Today in Great Lakes History

[yachtsmanwilly]

Great Lakes Shipyard awarded drydocking contract by McKeil for tug Leonard M

3/16 - Cleveland, Ohio – Great Lakes Shipyard was recently awarded a repair contract by McKeil Marine Ltd. to drydock its 50-MT bollard pull tug Leonard M. The tug was hauled out using the shipyard’s 770-MT Travelift on March 1. Repairs include general maintenance as well as classification surveys and inspections. The work is expected to be completed later in the month.

McKeil Marine has been a regular customer of Great Lakes Shipyard. Over the past five years, Great Lakes Shipyard has completed several repair contracts for McKeil, including barge Huron Spirit – dockside repairs (2014); tug Leonard M – drydocking (2014); tug ); tug Leonard M – drydocking (2013); tug John Spence – dockside repairs (2012); and barge Niagara Spirit – dockside repairs (2012).

Great Lakes Shipyard



Great Lakes Maritime Task Force 2016 annual report sees progress on key issues

3/16 - Toledo, Ohio – The year 2016 was one of steady progress towards making shipping on our nation’s Fourth Sea Coast as efficient and reliable as possible, according to the Great Lakes Maritime Task Force (GLMTF) in its 2016 annual report issued Wednesday.

GLMTF, the largest labor/management coalition ever assembled to promote shipping on the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway, cited progress on the dredging crisis, construction of a second Poe-sized lock, and adding another heavy icebreaker to the U.S. Coast Guard’s Great Lakes forces.

Significant progress has been made on reducing the amount of sediment clogging ports and waterways that in turn forces vessels to carry less cargo.

“It was not too long ago that the dredging backlog at Great Lakes ports and waterways topped 18 million cubic yards and was projected to grow to 21 million cubic yards,” the report stated. “It now stands at 15 million cubic yards and will keep shrinking because expenditures from the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund will annually increase rather than build a surplus that was then used to make the federal deficit seem smaller. We can see the day when fluctuating water levels, not lack of dredging, determine vessels’ loaded draft.”

The report notes there was no lengthy failure of either the Poe or MacArthur locks that connect Lake Superior to the lower four Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway, but warns the threat is even greater, as both chambers are now a year older (48 and 74 respectively). “We used to average building a new lock at the Soo every 19 years, but it is now nearly half a century since the Poe was opened.”

Congress authorized construction of a second Poe-sized lock at full Federal expense in 2007. “The stumbling block remains the Corps’ 2005 assessment of the project’s benefit-cost (b/c) ratio, which, because the report assumed the railroads had the capacity to move the cargos stranded by a failure of the lock and could do so at no additional cost, was set at 0.73. An administration cannot include a project in its budget unless the b/c ratio is at least 1.0. The Corps is reassessing the b/c ratio and its report is due by year’s end. We expect a very favorable report, because for one, Treasury’s recently released report estimates the project’s b/c ratio could be as high as 4.0.”

GLMTF cautions that two mild winters in a row must not lessen the region’s resolve to fund the new heavy lakes icebreaker authorized in the Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2015. “Fortunately, our Great Lakes delegation, in particular Wisconsin senators Tammy Baldwin (D) and Ron Johnson (R), takes the long view and is committed to another Mackinaw-class icebreaker.”

One disappointment in 2016 was failure to enact federal ballast water legislation, but GLMTF endorses The Commercial Vessel Incidental Discharge Act (S. 168/H.R. 1154) now moving through Congress. “We must have a uniform, federal ballast water discharge standard, one that meets the highest standard currently achievable and is dictated by the U.S. Coast Guard. The status quo, two federal vessel discharge regulations enforced by two different agencies, plus, at latest count, 25 state regimes, is unworkable.”

The annual report also highlights the conversion of two U.S.-flag steamships to internal combustion engines.

Great Lakes Maritime Task Force


3/16 - Algoma, Wis. – The idea of including Door County as part of a proposed Wisconsin-Lake Michigan National Marine Sanctuary gained support Monday night at a hearing in Algoma.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration last fall announced nomination of a more than 1,000 square miles area of Lake Michigan — off Ozaukee, Sheboygan and Manitowoc Counties — as a marine sanctuary. The agency website said the designation would, “conserve nationally significant shipwrecks and related maritime heritage resources in Wisconsin.”

At least 37 known shipwrecks are located in the waters off the three counties. An additional 80 sites are believed to exist.

An alternative proposal would include the Kewaunee County shore in the sanctuary. Doing so would add one confirmed wreck site and 15 potential sites, NOAA officials said. The sanctuary would protect the wreck sites — prohibiting anchoring to the wrecks while allowing divers to explore them.

More than 100 people filled Algoma's community center at Knutson Hall for Monday night's hearing. About two dozen spoke, including three people associated with the Door County Maritime Museum who urged a further expansion to include Door County in the Sanctuary.

“Expand it to Death's Door,” museum archivist Rhys Kuzdas said. Museum Director Amy Paul and Museum Curator Adam Gronke also spoke in favor of including Door County.

The Algoma session was the first of four. Others were scheduled for Manitowoc, Sheboygan and Port Washington. Written comments can be submitted to NOAA until the end of March, officials said. Instructions can be found at the NOAA web page: sanctuaries.noaa.gov/wisconsin.

Green Bay Press Gazette


3/16 - Windsor, Ont. – A Canadian tour boat is not doing much cruising after becoming stuck in the ice Monday on Little River opposite Peche Island.

Two lines helping moor the Macassa Bay for the winter in Lakeview Park Marina broke in high winds, which pushed the 97-foot ship into the channel, where March’s unseasonably cold temperatures trapped the vessel in ice. Nobody was on board.

“With the ice and the winds, the boat is very, very heavy,” said Mary Jones, the ship owner and president of Windsor River Cruises. “It was impossible to move it. So it’s lodged in the ice. But it’s secure. It’s not going anywhere. It’s not going to do damage to anything.”

The vessel should be accustomed to rough weather, though, since it was originally used as a ferry from Newfoundland to the Hibernia Oil Platform in the North Atlantic.

During the summer, the Macassa Bay docks downtown near Caesars Windsor, from where it leaves for dinner, dancing and sightseeing tours up and down the Detroit River. Right now, however, the Macassa Bay — built in Hamilton in 1986 for up to 197 passengers — will have to sit tight for a few more days.

Jones said when the ice clears, crews will use an on-board winch, attached to land by cable, to pull itself to shore.

“We won’t be able to move it until the weather breaks and the ice melts, which hopefully will be Thursday or Friday,” Jones said. “Then we’ll be able to secure it back in the marina.”

Windsor Star


3/16 - Holland, Mich. – Underwater video of some of the deepest dives on Great Lakes shipwrecks will highlight the 19th annual shipwreck show, "Mysteries & Histories Beneath the Inland Seas" on Saturday, March 25, in Holland.

The Holland-based Michigan Shipwreck Research Association sponsors the annual show as part of its mission to research and discover shipwrecks in the Great Lakes, then document and present their findings to the public, according to a news release from the organization.

John Janzen of Minnesota will offer the keynote presentation "Eight Years of Diving the Carl D. Bradley." The Carl D. Bradley was a self-unloading Great Lakes freighter that sank in a Lake Michigan storm Nov. 18, 1958. Of the 35 crew members, 33 died in the sinking.

Janzen and diving partner John Scoles conducted three dives to the Bradley in August 2007. They removed the original bell and replaced it with memorial bell of similar dimensions, engraved with the names of the lost crew. They were the first scuba divers to reach the stern of the Bradley. Janzen also has worked as a diver and videographer for National Geographic and was featured in the recent Nat Geo Explorer episode, "Ghost Ships of the Great Lakes."

Also on the program is "Fire Wind and Storm," in which Great Lakes shipwreck hunter David Trotter presents his recent discovery and exploration of the shipwrecks of the Venus and the Montezuma, and "Shipwrecks, Reality TV and the Michigan Triangle," presented by MSRA's Valerie van Heest who will explore how reality television shows blur the lines between history and myth for the sake of ratings.

The association also will air an episode of the Science Channel program "Secrets of the Underground," in which Michigan Shipwreck Research Association is featured. The episode was aired on the Science Channel on March 14.

The show will take place at Knickerbocker Theatre, 86 E. Eighth St., Holland. Tickets are $12.50 in advance and $15 at the door, or free with various membership levels at michiganshipwrecks.org.

Holland Sentinel



Today in Great Lakes History March 16 On 16 March 1901, ARGO (steel passenger/package freight propeller, 173 foot, 1,089 gross tons) was launched at the Craig Ship Building Company (Hull #81) at Toledo, Ohio, for the A. Booth Company. She left the Lakes in 1917, and was last recorded in 1938, out of Brest, France.

BUFFALO (Hull#721) was launched March 16, 1978, at Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin by Bay Shipbuilding Corp., for the American Steamship Co.

On 16 March 1883, The Port Huron Times announced that the passenger and package freight steamer PICKUP would be built in Marine City, Michigan and would run on the St. Clair River between Port Huron and Algonac. The machinery from the burned steamer CARRIE H. BLOOD was to be installed in her. In fact, her construction was completed that year and she went into service in September 1883. Her dimensions were 80 foot x 19 foot x 7 foot, 137 gross tons, 107 net tons.

The Niagara Harbor & Dock Company, a shipbuilding firm, was incorporated on 16 March 1831, at Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario.

On 16 March 1886, the tug MOCKING BIRD was sold by Mr. D. N. Runnels to Mr. James Reid of St. Ignace, Michigan. Mr. Runnels received the tug JAMES L. REID as partial payment.

1924: MOHAWK of the Western Transit Co. was known as a fast ship. It was built at Detroit in 1893 and was renamed AMERICA in 1916. It was cut in two to exit the Great Lakes and re-assembled at Montreal for East Coast service. The ship was renamed BERMUDEZ in 1921 and sank in the Erie Basin at Brooklyn on March 16, 1924, with the stern resting on the bottom and the bow afloat. The hull was pumped out but scrapped at New York in January 1925.

[yachtsmanwilly]

Coast Guard Sector Sault Ste. Marie warns of unstable ice

3/17 - Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. – With the forecast rain, wind and above-freezing temperatures this weekend, the Coast Guard is urging people to use extreme caution when venturing onto the ice across Lake Superior, St. Marys River, and the northern parts of lakes Michigan and Huron.

The Coast Guard is also increasing its ice breaking operations in preparation for the upcoming maritime shipping season, which will further diminish existing ice, especially along the St. Marys River.

Ice is unpredictable and the thickness can vary, even in small areas. Water currents, particularly around narrow spots, bridges, inlets and outlets, are always suspect for thin ice. Stay away from cracks, seams, pressure ridges, slushy areas and darker areas since these signify thinner ice.

Obstructions such as rocks, logs, vegetation and pilings affect the strength of ice. Heat from these obstructions slows ice formation. Ice shifting and expanding can create pressure cracks and ridges around the obstructions.

Plus, ice near the shore of a frozen lake may be unsafe and weaker because of shifting, expansion, and sunlight reflecting off the bottom.

