Today in Great Lakes History

[yachtsmanwilly]

9/15 - On Sept. 16, the former USCG cutter Bramble (WLB 392), based in Port Huron, will make a special trip up the St Clair River to Algonac, Mich., according to owner Robert Klingler of Marine City.

Among ex-coasties sailing will be three former 1957 Northwest Passage crewmembers – James O. Hiller, Charles F. Schmitzer III and Richard A. Juge of the cutter Storis, whose ship accompanied the Bramble and Spar on the trip. Additionally, former Bramble Captain Charles S. Park will be on the bridge.

A special salute will given in honor of former Marine City native Pat Owens, long-time captain of the Benson Ford. Bramble will fly Owens’ house flag for the Owens family as the vessel passes St. Mary Catholic Church, Marine City, on Friday morning Sept 16. While in moored in Algonac, the Bramble will be open to the public for tours Saturday, Sept 17, from 10 a.m.-4 p.m.


9/15 - Duluth, Minn. – The aged Antelope may have been one of the most venerable vessels on the Great Lakes, but it was living up to its fleet-footed namesake on that October day 119 years ago.

The schooner-barge, carrying a load of coal, was clipping along at 11-12 mph as it approached the Apostle Islands in tow of the steamer Hiram W. Sibley on Oct. 7, 1897.

As the two vessels neared Michigan Island, the weather was fair but the wind brisk, the seas choppy. That wouldn’t have troubled most ships — but the Antelope had been launched 36 years earlier, an eternity for a Great Lakes vessel in those days.

Under stress from the punishing waves, the old ship “sprung a leak and the pumps were put at work,” the Duluth News Tribune reported the next day. “Although the crew worked valiantly, the pumps were not able to cope with the inrushing water, which rapidly and steadily increased in depth in the hold.

“When it was plain that the Antelope was doomed … the crew had time to gather up their effects and these, together with the vessel’s papers and other articles of value that could be moved conveniently, were taken aboard the (Sibley).”

The 187-foot Antelope slipped beneath the waves, not to be seen again — until earlier this month when, thanks to years of work and some good fortune, a group of shipwreck hunters with Northland ties and a string of recent discoveries located the remarkably preserved vessel.

“It’s the most spectacularly intact sail-rigged ship in Lake Superior — two of the three masts are standing with the full rigging,” said Jerry Eliason of Scanlon, who along with Ken Merryman of the Twin Cities and Kraig Smith of Rice Lake, Wis., lowered a camera to explore the wreck last week Wednesday. “It’s got the giant woodstock anchors; the bow cabin is intact.”

They had first spotted the wreck on sonar less than a week earlier. The Antelope was a ship the group had been seeking for years, making periodic trips to search the vicinity where the vessel was last reported. In the end, it was good luck — backed by knowledge from those many previous trips — that led to the discovery.

As they traveled from Ontonagon, Mich., to Bayfield aboard Merryman’s boat, Heyboy, on Sept. 2, they left the sonar running — even though they weren’t actively searching at the time — because they knew they’d be passing through the general area where the Antelope sank.

Sure enough, the ghostly, distinctive form of a schooner showed up on the sonar as they neared Michigan Island, about 75 miles east of Duluth.

“It was a lot like winning the lottery after having purchased 10,000 tickets,” Eliason said with a chuckle.

The Antelope was built in 1861 — the same year Abraham Lincoln became president, Eliason noted — as a steamer carrying passengers and freight between Chicago and Buffalo, N.Y.

According to Great Lakes maritime historical records at Bowling Green State University in Ohio, the Antelope caught fire and burned in Buffalo in 1867. It was rebuilt and continued service on the Great Lakes as a steamer.

“Twenty-five or 30 years ago, she was one of the cracker jacks, a thing of beauty and an object of pride,” the News Tribune reported the day after the ship sank in 1897.

The Antelope had its main boilers removed when it was converted to a schooner-barge in the 1880s — a somewhat odd changeover at a time when schooners generally were being supplanted by steamers on the lakes.

In its later years it had three masts, cabins near the bow in part to house a donkey boiler to run the windlass, and another set of cabins near the stern. The ship’s wheel, to the extent it was needed while in tow of another vessel, was at the stern as well.

On Oct. 7, 1897, the Antelope carried a cargo of coal from a port on the lower Great Lakes as the Sibley towed it toward Ashland, according to an account of the wreck in James M. Keller’s “The ‘Unholy’ Apostles: Tales of Chequamegon Shipwrecks.”

The plan was to drop the Antelope off in Ashland, with the Sibley continuing on to Duluth. But the old ship’s seams opened up off Michigan Island, the towline was cut and she slipped beneath the waves. All aboard were able to climb aboard the Sibley.

When they reached Duluth, the News Tribune reported, the officers of both ships declined to discuss the sinking — a 19th-century “no comment.”

“Vesselmen that knew the ancient schooner Antelope account for the foundering on the theory that she was in too fast company while in tow of the H.W. Sibley,” the News Tribune reported. “The supposition is that the old schooner could not stand the punishment of the choppy sea, which prevailed yesterday on Lake Superior, while whisked along by the powerful steamer.”

As for the Sibley, it lasted only one more season on the Great Lakes before it was wrecked on Lake Michigan in late 1898.

Eliason, Merryman and Smith all were involved in the well-publicized 2013 discovery of the freighter Henry B. Smith offshore from Marquette, Mich.; and the 2004 discovery of the schooner Moonlight and 2005 discovery of the steamer Marquette, both near Michigan Island.

The Antelope was known to be “out in the area where we hunted for many years for the Marquette and Moonlight,” Merryman said. “We had basically covered maybe three-quarters of the area that (the Antelope) could be in, in the search for the other two. … It seemed like a likely target.”

Also making the Antelope an appealing target: its cargo.

“What we’ve discovered in finding these deep wrecks is that the cargo that they were carrying really determines how intact they are on the bottom,” Merryman said. “The ships that were carrying iron ore or rails — heavy, dense cargo — tend to get broken or filleted out when they hit the bottom. … The weight of the cargo splits the hull. But ships that were carrying wheat and coal and lighter cargoes tend to stay intact.”

“The Antelope was carrying coal, so we had reason to believe this one could be more intact,” Eliason said. After committing to look for the Antelope several years ago, the group put in at least a few days of searching with sonar most summers.

This summer, Merryman took his boat on a circumnavigation of Lake Superior, joined by Eliason, Smith and others for various portions of the trip.

During a stop in Ontonagon, they consulted some old lake charts at the local museum to help further pinpoint the search. When plotting the course to Bayfield, they realized they’d be traversing an area of the lake where the Antelope might be resting.

As Merryman tells it: “Jerry was at the helm, and I said, ‘We’re coming up to our search area here, keep an eye on the sonar because we might just hit the thing, and then I went down (below deck) … and he goes, ‘Whoa, look at this.’ And I jumped up and looked — ‘Whoa, that’s a shipwreck all right.’ … We just ran over the Antelope. … It was obvious it was standing upright on the bottom with the masts still standing.”

“The sonar image was good enough that we didn’t have any question that it was a wreck. Ken got some excellent sonar images — you can see the masts,” Eliason said.

The Antelope was on the lakebed in more than 300 feet of water, a few miles from Michigan Island. It was an area the men already had planned to search a few days later. Instead, they were able to return with camera gear to explore the wreck.

Dropping the camera down into the water, they found what Merryman said he believes to be “the most intact schooner (wreck) on Lake Superior. There are others that are intact in Michigan and Huron — but they’re all covered in zebra mussels.”

“Nearly 120 years post-sinking, it’s still in remarkably good shape,” Smith said.

The rear mast is missing; the rear cabins are gone, likely torn off as the ship sank. But two masts remain standing — a rarity — with wire rigging, deadeyes and other components intact. All that rigging made it a challenge to maneuver the camera, Smith said, which got stuck at one point but after much effort was freed.

The forward cabin also is intact. And the Antelope’s wheel and rudder, broken free from the rest of the wreck, are on the lake bottom alongside the ship.

