Today in Great Lakes History

[yachtsmanwilly]

4/9 - Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. – The cold temperatures aren’t helping to melt the ice, some of it two feet thick, on the St. Marys River and Whitefish Bay. And the ice is creating havoc for vessel traffic.

The freighter Calumet was damaged by ice Friday upstream of the Soo Locks. After temporary repairs at the Soo, she continued her trip to Toledo on Sunday. At this time, it’s unknown to what extent the freighter was damaged.

9&10 News



4/9 - Chicago, Ill. – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has released a plan to tackle the most serious threats facing Lake Huron and the St. Marys River. A report made public Friday by EPA's regional office in Chicago assesses the lake's ecosystem problems, sets research and monitoring priorities and outlines steps toward improvements.

It says Lake Huron is in "fair" condition overall. Among challenges are chemical contaminants, invasive species and nutrient pollution. A partnership including government agencies and native tribes in the U.S. and Canada will work together toward solving the problems.

The report was developed under the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement, which calls for the two nations to issue updated management plans for each of the lakes on five-year cycles.

Read the details of the plan at this link: www.epa.gov/greatlakes/lake-huron

Associated Press



4/7 - Mackinaw City, Mich. – The mineral oil leak in American Transmission Company’s utility lines may have been caused by vessel activity in the Straits of Mackinac. In addition to the ongoing environmental response, the Coast Guard initiated a marine casualty investigation Friday.

The Unified Command initiated notifications to entities responsible for other lines that cross the Straits to ensure that all steps are taken to assess and mitigate any potential damage to infrastructure or risk to the public health and the environment. Currently, there are no new indications of possible pollution.

The Coast Guard and ATC will continue to conduct overflights throughout the week as well as surveying the water from vessels. No oil sheen or indications of pollution are present.

The Unified Command’s effort to extract oil from ATC’s utility lines is ongoing. The estimated mineral oil spill from ATC’s utility lines remains at 600 gallons.

USCG



4/7 - Chicago, Ill. – A U.S. Coast Guard Hearing Officer imposed a $14,000 civil penalty to Jim Finnegan of Prospect Heights, Ill., on March 19, 2018 for operating a commercial passenger vessel in violation of federal regulations.

As part of a concerted effort by the U.S. Coast Guard and the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, officials were able to determine that on July 29, 2017, Finnegan operated the 31-foot cabin cruiser Irish Wake as a passenger vessel. Nine of the 11 passengers onboard paid Finnegan via a web-based application to get underway for a four-hour-voyage.

Operators who take on paying passengers are considered to be operating a charter vessel. Operating a charter vessel without the required documents and license may be a violation of federal law, and the operator could be subject to criminal or civil liability.

The owner was found violating the following federal regulations:

Operating in commercial service without a licensed operator onboard - $5,000, Failure to enroll in a drug-testing program - $5,000,

Operating with more than six paying passengers without a valid Certificate of Inspection - $2,000, and

Operating with more than six paying passengers without a “Stability” letter issued by the Coast Guard - $2,000.

If the boat is carrying more than six paying passengers, it is required to be inspected by the Coast Guard. The Certificate of Inspection should be displayed in an area accessible to passengers.

“Regulations are in place to help ensure the safety of passengers,” said Cmdr. Zeita Merchant, commanding officer of Coast Guard Marine Safety Unit Chicago. “Illegal Passenger Vessel operations pose a significant hazard to life, property and the marine environment.”

Anyone who wishes to verify the inspected status of a vessel, or who wishes to report a vessel suspected of operating illegally, may contact Coast Guard Marine Safety Unit Chicago at 630-986-2155.

USCG


On April 7, 1997, LEE A. TREGURTHA suffered an 18-foot hull fracture in her port bow near the bowthruster tunnel while downbound in the upper St. Marys River due to heavy ice. She proceeded to the De Tour Coal Dock, where repairs were made overnight and she continued on her trip on April 8, 1997.
On 07 April 1906, the Goodrich Transportation Company, which was incorporated under the laws of the State of Wisconsin in 1868, was dissolved and a new company, the Goodrich Transit Company, was incorporated under the laws of the state of Maine. This was just for financial reasons, and other than the name and the port of registry of the vessels, everything else remained the same. The vessels in the company at the time were CHICAGO, CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS, CITY OF RACINE, GEORGIA, INDIANA, IOWA, SHEBOYGAN, VIRGINIA, and tug ARCTIC.

Upper Lakes Shipping Ltd.'s new CANADIAN TRANSPORT was christened April 7, 1979.

The tanker ROBERT W. STEWART, b.) AMOCO MICHIGAN was delivered to Standard Oil Co. on April 7, 1928, as the second largest tanker in service at the time of her launch.

JAMES LAUGHLIN (Hull#16) of the Great Lakes Engineering Works was launched April 7, 1906, for the Interstate Steamship Co., Jones & Laughlin Steel Corp. Later renamed b.) HELEN EVANS, she was scrapped at Cartagena, Columbia, in 1983.

The EMORY L. FORD was sold on April 7, 1965, to the Reiss Steamship Co., and renamed b) RAYMOND H. REISS, the last vessel purchased by Reiss.

TEXACO BRAVE of 1929 arrived at Ramey's Bend from Toronto on April 7, 1975, in tow of tugs G. W. ROGERS and BAGOTVILLE for scrapping.

In 1974, the Pittsburgh Steamship Co.'s steamer THOMAS W. LAMONT loaded the initial shipment of ore for the season at the D.M. & I.R. ore docks in Duluth.

On 7 April 1871, the tug S.V.R. WATSON was towing the schooner S.G. SIMMONS out of Chicago harbor at noon when the WATSON stalled. The schooner plowed into her broadside, causing the tug to tip on her beam ends, take on water and sink. Four men were trapped below decks and drowned; two survived. The WATSON was later raised and returned to service.

On 7 April 1873, the contract for the building of a new carferry, MICHIGAN, for the Great Western Railway was awarded to the Jenkins Brothers of Windsor, Ontario. The new vessel was planned for service on the Detroit River. Her engines were built at Montreal by Canada Engine Works for a cost of $100,000. The hull alone cost $600,000.

Although the locks are not scheduled to open until Thursday, 12 April 1962, the Canadian Sault harbor was officially opened Saturday, 7 April 1962, when the tanker IMPERIAL LONDON pulled into the Imperial dock between the two hospitals. Captain Russell Knight accepted the traditional silk top hat. The IMPERIAL LONDON, carrying almost 1,000,000 gallons of gasoline, led the IMPERIAL SIMCOE, loaded with 19,000 barrels of fuel oil for household heating, up the St. Marys River to the Sault.

1941: The PORTADOC had been requisitioned by the British Ministry of War Transport and was en route from Saint John, NB, to Sierra Leone with a cargo of coal when it was torpedoed by U-124 off the coast of Africa. The crew spent six days on the open sea before landing at French Guinea. They were taken prisoner by the Vichy French forces and the Chief Engineer died before there was a prisoner of war exchange. The vessel, part of the Paterson fleet, had also sailed on the Great Lakes as a) EUGENE C. ROBERTS and b) JAMES B. FOOTE.

1968: CAPTAIN LEONIDIS ran aground in the Messier Channel, Chile, while travelling from Santos, Brazil, to Valparaiso, Chile. The vessel stranded April 7, 1968, and became a total loss. It had first come to the Great Lakes as the Norwegian freighter d) FANA in 1964 and returned as e) CAPTAIN LEONIDIS in 1966. The hull remains aground and appears to have been used by the Chilean Navy for target practice.

1979: GEHEIMRAT SARTORI dated from 1951 and had been a pre-Seaway caller to the Great Lakes. It returned through the new waterway for three trips in 1959 and was sailing as c) SEA ROVER when it was lost on this date in 1979. The cargo shifted in heavy weather on the Mediterranean while the ship was en route from Civitavecchia, Italy, to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. It sank about eight miles off Punta Cornacchia.