USCG


Cracking ice sheets pile up along Lake Superior's north shore

3/17 - Duluth, Minn. – It may sound like cracking glass, but these plates aren't falling from your kitchen pantry. The floating plate-like ice formations are known as ice floes. These particular sheets formed on western Lake Superior and were blown toward the shorelines in Duluth, Minn. on March 4. As the ice met the rocky shore, it broke into plates and began shuffling and stacking on land while creating a sound similar to glass cracking.

Radiant Spirit Gallery, a husband and wife photography team based in the Duluth area, were there to capture the spectacle. "I never tire of these ice stacking events, and each has its own unique characteristics," wrote Dawn M. LaPointe, who owns the company with Gary L. Fiedler.

LaPointe explained that the smooth, dark areas in the video show the ice floe moving toward shore, propelled by easterly winds moving around 15 miles per hour.

See a video at this link: www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2017/03/cracking_ice_sheets_pile_up_al.html


Proposed budget would eliminate Great Lakes cleanup funds

3/17 - Great Lakes restoration funding is altogether eliminated in President Donald Trump's first formal budget proposal as part of $2.6 billion in cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency that will eliminate 3,200 jobs from the federal agency responsible for ensuring the country has safe drinking water.

Drastic cuts to the federal grants that fund pollution cleanup, watershed restoration and other work in eight Great Lakes states were expected, but the actual proposal the White House sent to Congress on Thursday, March 16 goes further by zeroing-out what has been a popular bipartisan program.

The proposed budget "returns the responsibility for funding local environmental efforts and programs to state and local entities," according to the 62-page document, titled "A Budget Blueprint to Make America Great Again."

Read more at this link: www.mlive.com/news/index.ssf/2017/03/trump_budget_eliminates_great.html



On 17 March 1995, a fire started on the AMERICAN MARINER's self-unloading conveyor belt from welding being done on the vessel at the Toledo Ship & Repair Company in Toledo, Ohio. About $100,000 in damage was done. The Toledo fire department had the blaze out in half an hour.

The tanker LAKESHELL reportedly leaked over 21,000 gallons of Bunker C oil into the St. Lawrence River on March 17, 1982, after suffering a crack in her cargo compartment caused by striking an ice floe.

GEORGE R. FINK was launched March 17, 1923, as a.) WORRELL CLARKSON (Hull#174) at Toledo, Ohio, by Toledo Ship Building Co., for the Kinsman Transit Co.

On 17 March 1916, CITY OF MIDLAND (wooden propeller passenger-package freighter, 176 foot, 974 tons, built in 1890, at Owen Sound, Ontario) burned at the Grand Trunk Railway dock at Collingwood, Ontario, while fitting out for the coming season. No lives were lost.

In 1945 Stadium Boat Works of Cleveland Ohio launched the SOUTH SHORE (US. 247657) for Miller Boat Line of Put-In-Bay, Ohio. She carried 6 autos and 120 passengers. In 1973, she was sold to Beaver Island Boat Company until retired at the end of the 1997 season. In April of 1999, sailed to Chicago where she was docked at the foot of Navy Pier as a storage vessel for Shoreline Cruises.

1906: SOVEREIGN, a steel hulled passenger ship that operated on the St. Lawrence in the Montreal area, was destroyed by a fire at Lachine, Quebec. The vessel was rebuilt that year as IMPERIAL and remained in service until 1928 when the boilers and hull were condemned.

1916: CITY OF MIDLAND, a passenger and freight steamer for Canada Steamship Lines, caught fire at the Grant Trunk Railway Dock in Collingwood and was a total loss.

1973: A wild late winter storm swept into Goderich off Lake Huron on March 17-18. Eleven ships got loose, while only the PATERSON (i) remained fast at the dock. It sustained bow damage when struck by fleetmate MONDOC (iii). Varying amounts of damage were inflicted to other ships.

1980: SUNPOLYNA was built in 1956 and provided service for Saguenay Shipping between Eastern Canada and the West Indies. The ship first came through the Seaway in 1963 and, on May 16, 1967, it ran aground near Thorold. It was sailing as d) TEMERAIRE when abandoned by the crew on March 17, 1980, in position 28.16 S / 21.04 W after the hull had cracked. The ship was en route from Santos, Brazil, to Mina Qaboos, Oman, and, after drifting to northwest for several days, sank on March 21.

[yachtsmanwilly]

3/20 - Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. – The U.S. Coast Guard will continue with spring breakout operations on the St. Marys River near Pipe and Drummond islands beginning at 7 a.m. Wednesday.

A U.S. Coast Guard cutter will conduct ice breaking operations to open the Pipe Island Passage, north and east of Pipe Island, and will circumnavigate Drummond Island along the International Boundary Line into the North Channel and exit via False Detour Passage.

USCG


On 20 March 1885, MICHIGAN (Hull#48), (iron propeller passenger-package freight steamer, 215 foot, 1,183 tons) of the Detroit, Grand Haven & Milwaukee Railroad was sunk by ice off Grand Haven, Michigan.

The sidewheeler NEW YORK was sold Canadian in 1877, hopefully at a bargain price, because when she was hauled out on the ways on 20 March 1878, at Rathburn's yard in Kingston, Ontario, to have her boiler removed, her decayed hull fell apart and could not be repaired. Her remains were burned to clear the ways.

On 20 March 1883, the E. H. MILLER of Alpena, Michigan (wooden propeller tug, 62 foot, 30 gross tons, built in 1874, at East Saginaw, Michigan) was renamed RALPH. She was abandoned in 1920.

1938: ¬ A fire of an undetermined cause destroyed the passenger steamer CITY OF BUFFALO while it was fitting out for the 1938 season at the East 9th St. Pier in Cleveland The blaze began late the previous day and 11 fire companies responded. The nearby CITY OF ERIE escaped the flames, as did the SEEANDBEE.

2011” ¬ The Indian freighter APJ ANJLI was built in 1982 and began visiting the Great Lakes in 1990. It was sailing as c) MIRACH, and loaded with 25,842 tons of iron ore, when it ran aground 3 miles off the coast of India on March 20, 2011. Four holds were flooded and the crew of 25 was removed. The hull subsequently broke in two and was a total loss.

W. R. STAFFORD (wooden propeller bulk freighter, 184 foot, 744 gross tons, built in 1886, at W. Bay City, Michigan) was freed from the ice at 2:00 a.m. on 19 March 1903, by the Goodrich Line’s ATLANTA. When the STAFFORD was freed, the ice then closed around the ATLANTA and imprisoned her for several hours. Both vessels struggled all night and finally reached Grand Haven, Michigan, at 5 a.m. They left for Chicago later that day in spite of the fact that an ice floe 2 miles wide, 14 miles long and 20 feet deep was off shore.

CARTIERCLIFFE HALL was launched March 19, 1960, as a.) RUHR ORE (Hull # 536) at Hamburg, Germany, by Schlieker-Werft Shipyard.

INDIANA HARBOR (Hull#719) was launched March 19, 1979, at Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, by Bay Shipbuilding Corp.

CITY OF GREEN BAY was launched March 19, 1927, as a.) WABASH (Hull#177) at Toledo, Ohio, by Toledo Ship Building Co., for the Wabash Railway Co.

ALFRED CYTACKI was launched March 19, 1932, as a.) LAKESHELL (Hull#1426) at Newcastle-on-Tyne, England by Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson Ltd.

On 19 March 1886, the PICKUP (wooden passenger/package freight steamer, 80 foot, 136 gross tons, built in 1883, at Marine City, Michigan, was renamed LUCILE. She lasted until she sank off the Maumee River Light (Toledo Harbor Light), Toledo, Ohio, Lake Erie, on August 8, 1906.

1916 The canal-sized PORT DALHOUSIE saw only brief service on the Great Lakes. It was built in England as TYNEMOUNT in 1913 and came to Canada as PORT DALHOUSIE in 1914. It left for saltwater in 1915 and was torpedoed and sunk by UB-10 while carrying steel billets to Nantes, France. It went down March 19, 1916, south and west of the Kentish Knock Light vessel and 12 lives were lost.

1978 BELKARIN was a Norwegian cargo carrier that made one trip inland in 1963. It struck a sunken warship in Suez Bay on March 19, 1978, as c) NAHOST JUMBO and the engine room was holed. The vessel, en route from Aqaba, Jordan, to Holland, settled in shallow water. The hull was refloated in January 1979 and sold for scrap.

1990 On March 19, an explosion in a container on board the Norwegian freighter POLLUX at La Baie, QC, killed two sailors, seriously injured a third as well as 7 Alcan dock employees. The ship made its first trip up the Seaway coming to to Port Weller Dry Docks May 18 for repairs. It was renamed there and left the lakes in August as d) NOMADIC POLLUX. This ship returned inland in 1997, 1998 and 1999 and was back as e) BALTICLAND in May 2004.

1993 An explosion and fire rocked the tanker SHIOKAZE in the North Sea en route to Rotterdam killing one member of the crew. The vessel had first been a Seaway trader in 1986 and returned in 1998 as DILMUN TERN bound for Hamilton with palm oil. It was scrapped, after 30 years of service, arriving at Alang, India, on June 14, 2010, as c) THERESA III.

2002 A hull crack of close to 13 feet was found on LAKE CARLING off Cape Breton Island while traveling from Sept-Iles to Trinidad with iron ore. Originally ZIEMIA CIESZYNSKA, the vessel first came to the Great Lakes in 1993 and was renamed LAKE CARLING at Chicago in October. The crack widened to 25 feet before the vessel could reach safety but the damage was repaired and it returned to service. The original name was restored in 2004 and the vessel was last on the lakes in 2009.

2003 A fire in the after end of the CALEDONIA on the Heddle Dry Dock in Hamilton was contained to one deck. The vessel was there for conversion to a sailing ship and the work was eventually completed. The ship had visited the Great Lakes as the coastal freighter PETREL in the late 1970s but was much more at home around Maritime Canada and Hudson Bay. As a sailing ship, it carries 77 passengers and visits Caribbean ports.

In 1967, under the command of Captain Ray I. McGrath, the Columbia Transportation Company's HURON (steel propeller self-unloader bulk freighter, 415 foot, 4,810 gross tons, built in 1914, at Ecorse, Michigan) cleared Fairport, Ohio, and headed to Toledo, Ohio for a load of coal. She was the first freighter to sail in the new season. She sailed on the same day that the U. S. Steel's Bradley Fleet of seven vessels started fitting out.

On 18 March 1906, the Goodrich Line's ATLANTA (wooden propeller passenger/package freight steamer, 200 foot, 1,129 gross tons, built in 1891, at Cleveland, Ohio) was sailing from Sheboygan, Wisconsin for Milwaukee. When she was 14 miles south of Sheboygan, fire was discovered in the aft hold and quickly spread to the engine room. She ran out of steam, making the fire pumps inoperable. There were 65 persons aboard and Capt. Mc Cauley gave the order to abandon. The fish tug TESSLER came to help and only one life was lost. As the TESSLER was steaming to port, the Goodrich Line's GEORGIA came into view and took on all of the survivors. The hull of the ATLANTA was beached by the TESSLER. Later, the burned hull was purchased by D. O. Smith of Port Washington.

ARSENE SIMARD (Hull#404) was launched March 18, 1972, at Sorel, Quebec, by Marine Industries Ltd., for Branch Lines Ltd.

