-christened CITY OF PETOSKEY.

The wooden schooner J C DAUN was in her first year of service when she encountered a squall in Lake Erie on 25 May 1847, and she capsized five miles off Conneaut, Ohio. Four of the 11 on board were able to make it to her upturned keel, but one of them died of exposure during the night. In the morning, the schooner UNCLE SAM rescued the three remaining survivors. Later the steamer SARATOGA found the DAUN floating upside down, fully rigged with the bodies of some of the crew still lashed to the rigging. The DAUN was righted a few days later and towed in by the schooner D SMART.

On 25 May 1854, DETROIT (wooden side-wheeler, 157 foot, 354 tons, built in 1846, at Newport, Michigan) was sailing from Detroit to Chicago with two lumber scows in tow. On Lake Huron, she collided with the bark NUCLEUS in heavy fog and sank. The exact location (15 miles off Pointe aux Barques) was not known until the wreck was discovered in 200 feet of water on 5 June 1994, by Dave Trotter and his determined divers.

1906: HOWARD L. SHAW was in an unusual accident and passed between the cable of the CORALIA and her barge MAIA, raking the top of the pilothouse, deck, stack and spars before the ship went aground. The hull of HOWARD L. SHAW survives today as a breakwall at Toronto

[yachtsmanwilly]

On 26 May 1888, BLANCHE (2-mast wooden schooner, 95 foot, 92 gross tons, built in 1874, at Mill Point, Ontario) was carrying coal with a crew of five on Lake Ontario. She was lost in a squall somewhere between Oswego, New York and Brighton, Ontario.

In 1979, the FRED R. WHITE JR. departed the shipyard on her maiden voyage to load iron ore pellets at Escanaba, Michigan for Cleveland, Ohio.

The J.A.W. IGLEHART began its maiden Great Lakes voyage in 1965, for the Huron Portland Cement Co. The straight deck bulk freighter FRANKCLIFFE HALL began its maiden voyage in 1963. Deepened and converted to a self-unloader in 1980. She was renamed b.) HALIFAX in 1988.

SCOTT MISENER (Hull#14) was launched in 1954, at St. Catharines, Ontario by Port Weller Drydocks Ltd. for Colonial Steamships Ltd. She was scrapped at Alang, India in 1990.

In 1923, the ANN ARBOR NO 4 was towed to the shipyard in Manitowoc, Wisconsin by the ANN ARBOR NO 5 with the assistance of the tug ARCTIC. The NO 4 was completely overhauled and had all new cabins built on her main deck.

QUEEN OF THE LAKES was launched at the Kirby & Ward yard in Wyandotte, Michigan on 26 May 1872. She was the first iron-hulled vessel built in Michigan.

On 26 May 1873, the iron propeller revenue cutter GEO S. BOUTWELL (Hull#15) was launched at D. Bell Steam Engine Works in Buffalo, New York. Her dimensions were 140 feet x 22 feet x 17.5 feet, 151 gross tons. She served out of Savannah, Georgia (1874-1899) and Newbern, North Carolina (1899-1907).

The tug GORMAN, which was sunk by the steamer CITY OF BUFFALO was raised today. She is not much injured. The local steamboat inspectors have taken up the case of the collision. The crew of the tug claim that their boat was run over by the CITY OF BUFFALO and the appearance of the wreck carries out their declaration, for the tug shows that the steamer struck her straight aft.

1926 The self-unloader ALPENA delivered the first cargo of coal, 4,000 tons, to the new Detroit Edison steam generating power plant at Marysville, MI.

1982 ROLAND DESGAGNES ran aground off Pointe au Pic, Q.C . The ship floated free with the high tide only to sink on May 27 at 4 am due to hull damage. All on board were saved and the cargo of salt dissolved. The hull rests upright on the bottom in about 300 feet of water.

1984 The Norwegian freighter WILFRED first visited the Seaway in 1966. It went aground on this day in 1984 as b) PSILI at Buenos Aires, Argentina. The vessel was refloated and returned to service. It last sailed as c) GLORY BAY and arrived at Dalian, China, for scrapping on September 18, 1986.


5/26 - Cleveland, Ohio – The U.S. Department of Energy has awarded a $3.7 million grant to a company doing engineering work on a proposed wind turbine project in Lake Erie.

Lake Erie Energy Development Corp. is aiming to build a 20-megawatt demonstration wind farm in the lake northwest of downtown Cleveland. Current cost estimates are between $120 million and $128 million. As a regional economic development corporation, LEEDCo’s efforts are focused in Lorain, Ashtabula, Cuyahoga and Lake counties.

The DOE grant is the third the department has given LEEDCo, bringing the total in federal funding to $10.7 million, Cleveland.com reported. The department wrote in a memo to the Ohio congressional delegation that the additional funding will support the company’s offshore wind research and development progress.

The grant depends on a partnership between LEEDCo and a Norwegian wind developer that provides a $1.9 million cost share, bringing the total funding available to nearly $5.6 million.

The DOE had made LEEDCo a runner-up when it announced in 2014 that it would be awarding $47 million in grants to offshore projects in the Atlantic Ocean. LEEDCo is hoping the department will declare it a finalist and move a primary grant to the project since others have fallen behind the government’s engineering development schedule.

David Karpinski, an engineer and LEEDCo vice president, said the goal is to complete detailed electrical and mechanical engineering designs. The company wants to have the wind turbines built and functioning by the end of 2018, he said.

The project would be the first offshore freshwater project, meaning the foundational designs would have to be able to withstand ice on the surface as well as underwater ice dams and ice floes.