The group may try to return to the Antelope with an underwater remotely operated vehicle that can better maneuver around the wreck. And Merryman said the Antelope is “deeper than I was planning on diving again. (But) I’m cautiously thinking about it.”

Given the depth of the Antelope, a diver would need to undergo a lengthy decompression process for a short amount of time on the bottom.

For Eliason, Merryman and Smith, who have accumulated an impressive roster of shipwreck discoveries and explorations over the years, finding the pristine Antelope was exciting — but also bittersweet.

“It felt good and somewhat sad — this was the last good (undiscovered) shipwreck that had what we considered to be a reasonable location in western Lake Superior,” Merryman said.

“The number of targets with much of a potential for success certainly are dwindling,” Smith said.

When choosing what to search for, the group talks about how “findable” a wreck is — if there was a specific known location where the ship sank; how historically significant a wreck is; and how likely it is that it’ll be intact, and not broken up.

“The Antelope was the last very findable wreck that would be relatively intact and a neat dive — not quite as historic as some of the others … (but) still a very interesting shipwreck,” Merryman said.

Duluth News Tribune


On 15 September 1886, F. J. KING (wooden schooner, 140 foot, 280 tons, built in 1867, at Toledo, Ohio) was carrying iron ore from Escanaba, Michigan, to Chicago, Illinois. She sprang a leak and sank in a heavy southwesterly gale three miles off Rawley Bay, Wisconsin. Her crew reached shore in the yawl. Her loss was valued at $7,500.

The A. H. FERBERT of 1942 was towed out of Duluth by the Sandrin tug GLENADA September 15, 1987; they encountered rough weather on Lake Superior and required the assistance of another tug to reach the Soo on the 19th. On the 21st the FERBERT had to anchor off Detour, Michigan, after she ran aground in the St. Marys River when her towline parted. Her hull was punctured and the Coast Guard ordered repairs to her hull before she could continue. Again problems struck on September 24th, when the FERBERT went hard aground at the Cut-Off Channel's southeast bend of the St. Clair River. Six tugs, GLENADA, ELMORE M. MISNER, BARBARA ANN, GLENSIDE, SHANNON and WM. A. WHITNEY, worked until late on the 26th to free her. The FERBERT finally arrived in tow of GLENSIDE and W. N. TWOLAN at Lauzon, Quebec, on October 7th.

The steamer WILLIAM A. AMBERG (Hull#723) was launched September 15, 1917, at Lorain, Ohio, by American Ship Building Co. for the Producers Steamship Co., (M. A. Hanna, mgr.). Renamed b.) ALBERT E. HEEKIN in 1932, c.) SILVER BAY in 1955, d.) JUDITH M. PIERSON in 1975 and e.) FERNGLEN in 1982. Scrapped at Port Maitland, Ontario, in 1985.

On September 15, 1925, the JOHN A. TOPPING left River Rouge, Michigan, light on her maiden voyage to Ashland, Wisconsin, to load iron ore for delivery to Cleveland, Ohio. Renamed b.) WILLIAM A. REISS in 1934, she was scrapped at Alang, India, in 1994.

On September 15th, lightering was completed on the AUGUST ZIESING; she had grounded above the Rock Cut two days earlier, blocking the channel.

September 15, 1959, was the last day the U.S. Coast Guard Buoy Tender MESQUITE was stationed at Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan.

MIDDLETOWN suffered a fire in her tunnels on September 15, 1986. Second and third degree burns were suffered by two crew members. She was renamed f.) AMERICAN VICTORY in 2006.

In 1934, the ANN ARBOR NO 6 collided with the steamer N. F. LEOPOLD in a heavy fog.

September 15, 1993 - Robert Manglitz became CEO and president of Lake Michigan Carferry Service after Charles Conrad announced his retirement and the sale of most of his stock.

On 15 September 1873, IRONSIDES (wooden propeller passenger/package freight vessel, 220 foot, 1,123 tons, built in 1864, at Cleveland, Ohio) became disabled when she sprang a leak and flooded. The water poured in and put out her fires. She sank about 7 miles off Grand Haven, Michigan, on Lake Michigan. Reports of the number of survivors varied from 17 to 32 and the number lost varied from 18 to 28.

On 15 September 1872, A. J. BEMIS (wood propeller tug, 49 tons, built in 1859, at Buffalo, New York) caught fire while underway. The fire originated under her boiler. She ran for shore but sank about six miles from Alpena, Michigan. No lives lost.

1882: The wooden passenger steamer ASIA got caught in a wild storm crossing Georgian Bay, fell into the trough and sank stern first. There were 123 passengers and crew listed as lost while only two on board survived.

1915: ONOKO of the Kinsman Transit Company foundered in Lake Superior off Knife Point, while downbound with wheat from Duluth to Toledo. The crew took to the lifeboats and were saved. The hull was located in 1987, upside down, in about 340 feet of water.

1928: MANASOO, in only her first season of service after being rebuilt for overnight passenger and freight service, foundered in Georgian Bay after the cargo shifted and the vessel overturned in heavy weather. There were 18 casualties, plus 46 head of cattle, and only 5 survived.

1940: KENORDOC, enroute to Bristol, UK, with a cargo of lumber was sunk due to enemy action as part of convoy SC 3 while 500 miles west of the Orkney Islands. The ship had fallen behind the convoy due to engine trouble, and was shelled by gunfire from U-48. There were 7 casualties including the captain and wireless operator. H.M.S. AMAZON completed the sinking as the bow of the drifting hull was still visible.

1940: The Norwegian freighter LOTOS came inland in 1938 delivering pulpwood to Cornwall and went aground there in a storm. The ship was torpedoed and sunk by a German submarine while about 15 miles west of Rockall Island, Scotland, while inbound from Dalhousie, NB for Tyne, UK.

1962” A collision between the HARRY L. FINDLAY of the Kinsman Line and the Greek Liberty ship MESOLOGI occurred at Toledo. The latter began Seaway service that year and made a total of six inland voyages. It was scrapped at Aioi, Japan, as f) BLUE SAND after arriving in November 1969.

[yachtsmanwilly]

9/16 - Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway shipping rebounded in August due to a surge in U.S. grain exports, iron ore shipment improvements and a steady flow of raw materials for manufacturing and construction.

“We’ve seen a real rally in August. St. Lawrence Seaway cargo shipments were up 8 percent compared to the same month last year,” said Stephen Brooks, President of the Chamber of Marine Commerce. “U.S. grain exports now match last season’s strong performance. Iron ore shipments have improved as Canadian and U.S. mines have boosted production and we continue to see steady demand for aluminum, cement and asphalt.”

The August acceleration lifted year-to-date Seaway cargo shipments (from March 21 to August 31) to 17.3 million metric tons. While this number is down 7.5 percent compared to the same period in 2015, the busier August narrowed the gap.

U.S. grain shipments via the Seaway (from March 21 to August 31) totaled 1.1 million metric tons with wheat, corn and soybeans being loaded in ports such as Duluth-Superior and Toledo, Ohio.

“Grain shipments through the Port of Duluth-Superior have been running well ahead of last year – some 18 percent as of early last month,” said Vanta Coda, executive director of the Duluth Seaway Port Authority. “Recent shipments have included not only wheat and beet pulp pellets bound directly for Mediterranean ports but also cargoes headed through the Great Lakes-Seaway system to Canadian ports aboard Canadian-flag lakers.”

Year-to-date domestic general cargo shipments are up 23 percent compared to last season, with aluminum ingots (for car and truck manufacturing) shipped by McKeil Marine from the Aluminerie Alouette plant in Sept-Iles, Quebec to Oswego, NY, Detroit, Michigan and Toledo, Ohio.

Cement shipments have topped over a million metric tons for the season (March 21 to August 31), while liquid bulk including asphalt and petroleum products reached 2.2 million metric tons, up 29 percent over the same period last year.