PERE MARQUETTE 21 (Hull#209) was launched March 18, 1924, at Manitowoc, Wisconsin by Manitowoc Shipbuilding Co. She was christened by Mrs. Charles C. West, wife of the president of Manitowoc Shipbuilding Co.

The straight-deck bulk carrier SYLVANIA (Hull#613) was launched March 18, 1905, at West Bay City, Michigan by West Bay City Ship Building Co., for the Tomlinson Fleet Corp.

On 18 March 1890, CITY OF CHICAGO (steel sidewheeler, 211 foot, 1,073 gross tons) was launched at West Bay City, Michigan by F. W. Wheeler & Co. (Hull#68) for the Graham & Morton Line. CITY OF CHICAGO was lengthened to 226 feet at Wheeler's yard one year later (1891). She was again lengthened in 1905-06, this time to 254 feet. On the same day and at the same yard the 3-mast wooden schooner A.C. TUXBURY was stern launched.

On 18 March 1928, M. T. GREENE (wooden propeller freighter, 155 foot, 524 gross tons, built in 1887, at Gibraltar, Michigan) burned to a total loss near Brigdeburg, Ontario, on the Niagara River.

1923 The wooden steamer JAMES P. DONALDSON was built in 1880 and often worked in the lumber trade. At the end, it was used by N.M. Paterson & Sons Ltd. to bring wet grain to the company elevator for drying. The ship caught fire at the Canadian Lakehead on this date and the remains were sunk off Isle Royale, Lake Superior, on May 6, 1923.

1991 The Canadian Coast Guard ship GRIFFON collided with the fishing trawler CAPTAIN K. sinking it in Lake Erie. Three lives were lost.


3/19 - Traverse City, Mich. – A Coast Guard aircrew from Traverse City medically evacuated two people off Beaver Island Saturday. Watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector Sault Ste. Marie received a medevac request from officials on Beaver Island early Friday evening. Due to poor visibility and icing conditions, an aircrew from Traverse City was forced to delay its response.

By late morning Saturday, weather conditions were slightly improved. After consulting with a Coast Guard flight surgeon, an Air Station Traverse City MH-65 Dolphin helicopter launched to medevac two people suffering from injuries sustained during a single vehicle accident. The patients were safely transported to Air Station Traverse City where awaiting ambulances carried them to Munson Medical Center for treatment.

USCG


3/19 - Duluth, Minn. – A glance from Agate Bay out over the gleaming blue Lake Superior might not reveal it, but there is ice on the Great Lakes, and efforts to remove it in advance of the coming shipping season began last Thursday.

The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Alder will break ice in the Duluth-Superior harbor before heading north to Thunder Bay over the weekend, said Mark Gill, Coast Guard director of vessel traffic services based in Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., where the Soo Locks are set to open at 12:01 a.m. on March 25.

"As of right now there will be eight downbound vessels and probably as many upbound vessels waiting to pass through the locks," Gill said.

Both Whitefish Bay at the eastern edge of Lake Superior and the St. Marys River, home to the Soo Locks that connect lakes Superior and Huron, are 100 percent covered with ice, Gill said Wednesday.

"There's not a tremendous amount of thickness compared to the 30-year average," he said. "We've had ice as much as 3 feet thick, but this year it's a couple inches thick and (we) expect it will be fairly fragile."

It figures to be slow going for the first vessels through the locks. A process that normally takes a half-hour to 45 minutes probably will require three to four hours per ship for the way vessels will push ice into the Soo's Poe Lock and have to back out in order for the lock to be cleared of ice. This back-and-forth is necessary because at 1,200 feet long and 110 feet wide, the Poe Lock already is a snug fit for thousand-foot lakers, and ice introduced by a ship's push tightens the squeeze. Some of the season's first vessels could wait in line for several hours or even days, Gill said.

Closed beginning Jan. 15, the Soo Locks were the subject of continued maintenance and repair throughout the offseason. Gate anchors, like a hinge on a door, buried deep in concrete were showing fatigue and were replaced. Dewatering bulkheads saw welded repairs and were repainted. Gears that were original from 70 years ago were replaced, and an ongoing switchover to more modern control systems was implemented.

"We're in the middle of an overall asset renewal plan and we're trying to recapitalize a lot of the major equipment," said Kevin Sprague, Soo-area engineer for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. "This was just a part of that and we'll continue working on it for several more years to come."

The smaller sister lock to the Poe, the MacArthur Lock, won't open until mid-April. The lock accommodates only smaller vessels up to 730 feet in length. But its loss for 19 days to an outage in 2015 led to significant backups and illustrated the importance of having both in operation.

"The MacArthur really does keep things moving more smoothly," Sprague said.

In 2016, the Coast Guard counted 3,388 freighters through the Soo Locks — down from a historic average of 3,500 to 6,500, Gill said, with seven-of-10 transits containing iron ore. Of the total number of transits, 20 percent, or 428, were foreign-flag vessels coming through the entire Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway System from the Atlantic Ocean.

It's hard to tell what sort of count 2017 will bring, Gill said, but he added that the Coast Guard, working with Canada, is preparing for everything. The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Mackinaw is scheduled to work the ice breakout of the St. Marys River. The Canadian Coast Guard's Griffon is responsible for the St. Lawrence Seaway from Lake Ontario to the Atlantic Ocean, and its sister icebreaker, the Samuel Risley, is heading to work on clearing ice between lakes Huron and Erie.

The U.S. Coast Guard is supplementing the work of those bigger cutters from its fleet of nine total available icebreakers, including Duluth's Alder. The area around Green Bay, on Lake Michigan, is one place where there is what Gill called "a slug of ice."

Lake County News Chronicle

[yachtsmanwilly]

3/21 - Escanaba, Mich. – The CN Railroad Ore Dock in Escanaba will close by the end of April. CN confirmed the move Monday with city officials.

A CN spokesman told Escanaba City Manager Jim O’Toole that activity at the Escanaba ore dock has been very slow since Cliffs Natural Resources closed the Empire Mine last year. The Lakes Carriers’ Association says about 3.5 million tons of iron ore was shipped out of the Escanaba port in 2015.

State Rep. Beau LaFave (R-Iron Mountain) said he was told last week by a representative of CN Railroad that it planned to close the Escanaba dock. The company did not respond to our request for comment. LaFave says he spoke to the official last week at an event in Lansing.

“I offered reasons on why they would be able to stay,” LaFave said. “I think there is a decent chance that that mine is going to come in in Menominee County so I said if that comes in wouldn’t you be able to transmit some of that stuff but I guess they did an economic analysis and unless the environment changes politically or economically they think it’s not going to be viable,”

The closure affects 12 union employees. O’Toole says he was told the employees will be able to transfer to other locations. “I advised CN that if they needed any assistance in helping employees find other employment that they could call me and we would work with them,” O’Toole said.

He said the company will also be working on a redevelopment or reuse plan within the company for the property. Iron ore has been shipped from Escanaba since 1852. It is the only iron ore port on Lake Michigan.

The Escanaba port allowed ore to be shipped earlier and later in the shipping seasons when the Soo Locks remained closed. It is also a vital alternative for ore shipments on the Great Lakes if the locks at Sault Ste. Marie were damaged or shutdown.

UpperPeninsulaBiz


3/21 - Port Colborne, Ont. – Not only is the Welland Canal at the forefront of Niagara’s transportation infrastructure, it’s an economic driver for the region and great for tourism as well, speakers at the Top Hat Ceremony in Port Colborne said Monday morning.

The ceremony, held at Lock 8 Park, celebrates the first downbound vessel to pass through the lakeside city toward Lake Ontario, and the opening of the canal. Capt. Gary Kafcsak of the tug-barge combination Calusa Coast and Delaware received the ceremonial head-topper.

When speeches were over, Port Colborne Historical and Marine Museum director/curator Stephanie Powell Baswick presented a more than 100-year-old beaver felt fur top hat to Kafcsak.

The Calusa Coast and Delaware are part of Dann Marine Towing, a fifth generation family-owned and operated tugboat company, which manages a fleet of 22 ocean and coastal tugboats as well as inland push boats. The captain and his crew were bound for Hamilton with a load of liquid asphalt from Detroit.

Meanwhile, a ceremony at Lock 3 in St. Catharines marked the first upbound ship through the canal. Capt. Ted Brown of the motor vessel Robert S. Pierson was awarded the top hat there. The ship, owned by Rand Logistics, is a 189-metre-long Canadian flag self-unloader that would make its way to Cleveland and then be back in the lock system by tonight, according to Brown.

Ed Levy, president and CEO of Rand Logistics, said the vessel will move 18,000 tonnes of salt to Toronto, and during the 2017 season will load and unload about 120 times.

“We transport approximately 21 million tonnes of dry bulk commodities annually. To put this tonnage in perspective, to match you would need approximately 670,000 trucks or nearly 210,000 rail cars.”

Levy said the company was honored to be part of Monday’s Top Hat Ceremony, and was pleased that not only was it the first day of spring but also one of the earliest days of the opening of the canal.

He lauded St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corp. for its $100 million in improvements and maintenance made to the seaway and Welland Canal during the off-season. “These improvements are critical to meet the needs of our industry,” he said.

Seaway corporation vice-president of operations Stephen Kwok said there is optimism that cargo volumes will be up this year from the 35 million tonnes that went through the seaway in 2016. He estimated that cargo moved over the combined Great Lakes seaway system supports more than 227,000 jobs and $35 billion of economic activity in Canada and the U.S.

“With the advances we are making with our modernization program, I am confident that the seaway is ready for the future and is a crucial lynchpin connecting the heartland of North America to the world,” said Kwok.

Welland Tribune


3/21 - Hamilton, Ont. – After the worst cargo season in years, shippers traversing the Great Lakes are expecting a rise in volumes this season as the St. Lawrence Seaway opened Monday, but not enough to give them cause to celebrate.

The shipping industry is facing a global economic slowdown that will take a couple of years before sustained growth resumes, says the incoming CEO of Canada Steamship Lines in Montreal.

"I don't see anything that's going to be a game changer very quickly," says Louis Martel, who takes over one of the largest shippers on the Great Lakes next month. "We need another China or an India or something like this to really get us back to a very, very upbeat shipping world."

Total cargo passing through the seaway fell to a seven-year low last year, with tonnage slipping 3.4 per cent to 35 million tonnes, according to the St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corp. An increase in grains and liquid bulk volumes failed to offset a 13 per cent drop in iron ore and nearly 10 per cent decreases in coal and dry bulk goods.

Slowing growth in China has curtailed international cargo demand, which hasn't been able to keep up with a surge in the number of vessels that were the result of a shipbuilding boom between 2002 and 2008.

Martel says volumes through the Great Lakes are looking to be up slightly this year amid improved commodity prices and higher hopes for grain shipments, some of which have been left over from last year's bumper crop. That could allow ships to operate for the entire navigational season, unlike last year when some didn't leave port.

Fuelled by higher prices, iron ore volumes are expected to be up as Canadian producers export more to Asia and supply an anticipated boom in infrastructure in North America, including US$1 trillion in promised spending by U.S. President Donald Trump. Still, Martel estimates Canada Steamship Lines will ship a quarter of the iron ore it did compared with its peaks years of 2012 and 2013.

