Today in Great Lakes History

[yachtsmanwilly]

The LEHIGH, Captain Edward P. Fitch in command, cleared the Great Lakes Engineering Works yard at River Rouge, Michigan, to begin her maiden trip on this day in 1943. The LEHIGH was one of two Maritimers (the other was the STEELTON) acquired by Bethlehem Steel Corp. as part of a government program to upgrade and increase the capacity of the Great Lakes fleet during World War II. Bethlehem exchanged three older vessels, the JOHNSTOWN of 1905, the SAUCON, and the CORNWALL, plus cash for the two Maritimers.

On 01 November 1880, NINA BAILEY (wooden schooner, 30 tons, built in 1873, at Ludington, Michigan) filled with water and went out of control in a storm on Lake Michigan. She struck the North Pier at St. Joseph, Michigan and capsized. Her crew climbed up on her keel and was rescued by the Lifesaving Service. The vessel later broke up in the waves.

The Grand Trunk Western Railway was granted permission by the Interstate Commerce Commission on November 1, 1978, to discontinue its Lake Michigan service between Muskegon, Michigan and Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

MAITLAND NO 1 made her maiden voyage on November 1, 1916, from Ashtabula, Ohio to Port Maitland, Ontario, transporting rail cars with coal for the steel mills at Hamilton, Ontario.

SCOTT MISENER of 1954 returned to service in the grain trade on November 1, 1986, after a 3-year lay-up.

On 1 November 1917, ALVA B (wooden steam tug, 74 foot, 84 gross tons, built in 1890, at Buffalo, New York) apparently mistook amusement park lights for the harbor markers at Avon Lake, Ohio during a storm. She struck bottom in the shallows and was destroyed by waves.

On 1 November 1862, BLACK HAWK (wooden brig, 138 foot, 385 tons, built in 1854, at Ohio City, Ohio) was carrying 19,000 bushels of corn and some stained glass when a gale drove her ashore and wrecked her near Point Betsie. In 1858, this vessel had sailed from Detroit, Michigan to Liverpool, England and back.

On 1 Nov 1862, CHIEF JUSTICE MARSHALL (2-mast wooden schooner, 105 foot, 182 tons, built in 1830, at Cape Vincent, New York) was driven aground between Dunkirk and Barcelona, New York during a storm. All hands were lost and the vessel was a total loss.

The Mackinac Bridge was opened to traffic on 01 November 1957.

The CITY OF MILWAUKEE (steel propeller carferry, 347 foot, 2,988 gross tons, built in 1931, at Manitowoc, Wisconsin) made her last run for Grand Trunk's rail car ferry service on 01 November 1978. In the fall of 1978, after termination of Grand Trunk's carferry service, she was then chartered to Ann Arbor Railroad. She is currently a museum ship at Manistee, Michigan.

Port Maitland Shipbreaking Ltd. began scrapping P & H Shipping's f.) ELMGLEN on 01 November 1984. She had a long career, being built in 1909, at Ecorse, Michigan as the a.) SHENANGO (steel propeller bulk freighter, 580 foot. 8,047 gross tons).

1907: WILLIAM A. REIS settled on the bottom of the St. Clair River following a collision with the MONROE C. SMITH. It was finally refloated for good on December 7 after several earlier efforts were short lived. The former last sailed as SASKADOC in 1966.

1908: TELEGRAM, a wooden passenger and freight carrier, stranded at Horse Island, Rattlesnake Harbour, Georgian Bay. The ship caught fire when the stove upset and the vessel was a total loss. All on board were rescued.

1912: The barge P.B. LOCKE, under tow of the JUNO, was lost in a storm on Lake Ontario enroute from Pointe Anne to Toronto.

1921: The Canadian wooden freighter CANOBIE, a) IRON KING received major storm damage on Lake Erie and arrived at Erie, Pa., in a leaking condition. The ship was stripped of valuable parts and abandoned. It later caught fire and subsequently scuttled about 2 miles offshore.

1924: GLENLYON stranded at Menagerie Island, Siskiwit Bay, Lake Superior while enroute to Port Colborne with 150,000 bushels of wheat. It had been seeking shelter in a storm but grounded as a total loss and then sank over the winter. All on board were saved.

1929: KEYSTATE and the schooner MAGGIE L. collided in the St. Lawrence near Clayton, NY, and the latter was lost.

1956: JAMES B. EADS and fleetmate GREY BEAVER were in a collision in western Lake Ontario and both received bow damage.

1965: High winds blew the Taiwanese freighter KALLY aground on a mud bank at Essexville, MI while inbound to load a cargo of scrap. The ship was released the next day.

2000: The Panamanian freighter OXFORD was only two years old when it came through the Seaway in November 1984. It got caught in typhoon Xangsene, as d) MANILA SPIRIT, on this date in 2000. The ship, still flagged in Panama, was driven aground and then sank off Hualien, Taiwan. One crewman was apparently able to swim to shore but the other 23 sailors were missing and presumed lost.

[yachtsmanwilly]

On 02 November 1924, TURRET CROWN (steel propeller "turret ship,” 253 foot, 1,827 tons, built in 1895, in England) was driven ashore in a gale on Meldrum Point on the north side of Manitoulin Island on Lake Huron. Her hull was wrecked during the storms that winter. She was cut up and removed for scrap the following year.

On November 2, 1984, the tugs ATOMIC and ELMORE M. MISNER towed the ERINDALE, a.) W.F. WHITE, to the International Marine Salvage scrap dock at Port Colborne, Ontario, where demolition began that month.

H.C. HEIMBECKER proceeded under her own power to Ashtabula, Ohio, for scrapping, arriving there November 2, 1981.

On November 2, 1948, FRANK ARMSTRONG collided head-on with the c.) JOHN J. BOLAND of 1905, a.) STEPHEN B. CLEMENT, in a heavy fog on Lake Erie near Colchester, Ontario. Both vessels were badly damaged and resulted in one fatality on the BOLAND. The ARMSTRONG was towed to Toledo, Ohio, for repairs.

In 1972, the A. E. NETTLETON's towline parted from the OLIVE L. MOORE during a snowstorm with gale force winds 17 miles west of the Keweenaw Peninsula on Lake Superior. The barge developed a 15-degree list when her load of grain shifted. Three of her five-member crew were air lifted by a U.S.C.G. helicopter to the MOORE to assist in re-rigging the towline. The NETTLETON was towed the next day into the Lily Pond on the Keweenaw Waterway to trim her cargo.

The WILLIAM C. MORELAND was abandoned to the underwriters on November 2, 1910, as a constructive total loss, amounting to $445,000. She had stranded on Sawtooth Reef off Eagle Harbor, Michigan, on Lake Superior in mid October.

The keel of the new section, identified as Hull #28, was laid down on November 2, 1959. A new forward pilothouse and a hatch crane were installed and her steam turbine engine and water tube boilers were reconditioned. The vessel was named c.) RED WING after the Detroit Red Wing hockey team, honoring a long association with Upper Lakes Shipping and James Norris, the founder of ULS, and his two sons, James D. and Bruce, owners of the National Hockey League team.

In 1971, the Lake Michigan carferry BADGER was laid up due to a coal strike.

On 2 November 1889, FRANCIS PALMS (wooden schooner, 173 foot, 560 tons, built in 1868, at Marine City, Michigan, as a bark) was sailing from Escanaba to Detroit with a load of iron ore when she was driven ashore near Beaver Island in Lake Michigan. Her entire crew was taken off by the tug GLADIATOR that also pulled in vain while trying to free the PALMS. The PALMS was pounded to pieces by the storm waves. November was a bad month for the PALMS since she had previously been wrecked on Long Point in Lake Erie in November 1874, and again at Duluth in November 1872.

During the first week of November 1878, The Port Huron Times reported wrecks and mishaps that occurred during a severe storm that swept over the Lakes on Friday and Saturday, 1-3 November. The information was reported on 2, 4 & 5 November as the reports came in. The same reports will appear here starting today: The Port Huron Times of 2 November 1878: "The schooner L. C. WOODRUFF of Cleveland is ashore at the mouth of the White River with her foremast gone. She is loaded with corn. Three schooners went ashore at Grand Haven Friday morning, the AMERICA, MONTPELIER, and AUSTRALIAN. One man was drowned off the AUSTRALIAN. The schooner WORTS is ashore and full of water on Beaver Island. Her cargo consists of pork for Collingwood. The tug LEVIATHAN has gone to her aid. The schooner LAKE FOREST is ashore at Hammond's Bay, Lake Huron, and is full of water. She has a cargo of corn aboard. The tug A J SMITH has gone to her rescue. The barge S. C. WOODRUFF has gone down in 13 feet of water off Whitehall and her crew is clinging to the rigging at last accounts. A lifeboat has been sent to her relief. The barge RUTTER is in 25 feet of water and all the crew are now safe."

On 2 November 1874, PREBLE (2-mast wooden schooner, 98 foot, 166 tons, built in 1842, at Buffalo, New York as a brig) was lost in a storm off Long Point on Lake Erie and broke up in the waves. The steamer ST PAUL rescued her crew.

On 02 Nov 1862, BAY STATE (wooden propeller, 137 foot, 372 tons, built in 1852, at Buffalo, New York) was bound for Lake Erie ports from Oswego, New York when she broke up offshore in a terrific gale in the vicinity of Oswego. All 22 onboard, including six passengers, lost their lives. The shoreline was strewn with her wreckage for miles.

PAUL H. CARNAHAN was christened at the foot of West Grand Boulevard in Detroit, Michigan on 02 Nov 1961. She had been converted from the tanker b.) ATLANTIC DEALER to a dry bulk cargo carrier by American Ship Building Co. at Lorain, Ohio and came out on her maiden bulk freighter voyage just two weeks before this christening ceremony.

