Today in Great Lakes History

[yachtsmanwilly]

11/14 - Buffalo, N.Y. – The Edward M. Cotter fireboat celebrated its 116th birthday – "sweet 16 plus 100" – on Saturday, complete with a party, tours and cake. But this vessel is no museum relic.

When a massive fire broke out this week at the Bethlehem Steel site, the Buffalo Fire Department considering sending the Cotter to help battle the blaze, said Buffalo Fire Commissioner Garnell Whitfield Jr.

That turned out not to be logistically feasible. But the vessel billed as the world's oldest working fireboat remains essential to the department, from fighting fires to breaking ice in the Buffalo River in order to prevent flooding in towns upstream, Whitfield said.

The public got a chance to take free tours of the vessel on Saturday, and can do so again on Sunday, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Buffalo Naval and Military Park.

The Fireboat E.M. Cotter Conservancy is raising funds to restore the vessel, and hopes the tours will increase awareness about the Cotter's active service as well as its place in history, said Sandy Beckman, the conservancy's president.

"They can get to touch and see our history on the waterfront, especially with the redevelopment of the waterfront," Beckman said. "This is really the grandfather of the waterfront."

Fillmore Council Member David Franczyk noted the vessel was serving the city even before Theodore Roosevelt was inaugurated as president here. And with new commercial and residential projects rising along the Buffalo River, the fireboat remains as vital as ever, he said.

But firefighting is only part of the Cotter's job. Sam Guadagna, a retired Cotter captain, recalled the vessel breaking "as much as a foot of ice with no problem. It would go through it like it was a sheet of newspaper."

Guadagna had the honor of cutting the Cotter's cake, flanked by Whitfield and Mayor Byron Brown.

The Buffalo News


11/14 - Buffalo, N.Y. – This Veteran’s Day holiday, the contractor that has built what will soon become the new USS Little Rock is hoping to build excitement for what will be the first-ever commissioning of a Naval vessel next to its decommissioned counterpart.

Lockheed Martin is creating the Freedom Class of Littoral Combat Ships, which includes the new Little Rock. Representatives of the aerospace, defense and security company were in Western New York for the Buffalo Renaissance Foundation's Veterans Day lunch, and are hoping local people with an interest in military matters will become increasingly excited in advance of the new USS Little Rock's commissioning next year.

The new LCS9 has already been built and launched and is undergoing tests on Lake Michigan.

"The ship is actually out on trials now for the first set of tests,” said Lockheed Martin spokesman John Torrisi. “We do many sets of tests. We build these ships in Wisconsin, so we actually have the ship out, running its paces before we have the Navy do that."

The ship features a helipad, ample space to reconfigure as the mission requires and, through a combination of gas, diesel and water propulsion systems, the ability to travel more than 40 knots in open water.

“It can turn on a dime and can also operate in very shallow water, hence the name Littoral,” Torrisi said. “This ship's draft is about 14 feet, or a little bit less depending on how it's loaded up.”

The vessel also features a steel hull with aluminum superstructure and could hold a crew of 50 to about 90 people. And, according to Torrisi, was relatively inexpensive to build.

“Cost has been an important part of this program from the very beginning," he said. "Using a block buy approach, we've been able to achieve an average cost, across the ten ships in that block, of 360 million dollars, which sounds like a lot but in shipbuilding and military procurement is a good value for taxpayers. ”

The Navy has not yet set a for the commissioning ceremony at the Buffalo and Erie County Naval and Military Park, but it's anticipated to be some time in mid 2017.

WBFO


ALGOBAY (steel propeller bulk freighter, 719 foot, 22,466 gross tons, built at Collingwood, Ontario in 1978) departed Sept Iles, Quebec on 14 Nov 1978, with an iron ore pellet cargo for Sydney, Nova Scotia when she collided with the 90,000 ton Italian-flag ore carrier CIELO BIANCO. The Collingwood-built tug POINTE MARGUERITE, which was towing the big salty, was unfortunately crushed between the two vessels and sank, killing two crewmembers.

On November 14, 1934, the WILLIAM A. REISS grounded off Sheboygan and was declared a constructive total loss. Built as the a.) FRANK H. PEAVEY in 1901, renamed b.) WILLIAM A. REISS in 1916. She was scrapped at Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin in 1935.

Cracks across the ENDERS M. VOORHEES' spar deck were first noticed in a storm on Lake Superior November 14, 1942. Her fleetmate NORMAN B. REAM came to her assistance by releasing storm oil which helped calm the seas so the crew of the VOORHEES could run cables the length of her deck and winch them tight to arrest the cracking. She proceeded to the Soo escorted by the REAM and later sailed to the Great Lake Engineering Works for repairs.

The THOMAS WILSON (Hull#826) was launched November 14, 1942, at Lorain, Ohio, for the U.S. Maritime Commission.

The U.S. Coast Guard buoy tender MESQUITE (Hull#76) was launched November 14, 1942, at a cost of $894,000, by Marine Iron & Shipbuilding Co. at Duluth, Minnesota. MESQUITE ran aground off Keweenaw Point on December 4, 1989, and was declared a total loss. MESQUITE was scuttled off Keweenaw Point on July 14, 1990.

On November 14, 1952, the SPARROWS POINT, b.) BUCKEYE entered service for Bethlehem Steel Corp. Reduced to a barge at Erie, Pennsylvania, and renamed c.) LEWIS J KUBER in 2006.

On 14 November 1879, C G BREED (2 mast wooden schooner, 140 foot, 385 tons, built in 1862, at Milwaukee, Wisconsin) was carrying 24,000 bushels of wheat from Detroit to Buffalo when she capsized and sank in a sudden squall near Ashtabula, Ohio in Lake Erie. 5 lives were lost, but 3 were saved. The three survivors were rescued by three different vessels.

In 1940, following the Armistice Day Storm, The CITY OF FLINT 32 was freed by the tug JOHN F. CUSHING assisted by the PERE MARQUETTE 21.

In 1990, Glen Bowden (of MWT) announced that he would suspend cross-Lake Michigan ferry service indefinitely. On 14 November 1886, the steamer BELLE WILSON was crossing Lake Ontario with a load of 11,800 bushels of oats when a severe gale and snowstorm blew in. The vessel lost her rudder and the crew rigged sails, but these were blown away. Then they rigged a drag made of 600 feet of line and a log to help maneuver the vessel and they headed for Oswego, New York. This lasted for 12 hours, but the chain parted at 3:00 a.m. and the vessel was driven ashore at Ford's Shoals, 4 miles east of Oswego harbor. No lives were lost.

On 14 November 1892, the 2-mast, 95 foot wooden schooner MINNIE DAVIS was rammed on a dark night by the 2-mast, 117 foot wooden schooner HUNTER SAVIDGE near Amherstburg, Ontario. The DAVIS sank, but no lives were lost. The wreckage was removed in May 1893.

1922: The composite hulled freighter JOS. L. SIMPSON was upbound on Lake Ontario from Ogdensburg to Milwaukee when it stranded at Tibbett's Point. The repair bill was close to $12,000 but the vessel returned to service and last operated in 1957 as YANKCANUCK (i).

1933: The wheat laden D.E. CALLENDAR stranded in Lake Erie off Long Point and was a total loss. The hull was salvaged in 1934 and laid up at Toledo. It was taken to New Orleans during World War Two for reconstruction as a barge but the change was never registered and the hull was likely scrapped.

1933: The wooden tug FLORENCE sank off False Duck Island in a storm that brought snow, high winds and waves on Lake Ontario. All 7 on board were saved and taken aboard the barge PETER G. CAMPBELL.

1943: RIVERTON stranded at Lottie Wolf Shoal, Georgian Bay and declared a total loss. Later salvaged and repaired, it returned to service as MOHAWK DEER.

1960: ISLAND KING II was destroyed by a fire while laid up for the winter at Lachine, QC. The vessel had been built as DALHOUSIE CITY and operated across western Lake Ontario between Toronto and St. Catharines from 1911 until the end of the 1949 season before being sold and moving to Montreal.

1966: The Liberian freighter FREIDA went aground at Poe's Reef, Lake Huron, and had to be lightered by MAITLAND NO. 1. The ocean ship began Great Lakes terading as c) SEAWAY STAR in 1960 and returned as d) DEALMOUTH in 1962 and as e) FREIDA earlier in 1966.


In 1952, the 626-foot SPARROWS POINT successfully completed her sea trials and departed Chicago on her maiden trip. The new Bethlehem boat, the largest boat to enter the lakes via the Mississippi River Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, was under the command of Captain Wilfred Couture and Chief Engineer James Meinke. She was lengthened to 682 feet in 1958, converted to a self-unloader in 1980, renamed b.) BUCKEYE in 1991, converted to a barge in 2006, renamed c.) LEWIS J. KUBER.

ARAB (2-mast wooden schooner, 100 foot, 158 tons, built in 1854, at Buffalo, New York) beached on 01 November 1883, near St. Joseph, Michigan, during a storm, but quick work by salvagers got her free. However on 13 November 1883, while being towed to Racine, Wisconsin, she capsized and sank well off of Arcadia, Michigan. One man lost his life, an engineer who was desperately trying to start her pumps when she rolled.

On November 13, 1976, the TEMPLE BAR (later LAKE WABUSH and ALGONORTH) arrived at Singapore, where she was lengthened 202 feet.

CONDARRELL was laid up for the last time on November 13, 1981. Built in 1953 as a.) D. C. EVEREST, she was renamed b.) CONDARRELL in 1982.

GEORGE HINDMAN was in collision with the British salty MANCHESTER EXPLORER on Lake St. Louis, above the Lachine Lock in 1956. Built in 1921, as a.) GLENCLOVA, renamed b.) ANTICOSTI in 1927, c.) RISACUA in 1946, d.) GEORGE HINDMAN in 1955, and e.) ELIZABETH HINDMAN in 1962. Scrapped at Duluth, Minnesota, in 1971.

J. P. MORGAN JR (Hull#373) was launched November 13, 1909, at Lorain, Ohio, for the Pittsburgh Steamship Co.

HOMER D. WILLIAMS was involved in a collision with the steamer OTTO M. REISS at Duluth November 13, 1917.

In 1984, HOMER D. WILLIAMS was towed to Thunder Bay, Ontario, by the tug MALCOLM for dismantling.

On 13 November 1870, the schooner E. FITZGERALD left Port Huron on her maiden voyage to load lumber at Au Sable, Michigan, for Chicago. She was commanded by Capt. A. McTavish.

On 13 November 1883, H. C. AKELEY (wooden propeller bulk freighter, 240 foot, 1,187 tons, built in 1881, at Grand Haven, Michigan) was carrying corn from Chicago to Buffalo when she encountered a heavy storm off Holland, Michigan. She took the disabled tug PROTECTOR in tow but let her go when her own rudder broke off. AKELEY anchored but started to sink when she fell into the troughs of the waves. The disabled schooner DRIVER managed to save 12 of the crew who had taken to AKELEY's yawl before she went down. 6 lives were lost.

Captain W. H. Van Dyke was born at Escanaba, Michigan, on November 13, 1871, and spent most of his life on the Great Lakes (he joined the crew of a schooner at the age of 15). He first captained the Pere Marquette Line Steamer PERE MARQUETTE 8 then, in 1916, he joined the Pere Marquette carferry fleet. His first command was the str. PERE MARQUETTE 15. Then for 10 years he served as master of the PERE MARQUETTE 17, and after the launch of the CITY OF FLINT 32 in 1929, he served as master of the PERE MARQUETTE 22.

On 13 November 1865, CLARA PARKER (3-mast wooden schooner, 175 foot, 425 gross tons, built in 1865, at Detroit, Michigan) was fighting a losing battle with storm induced leaks, so she was beached 400 yards off shore near the mouth of the Pigeon River, south of Grand Haven, Michigan. The local Lifesaving Service plucked all 9 of the crew from the rigging by breeches buoy after the vessel had gone down to her decks and was breaking up.

On 13 November 1888, LELAND (wooden steam barge, 148 foot, 366 gross tons, built in 1873, at New Jerusalem, Ohio) burned at Huron, Ohio. She was valued at $20,000 and insured for $15,000. She was rebuilt and lasted until 1910.

JAMES DAVIDSON (steel propeller bulk freighter, 587 foot, 8,349 gross tons, built at Wyandotte, Michigan, in 1920) entered service on 13 Nov 1920, for the Globe Steamship Co. (G. A. Tomlinson, mgr.) when she loaded 439,000 bushels of wheat at Duluth, Minnesota, for delivery to Buffalo, New York. She was the last ship built at Wyandotte, Michigan.

An unnamed salty (formerly RANGUINI) arrived at Milwaukee's heavy lift dock on Saturday night, 13 Nov 1999, to load a large desalinization filtration system built in Milwaukee for Korea. The vessel entered the Seaway in ballast for Milwaukee on 09 Nov 1999. The following day, the crew rigged scaffolding over the side so the new name BBC GERMANY could be painted on the ship.

The Toledo Blade published the following vessel passages for Detroit on this date in 1903: -Up- VOLUNTEER, AMAZON, HARLOW, 12:30 Friday morning; ROCKEFELLER, 4:20; MARISKA, 4:40; FRENCH, 5:20; CONEMAUGH, 6; S M STEPHENSON, FAUSTIN, barges, 7:30; OLIVER, MITCHELL, (sailed), 7:50; AVERILL, 8.

1909: The steamers CHARLES WESTON and WARD AMES collided in lower Whitefish Bay. The former, which had been at anchor waiting to head downbound through the Soo Locks, ran for shore but settled on the bottom. The ship was saved, repaired and last sailed as c) SAUCON for Bethlehem Transportation before being scrapped at Hamilton, ON in 1950.

1909: JAMES H. HOYT went aground on a reef about two miles off the northeast corner of Outer Island after the engine was disabled in a snowstorm. The vessel was refloated November 29 and later became the BRICOLDOC.

