7/17 - Green Bay, Wis. – An official of the company that owns the Great Lakes ship Kaye E. Barker said the vessel’s captain encountered "unexpected and strong currents" that caused trouble for his vessel Sunday afternoon.
The more than 700-foot-long Barker flattened a small boat that was tied up on the edge of the Fox River outside a restaurant, then struck the Ray Nitschke Memorial Bridge, putting the span out of commission for more than three hours
Currents "pushed him to port as he was backing toward the bridge," said Tom Wynne, vice president and general counsel for The Interlake Steamship Co. of Ohio. "My understanding is that he came up against the fendering, but not the bridge itself."
Witnesses said a U.S. Coast Guard crew was on scene almost immediately after the incident. Green Bay Metro firefighters were at the scene just before sunset Sunday dealing with gas and oil that had leaked from the destroyed boat, which had two outboard motors, Battalion Chief Steve Sellin said.
Before the incident, the Barker had unloaded its cargo of coal to the C. Reiss Coal Co on the river's western shore just south of the Tilleman Bridge at Mason Street, and was scheduled to head to Michigan.
The Barker was docked Sunday evening at the Fox River Terminal, on the river's west shore just north of the Frigo bridge. That was done so the Coast Guard could continue its investigation, Wynne said.
Curt Cornell has worked at Green Bay's Hagemeister Park for six summers, but he'd never seen anything like what happened Sunday afternoon.
"The boat was coming in, we had a full patio, and everyone was taking pictures — the usual drill," said Cornell, Hagemeister's general manager. "We were in the piano bar and noticed the boat was really close. Then people just started screaming and yelling."
The owner of the destroyed boat had been enjoying lunch at Hagemeister when the incident occurred, Cornell said. He said a woman told him, "We have a tab open, but we're going to take care of this first" before running to the river's edge to speak with the Coast Guard.
As Hagemeister's patio full of stunned patrons watched, the Barker struck the CityDeck, left a boat of 16 to 18 feet in pieces, and sent kayaks tumbling from the dock into the water. The Barker then smacked the Nitschke bridge.
The incident, which happened about 3:30 p.m., left the bridge stuck in the open position and forced city police to detour east-west traffic to the nearby Walnut Street Bridge. Crews were raising and lowering the Nitschke bridge as of 6 p.m., but had not allowed traffic to cross.
"It was crazy," said Elizabeth Feldhausen, who watched the incident while at Hagemeister to celebrate her cousin's 24th birthday. "Everybody started running; this family ran out yelling, 'That's our boat!' "It literally was gone in 30 seconds."
Like many others at Hagemeister, Feldhausen recorded camera-phone video of the incident.
No injuries were reported. Cars and trucks, meanwhile, backed up on both sides of the bridge. The other bridges in Green Bay — the Walnut Street, Don A. Tilleman and Leo Frigo Memorial — remained open.
The city of Green Bay on Thursday had closed the CityDeck and Leicht docks because of high water levels made access difficult
After striking the one boat, the ship missed a larger boat tied to the City Deck, Feldhausen said. She said a child had been playing near the water's edge minutes before the incident.
The Barker, built in 1952 as the Edward B. Greene, is 767 feet long and can carry 25,900 gross tons of cargo, according to the company's website. The Barker was renamed the Benson Ford in 1985, and the Kaye E. Barker — honoring the wife of Interlake's chairman — in 1989. It has undergone work at Bay Shipbuilding in Sturgeon Bay in 2012, according to the website.
Green Bay Press Gazette
7/17 - Cleveland, Ohio – Five people were rescued in two separate cases during the annual Chicago Yacht Club Race to Mackinac Sunday on Lake Michigan. One person was rescued by a Good Samaritan after falling overboard during the race and four people were rescued by the Coast Guard after their sailing vessel capsized during the race.
The first case took place shortly after midnight local time, approximately 40 miles east of Port Washington, Wisconsin. The person was wearing a life jacket and a personal locator beacon and was in good condition despite being in the water for over an hour. The Good Samaritan who rescued the person was also competing in the race.