Seaway CEO Terence Bowles expects traffic will increase in line with the two to 2.5 percent GDP growth forecast by economists, but that won't be strong enough to return to the yearly average of 40 million tonnes.

"The seaway is the bellweather for the economy so basically if the economies improve we're going to improve, it's as simple as that," he said following the seaway's official opening.

Peter Winkley, chief financial officer for Algoma Central Corp., says he is optimistic business will pick up this year after the St. Catharines, Ont.-based shipper saw volumes fall 19 per cent in 2016. "Compared to where we were at this time last year, it's certainly looking a lot better," Winkley says.

While upheaval in the ocean shipping business has led to the bankruptcies of large players such as South Korea's Hanjin, Canadian shipping on the Great Lakes is on a more solid footing, says William Bennett, senior analyst with London-based consultancy Vessels Value.

He says shipping in the St. Lawrence Seaway is a specialized, niche sector, giving it a degree of insulation from the economic forces hitting the high seas business. Shippers of dry bulk on the Great Lakes, for instance, are likely to have a better season than their ocean-going counterparts.

"It's not very difficult for the market to come up from where it is now, given how low it is," he says. "Everyone is so desperate to see some sort of light at the end of the tunnel, (but) there's a lot of very, very big uncertainties underpinning the market at the moment."

The Canadian Press



The c.) CHEMICAL MAR of 1966 sustained severe damage when sulfuric acid leaked into the pump room while she was discharging her cargo at the island of Curacao on March 21, 1982. Flooding occurred later and the vessel was declared a constructive total loss. She was scrapped at Brownsville, Texas in 1983. From 1979 until 1981, CHEMICAL MAR was named b.) COASTAL TRANSPORT for the Hall Corp. of Canada. She never entered the lakes under that name.

NOTRE DAME VICTORY was floated from the drydock on March 21, 1951, three months and two days after she entered the dock, and was rechristened b.) CLIFFS VICTORY.

MARLHILL was launched on March 21, 1908, as a.) HARRY A. BERWIND (Hull#40) at Ecorse, Michigan by Great Lakes Engineering Works for G. A. Tomlinson of Duluth, Minnesota.

Pittsburgh Steamship Co.'s GEORGE F. BAKER was sold to the Kinsman Marine Transit Co., Cleveland, Ohio on March 21, 1965, and renamed b) HENRY STEINBRENNER.

On 21 March 1874, the two schooners NORTH STAR and EVENING STAR were launched at Crosthwaite's shipyard in East Saginaw, Michigan. They were both owned by John Kelderhouse of Buffalo, New York.

On 21 March 1853, GENERAL SCOTT (wooden side-wheeler, 105 foot, 64 tons, built in 1852, at Saginaw, Michigan) was tied up to her dock on the Saginaw River when she was crushed beyond repair by ice that flowed down the river during the spring breakup. One newspaper report said that while the vessel was being cleaned up for the new navigation season, a seacock was left open and she sank before the spring breakup.

1959: The retired sidewheel steamer WESTERN STATES, known as S.S. OVERNIGHTER, caught fire while waiting to be scrapped in 1959. The vessel had last sailed in 1950 and had briefly served as a flotel at Tawas, MI, before being sold for scrap. Final demolition of the hull was completed at Bay City later in the year.

1970: The West German freighter WILHELM NUBEL made one trip through the Seaway in 1959. It sustained machinery failure as c) SAN GERASSIMOS following an engine room fire on this date in 1970. The vessel was traveling from Galatz, Romania, to Lisbon, Portugal, with a cargo of maize and had to be abandoned by the crew. While taken in tow by the tanker STAVROS E., the ship sank in heavy weather in the Ionian Sea.

1998: Three crewmembers were killed by phosphine gas when they went to assess flooding damage in #1 hold after the MARIA A. encountered heavy weather on the South Atlantic. The ship, en route from Argentina to Jordan with wheat, put into Paranagua, Brazil for repairs. The ship had been a Seaway caller as RIGHTEOUS beginning in 1979 and as AFSAR in 1986. While renamed ARIA later in 1998, the British built bulk carrier was never repaired and was either scuttled or scrapped.

[yachtsmanwilly]

3/22 - Duluth, Minn. – The first U.S.-flag lakers are expected to depart the Port of Duluth-Superior Wednesday, signaling the start of the 2017 commercial shipping season at this, the farthest inland port on the Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway system.

Exact times are difficult to pinpoint during fit-out, but the first departure may very well take place while most folks are still asleep. The Roger Blough is expected to leave its berth at the Clure Public Marine Terminal at first light Wednesday and depart beneath Duluth’s Aerial Bridge en route to the CN Docks in Two Harbors to load iron ore.

After fueling late afternoon/early evening, another Great Lakes Fleet vessel, the Philip R. Clarke, will also head to Two Harbors to take on its first cargo of the season. Both vessels, with deliveries to make to steel mills on the Lower Lakes, will proceed across Lake Superior toward Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., to await the opening of the Soo Locks at 12:01 a.m. on Sat., March 25. The Blough is expected to be the lead ship downbound as she was in 2016.

Interlake’s flagship, the 1013.5-foot-long Paul R. Tregurtha, wintered at the Superior Midwest Energy Terminal and is scheduled to load coal there Wednesday, then move to the Clure Terminal for final preparations before leaving for Silver Bay Wednesday night/early Thursday. After discharge, that vessel will return to Superior to load coal for its first inter-lake delivery to the St. Clair Power Plant in Michigan.

Two more Interlake Steamship Co. freighters that wintered in the Twin Ports – the Lee A. Tregurtha and the Herbert C. Jackson – are expected to depart late Wednesday, as well. The Lee A. is in position to leave Fraser Shipyards first, sometime midday. Both vessels will stop to fuel at the Calumet dock in Duluth before heading out to Two Harbors and Silver Bay, respectively, to load iron ore.

The Burns Harbor is due to move from its layup berth to the BNSF Railway Dock to load iron ore Wednesday before departing via the Superior Entry. American Century is set to leave Thursday to load in Silver Bay while fleet mate American Spirit is expected to move to the CN Duluth Dock to load iron ore over the weekend before getting underway.

All vessel departure/arrival times are estimates and are subject to change without notice.

With the Soo Locks opening Saturday and virtually ice-free conditions across the lakes, Port of Duluth-Superior should see its first arrival from the Soo on Sunday, most likely the Stewart J. Cort, James R. Barker or Cason J. Callaway, but that’s still too close to call. For updates, check www.duluthboats.com. Watch real-time transits at marinetraffic.com or ais.boatnerd.com, or on mobile devices with Marine Traffic or Ship Finder apps.

Duluth Seaway Port Authority



On 22 March 1922, the Goodrich Transit Company purchased the assets and properties of the Chicago, Racine and Milwaukee Steamship Company. This sale included two steamers: ILLINOIS (steel propeller passenger/package freight steamer, 240 foot, 2,427 gross tons, built in 1899, at S. Chicago, Illinois) and PILGRIM (iron propeller passenger/package freight steamer, 209 foot, 1,921 gross tons, built in 1881, at Wyandotte, Michigan).

The GULF MACKENZIE sailed light March 22, 1977, on her maiden voyage from Sorel to Montreal, Quebec.

The tanker COMET (Hull#705) was launched March 22, 1913, at Lorain, Ohio by American Ship Building Co. for the Standard Transportation Co. of New York.

THOMAS W. LAMONT (Hull#184) was launched March 22, 1930, at Toledo, Ohio by Toledo Shipbuilding Co. for the Pittsburgh Steamship Co.

March 22, 1885 - The Goodrich steamer MICHIGAN was crushed in heavy ice off Grand Haven, Michigan and sank. Captain Redmond Prindiville was in command, Joseph Russell was the first mate.

On 22 March 1873, TYPO, a wooden schooner/canaller, was launched at Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She cost $25,000 and was commanded by Captain William Callaway.

On 22 March 1871, Engineer George Smith and two firemen were badly scalded on the propeller LAKE BREEZE when a steam pipe they were working on blew away from the side of the boiler. They were getting the engines ready for the new shipping season.

On 22 March 1938, CITY OF BUFFALO (steel side-wheeler passenger/package freight vessel, 340 foot, 2,940 gross tons, built in 1896, at Wyandotte, Michigan) caught fire during preparations for the spring season while at her winter moorings at the East Ninth Street dock in Cleveland, Ohio. She was totally gutted. The hulk was towed to Detroit for conversion to a freighter, but this failed to materialize. She was cut up for scrap there in 1940.

On 22 March 1987, the pilothouse of the 1901, steamer ALTADOC, which was used as a gift shop and 2-room hotel near Copper Harbor, Michigan, was destroyed by fire.

1973: The Swedish built NORSE VARIANT first came to the Great Lakes in 1965 just after completion. On March 22, 1973, the vessel was en route from Norfolk, VA, to Hamburg, Germany, with a cargo of coal when it ran into an early spring storm with 40 foot waves southeast of Cape May, N.J. The vessel was overwhelmed and sank with the loss of 29 lives. Only one man survived.

2006: The Collingwood-built Canadian Coast Guard ship SIR WILFRID LAURIER came to the rescue of those aboard the passenger ship QUEEN OF THE NORTH when the latter sank with the loss of two lives off the coast of British Columbia.

[yachtsmanwilly]

3/23 - Green Bay, Wis. – The start of spring brought with it the first ship of the season at the Port of Green Bay. The tug-barge Michigan / Great Lakes arrived at 11 a.m. Tuesday, according to port officials. It was to take ethanol from the U.S. Oil terminal to Montreal, Que.

“Last year, the first ship arrived March 22, so this season started just a day earlier than the 2016 season,” port director Dean Haen said in a news release. “The 2016 season officially ended on January 13, so it’s been a short break. It’s a good sign when the port opens in March; it means that the demand for product from manufacturers is there. Those bouts of warm weather we had this winter were another contributing factor to the earlier start.”

The beginning of the season also meant a prize was given away. Melanie Haedt of Suamico won the First Ship Contest by guessing closest to the time of the arrival of the first ship of the season. Haedt's guess of 1 p.m. March 21 was the closest of 150 entries.

WLUK


3/23 - Holland, Mich. – If you're interested in learning about shipwrecks, this is the event for you. The annual West Michigan shipwreck show "Mysteries & Histories Beneath the Inland Seas" is this Saturday in Holland, Mich.

The Holland-based Michigan Shipwreck Research Association sponsors the show, started two decades ago, as part of its mission to research and discover shipwrecks in the Great Lakes and to document and present their findings to the public. This year's keynote presentation is "Eight Years of Diving the Carl D. Bradley," led by Minnesota-based shipwreck expert John Janzen.

Great Lakes shipwreck hunter David Trotter is scheduled to present a program called "Fire Wind and Storm," which will focus on the recent discovery and exploration of the wrecks the ships Venus and Montezuma. Finally, Valerie van Heest will explore how reality television shows blur the lines between history and myth for the sake of ratings.

Tickets are $12.50 in advance and $15 at the door.

M Live


3/23 - Syracuse, N.Y. – A nomination to make part of Lake Ontario a national marine sanctuary is moving forward. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is accepting the application for further consideration.