1929: BRITON was wrecked in Lake Erie off Point Abino. The stranded vessel was battered for two days before being abandoned as a total loss.

1934: WILLIAM A. REISS (i) stranded off Sheboygan while inbound with 7025 tons of coal from Toledo. The ship was refloated November 17 with heavy damage and considered a total loss.

1942: H.M. PELLATT, a former Great Lakes canal freighter, was sailing as f) SCILLIN under the flag of Italy, when it was hit by gunfire from the British submarine H.M.S. PROTEUS while 9 miles off Kuriat, Tunisia, and sank.

1956: The downbound and grain-laden GEORGE HINDMAN and the upbound MANCHESTER EXPLORER collided in fog on the St. Lawrence above Lachine and both ships were damaged.

1958: LUNAN, a Pre-Seaway trader on the Great Lakes, sustained major bottom damage in a grounding on the St. Lawrence near Murray Bay. The ship was refloated, towed to Lauzon for repairs and it returned to service as b) MARIDAN C. in 1959.

1967: SANTA REGINA, the first American saltwater vessel to use the St. Lawrence Seaway, put into San Francisco with boiler problems and machinery damage while headed from Los Angeles to Saigon, South Vietnam as f) NORBERTO CAPAY. The vessel was sold at auction and towed to Kaohsiung, Taiwan, for scrapping in 1969.

1971: The small St. Lawrence freighter C. DE BAILLON, better known as a) DONNACONA NO. 2 and b) MIRON C., went aground at Mont Louis and was a total loss.

1975: There was a boiler explosion on the Egyptian freighter CLEOPATRA after leaving Hartlepool, England, for Alexandria, Egypt, and 8 crewmen were severely injured with at least one fatality. The former Victory Ship first traveled through the Seaway in 1963. It was scrapped at Gadani Beach, Pakistan, in 1981.

1976: OCEAN SOVEREIGN lost steering at Sault Ste. Marie and was wedged into the wall at the Soo Locks. The rudder was damaged and the Greek saltie had to be towed to Lauzon, Quebec, for repairs. The vessel initially traded inland as a) BOLNES in 1970 and returned as b) OCEAN SOVEREIGN for the first time in 1973. It was scrapped at Ulsan, South Korea, as d) MARIA JOSE after being blown aground from the anchorage during Typhoon Vera on September 27, 1986.

1979: A steering failure put VANDOC aground at Harvey Island in the Brockville Narrows. The vessel spent time at Port Weller Dry Docks after being released.

1996: JOLLITY reported it was taking water in the engine room (Pos: 17.47 N / 119.20 E). The ship was was taken in tow two days later and reached Hong Kong on November 18. The vessel was scrapped at Chittagong, Bangladesh, in 1999.

1997: ARCADIA BERLIN visited the Great Lakes in 1971 when it was a year old. The ship was carrying bagged cement and sailing as f) ALLISSA when it collided with and sank the Ukrainian vessel SMENA off Yangon, Myanmar. The former was apparently laid up with collision damage and scrapped at Alang, India, in 1998.

2002: WILFRED SYKES was inbound with a cargo of limestone when it went aground in Muskegon Lake. Some of the cargo was lightered to PERE MARQUETTE 41 and the stranded ship was pulled free.


In 1920, FRANCIS WIDLAR stranded on Pancake Shoal in Lake Superior and was written off as a total constructive loss of $327,700. The wreck was purchased by Mathews Steamship Company in 1921 and placed back in service as BAYTON. The BAYTON sailed until 1966, and the hull was later used as a temporary breakwall during construction at Burns Harbor, Indiana.

On 12 November 1878, JAMES R. BENTLEY (3-mast wooden schooner, 170 foot, 575 tons, built in 1867, at Fairport, Ohio) was carrying grain when she struck a shoal in heavy weather and foundered off 40 Mile Point on Lake Huron. Her crew was rescued in the rough seas by the bark ERASTUS CORNING.

On 12 Nov 1964, THOMAS F. COLE (steel propeller bulk freighter, 580 foot, 7,268 gross tons, built in 1907, at Ecorse, Michigan) collided with the British motor vessel INVEREWE off the south end of Pipe Island on the lower St. Marys River in foggy conditions. The COLE suffered severe damage to the port bow and was taken to Lorain for repairs.

On 12 Nov 1980, ALVA C. DINKEY (steel propeller bulk freighter, 580 foot, 7,514 gross tons, built in 1909, at Lorain, Ohio) and GOVERNOR MILLER (steel propeller bulk freighter, 593 foot, 8,240 gross tons, built in 1938, at Lorain, Ohio) arrived near El Ferrol del Caudillo, Spain for scrapping in tow of the FedNav tug CATHY B. Demolition by Miguel Partins began on 28 Nov 1980, at Vigo, Spain.

On November 12, 1919, PANAY, upbound on Lake Superior for Duluth, Minnesota, in rough weather, was one of the last vessels to see the down bound JOHN OWEN which, apparently later the same day, disappeared with all hands. Renamed b.) WILLIAM NELSON in 1928, and c.) BEN E. TATE in 1936. Scrapped at Bilbao, Spain in 1969.

On 12 November 1881, BRUNSWICK (iron propeller bulk freighter, 248 foot, built in 1881, at Wyandotte, Michigan) was carrying 1,500 tons of hard coal in a night of fitful squalls in Lake Erie. CARLINGFORD (wooden schooner, 155 foot, built in 1869, at Port Huron, Michigan) was also sailing there, loaded with 26,000 bushels of wheat. They collided. After the skipper of BRUNSWICK made sure that the sinking schooner's crew were in their lifeboats, he ran for shore with his sinking vessel, but sank a few miles off Dunkirk, New York. A total of 4 lives were lost.

On 12 November 1835, the small wooden schooner ROBERT BRUCE was sailing from Kingston, Ontario to Howell, New York when she was wrecked west of Henderson, New York. Her crew of 4, plus one passenger, were all lost.

On 12 Nov 1886, the tug WM L. PROCTOR (wooden tug, 104 foot, 117 gross tons, built in 1883, at Buffalo, New York) left Oswego, New York with the schooner-barges BOLIVIA and E.C. BUCK in tow before a big storm struck. During the snowstorm, the tug got lost and the towline broke. Alone, the PROCTOR finally made it to Charlotte, New York, badly iced up, but there was no word on the barges. They were presumed lost with all onboard.

1881: BRUNSWICK sank in Lake Erie after a collision with the CARLINGFORD. The wooden hulled, coal-laden steamer, made a run for the American shore but the effort fell short. Three lives were lost.

1914: The wooden steamer COLONIAL began to leak on Lake Erie and was beached in Rondeau Bay only to be pounded to pieces by gale force winds. All on board were rescued.

1967: The Swedish freighter TORSHOLM began visiting the Great Lakes as early as 1953. The ship was enroute from the Seaway to Stockholm when it ran aground near Uto, Sweden, and became a total loss.

1968: CLARA CLAUSEN, a Danish freighter, ran aground at Les Escoumins on the St. Lawrence and was abandoned. After being salvaged, the vessel came to the Great Lakes in 1970 and was rebuilt at Kingston as ATLANTEAN.

1974: BELVOIR (ii), enroute from Puerto Cortes, Honduras, to Corpus Christi, Texas, with a load of ore concentrates, struck a submerged object in the Gulf of Honduras and sank. Only 4 crew members are rescued while the other 21 were presumed lost.

1980: The former Lake Michigan rail car ferry PERE MARQUETTE 21 left the Great Lakes in 1974. It was lost on this date as the barge d) CONSOLIDATOR. It was hit by Hurricane Jean off the coast of Honduras while carrying a load of truck trailers.

2005: SPAN TERZA, an Italian freighter, first came through the Seaway in 1977 and returned as b) ANANGEL HORIZON in 1983. It was damaged on this date as d) SALAM 4 in a collision near Dondra Head, Sri Lanka, with SHANGHAI PRIDE and had to go to Colombo for assessment. The ship was repaired and eventually scrapped as e) ALINA at Xinhui, China, in 2009.


11/12 - South Bend, Ind. – On this Veterans Day, we remember an important part of World War II history that took place on the waters of Lake Michigan. The U.S. Navy used the lake to train thousands of pilots heading to fight in the Pacific. Pilots learned how to take off and land on makeshift aircraft carriers.

When Pearl Harbor was attacked - the U.S. Navy was not prepared to wage a large-scale war. The U.S. had to ramp up airplane production and train pilots to fly them. Lake Michigan proved to be a great spot for this naval aircraft training. It was protected from enemy fire because it was insulated by U.S. and Canadian territory.

17,000 pilots became certified naval aviators over the lake. About 130 aircraft were lost to the depths of the lake, and 10 pilots lost their lives there between March 1942 and September 1945. Close to 50 of those have since been recovered. Many of those efforts are thanks to A & T Recovery, a company that works to rescue these forgotten aircraft.

"It was a dangerous operation – especially having to do it all year long. And they had to, because the war didn't stop," says Taras Lyssenko, A&T Recovery general manager.

Decades after the last plane dove into the lake, A & T Recovery seeks to bring them back out to see the light of day. They use a side-scan sonar to find the aircraft underwater. It's similar to an ultrasound.

The process of recovering and restoring the planes is a long process. Three of recovered planes are currently at the Air Zoo in Kalamazoo. One is fully restored, while two are undergoing restoration.

At least 100 volunteers are working to get the planes just as they appeared when they sank. "We have to create our own tools to be able to fix the parts that – those tools aren't available anymore," restoration volunteer Kevin Mazer said.

"When these airplanes come out of the water they are covered inside and out with mussel shells, and they're living creatures," says Greg Ward, Air Zoo aircraft conservator. "They're invasive species that were brought into Lake Michigan, and they cause corrosion."

Ward has been restoring planes at the Air Zoo for 28 years. At the moment, he and restoration volunteers have their hands full with these two planes now, but that's not distracting him from the need to rescue others resting at the bottom of the lake. He is concerned that time is ticking.

"Think about all of the other airplanes that are sitting on the bottom of the lake, covered in these mussels. Now, it's become almost an emergency to get funding, and get these airplanes recovered before they get turned to dust underwater," says Ward.

That's something A & T Recovery and the Air Zoo won't stop working on. The Air Zoo invites schools and the public to come help with the restoration process.

"Instead of doing it in a black box somewhere - where it goes in and five years later 'voila' look at our new airplane - we're actually doing it on our exhibit floor because we want our community to not only see it and watch the evolution of it, but we also want them to take part in it," said Air Zoo CEO Troy Thrash.

WSBT


11/12 - Beaver Island, Mich. – In windy, wavy conditions on the water a ferry had to call for back up when it became stranded in Lake Michigan. The Beaver Island Boat Company's Emerald Isle lost propulsion shortly after it left for its 8:30 a.m. trip Thursday.

The ferry left Beaver Island and was heading to Charlevoix when it happened. The engineer onboard was able to fix the issue, but decided to head back to the island as the U.S. Coast Guard escorted them back. They believe there was a fuel issue that caused the boat to stop moving. The ferry with four people onboard made it to Beaver Island around 2:30 p.m.

"The weather is a little rough today and so we were concerned for our passengers and the safety of the vessel," Beaver Island Boat Company president Margo Marks said. "We were escorted back to Beaver Island."

Anyone who needs to get off Beaver Island will have to use flight service for the time being.

9 & 10 News


11/13 - Five vessels were anchored just off Duluth Saturday – Cason J. Callaway, Edgar B. Speer, Paul R. Tregurtha, American Mariner and Walter J. McCarthy Jr. In addition, Sam Laud and Roger Blough were hugging the south shore off the U.P. Ken Boothe Sr./Lakes Contender were anchored off the lower Keweenaw entry, and the John J. Boland was also in the area. When the National Weather Service gave its Lake Superior weather Saturday morning, the report from Rock of Ages were for winds of 40 knots. The weather buoy 48 miles north of Ironwood had winds of 29 knots with 10-foot waves.

[yachtsmanwilly]

11/14 - Algoma Tankers applied to the Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA) for a coasting license to allow the foreign tanker Edzard Schulte to transport refined product between Montreal and Great Lakes Canadian ports.

Due to a reduction in operating pressure on a major pipeline, refiners were concerned about a fuel shortage in the Greater Toronto Area and Algoma asked for a fast track approval process for the license.

Coastal Shipping Ltd. Intervened, offering three Canadian flag tankers that it has been operating successfully for several years for other oil companies. Algoma countered that they did not meet the oil company's operations criteria, but the CTA found no merit in that argument, stating in effect, that those rules could not supercede Canadian law.

Canada permits foreign-flag ships to trade between Canadian ports, under license, when it can be determined that no suitable Canadian ship is available.

CSL was not known previously to be a tanker operator, but references in the proceedings indicate that the tankers cited by CSL are the Coastal Shipping Co. tankers of the Woodward Group of Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Newfoundland, and Labrador. Coastal Shipping names Travestern and Sten Fjord as two of the available tankers.


Otherwise all shipping traffic is at a standstill due to democrats marching in the shipping lanes. ws

[yachtsmanwilly]

In 1883, the schooner E. FITZGERALD, Captain Daniel Lanigan, went ashore and was completely covered with ice. The crew of six drowned while attempting to make shore in the yawl. A couple days after the loss, Mrs. Lanigan received a prophetic letter from her son stating he was tired of sailing and this would be his last trip.

On 15 November 1871, EVERGREEN CITY (wooden propeller freighter, 193 foot, 624 gross tons, built in 1856, at Cleveland, Ohio) was carrying lumber camp supplies when she was driven on to the southwest coast of Long Point on Lake Erie by a westerly gale. She hogged and broke up. Most of her cargo and fittings were stolen over the winter. Surprisingly, she was recovered and rebuilt in 1872-1873, but only lasted until 1875, when she was abandoned at Buffalo, New York.

The cargo mid-body of the then-under construction GEORGE A. STINSON was towed from Toledo, where it was built, to Lorain, Ohio, in 1977.