1912: JUNO, which had lost the barge P.B. LOCKE the previous day on Lake Ontario, arrived safely at Cobourg and then sank at the dock.

1923: The wooden steamer WESEE caught fire in Lake Erie off Middle Bass Island and burned as a total loss. The crew took to the yawl boats and all were saved.

1956: The former schooner J.T. WING, which had operated as a museum at Belle Isle in Detroit until condemned due to rotting timbers, was burned.

1981: FROSSO K., an SD 14 ocean freighter, suffered an engine room fire enroute from Vancouver to Japan. The ship was towed back to Vancouver November 15 and repaired. It first came through the Seaway in 1974 and arrived at Cartagena, Columbia, under tow, for scrapping on February 15, 1995, as e) MAMER.

1981: The West German freighter POSEIDON first came through the Seaway in 1962 and became a regular inland trader. It was abandoned, in leaking condition on this date, as e) VIKI K. in the Red Sea. There was some suspicion that the vessel was scuttled as part of an insurance fraud. 1988: PETER MISENER struck a shoal while upbound in the Saguenay River for Port Alfred with coke. There was major damage and the ship went to Montreal for repairs.

2001: AUDACIOUS stranded at Keleman Island, Indonesia, but was refloated two days later. The damage was severe and the vessel was laid up at Singapore and then sold to shipbreakers. The ship arrived at Alang, India, to be broken up, on April 27, 2002. The ship visited the Great Lakes as a) WELSH VOYAGER in 1977, and returned as b) LONDON VOYAGER in 1982 and c) OLYMPIC LEADER in 1983. It made its first inland voyage as d) AUDACIOUS in 1996 and its final call in 2000.

[yachtsmanwilly]

On 03 November 1907, tug ESCORT (wooden propeller, 45 foot, 40 gross tons, built in 1894, at Port Colborne, Ontario) tried to pass the barge BENJ HARRISON at the mouth of the Niagara River. In a navigational error, the tug sheared under the barge’s bow, was run over and sunk. Three lives were lost.

B. A. PEERLESS sailed on her maiden voyage November 3, 1952, bound for Superior, Wisconsin, where 110,291 barrels of crude oil were loaded destined for British-American's refinery at Clarkson, Ontario. The PEERLESS was built for the express purpose of transporting crude oil from the Interprovincial / Lakehead Pipeline terminus at Superior to B / A's Clarkson refinery. The vessel lasted until 1991, when she was broken up.

On 3 November 1898, PACIFIC (wooden propeller passenger/package freighter, 179 foot, 918 gross tons, built in 1883, at Owen Sound, Ontario) caught fire at the Grand Trunk dock at Collingwood, Ontario. She burned to a shell despite a concerted effort to save her. She was later towed out into Georgian Bay and scuttled.

On 3 November 1855, DELAWARE (wooden propeller, 173 foot, 368 tons, built in 1846, at Black River, Ohio) was carrying general merchandise from Chicago to Buffalo with a stop at Milwaukee. She was driven ashore by a gale eight miles south of Sheboygan, Wisconsin and sank. Ten or 11 of the 18 on board lost their lives. Within a few days, only her arches were visible above the water.

Dismantling of the H. C. HEIMBECKER began on 03 Nov 1981, by Triad Salvage Company at Ashtabula, Ohio, and was completed the following year. This vessel was originally named GEORGE W. PERKINS (steel bulk freighter, 556 foot, 6,553 gross tons, built in 1905, at Superior, Wisconsin.)

1928: CANADIAN TRADER was Hull 39 of the Port Arthur shipyard. Following a sale to Japanese interests, the ship departed Seattle on this date in 1928 on its delivery voyage, still as c) GUILDA SCUDERI, and was never seen again.

1953: The tug J.A. CORNETT went hard aground about seven miles north of Clayton, NY and was leaking badly. The vessel was eventually refloated and survived at Port Dover, ON at least as recently as 2011. It has been laid up there since 1992 and is now in derelict condition.

1965: The tug MISEFORD was towing the barge CHARLES W. JOHNSON when they were caught in a storm on the St. Marys River. The tug was pulled over on her side and rested on the bottom. MISEFORD was salvaged in the spring of 1966 and remains in service in 2012 as a harbor tug at Thunder Bay, Ont.


11/3 - Duluth, Minn. – His ship sunk, his belongings gone but for the clothes on his back, L.S. Upson surveyed the scene along the remote shore of Lake Superior 100 miles north of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario.

Upson was one of about 60 passengers and crew who survived the sinking of the package steamer J.S. Seaverns near Michipicoten Harbor in May 1884.

It had been a harrowing experience for the survivors — "it was a fine night or all (would) have been lost," Upson noted in a letter home that was later reprinted in the Chicago Inter Ocean newspaper.

But while they may have been glad to be alive, the passengers and crew must have lamented their lot, with their possessions and supplies now on the bottom of the lake — and a wait of indeterminate length until they all could be picked up from the isolated outpost.

"This," Upson wrote of his surroundings, "is the most outlandish out-of-a-way place in the world."

[yachtsmanwilly]

In 1980 the tug LAUREN CASTLE sank while towing the AMOCO WISCONSIN near Lee Point in Traverse Bay. Engineer William Stephan was lost. Its hard to believe its been 36 years. That's a lot of water over the decks! ws


The Great Lakes Steamship Company steamer NORWAY passed downbound through the Soo Locks with 6,609 tons of rye. This cargo increased the total tonnage transiting the locks in 1953 to 120,206,088 tons – a new one-season tonnage record. Renamed b.) RUTH HINDMAN in 1964, she was scrapped at Thunder Bay, Ontario in 1978.

On 04 November 1883, MAYFLOWER (wooden propeller freighter “steam barge,” 185 foot, 623 gross tons, built in 1852, at Buffalo, New York) was carrying lumber when she stranded in a gale off Point Abino near Buffalo, New York where the waves pounded her to pieces. The crew made it to shore in the yawl. She was built as a very fine passenger steamer for the Western Transportation Line then in 1868, she was rebuilt as a “steam barge.”

On 4 November 1875, SWAN (wooden propeller tug, 11 gross tons, built in 1862, at Buffalo, New York) caught fire while lying out in the Saginaw River near East Saginaw. She was abandoned by the crew and burned to the water’s edge.

JOSEPH G. BUTLER JR (steel bulk freighter, 525 foot, 6,588 gross tons) was launched on 04 Nov 1905, at Lorain, Ohio for the Tonopah Steamship Co. (Hutchinson & Co., mgr.). She lasted until 1971, when she was stripped of her cabins and scuttled, along with HENRY R. PLATT JR., at Steel Co. of Canada plant, Burlington Bay, Hamilton, Ontario, as breakwater and fill.

CARTIERCLIFFE HALL was registered at Toronto, Ontario, on 04 Nov 1977, but didn't enter service until the spring of 1978 because of mechanical difficulties during her sea trials.

On 04 Nov, 1986, TEXACO CHIEF was renamed A.G. FARQUHARSON. She was renamed c.) ALGONOVA (i) in 1998.

CALCITE II departed Cleveland at 5:30 a.m. Saturday, 04 Nov 2000, on her last trip for USS Great Lakes Fleet. She sailed upbound for Sarnia, Ontario, where she spent the winter in lay-up. Grand River Transportation had entered into a sale agreement with USS Great Lakes Fleet, Inc. for the purchase of the CALCITE II, GEORGE A. SLOAN and MYRON C. TAYLOR. Built as the WILLIAM G. CLYDE in 1929, CALCITE II is awaiting scrapping as c.) MAUMEE.

HERON BAY proceeded under her own power to Lauzon, Quebec, for her final lay-up on November 4, 1978.

CSL's NIPIGON BAY was launched November 4, 1950.

CHARLES L. HUTCHINSON developed a sizable leak and almost sank November 4, 1925, during her tow to Superior after she struck a reef a few nights before.

ROBERT C. STANLEY's keel was laid November 4, 1942.

UNITED STATES GYPSUM of 1910 grounded at Toledo, Ohio, on November 4, 1972, resulting in damage totaling $125,000. Her propeller was removed and the rudder shaft was locked in position to finish the season as a manned barge on the coal run from Toledo to Detroit, Michigan.

JOSEPH H. THOMPSON became not only the largest vessel on the Great Lakes but also the longest dry bulk cargo vessel in the world when it entered service on November 4, 1952, departing Chicago on its first trip.

Setting the stage for the fateful storm that followed less than a week later that sank the EDMUND FITZGERALD, many locations in Minnesota and Wisconsin were setting all-time record high temperatures for the month of November during the period of November 4-6, 1975. Grand Marais, Minnesota, reached 67 degrees on November 5 and Superior reached 74 degrees on November 6, both all-time records for the month. Many other notable Great Lakes storms, including the Armistice Day storm of 1940, and the storm that sank the HENRY STEINBRENNER in 1953, were proceeded by record-setting warm weather.

On 4 November 1877, MARY BOOTH (wooden scow-schooner, 132 tons, built in 1857, at Buffalo, New York) was carrying maple lumber in a storm in Lake Michigan. She became waterlogged but her crew doggedly clung to her until she appeared ready to turn turtle. Then her crew abandoned her and she rolled over. She drifted in the lake for several days. The crew landed at White Lake, Michigan and they were near death.

The Port Huron Times of 4 November 1878: "The propeller CITY OF MONTREAL is believed to have gone down on Lake Michigan on Friday [1 NOV 1878]. The schooner LIVELY, laden with coal for Bay City, is reported ashore 6 miles above Sand Beach, having gone on at 12 o'clock Sunday night [3 NOV 1878]. The schooner WOODRUFF, ashore at Whitehall, is a total loss. Two men were drowned, one died from injuries received, and Capt. Lingham was saved. The tugs E M PECK and MYSTIC, which went from the Sault to the assistance of the propeller QUEBEC, were wrecked near where she lies, one being on the beach and the other sunk below her decks. Both crews were rescued and were taken to St. Joseph Island."