08 April 1871, NAVARINO (wooden propeller passenger-package freight steamer, 184 foot, 761 tons, built in 1871, at Manitowoc, Wisconsin) entered service for the Goodrich Transportation Company. She only lasted until 09 October 1871, since she burned in the Great Chicago Fire.
BAY CITY (wooden propeller stem barge, 152 foot, 262 gross tons, built in 1867, at Newport [Marine City], Michigan) had just been rebuilt at Bay City and then refitted at Fitzgerald & Leighton’s yard in Port Huron, Michigan. On 08 April 1871, (some sources give the date as 10 April 1871), on her first trip out from the shipyard, she caught fire and burned to the water line. She was rebuilt again and lasted until 1891, when she burned again.

The sea trials for AMERICAN REPUBLIC were conducted in Green Bay on April 8 thru 10, May 4 thru 11 and 18, 1981.

Interlake Steamship Co.’s steamer J. A. CAMPBELL of 1913, was the first bulk carrier to load taconite pellets that were shipped from Reserve Mining’s Davis Works at Silver Bay, Minn., on April 8, 1956.

In 1957, Great Lakes Steamship stockholders voted to sell the entire 16-ship fleet to four fleets.

In 1977 at Toledo, G.A. TOMLINSON required an estimated $235,000 to outfit her machinery for the upcoming season.

On April 8, 1905, Pittsburgh Steamship Co.’s steamer a.) ELBERT H. GARY (Hull#66) was launched by the Chicago Ship Building Co. Renamed b.) R.E. WEBSTER in 1963, she was scrapped in 1973 at Santander, Spain.

In 1969, LEON FALK JR. entered Duluth harbor to become the first vessel to arrive from the lower lake region opening the 1969, shipping season at the head of the lakes. She loaded almost 20,700 tons of iron ore bound for Great Lakes Steel’s Zug Island in Detroit.

April 8, 1998 - An unidentified worker was injured in a fall aboard the CITY OF MIDLAND 41, while it was being converted to a barge in Muskegon.

April 8, 1871, was a bad day on the St. Clair River. The schooner A MOSHER had favorable winds, so the captain decided to save the cost of a tow and sail up the St. Clair River without assistance from a tug. In the strong current at Port Huron, the vessel hit some old dock timbers, went out of control and collided with the down bound 3-masted schooner H.C. POST. The POST's main and fore masts were carried away in the collision. After some vehement arguing, the MOSHER sailed on while the POST anchored in mid-river while her skipper went ashore. The schooner JESSE ANDERSON then sailed out of the Black River and rammed right into the side of the POST. This finished the wrecking of the POST's aft mast. The ANDERSON went out of control and went aground on the riverbank. The tug GEORGE H. PARKER tried to assist the ANDERSON, but she also got stuck on the mud bank. It was several hours before everything got cleaned up and river traffic was back to normal.

The steam ferry JULIA, owned by C. Mc Elroy of St. Clair, Michigan, started running between St. Clair and Courtright, Ontario on 8 April 1878. She was formerly named U S SURVEYOR. Before JULIA took over this service, the ferries R.F. CHILDS and MARY MILLS served in this capacity.

The steamer f.) MANCOX (steel propeller crane freighter, 255 foot, 1,614 gross tons, built in 1903, at Superior, Wisconsin, as a.) H.G. DALTON) of Yankcanuck Steamship Lines was first through the Soo Locks for the 1958, season at 7:05 a.m. on 8 April 1958. In locking through the Canadian lock, the MANCOX became the first ship to come through the new lock gates, which were installed during the winter months. The American Soo Locks had been ready for traffic since March 26, but the Canadian lock had the first ship.

1941: The newly-built PRINS WILLEM II first came to the Great Lakes in May 1939. There was a mutiny on board at Sandusky, Ohio, in June 1940, as the crew did not want to return to their now-occupied homeland. The ship was torpedoed off Cape Farewell, Greenland, on April 8, 1941, while travelling from Halifax to London. An estimated 10-12 members of the crew perished.

1942: The first NOVADOC was sailing as g) ARA when it hit a mine and sank off Borkum, Germany, while en route from Gothenburg, Sweden, to Rotterdam, Holland in 1942. The ship had been built as CANADIAN PATHFINDER and was listed as Hull 69 of the Collingwood shipyard. It had also sailed the Great Lakes as b) NORMAN M. PATERSON and c) NOVADOC (i) before being sold to British interests in 1927.

1982: The Canadian-owned QUEBEC came through the Seaway in 1969. It had been built in 1959 as ALICE BOWATER but never came inland under that name. It was sailing as d) BLUE SEA when there was an engine room explosion and fire on April 8, 1982, in the Mediterranean near the Kerkennah Islands in the Gulf of Gabes off Tunisia. The gutted hull was towed to Sfax, Tunisia, on April 12. It was sold for scrap and arrived at Bizerta, Tunisia, for dismantling on July 7, 1984.

2001: The CHERYL C., the fifth name for the ship, was carrying a cargo of steel when it sank on April 8, 2001. The vessel ran aground near Peniche, Portugal, north of Lisbon, due to a navigational error. The 1597 gross ton ship had been built in 1983 and came through the Seaway, under Barbados registry, for the first time on April 22, 1998, with clay for Ashtabula. It made its last inland voyage in November 1999.


09 April 1890 - W.H. SAWYER (wooden propeller freighter, 201 foot, 746 gross tons) was launched by F. W. Wheeler (Hull #66) at West Bay City, Michigan. She lasted until 1928, when she sank off Harbor Beach, Michigan.
On 09 April 1868, SEABIRD (wooden side-wheel steamer, 638 tons, built in 1859, at Newport (Marine City), Michigan, was sailing on her first trip of the season from Manitowoc to Chicago. At 6 a.m. off Waukegan, Illinois, the porter cleaned out the ashes in the cabin stove and threw the hot coals overboard into the wind. The coals were blown back aboard and a blaze quickly engulfed the vessel. Only two survived. They were picked up by the schooner CORNELIA. 102 were lost. The vessel was uninsured and this was a severe financial blow to the new Goodrich Transportation Company.

On April 9, 1960, Canada Steamship Lines Ltd.'s a.) MURRAY BAY (Hull#164), of Collingwood Shipyards Ltd., entered service as the first Canadian 730-footer. Renamed b.) COMEAUDOC in 1963, she was scrapped at Port Colborne in 2003.

LAWRENDOC (Hull#174) was christened jointly with her Collingwood-built sister ship MONDOC (Hull#173) on April 9, 1962.

The Wilson Marine Transit Co., Cleveland purchased the b.) FINLAND, a.) HARRY COULBY (Hull#163) of the Detroit Ship Building Co., on April 9, 1957, and resold her the same day to the Republic Steel Corp., Cleveland with Wilson Marine acting as manager. Renamed c.) PETER ROBERTSON in 1969 and d.) MARINSAL in 1975.

On April 9, 1930, the CITY OF FLINT 32 entered service under the command of Estan Bayle.

On 9 April 1871, the wooden "rabbit" BAY CITY (152 foot, 372 gross tons, built in 1867, at Marine City, Michigan) had just loaded 270,000 feet of lumber in Bay City for Tonawanda, New York, when a fire broke out ashore. The ship was set adrift at 11 a.m. to get away from the lumberyard blaze. However, as the crew watched the shore fire, sparks smoldered in the ship's cargo. At 2 p.m., she burst into flame. Four tugs and a steam-powered fire engine brought alongside on a lighter fought the blaze to no avail. The vessel was scuttled to put out the fire. A few days later she was raised and repaired at a cost of $4,000.

On 9 April 1885, the laid-up vessels BURLINGTON and CHURCH were hit by the barge ALLEN and forced into the Military Street bridge at Port Huron, Michigan, crashing into the structure and completely blocking the Black River and disabling the bridge. The blame was placed on the spring thaw.

1913: Ice sliced through the wooden hull of the steamer UGANDA in the Straits of Mackinac and the vessel sank near White Shoal. The crew was rescued by the JOHN A. DONALDSON, and there was no loss of life.

1962: On November 28, 1961, fire had broken out aboard the IQUITOS off the coast of Mexico while the ship was en route from Callao, Peru, to Manzanillo, Mexico, with a cargo of fishmeal. The vessel had been a pre-Seaway trader as RUTENFJELL beginning in 1936 and as POLYRIVER beginning in 1951. The blazing freighter was abandoned by the crew. The ship did not sink and drifted for weeks before being spotted February 2, 1962. The hull was considered a hazard to navigation and was sunk on this date, southeast of the Christmas Islands by a U.S. destroyer, in 1962.