PAUL THAYER left Lorain on her maiden voyage November 15, 1973, light for Escanaba, Michigan to load iron ore. Renamed b.) EARL W. OGLEBAY in 1995.

On November 15, 1974, W. W. HOLLOWAY struck an embankment at Burns Harbor, Indiana, causing extensive damage.

Departing Duluth on November 15, 1909, the BRANSFORD encountered a gale driven snowstorm. She battled the storm the entire day only to end up on the rocks near Siskiwit Bay on Isle Royale.

On 15 November 1894, ANTELOPE (wooden schooner, 56 foot, 32 gross tons, built in 1878, at Grand Haven, Michigan) capsized in a storm while trying to make harbor at Grand Haven, Michigan. 4 lives were lost.

November 15, 1924 - The carferry PERE MARQUETTE was renamed PERE MARQUETTE 15.

On 15 November 1875, The Port Huron Times reported that "there is little doubt but that the scow SUTLER GIRL has been lost with all hands on Lake Erie. She has now been overdue two weeks."

On 15 November 1869, W. W. ARNOLD (wooden schooner, 426 gross tons, built in 1863, at Buffalo, New York) was carrying iron ore when she was driven ashore near the mouth of the Two Hearted River on Lake Superior during the great gale of November 1869. The violent storm tore the schooner apart and she sank quickly losing all hands (11) including several passengers.

On 15 Nov 1905, the W. K. BIXBY (steel straight-deck bulk freighter, 480 foot, 5,712 gross tons, later b.) J.L. REISS, then c.) SIDNEY E. SMITH JR) was launched at Wyandotte, Michigan, for the National Steamship Co. (M.B. McMillan). She lasted until 1972, when she was wrecked at Sarnia, Ontario, in a collision with the PARKER EVANS.

1901: The consort barge JOHN SMEATON broke loose of the steamer HARVARD and came ashore on the rocks off Au Train, Mich., and rested in 4 feet of water. The crew was safe and the ship released at the end of the month by Reid Wrecking and went to Superior for repairs.

1909: The Canadian freighter OTTAWA foundered stern first off Passage Isle, Lake Superior when the cargo of grain shifted. The crew, while they suffered terribly, were able to reach the safety of Keweenaw Point in the lifeboats after 12 hours on the open lake in wild seas.

1915: A. McVITTIE took out the gate at Lock 12 of the Third Welland Canal leading to a washout.

1919: J.S. CROUSE was enroute from Glen Haven to Traverse City when fire was discovered around the stack. The blaze spread quickly. The ship burned to the water line and sank in Sleeping Bear Bay, Lake Michigan.

1920: The wooden hulled steamer MAPLEGULF broke her back in a Lake Ontario storm. It was considered beyond economical repair and beached at Kingston.

1931: A storm forced the wooden passenger and freight steamer WINONA back to Spragge, Ontario, and the next day the ship was found to be on fire over the boiler. The vessel was towed from the dock to protect a pile of lumber and it became a total loss.

1952: The newly-built tanker B.A. PEERLESS lost power and went aground below the Detroit River Light. It was refloated on November 17.

1975: The ocean tanker GATUN LOCKS made one trip through the Seaway in 1959. The vessel was lying at Piraeus Roads, Greece, as c) SUNARUSSA when it was gutted by a fire. The hull was sold for scrap in 1977 and broken up at Laurion, Greece, beginning on April 26, 1977.

1981: ALFRED was gutted by a fire off Benghazi, Libya, after the blaze broke out in the engineroom. The hull was scuttled 100 miles out in the Mediterranean on November 24. The ship had been on the Great Lakes earlier in the year and first traveled inland as a) ALFRED REHDER in 1972.

1994: The Turkish freighter FIRAT was blown ashore at Port Everglades, FL by Hurricane Gordon when the anchors failed to hold. The ship was a beach attraction until lightered and released on November 26. FIRAT first came through the Seaway in 1990 and was scrapped at Alang, India, in 1997, after sailing 27 years under the same name.

2007: CALUMET was damaged when it struck a wall at Cleveland while moving to the salt dock. It was sold for scrap and departed for Port Colborne two days later.


11/15 - Detroit, Mich. – Divers and crews are planning to raise a 6,000-pound anchor from the Detroit River bottom where it has rested for six decades.

A barge fitted with a crane will haul up the Greater Detroit’s anchor Tuesday afternoon. Once cleaned and restored, it will be displayed at the Detroit/Wayne County Port Authority downtown. The Great Lakes Maritime Institute is seeking donations to help offset some costs.

The 536-foot Greater Detroit ferried passengers around the Great Lakes. The sidewheel steamer took her maiden voyage in 1924. It could carry more than 2,000 people.

Commercial airline travel and modern freeways ended the usefulness of luxury steamships and the Greater Detroit was scrapped and its anchor cut. The steamer was towed to Lake St. Clair where it was burned in 1956.

Detroit News

[yachtsmanwilly]

11/16 - Detroit, Mich. - After 60 years underwater, an anchor from a bygone era of the Great Lakes emerged from the Detroit River on Tuesday covered in muck and mire.

It took divers and crews working with a crane less than 20 minutes to pull the 6,000-pound steel anchor, which was once affixed to the luxury steamer Greater Detroit, from the clay riverbed just west of Joe Louis Arena downtown.

For historians from the Great Lakes Maritime Institute it was an important day. The anchor is a valuable piece of Detroit’s history.

The anchor was attached to a ship once referred to as the “Leviathan of the Lakes,” which transported thousands over the water through what’s now known as the Rust Belt region. The ship was popular with honeymooning couples looking to vacation in Buffalo, New York, in the 20th century, according to John Polacsek, Great Lakes Maritime Institute trustee.

Polacsek worked for the Detroit Historical Museum when the anchor was located in 2005. He’s been part of every conversation to salvage the anchor since, he said. “It’s one of the few artifacts of that era,” he said. “It’s part of the local heritage.”

The 536-foot-long Greater Detroit was one of the two largest side-wheel steamer ships in the world. The ship, launched in 1923, could haul more than 2,100 passengers around the Great Lakes. It had more than 600 private rooms and was covered in plasterwork, woodwork and murals, according to maritime historians. When it was built, it cost $3.5 million.

But by the early 1950s, airplane travel and highways pushed the Greater Detroit and an entire network of similar liners that traveled the Great Lakes region out of business. In 1956, after floating unused in port in downtown Detroit, the Greater Detroit’s anchor was cut and the ship was towed to Lake St. Clair and set on fire so the metal hull could be scrapped. “This is a forgotten story,” Polacsek said. “You can’t travel like that nowadays.”

After a scrub, the 6,000-pound anchor that was once affixed to the Greater Detroit will be displayed in an exhibit at the Detroit and Wayne County Port Authority office up the river at 130 Atwater.

For divers and crews, Tuesday’s “rescue” was a bit of fun.

“You find a lot of neat stuff down there,” said Tom Parnin, one of three volunteer divers who worked to pull the anchor from the 48-degree water. “It’s a very cool thing to do.”

The Great Lakes Maritime Institute executed a similar project in 1992, when an anchor from the SS Edmund Fitzgerald was found on the bottom of the river. That anchor can now be found at the Dossin Great Lakes Museum on Belle Isle.

“Detroit enjoys an illustrious maritime history,” said John Loftus, executive director of the Port Authority, in a news release. “We are proud that we will be able to display a piece of this history.”

The Detroit News

[yachtsmanwilly]

11/18 - The weather synopsis from the National Weather Service issued Wednesday is predicting winds for western Lake Superior on Friday will be from the northeast 30-40 knots. For Friday night through Saturday, going to northwest for all the lake at 40-45 knots, with storm-force winds of over 50 knots possible. In anticipation of high winds and waves Friday, several vessels were hugging the north shore of Lake Superior Thursday evening, among them Arthur M. Anderson, Great Lakes Traver / Joyce L. VanEnkevort and Edwin H. Gott, all eastbound. The westbound Mesabi Miner was tucked in off Pequaming, Mich., at the bottom of the Keweenaw Peninsula.

11/18 - Ottawa, Ont. – The Canadian Coast Guard is looking at ways to deal with a looming shortage of icebreakers as its aging fleet faces a mounting threat of frequent mechanical breakdowns.

The federal government on Thursday asked industry to begin drawing up options for providing icebreaking services, including the potential cost and availability, should they be required.

The request comes days after one of the coast guard's existing ships was taken out of service for what officials described as an "engineering challenge," which they predicted will become more common in the coming years.

"Aging ships come with a greater risk of breakdowns and increased requirements for unplanned maintenance," said Chris Henderson, the coast guard's director general of national strategies. "This means we may face potential gaps in icebreaking services over the next five years."

The coast guard says it may need as many as five extra icebreakers at various times over the next few years as the current fleet goes through repairs and upgrades and a new polar icebreaker is built.

That polar icebreaker, Canadian Coast Guard Ship John G. Diefenbaker, was supposed to be finished next year, at which point the government would retire the 47-year-old CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent. But a scheduling conflict at the Vancouver shipyard responsible for building the $1.3-billion Diefenbaker means it won't be ready until the early 2020s and so the St-Laurent is being kept in the water.

The federal government has not started moving to replace any of the coast guard's other icebreakers, even though nearly all of them are over 30 years old and some are nearly 40. "We're dealing with an aging fleet that's going to need a lot of tender loving care," Henderson said.

Officials blamed increased demand caused by changing ice conditions and activity in the Arctic for their search for alternative icebreaking services for up to 20 years, and not bad planning.

"I think this is, from the coast guard's perspective, prudent planning so that we don't end up in a situation where we don't have sufficient icebreaking capability," Henderson said. "We're doing exactly what we feel is necessary to find out from industry how they can help fill gaps that were previously unforeseen."

Officials said they are also looking to lease two tugboats to respond to accidents and other emergencies, as part of the Liberal government's recent commitment to stronger ocean protection.

Lisa Campbell, who oversees military and marine projects at Public Procurement, said the government would lease the tugboats for about five years. At the end of that period, it would look at how much they were used and decide whether to keep leasing the vessels or buy new ones.

Niagara This Week


On 18 November 1869, EQUATOR (wooden propeller package freighter, 184 foot, 621 tons, built in 1857, at Buffalo, New York) was trying to pull the schooner SOUTHWEST off a reef near North Manitou Island on Lake Michigan. A storm swept in and EQUATOR foundered in the relatively shallow water. She was thought to be unsalvageable but was re-floated in 1870. Her hull was extensively rebuilt and became the barge ELDORADO in 1871, while her engine was used in the tug BISMARCK.

The CARL D. BRADLEY was lost in a violent storm on Lake Michigan on November 18, 1958.

The CANADIAN OLYMPIC's sea trials were conducted on 18 November 1976. Her maiden voyage was on 28 November 1976, to load coal at Conneaut, Ohio for Nanticoke, Ontario. Her name honors the Olympic Games that were held at Montreal that year.

The bow and stern sections of the vessel that was to become the STEWART J. CORT were built by Ingalls Shipbuilding Division, Litton Systems, Inc., Pascagoula, MS, as hull 1173. That 182 foot vessel, known as "STUBBY" was launched on 18 Nov 1969. "STUBBY" sailed under its own power from the Gulf of Mexico through the St. Lawrence Seaway and Welland Canal to Erie, Pennsylvania where the sections were cut apart by Erie Marine, Inc. and the 818 foot mid section was added -- making the Lakes first thousand footer.

The ASHCROFT was launched November 18, 1924, as a) GLENIFFER.

On 18 November 1873, the tug CRUSADER was launched at 1:20 p.m. at the Leighton & Dunford yard in Port Huron, Michigan. Her dimensions were 138 foot overall, 125 foot keel, 23 foot beam, and 12 foot depth. She was built for Mr. G. E. Brockway of Port Huron.

On 18 November 1842, CHICAGO (wooden passenger & package freight sidewheeler, 105 foot, 166 tons, built in 1837, at St. Joseph, Michigan) was struck by a gale between Ashtabula and Conneaut in Lake Erie. She lost both of her stacks and became unmanageable when her fires went out. She was driven ashore about 3 miles east of Silver Creek, New York and was wrecked. About 60 persons were on board and amazingly no lives were lost.

On 18 November 1882, DROMEDARY (wooden propeller, 120 foot, 255 gross tons, built in 1868, at Port Dalhousie, Ontario) burned to a total loss at the dock at Hamilton, Ontario when her banked fires overheated. She was owned by Burroughs & Co. No lives were lost.

A terrible storm swept the Lakes in mid-November 1886. On 18-19 November of that year, The Port Huron Times listed the vessels that were known to have foundered in that storm. Here is the list as it appeared on 18 November 1886. "The barge CHARLES HINCKLEY is ashore near Alpena. The schooner P S MARCH is ashore at St. Ignace. She will probably go to pieces. The schooner THOMAS P. SHELDON is ashore about 10 miles north of Alpena. The crew was rescued by the tug HAND. The schooner NELLIE REDINGTON is reported going to pieces at Two Rivers. Three of her crew reached harbor all right, but the other 7 men on board are in danger of their lives. The coal barges F. M. DICKINSON and EMERALD were driven ashore at Kewaunee, Wisconsin Wednesday morning [17 Nov]. Three of the DICKINSON's crew were drowned, the other four floated ashore on a plank. The EMERALD's crew started ashore in the yawl, but 5 were drowned.

On 18 November 1881, the schooner JAMES PLATT left Bay City with a cargo of lumber for Chicago. However, she was wrecked on Lake Michigan during a terrible snowstorm during the first week of December and never made it to Chicago. The storm lasted two full days and six of the crew survived but the rest were lost.

The ANN ARBOR NO 4 ran aground on Green Isle, the island in Green Bay to the north of her course between Sturgeon Bay and Menominee on 18 Nov 1913. ANN ARBOR NO 3 pulled her off undamaged after about 2 hours work.