On 4 November 1856, J W BROOKS (wooden propeller, 136 foot, 322 tons, built in 1851, at Detroit) was carrying provisions and copper ingots to Ogdensburg, New York in a storm when she foundered on Lake Ontario, 8 miles northeast of False Ducks Light. Estimates of the loss of lives range from 22 to 50. In July 1857, she was partially raised and some of her cargo was recovered. She only had a five year career, but besides this final incident, she had her share of disasters. In July 1855, she had a boiler explosion and in May of that same year, she sank in Canadian waters.

1891: The iron freighter NORTH, which had become the first ocean ship to be cut in two and brought to the Great Lakes, arrived at Collingwood to be rebuilt as b) CAMPANA for the passenger & freight trades on the upper lakes.

1898: The wooden passenger and freight steamer PACIFIC burned at the Grand Trunk Railway dock in Collingwood along with the freight sheds and their contents. The blaze had begun the previous evening and roared for hours. The vessel was valued at $65,000.

1959: WESTRIVER arrived at Halifax for repairs after an earlier engine room explosion on Lake Superior had left the ship with significant damage.

1967: PEARL LIGHT, a World War II Empire ship, came through the Seaway for one trip in 1965. It was wrecked off Vietnam as g) HABIB MARIKAR while enroute from Dalian, China, to Chittagong, Bangladesh, with bagged cement. One life was lost.

1972: INLAND TRANSPORT went aground off Garden Island Bank, near Little Current, Manitoulin Island, and received major hull damage that led to the retirement of that Halco tanker after one more trip.

1991: CARLI METZ struck the wall below Lock 2 of the Welland Canal and the vessel had to go to Port Weller Dry Docks for repairs. It had been inbound for the first time earlier in the year and returned in 1992. It was scrapped at Chittagong, Bangladesh, as d) METZ ITALIA in 2001.

1993: ZIEMIA ZAMOJSKA, while under tow, struck the raised 106th Street Bridge on the Calumet River at Chicago resulting in damage to the structure and traffic problems. The corn-laden vessel received a hole in the port bow, which was repaired at Montreal.




Star Line buying Arnold's assets as longtime Mackinac Island ferry closes

11/4 - St. Ignace, Mich. – Longtime Mackinac Island ferry service Arnold Transit is shuttering after years of trying to stay afloat amid financial difficulties. Competitor Star Line Mackinac Island Ferry is buying Arnold's assets for an undisclosed amount, Star Line CEO Jerry Fetty said on Thursday.

"Star Line is looking forward to increasing and improving options for our passengers while keeping the historic boats and properties that families have grown to love over the years, operational," Fetty said.

In recent years, ownership of the struggling Arnold Transit had become a legal battle between controlling investors and former owners.

In early 2014, investors ousted the former president, James Wynn, and installed new managers after he sold land at the foot of Arnold's island dock to a developer and took out a massive mortgage on the company without their approval.

Concerns about the company's financial instability prompted longtime client Mission Point Resort to drop its contract with Arnold.

Arnold Transit has provided ferry service from Michigan's famed Mackinac Island to Mackinac City and St. Ignace since 1878. In recent years, Arnold has offered the cheapest fares but with less frequent runs than its two competitors, Star Line and Shepler's ferry services.


11/4 - Duluth, Minn. – Lake Superior had one of its largest monthly declines in years in October, dropping 4 inches in a month the big lake usually drops only an inch. A warmer, dryer October contributed to the decline, with the water supply to the lake lower than usual, according to the International Lake Superior Board of Control.

The lake now sits 5 inches above the long-term average for Nov. 1 and is still 2 inches above the level on Nov. 1, 2015. Lake Superior usually drops from September to March and then rises from April to August.

Lakes Huron and Michigan also saw less new water entering, dropping 3 inches in October, which is about average for the month. The lakes now sit 10 inches above their long-term normal and 4 inches higher than Nov. 1, 2015.

Duluth News Tribune

[Avenger]

I know how you feel Bill. My dad has been gone 22 years now. Hard to believe.

[yachtsmanwilly]

11/7 - Duluth, Minn. – In an age-old industry, suddenly everything is new again. "Our boats may look classic, but they're very modern," said Interlake Steamship Co. President Mark Barker. "It's an example of what is going on in the industry."

Barker gave the keynote speech at Friday's kickoff of Gales of November, the 79th annual fundraiser for the Lake Superior Marine Museum Association. His talk focused on how Great Lakes fleets are getting repowered, moving from steam to diesel, heavy oil or even liquid natural gas.

"It is the end of the steam era," Barker said. "We're not sitting still. All the fleets are focusing on making sure we have a viable fleet for the future."

Interlake, based in Ohio, has repowered much of its fleet, most recently the Herbert C. Jackson at Superior's Fraser Shipyards over the past year. The Jackson launched for sea trials in September following some delays, tied in part to an Occupational Safety and Health Administration investigation into reports of workers being overexposed to lead during the project.

On Friday, Barker detailed how each ship's repowering presented its own challenge, and why the company likes heavy oil as a fuel source. "It comes in dirty but leaves cleaner than diesel," thanks to exhaust gas scrubbers, he said.

The company was ready to commit to liquid natural gas before that plan "fell apart," Barker said, and he's glad the company went the way it did.

Answering critics who say shipping remains dirty while other modes of transport are becoming more efficient, Barker said rushing technology is risky because there's more at stake on the water — if something goes wrong there won't immediately be someone to help.

"It's very easy to say the industry is moving slow, but we operate in a different world than a highway or train tracks," he said.

Repowering is a costly decision that has to balance up-front expenditures with long-term costs, but with regulations on emissions closing in, the company had to make a choice — and with the successful repowering of the Lee A. Tregurtha in 2006, it was an easy choice.

"This is a lot of new technology, and we've all had to adapt to it pretty quick," Barker said. "It's been a big culture change."

Duluth News Tribune


11/7 - USCG Bristol Bay (WTGB-102) is on its way from Baltimore, via New York and Boston, to the Great Lakes. Fresh from a Service Life Extension Project (SLEP) refit at the coast guard base in Baltimore, the light icebreaker left its Detroit, Mich., homeport in August 2015 for the extensive upgrade.

11/7 - On Thursday, Nov. 10, Split Rock Lighthouse, on Lake Superior’s north shore, will commemorate the 1975 sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald with its annual Memorial Beacon Lighting. A film about the Fitzgerald will be shown in the visitor center theater continuously throughout the afternoon. The lighthouse and the fog signal building will be open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. The lighthouse will close temporarily at 4:30 p.m. while the names of the 29 lost crew members are read to the tolling of a ship’s bell. Following the ceremony, the beacon will be lit and the tower once again opened for visitors to tour. This is the only opportunity each year when visitors can climb to the top of the tower and see the beacon lit and revolving. Admission: Adults: $10; Seniors & College Students: $8; Children (age 5-17): $7 Free for Minnesota Historical Society members.
The annual Edmund Fitzgerald Memorial Ceremony will be held in the Main Gallery of the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum on Thursday. Doors will open at 6:30 p.m., ceremony begins at 7:00 p.m. Admission is free. Refit complete, CCGS Samuel Risley headed back to Parry Sound The Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker / buoy tender Samuel Risley left St. John's last Friday, with an ETA for her Parry Sound home base of Nov.14. She is fresh from a $3.6 million refit at Newdock – St. John's Dockyard Ltd.

Work on the Risley began in June 2016, and included replacement of the bow thruster, a crane overhaul and a recoating of the hull. The galley was also refurbished and various pieces of equipment onboard the vessel were inspected.

The Risley has a capability to break ice up to two feet thick. She joined the Coast Guard fleet in 1985. The vessel is named after the first Chairman of the Board of Steamship Inspection in 1858.


Minnesota Historical Society



On 07 November 1871, M COURTRIGHT (wooden schooner, 276 tons, built in 1856, at Erie, Pennsylvania) was carrying lumber in a storm on Lake Michigan. She struck bottom after her anchor dragged. She then became waterlogged. The crew abandoned in the yawl. The vessel went ashore several miles south of Kenosha, Wisconsin. The revenue cutter ANDREW JOHNSON tried in vain to pull her free but couldn't. The COURTRIGHT broke up a few days later.

On 7 November 1852, ST LOUIS (wooden side-wheeler, 190 foot, 618 tons, built in 1844, at Perrysburg, Ohio) was carrying railroad cars when she capsized and sank in a gale off Kelley's Island on Lake Erie. She was owned by Beer & Samuel Ward.

On 07 Nov 1906, the Grand Trunk carferry GRAND HAVEN (steel carferry, 306 foot, 2,320 gross tons built in 1903, at Toledo, Ohio) was put up for sale at a receiver's auction when the Grand Trunk Car Ferry Line defaulted on its bonds. It was purchased by a new Grand Trunk subsidiary, the Grand Trunk Milwaukee Car Ferry Company. This vessel had a long career both on the Lakes and in the Caribbean. She was finally scrapped at Hamilton, Ontario in 1970.

The T-2 converted laker HILDA MARJANNE's 1961, German-built hull forward of the engine room, minus her pilot house, was towed by the tugs G W ROGERS and BAGOTVILLE to Port Weller Dry Docks arriving there on November 7, 1983. This section was to become part of the CANADIAN RANGER.

On November 7, 1989, the SAMUEL MATHER, a.) HENRY FORD II, was moved to Toledo's C & O Frog Pond on her way to the cutter's torch.