1968: MENIHEK LAKE was in a minor collision with the anchored PETITE HERMINE in the Lake St. Francis section of the St. Lawrence, and the latter's anchor chain damaged the propeller of MENIHEK LAKE.

[yachtsmanwilly]

4/10 - Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. – Neebish Island residents are still without ferry service. Coast Guard ice breaking assets are steadfast in their effort to clear the ice jam down river but conditions have only gotten worse since the ferry service was first halted.

Scheduled ferry service to Neebish Island was suspended April 2 due to excessive ice cover. The ferry has not operated since the previous Friday morning, leaving the island community without ferry service for 10 days. Strong northwesterly winds and abnormally cold temperatures have plagued Coast Guard efforts to restore ferry service.

EUP Transit Authority and Coast Guard officials revisit the emergent needs of Neebish Island residents several times a day. Contingency plans include the dispatch of a Coast Guard helicopter, use of a privately owned airboat, and the Coast Guard airboat team, deployed to the scene from Saginaw, MI, to manage community service requests during the suspension of ferry service. Island residents who need supplies should contact Jamie Pringle, captain of the Neebish Island Ferry. Mr Pringle is the Coast Guard’s liaison to Neebish Island. Calls for medical emergencies should be placed to 911.

USCG


4/10 - Mackinaw City, Mich. – The Unified Command, comprised of the U.S. Coast Guard, the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, a representative of numerous Michigan tribes, and the responsible party, American Transmission Company, continued to oversee response efforts Monday.

Work to extract the remaining product from two cables continued through the weekend. ATC, a transmission-only electric utility, contracted North Shore Environmental to remove product from the cables. North Shore Environmental is vacuuming the mineral oil from a shore-side facility a through a less than one-inch-diameter void in the cables that stretch three-and-a-half miles across the Straits of Mackinac.

To date, approximately 250 gallons of mineral oil has been extracted from one of the utility cables. Work to remove product from the second damaged cable will commence when the first one is complete. Each cable can hold up to 400 gallons. Product in each cable was secured Tuesday, April 3, and there is no evidence of any ongoing release. The estimated spill of mineral oil from the leak is 600 gallons.

The mineral oil in the cables acts as an insulator to ensure the integrity of the electricity within the cable.

A Coast Guard marine science technician and an environmental quality analyst for Michigan’s Department of Environmental Quality transited the Straights of Mackinac by boat on Saturday and Sunday and observed no signs of pollution. Another Coast Guard marine science technician was present onboard an overflight on Saturday and Sunday and saw no signs of a sheen.

The United States Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, and a Michigan Department of Natural Resources wildlife biologist also surveyed the area on the water and from the shore to look for any signs of pollution or impacted fish and wildlife. No impacts to the environment or wildlife have been identified.

“During the weekend, we surveyed the areas near Mackinac, Round, and Boise Blanc Islands. We then surveyed near the shoreline of Mackinaw City and went west of the bridge,” said Anthony Wilson, wildlife specialist with the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS, Wildlife Services). “We did not see any oil sheen or injured wildlife. We observed more than 1,200 water fowl including long-tailed ducks, common mergansers, herring gulls, common loon and even a bald eagle.”

“Our top priorities remain protecting public health, the safety of the communities in the region and responders, and to limit the environmental impacts from the product that was discharged,” said Coast Guard Capt. Marko Broz, the Federal On-Scene Coordinator for the response. “I am very pleased with the partnership thus far between the federal, state, tribal, and local agencies to ensure the safe extraction of the remaining mineral oil in the two cables and to identify any signs of pollution or negative impact to the environment and wildlife. Moving forward, our focus remains on the effective extraction of the oil from the two cables, protecting wildlife, and identifying any further damage to infrastructure in the Straits.”

The mineral oil leak from ATC's utility cables remains under investigation. All entities responsible for active utility lines that cross the Straits have been notified by the Unified Command to ensure that all steps are taken to assess and mitigate any further damage to infrastructure or risk to public health and the environment. There have been no further indications of damage or possible pollution. However, the utilities are continuing to conduct assessments of their infrastructure.

The U.S. Coast Guard is designated as the lead federal agency for directing and overseeing removal and cleanup efforts by the responsible party in the coastal zone.

To report affected wildlife, please call the USDA at (517)-336-1928. To report any oil sheen or pollution, please call the National Response Center at 1-800-424-8802.

For more information, contact the Point Le Barbe Response at the Joint Information Center via email at [e-mail] or call District 9 Public Affairs at [phone].

USCG


10 April 1868 The ALPENA (wooden side-wheel passenger-package freight steamer, 653 tons, built in 1867, at Marine City, Michigan) was purchased by Capt. A. E. Goodrich from Gardner, Ward & Gardner for $80,000.
On 10 April 1861, UNION (wooden propeller, 170 foot, 465 tons) was launched and christened at the Bates yard in Manitowoc, Wisconsin for the Goodrich Line. She cost $19,000. The engines, machinery and many of the fittings were from the OGONTZ of 1858. This was the first steamer built by the Bates yard.

The tanker TEXACO CHIEF (Hull#193), was christened April 10, 1969. She was renamed b.) A G FARQUHARSON in 1986 and c.) ALGONOVA in 1998. She was sold Panamanian in 2007 and renamed PACIFICO TRADER.

The d.) GODERICH of 1908 was sold April 10, 1963, to the Algoma Central & Hudson Bay Railway Co. and renamed e.) AGAWA. Renamed f.) LIONEL PARSONS in 1968, and served as a storage barge at Goderich, Ontario until 1983, when she was scrapped at Thunder Bay, Ontario.

The keel was laid April 10, 1952, for the steamer WILLIAM CLAY FORD (Hull#300) of the Great Lakes Engineering Works.

The SINCLAIR GREAT LAKES (Hull#1577) of the Ingalls Iron Works, Decatur, Alabama, was christened on April 10, 1963.

On April 10, 1973, the ARTHUR B. HOMER departed the shipyard at Lorain, Ohio, with a new pilothouse. She had suffered extensive damage on October 5, 1972, in a head on collision with the saltie NAVISHIPPER on the Detroit River.

April 10, 1912 - ANN ARBOR NO 5 struck her stern against the channel in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, bending her rudder, and damaging her port shaft.

On 10 April 1875, the propeller EMMA E. THOMPSON was launched at East Saginaw, Michigan. She was built for Capt. D.F. Edwards of Toledo and cost $20,000. Her dimensions were 125 feet x 26 feet x 10 feet. In 1880, she was rebuilt as a schooner and then returned to a propeller in 1881, when she was given the engine from the propeller AKRON.

On 10 April 1882, ESPINDOLA (wooden schooner, 54 tons, built in 1869, at Manitowoc, Wisconsin) was carrying railroad ties when she was overwhelmed by a storm and went to pieces one mile north of the Chicago waterfront. No lives were lost, but four crewmen were rescued by a tug after having been in the water for some time.

MANZZUTTI (steel crane ship, 246 foot, 1558 gross tons, built in 1903, at Buffalo, New York as a.) J S KEEFE) of the Yankcanuck Steamship Ltd., was the first vessel through the Canadian locks at the Soo for the 1954 navigation season. She entered the Canadian canal on 10 April about 8:15 a.m. The locking of the MANZZUTTI was not considered the official opening of the season at the Soo since she wintered in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, and the first vessel must come up the St. Marys River from Lake Huron or Michigan. President Dave Bows of the Kiwanis Club, pointed out the club’s $1,000 marine contest is based on the first such vessel though the Michigan Sault locks only. The U.S. Coast Guard reported six-inch ice in the lower St. Marys River.

1905: The 400-foot steel-hulled bulk carrier GEORGE B. LEONARD arrived in Cleveland with ice damage and leaking bow seams.

1941: The first CEDARBRANCH ran aground at the mouth of the Etobicoke Creek, west of Toronto and had to be lightered to float free.