1911: TURRET CAPE stranded near Cove Island, Lake Huron and was not released until 1912. It last sailed as c) WALTER INKSTER and was scrapped at Port Dalhousie in 1959.

1926: The passenger and freight carrier MONTREAL was built at Toronto in 1902. It caught fire and burned near St. Joseph de Sorel in the St. Lawrence River while operating late season in a freight only capacity. The superstructure was destroyed and the vessel was beached. Five deckhands, believed trapped in the bow area, died.

1958: CARL D. BRADLEY sank in Lake Michigan with the loss of 33 lives.

1970: SILLERY, a Canadian freighter that operated on the St. Lawrence, was heavily damaged aft due to an engineroom fire while enroute from Sept-Iles to Montreal. The ship was a total loss. The bow was later removed and transplanted to sistership CACOUNA which received collision damage on July 6, 1971. The latter was later lost on Lake Michigan as c) JENNIFER on December 1, 1974.

2006: JOHN G. MUNSON hit the Shell Fuel Dock at Corunna and knocked about 200 feet of the structure into the St. Clair River.


11/17 - A National Transportation Safety Board report finds that the probable cause of a fire that broke out December 11, 2015 on a 1942-built Great Lakes steamship while in dry dock was an electrical fault and was not associated with the ongoing shipyard work or with any of the daily work being attended to by the ship’s crew living aboard.

According to the NTSB report, the fire aboard the ship, the Alpena, broke out about 1740 local time in the electrical control room for the aft winches while the ship was drydocked at Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding, Sturgeon Bay, Wis.

Shipyard workers evacuated the vessel and notified the local fire department, which extinguished the fire. No one was injured, but the Alpena sustained nearly $4 million in damage.

By 1903 local time, the fire was under control, and by 0117, all spaces were fully cleared. In total, more than 80 firefighters responded to the accident. The Sturgeon Bay fire chief restricted access to the aft section of the vessel to preserve the scene for subsequent investigation into the cause of the fire.

Access to the fire-affected spaces was not authorized until December 15, 2015, because atmospheric readings for lead and asbestos were considered too high for entry. Until asbestos remediation could be undertaken, entry into the galley and accommodation spaces required a respirator.

The NTSB report says that, based on both the Coast Guard and fire department investigations, the most likely cause of the fire was an electrical fault in the wiring from the electrical control panel to the aft winch.

The electrical system for the aft winch was original to the vessel and complied with regulations for original equipment; however, it did not have the more extensive circuit protection that modern shipboard electrical systems have.

The power cable to the aft winch was completely melted for a length of 10–15 feet. Similar conductors in the same wiring bundle were not damaged, which led investigators to believe that this specific conductor experienced a fault of some kind rather than being destroyed by the heat of the ensuing fire.

As further evidence to support this conclusion, the same cable’s sheathing and insulation had signs of significant deterioration on the boat deck, several decks above where the fire started, where the aft winch is located. This area of the vessel was not affected by the fire.

NTSB reached its conclusion based on investigations by the US Coast Guard (USCG) and the Sturgeon Bay fire department.

Repairs and modifications to the Alpena have included additional circuit protection. The ship resumed sailing this year. It is operated by Inland Lakes Management Inc. Its routes include all five of the Great Lakes and its cargo is usually cement.

MarineLog, gCaptain


The steamer Hiram W. Sibley tugged the old schooner loaded with coal through nervous waters. The plan was to escort the 186-foot Antelope to Ashland, Wisconsin, where her cargo would offload. The Sibley would go on to Duluth.

Winds were noticeable, but far from punishing on Oct. 7, 1897 as the pair traveled about 75 miles east of Duluth. The Antelope, built in 1861 and considered an ancient mariner by that point, couldn't withstand the stress.

Seams in its wooden bottom cracked. Pumps couldn't keep up with the deluge. Sibley crewmen severed the towline. The Antelope's crew abandoned ship. Men from both boats watched the watery undertaker receive the dying vessel.

Unknown and unseen was the boat's grave for 119 years. That was until a group of shipwreck hunters discovered the Antelope 300 feet down near the Apostle Islands this fall.

The ship had aged well. Its hull was noticeably intact. Two of its three masts were still standing. Its wheel and rudder were broken off, laying alongside the wooden husk. According to Fridley's Ken Merryman, who'd been looking for the Antelope for years, it's easily one of the best-preserved wrecks on Lake Superior.

"We know from experience, ships carrying grain or coal, more buoyant materials than, say, ore or steel rails, won't split open when they hit the bottom," he says. "Since the Antelope was carrying coal, we guessed it might be in pretty good shape, which is why we decided to search for it."

History, novelty, and possibility are the sirens for Merryman and Nick Lintgen of New Hope. This year has been an exceptionally productive one for the underwater explorers. They were able to locate two previously undiscovered wrecks. The Antelope was actually the second.

"Some of these boats have great stories of loss and tragedy and heroism, and to be able to touch that is pretty neat," says Merryman. "Some of them are mysteries. Some are just great examples of what kind of boats there were throughout history."

There's about 350 wrecks on Superior. Maybe 30 of which remain undiscovered. Before launching a new hunt, these men research the sinking, identify a search area, and "mow the lawn."

"That's what we call it because wreck hunting is mostly about as exciting as mowing the lawn," Merryman says. "It's often days and days and days of boredom."

The hunters took that M.O. this summer. Using old charts and historical accounts, the searchers were close enough to the wreck of the J.S. Seaverns that sonar confirmed they'd found its 132-year-old resting place.

About 60 passengers and crew were on board the 130-foot Seaverns in May 1884 when it struck rock outside a remote port 100 miles north of Sault Ste. Marie. Everyone on board survived. So did some of what it carried.

A wood planing machine that was likely being transported to a lumber yard is still there. Dishes, some still stacked in cupboards, stayed too. Anchors sit on the deck. The wheel leans on the hull. Some of the passenger cabins are largely intact. One houses bunks and a sink stand. They also discovered a heating stove.

"A lot of times wrecks, depending if they sank in a storm, water depth, the time that's elapsed, all you'll find are pieces left scattered on the bottom," says Lintgen. "To find one intact is great. To find stuff still on it that was part of its cargo, and its from the 1800s, is especially unique."

Merryman is just starting to eye potential wreck sites for 2017.

The 193-steamer R.G. Coburn might be one. More than 30 passengers and crew drowned in 1871 when a gale ransacked the vessel, which was carrying wheat, flour, and ore.

Another could be the James Caruthers. The Great Lakes Storm of 1913 claimed the 529-freighter and its 22-person crew. How the boat, which was new, sank remains a mystery. Being able to explain that is tempting, Merryman admits.

"That would be a good, but most likely improbable, one to find," he says. "That's the thing. You don't know. But to be able to touch a piece of history like that that nobody has, it's a part of why we keep doing this."

City Pages

11/17 - Leelanau County, Mich. – Big plans are in store for a historic Leelanau County landmark. Within five years, North Manitou Shoal Lighthouse is expected to open for tours after a proposed $2 million refurbishing.

The lighthouse – nicknamed The Crib – still guides vessels through the Manitou Passage. But since lighthouse keepers left for good in 1980, it has fallen into disrepair.

At the end of the projected five-year endeavor, visitors to the 81-year-old lighthouse will see great views of the surrounding area. "Being out there it feels right. It may sound cheesy but it feels like this is what we're meant to do," says Anna Oginsky, with North Manitou Light Keepers, a non-profit corporation that is dedicated to the lighthouse’s restoration, maintenance and operation.

The group paid $73,000 for the lighthouse and expects to close on the lighthouse in the next few months. With the purchase from the government, the group is making plans to rehabilitate the lighthouse and make it available to the public for tours and maybe overnight stays.

It's a project that makes the Leelanau Historical Society and Museum very happy.

"Seeing it preserved and knowing that the steps are being taken to make it accessible to the public is really exciting news, and there's kinda this very positive buzz amongst the community about it," said Kim Kelderhouse, curator of collections with the museum.

The group is using that momentum to open the lighthouse to the public on July 4th, 2021.

The nickname comes from the way it's anchored to the lake floor, 26 feet below the water's surface. It's a crib of steel filled with large stones and cement. The Crib is a 15-minute boat ride from Leland in Leelanau County.

Up North Live



On 17 November 1884, PHOENIX (wooden propeller wrecking tug, 173 gross tons, built in 1862, at Cleveland, Ohio) caught fire in one of her coal bunkers at 7 a.m. while she was tied up to the C. S. R. Railroad slip at Amherstburg, Ontario. Several vessels, including the Dunbar tug SHAUGHRAUN and the steam barge MARSH, tried to save her. The SHAUGHRAUN finally got a line on her and pulled her away from the dock and towed her near Norwell’s wharf where she burned and sank.

On 17 Nov 1969, the RIDGETOWN (steel propeller bulk freighter, 557 foot, 7,637 gross tons, built in 1905, at Chicago, Illinois as WILLIAM E. COREY) was laid up at Toronto for the last time with a load of grain. In the spring of 1970, Upper Lakes Shipping, Ltd. sold her to Canadian Dredge & Dock Co., Ltd. of Toronto. She was sunk at Nanticoke, Ontario, for use as a temporary breakwater during the construction of harbor facilities in the summer of 1970. Still later, she was raised and sunk again in the summer of 1974, as a breakwater to protect marina facilities at Port Credit, Ontario.

On November 17, 1984, the EUGENE P. THOMAS was towed by the TUG MALCOLM to Thunder Bay, Ontario, for scrapping by Shearmet.

In the morning of 17 November 1926, the PETER A.B. WIDENER (steel straight-deck bulk freighter, 580 foot, 7,053 gross tons, built in 1906, at Chicago, Illinois) was running up bound on Lake Superior in ballast when it encountered strong Northeasterly winds. About six miles Southwest of the Rock of Ages Light on Isle Royale, the captain gave orders to change course for Duluth, Minnesota. There was no response because the wheel chains had parted from the drum, thus disabling the rudder. Repairs cost $4,000.

On 15 Nov 1972, the MICHIPICOTEN (steel straight-deck bulk freighter, 549 foot, 6,490 gross tons, built in 1905, at W. Bay City, Michigan, as HENRY C. FRICK) departed Quebec in tow of Polish tug KORAL for scrapping in Spain. The tow encountered bad weather and the MICHIPICOTEN broke in two during a major fall storm on the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Her forward section sank on 17 November off Anticosti Island, and the after section sank the next day.

The propeller JOHN STUART burned about two miles from Sebawaing, Michigan, at 9:00 p.m., 17 November 1872. She had been aground there for some time.

On 17 November 1887, ARIZONA (wooden propeller package freighter, 189 foot, 962 gross tons, built in 1868, at Cleveland, Ohio) was carrying oils and acid used in mining operations when her dangerous cargo caught fire as she approached the harbor at Marquette, Michigan, in heavy seas. Poisonous fumes drove all of the crew topside, leaving the vessel unmanageable. She ran against the breakwater and the crew jumped off. The burning steamer "chased" the crew down the breakwater toward town with the poisonous fumes blowing ashore. She finally beached herself and burned herself out. She was later recovered and rebuilt.

On 17 November 1873, the wooden 2-mast schooner E.M. CARRINGTON sank in nine feet of water at Au Sable, Michigan. She had a load of 500 barrels of flour and 7,000 bushels of grain. She was recovered and lasted another seven years.

On 17 November 1880, GARIBALDI (2-mast wooden schooner, 124 foot, 209 tons, built in 1863, at Port Rowan, Ontario) was carrying coal in a storm on Lake Ontario. She anchored to ride out the storm, but after riding out the gale for 15 hours, her anchor cable parted and her crew was forced to try to bring her into Weller's Bay. She stranded on the bar. One of the crew froze solid in a standing position and his ghost is supposed to still haunt that area. The vessel was recovered and rebuilt. She lasted until at least 1898.

1902: The wooden steamer ROBERT WALLACE sank 13 miles out of Two Harbors while towing the barge ASHLAND.

1922: CITY OF DRESDEN was anchored off Long Point due to high winds and some of the cargo was thrown overboard. The ship beached on the west side of Long Point and broke up as a total loss. One sailor perished.

1922: MALTON went aground on Main Duck Island in Lake Ontario and was stuck until November 30.

1936: The steering cable of the SIDNEY E. SMITH gave way entering the harbor at Fairport, Ohio, and the ship stranded on the break wall. While released on November 22, the heavily damaged vessel was broken up for scrap the following year.

1939: VARDEFJELL, which inaugurated regular Great Lakes service for the Fjell Line in 1932, was torpedoed and sunk as b) KAUNAS 6.5 miles WNW of Noord Harbor, N. Hinder Light, River Schelde.

1996: SEADANIEL went aground at Duluth due to high winds after the anchors dragged. The ship was released, undamaged, by tugs. It last visited the Great Lakes in November 1998 and arrived at Alang, India, for scrapping on May 5, 1999.

[yachtsmanwilly]

In 1934, the package freighter EDWARD L. LOOMIS, Captain Alex McKenzie, collided with the W. C. FRANZ, Captain Alex McIntyre, about 30 miles southeast of Thunder Bay Island, Lake Huron. Four crewmen on the FRANZ drowned when the lifeboat turned over while being lowered.

On 21 November 1861, ENTERPRISE (2-mast wooden scow-schooner, 64 foot, 56 tons, built in 1854, at Port Huron, Michigan) was driven ashore near Bark Shanty at the tip of Michigan's thumb on Lake Huron. The storm waves pounded her to pieces. Her outfit was salvaged a few days later.