ARTHUR B HOMER (Hull#303) was launched November 7, 1959, for the Bethlehem Steel Corp., Cleveland, Ohio. She was the last ship built by Great Lakes Engineering at River Rouge, Michigan.

In 1902, BRANSFORD rammed and sank the tug RECORD with a loss of a tug crewman in the Portage Lake Ship Canal in Michigan's Keweenaw Peninsula. Renamed b.) JOHN H MC GEAN in 1916, and c.) CLIFFORD F. HOOD in 1943, the HOOD was scrapped in Bilbao, Spain in 1974.

On November 7, 1913, the storm responsible for sinking or damaging more vessels than any other began a six-day assault on the Great Lakes. The "Big Blow" of 1913, struck Lake Superior on November 7 and reached Lake Michigan by November 8, where the Pittsburgh Steamship Company vessel CLARENCE A. BLACK was severely damaged by the waves at the dock in Gary, Indiana.

On 7 November 1893, ALBANY (steel propeller package freighter, 267 foot, 1,918 gross tons, built in 1884, at Wyandotte, Michigan) collided with the iron freighter PHILADELPHIA in a thick fog. PHILADELPHIA took ALBANY in tow to try to save her, but she sank a few miles off Pointe aux Barques, Michigan. Her crew transferred to PHILADELPHIA, but they soon had to abandon her too since she also sank. Eight lives were lost, presumably when one of the lifeboats was run down by the still running, but abandoned, PHILADELPHIA.

On 7 November 1865, LILY DANCEY (2-mast wooden schooner, 92 foot, 132 gross tons built in 1856, at Goderich, Ontario) was carrying grain in a gale on Lake Huron when she was driven ashore near Port Elgin or Kincardine, Ontario. Her cargo was later recovered, but the schooner broke up by 27 November of that year.

CITY OF FLINT 32 ran aground at Manitowoc, Wisconsin in 1947.

1885: ALGOMA hit Greenstone Rock off Isle Royale, Lake Superior and became a total loss. There were 46 casualties and only 16 on board were saved.

1887: OSCEOLA ran aground on Flat Rock Reef, Saginaw Bay, and all on board were rescued. The ship was abandoned as a total loss in December but refloated in the spring of 1888 and rebuilt.

1910: WASAGA caught fire and burned off Copper Harbor while seeking shelter in a storm, but all on board survived.

1921: ARAGON stranded off Salmon Point, Lake Ontario. It was released the following year but declared a total loss. The hull was sold and rebuilt and last sailed as BAYANNA in 1962.

1921: The wooden schooner barge MARY E. McLAUCHLAN sank in a storm on Nipigon Bay, Lake Superior.

1947: WILLIAM C. WARREN ran aground near Presque Isle Point, Lake Huron, while downbound with grain and had to be abandoned to the underwriters. It was not released until the following year.

1969: The Norwegian tanker CATE BROVIG hit the wall while upbound at the Eisenhower Lock and had a hole punched in the hull. The vessel was headed for Duluth. The ship first came inland in 1959 and was scrapped at Split, Yugoslavia as c) STAVROS T. in 1976.

1974: IRIS had come to the Great Lakes in 1969 and 1971. It sank as d) EUROPEAN PERSISTENCE while 510 miles southeast of Bermuda after developing leaks while enroute from Tampa to Venice. All on board were rescued.

1991: The former Swedish freighter FALKON, a first time Seaway trader in 1984, sank as c) APPOLONIA FAITH off the southwest coast of Sardinia while traveling from Valencia, Spain, to Piraeus, Greece. Two lives were lost.

[yachtsmanwilly]

11/8 - Duluth, Minn. – Ben Herstad watched wheat fill yet another cargo ship last week at the CHS terminal in Superior. It was a busy day. It’s been a busy year. As a stevedore for Ceres Terminals, Herstad sees firsthand how well grain exports are going this year.

“It’s picking up a little over last year, and last year was a better year than the year before,” he said. Herstad doesn’t have to count every grain to know that — reported tonnage this year is on track to outpace last year.

“It’s slow and steady increases over the last three years here,” he said. “I’m sure we’ll surpass 2015 easily.”

That’s good news for the port of Duluth-Superior, where overall shipments this year have been down more than 2 million tons to date and the iron ore trade is only now showing signs of recovery from the downturn.

“The upward trend is a rewarding story, this year in particular,” said Adele Yorde, spokeswoman for the Duluth Seaway Port Authority. “Trying to balance out those commodities means a lot more people are working — stevedores, longshoremen and the folks at the grain terminals themselves.”

In the grand scheme of shipping cargos, grain is just 10 percent of what moves in and out of the port, at least by weight. (It turns out taconite pellets are a little heavier than grain.) But just count all the grain elevators and silos and it’s easy to see why even a slight uptick can be reason for celebration.

Through September, more than 1 million tons of grain had moved through the Twin Ports (and plenty more has since, reports Herstad.) There was a 60,000 ton spike in September compared to 2015, helping push the year-to-date total 80,000 tons above last year’s rate — though October is typically a busy grain month in any year.

But with October’s traffic and boats still scheduled to receive grain yet this year, Herstad has good reason to think this year will beat the last.

Yet tracking why the trade is up, or how to keep it that way, is another question. Like anything in global trade, there are a lot of factors that could contribute to grain’s gains.

“It’s world politics and weather and freight rates for other things, demand for other ships and (crop) disease,” said shipping agent Stephen Sydow with Daniel’s Shipping Services Inc.

Sydow explained one of the biggest factors contributing to the Twin Ports’ grain exports is the import of anything else here. It isn’t often economical to bring an empty ship to pick up commodities like durum wheat.

“So if there’s no ships coming in to discharge heavy stuff like steel and coils and stuff like that then it’s expensive to ship things out,” Sydow said. “It essentially subsidizes what we export, grain.”

Take the oceangoing freighter Cornelia, for example. She’s been parked in the lake since arriving in port a few weeks ago with cement. With grain flowing as it has been out of the port, the ship’s owner appears to be waiting to strike a deal to carry out some grain rather than hunt for a shipment elsewhere.

“They think they can; they feel the highest probability is here, and it’s free to sit here and wait,” Sydow said. “It’s sitting out there waiting for a deal to be made — an excellent indication of how things are going.”

There must be demand for grain at a port somewhere, or why else wait? Yet that’s just one of dozens more factors going into why and when grain leaves the port.

“We don’t have any impact on freight decisions — those decisions are made outside the port,” Sydow said. “Just in general we hope (shipping prices) are low. “Low prices mean more business, and more business is better for us.”

Wheat is by far the dominant overseas and Canadian grain export from Duluth-Superior, followed by canola and beet pulp pellets. But wheat is an unlikely U.S. export, considering we produce just 8 percent of the world’s supply. Yet while our share of the world market has diminished since leading in the 1980s, exports have continued to rise steadily, and Lake Superior has a role in that.

“It was the movement of grain that made this port an international seaport and connects us to the global market,” Yorde said.

Duluth News Tribune


11/8 - Buffalo, N.Y. – The Great Lakes are much warmer than usual, and that will be a factor in limiting ice formation this winter, the National Weather Service says in its "freeze-up outlook."

How warm is it? Here's a sampling of water temperatures at harbors around the region. Buffalo: 60, normal 54. Cleveland: 62, normal 56. Chicago: 60, normal 53. Duluth: 52, normal 44.

The weather service forecast considers many other factors, including the possibility of a La Nina system that would shift the jet stream's flow and limit ice formation. It notes that water temperatures "could quickly return back to normal after the first cold air outbreak hits the region." Storms that bring high winds could speed up that process.

If temperatures stay mild, the outlook has a grim prediction: "Relatively low ice formation on the Great Lakes will lead to the potential for the combination of increased storm activity and significant lake effect snow accumulation during the cold air outbreaks."

WBFO


Remembering the Great Storm of 1913: Deadliest storm to hit the Great Lakes

11/8 - Cleveland, Ohio – Yesterday marked the 103rd anniversary of the Great Storm of 1913 – the deadliest storm in history to hit the Great Lakes, consuming 250 lives, and destroying over 42 ships, earning the nickname "White Hurricane" and actually a tale of two storms.

It all began with a storm that hit the lakes on Nov. 7.

This storm primarily impacted Lake Superior and Lake Michigan, pummeling them with strong winds up to 80 mph, dense snow, numerous roaring thunderstorms, freezing spray and dangerous waves through Nov. 8.

Several large ships were damaged when driven ashore, crippled because they were no match for the pounding whitecaps. The White Hurricane followed the next day, and was the deadliest and most intense phase of the Great Lakes storm. For three days the Great Lakes endured persistent hurricane-force winds, blinding snowfall, freezing spray and monstrous waves.


11/8 - Vermilion, Ohio – After nearly 65 years, the Great Lakes Historical Society will formally close its operations in Vermilion and vacate the property by Dec. 31. The society is holding a Price Marked or Best Offer Sale on office and store fixtures, old exhibit material, duplicate published material and non-essential artifacts. The sale is this Saturday, Nov. 12, from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. There is a $3 admission to the sale, but if someone purchases $20 or more of material they will have their admission returned. The sale of fixtures includes desks, filing cabinets, museum store cases, chairs and other material.

The published material consists of more than 1,000 books and annual marine publications. List of Merchant Vessels, Green’s directories, Great Lakes Red Books and Shipmasters annual listings are just a few of the publications being sold. Also, framed and unframed lithographic prints, signed and unsigned, will be sold. The society will also sell over 2,000 marine postcards. All of this material duplicates material kept in the collection. Also included will be a few choice artifacts that are now deemed non-essential to the organization including the pilothouse from the Canopus, the propeller from the tug Pennsylvania, framed photographs and a large anchor.