The Port of Green Bay benefitted from the brisk activity with monthly cargo up 16.7 percent compared to the same month in 2015.

Dean Haen, Brown County Port and Resource Recovery Director, said "Cement and limestone were our largest imports in August. When we look at the year to this point, salt has also been another big import – up 40 percent over last year. Petroleum shipments also continue to be strong due to the shutdown of the Wisconsin pipeline with imports of gasoline and diesel coming from Montreal, New York and Toledo." Ports and ship owners are now gearing up for the autumn, traditionally the busiest time of the season.

“The Port of Cleveland was excited to see an increase in steel shipments throughout August, when compared to July. We expect continued momentum in our cargo numbers throughout the remainder of the shipping season,” said Jade Davis, Vice President of External Affairs, Port of Cleveland.

Chamber of Marine Commerce


9/16 - Escanaba, Mich. – Marquette Board of Light and Power’s new generators will be making quite the scene this weekend. The three generators came into port Wednesday in Escanaba aboard the BBC Mont Blanc after traveling across the Atlantic from Italy. But the final phase of the move is going to be the trickiest.

Each generator weighs 650 thousand pounds (That’s nearly two million pounds total.). Basic Marine hopes to have all three generators transferred to a barge and secured down by this weekend. The barge will then make the 378-mile trip through the Soo Locks to Marquette. Traveling at approximately nine miles an hour the barge will take 35-40 hours to complete the trip.

Once in Marquette, it’s not exactly clear where the barge will dock, but according to Basic Marine they will be trying to get it as close to shore as possible. Ramps will be used to transfer the generators off the barge to shore.

Upper Michigan Source


9/16 - Marinette, Mich. – A future littoral combat ship will be named for the Northeast Wisconsin city where half the fleet is built.

U.S. Rep. Reid Ribble's office says the U.S. Navy has agreed to name LCS 25 the USS Marinette. The U.S. Navy is expected to officially announce the name on Sept. 22, Ribble's office says. The ship is scheduled to be finished and delivered to the Navy in 2020, according to Lockheed Martin, which oversees LCS construction at Fincantieri Marinette Marine.

Construction of the littoral combat ships is split between Marinette Marine and an Alabama shipyard.

The complete list of names of the LCS built in Marinette: USS Freedom, USS Fort Worth, USS Milwaukee, USS Detroit, USS Little Rock, USS Sioux City, USS Wichita, USS Billings, USS Indianapolis, USS St. Louis, USS Minneapolis/St. Paul and USS Cooperstown.

The future USS Wichita, LCS13, will be launched Saturday.

Fox 11


9/16 - Lake Superior – Divers discovered a lost railroad locomotive, a schooner barge and a passenger steamer on the bottom of Lake Superior this year. Each wreck has spent more than 100 years underwater. None of them are covered in zebra or quagga mussels.

In any other Great Lake, that would be unheard of. But scientists say that Lake Superior has successfully repelled the invasive dreissenid mussels thanks to a unique combination of temperature, chemistry and food availability.

"I suspect they can be found in tributaries and Duluth harbor," said Don Schloesser, a fishery research biologist at the U.S. Geological Survey's Great Lakes Science Center in Ann Arbor.

But otherwise, Lake Superior is a "pretty inhospitable environment."

Read more, and see a video at this link



On September 16, 1893, HATTIE EARL (wooden schooner, 96 foot, 101 gross tons, built in 1869, at South Haven, Michigan) was driven ashore just outside the harbor of Michigan City, Indiana, and was pounded to pieces by the waves. No lives were lost.

At about 8:30 a.m. Sunday, September 16, 1990, the inbound motor ship BUFFALO passed close by while the tanker JUPITER was unloading unleaded gasoline at the Total Petroleum dock in the Saginaw River near Bay City, Michigan. As the BUFFALO passed the dock's aft pilings broke off and the fuel lines parted which caused a spark and ignited the spilled fuel. At the time 22,000 barrels of a total of 54,000 barrels were still aboard. Flames catapulted over 100 feet high filling the air with smoke that could be seen for 50 miles. The fire was still burning the next morning when a six man crew from Williams, Boots & Coots Firefighters and Hazard Control Specialists of Port Neches, Texas, arrived to fight the fire. By Monday afternoon they extinguished the fire only to have it re-ignite that night resulting in multiple explosions. Not until Tuesday morning on the 18th was the fire finally subdued with the assistance of the U.S. Coast Guard's BRAMBLE and BRISTOL BAY. The tanker, which was valued at $9 million, was declared a total constructive loss, though the engine room was relatively untouched. Unfortunately the fire claimed the life of one crew member, who drowned attempting to swim ashore. As a result the Coast Guard closed the river to all navigation. On October 19th the river was opened to navigation after the Gaelic tugs SUSAN HOEY and CAROLYN HOEY towed the JUPITER up river to the Hirschfield & Sons Dock at Bay City (formerly the Defoe Shipyard) where a crane was erected for dismantling the burned out hulk. Her engines were removed and shipped to New Bedford, Massachusetts, for future use. The river opening allowed American Steamship's BUFFALO to depart the Lafarge dock where she had been trapped since the explosion. JUPITER's dismantling was completed over the winter of 1990-91. Subsequent investigation by the NTSB, U.S. Coast Guard and the findings of a federal judge all exonerated the master and BUFFALO in the tragedy.

Parrish & Heimbecker Ltd. purchased all nine of the Soo River's fleet on September 16, 1982, for a reported C$2.5 million and all nine returned to service, although only four were running at the end of the season.

The NORISLE went into service September 16, 1946, as the first Canadian passenger ship commissioned since the NORONIC in 1913.

On September 16, 1952, the CASON J. CALLAWAY departed River Rouge, Michigan, for Duluth, Minnesota, on its maiden voyage for the Pittsburgh Steamship Co.

On September 16, 1895, ARCTIC (2 mast wooden schooner, 113 foot, 85 gross tons, built in 1853, at Ashtabula, Ohio) was rammed and sunk by the steamer CLYDE in broad daylight and calm weather. ARCTIC was almost cut in half by the blow. The skipper of CLYDE was censured for the wreck and for his callous treatment of the schooner's crew afterwards. Luckily no lives were lost.

On September 16,1877, the 46 foot tug RED RIBBON, owned by W. H. Morris of Port Huron, Michigan, burned about 2 miles below St. Clair, Michigan. Capt. Morris ran the tug ashore and hurried to St. Clair to get assistance, but officials there refused to allow the steam fire engine to go outside the city. The tug was a total loss and was only insured for $1,000, half her value. She had just started in service in May of 1877, and was named for the reform movement that was in full swing at the time of her launch.

On September 16, 1900, LULU BEATRICE (2-mast wooden schooner, 72 foot, 48 gross tons, built in 1896, at Port Burwell, Ontario) was carrying coal on Lake Erie when she was wrecked on the shore near the harbor entrance at Port Burwell in a storm. One life was lost, the captain's wife.

1892 The wooden propeller VIENNA sank in foggy Whitefish Bay after beiing hit broadside by the wooden steamer NIPIGON. The latter survived and later worked for Canada Steamship Lines as b) MAPLEGRANGE and c) MAPLEHILL (i) but was laid up at Kingston in 1925 and scuttled in Lake Ontario in 1927.

1901 HUDSON was last seen dead in the water with a heavy list. The steeel package freighter had cleared Duluth the previous day with wheat and flax for Buffalo but ran into a furious storm and sank in Lake Superior off Eagle Harbor Light with the loss of 24-25 lives.

1906 CHARLES B. PACKARD hit the wreck of the schooner ARMENIA off Midddle Ground, Lake Erie and sank in 45 minutes. All on board were rescued and the hull was later dynamited as a hazard to navigation.

1937-- The large wooden tug G.R. GRAY (ii) of the Lake Superior Paper Co., got caught in a storm off Coppermine Point, Lake Superior, working with GARGANTUA on a log raft and fell into the trough. The stack was toppled but the vessel managed to reach Batchawana and was laid up. The hull was towed to Sault Ste. Marie in 1938 and eventually stripped out. The remains were taken to Thessalon in 1947 and remained there until it caught fire and burned in 1959.