On the evening of 21 November 1890, the scow MOLLIE (wooden scow-schooner, 83 foot, 83 gross tons, built in 1867, at Fairport, Ohio) left Ludington, Michigan, with a load of lumber. About 8:00 p.m., when she was just 25 miles off Ludington, she started to leak in heavy seas, quickly becoming waterlogged. Capt. Anderson and his two-man crew had just abandoned the vessel in the yawl when the steamer F & P M NO 4 showed up, shortly after midnight. The rough weather washed Capt. Anderson out of the yawl, but he made it back in. At last a line from the F & P M NO 4 was caught and made fast to the yawl and the crew made it to the steamer. The men had a narrow escape, for the MOLLIE was going to pieces rapidly, and there was little likelihood of the yawl surviving in the gale.

PATERSON (Hull#113) was launched November 21, 1953, at Port Arthur, Ontario, by Port Arthur Ship Building Co. Ltd.

In 1924, MERTON E. FARR slammed into the Interstate Bridge that linked Superior, Wisconsin, with Duluth, Minnesota, causing extensive damage to the bridge. The bridge span fell into the water but the FARR received only minor damage to her bow.

On 21 November 1869, the ALLIANCE (wooden passenger sidewheeler, 87 foot, 197 gross tons, built in 1857, at Buffalo, New York) slipped her moorings at Lower Black Rock in the Niagara River and went over the falls. She had been laid up since the spring of 1869.

November 21, 1906 - The PERE MARQUETTE 17 encountered one of the worst storms in many years while westbound for the Wisconsin Central slip in Manitowoc. Wisconsin. She made port safely, but the wind was so high that she could not hold her course up the river without assistance. The tug ARCTIC assisted, and as they were proceeding through the 10th Street Bridge, a gust of wind from the south drove the ferry and tug against the north pilings of the 10th Street Bridge. The ARCTIC, pinned between the ferry and the bridge, was not damaged, but she crushed the hull of a fishing tug moored there, sinking her, and inflicted damage of a few hundred dollars to the bridge.

November 21, 1923 - Arthur Stoops, the lookout on the ANN ARBOR NO 6, was drowned while stepping from the apron onto the knuckle to cast off the headline.

On the night of 21 November 1870, C.W. ARMSTRONG (wooden propeller steam tug, 57 foot, 33 tons, built in 1856, at Albany, New York) burned at her dock at Bay City, Michigan. No lives were lost.

More incidents from the Big Gale of 1879. On 21 November 1879, The Port Huron Times reported "The schooner MERCURY is ashore at Pentwater. The schooner LUCKY is high and dry at Manistee; the schooner WAUBASHENE is on the beach east of Port Colborne. The schooner SUMATRA is on the beach at Cleveland; the large river tug J P Clark capsized and sunk at Belle Isle in the Detroit River on Wednesday [19 Nov.] and sank in 15 minutes. One drowned. The schooner PINTO of Oakville, Ontario, stone laden, went down in 30 feet of water about one mile down from Oakville. At Sand beach the barge PRAIRIE STATE is rapidly going to pieces.

1883: The boiler exploded aboard the salvage tug ERIE BELLE while working to free the schooner J.N. CARTER in the Kincardine area of Lake Huron. The former was wrecked but the boiler is still on what has become known as “Old Boiler Beach”.

1902: BANNOCKBURN disappeared on Lake Superior without a trace. Its final resting place has never been found. 1906: The wooden steamer RESOLUTE anchored off the Eastern Gap at Toronto to ride out a storm but the wind switched battering the vessel until it sank. The hull was salvaged in October 1907 and rebuilt as the JOHN ROLPH.

1936: HIBOU was lost in Owen Sound Bay within two miles of the dock and seven perished. The hull was refloated in 1942.

1941: HENRY C. DARYAW, requisitioned for war and on its delivery voyage stranded on rocks in the Brockville Narrows, rolled over and slid off into deep water and sank. It was to have been used on the east coast as a tender for ocean ships. One life was lost.

1957: MONTFAUCON was built at Wyandotte, MI in 1920 and later operated on the Great Lakes as b) E.M. BUNCE. It was at Naples, Italy, as g) ANNA MARIA IEVOLI when an internal explosion caused damage that led to the ship being scrapped.

1959: MOSES GAY was built at Duluth in 1943. It was severely damaged as e) HEANGURA in a storm at Ostra Kvarken, Sweden, and went aground. While salvaged, the ship was tied up at Turku, Finland, and sold for scrap in January 1960.

1961: The British freighter RAPALLO was anchored at Istanbul, Turkey, when struck and damaged by two different freighters, both out of control due to high winds. The vessel was repaired and began Seaway trading in 1963 for the Ellerman Wilson Line.

1961: The former Paterson canaller GANANDOC left the Great Lakes as b) SUGARLAND in October 1961. It had a brief career in the south and went aground at Arcas Reef, Bay of Campeche, while inbound for Coatzacoalcos, Mexico with 2,877 tons of phosphoric rock from Tampa. The ship was abandoned on November 26 as a total loss.

1962: BRO, a Norwegian pre-Seaway visitor as early as 1953, was abandoned by the crew after taking a severe list en route from Seville, Spain, to Rotterdam, Netherlands. The ship was taken in tow, reached Lisbon, Portugal, and was repaired.

1982: CAPTAIN PANAGOS D.P. went aground at Farasan Island in the Red Sea en route from Trois Rivieres, QC to Bandar Abbas, Iran. Fire broke out in the engine room and the ship was gutted. The hull was refloated and was noted lying off Qatar “derelict” in December 1986 and finally scrapped at Gadani Beach, Pakistan, as c) JENNY in 1988. The vessel first came through the Seaway as PANAGOS D. PATERAS in 1977 and returned as CAPTAIN PANAGOS D.P. in 1980.

1994: The Russian freighter FASTOV, upbound for Green Bay with pulpwood on its first trip to the Great Lakes, lost power and struck the Shell dock at Corunna, ON, resulting in considerable damage to the structure. The vessel returned inland as d) EVANGELOS in 1999 and was scrapped at Aliaga, Turkey, as f) JONA in 2011.

2007: The engine aboard the Lake Erie passenger ship JIIMAAN became disabled after the vessel snagged a fish net off Kingsville and the vessel grounded briefly.



In 1948, the ROBERT HOBSON was blown against the Duluth-Superior breakwall as she tried to enter the harbor during a 68-mph gale. Damage to the vessel was kept to a minimum when Captain John Mc Nellis ordered the seacocks opened to settle the HOBSON on a sandbar. Renamed b.) OUTARDE in 1975, she was scrapped at Port Colborne, Ontario in 1985.

On 20 November 1854, BURLINGTON (2-mast wooden brig, 80 foot, 117 tons, built in 1842, at Cleveland, Ohio) was driven hard aground near Port Bruce, Ontario, on Lake Huron while trying to assist the stranded Canadian bark GLOBE.

SAGINAW was christened at the Government Dock in Sarnia, Ontario, in 1999. Bonnie Bravener and Wendy Siddall broke the traditional bottle of champagne adding the second vessel to Lower Lakes Towing's fleet. The company then opened the vessel for tours to all those in the large crowd that had gathered to witness the event. She was built in 1953 as a.) JOHN J. BOLAND.

Hall Corporation of Canada's EAGLESCLIFFE HALL was launched in 1956, at Grangemouth, Scotland. Sold off the lakes, renamed b.) EAGLESCLIFFE in 1974, she sank two miles east of Galveston, Texas, on February 9, 1983.

The ferry WOLFE ISLANDER was christened on November 20, 1946, at Marysville, Wolfe Island. The new ferry was the unfinished OTTAWA MAYBROOK which was built to serve the war effort in the south Pacific Ocean. She replaced two landing barges which were pressed quickly into service following the condemned steamer WOLFE ISLANDER, a.) TOM FAWCETT of 1904, which had served the community for 42 years. Officially christened WOLFE ISLANDER by Mrs. Sarah Russell, it took five tries before the champagne bottle finally broke on her port side.

Pittsburgh Steamship's steamer RALPH H. WATSON (Hull#285) was launched in 1937, at River Rouge, Michigan, by Great Lakes Engineering Works.

On 20 November 1872, the side wheel steamer W. J .SPICER was finally laid up and the crew dismissed. She had served for many years as the Grand Trunk ferry at Fort Gratiot on the St. Clair River.

On 20 November 1880, BAY CITY (wooden barge, 199 foot, 480 tons, built in 1852, at Trenton, Michigan as the sidewheeler FOREST CITY) was carrying coal when she was cast adrift east of Erie, Pennsylvania by the steamer JAMES P. DONALDSON in a storm. She was driven ashore and wrecked. Her crew was saved by the U.S. Lifesaving Service using breeches' buoy. November 20, 1898. ANN ARBOR #3 left Cleveland, Ohio for Frankfort, Michigan, on her maiden voyage.

November 20, 1924 - Pere Marquette fleet engineer Finlay MacLaren died after 42 years with the railroad. He was succeeded by his brother Robert until Leland H. Kent was named fleet engineer in 1925.

On 20 Nov. 1871, the schooner E. B. ALLEN was sailing from Chicago to Buffalo with a load of corn when she crossed the bow of the bark NEWSBOY about six miles off the Thunder Bay Light on Lake Huron. The NEWSBOY slammed her bow deep into the schooner's hull amidships and the ALLEN sank in about 30 minutes. The crew escaped in the yawl. The NEWSBOY was badly damaged but did not sink.

On 20 Nov. 1999, the Bermuda-flag container ship CANMAR TRIUMPH went aground on the St. Lawrence River off Varennes about 15 kilometers downstream from Montreal. She was the third vessel to run aground in the St. Lawrence River that autumn. The Canadian Coast Guard reported that she was having engine problems and the CBC News reported that the vessel's rudder was damaged in the grounding.

On Saturday morning, 20 Nov. 1999, Marinette Marine Corporation of Marinette, Wisconsin, launched the 175-foot Coast Guard Cutter HENRY BLAKE. The BLAKE was one of the "Keeper" Class Coastal Class Buoy Tenders. Each ship in the "Keeper" class is named after a famous American lighthouse keeper. 1917: JOHAN MJELDE, built at Cleveland in 1916, was sailing as b) STORO when captured by the German submarine U-151 near the Azores and, after 22 tons of copper were removed, the ship was scuttled on November 26.

1920: J.H. SHEADLE ran aground on the rocks at Marquette when the steering failed while backing from the dock. The ship was badly damaged. It last sailed in 1979 as e) PIERSON INDEPENDENT.

1943: The former LAKE FINNEY, later a Pre-Seaway trader in the 1930s as SANTA EULALIA, was torpedoed and sunk by British forces as the enemy ship c) POLCEVERA off Carlovassi, Italy. 1966: The Liberty ship MOUNT EVANS made two trips through the Seaway in 1961. It stranded off Mapingil, Philippines as h) EASTERN ARGO on this date in 1966. The hull was refloated with damage and then towed to Taiwan for scrapping in 1967.

1990: GINA, a Lebanese freighter, began leaking at Varna, Bulgaria. The ship was later taken to Piraeus, Greece, and laid up. The superstructure was removed and installed on a fire damaged vessel while the hull was towed to Aliaga, Turkey, in October 1991 and dismantled. GINA had been a Great Lakes trader as a) MARCOSSA-I in 1972



On this day in 1939, in a 24-hour-period, there were 132 transits of the Soo Locks. There were 71 upbound passages and 61 downbound passages.

On this day in 1952, Mrs. Ernest T. Weir smashed a bottle of champagne against the hull of the largest freighter built on the Great Lakes and the 690-foot ERNEST T. WEIR slid down the ways at the Lorain yard of American Ship Building Company. The new vessel had a crew of 38 under the command of Captain W. Ross Maitland and Chief Engineer C. F. Hoffman.

On 19 November 1897, NAHANT (wooden propeller freighter, 213 foot, 1,204 gross tons, built in 1873, at Detroit, Michigan) caught fire while docked near Escanaba, Michigan. Firefighters were hampered by sub-zero temperatures, and she burned to a total loss. The fire jumped to the dock and did $300,000 worth of damage. Two of the crew were burned to death. The wreckage of the vessel was still visible from the Escanaba lighthouse 100 years later.

American Steamship's SAM LAUD (Hull#712) was launched on this date in 1974 at Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin.

The keel for JOHN T. HUTCHINSON (Hull#1010) was laid November 19, 1942, at Cleveland, Ohio for the U.S. Maritime Commission.

The Kinsman Transit Co.'s steamer MERLE M. McCURDY was laid up for the last time at Buffalo, New York, on November 19, 1985. She was scrapped at Port Colborne, Ontario, in 1988.

On 19 November 1842, the wooden schooner BRANDYWINE was carrying flour in a storm on Lake Erie when she capsized and then drifted to the beach near Barcelona, New York. One passenger's body was found in the cabin, but the entire crew of 6 was lost.

More incidents from the terrible storm swept the Lakes in mid-November 1886. On 18-19 November of that year, The Port Huron Times listed the vessels that were known to have foundered in that storm. Here is the list of vessels that foundered as it appeared on 19 November 1886. "The barge EMERALD near Kewaunee, 5 lost. The barge F M DICKINSON near Kewaunee, 3 lost. Two unknown schooners (one supposed to be the HELEN) near Port Sherman. One unknown schooner near Hog Island Reef. The barge NORTH STAR near East Tawas, the fate of the crew is unknown." The list then continues with vessels ashore. "The barge WALLACE and consort on Choclay Beach, east of Marquette. The schooner SOUTH HAVEN near Pt. Sherman. The schooner MARY near Blenheim, Ontario. The schooner PATHFINDER near Two Rivers, the cargo and vessel are a total loss. The schooner CUYAHOGA and two scows in North Bay. The schooner P S MARSH and an unknown schooner at St. Ignace. The schooner HARVEY BISSELL near Alpena. The propeller CITY OF NEW YORK near Cheboygan. The schooner KOLFAGE near Goderich, Ontario has broken up. The propeller NASHUA on Grass Island, Green Bay. The barge BISSELL near Kewaunee. The schooner GOLDEN below China Beach. The propeller BELLE CROSS and barges across from China Beach. The schooner FLORIDA on Marquette Beach is a total loss. And the barges BUCKOUT, MC DOUGALL, BAKER, GOLDEN HARVEST near East Tawas.