In the second case, three red flares were reported approximately 30 miles east of Fox Point, Wisconsin, shortly after 1 a.m local time. The rescuer, who was a part of the race, arrived on the scene of the flare's origin and reported that the vessel had capsized and four people were on top of the vessel's hull. The rescuer was unable to render assistance due to weather conditions.
The vessel had capsized due to a series of 35 mile-per-hour winds that shifted from the south to the northwest very quickly. Only two of the four people on the vessel's hull were wearing life jackets. They did have an electronic position indicating radio beacon and flares.
The Coast Guard cutter Biscayne Bay, which was near to assist in cases of distress, and an Air Facility Waukegan MH-65 helicopter crew was diverted and arrived on scene simultaneously. The MH-65 helicopter hovered over the distressed vessel and provided assistance with their spotlight while a small boat from the Biscayne Bay rescued the four people and transferred them to the cutter.
All four people were reported to be in good condition and did not require medical attention.
The Coast Guard strongly recommends boaters wear their life jacket at all times while underway in case of unexpected weather conditions. Additionally, a personal locater beacon and signaling devices, like flares, can greatly reduce search time and increase rescue probability.
USCG
Today in Great Lakes History - July 17
On this day in 1902, the JAMES H. HOYT, the first boat with hatches constructed at 12-foot centers, loaded 5,250 tons of iron ore in 30.5 minutes on her maiden voyage. Several days later, the cargo was unloaded at Conneaut in three hours and 52 minutes.
On this day in 1961, the C&P dock in Cleveland set a new unloading record when they removed more than 15,000 tons of ore from the holds of the E. G. GRACE in 3 hours and 20 minutes.
The ASHCROFT was towed out of Quebec City on July 17, 1969, in tandem with the steamer SIR THOMAS SHAUGHNESSY by the Polish tug JANTAR for scrapping at Castellon, Spain.
The BROOKDALE, of 1909, lost her self-unloading boom overboard in the Detroit River during a wind and rainstorm on July 17, 1980, while loading salt at the Canadian Rock Salt Dock at Ojibway, Ontario.
The Cleveland Tanker's COMET was towed from Toledo to Ashtabula, Ohio, on July 17, 1973, where she was broken up during the summer and fall of 1973.
WILLIAM J. FILBERT was launched in 1907, as a.) WILLIAM M. MILLS (Hull#348) at Lorain, Ohio by American Ship Building Co. for the Weston Transit Co. (William M. Mills, mgr.).
On her last trip, the COLONEL JAMES PICKANDS arrived at Cleveland, Ohio on July 17, 1974, with a load of iron ore.
Mohawk Navigation's GOLDEN HIND loaded her first dry bulk cargo on July 17, 1954. She had been rebuilt from the Imperial Oil Ltd.'s tanker a.) IMPERIAL WOODBEND.
On 17 July 1856, TINTO (wooden propeller, 135 foot, built in 1855-56, at Sorel, Quebec) caught fire and burned to a total loss only 2 miles from shore. She was between Snake Island and Nine Mile Point on Lake Ontario. 18 lives were lost. The survivors jumped into the water and were picked up by a boat from shore. A newspaper article stated that she had no lifeboat aboard. Her machinery was later recovered and installed in the AVON.
On 17 July 1883, B PARSONS (2-mast wooden schooner, 218 tons, built in 1856, at Vermilion, Ohio) struck the north pier while entering the harbor at Charlevoix, Michigan during a gale. She sank crosswise in the channel and blocked passage into the harbor for two weeks until she broke up enough to allow vessels to pass. In December, the steam tug S S COE towed the hulk a half mile down the beach and abandoned it.
The Canada Steamship Line's HAMONIC burned at her pier at Point Edward bear Sarnia, Ont., on July 17, 1945. A warehouse next to the HAMONIC 's pier burst into flames from a fire that began from a gasoline motor for conveyor equipment being repaired by workmen. The flames and smoke were carried by a breeze to the HAMONIC. Almost in a matter of minutes the HAMONIC was doomed. She was aflame at dockside. The captain and the engineer were able to move the ship down the dock from the raging flames from the warehouse. Many of the passengers were able to get ashore. Some passengers went ashore by climbing into the bucket of a crane, which hoisted them on shore to safety. Every one of the passengers and crew were saved.