Anyone interested in specific information should contact the society at [e-mail].

Great Lakes Historical Society


The NIMROD (3-mast wooden schooner, 184 foot, 559 tons, built in 1873, at Toledo, Ohio) was carrying 37,000 bushels of corn from Chicago to Buffalo. On 08 November 1874, she encountered thick fog on Lake Erie and the large double decked schooner MICHIGAN collided with her. The MICHIGAN continued on her course while the NIMROD filled with water and sank in 70 feet of water off Port Burwell-Port Stanley, Ontario. The crew escaped in the yawl and were picked up by the schooner GRANTHAM. The wreck was discovered in 1978, when Capt. Robert Hamilton, a commercial fisherman, snagged his nets on it.

COLUMBIA STAR (steel propeller bulk freighter, 1000 foot, 35,923 gross tons) was launched November 8, 1980, at Bay Shipbuilding Co., Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin (Hull#726) . She was part of the Oglebay Norton fleet. Renamed b.) AMERICAN CENTURY in 2006.

BENJAMIN F. FAIRLESS and IRVING S. OLDS arrived on November 8, 1988, at Kaohsiung, Taiwan for scrapping by Sing Cheng Yung Iron & Steel Co. Ltd.

The Great Lakes Engineering Works built steamer STADACONA of 1909, renamed b.) W. H. McGEAN in 1920, was renamed c.) ROBERT S. McNAMARA by its new owner Ford Motor Company's Marine Division on November 8, 1962. The McNAMARA was rescued from potential scrapping when Ford purchased her for $80,000 and spent $15,000 for renovation at AmShip's Toledo yard. J. P. MORGAN JR. arrived in Spain on November 8, 1980, for scrapping.

PETER A. B. WIDENER passed down the Welland Canal November 8, 1986, towed by the tugs TUSKER and GLENADA en route to Lauzon, Quebec. From there she was towed overseas for scrapping. When built, the PETER A. B. WIDENER and fleet mates J. PIERPONT MORGAN, NORMAN B. REAM and HENRY H. ROGERS were the first 600-footers built for the Pittsburgh Steamship Co. as "The Class of 1906."

On 08 Nov 1986, B. F. AFFLECK (steel propeller freighter, 588 foot, 7,964 gross tons, built in 1927, at Toledo, Ohio), under tow of the tug THUNDER CAPE, went adrift on Lake Superior in a storm after the tug lost power. The tug AVENGER IV was dispatched to pick up the AFFLECK, which was headed for scrap, and the tanker EASTERN SHELL towed the THUNDER CAPE to Thunder Bay for repairs.

BEN HUR, a wooden schooner-barge wrecker, 314 tons, built in 1874, at Dunville, Ontario, had been purchased for the job of salvaging the schooner M. E. TREMBLE. On 8 November 1890, she was at the job near Port Huron in the St. Clair River when she was rammed and sunk by the schooner-barge SUPERIOR which was being towed by the steamer PASSAIC. BEN HUR settled on top of the schooner she was attempting to salvage and a lighter-scow she was using also went down with her.

On 8 November 1877, the bark GREAT WEST was carrying 262,000 feet of lumber from Caseville to Chicago. Much of it was piled topside. In a big storm on Lake Michigan, she lost her deck load. She then became waterlogged and finally went ashore near Hyde Park, Illinois on 10 November. The crew were all saved.

On 8 November 1877, KATE L. BRUCE (3-mast wooden schooner, 307 tons, built in 1872, at Manitowoc, Wisconsin) was carrying wheat in tow of the tug JOHNSON when she was let go in heavy weather. She disappeared with all eight of her crew off Alpena, Michigan. A bureau containing her papers washed ashore in August 1878. The sunken wreck was discovered in 6 fathoms of water in Thunder Bay during the Autumn of 1879.

The forebody of the former CANADIAN EXPLORER arrived in Prescott on 05 Nov 2000, under tow of the Trois Rivieres tug DUGA. It remained there for three days. The previous March, it was reported that the hull was undergoing conversion to a 498-foot grain storage barge for Les Elevateurs des Trois Rivieres, Quebec. (The engine room portion of the former CANADIAN EXPLORER was mated to the forward section of the HAMILTON TRANSFER in 1998, and is now the CANADIAN TRANSFER.)

1981: EMERALD, the former LACHINEDOC, sank in the Persian Gulf during heavy weather while carrying steel mesh and aggregates. Nine members of the crew were missing while another three were rescued.

2007: SPIRIT OF NANTUCKET, the former NANTUCKET CLIPPER, struck an uncharted object in the Intercoastal Waterway and had to be beached. The ship was repaired at Norfolk, VA and resumed its journey to the Pacific for a new career as an Alaska cruise ship after earlier Great Lakes, St. Lawrence and East Coast service.

[yachtsmanwilly]

11/9 - Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. – The gate setting of the control structure will be reduced in stages in November to allow for a gradual reduction in St. Marys Rapids flows and water levels.

The International Lake Superior Board of Control, under authority granted to it by the International Joint Commission (IJC), has set the Lake Superior outflow to 2,590 cubic meters per second (m3/s) (91.5 thousand cubic feet per second (tcfs)) for the month of November, effective Nov. 1.

The November outflow is 70 m3/s less than that prescribed by Regulation Plan 2012. The Board continues to adjust the outflow of Lake Superior in accordance with the approved deviation strategy to accommodate expected maintenance at the hydropower plants and reduce the potential for adverse consequences of high and fluctuating flows and water levels in the St. Marys Rapids. The Board released flows greater than Plan 2012 in June through August, and expects to release less than Plan 2012-prescribed flows in September through November.

The outflow is expected to exceed the combined capacities of the hydropower plants on the St. Marys River, which will be approximately 2,182 m3/s (77.1 tcfs) in November, and most of the excess flow will be released through the control structure at the head of the St. Marys Rapids.

The gate setting of the control structure will be reduced in stages in November to allow for a gradual reduction in St. Marys Rapids flows and water levels prior to winter. From Nov. 7 to 9, the gate setting will be reduced to the equivalent of approximately two gates open by setting Gates #2 through #13 to a partially open setting of 31 cm (12 in) each. During this transition, the Board will take the opportunity to collect flow measurements in the St. Marys Rapids. The gates are then expected to be further lowered the week of Nov. 28 to coincide with underwater inspections of the international railway bridge piers, with the schedule to be determined at a later date. There will be no change to the setting of Gate #1, which supplies a flow of about 15 m3/s to the channel north of the Fishery Remedial Dike.

The net water supplies to Lake Superior were below average in October. The level of Lake Superior declined 9 cm (4 in) from the previous month, while on average the lake declines 3 cm (1 in) in October. The Lake Superior level at the beginning-of-November is 13 cm (5 in) above average, 4 cm (2 in) above the level recorded a year ago at this time, and 42 cm (17 in) above its chart datum level. The net water supplies to Lake Michigan-Huron were below average in October. The level of Lake Michigan-Huron dropped 8 cm (3 in) last month, while on average the lake declines 7 cm (3 in) in October. The level of Lake Michigan-Huron is 25 cm (10 in) above its long-term average beginning-of-November level, 9 cm (4 in) higher than it was a year ago, and 64 cm (25 in) above its chart datum level.

The levels of Lake Superior and Lake Michigan-Huron are both expected to continue their seasonal declines in November.

Brigadier General Mark Toy is the United States Board Member. Mr. Jean-Francois Cantin is the Board Member for Canada.

International Lake Superior Board of Control


The NIMROD (3-mast wooden schooner, 184 foot, 559 tons, built in 1873, at Toledo, Ohio) was carrying 37,000 bushels of corn from Chicago to Buffalo. On 08 November 1874, she encountered thick fog on Lake Erie and the large double decked schooner MICHIGAN collided with her. The MICHIGAN continued on her course while the NIMROD filled with water and sank in 70 feet of water off Port Burwell-Port Stanley, Ontario. The crew escaped in the yawl and were picked up by the schooner GRANTHAM. The wreck was discovered in 1978, when Capt. Robert Hamilton, a commercial fisherman, snagged his nets on it.

COLUMBIA STAR (steel propeller bulk freighter, 1000 foot, 35,923 gross tons) was launched November 8, 1980, at Bay Shipbuilding Co., Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin (Hull#726) . She was part of the Oglebay Norton fleet. Renamed b.) AMERICAN CENTURY in 2006.

BENJAMIN F. FAIRLESS and IRVING S. OLDS arrived on November 8, 1988, at Kaohsiung, Taiwan for scrapping by Sing Cheng Yung Iron & Steel Co. Ltd.

The Great Lakes Engineering Works built steamer STADACONA of 1909, renamed b.) W. H. McGEAN in 1920, was renamed c.) ROBERT S. McNAMARA by its new owner Ford Motor Company's Marine Division on November 8, 1962. The McNAMARA was rescued from potential scrapping when Ford purchased her for $80,000 and spent $15,000 for renovation at AmShip's Toledo yard. J. P. MORGAN JR. arrived in Spain on November 8, 1980, for scrapping.

PETER A. B. WIDENER passed down the Welland Canal November 8, 1986, towed by the tugs TUSKER and GLENADA en route to Lauzon, Quebec. From there she was towed overseas for scrapping. When built, the PETER A. B. WIDENER and fleet mates J. PIERPONT MORGAN, NORMAN B. REAM and HENRY H. ROGERS were the first 600-footers built for the Pittsburgh Steamship Co. as "The Class of 1906."

On 08 Nov 1986, B. F. AFFLECK (steel propeller freighter, 588 foot, 7,964 gross tons, built in 1927, at Toledo, Ohio), under tow of the tug THUNDER CAPE, went adrift on Lake Superior in a storm after the tug lost power. The tug AVENGER IV was dispatched to pick up the AFFLECK, which was headed for scrap, and the tanker EASTERN SHELL towed the THUNDER CAPE to Thunder Bay for repairs.