The schooner HATTIE JOHNSTON sailed from Milwaukee loaded with 26,000 bushels of wheat on the night of 19 November 1879, and then a severe gale swept Lake Michigan. After two weeks, she was presumed lost with all hands. Aboard were Capt. D. D. Prouty, his wife and 8 crewmen.

On 19 Nov 1886, the steamer MANISTIQUE was towing the schooner-barges MARINETTE and MENEKAUNEE, all loaded with lumber, in a NW gale on Lake Michigan. The gale lasted three days. The barges broke loose after a long fight against the elements and both were wrecked near Frankfort, Michigan. Six of the seven aboard the MARINETTE were lost including the woman cook and her 13-year old daughter. MENEKAUNEE broke up before the Lifesaving Service could get to her and all seven aboard died. When the Lifesaving Service arrived on the beach, they found a jumbled mass of lumber and gear and the ship's dog keeping watch over the dead bodies. The dog also died soon after the Lifesaving crew arrived.

EMPIRE MALDON (steel tanker, 343 foot, 3,734 gross tons) was launched on 19 November 1945, by Sir James Laing & Sons, Ltd., at Sunderland, United Kingdom for the British Ministry of War Transport She was sold to Imperial Oil Co. of Canada in 1946, and renamed IMPERIAL HALIFAX and served on the Maritime Provinces-East Coast trade. In 1969, she was purchased by Johnstone Shipping, Ltd., of Toronto and served on the Great Lakes. She lasted until 1977, when she was scrapped by United Metals, Ltd. in Hamilton, Ontario.

On Friday morning, 19 Nov 1999, shortly after leaving the ADM dock in Windsor, the salty AVDEEVKA lost power in the Fighting Island Channel of the Detroit River. The main engine on the vessel quit while she was abreast of Grassy Island and she began drifting downstream. The stern anchor was dropped and then the port side bow anchor. She began swinging towards the middle of the channel with her stern outside the channel when the main engine was restarted and she headed back upstream for the Belle Isle anchorage. Once in the anchorage a team from the U.S. Coast Guard boarded the vessel to investigate. She was released the next day. It is reported that the vessel lost power due to main fuel valve being left closed after routine maintenance during her stay at the ADM dock.

1904: PHILIP MINCH caught fire 8 miles off Marblehead, Ohio, and sank in the navigation channel. All on board got off safely and rowed to Sandusky in the lifeboat. The remains were dynamited in 1906.

1914: C.F. CURTIS foundered in Lake Superior, 7 miles east of Grand Marais, with the loss of 14 lives. The towing barges ANNIE PETERSON and SHELDON E. MARVIN also went down after the trio ran into high winds and snow.

1956: The year old West German freighter WOLFGANG RUSS was beached in the St. Lawrence near Ile d'Orleans after a collision with the Cunard Line vessel ASIA. The former was inbound for Sorel and had to lightered and taken to Lauzon for repairs to the large hole in the side of the hull. The vessel began Great Lakes visits with the opening of the Seaway in 1959 and made 28 inland trips to the end of 1967. It arrived off Gadani Beach, Pakistan, for scrapping as b) KOTRONAS BEACH on Feb. 4, 1980.

1977: The Canada Steamship Lines self-unloader FRONTENAC grounded off Grassy Island in the St. Lawrence and about 5,000 tons of ore had to be lightered to the SAGUENAY to float free.

1979: The Liberian freighter DANILA was damaged when it struck the west pier while inbound at Port Weller in fog. The vessel first visited the Seaway as a) MAERSK CAPTAIN in 1976 and was back as b) DANILA in 1979. The ship was scrapped at Alang, India, as d) JAY BHAVANI in 1991-1992.


Closing dates for the St. Lawrence Seaway have been announced, and are as follows.

Montreal-Lake Ontario Section The corporations have decided to waive the operational surcharges on December 21, 22, 23 and 24. Any transit of the Montreal Lake Ontario section of the Seaway after 23:59 hours, December 24, if permitted, will be subject to prior written agreement. Irrespective of operating conditions, all vessels must be clear of the Montreal-Lake Ontario section at 12:00 hours on December 31.

Welland Canal The Welland Canal will remain open until 23:59 hours on December 26. Any transits of the Welland Canal after 23:59 hours, December 26, if permitted, will be subject to prior written agreement. Irrespective of operating conditions, all vessels must be clear of the Welland Canal at 12:00 hours December 31.

Sault Ste. Marie Locks and Canal (United States) Closing of the Sault Ste. Marie locks (U.S.A.) is scheduled for January 15, 2017.

Ports East of Montreal Vessel owners and operators are advised that there are a number of ports east of the Seaway (St. Lambert Lock) on the St. Lawrence River that remain open to navigation.

Mariners are reminded that there is always a possibility that severe climatic conditions may occur during the closing period. Should that happen, there is a chance the dates outlined above may change.

The gales of November have arrived on the Great Lakes. Waves on Lake Superior are forecast to reach 22-33 feet on Lake Superior between 1 and 4 a.m. Saturday. Northerly winds gusting in excess of 50 mph were reported Friday in Duluth, with sustained winds in excess of 30 mph.

“The combination of gusty winds and snow will create near white-out conditions at times Saturday afternoon and evening, especially in lake-effect areas off Lake Michigan and Lake Superior,” the National Weather Service said in a statement on its website.

On Friday evening, vessels were hugging the north shore of Lake Superior (American Century, Edgar B. Speer and Joyce L. VanEnkevort/Great Lakes Trader), or at anchor. Mesabi Miner remained tucked in off Pequaming, Mich., at the bottom end of the Keweenaw Peninsula. Pineglen dropped the hook in Goulais Bay on the Canadian side of the upper St. Marys River. James R. Barker, the tugs Anglian Lady and Rebecca Lynn with their barges, and Algoma Enterprise were at anchor near St. Ignace Friday night.

In Marquette, the NWS forecast called for north to northwest winds gusting as high as 55 to 65 mph into Saturday afternoon, with some potential for wind gusts over 70 mph between Marquette and Shot Point Saturday morning. Wind gusts as high as 45 mph will continue into Saturday evening..

The NWS in Grand Rapids also issued gale warnings from 1 p.m. Friday till 5 a.m. Sunday from South Haven to Grand Haven, Mich. By Friday afternoon, winds will increase to 35 knots and waves on Lake Michigan could be over 10 feet Friday into Saturday.

The thumb area of Michigan is also in for severe weather. Port Hope, off the coast of Lake Huron, will see ongoing rain and snowfall. Waves will be up to 12 feet on Saturday night and could possibly hit 16 feet on Sunday. A gale warning is in effect from 1 a.m. Saturday to 4 a.m. Monday.


11/20 - There weren’t many vessels moving Saturday on the Great Lakes, as a huge winter storm sent much of the fleet to anchor and caused other mariners to remain safely in port.

According the National Weather Service, waves were expected to reach 19-20 feet Saturday on Lake Superior between Houghton and Marquette. Waves could reach 13 feet on the east shore of Lake Michigan,

The night the Edmund Fitzgerald sank, the waves were 25 to 35 feet high.

"Our biggest concern is the dangerous conditions of Lake Superior," USCG Sector Sault Ste. Marie chief of response, Carolyn Moberley, said Saturday. "The conditions on the Great Lakes can change very quickly and can become very dangerous."

Many of the freighters were anchored in safe spots like Thunder Bay, the St. Marys River or between St. Ignace and Mackinac Island.

At Thunder Bay, CSL Niagara, Federal Baltic, Finnborg and Thunder Bay were at anchor, while Exeborg, Flevogracht, Federal Bering and Puffin were docked, either loading or waiting for weather. By late evening Saturday, Baie Comeau had departed, heading down the lake. It appeared on AIS like Arthur M. Anderson was leaving sheltered waters as well. Joseph L. Block, American Integrity, Philip R. Clarke and Edwin H. Gott were following the north shore between Two Harbors and Grand Marais, Minn. Mesabi Miner spent Friday and Saturday deep in the lee of the Keweenaw Peninsula.

Only one vessel, the upbound saltie Federal Leda, was braving conditions mid-Lake Superior Saturday.

On the St. Marys River, several vessels were at anchor in Potagannissing Bay above DeTour Saturday, where winds were reported gusting to 50 mph, waiting for weather. They included Hon. James L. Oberstar, American Spirit, American Century, Mississagi and Burns Harbor. Lee A. Tregurtha was stopped in the upper river. Walter J. McCarthy Jr. and John B. Aird were anchored in Goulais Bay, on the Canadian side above the locks. Sedna Desgagnes, which left Thunder Bay downbound Friday, was anchored Saturday off Paradise in the lee of Whitefish Point.

At St. Ignace, Calumet, Edwin H. Gott, Cuyahoga, Algoma Enterprise and James R. Barker were on the hook Saturday evening, as were the tugs Michigan, Anglian Lady and Rebecca Lynn, with their barges.

In Detroit, Ken Boothe Sr./Lakes Contender dropped the hook Saturday afternoon, likely due to wind and water levels.

Lake Erie was also feeling the effects of the storm. A small flotilla of vessels sought shelter in the lee of Point Pelee, including Rt. Hon. Paul J. Martin, Algosteel, Frontenac, Lubie, Algoma Olympic, Ojibway and the tugs Salvor and Avenger IV, both likely with barges. Westerly winds gusting to over 40 mph had push the water from the western basin of Lake Erie. Water levels at Gibraltar were plus 3 inches, a change of minus 32 inches in 24 hours.

[yachtsmanwilly]

Its 0500hrs at da Soo eh, and them boys are still sleeping... ws

[yachtsmanwilly]

11/23 - In the last 200 years of commercial shipping on the Great Lakes, some 12,000 sailors have lost their lives in upwards of 6000 shipwrecks.

Three of the most recent shipwrecks are the Carl D. Bradley, which sank during a storm in Lake Michigan Nov. 18, 1958; the Cedarville, which sank after a collision in the Straits of Mackinac May 7, 1965; and the Edmund Fitzgerald, which fell victim to a storm on Lake Superior on Nov. 10, 1975.

When the calendar page turns to November each year, the Edmund Fitzgerald, the most recent major shipwreck, and the subject of the famous song, “Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald," tends to get most of the media attention – unless you live in or near Rogers City, Mich. (near Alpena), where the loss of the Carl D. Bradley has never been forgotten.

“The Carl D. Bradley was a 639-foot-long freighter – the largest ship sailing on the Great Lakes at the time it went down,” said Valerie van Heest, board director with the Michigan Shipwreck Research Association, museum designer, and author of the book Lost & Found – Legendary Lake Michigan Shipwrecks.

“It was built in 1927, specifically to haul limestone from Rogers City, Michigan to Chicago, Illinois for use in making steel.”

The Bradley had survived many fierce storms, during its 30 years of service, but it wasn’t able to survive the storm it encountered in northern Lake Michigan on Nov. 18, 1958.

“The Carl D. Bradley was overdue for repairs,” said van Heest. “It suffered some damage in the spring of 1958, but the ships’ owner, U.S. Steel, decided to keep the Bradley in service delivering limestone until winter rather than lay it up for repairs.”

Then in early November, the Bradley grounded in shallow water, further damaging the hull. But U.S. Steel decided to make one last limestone delivery before sending it in for repairs.

Read more and view photos at this link: www.wzzm13.com/news/local/michigan-life/remembering-the-ss-carl-d-bradley-58-years-later/353737166



In 1940, the CONSUMERS POWER, a.) HARRY YATES of 1910, collided with the MARITANA on the Detroit River. The MARITANA sustained $11,089.91 in damage. MARITANA was scrapped at Hamilton, Ontario, in 1947.

On 23 November 1863, BAY OF QUINTE (wooden schooner, 250 tons, built in 1853, at Bath, Ontario) was carrying 7,500 bushels of wheat to Toronto when she was driven ashore on Salmon Point on Lake Ontario and wrecked. No lives were lost.

On 23 November 1882, the schooner MORNING LIGHT (wooden schooner, 256 tons, built in 1857, at Cleveland, Ohio) was sailing from Manistee for Chicago with a load of lumber when a storm drove her aground off Claybanks, south of Stony Lake, Michigan. One crewman swam to shore, the rest were saved by a lifesaving crew, local fishermen and the tug B. W. ALDRICH. Earlier that same year, she sank near St. Helen Island in the Straits of Mackinac. She was salvaged and put back in service, but she only lasted a few months.

After discharging her cargo, the SAMUEL MATHER, launched as a.) PILOT KNOB b.) FRANK ARMSTRONG (1943-73), proceeded to DeTour, Michigan, laying up for the last time at the Pickands Mather Coal Dock on November 23, 1981. She was scrapped at Aliaga, Turkey in 1988.

In 1987, the self-unloader ROGERS CITY was towed out of Menominee, Michigan, for scrapping in Brazil.

STADACONA's sea trials were completed on November 23, 1952, and was delivered to Canada Steamship Lines the next day.

On 23 November 1872, Capt. W. B. Morley launched the propeller JARVIS LORD at Marine City, Michigan. Her dimensions were 193 feet X 33 feet X 18 feet, 1,000 tons. She was the first double decker built at Marine City. Her engine was from Wm. Cowie of Detroit.

On 23 November 1867, S. A. CLARK (wooden propeller tug, 12 tons, built in 1863, at Buffalo, New York) was in Buffalo's harbor when her boiler exploded and she sank.

November 23, 1930 - The Ann Arbor carferry WABASH grounded in Betsie Lake. She bent her rudder stock and her steering engine was broken up.

On 23 November 1853, the wooden schooner PALESTINE was bound from Kingston to Cleveland with railroad iron at about the same time as the like-laden schooner ONTONAGON. Eight miles west of Rochester, New York, both vessels ran ashore, were pounded heavily by the waves and sank. Both vessels reported erratic variations in their compasses. The cargoes were removed and ONTONAGON was pulled free on 7 December, but PALESTINE was abandoned. A similar event happened with two other iron-laden vessels a few years previously at the same place.