1975 BJORSUND, a Norwegian tanker, visited the Seaway in 1966. The 22--year old vessel began leaking as b) AMERFIN enroute from Mexico to Panama and sank in the Pacific while under tow off Costa Rica.

1990 JUPITER was unloading at Bay City when the wake of a passing shipp separated the hose connection spreading gasoline on deck. An explosion and fire resulted. One sailor was lost as the ship burned for days and subsequently sank.

2005 Fire broke out aboard the tug JAMES A. HANNAH above Lock 2 of the Welland Canal while downbound with the barge 5101 loaded with asphalt, diesel and heavy oil. City of St. Catharines fire fighters help extinguish the blaze.

[yachtsmanwilly]

9/19 - Thunder Bay, Ont. – The Lakehead Transportation Museum Society is trying to bring the former Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker Alexander Henry back home to Thunder Bay. Built in 1958 at the Port Arthur shipyard, the Alexander Henry served the coast guard on the Great Lakes for decades before being decommissioned in 1984 after the Canadian Coast Guard Samuel Risley was brought into service.

For many years the appearance of the Henry on the horizon was the Lakehead’s harbinger of spring.

Named after the fur trader, explorer and writer who made annual expeditions to Thunder Bay in the 1800s, the Henry was brought to Kingston, Ont., where it served as a part of the Marine Museum of the Great Lakes exhibition. The fate of the ship was called into question after the museum’s property was sold. The museum was given two options at the time - sink or scrap the Alexander Henry.

Charlie Brown, president of Thunder Bay’s transportation museum society, said the group presented the museum with a third option - donate it back to Thunder Bay. “Anyone who lived in Thunder Bay during the ‘60s, ‘70s and early ‘80s, can remember the Henry opening up the Thunder Bay harbor,” he told The Chronicle-Journal.

“The Henry broke ice allowing each shipping season to begin. Thunder Bay would not exist without transportation. The Henry played a pivotal role in the existence of this city by opening up the harbor each spring. The Henry is an iconic image of our rich transportation heritage as thousands of Thunder Bay residents would wait and watch the Alexander Henry bring in the new shipping season that so many depended on for their livelihood.”

Brown argued the Alexander Henry was also the showcase attraction at the museum in Kingston for years, proving that it is a tourism attraction.

Negotiations between the two groups have been going on for the past two months. Brown said each party is working to find a deal that best suits them. He explained the Kingston museum was forced to relocate suddenly and the Henry is at temporary dock space. One of the main challenges facing the Thunder Bay initiative is moving the ship. Brown believes the cost will be between $230,000 and $250,000. He’s hoping the Thunder Bay community will step up to help cover the cost.

The other problem is timing.

“The museum in Kingston is under a tight schedule to do something with the Henry,” he said. “Timing is everything and we need sufficient time to raise the necessary funds for the tow. We will be looking for the community to help us to tow this once-in-a -lifetime endeavor and help bring the Henry home. We are planning fundraising activities for the near future.”

This isn’t the first fight to secure a piece of Thunder Bay’s marine transportation past. The city had a chance to have the passenger liner SS Keewatin, which routinely travelled from Thunder Bay to Port McNicoll, Ont., on Georgian Bay. The opportunity sailed by and now the Keewatin permanently resides at Port McNicoll as the centerpiece of its waterfront renewal project.

Brown said he hopes the community won’t repeat history.

“The Keewatin was a missed opportunity, but this is a better opportunity,” he said. “In our talks with the board in Kingston, it is in excellent shape. When they had to take (the Henry) out of drydock, they pulled it out within 15 minutes and the tow was nice and easy. It is in very good condition; it has to be towed obviously, because it doesn’t run, but it is in much better shape than the Keewatin was. It is basically a standalone artifact that we can use almost immediately.”

Brown wasn’t able to disclose where the Henry would be located until the deal is completed.

The Lakehead Transportation Museum Society’s mandate is to find and safely secure artifacts. The goal is to create a transportation museum to showcase the community’s varied transportation history.

Brown has spearheaded restoration of two of the city’s old Brill buses that are stored in the transit barn on Fort William Road. Other vehicles that were built in Thunder Bay include wartime ships and planes, rails cars and industrial vehicles, including transport trailers and timber skidders.

Historical vehicles already on hand include a CN Rail caboose, a Via Rail passenger train and the Alexender Henry’s original icebreaking predecessor, the James Whalen.

Chronicle Journal


9/19 - Marinette, Wis. – The future USS Wichita, currently known as LCS 13, was launched Saturday at Fincantieri Marinette Marine. Wichita is the seventh LCS launched in Marinette making it another step closer to joining the Navy’s fleet.

Some out at the ceremony say witnessing a christening is always a sight to see. Ship sponsor Kate Lehrer, who performed the traditional breaking of a champagne bottle, says it's a moment you truly can blink and miss.

"He said now never take your eyes off the ship, because you got seven seconds after you hit for the launch to happen, it's over in seven seconds," said Lehrer.

"I mean look at her she's speaks for herself, " said Commander Tyrone Bush with the United States Navy. Bush says touring the ship as it was being built, and meeting the people behind the finished product, has made the day much more special.

"They just beamed with excitement and they talked about the ships that have came, and were going to come after. I could see the excitement in their eyes, and that just made me excited," he said.

For those who work at the shipyard, it's a day they've been waiting for.

"It's a dream come true for all the hard work that everyone that works here puts in everyday. Wonderful to see it finally in the water," said Marc Jamo who is an employee the shipyard.

LCS 13 will be the third U.S. Navy ship named USS Wichita. Previous ships to bear the name included a World War II heavy cruiser (CA-45) and a Wichita-class Replenishment Oiler (AOR-1).

Fox 11 News


9/19 - Stockbridge, Mich. – Remember that one favorite book from elementary school? Maybe not, but a group of Stockbridge High School students do. They remember "The Christmas Tree Ship" so well, in fact, that they explored the book under 170 feet of water.

The robotics team traveled to Manitowoc, Wis. Friday, Sept. 2, to explore the Rouse Simmons shipwreck, which sank in Lake Michigan in 1912. The sunken ship is located six miles off the coast of Wisconsin near Two Rivers, Rawley Point.

"Several students had expressed an interest in diving the wreck that they first learned about while reading the children's book, "The Christmas Tree Ship," in elementary school," Bob Richards, Stockbridge robotics instructor, said in a press release.

The Rouse Simmons was carrying a crew of 17 and a cargo of freshly cut Christmas trees destined for customers in Chicago, as it had each Christmas season since 1868, when it sunk during a storm.

The students and two instructors crossed Lake Michigan on the SS Badger car ferry and spent the night on the World War II submarine USS Cobia. They spent Labor Day weekend diving their underwater remotely operated vehicle, which they spent two weeks in August designing and building.

Richards applied for the 2016-17 Michigan STEM Partnership grant in order to fund the project.

"The team spent a good deal of time reworking its underwater video camera system to withstand the increased depth requirements," Richards said. "While the Christmas Tree shipwreck sits in 170 feet of water, the team is hoping to dive deeper wrecks in the Great Lakes later in the school year."

Team members on the trip were Madison Howard, Faith Whitt, Michelle Zemke, Katelyn Knieper, Colin Lilley and Jake Chapman.

View a photo gallery here

9/19 - Escanaba, Mich. – A famous Delta County landmark is getting a bit of a makeover. Painters have been hard at work over the past few days giving the Sand Point Lighthouse at the end of Ludington Street in Escanaba a fresh coat of white paint. The work is being done on the historic landmark thanks in part to a grant from the Michigan Lighthouse Assistance Program — a program funded by custom license plates that residents can purchase from the state.