BEN HUR, a wooden schooner-barge wrecker, 314 tons, built in 1874, at Dunville, Ontario, had been purchased for the job of salvaging the schooner M. E. TREMBLE. On 8 November 1890, she was at the job near Port Huron in the St. Clair River when she was rammed and sunk by the schooner-barge SUPERIOR which was being towed by the steamer PASSAIC. BEN HUR settled on top of the schooner she was attempting to salvage and a lighter-scow she was using also went down with her.

On 8 November 1877, the bark GREAT WEST was carrying 262,000 feet of lumber from Caseville to Chicago. Much of it was piled topside. In a big storm on Lake Michigan, she lost her deck load. She then became waterlogged and finally went ashore near Hyde Park, Illinois on 10 November. The crew were all saved.

On 8 November 1877, KATE L. BRUCE (3-mast wooden schooner, 307 tons, built in 1872, at Manitowoc, Wisconsin) was carrying wheat in tow of the tug JOHNSON when she was let go in heavy weather. She disappeared with all eight of her crew off Alpena, Michigan. A bureau containing her papers washed ashore in August 1878. The sunken wreck was discovered in 6 fathoms of water in Thunder Bay during the Autumn of 1879.

The forebody of the former CANADIAN EXPLORER arrived in Prescott on 05 Nov 2000, under tow of the Trois Rivieres tug DUGA. It remained there for three days. The previous March, it was reported that the hull was undergoing conversion to a 498-foot grain storage barge for Les Elevateurs des Trois Rivieres, Quebec. (The engine room portion of the former CANADIAN EXPLORER was mated to the forward section of the HAMILTON TRANSFER in 1998, and is now the CANADIAN TRANSFER.)

1981: EMERALD, the former LACHINEDOC, sank in the Persian Gulf during heavy weather while carrying steel mesh and aggregates. Nine members of the crew were missing while another three were rescued.

2007: SPIRIT OF NANTUCKET, the former NANTUCKET CLIPPER, struck an uncharted object in the Intercoastal Waterway and had to be beached. The ship was repaired at Norfolk, VA and resumed its journey to the Pacific for a new career as an Alaska cruise ship after earlier Great Lakes, St. Lawrence and East Coast service.

[yachtsmanwilly]

Community remembers Edmund Fitzgerald 41 years later

11/10 - Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. – The Edmund Fitzgerald’s recovered bell will toll 30 times throughout the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum on Thursday to commemorate the 41st anniversary of the famed freighter succumbing to Lake Superior.

The public is invited to gather at the Paradise museum for the 7 p.m. memorial service. There is a full day scheduled in memory of the Great Lakes’ most famous shipwreck starting at noon.

“What we do is have a couple speakers come in each year. In some cases, they speak of their experience on the night the boat went down,” said Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum Executive Director Bruce Lynn, describing the steamer’s memorial service. “This year will be Jim MacDonald… He’s going to be speaking of some of his experiences on the morning of Nov. 11 (1975).”

Lynn explained that MacDonald used his personal fishing tugboat to help search for survivors the morning after the storm that sank the Fitzgerald. MacDonald sailed from Mamainse Harbour, Ont., to the Whitefish Point resting spot to help search. None of the 29 crewmembers were found alive.

“We ring the bell 30 times,” added Lynn (29 times for the lost sailors and once for all sailors who have perished on the Great Lakes before and since). The Fitzgerald’s bell was recovered by scuba-divers in 1995.

The Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum will also be opening at noon to mark the special occasion.

“During the day, the museum is going to be open noon until 4 p.m.,” said Lynn, adding that the entry fee will be by donation. “Our shipwreck theatre, which will show Fitzgerald related videos, will be open from noon until 4 p.m.”

Soo Evening News


11/10 - Raw steel production in the Great Lakes region fell to 612,000 tons last week, down from 615,000 tons a week earlier.

The drop of 3,000 tons was the fifth straight week of decline in the Great Lakes region.

Capacity utilization nationwide was only 67.5 percent last week, the ninth straight week it’s been mired under 70 percent. Overall U.S. steel output rose by 27,000 tons last week to 1.6 million tons, according to an American Iron and Steel Institute estimate.

Nationally, steel output so far this year continues to trail the sluggish 2015 pace by about 1.36 million tons, a decline of 1.77 percent. In 2015, during the worst import crisis in more than a decade, steel output in the United States declined by 10.5 percent from the year before, according to the World Steel Association.

Much of the raw steel production in the Great Lakes region takes place in Lake and Porter counties in Indiana.

Production in the Southern District, which spans mini-mills across the South, rose to 570,000 tons last week, up from 546,000 tons the previous week, a 4.3 percent gain.

National steel production through Nov. 7 of this year totaled 75.1 million tons, a decline of 1.8 percent, at a capacity utilization rate of 71.3 percent. The United States made 76.4 million tons of steel at a capacity utilization rate of 70.9 percent through the same period last year.

NW Indiana Times


11/10 - Lakewood, Ohio – The head of the National Museum of the Great Lakes is on a quest. He’s trying to locate Navy pilots who trained on Lake Michigan during World War II. It’s a little known chapter of the lake’s history.

Between 1942 and 1945, thousands of pilots landed planes on the USS Wolverine and USS Sable, two aircraft carriers stationed on Lake Michigan. Among the pilots, former president George H.W. Bush.

A new documentary called “Heroes on Deck” details that mission. The film features home videos captured by one of the pilots, as well as video from the National Archives. A screening is scheduled at 7 p.m., Dec. 2, at the Lakewood Civic Auditorium near Cleveland, Ohio.

“It’s the story of the operation of these aircraft carriers and what remains of their activities, which are essentially plane wrecks – almost 100 plane wrecks that occurred on Lake Michigan during training,” said Christopher Gillcrist, executive director of the National Museum of the Great Lakes.

The film’s director, John Davies, says pilots practiced landing planes for just one day before heading to California and then to Japan. “They had one day in the classroom, one day practicing chalk outlines in local fields,” said Davies. “Day 3, it was out to the carrier. They had to find one of these 2 carriers, land and take off from it 8 times.”

Gillcrist wants pilots who trained on Lake Michigan to be a part of a December showing in Lakewood.

“We’ll be able to interview some of about their experiences and help better understand what it was like to land a navy aircraft on Lake Michigan,” said Gillcrist. He estimates that about 2,000 pilots are still alive – and fewer than 10 may be in Northeast Ohio.

Davies will speak at next month’s screening. He started looking into the military’s operation on Lake Michigan in the 80s after a chance encounter at a bar.

“A guy told me there was a 100 planes sitting at the bottom of lake Michigan,” explained Davies. He learned more about the mission and realeased a 20 minute film in 1988 called “Top Guns of 1943”. Davies’ interest returned after a call from a friend who was on a team of divers searching for the planes in the lake.

Davies says he’s amazed by the number of pilots he’s seen at screenings of the film.

“At most of these screenings that I do around the country, sometimes somebody stands up in the audience and says, ‘I was a pilot, I flew off those carriers,’” said Davies. “They’re usually late 80s, early 90s.”

Pilots or their families can contact the Great Lakes Museum at [e-mail].

Great Lakes Echo


11/10 - Lemont, Ill. — Marine Safety Unit Chicago and the U.S. Coast Guard Towing Vessel National Center of Expertise hosted an informational outreach forum Wednesday with towing vessel operators to explain the implementation of the new regulations for the inspection of towing vessels, Subchapter M.

The meeting was held at the offices of Illinois Marine Towing in Lemont Wednesday morning with more than 80 industry representatives from the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River Basin attending.

This informational outreach forum coordinated by Marine Safety Unit Chicago was one of several national outreach forums designed to educate towing vessel operators of the new regulations establishing safety regulations governing the inspection, standards, and safety management systems of towing vessels.

“Outreach efforts such as this meeting are needed throughout the Great Lakes and convey that we’re all working towards the same goal – safety,” said Cmdr. Zeita Merchant, commanding officer of MSU Chicago. “Educating industry on inspections requirements is crucial to achieving compliance with the regulations and ensuring the safe operation of commercial vessels.”

In addition to 100 miles of shoreline along the southern portion of Lake Michigan, MSU Chicago is responsible for 186 miles of the Illinois River system. This waterway is a critical artery for the transit of towing vessels moving goods and services as far north as Minneapolis, Minnesota, to the basin of the Mississippi River. There are approximately 77 towing vessels within MSU Chicago’s area of responsibility that will be regulated by Subchapter M.

Subchapter M will be incorporated into Title 46 of the Code of Federal Regulations and outlines the requirements for the design, construction, onboard equipment and operation of new and existing towing vessels.

The regulations were effective July 20, 2016, with a compliance date of July 30, 2018; however, there are provisions that allow for certain regulations to be phased in over time.

The complete final rule is available via the Federal Register at: www.federalregister.gov/documents/2016/06/20/2016-12857/inspection-of-towing-vessel

USCG


11/10 - Detroit, Mich. – Lake Erie’s very own Perfect Storm hit on October 20, 1916. Through the course of the day and night, four commercial vessels were lost to their watery graves, taking more than 50 sailors with them. Join Carrie Sowden, Archaeological Director of the National Museum of the Great Lakes, as we discuss each ship, their history, and what happened as they went down – all across Lake Erie. The stories of the D.L Filer, James B Colgate, Merida, and Marshall Butters are as different as can be. In this year, the 100th anniversary of the storm and losses, we will honor the sailors and their vessels.

The sold out event starts at 6:20 p.m. the Lost Mariners Remembrance webcast will be streamed from the museum starting with a concert by Lee Murdock followed by the Remembrance program.