1949: The former J.H. PLUMMER, once part of Canada Steamship Lines, was reported wrecked, due to stranding in fog, while six miles southwest of Shaweishan on this date in 1949. The vessel was sailing as f) TUNG AN, and was en route from Tsingtao to Shanghai, with scrap steel.

1953: The Finnish freighter ANGELA came to the Great Lakes in 1952 and was wrecked on April 10, 1953, at Frisland, Isle of Coll, due to heavy weather. The vessel was travelling in ballast from Larne, Northern Ireland, to Goole, UK, and was a total loss.

1965: A collision in the Lake St. Peter section of the St. Lawrence involved the TRANSATLANTIC and HERMES. The former, a West German freighter, caught fire and capsized with the loss of three lives. The vessel was salvaged in August and eventually scrapped at Sorel. It had been coming to the Great Lakes for the Poseidon Line since 1961. The latter, a Dutch carrier, never came through the Seaway and was scrapped at Calcutta, India, as NIKI R. in 1985-1986.

1977: HILDA MARJANNE ran aground on a sandbar at Sarnia after leaving the Government Dock with a cargo of corn. It was released the next day with the help of the tug DARYL C. HANNAH.

1989: The canal-sized bulk carrier IROQUOIS, b) TROISDOC (ii), was built in 1955 but left the Seaway as c) KOBA in 1983. That vessel foundered in the Gulf of Mexico, near Isla de Lobos, on this date in 1989 while en route from Tampico to Progresso, Mexico.

[yachtsmanwilly]

4/11 - Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. – It’s been more than two weeks since the Soo Locks opened for shipping, but things are off to a slow start. Ship captains have been seeing delays in traffic due to icy conditions. Ice even damaged one freighter over the weekend.

It is slower than the past couple years, but right now it’s not out of the ordinary. Ice is expected both up and down the St. Marys River this early in the season. But with the weather staying consistently cold, there’s a concern that delays could be an issue later in the year.

“This is fairly typical to have quite a bit of ice in the start of spring because this year, since it hasn’t warmed up enough, I think it will last a lot longer than typical,” said area engineer Kevin Sprague.

“The spring really didn’t warm up enough so we still have a lot of ice. The upper river is all ice covered up in the Whitefish Bay, and there’s a lot of ice in the lower river as well, so it slows down the ships,” Sprague explained.

Ships moving slowly through the area is not much of an issue right now, but could be down the road. “It’s really critical, especially for the steel mills and the coal fired power plants in the lower lakes,” said Sprague.

One hundred percent of the country’s taconite supply, a mineral used for steelmaking, will move through the locks. “Right now their stockpiles are at their lowest at the end of the winter, so it’s really important to get the iron ore moving,” explained Sprague. “We still have a lot of traffic, it’s just a lot of challenge for the ships themselves to move through the river.”

Although a slower time at the locks, it hasn’t slowed ‘boat nerds’ from making their way to the Soo. Linda Bell witnesses it firsthand.

“A ‘boat nerd’ is someone who comes through just before the Locks open and gets a new ‘Know Your Ships’ book for the year and really goes through it,” Bell explained.

She’s already had a bunch of people stop in her store, Das Gift Haus, across the street from the locks. “Yes, it is exciting and people are coming up now to visit,” said Linda. “They’re excited about the boats going through.”

Right now they are seeing just over 10 ships a day come through the locks. The Coast Guard is working practically nonstop to continue to break up the ice in the area.

9 & 10 News


4/11 - Beauharnois, Que. – Fire broke out Tuesday morning in a boat being dismantled in Beauharnois. According to preliminary reports, an engine in the crippled vessel caught fire, creating a plume of smoke that was visible from kilometres away.

Firefighters from Beauharnois and Chateauguay were called to put out the fire, while officials from the Public Safety Ministry were also on hand.

The Kathryn Spirit has been docked in the St. Lawrence River for years, and work to tear apart the ship began in January.

The Beauharnois fire chief told CTV News that all flammable liquids were removed long ago, but that some liquids had been absorbed by materials such as insulation. They suspect some of those soaked materials caught fire, but that everyone on the vessel managed to get out safely.

Several hours after the fire broke out it was still too hot for firefighters to approach the room where the fire was burning, but crews were preparing to pump foam into the room and extinguish the flames.

CTV


4/11 - Barbeau, Mich. – Residents of an Upper Peninsula island have been trapped by ice jams for a week and a half and are trying to wait out an unusual onslaught of subfreezing temperatures until ferry service is restored.

The situation has become untenable enough that one island family over the weekend convinced the U.S. Coast Guard to activate its air boat and evacuated their three grandchildren from Neebish Island. The cutter Neah Bay spent a day trying to break loose the freighter Mesabi Miner from thick ice in the West Neebish Channel.

Ice floes or blockages are one of the hazards of living on sparsely populated Neebish Island, an eastern Upper Peninsula community in the St. Mary’s River that connects Lake Superior to the north and Lake Huron to the south. Every year, the about 40 winter inhabitants keep watch for broken up ice that floats down from Lake Superior and often causes blockages in the narrow waterways surrounding the island.

The Neebish Island Ferry — which connects island residents to the Michigan mainland and surrounding islands — stopped operating March 30 after getting a warning of the impending ice jams from the U.S. Coast Guard two weeks earlier. The ferry normally operated year-round, but on a reduced schedule from Oct. 1 through Memorial Day.

One private air boat or a helicopter are the only other ways off the island, which has no gas station, grocery story or airstrip.

“This could be a long haul,” said 85-year-old Dot Tyner, who has lived on the island for 65 years. “We’d be lucky if it clears in a couple of weeks.”

www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2018/04/09/ice-traps-upper-peninsula-michigan/33692271


4/11 - Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. – Assuming no dredging is necessary, it will still cost the city $35,000 to get the Norgama out of Bondar Marina so it can be hauled off by Peter Gregos-Nicols of Chicago

Sault Ste. Marie City Council was asked to seize the Museum Ship Norgoma and offer it to Chicago businessman Peter Gregos-Nicols. Council voted to defer this matter to its April 23 meeting.

A staff recommendation calls for taking the M.S. Norgoma back from St. Mary's River Marine Heritage Centre, the not-for-profit group of volunteers that has owned the rusting package freighter and former car ferry for 37 years.

The group's 1981 agreement with the city allows the 68-year-old boat to be reclaimed for $1 if it's not maintained in a safe and attractive condition. Last summer, the Ontario Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change contacted the city with concerns about a tarp that was found floating in the Bondar Marina, collecting lead-contaminated paint chips that were falling from the 185-foot-long vessel. The province wanted to know the city's plan for both the paint chips and the boat.

Depending on who you talk to, the Norgoma has either graced or disgraced Sault Ste. Marie's waterfront since 1975. "It's a long time. That boat has to go," Mayor Christian Provenzano told a council meeting last September. "I personally believe that boat has to leave the downtown area," the mayor said.

Read more and view photos at this link: www.sootoday.com/local-news/councillors-to-vote-on-seizing-ms-norgoma-handing-it-over-to-us-businessman-844203


In 2015, 18 vessels that had been stuck in 35 square miles of crushed ice up to eight feet thick on Eastern Lake Superior were moving again with the Wednesday arrival of the heavy Canadian icebreaker Pierre Radisson.
11 April 1890 - CHENANGO (wooden propeller passenger-package freight steamer, 176 foot, 696 gross tons, built in 1887, at Detroit, Michigan) was carrying 40,000 bushels of wheat from Toledo, Ohio, to Buffalo, New York, when she caught fire off Erie, Pennsylvania. She was partially consumed by the fire and sank in four fathoms of water with no loss of life. She was later raised at great expense and rebuilt as the steamer LIZZIE MADDEN.

On 11 April 1882, GALATEA (3-mast wooden schooner, 180 foot, 606 gross tons) was launched by F. W. Wheeler (Hull#13) at W. Bay City, Michigan. She lasted until she stranded and broke up at Grand Marais, Michigan, in the "Big Storm" of 1905.

The tanker IMPERIAL ST. CLAIR (Hull#57) of the Port Weller Drydocks Ltd., entered service on April 11, 1974, running light for Montreal, Quebec.