Oswego, Jefferson, Wayne and Cayuga counties put together the application after NOAA decided to add to its current list of 14 marine sanctuaries. It could help preserve dozens of known and unknown historic shipwrecks in 1,700 square miles of the southeastern portion of the lake for further study.

“This is a critical step forward for our local leaders, advocates, and members of the community who have worked tirelessly to raise awareness for this project,” said central New York Rep. John Katko (R-Camillus).

“This designation has the potential to grow tourism and boost our local economy while preserving some of our region’s most historic and unique natural resources. As one of only a few accepted sanctuaries nationwide, I urge the administration to swiftly take action to ensure that this nomination receives proper consideration.”

The application was submitted earlier this year after Gov. Andrew Cuomo endorsed the plan.

WRVO


The National Transportation Safety Board unanimously voted on March 23,1978, to reject the U. S. Coast Guard's official report supporting the theory of faulty hatches in their EDMUND FITZGERALD investigation. Later the N.T.S.B. revised its verdict and reached a majority vote to agree that the sinking was caused by taking on water through one or more hatch covers damaged by the impact of heavy seas over her deck. This is contrary to the Lake Carriers Association's contention that her foundering was caused by flooding through bottom and ballast tank damage resulting from bottoming on the Six Fathom Shoal between Caribou and Michipicoten Islands.

On 23 March 1850, TROY (wooden side-wheel passenger/package freighter, 182 foot, 546 tons, built in 1845, at Maumee, Ohio) exploded and burned at Black Rock, New York. Up to 22 lives were lost. She was recovered and rebuilt the next year and lasted until 1860.

On 23 March 1886, Mr. D. N. Runnels purchased the tug KITTIE HAIGHT.

The 3,280 ton motor vessel YANKCANUCK commanded by Captain W. E. Dexter, docked at the Canadian Soo on 23 March 1964, to officially open the 1964 navigation season for that port. Captain Dexter received the traditional silk hat from Harbormaster Frank Parr in a brief ceremony aboard the vessel. The ship arrived in the Sault from Windsor, Ontario. Captain Dexter said the trip from Windsor was uneventful and he had no trouble with ice. This was the first time a ship from the Yankcanuck line had won the honor of opening the Sault Harbor.

1986: EBN MAGID visited the Seaway in 1970 as a) ADEL WEERT WIARDS and was on the cover of Know Your Ships for 1971. Following 2 explosions and a fire at sea at the end of January, the vessel docked this day at Milford Haven, U.K. to be unloaded. It was then sold to Belgian shipbreakers.

[yachtsmanwilly]

3/24 - Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. – The new shipping season will be underway throughout the Great Lakes when calendars roll over to March 25 marking the opening of the Soo Locks and an end to the United States Army Corps of Engineers' winter maintenance.

The first vessel to cross through the rapids adjoining lakes Superior and Huron has yet to be determined. Following the closing of the Soo Locks on Jan. 15, a considerable amount of work revamping the lock system has been completed to greet Saturday's traffic.

"Typically we don't know until the last minute (which ship will use the locks first)," said Soo Area Engineer Kevin Sprague. "We're looking at a pretty busy opener. There's quite a few ships heading this way."

Boat traffic should remain steady in part due to a smaller ice buildup than years past. The mild winter lent its hands to assisting in the completion of the winter maintenance. The Poe Lock and MacArthur Lock received a series of upgrades and restorations to be ready for the 2017 shipping season.

"We were able to get our embedded anchor project done ahead of schedule," added Sprague, noting that hydraulic work on the Poe Lock was also completed.

The early spring shipping season will assist in the restoration work being performed on the MacArthur Lock. The smaller lock's maintenance included sanding, welding and painting.

The engineer briefly touched on other upcoming projects the Corps will be completing as 2017 unfolds. Four of the 16 compensating works, or gates, upstream near the railroad bridge that help control flow into the rapids will be automated to help assist the fishery's health.

"The idea is so you don't strand fish or washout fish eggs," explained Sprague, adding that steel sheet piling repair to the west center pier is also underway.

Soo Evening News


3/24 - St. Catharines, Ont. – A new global company specializing in short-sea dry bulk shipping is expected to be created as Algoma Central Corp. and Nova Marine Carriers SA, of Lugano Switzerland, explore an expanded partnership, the two companies announced earlier this month.

The new company, to be called NovaAlgoma Short-Sea Carriers, or NASC, will initially operate a fleet of approximately 70 bulk vessels with capacities up to 15,000 dwt (deadweight tonnage) in markets world-wide. The fleet will comprise owned ships, chartered vessels, and vessels under third party management contracts. Deadweight tonnage is how much mass a ship is carrying or can safely carry, and does not include the weight of the ship.

Creation of the partnership is subject to completion of appropriate due diligence and finalization of definitive documentation, St. Catharines-based Algoma said in the release.

Algoma, which operates the largest Canadian flagged fleet of dry and liquid bulk carriers on the Great Lakes – St. Lawrence Waterway, originally joined forces with Nova Marine in 2016 to form NovaAlgoma Cement Carriers (NACC) to focus on building a fleet of modern pneumatic bulk vessels to service cement manufacturers. The company has already positioned itself as one of the leaders in this specialized segment, Algoma said in a release.

Nova Marine operates a varied fleet of modern bulk carriers and belt self unloading vessels ranging from 5,000 dwt up to 57,000 dwt. With over one hundred ships under control, Nova specializes in bulk traffic in the Mediterranean, Atlantic and Persian Gulf. Algoma also has interests in ocean dry-bulk vessels operating in international markets and provides ship management services for other ship owners.

St. Catharines Standard



ALPENA (Hull#177) was launched on March 24, 1909, at Wyandotte, Michigan, by Detroit Ship Building Co. for the Wyandotte Transportation Co.

IRVIN L. CLYMER was launched March 24, 1917, as a.) CARL D. BRADLEY (Hull#718) at Lorain, Ohio, by American Ship Building Co. the third self-unloader in the Bradley Transportation Co. fleet.

The SAMUEL MATHER was transferred on March 24, 1965, to the newly-formed Pickands Mather subsidiary Labrador Steamship Co. Ltd. (Sutcliffe Shipping Co. Ltd., operating agents), Montreal, Quebec, to carry iron ore from their recently opened Wabush Mines ore dock at Pointe Noire, Quebec to U.S. blast furnaces on Lakes Erie and Michigan. She was renamed b.) POINTE NOIRE.

PETER ROBERTSON was launched March 24, 1906, as a) HARRY COULBY (Hull#163) at Wyandotte, Michigan, by Detroit Ship Building Co. for the L. C. Smith Transit Co., Syracuse, New York.

On 24 March 1874, the 181-foot, 3-mast wooden schooner MORNING STAR was launched at E. Saginaw, Michigan, by Crosthwaite.

On 24 March 1876, CITY OF SANDUSKY (wooden side-wheel passenger/package freight vessel, 171 foot, 608 gross tons, built in 1866, at Sandusky, Ohio) burned and sank in the harbor at Port Stanley, Ontario.

On 24 March 1876, MINNIE CORLETT (wooden scow-schooner, 107 gross tons, built before 1866) was sailing light from Chicago, Illinois, to Two Rivers, Wisconsin, on Lake Michigan when she stranded and then sank. No lives were lost.

1905: The wooden passenger and freight carrier LAKESIDE was built in Windsor in 1888. It spent most of its life operating between Niagara and Toronto. During fit out on this date in 1905, the ship sank at the dock in Port Dalhousie when water was sucked in through the seacock after the engine filling the boiler shut down. The hull was refloated and returned to service until the DALHOUSIE CITY was built in 1911.

1981: The West German freighter ANNA REHDER first came through the Seaway in 1967 when it was two years old. It was sold and renamed LESLIE in 1973. The captain last reported his position on this date in 1981 and that they were encountering heavy weather while en route from Boulogne, France, to Umm Said, Qatar. There was no further word and it is believed that the ship went down with all hands in the Atlantic off the coast of Spain. A ring buoy was later found north of Cape Finnestere.

[yachtsmanwilly]

3/27 - Cleveland, Ohio – In the Great Lakes region, there's a critical partner to the steel and construction industries that the public may overlook: the lake and river shipping industry. "We haul the building blocks of America," said Jeremy Mock, captain of Interlake Steamship Co.'s Dorothy Ann-Pathfinder.

Interlake, a family-owned U.S.-flag fleet that operates on the Great Lakes, has been in existence since 1913. The Middleburg Heights-based company employs about 400 people and has nine active ships in its fleet, eight of which it owns and one of which it operates through its sister company.

While Interlake doesn't share its annual revenue, president Mark Barker said 2016 wasn't a great year, but it was OK. The company delivers products for the steel making, power generation and construction industries. "As the economy goes, we go," Barker said.

The automotive industry has kept the steel industry alive, he said, but the strong dollar and foreign competition certainly presented challenges. Barker said he is seeing some optimism for 2017, especially in the construction and infrastructure industries, and he has seen a small uptick in volume.



It's early in the year for Interlake. For the most part, Interlake's season begins when the Soo Locks in Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., open on March 25, said Paul Christensen, director of vessel operations and security. But the Dorothy Ann-Pathfinder got an early start on its Cuyahoga River ore shuttles, which started March 1.

The Dorothy Ann-Pathfinder is an approximately 700-foot-long tug boat-barge combination that employs 14 people who live on the ship full-time. Christensen said the ship works in the stone trade and can travel as far as the Saginaw River in Michigan, but that its primary operation is iron ore shuttles. On Wednesday, March 22, the ship conducted one of those shuttles from the Cleveland Bulk Terminal to ArcelorMittal's Cleveland plant. The iron ore it carries is a critical raw material for steelmaking.

- Read more and view photos at this link: www.crainscleveland.com/article/20170326/NEWS/170329835/interlake-steamships-round-the-clock-crew-delivers-the-building


3/27 - Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. – The shipping season at the Soo Locks officially started at 12:01 Saturday morning when the 1,000-foot-long Stewart J. Cort made its way up into Lake Superior. Dozens of BoatNerds from across the region made their way to the locks to welcome in the Cort. This was the first visit for a teenager from Evart.

"I think the overall the locks and the vessels that pass through is just phenomenal on how big an object made by man can move that much cargo in one load,” said Jarrett Dodge.

View the interview at this link: www.9and10news.com/story/34997849/soo-locks-open-for-shipping-season


3/27 - Goderich, Ont. – Goderich Council has decided it’s not interested in operating the Marine Museum at the foot of West Street. C-A-O Larry McCabe explains the town owns the Marine Museum but it has been operated by the county.

A decision was recently made by the county that it was no longer viable, and the revenue it was generating would not cover the costs of bringing it up to acceptable standards, so the county asked the town to assume responsibility for the museum.

McCabe says the town received a report from the Health and Safety Committee this week and also authorized a third party to look at hazardous substances like lead paint in the building as well as meeting provincial accessibility standards.

McCabe says based on those reports council decided to remove the Marine Museum from its current location and shut it down.

Blackburn News


The steamer b.) EDWARD S. KENDRICK was launched March 27, 1907, as a.) H.P. McINTOSH (Hull#622) at West Bay City, Michigan, by West Bay City Ship Building Co. for the Gilchrist Transportation Co., Cleveland, Ohio.