Webcast will be streamed on Facebook at Facebook.com/Boatnerd

Detroit Historical Society


On this day in 1892, whaleback barge 102 loaded 2,073 tons of iron ore at Superior consigned to Cleveland. This was the first shipment of Mesabi Range iron ore carried by Oglebay Norton.

On 10 November 1901, the ROBERT A. PACKER (wooden freighter, 209 foot, 921 tons, built in 1882, at Milwaukee, Wisconsin) was found by the wrecking tug RUMBLE eleven miles north of off De Tour, Michigan, ablaze and abandoned by her crew. Captain Isaac Zess of the RUMBLE fought the flames for four hours and then was helped by the THOMAS W. PALMER. The fire was speedily extinguished with both vessels pouring water on the flames and the PACKER was tied up at the dock in DeTour, Michigan.

On 10 November 1887, A. BOODY (wooden schooner, 137 foot, 287 gross tons, built in 1863, at Toledo, Ohio) struck the Port Austin reef on Lake Huron and was declared a total loss. However, after ten days of hard work, the BOODY was finally pulled off the reef.

The EDMUND FITZGERALD foundered on Lake Superior during a severe storm November 10, 1975, at approximately 7:10 p.m. about 17 miles north-northwest of Whitefish Point, Michigan, at position 47 0'N by 85 7'W in Canadian waters.

IMPERIAL ST CLAIR (Hull#57) was launched November 10, 1973 , by Port Weller Drydocks at St. Catharines, Ontario. Renamed b.) ALGOSAR in 1998, sold off the lakes, renamed c.) GENESIS EXPLORER in 2005.

The STEELTON sailed on her maiden voyage for Bethlehem Steel Corp. on November 10, 1943.

The ROBERT C. STANLEY, in her first season of operation, on November 10, 1943 during a Lake Superior storm, developed a significant crack across her spar deck and 12 to 14 feet down both sides of her hull. As the hull worked in the heavy seas, the crack widened to as much as three to four inches. The crew ran cables between the fore and aft winches that maintained a force sufficient to hold the hull together.

November 10, 1972, in the vicinity of the entrance to the East Outer Channel near Amherstburg, Ontario, the UNITED STATES GYPSUM collided with her towing tug MAINE and as a result her bow was punctured. The GYPSUM was beached to prevent sinking.

Pittsburgh Steamship's WILLIAM A. IRVIN (Hull#811) was launched November 10, 1937, at Lorain, Ohio. The IRVIN serves as a museum ship in Duluth, Minnesota since 1986.

November 10, 1892, the carferry ANN ARBOR NO 1 left the shipyard in Toledo, Ohio, bound for Frankfort on her maiden voyage. In 1895, the first major accident caused by cars coming free on the car deck of a rail ferry happened when the ANN ARBOR NO 1, was on an eastbound voyage. Approaching Frankfort in a northwest gale, she rolled so violently that many of the car fastenings broke and the cargo began to move about on the car deck. None of the early rear-loading car ferries were equipped with a sea gate to protect the stern from the seas, and seven cars of flour and butter went off the deck of the NO 1 into the lake. Captain Charles Moody resigned from the Ann Arbor as a result of this incident and returned to the Pere Marquette and Goodrich lines.

ATLANTIC (formerly MANITOULIN, wooden propeller passenger/package freight, 147 foot, 683 gross tons, built in 1880, at Owen Sound, Ontario) was bound for Byng Inlet with lumber camp supplies when she was caught in a storm and grounded in the lee of Pancake Island in Georgian Bay. Her cargo and aft cabin were thrown overboard to lighten her, but she caught fire and was destroyed. Her passengers and crew took to her boats and survived.

On 10 November 1856, ST JOSEPH (wooden propeller steam barge, 170 foot, 460 tons, built in 1846, at Buffalo, New York) stranded and was wrecked near Fairport, Ohio. No lives were lost.

November 10, 1911 - The ANN ARBOR NO 4 was back in service after damaging several plates in October. The tanker MARIA DESGAGNES struck bottom in the St. Lawrence Seaway on 10 November 1999. After temporary repairs were made, the vessel was cleared to proceed to Hamilton, Ontario, to discharge its cargo of jet fuel. A survey of the seaway was completed with no indications as to what caused the vessel to ground.

On 10 November 1887, BLAZING STAR (wooden schooner, 137 foot, 265 tons, built in 1873, at Manitowoc, Wisconsin) was sailing on Lake Michigan in fine weather with a load of lumber. However, she grounded on Fisherman Shoal near Washington Island, Wisconsin even though the wreck of the steamer I N FOSTER was in full view on that reef. The captain was unable to locate a tug to pull the BLAZING STAR off and later she broke up in heavy weather. No lives were lost.

Below is a first hand account of the Storm of 1913, from the journal of John Mc Laughlin transcribed by his great grandson Hugh Mc Nichol. John was working on an unknown vessel during the Storm of 1913. The boat was captained by John Mc Alpine and Harry Roberts as Chief Engineer. The boat was loading iron ore in Escanaba when the storm started on November 8th.

Monday, November 10, 1913: I got up at 12 a.m. and went on watch. We were laying at anchor. It was blowing a living gale and kept it up. They hove up the anchor near 10 o'clock but monkeyed around until after dinner. We got under way. We passed the Light Ship about 3, and White Shoal at 5:15.

More entries from the Storm of 1913 tomorrow.

1900: The iron package freighter ARABIAN went aground 8 miles west of Whitefish Point, Lake Superior due to heavy weather. The ship was salvaged with only minor damage. It was later part of the Canada Steamship Lines fleet and was broken up about 1939.

1903: The passenger and freight steamer ATLANTIC was destroyed by a fire on Georgian Bay enroute to Parry Sound. The blaze apparently started in the cargo of hay that had become soaked with coal oil while riding out a late fall storm off Spruce Island west of its destination.

1922: Fleetmates GLENMAVIS and GLENCLOVA were in a collision at Montreal. Both were repaired and remained as part of the Great Lakes fleet for years as ACADIAN and GEORGE HINDMAN (ii) respectively. 1936: SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN was upbound in Lake Huron and ran into a fall storm that damaged 62 automobiles as part of the deckload of new Packard & Chrysler cars.

1968: MANTADOC and FRANCOIS L.D. collided in heavy fog on the Seaway and sustained considerable bow damage. Both were repaired and the former still sails as d) MANITOBA while the latter was scrapped at Alang, India, as b) CINTA in 1987.

1989: ELPIS, Freedom Class deep sea freighter, first came through the Seaway in 1978. It raised considerable ire after stranding on a coral reef off Key Largo, FL while carrying sugar to Mexico. When it was refloated on November 12, the ship was seized by U.S. Marshals until assessment of the damage to the delicate coral reef could be made. The ship was later released and survived further trading until being scrapped at Alang, India, as c) CITY OF HOUSTON, in 2001.

[yachtsmanwilly]

11/11 - Milwaukee, Wis. – A group of companies from both sides of Lake Michigan plan to start a regular shipping service between the ports of Milwaukee and Muskegon, Michigan beginning in March.

Grand Rapids, Michigan-based Supply Chain Solutions Inc. is partnering with Muskegon-based Eco Ships to launch the service but is still fine-tuning the exact plans for operations. Depending on which ships are used, each crossing could make one or two round trips each day.

The idea is to move truck trailers, containers and other cargo, potentially increasing the number of loads a truck and driver can make in each trip. It would also allow companies to avoid moving cargo through Chicago and Indiana, potentially saving cost and reducing the impact on infrastructure.

“It’s going to be a significant new avenue of moving freight,” said Les Brand, Supply Chain Solutions chief executive officer. Brand and others involved in the project held a meeting Wednesday at the Port of Milwaukee with interested parties in an effort to get feedback on the needs of the market.

“I think on so many levels, this could be a winner for so many parties on both sides of the lake and for jobs and the economy,” said Paul Vornholt, Port of Milwaukee director.

Illinois-based Multi-Modal Transport Inc. will serve as the port operator for the project in Milwaukee.

Beyond helping companies save time and money on shipping, the long-term goal of the project is also to convince a rail provider to bring an intermodal station back to the Port of Milwaukee. Canadian Pacific closed its intermodal station there about four years ago. The result is container shipments have to be trucked down to Chicago before going on trains to the West Coast. Not only do the trucks have to deal with congestion on Chicago’s highways, but the containers are delayed at Chicago’s railyards. Brand said officials in Indiana and Chicago are supportive of the new service concept, believing it will reduce congestion in their infrastructure.

Jonathan Van Wylen, co-founder of Eco Ships, hopes to eventually provide on-demand service throughout the Great Lakes.

Biz Times


11/11 - Beauharnois, Que. – The federal government has laid out its plans to eventually dismantle Kathryn Spirit, a cargo ship abandoned on Montreal's South Shore since 2011. Transport Minister Marc Garneau said Thursday a local construction company will begin work in December to build a protective embankment around the ship in order to prevent a spill and isolate it from the marine environment.

Plans and funding for the next phases, including dismantlement and removal of the vessel, are currently being finalized. Work is expected to begin in spring 2017, Garneau said in a statement. "The government of Canada recognizes the risks that abandoned, derelict and wrecked vessels pose to safe navigation, the marine environment, public health and local economies," he said.

A drop in water levels in Lac Saint-Louis over the summer led to increased concerns about the Kathryn Spirit's stability. The vessel is listing heavily to one side and is at risk of leaking millions of litres of contaminated water if it keels over.

The deputy commissioner of the Canadian Coast Guard, Julie Gascon, said the dismantling will take place on site because the ship's condition rules out transporting it elsewhere. "The situation with the vessel is stable, however, building the embankment is a priority in order to isolate completely the vessel from the environment,'' Gascon said.