“This lighthouse was a very, very important part of the foundation of this city,” said Elizabeth Keller, a board member of the Delta County Historical Society. “It was primarily built to protect incoming traffic — boat traffic — from the sandbar that extends out from the lighthouse. In the last number of days since the painter’s been working, so many people have stopped to admire the lighthouse, and I think that it will bring more people to see it.”

In total, the repainting is going to cost about $21,000, with $7,000 of that being contributed by the Delta County Historical Society. According to the Historical Society’s website, the lighthouse cost $11,000 to build — but of course, that was a century and a half ago.

ABC 10 News




At Rush Street in Chicago, Illinois, a hand-operated ferry carried pedestrians across the Chicago River. The ferry operator would pull on a rope, hand over hand, to move the ferry across the river. At a signal from schooners, the rope was dropped and the schooner would sail over it. On 19 September 1856, the rope was dropped but the impatient passengers picked it up to move the ferry themselves. The incoming schooner snagged the rope and the ferry was spun around and capsized. 15 people were drowned.

When Cleveland Tankers’ new SATURN entered service and made her first trip to Toledo, Ohio, on September 19, 1974, she became the first of three tankers built for the fleet's modernization program. EDGAR B. SPEER departed the shipyard on her maiden voyage for U.S. Steel on September 19, 1980, bound for Two Harbors, Minnesota, where she loaded her first cargo of taconite pellets.

The twin-screw rail car ferry GRAND HAVEN of 1903, was laid up in the spring of 1965, at the old Pennsylvania Dock at Cleveland, Ohio and later at dockage on the Old River Bed where she sank on September 19, 1969.

September 19, 1997 - officials at Lake Michigan Carferry, Inc. announced that the CITY OF MIDLAND 41 would be converted to a barge.

On 19 September 1893, SAMUEL BOLTON (wooden schooner-barge, 150 foot, 330 gross tons, built in 1867, at Bangor, Michigan as a schooner) was loaded with lumber and being towed in fog in Lake Huron. She got lost from the tow and drifted ashore near Richmond, Michigan where she broke in two and was then torn apart by waves. She was owned by Brazil Hoose of Detroit.

On Saturday, 19 September 1891, at 11 a.m., the whaleback steamer CHARLES W. WETMORE left Philadelphia, Pennsylvania loaded with the materials to build a nail mill, iron smelter and shipyard for the new city of Everett, Washington. Her skipper was Captain Joseph B. Hastings and she had a crew of 22.

On 19 September 1900, the Great Lakes schooner S.L. WATSON foundered off Cape Cod, Massachusetts. She had been sent to the Atlantic the previous autumn by her owner, J. C. Gilchrist of Cleveland.

On September 18, 1855, SEBASTOPOL (wooden side-wheel steamer, 230 foot, 863 tons, built in 1855, at Cleveland, Ohio) was sailing on Lake Michigan in a gale. Her cargo included copper, tin, lead and iron ingots, safes and general merchandise. Her skipper misread the shore lights while she was coming in to Milwaukee and she stranded 500 feet from shore, broadside to the storm waves which pounded her to pieces. Most of the crew and 60 passengers were saved with the help of small boats from shore, but about 6 lives were lost. This was the vessel's first year of operation. Her paddlewheels were 50 feet in diameter.

On September 18,1679, GRIFFON, the first sailing ship on the upper Lakes, left Green Bay with a cargo of furs. She left the explorer Robert Cavelier, Sieur de la Salle, behind. GRIFFON never reached her planned destination.

E J BLOCK, a.) W. R. WOODFORD of 1908, returned to service on September 18, 1946, as the first large bulk freighter powered by a diesel-electric power plant and one of the first equipped with commercial radar on the Great Lakes. She lasted until scrapped at Ramey's Bend in 1988.

On September 18, 1959, the HENRY FORD II ran aground in the St. Marys River and damaged 18 bottom plates.

LAKE WINNIPEG was the first vessel to enter the Nipigon Transport fleet. She loaded her first cargo of 22,584 gross tons of iron ore clearing Sept Isles, Quebec, on September 18, 1962, bound for Cleveland, Ohio.

The Pere Marquette carferry CITY OF MIDLAND 41 (Hull#311) was launched on September 18, 1940, at Manitowoc, Wisconsin. She was built by Manitowoc Shipbuilding Corporation at a cost of $2 million. She was named after Midland, Michigan, for one of the Pere Marquette Railway's biggest customers, Dow Chemical Co. She was christened by Miss Helen Dow, daughter of Willard H. Dow, president of Dow Chemical Co. Converted to a barge in 1998, renamed PERE MARQUETTE 41.

On September 18, 1871, E. B. ALLEN (wooden schooner, 111 foot, 275 tons, built in 1864, at Ogdensburg, New York) was carrying grain when she collided with the bark NEWSBOY and sank off Thunder Bay Island in Lake Huron.

On September 18, 1900, the large steamer CAPTAIN THOMAS WILSON was taken from her launch site on the Black River in Port Huron out to the St. Clair River. The tug HAYNES was at the bow and the tug BOYNTON at the stern. It took an hour and a half to maneuver through the various bridges. Newspapers estimated that a couple thousand persons watched the event. Once the WILSON made it to the St. Clair River, she was towed to Jenks Shipbuilding Company where she was completed and received her machinery.

1909: LACKAWANNA lost steering and sank in the St. Clair River with a hole in the starboard bow after a collision with the wooden schooner CHIEFTAIN off Point Edward.

1918: BUFFALO, formerly the Great Lakes package freighter a) TADOUSAC, b) DORIC, was torpedoed by U-117 and sunk off Godfrey Light and Trevose Head, Cornwall, UK

1942: ASHBAY traded on the Great Lakes for Bay Line Navigation from 1923 until 1935 when it was sold for Brazilian coastal service. The ship was sunk by gunfire from U-516 on this date at the mouth of the Marowyne River, Brazil, as c) ANTONICO and 16 lives were lost.

1942: NORFOLK, enroute from Surinam to Trinidad, was hit, without warning, by two torpedoes from U-175, on the starboard side near the British Guiana Venezuela border. The Canada Steamship Lines ship went down in minutes. Six lives were lost was well as the cargo of 3055 tons of bauxite destined for Alcoa.

1958: ASHTABULA sank in Ashtabula harbor after a collision with the inbound BEN MOREELL. All on board were rescued but there were later two casualties when the captain committed suicide and an insurance inspector fell to his death while on board.

1970: HIGHLINER was heavily damaged amidships as d) PETROS in a fire at Tyne, UK. The vessel was not repaired and, after being laid up at Cardiff, was towed to Newport, Monmouthshire, for scrapping on June 12, 1972.

1978: The British freighter DUNDEE was a pre-Seaway trader into the Great Lakes and returned through the new waterway on 14 occasions from 1959 to 1962. It foundered in the Mediterranean as g) VLYHO near Falconera Island after an engine room explosion caused leaks in the hull. The vessel was enroute from Chalkis, Greece, to Tunis, Tunisia, at the time.


On September 17, 1898, KEEPSAKE (2-mast wooden schooner, 183 foot, 286 gross tons, built in 1867, at Newport [Marine City], Michigan) was carrying coal from Ashtabula when she was struck by a terrible storm on Lake Erie. Her rudder was damaged, a sail torn away and her bulwarks were smashed. The CITY OF ERIE saw her distress signals at 3:30 a.m. and came to help. With the CITY OF ERIE's searchlight shining on the doomed schooner, a huge wave swept over the vessel taking away everything on deck and snapping both masts. The crew, some only half dressed, all managed to get into the lifeboat. They rowed to the CITY OF ERIE and were all rescued. Three days later, the other lifeboat and some wreckage from the KEEPSAKE were found near Ashtabula by some fishermen.

GRIFFON (Hull#18) was launched September 17, 1955, at St. Catharines, Ontario by Port Weller Drydocks Ltd. for Beaconsfield Steamship Ltd., Montreal, Quebec. Renamed b.) FRANQUELIN in 1967, c.) EVA DESGAGNES in 1987. Sold foreign in 1989, renamed d.) TELCHAC, scrapped at Tuxpan, Mexico, in 1992.