Chronicle-Telegram


5/26 - Traverse City, Mich. – A plan gaining support in Congress and backed by the cargo shipping industry would establish a nationwide policy for dumping ballast water into U.S. waterways that environmental groups say would open the door to more invasive species like zebra and quagga mussels, which have wreaked economic havoc from the Great Lakes to the West Coast.

The proposal was tucked into a $602 billion defense bill that the House passed last week, the latest twist in a longstanding struggle over how to handle water that ships carry in huge tanks during overseas voyages. Ballast provides stability in rough seas but harbors fish, plants and even viruses, which find new homes when vessels discharge the water in distant ports. Some multiply rapidly, out-compete native species for food and spread disease.

The debate focuses on how extensively ship operators should be required to treat ballast water to kill as many organisms as possible before the water is released.

Rep. Duncan Hunter, a California Republican who sponsored the House provision, said it's intended to simplify a confusing patchwork of state and federal ballast regulations that is burdensome to shippers and hampers interstate commerce.

"There has to be one single federal rule that everybody's required to go by," Hunter told The Associated Press by phone.

Environmental groups fighting for tougher treatment standards say Hunter's amendment would be a significant step backward. It would exempt ballast water discharges from regulation under the federal Clean Water Act, stripping the Environmental Protection Agency of power to set and enforce standards and leaving the Coast Guard, which currently shares those responsibilities, solely in charge.

"The Clean Water Act is the nation's only comprehensive law that can combat an environmental plague of aquatic invasive species that costs the U.S. economy billions of dollars and touches every single state in the union with its destructive powers," said Nina Bell, executive director of Northwest Environmental Advocates in Portland, Oregon.

In a statement, the White House said the Hunter amendment "undermines the ability to fight the spread of invasive species" and would "irreparably hinder the successful prosecution of unlawful discharges."

The Senate is expected to vote next month on its own defense bill. If the ballast water provision is not added, it will be among issues the two chambers will negotiate to produce a final version.

Critics contend the issue should be considered separately but was attached to an essential military bill to shield it from a presidential veto. But supporters say the annual defense measure routinely includes provisions dealing with the maritime industry because it's important to national security.

The EPA in 2013 required vessel operators to limit the number of live organisms in ballast water, based on international standards adopted by the Coast Guard the previous year. It also required oceangoing vessels to exchange their ballast water at sea, or rinse the tanks with saltwater if empty to kill freshwater creatures that may lurk inside.

A federal appeals court ordered the EPA last October to toughen the rules, saying treatment methods such as filtration, ultraviolet light and chlorine application could further reduce the number of surviving organisms. That order will be nullified if Hunter's amendment is enacted, environmentalists say.

Hunter said his provision is intended to set standards that match the best available technology for ballast treatment and could be strengthened as methods improve. But Neil Kagan, attorney for the National Wildlife Federation, said the measure provides no financial incentive for the industry to do better.

"Ships could continue to discharge using the current technology forever," he said.

By prohibiting states from imposing stronger requirements, the measure would block them from protecting sensitive waters such as the Great Lakes, where quagga mussels and other invaders have upended ecosystems and caused untold economic damages, Kagan said.

Great Lakes shipping and ports organizations endorsed the Hunter amendment, saying it would give existing federal standards more time to work.

The provision "integrates best available technologies, best management practices and strict oversight to set a national approach to the prevention and control" of invasive species in ballast water, they said.

Associated Press

450 feet under Lake Michigan, classic car cache rests in frigid silence

5/26 - The world's largest collection of 1929 and 1930 Nash Motors automobiles exists not in a museum, but rather entombed in the frigid depths of Lake Michigan.

The cars, 268 of them, are lashed in rows inside and crumpled in a heap next to the wreck of the SS Senator, a Great Lakes steamship that rests for eternity in an uncharted sinkhole about 15 miles east of Port Washington, Wis.

The Senator, which sank during the final days of the Roaring Twenties as the country was plunging into the Great Depression, sits upright nearly 450 feet down; so deep that few, if any, divers will ever see her in person. Her collection of vintage autos once bound for Detroit join the pantheon of ships, airplanes, submarines, train cars and other vehicles of yesteryear that populate the bottom of Lake Michigan.

"Those cars on the inside are in pretty good condition," said Tamara Thomsen, a maritime archeologist and shipwreck diver with the Wisconsin Historical Society who surveyed the Senator wreck in November.

450 feet under Lake Michigan, classic car cache rests in frigid silence




























































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An undated photo of the SS Senator, which sank in Lake Michigan after a collision on October 31, 1929 in over 400 feet of water off Port Washington, Wis. with her load of 268 Nash automobiles. The wreck was added to the National Register of Historic Places this month. (Courtesy | Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary, C. Patrick Labadie Collection)

Garret Ellison | [e-mail]












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Garret Ellison | [e-mail] By Garret Ellison | [e-mail]
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on May 25, 2016 at 7:05 AM, updated May 25, 2016 at 10:12 AM











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WISCONSIN — The world's largest collection of 1929 and 1930 Nash Motors automobiles exists not in a museum, but rather entombed in the frigid depths of Lake Michigan.

The cars, 268 of them, are lashed in rows inside and crumpled in a heap next to the wreck of the SS Senator, a Great Lakes steamship that rests for eternity in an uncharted sinkhole about 15 miles east of Port Washington, Wis.

The Senator, which sank during the final days of the Roaring Twenties as the country was plunging into the Great Depression, sits upright nearly 450 feet down; so deep that few, if any, divers will ever see her in person. Her collection of vintage autos once bound for Detroit join the pantheon of ships, airplanes, submarines, train cars and other vehicles of yesteryear that populate the bottom of Lake Michigan.