1933: SONORA and WILLIAM NELSON were in a collision in the Bar Point Channel, Lake Erie. The two ships were found at equal fault. The former was scrapped at Ashtabula in 1961 while the latter arrived at Bilbao, Spain, for dismantling as c) BEN E. TATE on July 12, 1969.
1989: SHEILA YEATES, a tall-ship visitor to the Great Lakes, hit an ice pack in fog on the North Atlantic and eventually sank 430 miles south of Greenland after an attempt to tow the leaking ship to safety failed. All on board were saved.
7/16 - Buffalo, N.Y. – Two decommissioned Navy ships, towed by tugboats, arrived at a desolate stretch of downtown Buffalo's waterfront 40 years ago this summer. One city official described the arrivals as "instant urban renewal."
The remark proved prophetic. The USS The Sullivans and the even bigger USS Little Rock were intended as memorials on an empty waterfront. They are currently major destination points that contributed to the waterfront's rebirth.
Hundreds of couples have married aboard them. Veterans celebrate reunions. Business groups hold parties. There are even weekend scouting camp-outs aboard the vessels.
And Saturday morning, the 19 volunteers who served as the crew members who delivered the ships to Buffalo in the summer of 1977 were honored. Most of those 19 volunteers have died, but not all who made the park possible are gone.
"We still have people like Anthony LoRusso, who is the father of the park," said retired Coast Guard Capt. Brian W. Roche, executive director of the Buffalo and Erie County Naval & Military Park. "But it was these fellows who volunteered and made the park come to life. They went and picked up the Sullivans and Little Rock."
The idea of the naval park started with LoRusso. He was visiting a friend, a Marine pilot, in North Carolina in 1975 when the friend suggested he visit the USS North Carolina, a decommissioned battleship, that had been designated a National Historic Landmark and turned into a museum in Wilmington, N.C.
"I saw the USS North Carolina and said, 'God, I wish something like that could happen in Buffalo.' When I came home, I spoke with Mayor Stanley Makowski and he said, "Anthony, that's an interesting idea. Why don't you see what you can do?' " recalled the 76-year-old LoRusso, a retired judge.
Two summers later, as he stood on the waterfront adjacent to War Memorial Auditorium with Urban Renewal Commissioner Richard L. Miller, they marveled as the Little Rock arrived in August 1977, one month after the Sullivans had moored beside a seawall and bollards the city constructed especially for the two ships.
"I remember Richard Miller was standing next to me and looking up at the huge mass in front of us and he exclaimed, 'Instant urban renewal!' But for years the only thing that was down there were the ships. The park survived on fees from a parking lot we had that was used by people going to Buffalo Braves and Sabres games," LoRusso said.
The decommissioned ships were docked near the area where the Canadiana years earlier had ferried generations of Buffalonians across Lake Erie to Crystal Beach Amusement Park. But when the Canadiana stopped, the waterfront turned desolate, LoRusso said.
Read more and view photos at this link:
buffalonews.com/2017/07/14/navy-ships-arrived-40-years-ago-canalside-superstar-attractions/ 7/16 - Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. – An icon in Sault Ste. Marie, and all of the Great Lakes celebrated its 100th birthday Friday. The steamship Valley Camp was put into service on this date back in 1917 as the SS Louis W. Hill. She became the SS Valley Camp in 1955, then a museum in the Soo in 1972.
As part of the celebration, the last survivor of the Carl D. Bradley tragedy was on hand to sign copies of his book about the disaster. Touring the SS Valley Camp brought back memories of his day on the Bradley.
“I went up in the number one cargo hold, I looked around and said "boy, I remember this down here shoveling and then looking around. You just don't know just how big these ships are until you get aboard and see all of this,” Frank Mays, survivor of Carl. D. Bradley sinking said.
The Jim Robertson Art Gallery was unveiled in the bow of the museum.
View a video at this link:
www.9and10news.com/story/35890801/sault-ste-marie-celebrates-100-years-for-ss-valley-camp DETROIT EDISON, of 1955, departed Quebec City July 16th 1986, along with former fleet mate SHARON, in tow of the U.S. tug PRUDENT, to Brownsville, Texas for scrapping.