Canada Steamship Lines’ J.W. MC GIFFIN (Hull#197) was christened at Collingwood on April 11, 1972. Port Weller Drydocks attached a new forebody in 1999, and she was renamed b.) CSL NIAGARA.

Pioneer Steamship's steamer PHILIP D. BLOCK sailed on her maiden voyage April 11, 1925, with coal from Huron, Ohio, bound for delivery at Indiana Harbor, Indiana.

Wilkinson Transportation Co.'s steamer A.E. NETTLETON (Hull#176) of the Detroit Ship Building Co., was launched April 11, 1908. She was scrapped at Santander, Spain in 1973.

On April 11, 1970, in Lake Superior's Whitefish Bay, CSL's steamer STADACONA of 1952 encountered thick ice and suffered bow damage. She developed a hairline crack in her bow and to alleviate the leakage her cargo was shifted from her forward hold to her after compartments using her self-unloading equipment. This maneuver raised her bow enough to keep her from sinking before she reached safety.

Pittsburgh Steamship Co.'s steamer ENDERS M. VOORHEES (Hull#288), of the Great Lakes Engineering Works, was launched on April 11, 1942. She was scrapped at Aliaga, Turkey in 1989.

On April 11, 1964, while upbound on Whitefish Bay, Lake Superior, a boiler burst on board the Pittsburgh Steamship Co.'s WILLIAM A. IRVIN, killing one of the crew and injuring two others.

April 11, 1948 - ANN ARBOR NO 7 ran aground just south of Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin.

On 11 April 1874, the new tug E.H. MILLER burned at her dock at Willow Island in the Saginaw River. Her loss was valued at $9,000 and there was no insurance. Although considered to be a total loss, she was rebuilt and lasted another 46 years.

On 11 April 1878, ALASKA, a wooden bulk freighter, was launched at J. P. Clark's yard in Detroit, Michigan. Her dimensions were 180 feet overall, 28 foot beam, and 10 foot depth.

The navigation season at the Canadian Sault Canal was unofficially opened on 11 April 1955, at 7:15 a.m., when the MANZZUTTI (steel crane ship, 246 foot, 1,558 gross tons, built in 1903, at Buffalo, New York as J.S. KEEFE) locked up bound for the Algoma Steel dock. Because the MANZZUTTI wintered over at the Soo, its captain, John B. Perry, was not eligible for the traditional top hat and silk gloves presented to the first captain through the locks. So this was not the official opening of navigation at the Soo. The first boat through the American locks was expected the following day.

1964: NORCO had been used to carry pulpwood from Michipicoten to Green Bay from about 1938 to 1957. The vessel had been built at Ecorse, Michigan, for deep-sea service as INCA in 1915, and returned inland in the 1920s. It went back to the sea in 1959 and stranded at Little Corn Island, Nicaragua, on this date in 1964 while en route from Tampa to Puerto Limon, Costa Rica, with a cargo of phosphate.

1994: AMERICAN MARINER was downbound in the St. Marys River when it struck a rock above the Soo Locks and had to go to the shipyard in Erie to repair the damage.

[yachtsmanwilly]

4/12 - Erie, Pa. – The Erie shipyard is expected to remain a very busy place until early May, far later than normal. In fact, it has been the busiest winter season ever. Four ships are now at Donjon Shipbuilding and Repair.

Two are in the massive dry dock, while the other two are docked in nearby slips. And since January, five other ships have come in for repairs and required inspections. The total of nine ships is the most ever, and it has been the most lucrative winter season ever for Donjon. The extended season means 140 workers are still on the job.

In a normal season, the number would be down to about 100. "This is great for employment,” Assistant General Manager Rick Hammer said. “We are able to extend the work that we have and keep people employed a little longer here."

Managers think comments from satisfied ship owners have helped to boost business, along with the completion of repairs to the dry dock.

View a video at this link: www.erienewsnow.com/story/37923931/shipyard-winter-repair-season-extended


4/12 - Marinette, Wis. – Due to the forecasted winds, the planned launch of the future USS Indianapolis at Fincantieri Marinette Marine has been postponed from Saturday to Tuesday. The time for the Tuesday launch has not been announced yet, according to Katharine Scruggs, spokesperson for Lockheed Martin, the general contractor.

The forecasts of winds in excess of 40 mph are too much to launch the littoral combat ship, she said. The other ceremonies associated with the launch, including the ship’s christening, will still happen Saturday.

LCS 17 is the ninth Freedom-variant to be launched at Marinette Marine. The even-numbered ships in the program are built at an Alabama shipyard.

WLUK


4/12 - Detroit, Mich. – The same "vessel activity" that appears to have damaged submerged electric cables in the Straits of Mackinac last week, causing a leak of 550 gallons of benzene-containing coolant, may have also caused three dents just discovered in the Line 5 oil and natural gas liquids pipeline, also underwater where lakes Michigan and Huron connect.

Canadian oil transport giant Enbridge, who owns and operates Line 5, informed state officials late Tuesday of the dents, characterized as "very small" and posing "no threat to the pipeline," Gov. Rick Snyder's office said in a statement Wednesday.

"An anchor strike was the largest risk identified in a previous independent analysis of the Enbridge pipeline, which is apparently what happened in the Straits last week," Snyder said.

Enbridge spokesman Ryan Duffy, in an e-mail to the Free Press Wednesday, said the dents were discovered in reviews undertaken following news of damage and coolant leaking from Wisconsin-based American Transmission Co. submerged power cables in the Straits. The cables lie a few hundred yards west of the western-most of Enbridge's twin pipelines, Duffy said.

Read more and view photos at this link: www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2018/04/11/enbridge-line-oil-pipeline-straits-mackinac/507506002/


4/12 - Clare, Mich. – When Michigan legislators enacted the Motor Fuel Tax Act in April 2000, the intention was to provide funding for road maintenance and improvements with a tax on motor vehicles that use the roadways throughout the state. Because they operate on the waterways, all commercial marine fuel users are exempt from the 26.3-cent per gallon Michigan fuel tax and specification for the types of fuel commonly used by vessels were included in the original legislation. However, one type of marine fuel was omitted from the legislation back in 2000 – fuel oil commonly known as Bunker C.

Without the new legislation, commercial marine fuel suppliers like Warner Petroleum would have been required to charge end-users who would then have been required to apply for a refund from the Michigan Treasury. Now, with the signing of House Bill 5039, the reimbursement process is replaced with an upfront exemption which is typical of other states and provinces across the Great Lakes region.

“It didn’t make a lot of sense to require vessel operators to file paperwork for a refund of a tax that is reimbursed 100% of the time,” said Harry C. Warner, CEO of Warner Petroleum Corporation. “And it didn’t make much sense for the State of Michigan to devote staff to processing this paperwork either.”

“The omission of bunker fuel from the commercial marine fuel specifications was clearly an oversight by the legislature and we’re glad they’ve made the correction,” added Warner.

Bunker fuel is a black, very viscous, heavy fuel oil, similar in appearance to tar with limited uses and not used in any over-the-road vehicles. Warner Petroleum Corporation is a major supplier of marine fuels from multiple locations, to the merchant fleets sailing on the Great Lakes through its Detroit terminal dock, mobile facilities, and marine tank vessels.

The bill was signed into law by Governor Rick Snyder on March 20, 2018 and takes immediate effect, in time for the start of the 2018 Great Lakes shipping season.

Warner Petroleum Corporation


On 12 April 1896, PETER DALTON (propeller tug, 63 foot 49 gross tons, built in 1880, at Grand Haven, Michigan) caught fire off Grosse Pointe, Illinois, while returning to Chicago with the salvaged schooner A.J. DEWEY in tow and the boiler of the JOHNSON. The fire burned her in two before she finally sank. The DALTON's crew and the DEWEY were rescued by the tug WELCOME.
On 12 April 1874, the tug D.N. RUNNELS was launched Runnel's yard at the north end of the 7th Street Bridge in Port Huron, Michigan. As the tug splashed into the Black River, the flag at her bow was unfurled with her name on it. Commodore Runnels distributed oranges to the crowd of onlookers.