"Those cars on the inside are in pretty good condition," said Tamara Thomsen, a maritime archeologist and shipwreck diver with the Wisconsin Historical Society who surveyed the Senator wreck in November.

In April, the wreck was added to the National Register of Historic Places; one of nearly 150 U.S. shipwrecks on the historic list. Coincidentally, the Senator sits within the boundary of a pending National Marine Sanctuary that will become the second such protected area of shipwrecks within the Great Lakes.



Great Lakes leading National Marine Sanctuary development


Great Lakes leading National Marine Sanctuary development

Every lake might eventually feature one.


The ship sank on Halloween, Oct. 31, 1929; mere days after the infamous Black Thursday stock market crash that threw the country into an economic spiral.

She is the lesser known among a trio of Lake Michigan shipwrecks that week. On Oct. 22, the SS Milwaukee train car ferry sank off Milwaukee with all 52 hands. On Oct. 29, the SS Wisconsin steamer sank off Kenosha with about 18 lost.

The Senator left Kenosha two days later, laden with $251,000 worth of brand new cars from Nash Motors, a Wisconsin-based automaker founded by former General Motors president Charles W. Nash. The company had just begun offering a new 8-cylinder engine model that month and the 1930 models incorporated a 133-inch wheelbase — the longest Nashes built to date.

The cars were bound for dealerships across Michigan and the Midwest. Nash filled a niche between luxury cars like a Packard and economy models like a Ford. The cars would likely have sold for $1,000 to $2,000 to professionals like a doctor, lawyer or bank manager looking for a practical, higher-end ride.

"You kind of had to want a Nash," said Jay Follis, marketing director at the Gilmore Car Museum in Hickory Corners, Mich. "Other companies sold similar vehicles for less, but Nash had a great reputation."

It was foggy the night the Senator steamed northward. About 10:20 p.m., the ship's crew heard the fog signal of another steel bulk carrier, the 420-foot Marquette, bound for Indiana Harbor with 7,000 tons of iron ore from Escanaba.


ss senator shipwreck21.JPG

A late 1920s Nash Motors automobile on display at the Rambler Ranch classic car museum in Elizabeth, Colorado.

Courtesy | Terry Gale


Despite visibility about 100 feet, Captain George H. Kinch sailed the Senator at full speed, sounding fog signals as the 33-year-old ship cut through the pea soup. According to period news accounts, the Senator sounded a passing signal of one short blast — indicating a port-to-port passage — and the Marquette acknowledged this signal by returning one short blast of her own.

Suddenly, the Marquette appeared out of the fog only a few hundred feet from the Senator's port side. Despite Captain Kinch's frantic attempt to avoid the inevitable collision by throwing over the rudder, the Marquette struck the Senator just aft of amidships on her port side. As the Marquette pulled free, water began rushing into the stricken ship, causing an immediate port side list.

"SOS; collided with SS Marquette 20 miles east of Port Washington; sinking fast," was the first distress message over the radio at 10:30 a.m.

The ship settled quickly at the stern, the bow lifting high into the air. The Senator slipped beneath the waves just 8 minutes after the impact. Several of the 28 crew members leapt onto the Marquette immediately after impact. A nearby tugboat that heard the crash plucked another 15 from the icy waters. Ten men died.

William Dorsch, 19, was the youngest survivor.

"I was down in the stoke hole when the warning came," Dorsch told the Milwaukee Journal. "I ran up the stairs, found a life preserver and then jumped off. Man, there wasn't much time to do anything else. It's a big thing for us that tug came along when it did or we wouldn't have lasted much longer."

Although the Marquette was badly damaged, the ore boat limped to Port Washington, where its captain met jeers for not doing more to help the Senator's crew. No life rings were thrown, ladders lowered or lifeboats launched.

An investigation report later found both captains equally at fault for steaming at high speed in dense fog. Ship owner Nicholson Universal Steamship Company of Delaware later honored Captain Earl Godersky of the tug Delos H. Smith and his three-man crew for their fog-enveloped rescue.

In 2005, Paul Ehorn and Rob Polich claimed to have discovered the wreck of the Senator, but it wasn't until November that Thomsen was able to wrangle together an ROV (remotely operated vehicle) from Duluth, Minn. and survey the wreck using coordinates from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.

The team found the Senator's pilothouse and bow cabins in great shape, not blasted off by the force of air escaping the ship during its death throes. The cars stored on deck lay in a crumpled pile off the starboard stern. Inside, the ROV found autos lined in neat rows of three in one of the holds.

Historical records available don't say whether the Senator carried 1929 or 1930 model Nash coupes or sedans. Thomsen and researchers hope to answer that and other questions about early Wisconsin automobile manufacturing as well as gain insights into Great Lakes historical vessel construction and shipboard life.

As for Nash Motors, the company went on to make the popular Nash-Healey sports car and Rambler compact. Nash merged with Kelvinator Corp. in 1937 before restructuring into the American Motors Corporation in 1954 with George W. Romney, who later was elected governor of Michigan, as chairman. Chrysler acquired the company in 1987 and rebranded its models as Jeep-Eagle.

"I think a lot of other companies, had they lost 260 cars and had the stock market crash in the same month, they would have locked the doors," said Follis. "It was only through the reputation of management Nash was able to keep going."

"I doubt, if you looked at their books, they made much of anything that year," he said. "I think a lesser company would have been done."