The SAGINAW BAY departed Quebec City on July 16, 1985, in tandem with the E.B. BARBER, towed by the Polish tug KORAL for scrapping at Vigo, Spain.
NORTHERN VENTURE, a.) VERENDRYE of 1944, entered Great Lakes service July 16, 1961, upbound light for the Canadian lake head to load grain.
On July 16, 1935, the BRUCE HUDSON capsized on Lake Ontario off Cobourg, Ontario, while in tow of the wooden-hulled tug MUSCALLONGE.
Keel-laying of the CHI-CHEEMAUN (Hull#205) was on July 16, 1973, at Collingwood, Ontario by Collingwood Shipyards Ltd. for Ontario Northland Transport Commission.
CATARACT (wooden propeller, 15 foot', 352 tons, built in 1852, at Buffalo) caught fire on 16 July 1861, 5 miles off Erie, Pennsylvania. She became an inferno astern in just a few minutes and this prevented her boats from being launched. Four died. Some were saved by clinging to floating wreckage and some others were rescued by a small fishing boat. The schooner ST PAUL picked up some survivors. Among those picked up by Captain Mosher of the ST PAUL, were Captain McNally and the CATARACT's carpenter. Capt. Mosher had rescued these same two men in 1858, when the propeller INDIANA was lost in Lake Superior.
On 16 July 1873, the new barge MINNEAPOLIS was towed to Detroit for outfitting. She had just been launched four days earlier at Marine City, Michigan. While on the way to Detroit, a Canadian man named Sinclair fell overboard and drowned. On 16 July 1874, The Port Huron Times reported that "the old steamer REINDEER has been rebuilt to a barge by L. C. Rogers at H. C. Schnoor's shipyard at Fair Haven, [Michigan]. Her beautiful horns have been taken down, [she carried a set of large antlers], her machinery and cumbersome side-wheels removed, and she has been fully refitted with center arch and deck frame complex."
July 16, 1961, the PIONEER CHALLENGER entered service. Built in 1943, as a T-3 tanker a.) MARQUETTE, renamed b.) U.S.S. NESCHANIC (AO-71) in 1943, c.) GULFOIL in 1947, d.) PIONEER CHALLENGER in 1961, e.) MIDDLETOWN in 1962, and f.) AMERICAN VICTORY in 2006.
1911 ¬ MAINE, upbound with a load of coal, caught fire in the St. Clair River and was run aground on the Canadian shore. The crew escaped.
1958 ¬ The Swedish freighter ERHOLM and the FRANK ARMSTRONG of the Interlake fleet were in a collision in northern Lake St. Clair with minor damage to both ships. ERHOLM had earlier been a Great Lakes caller as a) ERLAND and later came through the Seaway in 1959-1960. It returned inland again in 1961 and 1962 as c) OTIS. The ship arrived at Gadani Beach, Pakistan, for scrapping as h) DIMITRA K. on August 25, 1980.
7/15 - Thunder Bay, Ont. – A new fundraising campaign for the Alexander Henry kicks off on Saturday at the Thunder Bay Country Market.
The campaign is called Henry Needs You, said Charlie Brown, president of the Lakehead Transportation Museum Society. “We still need to raise the rest of the $50,000 for matching funds from our private donor,” said Brown, adding that they are accepting all donations. “Every donation that’s made is doubled by a private donor up to $50,000.”
Even though the retired icebreaker is still waiting for a permanent home, work continues to make the ship a viable tourist attraction for the city. The Alexander Henry is currently tied up at the old ore dock south of the marina. Museum society board members, with a portable power source, are already beginning work to get her ready for the public.
“We’re trying to do some basic cleaning,” said Brown. “She’s been sitting for years so she’s kind of dirty and disorganized.” Brown said they will do as much as they can while they wait for a decision to be made by city council if the retired coast guard vessel will find a home at Pool Six or the Kam River Park.
With city council out until July 24, Brown said the initial plan to open for the August long weekend is off the table and it will most likely be closer to the end of that month. There is still much to do, said Brown. Once a site is chosen they will have to arrange for the ship to be towed there, hook up electrical, have mooring surveys done and assessment surveys.