Nipigon Transport Ltd. (Carryore Ltd., mgr., Montreal, Quebec) operations came to an end when the fleet was sold on March 27, 1986, to Algoma Central's Marine Division at Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario.

On 27 March 1841, BURLINGTON (wooden sidewheeler, 150 tons, built in 1837, at Oakville, Ontario) was destroyed by fire at Toronto, Ontario. Her hull was later recovered and the 98-foot, 3-mast schooner SCOTLAND was built on it in 1847, at Toronto.

On 27 March 1875, the steamer FLORA was launched at Wolf & Davidson's yard in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Her dimensions were 275-foot keel x 27 foot x 11 foot.

On 27 March 1871, the small wooden schooner EMMA was taken out in rough weather by the commercial fishermen Charles Ott, Peter Broderick, Jacob Kisinger and John Meicher to begin the fishing season. The vessel capsized at about 2:00 p.m., 10 miles southwest of St. Joseph, Michigan and all four men drowned.

C E REDFERN (wooden schooner, 181 foot, 680 gross tons) was launched at West Bay City, Michigan by F. W. Wheeler (Hull #65) on 27 March 1890. Dimensions: 190' x 35' x 14.2'; 680 g.t.; 646 n.t. Converted to a motorship in 1926. Foundered on September 19, 1937, four miles off Point Betsie Light, Lake Michigan. The loss was covered in an unsourced news clipping from Sept. 1937: Freighter Wrecked Eleven Are Saved. Ship Founders in Lake Michigan. Sault Ste. Marie, Sept. 20 - (Special) - Eleven members of the crew of the 181-foot wooden-hulled freighter C. E. Redfern, which foundered in Lake Michigan on Saturday night four miles northwest of Point Betsie Lighthouse, were rescued by coastguard cutter Escanaba. The men were landed safely at Frankfort, Michigan, and it is reported that considerable wreckage of the cargo of logs, decking and deckhouse of the ill-fated vessel were strewn about and floating towards shore.

1916: The steel bulk carrier EMPRESS OF MIDLAND came to the Great Lakes for the Midland Navigation Co. in 1907 and left in 1915 when requisitioned for war service in 1915. The vessel hit a mine laid by UC-1 nine miles south of the Kentish Knock Light on this date in 1916. The ship developed a starboard list and 18 took to the lifeboat. Five more sailors jumped into the English Channel and were picked up by the lifeboat. The vessel, en route from Newcastle, UK to Rouen, France, with a cargo of coal, subsequently sank.

1964: The Victory ship MORMACPINE came through the Seaway on 13 occasions between 1960-1967. Fire broke out in the cargo hold on this date in 1964 while en route to Bermuda and U.S.C.G. HALF MOON escorted the vessel to safety. The ship resumed trading until arriving at the scrapyard in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, on July 18, 1970.

1965: The Norwegian tanker NORA began Great Lakes visits in 1960. It caught fire and burned in the English Channel after a collision with the large tanker OTTO N. MILLER 10 miles south of Beachy Head in dense fog at 0737 hours on March 27, 1965. The vessel was a total loss and arrived at Santander, Spain, under tow for scrapping in June 1965.

1979: FEDERAL PALM was built by Port Weller Dry Docks in 1961 and left the Great Lakes for Caribbean and later South Pacific service. The passenger and freight carrier was sailing as b) CENPAC ROUNDER when it was blown aground by Typhoon Meli on Vothalailai Reef in the late night hours of March 27, 1979. The hull was refloated on April 27 but was beyond economical repair and arrived at Busan, South Korea, for scrapping in June 1979. The image of this Great Lakes built ship has appeared on postage stamps issued for both Grenada and Tulavu.

On 26 March 1922, OMAR D. CONGER (wooden passenger-package freight, 92 foot, 200 gross tons, built in 1887, at Port Huron, Michigan) exploded at her dock on the Black River in Port Huron with such violence that parts of her upper works and engine were thrown all over the city. Some said that her unattended boiler blew up, but others claimed that an unregistered cargo of explosives ignited. She had been a Port Huron-Sarnia ferry for a number of years.

The CITY OF MOUNT CLEMENS (wooden propeller "rabbit,” 106 foot, 132 gross tons) was launched at the Chabideaux yard in Mt. Clemens, Michigan, on 26 March 1884. She was towed to Detroit to be fit out. She was built for Chapaton & Lacroix. She lasted until dismantled in 1921.

1935: A fire destroyed the small wooden bulk carrier ALICE M. GILL that had been laid up at Sandusky since the end of the 1926 season. The ship had been built as a tug for the logging industry and later served as a lighthouse tender and then a small bulk carrier. The remains were scrapped.

1971: The former CLEMENS SARTORI stranded off the coast of Algeria in bad weather as b) PIRAEUS while en route from Antwerp, Belgium, to Mersin, Turkey, and was abandoned by the crew as a total loss. The vessel was a pre-Seaway visitor to the Great Lakes for the West German firm of Sartori and Berger and, in July 1958, was the first westbound salty to use the recently opened American locks at Massena, NY. It made 20 trips to the Great Lakes (1959-1965) mainly on charter to the Hamburg-Chicago Line.

1976: RAMON DE LARRINAGA is remembered as the first Seaway era saltwater vessel into the port of Duluth-Superior, arriving amid great fanfare on May 3, 1959. The ship was sailing as c) MARIAN when it sustained hull damage clearing the port of Lisbon on this date in 1976. Portuguese authorities ordered the vessel towed out to sea and it foundered off Cascais, Portugal, the following day.

HENRY G. DALTON (Hull#713) was launched March 25, 1916, at Lorain, Ohio by American Ship Building Co., for the Interlake Steamship Co., Cleveland, Ohio – the company's first 600 footer.

FRANK R. DENTON was launched March 25, 1911, as a.) THOMAS WALTERS (Hull#390) at Lorain, Ohio by American Ship Building Co. for the Interstate Steamship Co., Cleveland, Ohio.

On March 25, 1927, heavy ice caused the MAITLAND NO 1, to run off course and she grounded on Tecumseh Shoal on her way to Port Maitland, Ontario. Eighteen hull plates were damaged which required repairs at Ashtabula, Ohio.

The steamer ENDERS M. VOORHEES participated in U.S. Steel's winter-long navigation feasibility study during the 1974-75 season, allowing only one month to lay up from March 25th to April 24th.

March 25, 1933 - Captain Wallace Henry "Andy" Van Dyke, master of the Steamer PERE MARQUETTE 22, suffered a heart attack and died peacefully in his cabin while en route to Ludington, Michigan.

1966: The French freighter ROCROI made one trip through the Seaway in 1959. The ship arrived at Halifax on this date in 1966 with interior damage after the 'tween decks, loaded with steel, collapsed crushing tractors and cars beneath. The vessel was repaired and survived until 1984 when, as e) THEOUPOLIS, it hit a mine en route to Berbera, Somalia, on August 14, 1984. The vessel was badly damaged and subsequently broken up in India.

1973: The former MONTREAL CITY caught fire as b) RATCHABURI at Bangkok, Thailand, on March 24, 1973. It was loading a cargo of jute and rubber for Japan on its first voyage for new Thai owners. The vessel was scuttled and sank on March 25 in Pattani Bay, South Thailand. The ship began coming through the Seaway for the Bristol City Line when new in 1963.


3/25 - The Coast Guard is urging the use of extreme caution on and near the waterways after the rescue of more than a dozen people in the last seven days. Above-freezing air temperatures are weakening and melting ice at a fast rate and pose a safety concern for anyone venturing onto the ice.

Recently, crews rescued 11 boaters in Saginaw Bay, Michigan, after the boaters' vessels became trapped by ice floes, making it impossible for them to get to shore. The previous day, two people were rescued in Irondequoit Bay, New York, after they became stranded on an ice floe off shore.

The Coast Guard urges people to be aware of changes in environmental conditions and to be properly prepared when venturing out onto the ice. Ice is unpredictable and the thickness can vary, even in small areas. Water currents, particularly around narrow spots, bridges, inlets and outlets, are always suspect for thin ice. Stay away from cracks, seams, pressure ridges, slushy areas and darker areas since these signify thinner ice.

USCG



3/25 - Ice chunks the size of cannon balls exploded from cone-shaped formations off of Point Gratiot in Dunkirk during last week’s nor’easter. On both shores of Lake Ontario, icy hills or mountains spew plumes of sand, water, ice – and even fish.

Moving pictures streamed to social media are capturing similar icy eruptions on Lake Superior. The Great Lakes’ ice volcanoes are waking up.

“It’s like a different world out there,” said Dave McCoy, an environmental educator at Evangola State Park. Mother Nature’s handiwork has been on full display at Evangola – and around the region – this week.

McCoy said more than two dozen of the ice cones sprang up along Lake Erie’s shoreline at Evangola as the result of the recent weather. Although ice volcanoes are usually an annual phenomenon in the Great Lakes, McCoy said this year’s crop has been special. “I’ve never seen them form in March,” said McCoy.

Read more and see photos at this link: buffalonews.com/2017/03/23/great-lakes-ice-volcanoes-awaken-include-wny-shores/


3/25 - Sault Ste. Marie, Mi. – Monday morning the Coast Guard will open Gray’s Reef Passage at 8 a.m. Aids to navigation in Gray’s Reef Passage have been position checked and found to be working properly.

USCG


3/25 - Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. – After a 10-week hiatus for repairs, the Soo Locks were set to open for the shipping season at 12:01 a.m. Saturday with the upbound passage of the 1,000-footer Stewart J. Cort of the Interlake Steamship Co.

Earlier Friday, Capt. Greg Sipper and crew got some special recognition when a delegation of local officials, including representatives of the Sault Ste. Marie Chamber of Commerce, visited the vessel. The honor was a first for Capt. Sipper.

"I've been sailing with the Interlake Steamship Company for 37 years and I've been through the Soo Locks many times, but this is the first in my career where we were the first ship of the season to go through the Soo Locks," Sipper said. "It's a little thrill," Sipper said. "It's something that we can call our families and go 'Hey we were the first ship through the Soo."

The Cort was the first 1,000-foot vessel of her kind to sail the Great Lakes, carrying taconite pellets from Superior, Wisconsin to Burns Harbor, Indiana that fuel the steel industry. "Pellets for the steel makers, and in turn the steel makers make steel for the car-makers," Sipper said. "It's a pretty big cycle."

Around 1 p.m. Friday, hearty "boatnerds" could be seen lining up to watch and photograph the behemoth head up the St. Marys River. It was a tight race between the Cort and the Philip R. Clarke, which was to be the first downbound vessel after the Cort cleared.

For the engineers at the Soo Locks, the last 10 weeks are the busiest of the year. "People wonder what we do in the winter and they think 'Well it must be nice not having any boats coming through,'" said engineer Kevin Sprague. "Actually it’s our busiest time of the year. We have a lot of projects that are scheduled to cram into that time period."

Sprague expects about a dozen more ships to pass through on Saturday. Right now, the Poe Lock is open, but the MacArthur Lock won't open until April.