Garret Ellison covers government, environment & the Great Lakes for MLive Media Group. Email him at [e-mail] or follow on Twitter & Instagram

[yachtsmanwilly]

Disabled Tim S. Dool being towed back to Sault Ste. Marie

5/27 - Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. – The U.S. Coast Guard says a 730-foot long bulk carrier, which lost power and was adrift in Lake Superior, will be towed to port for repairs. The Coast Guard says the freighter had a 440 volt circuit failure which caused the engine to shut down.

The Tim S. Dool – which is owned by Algoma Central Corporation – lost all power at about 3 a.m. Thursday morning, said Lieutenant Dan Every, senior investigating officer for Coast Guard Sector Sault Ste. Marie.

Thursday afternoon it remained adrift about 65 nautical miles northwest of Whitefish Point. The ship’s crew spent much of the day Thursday making repairs on the generators that provide power to the vessel.

“The main engine that drives the propeller is out of service, but they were able to get some generators online. It’s limited, but they at least have lights now,” said Every.

With no means of propulsion, the vessel will be towed to port by Purvis Marine Ltd.'s Anglian Lady tug, which is based in Sault Ste. Marie and was on scene Thursday afternoon.

Every expects it will take all night for the vessel to be towed to Sault Ste. Marie. “Being a ship that size under tow, you can imagine doesn’t travel fast,” said Every. He said the vessel is in deep water and no dangerous weather has been forecast.

“I think there is no additional safety concern beyond the fact there’s a ship that is dead in the water,” said Every. Tim S. Dool was headed to Duluth to load pellets.

Soo Today



Welder sues Fraser Shipyards over alleged lead poisoning

5/27 - Superior, Wis. – The first of what could be multiple lawsuits against Superior-based Fraser Shipyards was filed in U.S. District Court in Madison on Wednesday.

James Holder, a 48-year-old welder and ship fabricator, is seeking damages in excess of $75,000 for what the lawsuit claims was exposure to toxic levels of lead while performing work on the lake freighter Herbert C. Jackson at Fraser earlier this year.

"We have other clients who have suffered lead poisoning," said attorney Matthew Sims, who is representing Holder for the Chicago-based Rapoport Law Offices. "We anticipate additional lawsuits will be filed in this matter with respect to our clients who suffered lead poisoning aboard the Herbert C. Jackson."

The lawsuit said Holder worked on the repowering of the Jackson, a freighter owned by the Ohio-based Interlake Steamship Company, which is also named in the lawsuit along with Northern Engineering Company — a subsidiary, along with Fraser Shipyards, of the Duluth-based Capstan Corporation.

Holder was working on the Jackson while employed by a subcontractor, Tradesmen International, which is not a party to the lawsuit.

Work on the Jackson was halted temporarily this spring, when the Occupational Safety and Health Administration began investigating complaints from workers in February. The OSHA case remains open, the U.S. Department of Labor reported on its website.

At the time OSHA announced its inspection, Fraser President James Farkas confirmed the existence of lead paint on "some recent work areas and surfaces." Work stopped temporarily while Fraser sought to remove lead paint. The Jackson was being retrofitted with twin diesel engines, but not before the old steam engines were dismantled and removed at the yard located on St. Louis Bay in Superior.

Farkas did not reply to the News Tribune when contacted Wednesday about the lawsuit.

According to the lawsuit, Holder performed duties for several weeks that included "cutting out old steel with a torch, which involved burning through paint." He claims he was in close proximity to fumes and airborne particles.

"The defendants knew or should have known these workers were being exposed to the hazards of occupational diseases," the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit also states that in 1993, Fraser was cited by OSHA for several dozen safety violations "when it failed to protect workers at its yard from exposure to toxic levels of lead."

The lawsuit claims that workers earlier this year complained to the defendants about working conditions and "unusual health ailments" affecting workers on the Jackson, but "the defendants and their agents ignored these complaints, failed to investigate the widespread sickness, and instead falsely assured the workers, including the plaintiff, there was nothing to be concerned about."

Farkas responded to the OSHA inspection at the time by saying that all exposed workers would have their blood tested for lead and be monitored accordingly afterward. Additionally, Farkas said the company would apply preventative actions, including remediation of paint and improved ventilation in the engine room of the 57-year-old ship.

Holder was later diagnosed with lead poisoning, the lawsuit states. Sims said he is back to work on a limited basis in his native state of Virginia.

"Mr. Holder suffered terrible joint pain, illness, decreased cognition, problems with his nervous system and gastrointestinal issues," Sims said. "Basically, the way it's been described to me is it feels like you're dying."

The News Tribune has written extensively about the repowering of the Jackson, including touring the work prior to it being shut down in February. In late March, while addressing the start of the Great Lakes shipping campaign, Interlake Steamship President Mark Barker was asked by the News Tribune about his company's choice of Fraser Shipyards to do the repowering work — the first of its kind at Fraser in many years.

"It's a risk going to a yard that hasn't repowered a boat in 30 years or more," Barker said at the time. "But at the same time if you don't put some of that risk out there and let them do it, how are they going to get better? It's important for us as partners in the industry to grow and develop together. They're doing a nice job, but there are definitely some learning curves."

Fraser celebrated its 125th anniversary in 2015. But until millions of dollars in upgrades in recent years it had mostly become an outpost for maintenance and repair work. As it aged, Fraser had been surpassed by other shipyards for major projects, such as a repowering, until receiving the Herbert C. Jackson project.

Fraser and the other defendants have 21 days to respond to Holder's lawsuit.

Duluth News Tribune


Truck hauling buoy damages Blue Water Bridge

5/27 - Port Huron, Mich. – A semi-truck hauling a large coast guard buoy for recycling caused damage to the Blue Water Bridge while passing under the structure Thursday morning.