“I’m sure we’re going to have the health inspectors and the fire marshals in just to do a preliminary check for us before we open to the public,” said Brown. “And then of course the site prep itself, depending on where we are, we’re going to need fencing, security cameras and general cleanup as well.”
The museum society is looking for volunteers for all those types of projects, said Brown, hoping to have people in place to get to work the minute they get the go-ahead from the city.
Visit
www.ltms.ca to help The Chronicle-Journal
7/15 - Cleveland, Ohio – The U.S. Coast Guard rescued two men from the water after their boat sank while on a fishing trip near Waukegan Harbor, Illinois, Friday. The two men, 29 and 31 years old, were approximately one mile east of Waukegan Harbor when their 15-foot bass boat began taking on water and sank in approximately 10 minutes.
Shortly after noon, central time, the Coast Guard received a call from one of the men in the water who was using his partially waterproof cell phone. Coast Guard Station Kenosha launched a 45-foot response boat-medium and rescued the two men from the 58 degree water.
The first person rescued did not have a life jacket on and was treading water while holding onto a small boat fender. The second person had his life jacket on backwards and was holding his cell phone above his head to keep it dry while treading water. Both men were exhausted and cold from being in the water nearly 45 minutes.
The men had bought a new plug for their boat and thought that it fell out while they were driving onto the lake, resulting in water quickly coming in once they anchored according to their statements. The men did not have a float plan and no one knew they were going out on the water.
The Coast Guard urges boaters to have a plan when they go out on the water, to carry multiple signaling devices, to have enough working life jackets, and to bring an electronic position indicating radio beacon.
USCG
7/15 - A "significant" harmful algae bloom is expected to form in western Lake Erie this summer, though it probably won't be as large as some previous formations that posed health risks and hampered tourism, scientists said Thursday.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and research partners released their annual algae forecast for the shallowest and warmest of the Great Lakes, where massive algae formations are a recurring threat to the environment and the economy.
Toxic contamination from a 2014 bloom prompted a two-day shutdown of tap water systems for 400,000 people in Toledo, Ohio, and southeastern Michigan.
"It'll be large, green and ugly and will cause the same kinds of issues it has in the past for charter boat captains trying to get people out to fish," said Don Scavia, a University of Michigan scientist.
It's unlikely to create another drinking water crisis like the one three years ago. It resulted from a rare combination of factors, including high levels of toxins generated by the bloom and its location near Toledo's offshore water intake facility, NOAA oceanographer Rick Stumpf said.
Monitoring has been stepped up since then and early-detection devices installed, he added. Still, the situation underscores the need to reduce the flow of nutrients into the lake that feed algae and similar bacteria, primarily from farms but also sewage treatment plants and other sources, Stumpf said.
Researchers have developed a scale for rating the severity of a bloom based on how much algae it contains over a sustained period. They predict this year's will register a score of 7.5, though it could range anywhere from six to 9.5.
A rating above five indicates a potentially harmful level, meaning such blooms could do damage by producing toxins or sucking enough oxygen from the water to cause fish kills.
When they developed the scale, researchers thought the maximum score would be a 10. A 2011 bloom reached that mark and a 2015 bloom exceeded it, registering a 10.5 as the biggest on record. It's worth noting that a bloom's size doesn't necessarily reflect its toxicity.
The 2016 bloom rated a mild 3.2, which experts credited largely to dry weather. Spring and summer rainfall plays a key role in bloom formation by washing fertilizers from croplands into streams and rivers that flow into the lake. Phosphorus in chemical fertilizers and livestock manure promotes algae growth.
The weather has been significantly wetter this year, and the bloom size is expected to reflect that.
Recent algae formations in western Lake Erie have taken shape in late July and grown bigger in early August. A similar pattern is expected in coming months.
"A bloom of this size is evidence that the research and outreach efforts currently underway to reduce nutrient loading, optimize water treatment, and understand bloom dynamics need to continue," said Christopher Winslow, Ph.D., director of the Ohio Sea Grant College Program.
But he added that despite its anticipated size, "much of the lake will be algae-free throughout the bloom season and the lake remains a key asset."
Michigan, Ohio and the Canadian province of Ontario have agreed to cut phosphorus going into the lake by 40 per cent over the next decade.