On 23 November 1853, the Ward Line's wooden side-wheeler HURON struck an unseen obstruction in the Saginaw River and sank. She was raised on 12 December 1853, towed to Detroit and repaired at a cost of $12,000. She was then transferred to Lake Michigan to handle the cross-lake traffic given the Ward Line by the Michigan Central Railroad. The carferry GRAND HAVEN was sold to the West India Fruit & Steamship Co., Norfolk, Virginia in 1946, and was brought down the Mississippi River to New Orleans, Louisiana for reconditioning before reaching Port Everglades and the Port of Palm Beach, Florida. She was brought back to the Lakes and locked up bound through the Welland Canal on 23 Nov 1964. She was intended for roll on/roll off carrier service to haul truck trailers laden with steel coils from Stelco's plant at Hamilton, Ont.

CSL NIAGARA a.) J. W. McGIFFIN, passed Port Huron, Michigan on 23 Nov 1999, on her way to Thunder Bay to load grain. This was her first trip to the upper lakes since the vessel was re-launched as a SeawayMax carrier in June 1999.

1901: QUITO stranded off Lorain, Ohio, and broke up in a Lake Erie storm. All on board were saved.

1902: SILVANUS J. MACY was last observed battling heavy seas in Lake Erie off Port Burwell. The coal laden, wooden steamer was lost with all hands.

1936: A fire at Portsmouth, Ontario, just west of Kingston, destroyed several idle wooden steamers including the SIMON LANGELL and PALM BAY. Their remains were towed into Lake Ontario and scuttled in 1937.

1961: AMVRAKIKOS ran aground on Pancake Shoal, Lake Superior, on its first and only visit to the Great Lakes. This World War Two vintage Liberty ship was refloated on November 26, loaded scrap steel at Toledo for Japan and was the last saltwater ship of the 1961 season to depart the St. Lawrence Seaway.

1997: AN TAI, an SD 14 cargo carrier registered in Belize, began to list and then the hull cracked at the dock in Port Klang, Malaysia. The ship sank at the wharf the next day. The vessel had visited the Great Lakes, first as a) LONDON GRENADIER in 1972 and again as b) FIRST JAY in 1979. Subsequent salvage efforts failed and the hull was cut into sections, taken out to sea, and dumped in a fish breeding grounds.


In 1947, the Canadian tanker BRUCE HUDSON broke down shortly after departing Port Stanley, Ont. The U.S. tanker ROCKET, Captain R. B. Robbins, managed to get a line on the HUDSON and tow her 50 miles through high seas and a snow storm to shelter behind Point Pelee. Later, the tug ATOMIC arrived on scene and towed the Hudson to Toledo for repairs.

On 22 November 1860, WABASH VALLEY (wooden propeller, 592 tons, built in 1856, at Buffalo, New York) was caught in a blizzard and gale off Muskegon, Michigan, on Lake Michigan. Her skipper thought they were off Grand Haven and as he steamed to the harbor, visibility dropped to near zero. The vessel ran onto the beach. Her momentum and the large storm waves carried her well up onto the beach where she broke in two. Her machinery was salvaged and went into the new steamer SUNBEAM.

Scrapping of SPRUCEGLEN, a.) WILLIAM K. FIELD was completed on November 22, 1986, by Lakehead Scrap Metal Co. at Thunder Bay Ontario. SPRUCEGLEN was the last Canadian coal-fired bulker.

On 22 November 1869, CREAM CITY (3-mast wooden bark, 629 tons, built in 1862, at Sheboygan, Wisconsin) was carrying wheat in a gale when she lost her way and went ashore on Drummond Island. She appeared to be only slightly damaged, but several large pumps were unable to lower the water in her hull. She was finally abandoned as a total wreck on 8 December. She was built as a "steam bark" with an engine capable of pushing her at 5 or 6 mph. After two months of constant minor disasters, this was considered an unsuccessful experiment and the engine was removed.

CITY OF MILWAUKEE was chartered to the Ann Arbor Railroad Co. and started the Frankfort, Michigan-Kewaunee, Wisconsin service for them on November 22, 1978.

November 22, 1929 - CITY OF SAGINAW 31 went out on her sea trials.

On 22 November 1860, CIRCASSIAN (wooden schooner, 135 foot, 366 tons, built in 1856, at Irving, New York) was carrying grain in a gale and blizzard on Lake Michigan when she stranded on White Shoals near Beaver Island. She sank to her decks and then broke in two. Her crew was presumed lost, but actually made it to Hog Island in the blizzard and they were not rescued from there for two weeks.

A final note from the Big Gale of 1879. On 22 November 1879, The Port Huron Times reported, "The barge DALTON is still high and dry on the beach at Point Edward."

1878: The wooden passenger and freight steamer WAUBUNO was lost with all hands, 14 crew and 10 passengers, on Georgian Bay.

1898: ARTHUR ORR went aground on Isle Royale when the steering gear failed in a severe storm. It was later released and survived until scrapping at Hamilton in 1947-1948.

1898: S.S. CURRY was leaking badly after it struck a reef off Duck Island, Lake Huron.

1906: J.H. JONES, en route from Owen Sound to Lions Head, was lost with all hands. The wooden passenger and freight steamer went down in 60 mph winds.

1907: Fire broke out aboard the wooden freighter LIZZIE MADDEN shortly after clearing Bay City for Little Current. The crew was rescued by the LANGELL BOYS. The burning hull drifted ashore on Little Charity Island in Saginaw Bay and was a total loss.

1911: JOLIET sank in the St. Clair River following a collision with the HENRY PHIPPS. It had been anchored due to fog when hit and all on board were saved. The remains were dynamited as a hazard to navigation.

1919: The wooden steamer MYRON sank off Crisp Point, Lake Superior and 17 crew were lost.

1950: The former Canada Steamship Lines canaller MAPLETON was destroyed at the Port of Suez, Egypt as b) EASTERN MED when a fire broke out while loading oil drums. The remains of the ship were scrapped.

1975: PIERSON DAUGHTERS hit bottom off North Colban Island in the St. Lawrence and had to go to Port Weller Dry Docks for repairs after unloading the cargo of iron ore at Conneaut.

1988: The Dutch flag freighter POOLSTER first came through the Seaway in 1969. It suffered an engineroom fire off Kuwait as e) ATLANTIC REEFER while bound for Dubai on this date. The badly damaged ship was towed to Sharjah and then sold for scrap. It was renamed f) VOYAGER I for the trip to Gadani Beach, Pakistan, and the vessel arrived April 4, 1989, for dismantling.

1998: SPAR OPAL went aground inside the breakwall at Port Colborne due to high winds and was released by the tugs UNDAUNTED and WELLAND. The ship had also been a Seaway trader beginning in 1984 as a) LAKE SHIDAKA, in 1991 as b) CONSENSUS ATLANTIC, and in 1992 as c) FEDERAL MATANE (i). It began Great Lakes service as e) SPAR OPAL in 1997.

2000: PRINSES IRENE of the Oranje Lijn made 16 trips into the Great Lakes, with passengers and freight, from 1959 through 1963. The vessel was observed beached at Jakarta, Indonesia, as c) TANJUNG OSINA on this date and appeared to be badly rusted and burned out. The hull was later reported to have been broken up.


11/22 - Isle Royale, Mich. – More than a few kayakers who've skirted the shoreline of Isle Royale have had this experience: You're paddling through a light mist around one of Michigan's most remote places only to see the nearby Cemetery Island rise out of the water, just off the mainland.

Contained inside this small island are at least nine marked or partially-marked graves that hark back to the 1850s - an era when the nation's copper rush stretched past the northern reaches of the Upper Peninsula.

Many of the graves likely are associated with the area's copper mines. At least one was dug for an infant. And there is island lore that perhaps ties others to the 1885 loss of the steamer Algoma, the deadliest shipwreck in Lake Superior's maritime history.


11/22 - Thunder Bay, Ont. - A group of Thunder Bay residents is hoping the Alexander Henry – a decommissioned icebreaker built in Thunder Bay decades ago – will soon be back home.

The ship has been on display at the Marine Museum of the Great Lakes in Kingston for years. However, the museum no longer has the space needed to house the ship, leaving its future up in the air, with scrapping the ship or sinking it and making an artificial reef both possibilities.

However, the Lakehead Transportation Museum Society (LTMS) is hoping to step in, return the ship to Thunder Bay, and display it here, if they can find the money.

"We're budgeting for around the $250,000 mark as far as the actual tow and bringing it back," said Charlie Brown, president of the LTMS, adding that the ship itself will cost $1 to acquire.

Brown said the group is currently working to secure the necessary funding. Part of that process is appearing before Thunder Bay City Council and asking for financial support. Brown wouldn't say how much the LTMS will be asking for during its council appearance, which they aim to make before the end of the year.

He did say they'll be seeking funds from more than one source, so the council request will not be for the full $250,000.

"What we'd need to do is have the city's commitment," Brown said. "The other thing that we're going to be looking for ... is hopefully a docking facility down on the waterfront."

Brown said the LTMS hopes that the Alexander Henry, should it return to Thunder Bay, will kickstart the Lakehead Transportation Museum itself.

Brown said the Alexander Henry was a revenue source for the Kingston museum, where people paid to visit the ship. The museum also ran a bed and breakfast on the ship for a number of years, Brown said, which is another possibility for Thunder Bay.

The Alexander Henry was built in 1958 at the Port Arthur Shipyards, and commissioned in 1959. The coast guard operated the icebreaker for decades, until it was decommissioned in 1984. There was an attempt to acquire the ship for Thunder Bay then, but it was unsuccessful, Brown said.

"It's one of those iconic things," he said. "It's a great boat, it's in great shape, and we have an opportunity that I think we should seize upon."

CBC

11/22 - The first snowstorm of the year, combined with gale-force winds, is still playing havoc on vessels trying to transit the Seaway from Summerstown, Ont., to the Great Lakes to the Welland Canal. Several vessels were anchored Monday either due to wind or snow causing limited-to-no visibility, or were delayed because of the weather and are now waiting their turn to unload.

Seaway: Federal Katsura, Federal Oshima

Cape Vincent area: CSL Laurentien, Erria Swan, Federal Alster, tug Victorious, CSL Welland

Lake Erie: Rt. Hon Paul J. Martin, Algosteel, tug Dylan Cooper, tug Olive L Moore, H. Lee White and Cason J Callaway

Welland Canal: Ojibway, tug Everlast

Lake Ontario: Brant, Sunda, Adfines Sea, Ocean Castle, Vitosha, Algolake

[yachtsmanwilly]

11/24 - Port Huron, Mich. - The new pilot boat Huron Spirit arrived at its home dock at Lakes Pilots Association in Port Huron Wednesday afternoon. The boat left Erie PA Tuesday at noon and pounded through the remnants of the weekend storm and arrived at the Portofino Restaurant in Wyandotte that night.

Wednesday the crew was under way and quickly made it to the J.W. Westcott Co. where they opened the boat up for tours before continuing on to their home dock in Port Huron.

The delivery crew departed Somerset, MA on November 13, the boat represents the latest in pilot boat design and technology.


11/24 - Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding's Sturgeon Bay, Wis., shipyard has delivered the Kirby 155-01, a 155,000-barrel capacity barge, and the Heath Wood, a 6,000HP tug for Kirby Corporation.

The tug and barge left BayShip on Wednesday headed south for Indiana Harbor. They may be going to pick up a cargo to take off-lakes.

The vessels are to be operated as an Articulated Tug-Barge unit ,and will haul petroleum and chemical products domestically. This is the first unit delivered under a 2014 contract for two identical ATB units. The second ATB unit is scheduled for delivery in the summer of 2017.

Houston based Kirby Corporation is America's largest tank barge operator, transporting bulk liquid products throughout the Mississippi River System, the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, along all three Unites States coasts, and in Alaska and Hawaii. Kirby currently operates several ATB units built by Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding in the mid-2000s.

MarineLog


11/24 - Holland, Mich. - The James DeYoung power plant stopped burning coal this past spring, a move that could have consequences for businesses that rely on dredging for Holland harbor. “Holland will likely fall further down the overall priority list of (dredging) funding needs,” Lynn Rose, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, said in an email.

Although classified as a “low-use commercial harbor” for its relatively light use as an engine of commerce, the harbor and its dredging are relied upon by several local businesses. Any reduction in the harbor's dredging schedule would prove irksome for those businesses that do rely on a deeper harbor.

“A two-year dredge cycle would be an issue for our ships,” said Phil Brewer, president of Brewer’s City Dock.

The James DeYoung power plant of Holland burned coal for 76 years. But with the construction of the new natural gas facility — dubbed Holland Energy Park — the DeYoung plant burned coal for the last time on April 14. The Holland City Council approved plans to build the new natural gas plant in 2012, which was effectively a decision to close down the DeYoung plant.

In July, the BPW sold the remaining 28,440 tons of coal at the DeYoung Plant to the C. Reiss Coal Co. at a price of $35 per ton. The BPW is planning to remediate the coal yard and ash ponds next year. The new natural gas plant is then expected to be fully operational in 2017.

As natural gas is considered a more environmentally friendly fuel source, the new plant has been touted as a local move toward greener energy. But the old plant’s closure cut the need for coal to be shipped into Holland harbor — a change that negatively affects Holland in terms of the Corps’ budgeting criteria.

The Army Corps of Engineers dredges approximately 35,000 cubic yards each year around the channel connecting Lake Michigan and Lake Macatawa. Another 45,000 to 65,000 cubic yards of lake bottom comes out of the inner harbor on a two- to four-year cycle. The corps’ criteria for ordering dredging priorities is based on two broad categories: “condition” and “consequence.”