On September 17, 1985, PATERSON suffered a crankcase explosion as she was bound for Quebec City from Montreal. She was repaired and cleared on September 21. Renamed b.) PINEGLEN in 2002.

On September 17, 1830, WILLIAM PEACOCK (wood side wheel steamer, 102 foot, 120 tons, built in 1829, at Barcelona, New York) suffered the first major boiler explosion on Lake Erie while she was docked in Buffalo, New York. 15 - 30 lives were lost. She was rebuilt two years later and eventually foundered in a storm in 1835, near Ripley, Ohio.

On September 17, 1875, the barge HARMONY was wrecked in a gale at Chicago, Illinois, by colliding with the north pier, which was under water. This was the same place where the schooner ONONGA was wrecked a week earlier and HARMONY came in contact with that sunken schooner. No lives were lost.

On September 17, 1900, a storm carried away the cabin and masts of the wrecked wooden 4-mast bulk freight barge FONTANA. The 231-foot vessel had been wrecked and sunk in a collision at the mouth of the St. Clair River in the St. Clair Flats on August 3,1900. She had settled in the mud and gradually shifted her position. She eventually broke in two. After unsuccessful salvage attempts, the wreck was dynamited.

Tragedy struck in 1949, when the Canada Steamship Lines cruise ship NORONIC burned at Pier 9 in Toronto, Ontario. By morning the ship was gutted, 104 passengers were known to be dead and 14 were missing. Because of land reclamation and the changing face of the harbor, the actual site of Noronic's berth is now in the lobby of the Harbour Castle Westin hotel.

1909: The towline connecting the ALEXANDER HOLLEY and SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN broke in a Lake Superior storm and the former, a whaleback barge, almost stranded on Sawtooth Shoal. The anchors caught in time and it took 5 hours to rescue the crew.

1980: HERMION began Great Lakes trading shortly after entering service in 1960. The vessel stranded as d) AEOLIAN WIND, about a half mile from Nakhodka, USSR, during a voyage from North Vietnam to Cuba. The ship was refloated on October 8, 1980, and scrapped in 1981 at Nakhodka.

[yachtsmanwilly]

As of 0630 hrs CDT, the shipping industry came to an abrupt halt as all the great lakes mysteriously drained. ws

[Avenger]

Better turn a few pages on your calendar. It's not April 1st.

[yachtsmanwilly]

Boat Nerd was asleep at 0700hrs today! Feel free to update if it came in... I'm electrificating the new shop today; well starting to anyways... ws

[Avenger]

Build new Soo Lock before economic disaster strikes, advocates warn

9/20 - Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. – There’s a good chance that the car you’re driving is made from American steel. Steel comes from iron ore, and American car companies rely almost exclusively on the kind that’s mined in Minnesota and Michigan called taconite. It’s carried down the Great Lakes in 1,000-foot-long iron boats to the steel mills.

That supply chain relies on a critical piece of infrastructure at Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan: the Soo Locks. If there was a major problem there, the effects could send the entire nation into recession. And that has advocates saying it’s time to build a new lock – but they’ve been saying that for decades.

The problem is simple.

Lake Superior’s water level sits 21 feet higher than Lake Huron’s. Because of that, there are rapids in the St. Mary’s River, which connects the two lakes. The rapids are impassable for ships. But since the 1790s there has been a simple solution: locks. Locks are like an elevator for ships so they can avoid the rapids.

The water level in the lock can go up or down depending on which lake the boat is heading to. This boat is bound for Lake Huron carrying iron ore to a steel mill in Ontario. It takes a gentle touch and some finesse to guide the Canadian freighter Tim S. Dool into the lock. The boat has a diesel engine with nearly 11,000 horsepower.

Once in position, a giant gate swings together to close at the boat’s rear. The gate interlocks and forms a wall supporting the lock against the pressure of the St. Mary’s River and Lake Superior. And the Tim S. Dool starts dropping from Lake Superior’s water level to Lake Huron’s.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Kevin Sprague is in charge at the Soo Locks. His job is to keep boats moving through the locks 24/7 for 9 months of the year. Millions of tons of commodities like iron ore and coal pass through the locks each year. These are raw materials essential to the industrial economy.

Most of that cargo has to go through the Poe Lock.

“70 percent of the tonnage that comes through the facility is restricted to the Poe due to the size of the ships,” Sprague says. The smaller boats pass through the other, smaller lock.

“Moving iron ore from the mines to the steel mills in the lower lakes is very important,” Sprague says. If there was an outage at the Poe, it could be a disaster for those steel mills and the auto companies that rely on them.

A long outage hasn’t happened at the Poe before. But last summer there was a failure at the Poe Lock’s smaller neighbor next door – the MacArthur Lock. One of the gates broke. Sprague compares the gate to a roof on a house which carries a snow load.

“They’re carrying the water load into the walls,” Sprague says. “If at the peak … it doesn’t come together right and you put a head of water on there, the gates will collapse.”

The MacArthur Lock was out of commission for nearly three weeks while they drained the lock and fixed it. It was the longest outage of Sprague’s 25-year career. During the outage, all the traffic that normally went through the MacArthur Lock had to be routed through the Poe instead.

But if it had been the reverse situation, and the Poe had gone down, the largest boats on the lake like the Tim S. Dool would have been stuck. And so would have millions of dollars worth of iron ore. That scenario has many people advocating for an additional large lock the same size as the Poe to be built.

Sault Ste. Marie is a pretty small town compared to the economic importance of the locks. Superior Coffee Roasting is just down the street from the locks. That’s where Linda Hoath is sitting.

Hoath, who was born at the Soo, is the executive director of the Sault Area Convention and Visitors Bureau. The Soo Locks, and the ships, are a big draw for tourists.

“It’s amazing to watch them,” Hoath says. “Years ago there used to be the Cliffs Victory and it was an amazing ship. It kind of had a nose on it that was so different. You could close your eyes and you knew it was her coming because of her sound.”

Hoath has been pushing for a new lock for decades. She says the threat of an outage at the Poe is too great to do nothing. “It would be devastating to our whole state, the country and other countries,” Hoath says.

Leaders in the shipping industry and in government agree with Hoath. A report from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security released last fall described the Poe Lock as ‘the Achilles Heel of the North American industrial economy.’

It reported that if the Poe Lock closed for six months – a nightmare scenario – the result would be a nation spiraling into recession. Unemployment in Michigan could reach 20 percent. That’s higher than its peak during the Great Recession.

The problem is there is no alternative way to move vast quantities of iron ore to steel mills in the Midwest right now.

“You can’t put it on railroads, you can’t put it in trucks,” Hoath says. “There isn’t enough out there. We have no railroads up here. The auto industry would just be collapsing.”

The Homeland Security report says there are not enough trucks in all of the U.S. to move that amount of iron ore.

The Soo Locks have been critical for American manufacturing for decades. During World War II, President Franklin D. Roosevelt stationed 20,000 troops at Sault Ste. Marie. He worried that Nazi bombers might strike the locks and put a critical wound to the American war machine. Today, the main threat is not some faraway enemy, although terrorism is always a concern. The larger worry is the simple fact that the locks are aging.

“Our infrastructure in this country is crumbling,” says former Michigan Rep. Bart Stupak. Stupak, who left office in 2011, spent his career in office trying to get a new lock built. It was nearly part of the 2009 stimulus package but it didn’t make the final draft.

The current Poe Lock is about 50 years old, but Stupak says building another one has not been a priority for the U.S. Army Corps.

“The Army Corps isn’t opposed to it,” Stupak says. “But they look at their budget every year and they say, ‘we have so many needs, so little money, how can we justify a whole new project when we can’t pay for the needed repairs on all the projects the Army Corps of Engineers has throughout the United States?’”

The U.S. Army Corps says a new lock would cost around $580 million and could take up to a decade to build.