The incident happened shortly before 9 a.m. when a semi-truck hauling a buoy attempted to pass under the Blue Water Bridge while traveling north on Pine Grove Avenue in Port Huron, according to St. Clair County Sheriff Deputy Russ Nowiski.

The buoy it was carrying dragged across the understructure of the bridge before it became stuck on the north side. The buoy was damaged and large chunks of concrete fell into the roadway.

Jocelyn Hall, a spokeswoman for the Michigan Department of Transportation, said the damage to the bridge appears to be cosmetic and not structural. However, she said, MDOT inspectors are still assessing the damage.

The truck and buoy were removed shortly after the incident. Citations will be issued, Nowiski said.

Port Huron Times Herald


Congresswoman hopes to remove provision eliminating EPA oversight of ballast

5/27 - Non-defense-related legislation tucked away in the 2017 National Defense Authorization Act, which was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives last week, would remove the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s authority in regulating ballast water discharge from cargo vessels.

Dubbed the “Vessel Incidental Discharge Act,” the bill directs the U.S. Coast Guard to establish new standards for ship discharge of ballast water, which is water carried in vessel ballast tanks to improve stability and discharged at port when cargo is loaded or unloaded.

Under VIDA, ballast water discharges would be exempt from Clean Water Act permits that are renewed every five years, which allows for reevaluation, water level monitoring and improvements to treatment technology. Additionally, vessels operating in the Great Lakes or other “geographically limited areas,” according to the bill, would be exempt from ballast water treatment requirements.

A Congressional Research Service report conducted last year states that the goal of the legislation is to set a single ballast water management standard overseen by the Coast Guard. However, Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway advocacy groups, including Save the River, have denounced the legislation, fearing that removal of EPA control over ballast water discharges could cause a wider spread of invasive species.

D. Lee Willbanks, executive director of Save the River, said the legislation undermines efforts made over the last several years to stave off invasive species, and it’s unfair that the bill was included in an unrelated national defense bill.

“Right when we’re beginning to make progress, this gets slipped into the (NDAA),” he said. “Then we go back to where we were.”

In Congress, U.S. Rep. Elise M. Stefanik, R-Willsboro, has been working to eliminate the VIDA bill, which is sponsored by U.S. Sen. Marco A. Rubio, R-Fla.

Ms. Stefanik said VIDA was added to the NDAA without a roll-call vote. While she put forth an amendment to strike the bill from the NDAA, it was ultimately ruled out of order by the Rules Committee, allowing VIDA to remain.

Ms. Stefanik said her next step is to work with the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and House Armed Services Committee, of which she is a member, to remove the bill or find other solutions during the upcoming bicameral NDAA conference.

The U.S. Senate version of the NDAA does not include VIDA, and Ms. Stefanik’s spokesman, Tom Flanagin, said it is unlikely VIDA will be added to the Senate bill as an amendment. He noted that Ms. Stefanik will also work with members of the Senate to attempt to ensure the bill does not appear in the finalized NDAA.

Along with trying to change VIDA’s language, Ms. Stefanik has moved forward with a pair of other bills aimed at combatting invasive species.

On Wednesday, Ms. Stefanik introduced the Stamp Out Invasive Species Act, which would direct the U.S. Postal Service to issue a “Combatting Invasive Species Semipostal Stamp.” Proceeds from the sale of the stamp will be used to fund Department of Agriculture and Department of the Interior programs designed to fight invasive species.

Additionally, Ms. Stefanik introduced a resolution expressing the House’s commitment to combatting invasive species.

In her announcement on the House floor, Ms. Stefanik highlighted the effects invasive species have on ecosystems in the north country and throughout the state.

“Given our unique position as both the gateway to the Great Lakes and center of international shipping trade, our state has the unfortunate distinction of being a principle point of entry for many invasive species,” she said, adding that invasive species contribute to $100 billion in losses annually.

Ms. Stefanik has pursued invasive species legislation since taking office.

Watertown Daily Times



CANADIAN PIONEER (Hull#67) was launched May 27, 1981, at St. Catharines, Ontario, by Port Weller Drydocks Ltd. for Upper Lakes Shipping Ltd. She was renamed b.) PIONEER in 1987.

NANTICOKE was christened in 1980, for Canada Steamship Lines Ltd.

CHARLES DICK (Hull#71) was launched in 1922, at Collingwood, Ontario, by Collingwood Shipbuilding Co. Ltd. for National Sand & Material Co. Ltd.

The PETER REISS left Duluth, Minnesota May 27, 1910, on her maiden voyage with iron ore for Ashtabula, Ohio. She was converted to a self-unloader in 1949, and scrapped at Ramey's Bend in 1973.

HENRY STEINBRENNER was towed from Toledo's Lakefront Dock in 1994, for the scrap yard at Port Maitland, Ontario.

The tug SMITH burned near Bay City, Michigan, on 27 May 1872. Her loss was valued at $7,000 but there was no insurance on her.

The ferry SARNIA made her first trip as a carferry between Port Huron and Sarnia on 27 May 1879. She had burned in January 1879, then was converted to a carferry and served in that capacity during the summer. In September, 1879, she was converted to a barge.

The tug GORMAN, sunk by the steamer CITY OF BUFFALO was raised. She is not much injured. The local steamboat inspectors have taken up the case of the collision. The crew of the tug claim that their boat was run over by the CITY OF BUFFALO and the appearance of the wreck carries out their declaration, for the tug shows that the steamer struck her straight aft.

27 May 1898 - The tug WINSLOW arrived in Bay City, Michigan, from Georgian Bay with a raft of logs for Eddy Bros. & Co. The tug NIAGARA arrived from the same bay with a raft for Pitts & Co. The sawmills along the Saginaw river are now nearly all in operation.