CBC
July 15, 1991 - The Spanish, 1975-built, 7,311 gross ton, ocean motor bulk carrier MILANOS, anchored in the Detroit River since July 2, began the long slow trip home. Auxiliar de Transporte Maritimos, the ship’s owners, decided it would be cheaper to tow the crippled ship home for repairs rather than have the repairs performed locally. The ship's engine seized after the crankshaft broke. She departed Detroit, bound for Montreal under tow of Malcolm Marine's TUG MALCOLM and McKeil's tug ARGUE MARTIN. The tow passed down the Seaway on July 19.
On July 15, 1961, the d.) WALTER A. STERLING, now f.) LEE A. TREGURTHA), entered service on the Great Lakes for Cleveland Cliffs Steamship Co., after conversion from a T-3 tanker. The next day, on July 16, 1961, the d.) PIONEER CHALLENGER, now f.) AMERICAN VICTORY, entered service for the Pioneer Steamship Co (Hutchinson & Co., mgr.).
The CHICAGO TRADER was launched as a.) THE HARVESTER (Hull#391) at Lorain, Ohio, by American Ship Building Co. in 1911, for the Wisconsin Steel Co.
In 1946, the NORISLE (Hull#136) was launched at Collingwood, Ontario, by Collingwood Shipyards Ltd. for the Dominion & Owen Sound Transportation Co. Ltd. In 1934, the ANN ARBOR NO 4 collided with the steamer N. F. LEOPOLD in a heavy fog.
On Saturday, 15 July 1871, an argument between Captain James Bradley and Mate John Reed started while the schooner ROBERT EMMETT was docked at Erie, Pennsylvania unloading iron ore. They were still shouting at each other as the ship sailed out of the harbor. In short order, the ship turned around and anchored in the harbor. At 3 the following morning, Reed rowed ashore, went directly to the police station and charged that Capt. Bradley had assaulted him with a knife. At dawn, as the police were on their way to question Capt. Bradley, they found him stepping ashore from the deck of a tug, fuming that Reed had stolen the ship's only small boat. Bradley and Reed were at each other again and the police arrested both men. Bradley then filed charges against Reed for mutiny, assault and theft of the ship's boat. The case went to court the very next day. Justice of the Peace Foster saw his courtroom packed with curious sailors and skippers. Reed and Bradley were both still fuming and after listening to just a little testimony, Foster found both men guilty, fined them both and ordered both to pay court costs. The matter didn't end there since Reed later had to get a court order to get his personal belongings off the EMMETT. There is no record of what the disagreement was that started this whole mess.
The iron side-wheel steamer DARIUS COLE (201 foot, 538 gross tons) was launched at the Globe Iron Works (Hull #10) in Cleveland, Ohio on 15 July 1885. During her career, she had two other names b.) HURON 1906 - 1921, and c.) COLONIAL 1921 - 1925. She burned off Barcelona, New York, on Lake Erie on 1 September 1925, while on an excursion. The hull was beached and later towed to Dunkirk, New York, for scrapping.
1885: The rail car ferry LANSDOWNE and the CLARION were in a collision on the Detroit River.
1895: CIBOLA caught fire and burned at the dock at Lewiston, NY, with the loss of one life. The hull was towed to Toronto and used in a fill project.
1943: GEORGE M. HUMPHREY sank off Old Point Mackinac Light following a collision with the D.M. CLEMSON. The ship was salvaged in 1944 and rebuilt at Sturgeon Bay as b) CAPTAIN JOHN ROEN in 1945 and became c) ADAM E. CORNELIUS in 1948 and d) CONSUMERS POWER in 1958.
1977: The ore- laden CADILLAC went aground in the St. Marys River after missing a turn in fog. It was released the next day with the help of 3 tugs.
1986: The C.S.L. self-unloader MANITOULIN went aground at Sandusky, off Cedar Point, after losing power. The ship was released with the help of tugs.
1998: LITA hit the knuckle at the Eisenhower Lock and sustained damage to the starboard side. The vessel later hit bottom of the channel near the Snell Lock but there was no additional damage. The ship was enroute from Toledo to Algeria. The 11,121 gross ton saltwater vessel was still in service as of 2012.