Still, Bart Stupak says he’s optimistic about the future. “We’re going to get a new member of Congress from northern Michigan,” Stupak says, “hopefully we’ll have [the Soo Locks] as one of their priorities.”

The U.S. Army Corps is taking a new look at the need for an additional lock. After the review, the project could move to the top of the Corps’ to-do list. That would make the lock a viable project for Congress to fund. The study is not scheduled to be finished until 2018.

Interlochen Public Radio



Port Reports - September 20

Thunder Bay, Ont.
Kaministiqua, Flevogracht and Saginaw were loading on Monday. Algoma Spirit and four Fednav boats were at anchor.

St. Marys River
Downbound traffic Monday afternoon and evening included Cuyahoga, Isolda, Baie St. Paul, American Integrity, Kaye E. Barker, Joyce L. VanEnkevort/Great Lakes Trader and Whitefish Bay. Esta Desgagnes was upbound in the early morning, followed later by CSL Laurentien, American Spirit and Orsula.

Cedarville, Mich.
Wilfred Sykes was loading limestone Monday evening.

Toledo, Ohio – Jim Hoffman
Manitoulin arrived Monday afternoon and went to the Midwest Terminals Overseas Dock to load coal or pet coke.

Buffalo, N.Y. – Brian W
American Mariner should arrive off Buffalo around 5 a.m. Tuesday before heading up the Buffalo River & the City Ship Canal for the Frontier Elevator.



Coast Guard increases search area for 2 adults, child missing in Lake Superior

9/20 - Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. – U.S. and Canadian Coast Guard crews along with state and local agencies have increased the search area in Lake Superior Monday for two adults and one child who went missing Saturday night in the vicinity of the Keweenaw Peninsula.

The search region now extends from outer Keweenaw Bay into Lake Superior. One of the three missing has been identified as Keith Karvonen. The Coast Guard is not releasing the names of the second adult and child.

Karvonen is the owner of a 14-foot boat that the group is expected to be aboard.

Agencies searching are: U.S. Coast Guard Station Marquette, Michigan, Coast Guard Station Portage, Michigan, Coast Guard Air Station Traverse City, Coast Guard Air Station Detroit, Coast Guard Cutter Biscayne Bay, Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City, North Carolina, Coast Guard Air Station Cape Cod, Massachusetts, Michigan Department of Natural Resources and the Canadian Coast Guard.

As of 5 p.m. Monday, no signs of the missing trio or their boat had been found.

Anyone with any information about this case is urged to contact the Coast Guard Sector Sault Sainte Marie command center at 906-635-3233. More information will be released as it becomes available.

USCG



Today in Great Lakes History - September 20

John Jonathon Boland was born on 20 September 1875, in New York. Along with Adam E. Cornelius, he formed the partnership of Boland and Cornelius in 1903, and was one of the founders of the American Steamship Company in 1907. He died in 1956.

On September 20, 1986, vandals started a $5,000 fire aboard the laid up NIPIGON BAY at Kingston, Ontario, where she had been since April 1984.

GEORGE A. STINSON's self-unloading boom was replaced on September 20, 1983. The boom had collapsed onto her deck due to a mechanical failure on the night of April 19, 1983, at Detroit, Michigan. No injuries were reported. She continued hauling cargoes without a boom until replacement could be fabricated. She was renamed b.) AMERICAN SPIRIT in 2004.

On September 20, 1980, EDGAR B. SPEER entered service for the U.S. Steel Fleet.

CHARLES E. WILSON sailed light on her maiden voyage from Sturgeon Bay September 20, 1973, bound for Escanaba, Michigan, to load ore. She was renamed b.) JOHN J. BOLAND in 2000.

CHARLES M. WHITE was christened at Baltimore, Maryland, on September 20, 1951.

On 20 September 1873, W. L. PECK (2 mast wooden schooner-barge, 154 foot, 361 gross tons) was launched at Carrollton, Michigan.

On 20 September 1856, COLONEL CAMP (3-mast wooden bark, 137 foot, 350 tons, built in 1854, at Three Mile Bay, New York) was carrying wheat to Oswego, New York, when she collided with the wooden steamer PLYMOUTH and sank in just a few minutes. No lives were lost.

1970: MARATHA ENDEAVOUR, enroute from Chicago to Rotterdam, broke down in the Atlantic and sent out a distress call. The ship was taking water but survived. The 520-foot long vessel had been a Seaway trader since 1965 and returned as b) OLYMPIAN in 1971. The ship arrived at Huangpu, China, for scrapping as c) HIMALAYA on January 9, 1985.

1980: The Canadian coastal freighter EDGAR JOURDAIN was built at Collingwood in 1956 as MONTCLAIR. The ship had been a pre-Seaway trader to the lakes and returned as b) PIERRE RADISSON in 1965, c) GEORGE CROSBIE in 1972 and d) EDGAR JOURDAIN beginning in 1979. It was wrecked at Foxe Basin, off Hall Beach in the Canadian Arctic, after going aground. The ship was abandoned, with the anchors down, but disappeared overnight on December 15, 1982, while locked in shifting pack ice. It is believed that the vessel was carried into deeper water and, at last report, no trace had ever been found.

1982: BEAVERFIR served Canadian Pacific Steamships as a Seaway trader beginning in 1961. The ship stranded off Barra de Santiago, El Salvador, as d) ANDEN in a storm on this date in 1982 after dragging anchor. Sixteen sailors from the 26-member crew perished.

2011: MINER, a) MAPLECLIFFE HALL, b) LEMOYNE (ii), c) CANADIAN MINER broke loose of the tug HELLAS and drifted aground off Scaterie Island, Nova Scotia, while under tow for scrapping at Aliaga, Turkey. The ship was a total loss and, in 2013, was still waiting to be dismantled and removed.

[yachtsmanwilly]

Thanks man! Got a good head start on the shop and installed a bunch of boxes and figgered out what else I need... ws

[Avenger]

You're welcome. Let me know what you need for switches, outlets etc. I've got a near warehouse full of that stuff.

[yachtsmanwilly]

Thanks Pal! Just practicing typing this morning. Looks kinda like I under estimated! LOL ws

14 square boxes for screw in bulb bases, blue plastic with nails (may also be considered 1900 boxes)
14 screw in bases
14 150W curly Q bulbs

2 220 single phase outlets for the Miller MIG machine
2 boxes for above
4 1-1/2" long bend PVC gray conduit ELs
4 1-1/2" gray PVC LB's with a front access door
4 1-1/2" gray PVC 45 els

4 1900 boxes Blue plastic w/ nails for 2 - 20A duplex outlets
5 single duplex boxes
7 duplex outlets 20A
1 duplex box cover plate

5 10 foot sticks of 1-1/2" gray PVC conduit

And now for todays Great Lakes History.. LOL... ws


9/21 - Livonia, Mich. – Going to Boblo Island is a fond memory for many Michiganders, and a big part of that memory is riding the Boblo Boat. Kevin Mayer is on a mission to restore the Boblo Boat, the steamship Ste. Claire. It's one of two boats that took excited amusement park goers to Boblo Island before it closed in the 1990s – and it's the last Boblo Boat still in the area.

The restoration process, however, is in danger of running aground.

The boat is currently docked in Del Ray on the River Rouge, but Mayer says he has to move the boat because the space has now been rented to a new company for more money.

"By moving the ship, that costs a lot of money," he says. "We're looking at approximately $20,000 to try to tow this ship, and that could be a great deal of money back into the restoration. We want to bring this boat back as soon as possible; everybody wants this boat back."

Mayer says he and his crew are putting out a call for help in finding a new home for the boat – and they have just two weeks to do so.

"If anybody knows anyone that could give us some dock space; we're not looking for a handout. We don't mind renting the property. We're even at the point where, if we have to, we'll purchase some property. Just so that we can get this project done," Mayer says.

Fox 2 Detroit


9/21 - Rand Logistics, a bulk shipping services provider throughout the Great Lakes region, has announced that its previously laid up bulk carrier, the motor vessel Ojibway, has returned to service support new business contracts resulting from the Canadian grain harvest season.