Beauharnois Mayor Claude Haineault called on Ottawa to take urgent action last July, saying Lac Saint-Louis risks being contaminated if there is a spill. Original plan to scrap ship scrapped

Ironically, the government has awarded the contract to build the embankment to Groupe St-Pierre – the demolition company that towed the ship to Beauharnois in the first place, hoping to dismantle it and sell it for scrap. That plan encountered stiff opposition from local activists and environmentalists and never materialized.

The ship was then sold to a Mexican recycling company, which later went bankrupt. Garneau defended the decision to award the contract to Groupe St-Pierre, explaining that the company is located near the ship and is able to begin construction immediately. Once the first phase is done, Ottawa will put out a tender for the ship's dismantling, probably next spring.

Garneau said a five-year, $1.5-billion ocean protection plan announced last Monday would help address the larger problem of what to do about hundreds of abandoned vessels across the country. While the exact numbers aren't available, Garneau said estimates suggest there are between 600 and 700 abandoned vessels on Canada's three coasts.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the funding will go towards creating a marine safety system, restoring marine ecosystems and research into oil spill cleanup methods.

CBC


11/11 - The water temperatures on the Great Lakes continue to amaze on the warm side. In fact, in this recent much warmer than normal weather pattern, Great Lakes surface water actually warmed.

The lake wide surface water temperature warmed one degree in the past few days of November. This occurred at a time when water temperatures should steadily decrease.

Read more, and view a video and graphs at this link



The Port of Huron, Ohio received its first grain boat in seven years when Westdale Shipping's AVONDALE arrived at the Pillsbury Elevator on November 11, 1971, to load 200,000 bushels of soybeans for Toronto, Ontario.

On 11 November 1883, NEMESIS (2-mast wooden schooner, 74 foot, 82 gross tons, built in 1868, at Goderich, Ontario) was wrecked in a terrific storm that some called a hurricane. She went ashore near Bayfield, Ontario, on Lake Huron. She may have been recovered since her registration was not closed until 1907. In 1876, this little schooner rescued all but one of the crew from the sinking freighter NEW YORK.

The Armistice Day Storm of November 11, 1940, was one of the worst storms in the recorded history of Lake Michigan. In all, the storm claimed 5 vessels, and 66 lives. The storm hit late Monday afternoon, November 11th, with winds of hurricane proportions. The winds struck suddenly from the southwest at about 2:30 p.m. and were accompanied by drenching rain, which later changed to snow. The winds reached peak velocities of 75 miles per hour, the highest in local maritime history.

Some of the vessels affected were: CITY OF FLINT 32: Beached at Ludington, no damage. Jens Vevang, relief captain, in command. Her regular captain, Charles Robertson, was on shore leave. Also: PERE MARQUETTE 21: Blown into a piling at Ludington, no damage, captained by Arthur Altschwager. She had 5 passengers aboard. CITY OF SAGINAW 31: Arrived Milwaukee 6 hours late with over a foot of water in her hull. The wireless aerial was missing and her seagate was smashed by the waves. She was captained by Ed Cronberg. Ann Arbor carferry WABASH: A railcar broke loose from its moorings on her car deck and rolled over, nearly crushing a crewman. The steamer NOVADOC: Ran aground at Juniper Beach, South of Pentwater, Michigan. Two crewman (cooks) drowned when the ship broke in half. Seventeen crewman, found huddled in the pilothouse, were rescued by Captain Clyde Cross and his 2 crewman, Gustave Fisher and Joe Fontane of the fishing tug THREE BROTHERS. CONNEAUT of 1916, ran hard aground on Lansing Shoal near Manistique, Michigan, on Lake Michigan. She reportedly had lost her propeller and rudder. Two days later she was pulled off. The SINALOA had taken on a load of sand near Green Island and was heading for Chicago through Death's Door on Wisconsin's Door Peninsula when the November 11th Armistice Day storm of 1940, struck in upper Lake Michigan. During the storm the SINALOA lost her rudder. The anchor was dropped but her anchor cable parted. In this helpless condition she ran aground at Sac Bay on Michigan's Garden Peninsula. Fortunately the stricken vessel was close to shore where the Coast Guard was able to rescue the entire crew. Declared a constructive total loss, her owner collected the insurance and forfeited the vessel to the Roen Salvage Co.

ANNA C MINCH: Sank South of Pentwater with a loss of 24 lives.

WILLIAM B DAVOCK: of the Interlake fleet, Capt. Charles W. Allen, sank in 215 of water off Pentwater, Michigan. There were no survivors among the crew of 33.

The fishing tugs INDIAN and RICHARD H: Lost with all hands off South Haven, Michigan.

On 11 November 1872, the schooner WILLIS collided with the bark ELIZABETH JONES on Lake Erie and sank in a few minutes. The crew was saved.

On 11 November 1936, J. OSWALD BOYD (steel propeller fuel tanker, 244 foot, 1,806 gross tons, built in 1913, in Scotland) was carrying 900,000 gallons of gasoline when she stranded on Simmons Reef on the north side of Beaver Island. The U.S. Coast Guard from Beaver Island rescued the entire crew of 20.

On 11 November 1890, BRUNO (wooden propeller bulk freighter, 136 foot. 475 gross tons, built in 1863, at Montreal) was carrying coal to Cleveland with the schooner LOUISA in tow when she struck Magnetic Reef, south of Cockburn Island in Georgian Bay and sank in rough weather. No lives were lost.

On 11 November 1835, the 2-mast wooden schooner COMET was carrying iron and ashes on Lake Erie when she foundered in a gale, one mile northwest of Dunkirk, New York. Just her topmasts protruded from the water. All seven on board lost their lives, including a passenger who was a college student bound for Vermont.

In a storm on the night of 11 November 1874, The schooner LA PETITE (3-mast wooden schooner, 119 foot, 172 gross tons, built 1866, J. Ketchum, Huron, Ohio) was on Lake Michigan carrying a cargo of wheat and corn from Chicago when she sprang a bad leak and tried first to reach Ludington, then Manistee. Before reaching safety, she grounded off Big Point au Sable, eight miles from land, in eight feet of water. Previous to striking, the vessel had lost her bowsprit and foremast. After she struck, her main and mizzenmasts went by the board, and the schooner began to break up rapidly. The crew clung to the forecastle deck, and when that washed away, four men were drowned. Captain O. B. Wood had his arms broken by the falling off a square-sail yard. When he fell into the water, the ship's dog jumped in and kept him afloat until they were rescued by the crew of the steam barge CHARLES REITZ. Of the 10 crewmen, six were saved. The LA PETITE was salvaged and repaired and lasted until 1903, when she was lost in another storm.

On 11 Nov 1999, the Maltese flag bulk carrier ALCOR was examined by personnel from Transport Canada, the Canadian Coast Guard, a salvage company and the vessel's owners in hopes of forming a plan to save the vessel. She ran aground on a sand bar off the eastern tip of d'Orleans Island on the St. Lawrence River two days earlier. This vessel did not visit Great Lakes ports under the name ALCOR, but she did so under her two previous names, firstly as PATRICIA V and then as the Soviet flag MEKHANIK DREN. The Groupe Desgagnes finally refloated the ALCOR on 05 Dec 1999, after part of the cargo of clinker had been removed. The ship was then towed to Quebec City. Later, it was reported that Groupe Desgagnes purchased the ALCOR from its Greek owners.

Below is a first hand account of the Storm of 1913, from the journal of John Mc Laughlin transcribed by his great grandson Hugh McNichol. John was working on an unknown vessel during the Storm of 1913. The boat was captained by John McAlpine and Harry Roberts as Chief Engineer. The boat was loading iron ore in Escanaba when the storm started on November 8th.

Tuesday, November 11, 1913: I got up at 12 a.m. and went on watch. We were above Presque Isle. It is still blowing hard and quite a sea running. Presque Isle at 1:45 a.m., Thunder Bay Island at 4:30 a.m., Harbor Beach at 1:00 p.m., we are about in the River at 7:05 p.m. It is fine tonight, wind gone down.

1940: The famous Armistice Day storm claims the ANNA C. MINCH, WILLIAM B. DAVOCK and NOVADOC (ii), on Lake Michigan and leaves CITY OF FLINT 32 and SINALOA aground and damaged.

1946: The former Canada Steamship lines bulk canaller LANARK was scuttled off the coast of Ireland with a load of World War Two bombs.

1977: The 380-foot, 8-inch long West German freighter GLORIA made 4 visits to the Great Lakes in 1959-1960. It went aground on the Adriatic at Sestrice Island as d) ARISTOTELES. While the 25-year old hull was refloated, it was declared a total loss and towed to Split, Yugoslavia, for scrapping.

1980: The DINIE S. suffered an engineroom fire at Palermo, Italy and became a total loss. The ship had visited the Seaway as a) CATHERINE SARTORI (1959-1967) and b) CURSA (1967) and was sailing under a seventh name. It was scrapped at Palermo in 1985

1980: CITY OF LICHFIELD stranded near Antalya, Turkey, while leaving the anchorage in heavy weather as c) CITY OF LEEDS. The ship was refloated but never sailed again and was eventually scrapped at Aliaga, Turkey, in 1984. The ship had visited the Great Lakes in 1964.

1995: JAMES NORRIS was loading stone at Colborne, ON when the wind changed leaving the hull exposed to the gale. The ship was repeatedly pounded against the dock until it settled on the bottom. Subsequent hull repairs at Port Weller Dry Docks resulted in the port side being all welded while the starboard remained riveted.

1995: The Cuban freighter AREITO had a mechanical problem in the St. Lambert Lock and had to be towed back to Montreal for repairs. This SD-14 class vessel was scrapped at Alang, India, as e) DUNLIN in 2001.