Right behind the Cort was her fleetmate Kaye E. Barker, also upbound. Edgar B. Speer, Algoma Guardian, Cason J. Callaway, James R. Barker and Tim S. Dool are due up sometime Saturday. Roger Blough and Burns Harbor were headed downbound early Saturday, with American Century and Lee A. Tregurtha following later in the day.

UpNorth Live, 9&10 News


3/26 - Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. – Spring has officially arrived in Michigan, at least on the calendar. To the U.S. Coast Guard, it’s still winter and Operation Taconite is underway. Its mission is to break up the ice fields of the upper Great Lakes, where the duty of opening shipping lanes for vessels falls to the Coast Guard and its only heavy icebreaker, the USCGC Mackinaw.

“This year has not been as challenging as the past couple of years; there is less ice,” said Commander Vasilios Tasikas of the USCGC Mackinaw. “Whitefish Bay has the most ice, and we will escort the first vessels through this weekend.” In an average year, the Coast Guard breaks ice for 120 days, helping half a billion dollars in commodities maneuver through the Great Lakes. “It’s very gratifying to do what we do,” Tasikas said.

But concerns over keeping the state’s commodities moving following recent harsh winters have renewed interest in having a second heavy icebreaker join forces with the Mackinaw to clear the frigid waterways.

Two years ago, then President Barack hateful muslim traitor signed into law the Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2015, appropriating $17.5 billion for Coast Guard activities. It provides funds for the design and construction of an icebreaker that is capable of buoy tending and to enhance icebreaking on the Great Lakes. But funding for it is on hold as the new Trump administration pours over financial appropriations for all facets of government.

U.S. Sen. Gary Peters, D-Bloomfield Township, a member of the Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee of Oceans, Atmosphere, Fisheries and Coast Guard, is pushing, along with U.S. Debbie Stabenow, D-Lansing, for another heavy icebreaker.

“It is essential that Congress provides the men and women of the Coast Guard with the resources they need to keep open shipping lanes in the Great Lakes,” wrote Peters and Stabenow in a letter to the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the Coast Guard.

Read more and view photos at this link: www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2017/03/24/great-lakes-michigan-ice-icebreakers/99608960/


3/26 - Thunder Bay, Ont. – The laker Manitoulin arrived in Thunder Bay on Friday and docked at the Richardson Elevator at 7:42 a.m. making it the first ship to arrive in the 2017 navigational season. Capt. John Carlson said the trek to Thunder Bay was smooth sailing.

“The trip up here was amazingly ice free - probably the least amount of ice that I’ve seen in the last 30 years in Lake Superior before April 1,” he said. Apart from dealing with some ice in the Whitefish Bay area, he said Superior is basically ice free all the way to the outside of our breakwall.

The Manitoulin spent Friday loading wheat that she will take to Buffalo. “Thunder Bay to Buffalo has become a regular trip for us,” said Carlson. “We get six or seven loads a year out of Thunder Bay for Buffalo.”

After unloading in Buffalo, the Manitoulin will head to Sandusky, Ohio, and take on a load of coal before heading to Sault Ste. Marie. She will then return to Thunder Bay to take on a load of potash.

Carlson was presented with the traditional top hat by John Aiken, the Thunder Bay Port Authority board chairman, and Thunder Bay Harbor Master Guy Jarvis. Ken Boshcoff, with the Thunder Bay Chamber of Commerce, presented Carlson with aboriginal suede and beaded mittens, and Coun. Larry Hebert welcomed his crew on behalf of the city.

Jarvis said the early arrival of the Manitoulin is a good omen for the navigation season ahead.

“When I look at the grain line for the next week, there are eight to 10 grain vessels coming in. There’s potash and salt vessels coming in. It’s a good March and April,” he added.

Chronicle-Journal

[yachtsmanwilly]

3/28 - A decommissioned Canadian Coast Guard ship that underwent $9-million in repairs in 2009 only to be permanently docked four years later has been sold for $373,000 after being offered for sale on the government’s surplus website.

The vessel, named CCGS Tracy while in commission, was sold to an unspecified buyer on March 1, according to the Canadian Coast Guard. It was offered for sale on the GCSurplus website, where government-owned assets no longer deemed necessary are made available for purchase. The minimum bid was listed as $250,000.

The sale comes after the former Conservative government awarded Quebec-based Verreault Navigation Inc. a $6.8-million contract in 2009 to conduct “major repairs” to the ship. Richard Beaupré, the firm’s president and chief operations officer, said in an interview that the number was actually just over $9-million, a figure the Coast Guard confirmed.

The Coast Guard in 2009 expected that the repairs would keep the vessel in service for the following 10 years. But only four years later, it removed the CCGS Tracy from service.

Mario Pelletier, deputy commissioner of the Canadian Coast Guard, said the repairs were necessary to ensure the vessel met Transport Canada operating requirements. He placed the cost of a replacement ship for the Tracy at $300-million. “It’s a large number, but in the context of marine industry, it’s the cost of doing business,” Mr. Pelletier said of the $9-million repairs in an interview.

Mr. Pelletier said the Tracy was put out of commission as part of cost-cutting measures introduced in 2012 by the former Conservative government to trim the federal budget deficit.

The vessel is a buoy tender, which are responsible for maintaining and replacing buoys, navigational floating devices. As part of orders to find cost efficiencies, Mr. Pelletier said the Coast Guard explored the concept of contracting out buoy-tending services to the private sector, but discovered the cost was far greater than performing the service in-house.

But as part of the study, the Coast Guard discovered new efficiencies in how the buoy-tending program is delivered, he said, which provided “more ship time” to perform buoy tending, leading to the Tracy being declared surplus.

The Hill Times


3/28 - Duluth, Minn. – The Rock of Ages Lighthouse has greeted visitors approaching Isle Royale National Park since 1908, but it's been nearly 40 years since a lightkeeper cared for it.

Although the bones of the structure are in good shape, the lighthouse's interior needs attention — and the Rock of Ages Lighthouse Preservation Society is hoping to provide that. The preservation society, based in Duluth, is planning a multi-year project beginning this summer to restore the lighthouse to a 1930s look, with the goal of opening the lighthouse to the public in 2020.

Heather Gerth, a preservation society board member, said they want to preserve the lighthouse because of its history and its unique, remote location to the west of Isle Royale National Park, 15 miles off of the North Shore. The lighthouse is on the National Register of Historic Places and sits on the Rock of Ages reef, where two shipwrecks occurred prior to the lighthouse's construction.

"If the lighthouse is torn down, that's one less lighthouse that will ever be in existence. They're kind of an obsolete type of historical building. They're not being used in the same way. You can now put a buoy out in the water and accomplish the same thing. Those buildings really capture a historic way of life that's disappearing," Gerth said. "The keepers who stayed out there, the stories they have and the lives impacted by that light station are something that we think are worth preserving."

The lighthouse is still strong and sturdy, Gerth said. However, when the last lightkeeper left in 1979, the interior was sprayed with an exterior-grade white paint that has trapped a lot of moisture.

"You walk in there and it looks really bad. It looks like plaster is coming off the walls, plaster is coming off the ceiling. But when you get down to the skeleton of the structure, things are intact," Gerth said.

The preservation society's plan is to work its way through the 10-story lighthouse, restoring a room or two per year using mostly volunteers. This year's project will be the lightkeeper's quarters that housed the beds and closets. They're hoping to have six crews of six volunteers do the restoration work over seven weeks this summer, and plan to outfit a sleeping and cooking area for the crews on Barnum Island between Rock of Ages and Isle Royale.

The budget for the first year of restoration work is $36,000. In-kind donations total $21,000 and the preservation society is fundraising the remaining $15,000 that's needed to meet the budget, Gerth said.

In addition to two basement levels used for storage and a machinery room in the entrance area, the lighthouse had three floors for the lightkeepers that included an office, bathroom, gathering space, kitchen and sleeping quarters. Restoring a living quarters built more than a century ago will provide some challenges, she said.

"The year that we do the bathroom and that space, we're going to have to come up with some creative solutions for water and electricity. Historically, the lighthouse had discharged water into the lake and, obviously, that's not an option with very good reason," she said.

The top floors of the lighthouse are a watch room with access to the lighthouse's catwalk and the room that housed the light. The original light's pedestal and lens are located at Windigo on Isle Royale and the U.S. Coast Guard still operates a small light at Rock of Ages, Gerth said.

The preservation society also hopes that the National Park Service will restore the dock to the lighthouse to provide a safer landing for visitors, Gerth said. She added that they also plan to contract for the lighthouse's exterior restoration work, which requires more specialization than volunteers can provide.

The preservation society was created by Gerth's husband Dave Gerth in 2008. The first few years were spent transferring ownership of the lighthouse from the Coast Guard to the National Park Service and establishing a partnership agreement between the preservation society and NPS, Beth Gerth said.

The preservation society sees itself as a support organization for the lighthouse and creating a partnership with NPS is key to future work, including restoring the lighthouse. Gerth noted that they're fortunate that the lighthouse hasn't sustained more damage than it has.

"I think a lot of lighthouses that are being restored don't have that benefit of having really good solid bones to start with. We're lucky, actually, that things are in really good shape and we can work to make it much nicer inside," she said.

Duluth News Tribune










CN, Duluth Cargo Connect announce container terminal; intermodal capabilities a ‘game-changer’

3/28 - Duluth, Minn. -– Duluth’s status as an international hub just got a big boost. Canadian National Railway and Duluth Cargo Connect officially announced their intermodal terminal on Monday as the first CN train cars carrying shipping containers rolled onto the Clure Public Marine Terminal.

“From a 50,000-foot level it is a game-changer; this is traffic we normally wouldn’t see,” Vanta E. Coda II, executive director of the Duluth Seaway Port Authority, said by phone Monday. “We’re going to have an offering that for many becomes the path of least resistance. At the end of the day that’s what supply chain management is all about.”

The port authority and Lake Superior Warehousing have teamed up as Duluth Cargo Connect to operate the new terminal, which will transfer containers between rail cars and trucks at the Clure Public Marine Terminal.

Such a service can save local, regional and even international customers time and money while also providing work for the port. It also connects the port to three coasts — Atlantic, Pacific and the Gulf of Mexico — via CN’s rail network.

“This may be bold, but from a logistics perspective this is the biggest thing to happen since the opening of the seaway itself,” Jonathan Lamb, president of Lake Superior Warehousing, told the News Tribune.

Container shipping is a hallmark of major coastal ports, and the containers can be seen moving on rails across the country. Until now, Duluth had to watch that traffic head to other cities as it rolled through town.

CN has several intermodal terminals throughout the Upper Midwest and said the new terminal “opens up a new logistics supply chain and growth opportunities.”

“CN is pleased to bring its extensive contacts in international markets, freight-forwarding knowledge and customs and marketing support to the Twin Ports,” JJ Ruest, CN executive vice-president and chief marketing officer, said in a news release.

Container traffic crossing the U.S.-Canadian border on rails has increased markedly in the past several years, and CN pins some of its 2017 prospects on continued growth there.

“The company expects to see growth across a range of commodities, particularly in intermodal traffic, grain, finished vehicles, and lumber and panels,” CN wrote in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing earlier this year.