The tanker a.) LANA (Hull#151) was launched April 12, 1967, by Aktiebolaget Lodose Varv A/B at Lodose, Sweden. Renamed b.) NEW ORLEANS in 1988 and c.) NANCY ORR GAUCHER in 1989, she departed the Lakes in 1994. Renamed d.) PETRAWAK in 1996 and e.) TONGA in 2000.

Tanker LAKESHELL (Hull#389) of Marine Industries Ltd., Sorel, Quebec, was launched April 12, 1969, for Shell Canada Ltd.

Pioneer Steamship's steamer a.) A.A. AUGUSTUS (Hull#374) of American Ship Building Co., Lorain, Ohio, departed Cleveland on her maiden voyage April 12, 1910, bound for Green Bay, Wisconsin, with a load of coal. She was sold to Canadian registry in 1961, and renamed b.) HOWARD HINDMAN. She was scrapped at Bilbao, Spain, in 1969.

Hall Corp. of Canada's tanker HUDSON TRANSPORT (Hull#629) of the Davie Shipbuilding Co. Ltd., Lauzon, Quebec, was launched April 12, 1962.

On April 12, 1955, while upbound from Monroe, Michigan to load iron ore at Duluth, the ENDERS M. VOORHEES had the honor of opening the second century of navigation through the St. Marys Falls Ship Canal, celebrated with great pomp and ceremony.

On 12 April 1880, the wooden 2-mast schooner-barge JUPITER was launched at Marysville, Michigan, after being rebuilt under the supervision of James Bowers. She was originally built in 1857, at Irving, New York, and after this rebuild, she lasted another 21 years.

On 12 April 1892, UGANDA (wooden propeller, 291 foot, 2,053 gross tons) was launched at W. Bay City, Michigan, at F.W. Wheeler's yard (Hull #88).

1949: The corvette H.M.C.S. BATTLEFORD was Hull 95 from the Collingwood Shipyard and it was commissioned at Montreal on July 31, 1941. The ship was sold to the Venezuelan Navy becoming b) LIBERTAD in 1946 and was wrecked on this date in 1949. 1991: CHANDA hailed from India and first came to the Great Lakes in 1978. The ship was laid up Bombay, India, on May 5, 1988, after 20 years of service. It was moved to the scrapyard on April 11, 1991, but a major fire erupted in the engine room April 12 during dismantling operations.

1993: MELISSA DESGAGNES ran aground in the St. Lawrence, two miles east of the Eisenhower Lock, at 2352 hours. The ship was en route from Windsor to Newfoundland with wheat and floated free, after being lightered, on April 15.

2009: SCARAB was 16 years old when it first came through the Seaway in 1999. The ship was sold and renamed JASPER in 2002 and never returned to our shores. It was anchored off Fatsa, Turkey, when it got blown aground on this date in 2009. Some 2000 tons of fertilizer had to be removed for the ship to float free and it went to Tuzla, Turkey, for repairs.

[yachtsmanwilly]

4/13 - Cleveland, Ohio – The Coast Guard ended Operation Coal Shovel, a domestic icebreaking operation, Monday. Coal Shovel encompasses ice-breaking in southern Lake Huron, Lake St. Clair, the St. Clair / Detroit River system, Lake Erie and Lake Ontario.

U.S. and Canadian Coast Guard icebreakers work together to break ice in these waterways as conditions worsen throughout the winter.

Operation Taconite domestic icebreaking operations continue.

Taconite is the largest of the two operations and is the largest domestic icebreaking operation in the U.S. Taconite is primarily responsible for ensuring the successful transport of cargo amid the harsh winter conditions of the northern Great Lakes.

The Coast Guard provides icebreaking assistance in U.S. waters where commercial icebreaking resources are either unavailable or incapable of handling the difficult ice conditions. Under the CAN/US agreement, Taconite may also provide icebreaking in Canadian waters such as Georgian Bay or the port of Thunder Bay, Ontario.

Critical waterways in Taconite's area of responsibility include the Straits of Mackinac, Whitefish Bay, and the St. Marys River. Extreme weather conditions, narrow channels, relatively shallow waters, the Soo Locks, and the large number of vessels transiting the St. Marys River make it a particularly challenging icebreaking environment.

USCG


4/13 - Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. – Ferry service to Neebish Island was restored Wednesday evening. On Thursday the EUP Transit Authority announced a plan to operate the ferry during da light hours, as ice conditions permit.

Scheduled ferry service to Neebish Island was halted March 30th, 2018 due to unsafe ice conditions. Strong northwesterly winds and abnormally cold temperatures created an ice jam which prevented the restoration of service. The ferry was out of service a total of 12 days. During the service outage, an assortment of Coast Guard icebreakers worked the ice above and below the ferry crossing in an effort to clear the ice jam. On Wednesday, CGC Mackinaw worked the ice plug free and flushed it down river. While service was interrupted a privately owned airboat and a Coast Guard air boat team, deployed to the scene from Saginaw, attended to the exigent needs of Neebish Island residents.

Residents of Neebish Island are reminded to check with the ferry operators before leaving for the mainland. The ice above the crossing is still significant and without warning may block the crossing again. Residents should remain mindful of this until ice is gone so as not to get trapped on the mainland. The Coast Guard will keep an icebreaker in the vicinity until the ice no longer threatens to impede navigation.

USCG


13 April 1872 - The schooners MARY TAYLOR and ANTELOPE wooden were racing to Oswego, New York, trying to beat a large block of drifting ice. The ice won and blocked the harbor entrance. The ANTELOPE became icebound about a quarter of a mile from the piers and remained there for one day. The MARY TAYLOR got within 500 feet of the pier and remained there for five days until the tug MAJOR DANA broke through the ice.
RICHARD REISS lost her boom April 13, 1994 when it collapsed at Fairport, Ohio.

On 13 April 1872, the wooden schooner-barge JOSEPH PAIGE was launched at the Wolf & Davidson yard in Milwaukee. Her dimensions were 190 feet x 32 feet x 12 feet, 626 gross tons.

The passenger/package freight vessel OCEAN was launched at Andrews & Sons shipyard in Port Dalhousie, Ontario, on 13 April 1872. She was placed in service on 27 April 1872, loading iron at Kingston for Chicago.

1917: The steel canaller STRATHCONA was built at Dundee, Scotland, in 1900 and came to the Great Lakes that summer. The ship had several owners before being requisitioned for war service in 1915. It was stopped by U-78 near Ronaldshay, England, while traveling from Tyne, England, to Marseilles, France, with a cargo of coal on this date in 1917. Enemy bombers attacked sinking the ship. Nine crew members were lost while another 3 were taken prisoner.

1937: The Norwegian freighter REIN was a frequent pre-Seaway caller to the Great Lakes. It had been built in 1900 and was inland as early as 1908. The ship was carrying wood pulp when it was wrecked off Helman Island, 2 miles south of Wick, Scotland, while traveling from Lyngor, Norway, to Preston, UK on this date in 1937. REIN was a total loss.

1956 Winds and ice pushed the ore laden GEORGE M. HUMPHREY on a shoal in Whitefish Bay en route from Superior to Zug Island. The vessel was salvaged and taken to Lorain for repairs.

1959: GLENEAGLES was proceeding through ice in Lake Erie when it abruptly stopped. The trailing WESTMOUNT could not stop as quickly and rammed the stern of its CSL fleetmate. GLENEAGLES had to be towed to Lorain for repairs that included a new rudder.

2010: The rebuilt ALGOBAY went aground while upbound in the St. Marys River on its first trip to the upper lakes. The vessel had to go to Port Weller Dry Docks for repairs.

[yachtsmanwilly]

4/14 - Ludington, Mich. – A massive push of wind with the incoming storm created an interesting phenomenon on Lake Michigan Friday.

The force was enough to almost completely bury the Ludington North Breakwater underwater. Nine minutes later, the sloshing water receded into the depths of Lake Michigan, revealing very low levels. This slosh of water created by wind is called a seiche. These are fairly rare on Lake Michigan, but not unprecedented.

The Ludington water level gauge recorded the water redistribution. Within an hour, there was a 1.5 foot change in water level.