1933 GEORGE M. COX hit Rock of Ages Reef in Lake Superior on its first trip after previous service as PURITAN. The vessel had 121 passengers and freight on board when it struck the reef in the early morning in fog. The ship hung at a precarious angle until all were rescued and then, during an October storm, the vessel slid back into deep water.

[yachtsmanwilly]

Coast Guard continues to work on grounded freighter.

5/29 - Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. – Plans are underway to safely remove a freighter loaded with iron ore pellets that ran aground Friday in far eastern Lake Superior.

Coast Guard vessels are assessing the damage and along with the ship's owner are coming up with a plan to safely free the vessel. That will involve a process called "lightering," where the ship's cargo is moved to another vessel.

"It's going to be at least 48 hours until a plan is agreed upon," said U.S. Coast Guard Public Affairs Officer Creighton Chong on Saturday.

U.S. Coast Guard crews spent Friday night conducting hourly exterior draft readings of the 858-foot Roger Blough, while the Blough’s crew conducted interior soundings of the tanks every hour.

The ship became stuck as it attempted to pass another vessel at the end of Whitefish Bay, where the lake narrows into the St. Mary's River.

"There is ample sea room in the area for vessels to transit," said Chong. "So the fact that the lake 'bottlenecks,' there's still plenty of sea room for the vessel to maneuver."

Some of the ship's ballast tanks have ruptured, but the Coast Guard says the flooding appears to be under control. The vessel's fuel tanks have not been damaged, Chong said, and there's no sign of pollution in the water.

While cargo ships do not become grounded often, "navigating along the St. Mary's River is pretty tight and inherently dangerous," Chong said. The Coast Guard provides vessel traffic service in Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., to help ships travel the waterway safely.

The Blough, which left Duluth earlier this week with its load of pellets, ran aground near the Gros Cap Reefs in Whitefish Bay, about 10 miles west of Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., shortly after 1 p.m. Eastern time Friday. The crew remained on board Friday night, but was safe, and the Coast Guard and the ship’s owners — Canadian National Railway’s Duluth-based Great Lakes Fleet — were assessing the situation to determine a course of action on Friday evening.

Coast Guard pollutions responders, inspectors and investigators are continuing to monitor the damage. The Coast Guard announced Saturday that its cutter Mobile Bay, a 140-foot icebreaking tug based out of Sturgeon Bay, Wis., was expected to arrive on the scene sometime Saturday night to assist in the ongoing response.

The Coast Guard has established a 500-yard safety zone around the Blough. Vessels may not meet or overtake another in the vicinity. On Saturday evening, the supply boat Ojibway locked upbound and headed to the Blough to deliver supplies.

The cause of the grounding remains under investigation, according to the Coast Guard.


5/31 - Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. – The Coast Guard is continuing to monitor the motor vessel Roger Blough after it ran aground in Whitefish Bay off Michigan's Upper Peninsula.

The Coast Guard says plans continue to progress to safely free the 858-foot long vessel from Gros Cap Reef along with Canadian partners and company representatives.

The Coast Guard Cutter Mobile Bay, homeported in Sturgeon Bay, Wis., has arrived on scene and a 500-yard safety zone has been established around the Blough to protect passing vessels from potential hazards associated with salvage operations.

"Something going forward is looking at trying to figure out exactly what the damage is before we can move onto salvage," said Petty Officer 2nd Class Christopher Yaw. "The last thing that we really want to do would be to move forward with refloating the vessel and all the sudden something that was damaged and we weren't aware of and then something happening."

Sault Ste. Marie Vessel Traffic Service has also increased its measures on commercial traffic to ensure the safe passage of shipping near the safety zone.

The Coast Guard says the Roger Blough has activated its vessel response plan, taking precautionary measures to ensure safety of the environment – including coordination with their oil spill response organization as well as underwater dive surveys – to more assess the damage and unground the vessel.

"All indications thus far seem to reveal that the damage is in the forward section of the vessel and all fuel tanks are in the rear section," said Ken Gerasimos, a representative of Key Lakes Inc., the operating company of the Roger Blough. "No fuel tanks are connected to the outer skin of the ship."

A Coast Guard Auxiliary aircrew conducted an overflight of the area Sunday morning and reported no signs of pollution. The Coast Guard says the chance of fuel spill remains minimal and flooding on the Blough remains stable.

The National Transportation Safety Board was scheduled to arrive on Monday to help the Coast Guard in the investigation into the cause of the grounding. UpNorth Live


CITY OF SAGINAW 31 cleared Manitowoc in 1973, in tow of the tug HELEN M. MC ALLISTER; this was the first leg of her tow to the cutter’s torch that ended at Castellon, Spain.

The wooden barge FANNY NEIL was launched at the Muir, Livingstone & Co. yard in Port Huron, Michigan on 31 May 1870. As was usual in those days, her name was not made public until the streamer bearing her name was unfurled at the launch.

May 31, 1924 - PERE MARQUETTE 21 arrived Ludington, Michigan, on her maiden voyage. Captain Charles E. Robertson was in command.

The wooden tug MOCKING BIRD was launched at 7:00 p.m. on 31 May 1873, (12 days late) at the Port Huron Dry Dock Company yard. Her master builder was Alex "Sandy" Stewart. Her dimensions were 123 foot x 23 feet x 8.4 feet, 142 gross tons. The engine (26.5 inches x 30 inches) was at the Cuyahoga Works in Cleveland, Ohio at the time of launch, ready to be installed. Although this launch was 12 days late, it still did not go smoothly since MOCKING BIRD got stuck in the river. However, with some assistance from another tug, she was pulled free and was afloat at the dock by midnight. She lasted until abandoned at Marquette, Michigan in 1918.