Condition is measured based on how badly a harbor needs dredging — that is, how much the movement of the lake bottom obstructs a channel or harbor. In addition to other factors, consequence is tied to the cost of dredging and the total amount of commercial goods navigating in and out of the harbor.

Harbors handling more than 10 million tons a year are considered “high use,” while 1-10 million is “moderate use.” Harbors with less than 1 million annual tons of movement are “low use.” In 2014, the last year for which the corps has data, Holland received 210,000 tons of commodities — primarily limestone and no coal.

“For the past number of years, Holland Harbor has handled well below 1 million tons of commodities,” Rose said.

But even Holland harbor’s “low use” designation was offset to some degree by the presence of the DeYoung plant. The corps gives consideration to harbors with energy plants that have no other way of receiving coal. “This was a factor that strengthened the argument for funding dredging at Holland in the past,” Rose said. “The closing of the coal-fired power plant at Holland eliminates that factor.”

Most ships coming into the Holland harbor to the two commercial docks are coming from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. They carry aggregate material that is sold to local companies and cities to help build roads. About 10 to 20 ships arrive at Brewer’s City Dock in Holland each year, carrying from 12,000 to 15,000 tons each. Brewer’s has been running operations there for almost 80 years. The dock markets and sells the material to both contractors and state and local governments.

The $8.19 million Ninth Street reconstruction in Holland, completed this year by the city, was done with material that came through Brewer’s City Dock, Brewer said.

“Towards the end of the dredge cycles, we do become impacted by the sediment that comes down the river,” Brewer said. “The boats have to carry less material because the water is too shallow for them.” The result: less material on the ships means higher prices for customers — and in the case of city and state road projects, more taxpayer dollars, Brewer said.

The sediment flows down the Macatawa River and immediately impacts Brewer’s City Dock, which is the first dock where the river meets the lake. If the sediment isn’t dredged out, Brewer fears the lake around his dock would continue to fill in and become a marsh like the area around Windmill Island. But the bigger issue is at the channel, Brewer said.

At the end of the piers into Lake Michigan, sand gets pulled around and deposited in the waterway between the big lake and Lake Macatawa, Brewer said. It’s there that Brewer said his ships have an issue passing through. Less frequent dredging in the channel, Brewer said, could prove to be an issue for his ships.

And over time, should the channel not be dredged consistently for commercial traffic, Brewer said he feels the depth of the channel would become an issue for larger leisure boats as well.

VerPlank Dock has been at 233 W. Eighth St. since 1972, when the company purchased the dock from the Harrington Coal Co., said Ron Matthews, president. VerPlank also imports construction aggregates from quarries in Michigan and Canada — most of which is limestone that’s supplied for asphalt and ready-mix concrete. It sells the material to major West Michigan paving companies, Matthews said. About 20 ships come into the VerPlank dock every year, Matthews said.

“That boat brings in about 300 trucks of material in one delivery,” Matthews said. “It’s the cheapest way to get it in here.”

Mitch Padnos, executive vice president of the third major commercial player on Holland harbor, also lauded the benefits of shipping via the lake, pointing out that barges keep semi-trucks off the road. "Every time a barge (of 5,000 tons) heads out of Holland harbor," Padnos said, "it eliminates 250 truck loads that would otherwise be headed out of town."

Padnos, the company, is an 111-year-old papers, plastics and metals recycler. Unlike VerPlank and Brewer's, Padnos’ primary use of the harbor is for shipping material out of Lake Macatawa rather than bringing it in. Because of the tug-boat systems used by the company, Executive Vice President Mitch Padnos said Padnos’ boats draw less water as they pass out of the channel, compared to VerPlank’s and Brewer’s ships.

Noting that every year is different, Padnos said the company’s ships haven’t had any issues in the past few years due to Lake Michigan’s high water level. Dredging, Padnos said, “is a constantly moving target” based on how much tonnage is being shipped out of the harbor, what the water levels are and what the Corps’ budget looks like.

He was bullish on the future of local dredging, however, pointing to President-elect Donald Trump’s promises to undertake a large-scale effort to rebuild the country’s infrastructure.

“If I had to bet, I would not believe those (infrastructure) budgets will be reduced going forward,” Padnos said. “(I would bet) that there is a better chance they will be increased.”

Grand Haven Tribune



11/24 - U.S. Steel will pay a fine of $2.2 million and clean up pollution in Gary, Michigan and Illinois as part of an agreement with the U.S. Justice Department.

The Justice Department and the states of Indiana, Illinois and Michigan sued the Pittsburgh-based steelmaker in 2012 over alleged Clean Air Act violations. U.S. Steel reached an agreement Tuesday to settle the lawsuit that was filed in federal district court in the Northern District of Indiana.

As part of the consent decree, U.S. Steel agreed to remove contaminated transformers at Gary Works and repair a large opening in a metal shell around a blast furnace to cut down on emissions at the steel mill on Lake Michigan. Such construction projects typically result in jobs for local union tradespeople.

U. S. Steel further agreed to remove tires it dumped in Gary, and to remove and dispose PCB-contaminated lights at Gary schools, and replace them with more modern energy-efficient lighting that isn’t toxic.

“Defendant U. S. Steel, a major global iron and steel manufacturer, has agreed to curtail significant pollution from its three Midwest plants,” U.S. Justice Department Assistant Attorney General John Cruden said. “This outstanding settlement, whose results will especially benefit the three environmental justice communities most closely affected by defendant’s pollution, is another example of how the Department of Justice, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and our state counterparts often work hand-in-hand to enforce our federal and state clean air act laws to protect the health and welfare of our citizens.”

U.S. Steel also agreed to do environmental cleanups at its steel mills in Granite City, lllinois, and in Ecorse, Michigan.

NWI Times



On this day in 1966, Hjalmer Edwards became ill while working as a second cook on the steamer DANIEL J. MORRELL. He was transferred to the hospital at Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan when the MORRELL transited the locks for the last time on Thanksgiving Day. Five days later, the DANIEL J. MORRELL sank during a severe storm on Lake Huron with just Dennis Hale as its lone survivor.

On 24 November 1945, SCOTT E. LAND (steel propeller C4-S-A4 cargo ship, 496 foot, 10,654 gross tons) was launched at Kaiser Corporation (Hull #520) in Vancouver, Washington for the U.S. Maritime Commission. She was converted to a straight-deck bulk freighter at Baltimore, Maryland in 1951, and renamed TROY H. BROWNING. In 1955, she was renamed THOMAS F. PATTON. After serving on the Great Lakes, she was scrapped in Karachi, Pakistan, in 1981.

On November 24, 1950, while bound for South Chicago with iron ore, the ENDERS M. VOORHEES collided with the up bound steamer ELTON HOYT II (now the ST. MARYS CHALLENGER) in the Straits of Mackinac during a blinding snowstorm. Both vessels received such serious bow damage that they had to be beached near McGulpin Point west of Mackinaw City to avoid sinking.

ROSEMOUNT, stored with coal, sank alongside CSL's Century Coal Dock at Montreal, Quebec, on November 24, 1934.

Paterson's PRINDOC (Hull#657) was launched November 24, 1965, at Lauzon, Quebec, by Davie Shipbuilding Co. Ltd.

November 24, 1892 - The ANN ARBOR NO 1 ran aground on her first trip just north of the Kewaunee harbor.

On 24 Nov 1881, LAKE ERIE (wooden propeller canaller, 136 foot, 464 gross tons, built in 1873, at St, Catharine's, Ontario) collided with the steamer NORTHERN QUEEN in fog and a blizzard near Poverty Island by the mouth of Green Bay. LAKE ERIE sank in one hour 40 minutes. NORTHERN QUEEN took aboard the crew but one man was scalded and died before reaching Manistique.

The CITY OF SAGINAW 31 entered service in 1931.

On 24 November 1905, ARGO (steel propeller passenger/package freight, 174 foot, 1,089 tons, built in 1896, at Detroit, Michigan) dropped into a trough of a wave, hit bottom and sank in relatively shallow water while approaching the harbor at Holland, Michigan. 38 passengers and crew were taken off by breeches' buoy in a thrilling rescue by the U.S. Lifesaving Service.

NEPTUNE (wooden propeller, 185 foot, 774 gross tons, built in 1856, at Buffalo, New York) was laid up at East Saginaw, Michigan, on 24 November 1874, when she was discovered to be on fire at about 4:00 a.m. She burned to a total loss.

The ANN ARBOR NO 1 left Frankfort for Kewaunee on November 24, 1892. Because of the reluctance of shippers to trust their products on this new kind of ferry it was difficult to find cargo for this first trip. Finally, a fuel company which sold coal to the railroad routed four cars to Kewaunee via the ferry.

1905: ARGO missed the entrance to the harbor at Holland, MI while inbound from Chicago and went aground. All on board, an estimated 72 passengers and crew, were rescued by breeches buoy in a very challenging task. The ship was salvaged in January 1906.

1938: The idle former passenger ship CITY OF BENTON HARBOR was gutted by a fire at Sturgeon Bay.

1970: C.W. CADWELL hit a submerged rock in the Niagara River near Queenston and was stranded.

1988: KATIA was abandoned off Nova Scotia, enroute from Brazil to Carleton, QC, and all 27 on board were taken off by rescue helicopter. Despite salvage efforts, the listing ship sank November 26. It had been through the Seaway earlier in 1987 after previous inland voyages as c) TIMI in 1978 and d) HAPPY MED in 1981.

[yachtsmanwilly]

In 1890, the WESTERN RESERVE delivered a record cargo of 95,488 bushels of wheat from Duluth to Buffalo.

In 1913, the schooner ROUSE SIMMONS, Captain August Schuenemann, departed Thompson Harbor (Michigan) with a load of fresh cut Christmas trees bound for Chicago. Somewhere between Kewaunee and Two Rivers, Wis., the SIMMONS was lost with all hands.

On 25 November 1857, ANTELOPE (wooden schooner, 220 tons, built in 1854, at Port Robinson, Ontario) was driven ashore by a gale near St. Joseph, Michigan. Five lives were lost. She was recovered the next year and rebuilt.

INCAN SUPERIOR was withdrawn from service after completing 2,386 trips between Thunder Bay and Superior and on November 25, 1992, she passed down bound at Sault Ste. Marie for service on the Canadian West Coast. Renamed PRINCESS SUPERIOR in 1993.

ROBERT C. STANLEY was laid up for the last time November 25, 1981, at the Tower Bay Slip, Superior, Wisconsin. She was scrapped at Aliaga, Turkey in 1989.

CITY OF MILWAUKEE (Hull#261) was launched November 25, 1930, at Manitowoc, Wisconsin, by Manitowoc Shipbuilding Co. She was sponsored by Mrs. Walter J. Wilde, wife of the collector of customs at Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She entered service in January of 1931.

On 25 November 1866, F. W. BACKUS (wooden propeller, 133 foot, 289 tons, built in 1846, at Amherstburg, Ontario) was carrying hay, horses and cattle off Racine, Wisconsin. She was run to the beach when it was discovered that she was on fire. Her crew and passengers disembarked. The tug DAISY LEE towed her out while she was still burning, intending to scuttle her, but the towline burned through and she drifted back to shore and burned to the waterline. Her live cargo was pushed overboard while she was still well out and they swam to shore.

On 25 November 1874, WILLIAM SANDERSON (wooden schooner, 136 foot, 385 gross tons, built in 1853, at Oswego, New York) was carrying wheat in a storm on Lake Michigan when she foundered. The broken wreck washed ashore off Empire, Michigan, near Sleeping Bear. She was owned by Scott & Brown of Detroit.

During a storm on 25 November 1895, MATTIE C. BELL (wooden schooner, 181 foot, 769 gross tons, built in 1882, at E. Saginaw, Michigan) was in tow of the steamer JIM SHERRIFS on Lake Michigan. The schooner stranded at Big Summer Island, was abandoned in place and later broke up. No lives were lost.

On 25 Nov 1947, the CAPTAIN JOHN ROEN was renamed c.) ADAM E. CORNELIUS by the American Steamship Co. in 1958, CORNELIUS was renamed d.) CONSUMERS POWER. Eventually sold to Erie Sand, she was scrapped at Kaohsiung, Taiwan in 1988. Built in 1927, as a.) GEORGE M. HUMPHERY.

On 25 Nov 1905, the JOSEPH G. BUTLER JR (steel straight-deck bulk freighter, 525 foot, 6,588 gross tons) entered service, departing Lorain, Ohio, for Duluth on her maiden voyage. The vessel was damaged in a severe storm on that first crossing of Lake Superior, but she was repaired and had a long career. She was renamed DONALD B GILLIES in 1935, and GROVEDALE in 1963. She was sunk as a dock in Hamilton in 1973, and finally sold for scrap in 1981.

1904: B.W. BLANCHARD stranded near Alpena, MI and was wrecked. The ship had become unmanageable in heavy weather while enroute to Detroit with a cargo of lumber and was a total loss.

1908: NORTH STAR sank in Lake Huron off Port Sanilac after a collision with NORTHERN QUEEN. The accident occurred in dense fog and the ship went down quickly. All were saved.

1927: THOUSAND ISLANDER cleared Sarnia for Midland under tow of C.S.L. fleetmate COLLINGWOOD and they encountered heavy weather on Lake Huron. The ship was overwhelmed southeast of Thunder Bay Island and sank.

1950: The cargo of steel and package freight aboard the C.S.L. steamer WEYBURN shifted on Lake Ontario in a wild fall storm and the ship took on a precarious list and almost capsized. The ship was escorted to Toronto by RENVOYLE where the problem was corrected.

1971: The Greek freighter ESTIA sank on the Caribbean north of French Guiana after a violent engine room explosion. The ship was bound for Brazil with phosphates and all on board were saved. The vessel had been a Great Lakes visitor as MANCHESTER SPINNER beginning in 1963.

2003: The yacht ALISON LAKE, rebuilt at Toronto from the U.S. Coast Guard ship SAUK, hit a submerged object and sank in very deep water south of Key West, FL. All on board were rescued.