Seiches are caused when strong wind pushes water ahead of it into a downwind shore. The wind will often push the water over its banks as the system slams into the coast. After it passes, the water returns to the lake and sloshes back and forth between shores until it once again finds equilibrium.

A wind gust of 42 mph was measured in Ludington at the time of Friday’s seiche.

Todd and Brad Reed Photography in Ludington captured the dramatic shoreline change, which began at 12:18 p.m. Friday. Click here to view photos: www.woodtv.com/weather/seiche-sloshes-lake-michigan-before-weekend-storm/1120726246



4/16 - High winds, waves, snow and flooding made the weekend miserable in the Great Lakes area. The bad weather delayed vessel traffic on most of the Great Lakes, with most vessels going to anchor or staying put at docks.

Traffic on Lake Superior was sticking close to the north shore to stay in the lee of the land as winds gusted over 50 mph. Several vessels were weathering the storm at anchor Sunday in the lower St. Marys River, among them Great Republic, Lee A. Tregurtha, H Lee White, Frontenac, American Spirit, Joyce L. VanEnkevort/Great Lakes Trader, Hon. James L. Oberstar and Burns Harbor. Algoma Guardian and Saginaw were downbound in Mud Lake at 10 p.m. Sunday, however it was unclear if they were going to anchor as well.

In the Mackinac Straits, the salties Isolda and Federal Kushiro remained anchored off St. Ignace, east of the bridge, on Sunday. Manitowoc was stopped just to the west. John J. Boland was stopped in the lee of Seul Choix Point.

On Lake Erie, Mississagi, Edgar B. Speer and CSL Laurentien were on the hook Saturday and Sunday the lee of Point Pelee.

Joseph L. Block, which had been anchored on Lake Michigan Saturday night just South of Frankfort/Elberta, resumed her trip to Cedarville late Sunday afternoon.

In Detroit, where the J.W. Westcott Company recently resumed 24/7 operations on the Detroit River with the mailboat J.W. Westcott II, easterly winds at 30 mph had water levels up about 30 inches Sunday morning. Some waves were washing onto the dock itself.

Flooding was an issue in several areas. High water caused serious damage to the docks at Miller Ferry in Port Clinton, Ohio, and boats had to be moved out into the lake at 10:30 p.m. Saturday. On Sunday the company was working on getting temporary dock space closer to Toledo and expected to have tired crews off the lake by 6 p.m.

The Lake Michigan carferry Badger is scheduled to start service on May 11, however photographs posted on line Sunday night showed the roadway leading to the ferry apron had washed away. One of the apron counterweights came loose as well. A damage assessment has not yet been made.

The Eastern Upper Peninsula Transportation Authority advised customers Sunday on its Facebook page that service to Drummond Island, Mich., might be delayed or stopped entirely due to weather. (We are) “looking at east winds sustained at 25-30 knots with higher gusts,” the post said.

At the Mackinac Straits, Enbridge Energy temporarily shut down the recently damaged Line 5 pipeline under the Straits of Mackinac due to the storm. The National Weather Service forecast for the straits Sunday afternoon called for snow and sleet, gusting winds and waves of 7 to 12 feet high — occasionally around 12 feet.

In the Monroe, Mich.-Toledo, Ohio, area, Lake Erie was overflowing into residences along the lakeshore, causing evacuations. Initial estimates were that between 50 and 80 homes had severe flooding. The water began receding Sunday. Further north, rising waters in Saginaw Bay also prompted evacuations.

16 April 1907 - In a blinding snowstorm, the LOUIS PAHLOW (wooden propeller package freighter, 155 foot, 366 gross tons, built in 1882, at Milwaukee, Wisconsin) was towing the DELTA (wooden schooner, 134 foot, 269 gross tons, built in 1890, at Algonac, Michigan) on Lake Michigan. She went off course and ran onto the rocks at the Clay Banks, six miles south of Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. The DELTA made it to anchorage before she also grounded. The Lifesaving Service rescued both crews. Both vessels were eventually freed, repaired and put back in service.
On 16 April 1872, the THOMAS W. FERRY (wooden schooner, 180 feet) was launched at the J. Jones yard at Detroit, Michigan. She cost $40,000 and was owned by P. J. Ralph & Son and A. C. Burt.

ALGOWOOD departed on her maiden voyage April 16, 1981, from Owen Sound, Ontario, in ballast for Stoneport, Michigan, taking on limestone there for Sarnia, Ontario.

ALGOLAKE's sea trials were held April 16, 1977.

BURNS HARBOR's keel was laid at Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, as (Hull#720) for Wilmington Trust Co., Bethlehem Steel Co., manager, on April 16, 1979.

CEMENTKARRIER (Hull#175) of the Furness Shipbuilding Co. Ltd at Haverton Hill-on-Tees, England, was launched April 16, 1930, for Canada Cement Transport Ltd.

Reiss Steamship Co.'s a.) W.K. BIXBY entered service on April 16, 1906. Renamed b.) J. L. REISS in 1920 and c.) SIDNEY E. SMITH JR in 1971. She sank in a collision with the Hindman steamer PARKER EVANS under the Blue Water Bridge on June 5, 1972.

On April 16, 1986, U.S. Steel's steamer WILLIAM A. IRVIN was sold for $110,000 to the Duluth Convention Center Board.

On 16 April 1870, the fore-and-aft schooner L.W. PERRY was launched at the Fitzgerald & Leighton yard in Port Huron, Michigan. She was owned by J. L. Woods of Lexington, Michigan and commanded by Capt. M. Hyde. Her dimensions were 128 foot keel, 133 foot overall, 26 foot beam and 9 foot depth. She cost $29,000 and was built for the lumber trade.

On 16 April 1873, DAVID BALLENTINE (wooden propeller, 221 foot, 972 gross tons) was launched at Bangor, Michigan. She was built by Thomas Boston.

1897: The wooden schooner INGEBORG FORREST was a total loss in a spring gale near the entrance to Pentwater, Michigan, on this date in 1897.

1906: EUGENE ZIMMERMAN was upbound with coal on its maiden voyage when it collided with the SAXONA in the Mud Lake section of the St. Marys River on this day in 1906. The new bulk carrier was hit on the port bow and sank. The hull was raised on May 20, repaired and returned to service. It was renamed b) GRAND ISLAND in 1916 and last operated in 1960. After work as a grain storage hull named c) POWEREAUX CHRIS, the vessel was towed to Hamburg, West Germany, for scrapping in 1964.

1959: T.R. McLAGAN of Canada Steamship Lines ran aground on a shoal off Amherst Island, Lake Ontario, and was released on April 18.


15 April 1907 - The Rutland Line’s OGDENSBURG (steel propeller package freighter, 242-foot, 2329 gross tons, built in 1906, at Cleveland, Ohio) was carrying 50,000 bushels of corn, a big consignment of flour and general merchandise from Chicago to Ogdensburg when she stranded on Point aux Barques on Lake Huron in a storm. Although she was leaking in her forward compartment, she was freed after some cargo was jettisoned.
15 April 1907 - The Welland Canal opened for the season with the first vessel being the SAMUEL MATHER (steel propeller bulk freighter, 530 foot, 6,751 gross tons, built in 1906, at Wyandotte, Michigan) carrying coal from Cleveland, Ohio to Prescott, Ontario.

On 15 April 1881, the Market Street Bridge in Mount Clemens, Michigan, was taken down to allow the newly built VIRGINIUS to pass down the Clinton River to Lake St. Clair, where she was taken in tow by the CITY OF NEW BALTIMORE. The VIRGINIUS was towed to Port Huron where her engine was installed and she was fitted out for service.

Misener's CANADA MARQUIS (Hull#257) of Govan Shipyards Ltd, Govan, Scotland, was launched April 15, 1983. Renamed b.) FEDERAL RICHELIEU in 1991, c.) FEDERAL MACKENZIE in 1991, d.) MACKENZIE in 2001 and CSL's e.) BIRCHGLEN in 2002.

American Steamship Co.'s SAM LAUD was christened April 15, 1975.

On April 15, 1977, the CONALLISON's, a.) FRANK C. BALL of 1906, self-unloading boom collapsed while unloading coal at the Detroit Edison Trenton, Michigan, power plant in the Trenton Channel on the lower Detroit River.