“We are very pleased to bring the Ojibway back into service for the remainder of the 2016 sailing season,” said Ed Levy, Rand’s chief executive officer. “As previously disclosed during the quarter ended March 31, 2016, we agreed to a favorable buyout of a customer time charter contract on this vessel and the Ojibway was not expected to operate this sailing season. After favorable marketing efforts and the strong Canadian grain market, we were able to return the vessel to service to support our customers’ needs.”

Levy said the projected revenue from these additional sailing days will help to balance the continuing choppy demand environment in the first quarter of fiscal year 2017 and returning the vessel will position the company to continue to repay debt and increase return on capital.

The company has increased its projection of sailing days to approximately 3,500 days, an increase from the initial projection of approximately 3,405 days, and intends to operate 14 vessels for the remainder of the 2016 season.

Splash 24/7


9/21 - Muskegon, Mich. – It's a promise of jobs and economic prosperity along the lakeshore, but not everyone is convinced. Rep. Holly Hughes, R-Muskegon, is among a group of legislators and business and community leaders pushing to establish a port authority in Muskegon to create more opportunities for shipping goods in and out of West Michigan.

With shipments of raw bulk materials like coal and rock dwindling in wake of the closure of B.C. Cobb Consumers Energy coal power plant and Sappi paper mill, Hughes says there is a need to make up the lost shipments.

“When we lost Consumers Power, we lost 660,000 tons of shipping (coal)," she said. "We’re slowly making up that tonnage—some of the companies have been—but we want more economic growth, like it used to be before I was born, using our ports.”

Hughes' bill would amend the state's Port Authority Act to allow an authority to be established in communities where the ports are owned by private operators, which is the case in Muskegon. Current law limits the creation of port authorities to communities where the ports are publicly owned. Detroit is the only publicly owned port in the state.

Hughes said the change would allow for the establishment of a private-public partnership, which would enable the state to compete with maritime commerce in other states.

“It’s basically a framework to concentrate on increasing what we ship into the port and increase jobs," Hughes said, adding her desire to see Muskegon compete with Chicago. "I think Chicago has plenty of business to spare, so I wouldn’t mind tapping that a little bit.”

Hughes also argues Muskegon's port is at risk of losing federal funding for dredging by not being able to meet a 1-million-ton shipment threshold established by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Dredging is the process of removing material underwater to keep the primary commercial channels clear for shipping freighters. But according to a report from the Great Lakes Dredging Team, 13 harbors below the 1-million-ton threshold received funding for high priority dredging in 2016.

Max McKee, president of West Michigan Dock and Market Corporation, argues the establishment of a port authority would only create unfair competition and encourage the murky use of public funding, like grant money, for projects on privately owned facilities.

“I see this as a question of choosing winners and losers," McKee said. “It’s about the possibility of another level of government also able to access funds, to then use those funds to compete with docks already in the business, that’s our concern.”

But Hughes contends the proposed amendment is meant to help, not hurt private port owners. The proposal would provide protections for private port owners, including removing the ability of the authority to condemn property or authorize a millage request. The bill would also require direct authorization of a port operator before any port authority could begin work on their property.

McKee says the 'build it and they will come' mantra is irresponsible, adding that the majority of shipments into the area now are bulk raw item materials which don't create dock jobs because the shipments are unloaded by automated machinery.

"People talk about ‘building up the port,’ but we have had roughly 11 foreign cargoes—commercial ships—come through here in the last 20 years carrying something other than bulk shipments,” he said. “It’s not like there’s a whole lot of congestion out there on the lake."

McKee says any future business would be easily managed by the existing private commercial docking facilities and ample existing port capacity, with no need for involvement from an authority.

"It’s just bad policy, it’s bad for the taxpayers, it’s bad for our state," he said. “Make no mistake, that’s taxpayer money and they’ll be able to determine where that goes and it could go to your competitor."

Hughes disputes the arguments, pointing to the widespread backing her proposed legislation has received from the Grand Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce, the Michigan Municipal League, Consumers Energy, Muskegon County Road Commission, Michigan Works!, and the West Michigan Shoreline Regional Development Commission, among others.

"It’s great not only for Muskegon economic development, but regional economic development too," she said. “I think it will finally make a difference in our port and how it’s being utilized.”

The bill was expected to be approved out of a House committee in Lansing as soon as Sept. 20.

Fox17


On 21 September 1892, the whaleback steamer JAMES B. COLGATE (steel propeller whaleback freighter, 308 foot, 1,713 gross tons) was launched by the American Steel Barge Co. (Hull #121) at W. Superior, Wisconsin. She only lasted until 1916, when she foundered in the "Black Friday Storm" on Lake Erie with the loss of 26 lives.

ALGOWAY left Collingwood on her maiden voyage in 1972, and loaded salt for Michipicoten, Ontario, on Lake Superior.

On 21 September 1844, JOHN JACOB ASTOR (wooden brig, 78 foot, 112 tons, Built in 1835, at Pointe aux Pins, Ontario but precut at Lorain, Ohio) was carrying furs and trade goods when she struck a reef and foundered near Copper Harbor, Michigan. She was owned by Astor’s American Fur Company. She was reportedly by the first commercial vessel on Lake Superior.

On 21 September 1855, ASIA (2-mast wooden schooner, 108 foot, 204 tons, built in 1848, at Black River, Ohio) was carrying corn from Chicago for Buffalo when she collided with the propeller FOREST CITY off the mouth of Grand Traverse Bay. ASIA went down in deep water in about 10 minutes, but her crew just had enough time to escape in her boat. The schooner HAMLET picked them up.

1907: The passenger ship PICTON, a) CORSICAN caught fire and burned at the dock in Toronto. The hull was later converted to a barge and was, in time, apparently abandoned near the Picton Pumping Station.

1907: ALEX NIMICK, a wooden bulk freighter, went aground near west of Vermilion Point, Lake Superior, and broke up as a total loss. The vessel was enroute from Buffalo to Duluth with a cargo of coal and six lives were lost

1921: The 3-masted schooner OLIVER MOWAT sinks in Lake Ontario between the Main Duck and False Duck Islands after a collision with KEYWEST on a clear night. Three lives were lost while another 2 sailors were rescued from the coal-laden schooner.

1924: The whaleback self-unloader CLIFTON, the former SAMUEL MATHER, foundered in Lake Huron off Thunder Bay while carrying a cargo of stone from Sturgeon Bay to Detroit. All 25 on board were lost.

1946: A second typhoon caught the former Hall vessel LUCIUS W. ROBINSON as b) HAI LIN while anchored in the harbor at Saipan, Philippines, on a voyage to China.

1969: AFRICAN GLADE, a Seaway caller in 1963, lost power in the Caribbean as c) TRANSOCEAN PEACE and was towed into Port au Spain, Trinidad. The repaired ship departed for Durban, South Africa, in April 1970 only to suffer more boiler problems enroute. The vessel was sold for scrapping at Kaohsiung, Taiwan, later in the year.

1977: HELEN EVANS suffered steering problems and went aground on Whaleback Shoal while upbound with iron ore in the St. Lawrence. There was minor damage and the vessel was released September 23.

1982: CALGADOC left the Great Lakes in 1975 and saw service in the south as b) EL SALINERO. The ship sank on this date in 1982 on the Pacific off the coast of Mexico.

1985: ELTON HOYT 2ND struck the 95th Street Bridge at Chicago and headed to Sturgeon Bay for repairs. 1988: The small tug MARY KAY sank in a Lake Ontario storm enroute from Rochester to Oswego. The former b) CAPT. G.H. SWIFT had recently been refitted and went down after a huge wave broke over the stern. It had seen only brief service on Lake Ontario after arriving from the Atlantic in 1987.

1993: The tug DUKE LUEDTKE sank in Lake Erie about 12 miles north of Avon Point when the ship began taking water faster than the pumps could keep up. One coastguardsman was lost checking on the source of the leak when the vessel rolled over and sank.