On 31 May 1900, the KEWAUNEE (wooden propeller steamer, 106 foot, 143 gross tons) was launched at Kewaunee, Wisconsin for James Smith, Ben Kuhlman & William Keeper. In 1902, she was rebuilt as a lightship and, in 1913, she was converted to a sand dredge. She lasted until 1935, when she was abandoned.

1918: GEORGE G. BARNUM (later the self-unloader HENNEPIN) and the CHESTER A. CONGDON were in a minor collision due to fog off Whitefish Point, Lake Superior. The latter was lost later that year after stranding and then breaking up on Canoe Rock, Isle Royale, Lake Superior.

1926: NISBET GRAMMER sank after a collision with DALWARNIC in fog off Thirty Mile Point, Lake Ontario, while downbound with a cargo of grain. All on board were rescued from the 3-year old member of the Eastern Steamship Co. fleet. It went down in about 500 feet of water.

1974: The first GORDON C. LEITCH was aground for 3 hours, 55 minutes at Buoy 2 on the St. Clair River and freed herself with only minor damage.

On 30 May 1896, ALGERIA (3-mast wooden schooner-barge, 285 foot, 2,038 gross tons) was launched by J. Davidson (Hull #75) at West Bay City, Michigan. She lasted until 1906, when she foundered near Cleveland, Ohio.

COLUMBIA STAR began her maiden voyage in 1981, from Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, to load iron ore pellets at Silver Bay, Minnesota, for Lorain, Ohio. She was the last of the 1,000 footers to enter service and, excluding tug-barge units or conversions, was the last new Great Lakes vessel on the American side.

During the economic depression known as the "Panic of '73", shipbuilding came to a standstill. Orders for new vessels were cancelled and worked was stopped on hulls that were on the ways. On 30 May 1874, the Port Huron Times reported that a recovery from the "Panic of '73" resulted in a surge of shipyard work at Marine City. "Shipyards are getting ready to start business again with full force. Mr. Fin Kenyon has begun building a steam barge for Kenyon Bros. [the PORTER CHAMBERLAIN]; Mr. George King is going to build a steam barge for Mr. Henry Buttironi [the GERMANIA]; Messrs. Hill and Wescott are going to build a side wheel passenger boat for Mr. Eber Ward [the NORTHERNER]; Mr. David Lester will build another steam barge [the CITY OF DULUTH]. There is one barge on the stocks built by Mr. Hill for Mr. Morley, that will soon be ready to launch [the N K FAIRBANK].

At about 1a.m. on 30 May 1882, the lumber hooker ROCKET, carrying shingles from Manistee to Charlevoix, capsized about four miles abreast of Frankfort, Michigan on Lake Michigan. The tug HALL found the vessel and towed her inside the harbor. The crew was saved, but the vessel was split open and was a total wreck.

1900: SEGUIN, an iron-hulled steamer, was released with the help of the tug FAVORITE after being stuck near Mackinaw City after going off course due to thick fog.

1918: The first IMPOCO came to the Great Lakes for Imperial Oil in 1910. It was sunk by U-101 as b) WANETA enroute from Halifax, NS, to Queenstown, Ireland, with a cargo of fuel oil. The vessel was torpedoed 42 miles SSE of Kinsale Head on this date and 8 lives were lost.

1942: FRED W. GREEN was attacked by three German submarines in the South Atlantic and sunk by U-506 with the loss of five lives including the master. The vessel had been built for saltwater service at Ecorse, Mich., as CRAYCROFT in 1918 and returned to the Great Lakes in 1927 before departing again for deep sea trading in November 1941.

1969: The Toronto Islands ferry SAM McBRIDE ran aground in fog after missing the dock at Centre Island.


The 71-foot tug and patrol boat CARTER H. HARRISON was launched at Chicago, Illinois, on 29 May 1901, for the City of Chicago Police Department.

STADACONA (Hull#66) was launched in 1909, at Ecorse, Michigan, by Great Lakes Engineering Works for the Stadacona Steamship Co. (James Playfair, mgr.). Renamed b.) W.H. MC GEAN in 1920, and c.) ROBERT S. McNAMARA in 1962.

JAMES R. BARKER (Hull#905) was float launched in 1976, at Lorain, Ohio, by American Ship Building Co. for the Interlake Steamship Co.

May 29, 1905: The PERE MARQUETTE 20, while leaving Milwaukee in a heavy fog struck the scow HIRAM R. BOND of the Milwaukee Sand Gravel Company. The scow sank.

In 1909, the ANN ARBOR NO 4 capsized at Manistique, Michigan, as a result of an error in loading a heavy load of iron ore.

On 29 May 1889, BAVARIA (3-mast wooden schooner-barge, 145 foot, 376 gross tons, built in 1873, at Garden Island, Ontario) was carrying squared timber when she broke from the tow of the steamer D D CALVIN and began to founder near Long Point in Lake Erie. Her crew abandoned her, but all eight were lost. The abandoned vessel washed ashore with little damage and lasted until 1898 when she was destroyed in a storm.

PLEASURE (wooden passenger ferry, 128 foot, 489 gross tons) (Hull#104) was launched at West Bay City, Michigan by F.W. Wheeler & Co. on 29 May 1894. She was a small but powerful ferry, equipped with a 1600 h.p. engine. She operated on the Detroit River year round as a ferry and small icebreaker for the Detroit, Belle Isle and Windsor Ferry Company. She was broken up at Detroit in 1940.