Transportation and logistics can factor heavily into bottom lines and company decisions; making it easier to get from point A to point B “will return benefits to us in terms of lower cost and greater global competitiveness,” according to the Mid-America Freight Coalition, a Midwestern transportation group.

“What it does for those companies is take freight savings they can reinvest in their business,” Coda said, which could mean jobs for those businesses. It could also mean new jobs at the port.

“As traffic grows we’ll certainly need more individuals with supply chain expertise, and these are really good jobs to have,” Coda said.

Duluth News Tribune




N. M. Paterson & Sons, PRINDOC (Hull#657) of Davie Shipbuilding Co., Ltd., Lauzon, Quebec, was sold off-lakes during the week of March 29, 1982, to the Southern Steamship Co., Georgetown, Cayman Islands and was renamed b.) HANKEY. Later renamed c.) CLARET III in 1990, d.) S SARANTA in 1992, e.) PLATANA IN 1997, Scrapped at Alaiga, Turkey in 1997.

On 29 March 1888, D. D. JOHNSON (wooden propeller tug, 45 foot, 17 gross tons) was launched at E. Saginaw, Michigan. She was built for Carkin, Stickney & Cram and lasted until 1909.

1973: MANCHESTER TRADER, the second ship of this name to visit the Great Lakes, was owned by the Prince Line when it first came inland, on charter to Manchester Liners Ltd., in 1964. The ship was renamed e) WESTERN PRINCE in 1969 and also transited the Seaway that year. It became f) MARINER in 1971 and was abandoned in the Pacific on this date in 1973. The ship was leaking in heavy weather en route from Havana, Cuba, to Kobe, Japan, and was presumed to have sunk about 35.00 N / 152.47 E.

1973: DAVID MARQUESS OF MILFORD HAVEN, one of the longest named saltwater ships to visit the Great Lakes, was the first saltwater ship of the season upbound in the Seaway.

1990: The MAYA FARBER visited the Great Lakes in 1981. It arrived at Alang, India, under tow for scrapping on this date following an explosion and fire off Port Sudan as d) RAAD AL-BAKRY VIII on January 15, 1990.

[yachtsmanwilly]

3/29 - Jersey City, N.J. – Rand Logistics, Inc., a leading provider of bulk freight shipping services throughout the Great Lakes region, has announced its outlook for the 2017 sailing season. In summary, the company anticipates improved financial performance over the 2016 sailing season based on recent contract wins, improved customer demand and continued cost savings initiatives.

“We are projecting to sail approximately 3,600 days with 14 vessels in the 2017 season, including all six of our Canadian flagged self-unloaders, our three Canadian flagged bulkers, and five of our six U.S. flagged self-unloaders,” said Ed Levy, Rand's president and chief executive officer.

“For comparison purposes, we sailed 3,560 days in the 2016 sailing season and we operated 14 of our vessels. We do not expect to utilize any third-party vessels to haul our customer tonnage in the 2017 sailing season, and we are presently evaluating several return-generating alternatives for our sixth U.S. flagged self-unloader," Levy added.

"Based on the current market environment and assuming no change in the U.S./Canadian foreign exchange rate, we are projecting vessel margin per day for our fiscal year ending March 31, 2018 to be approximately $13,400, or 12 percent greater than preliminary vessel margin per day for our fiscal year ended March 31, 2017,” he said.

"Market conditions for the commodities that we carry have improved compared to this time last year. There still remains leftover grain tonnage from 2016's record-setting Canadian harvest and, at current prices, iron ore exporting is economically attractive and causing tighter capacity in our market. We were successful in increasing market share with certain of our customers whose contracts we renewed over the last 120 days, and we are pleased with our tonnage nominations for the upcoming sailing season. Based on current market conditions and customer nominations received to date, we are expecting our tonnage hauled to increase 7 percent in the 2017 Sailing Season compared the 2016 Sailing Season,” he concluded.

Mark Hiltwein, Rand's chief financial officer, said the company is “well on our way to achieving an additional $1 million of annual cost savings, which will result in approximately $5 million of aggregate cost savings since we commenced a comprehensive evaluation of our cost structure at the beginning of 2016. These reductions have been realized in a number of areas, including insurance, provisions, spare parts, and general and administration expenses. Our cost savings program is part of an initiative to improve return on invested capital.”

“Our 2017 operational initiatives include continuing to rationalize our cost structure, managing capital expenses, continuing to improve our operational efficiencies and achieving a higher value-added revenue. We are also actively focused on strategies to refinance our debt,” he concluded.

Global Newswire


3/29 - Toledo, Ohio – Carrie Sowden wasn’t always on a path to be an underwater archaeologist, but she’s thrilled to have docked in Toledo.

As a college student, Ms. Sowden searched for an internship that would allow her to spend a summer in Maine, where her family vacationed. She spent a few months preserving artifacts from a 1710 shipwreck. One year later, she wondered if she could make a career out of it.

“All of a sudden, I was like, ‘That was really cool. I could do that. Med school sounds lame,’ ” Ms. Sowden said. “So it was this random, unexpected thing, but it’s turned out really well for me.”

Before joining the National Museum of the Great Lakes as its archaeological director, Ms. Sowden, 41, received degrees from Emory University and Texas A&M University. She traveled as far as Portugal and Turkey, diving to the depths of the seas studying shipwrecks. The diving component is little more than a means of transportation for Ms. Sowden. Finding what lies beneath is the real reward.

“There’s just something about boats that have been present and permanent in human nature for literally thousands of years,” she said. “There’s so much they can tell you about the culture and the people who built it, sailed it, and perhaps died on it.

“I’ll be down there just working away, and all of a sudden I’ll have to stop and think about what I’m really doing. I’m sitting on the edge of this boat that 150 years ago was above the water with a bunch of people on it. This isn’t just numbers and measurements I’m taking, which does mean something, but in the end, it's about the people and the greater story.”

Every shipwreck Ms. Sowden encounters tells a different, yet important tale. She ventured to the bottom of the Red River in Oklahoma to examine the state’s only shipwreck. The steamboat built in New Albany, Ind., was carrying goods from Cincinnati when it sank just a few miles from its destination.

“It’s interesting because the guys who were shipping the goods, their contract said they didn’t get paid until they made it to dock,” Ms. Sowden said.

While in Turkey, Ms. Sowden analysed tin ingots from the Uluburun. The ship sank in 1305 B.C., and each ingot was engraved with the owner’s mark. Ms. Sowden discovered a new owner’s mark that had not been found previously.

The most interesting item she recovered is a bell on display at the museum. The bell was on board the Cortland, which sank in 1868 off the coast of Lorain, Ohio, in Lake Erie, killing 35 people. Most bells on ships were made of brass, but Ms. Sowden was surprised to find this one was made of iron. She discovered it was originally on the ship owner’s farm in Seneca Falls, N.Y.

“People will be like, ‘Oh, did you find gold?’ ” Ms. Sowden said. “But some of the things we do find are super interesting. Archaeology is all dependent on the questions you’re asking.”

Those interested in an up-close-and-personal experience with a shipwreck can take Ms. Sowden’s workshop. The three-part class is designed for divers and nondivers, and begins April 29. Participants will learn about laws and ethics, research, and do their own shipwreck survey in May.

“The people who go through the class, it gives them an ownership of Great Lakes shipwrecks,” Ms. Sowden said. “It’s a piece of history they now know. I really enjoy teaching people about what the Great Lakes have to offer.”

Toledo Blade


3/29 - Toledo, Ohio – Have you ever wondered about the history that sits at the bottom of our Great Lakes? With more than 8,000 shipwrecks in the Great Lakes, there’s so much to be explored. Touring these sites is fun, but learning more about them, how they were built, the people on board, and what happened that fateful evening broadens our knowledge of our shared history. To do that, you need archaeology. That’s why the National Museum of the Great Lakes and the Maritime Archaeology Survey Team will hold its annual shipwreck archaeology training workshop at the National Museum of the Great Lakes, April 29-30.

The workshop is open to anyone with a passion for archaeology, shipwrecks or the history of the Great Lakes. Although the most common participant is a recreational diver, there are dozens of activities for the non-diver. Over the past 14 years, more than 350 people have enrolled in the workshop at the basic or advanced levels.

The weekend workshop includes one day of classroom work, which includes guest speakers on topics like Ship Terms, Laws and Ethics, Research, Survey Tools and Trilateration (the technique used to measure shipwrecks). The second day has participants putting their survey skills to the test aboard the Col. James M. Schoonmaker, which is permanently docked at the museum. Then on either May 20 or 21, participants spend a day at the White Star Quarry testing their skills underwater.

After completion of the workshop program, participants are invited to take part in the survey of a Lake Erie Shipwreck over the summer. This year, the summer survey on Lake Erie will continue last year’s work of surveying the wreck of the Admiral, lost with all hands in Lake Erie off of Avon Lake, Ohio, on December 2, 1942 after leaving Toledo toward Cleveland towing the Clevco, a fuel oil barge. The Admiral was a regular visitor to Toledo and was involved in the fuel trade, which was common during that time.

There are two levels of training: Basic and Advanced. The Basic class is open to anyone who is interested in shipwreck archaeology and is over 16 years of age. The Advanced class is open to people that have previously taken the basic class. Details about the levels of training can be found at Nautical Archaeology Workshop.

As part of the training weekend, MAST will be holding its annual meeting, dinner and program. This is open to everyone. This year we will be hosting Wayne Lusardi, Michigan State Underwater Archaeologist, who will be speaking about his work in Lake Huron on airplanes.

Registration for the workshop is $170 for either level and includes one ticket to the MAST annual dinner that will be held on April 29 at the SeaGate Center in Toledo, Ohio.

National Museum of the Great Lakes


N. M. Paterson & Sons, PRINDOC (Hull#657) of Davie Shipbuilding Co., Ltd., Lauzon, Quebec, was sold off-lakes during the week of March 29, 1982, to the Southern Steamship Co., Georgetown, Cayman Islands and was renamed b.) HANKEY. Later renamed c.) CLARET III in 1990, d.) S SARANTA in 1992, e.) PLATANA IN 1997, Scrapped at Alaiga, Turkey in 1997.

On 29 March 1888, D. D. JOHNSON (wooden propeller tug, 45 foot, 17 gross tons) was launched at E. Saginaw, Michigan. She was built for Carkin, Stickney & Cram and lasted until 1909.

1973: MANCHESTER TRADER, the second ship of this name to visit the Great Lakes, was owned by the Prince Line when it first came inland, on charter to Manchester Liners Ltd., in 1964. The ship was renamed e) WESTERN PRINCE in 1969 and also transited the Seaway that year. It became f) MARINER in 1971 and was abandoned in the Pacific on this date in 1973. The ship was leaking in heavy weather en route from Havana, Cuba, to Kobe, Japan, and was presumed to have sunk about 35.00 N / 152.47 E.

1973: DAVID MARQUESS OF MILFORD HAVEN, one of the longest named saltwater ships to visit the Great Lakes, was the first saltwater ship of the season upbound in the Seaway.

1990: The MAYA FARBER visited the Great Lakes in 1981. It arrived at Alang, India, under tow for scrapping on this date following an explosion and fire off Port Sudan as d) RAAD AL-BAKRY VIII on January 15, 1990.