1943: LAKE GEORGE was built for French interests at Ashtabula in 1917 but was launched for and named by the U.S. Shipping Board. It was seized as e) FOLOZU by the Japanese at Shanghai on December 8, 1941, and sunk as f) EISHO MARU after being torpedoed by the U.S.S. TAMBOR in the South China Sea.

1964: A. & J. MERCURY was seized on this date while upbound in the Welland Canal to load coal at Ashtabula for non-payment of stevedore fees at Toronto and Hamilton. While eventually released, it was re-arrested on a complaint by the S.I.U. over non-payment of crew wages. The ship was later put up for auction and resumed service as d) SANTA MONICA. It was scrapped at Kaohsiung, Taiwan, as e) COSMOS TRADER in 1969. A. & J. FAITH, a fleetmate, was seized by the U.S. Marshal at Cleveland while about to leave for Singapore. It remained idle until being sold and renamed c) SANTA SOFIA in August.

1969: The new self-unloader TADOUSSAC launched itself prematurely at Collingwood. Two workers were killed and several others injured.

1974: BANIJA, a Yugoslavian freighter, was inbound in ballast at Port Weller through fog when it hit the pier and required repairs before continuing to Duluth to load. This vessel arrived at Alang, India, as b) STOLIV for scrapping on May 1, 1987.

On 28 March 1997, the USS Great Lakes Fleet's PHILIP R. CLARKE set a record for a salt cargo on a U.S.-flag laker when she loaded 25,325 tons at Fairport, Ohio for delivery to Toledo, Ohio. The previous record was 25,320 tons carried by American Steamship's AMERICAN REPUBLIC in 1987.

On 28 March 1848, COLUMBUS (wooden sidewheeler, 391 tons, built in 1835, at Huron, Ohio) struck a pier at Dunkirk, New York during a storm and sank. The sidewheeler FASHION struck the wreck in November of the same year and was seriously damaged.

1935: THOMAS LYNCH and the Norwegian freighter BA collided on a foggy Lake Superior and the former received a hole above the waterline. The saltwater vessel dated from 1921 and was torpedoed and lost in the North Atlantic on July 8, 1941, as c) INGA I.

1942: JACK was torpedoed by U-155 and sunk on the Caribbean while about 100 miles southwest of Port Salut, Haiti. There were 37 lives lost among the 63 reported on board. The ship had been built at Lorain, Ohio, as a) LAKE FRESCO in 1919 and returned inland for package freight service as b) JACK in 1925.

1942: TINDEFJELL came to the Great Lakes for the Fjell Line beginning in 1937. It was taken over by the Germans in April 1941, while at a Norwegian port, and renamed SPERRBRECHER 174 in December. It is reported to have hit a mine and sunk off Dunkirk, France, on this date in 1942.

1982: The tug COMANCHE had an electrical fire while at DeTour, MI, and the blaze destroyed the cabins and pilothouse. The hull was surrendered to the underwriters on June 14 and it later sank while under tow off Ludington on December 12, 1985.

2006: The pilot boat PLACENTIA PILOT was built at Wheatley, ON, in 2000 and left the Great Lakes that December for service at Newfoundland. The ship hit the rocks and had to be beached while trying to put a pilot on the tanker TUVAQ. The ship was listed as a total loss but was salvaged. At last report, it was on a trailer at Port Hawkesbury, NS, pending repairs as b) STRAIT EAGLE




5/29 - Lake Michigan water levels have risen more than four feet since January 2013, an unprecedented increase since the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began keeping records in 1918, says Thomas O'Bryan, area engineer for the US Army Corps of Engineers' Lake Michigan office.

"This is an historic event," O'Bryan said, noting that the high water levels have caused dramatic changes along the shoreline.

According to the agency's data, the lake has risen from 576.02 feet in January 2013 to 580.09 feet this May. It is still more then two feet below the record high of 582.35 set in October 1986.

Lower evaporation during the cold winter of 2014-2015 and more than average snowfall the last two winters have contributed to the increase, said O'Bryan. In addition, higher precipitation throughout the Great Lakes Basin this spring caused the lake level to rise faster than normal, O'Bryan said.

"It was still snowing near Lake Superior last week," said O'Bryan, noting that Lake Superior was a "feeder" lake to Lake Michigan. The effects of the wet spring won't be fully evident until July, when Lake Michigan is expected to rise an additional two inches from its May levels, he said.

The greatest impact has been in the shipping industry, allowing cargo ships back into the lake that couldn't navigate through harbors and channels for more than a decade when the water levels were low, O'Bryan said. In addition, the ships can carry heavier cargo loads.

At the Brown County Port Authority, Director Dean Haen says the high water levels have increased ships' carrying capacity.

"It's mind boggling how fast the lake has gone up," Haen said. "For every change of an inch in water levels, the ships can add or subtract a hundred tons of cargo."

The result for Green Bay this summer may be less ships with more cargo on each ship, he said. This, in turn, reduces transportation costs. "Companies are getting raw materials cheaper, which should translate into lower consumer prices," he said.

For smaller carriers, like the Washington Island Ferry Line, the higher water levels have increased safety margins and eliminated worries about harbors being too shallow for boats to navigate.

"While fluctuating water levels are part of doing business on the water, it's easier to fix docks than dredging," said Hoyt Purinton, ferry line president. For the last few years, the ferry line was dredging areas of its main island harbor to ensure its car ferries would be able to pass through to the dock, Purinton said.

This summer the ferry company has completed dredging operations and is adjusting its docks and ramps higher and longer to account for the four-foot change in water levels, he said.

Green Bay Press Gazette