W. W. HOLLOWAY suffered a fire in the fantail while in dry dock following her re-powering at AmShip on April 15, 1963, causing $15,000 damage.

Pittsburgh Steamship's steamer J. P. MORGAN JR left Lorain in ballast April 15, 1910, on her maiden voyage to load iron ore at Duluth, Minnesota.

Masaba Steamship's steamer JOE S. MORROW entered service April 15, 1907.

The steamer JOHN P. REISS left Lorain, Ohio on her maiden voyage on April 15, 1910 with coal for Escanaba, Michigan. She was the first of three bulkers built in 1910 for Reiss interests. The other two were the steamers A. M. BYERS and the PETER REISS.

The tanker IMPERIAL COLLINGWOOD began service April 15, 1948.

On April 15, 1955, American Steamship's steamer DETROIT EDISON entered service, departing Manitowoc, Wisconsin, for Port Inland, Michigan, on her maiden trip.

On April 15, 1985, the e.) WILLIAM CLAY FORD, formerly d.) WALTER A. STERLING and presently f.) LEE A. TREGURTHA) departed Fraser Shipyards for the D. M. & I. R. ore docks in West Duluth for her first load in Ford Motor Company colors.

April 15, 1930 - While going up the Manitowoc River to dry dock, the WABASH rubbed the parked steamer THEODORE ROOSEVELT and damaged her upper works forward.

On 15 April 1862, ELISHA C. BLISH (wooden propeller tug, 81 foot, 107 tons, built in 1857, at Black River, Ohio) sank near shore at Algonac, Michigan, when a steam pump was accidentally left in an open position and she flooded. She was raised and lasted another two years when she "went missing" on Lake Huron.

On 15 April 1872, The Port Huron Daily Times announced that the HURON was chartered by a circus company for the season. They intended to perform at many lakes ports throughout the summer.

1967: MAPLE HILL began visiting the Great Lakes in 1959. The British-flag freighter had been built at Montreal in 1943 as a) FORT VERCHERES and was renamed c) DIOPSIDE in 1966. It collided with and sank the Swedish freighter IREVIK in the Baltic Sea on this day in 1967. MAPLE HILL was renamed d) ENTAN in 1969 and arrived at Hirao, Japan, for scrapping on June 30, 1970.

1987: An attempt to steal navigation equipment using a cutting torch resulted in a fire that caused major damage to the upper deck of the GRAND RAPIDS. The retired Lake Michigan carferry had been idle at Muskegon since 1971. It was eventually sold for scrap in 1989 and broken up at Port Maitland, ON in 1994.


4/15 - Duluth, Minn. – A massive spring storm bringing blizzard conditions to parts of the Upper Midwest will bring strong east winds that could cause flooding along Lake Superior's shore.

With high winds sweeping the area, vessels either remained where they were in port or were hugging the north shore of the lake.

The National Weather Service in Duluth has issued a lakeshore flood warning for coastal areas of western Lake Superior because of winds gusting to 45 mph that will whip the big lake into a frenzy.

That happened last October, causing major damage in some areas of Park Point, the South Shore and North Shore and the Apostle Islands. While Lake Superior water levels have dropped some since October, they remain well above normal — adding to any flood potential.

Duluth News Tribune


4/16 - Mackinaw City, Mich. – The Unified Command has announced that the American Transmission Company is slated to deploy sonar scanning technology and a remotely operated underwater vehicle (ROV) to better assess damage to the affected utility cables this week, as soon as weather conditions no longer pose a danger to responders.

ATC contracted with Durocher Marine and T&T Subsea to provide tugs, a barge, and an ROV to assess the damage to the utility cables. A tug retrofitted with sonar side-scanning technology will locate the damage in the utility cables, and the ROV will obtain underwater, visual imagery of the cables. The images obtained will provide the Unified Command with the information needed to determine how best to deal with the damaged cables.

Throughout the weekend, responders worked shoreside and continued mineral oil extraction operations. To date, more than 300 gallons of mineral oil has been extracted from the utility cables. In addition, wildlife professionals from the United States Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (USDA-APHIS) Wildlife Services program conducted wildlife surveillance from land and did not observe any impacted birds or wildlife.

When weather conditions no longer pose a danger to responders, USDA-APHIS wildlife professionals, MI DEQ environmental experts, and Coast Guard marine science technicians will resume efforts to survey the area from vessels and airplanes to identify any impacts to the environment. No impacts have been identified so far.

The Coast Guard marine casualty investigation into the vessel activity that may have contributed to damage to the ATC cables and the three dents in the Enbridge pipelines is ongoing.

The Unified Command encourages the public to report any sightings of pollution or affected wildlife. To report affected wildlife or animals acting abnormally please call the USDA at (517)-336-1928. To report any oil sheen or pollution, please call the National Response Center at 1-800-424-8802.

USCG


4/16 - Marinette, Wis. – Winter Storm Evelyn didn't keep the future USS Indianapolis (LCS 17) from being christened in Marinette Saturday. Indianapolis was christened by breaking a champagne bottle across the ship's bow.

In a news release from Lockheed Martin, LCS 17 will be the fourth U.S. Navy ship to bear the Indianapolis name. She will undergo additional outfitting and testing at Fincantieri Marinette Marine before her anticipated delivery next year.

Winds from the winter storm prevented the ship's launch. It's been rescheduled for Tuesday. In February, a keel-laying ceremony was held for the future USS Minneapolis-Saint Paul, the next littoral combat ship to be built at Marinette Marine.

Fox 11

[yachtsmanwilly]

4/17 - Manitowoc, Wis. – Over the weekend, the S.S. Badger's dock in Wisconsin was damaged in storms, but officials say don't worry – repairs will happen sooner rather than later.

According to a statement from Lake Michigan Car Ferry, the dock sustained damage due to high winds and heavy waves eroding the shore. Company officials are headed to Manitowoc to assess the damage and meet with city officials to discuss immediate repair work. The repairs should be completed before the start of the sailing season on May 11, the company statement assured.

The S.S. Badger shuttles people and cars across Lake Michigan from Ludington, Mich. to Manitowoc, Wis. More than 2.5 million passengers have been served since 1953. The S.S. Badger was designated a National Historic Landmark by the U.S. Department of the Interior on February 2016.

WZZM


4/17 - Cleveland, Ohio – Protection of the environment and promotion of waterborne commerce will be well served by Senate passage of the Coast Guard Authorization Act. The bill, S.1129, includes provisions that will protect the Great Lakes from oil spills and non-native species and facilitate shipping during the ice season.

“This bill is a real win-win for the Lakes,” said James H.I. Weakley, President of the Lake Carriers’ Association, the trade association representing U.S.-flag vessel operators on the Great Lakes. “It is equally concerned with safeguarding our environment and fostering waterborne commerce, the most efficient mode of transportation for dry-bulk cargos.”

S.1129 authorizes a new U.S. Coast Guard Center of Expertise for Great Lakes oil spill preparedness and response. Although no crude oil moves on the Great Lakes, light heating oils, gasoline, asphalt and various chemicals are transported and the Center will enhance protection of what is the source of drinking water for more than 30 million North Americans.

The bill incorporates the Vessel Incidental Discharge Act (VIDA) that will replace the current patchwork quilt of separate, even conflicting regulations on commercial vessel ballast water discharges by the U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Great Lakes States with a uniform set of regulations which draws on the regulatory, technical and scientific expertise of each.

Weakley stressed the VIDA provisions heighten regulation of ballast water discharges. “Vessels will now be governed by stricter and more uniform regulations and the bill retains the requirement that oceangoing vessels exchange their ballast before entering the Lakes even after they install ballast water treatment systems.”

U.S.-flag lakers will benefit from the provision authorizing construction of a new Great Lakes icebreaker of the same caliber as the Mackinaw, currently the only U.S. Coast Guard heavy icebreaker stationed on the Lakes. While the Mackinaw is fairly new, it was launched in 2006, the other U.S. Coast Guard vessels charged with icebreaking date back as far as 1979. Even though several of those vessels recently have undergone service life extension, a number suffered significant casualties this past winter. As a result, cargos totaling 1.8 million tons were either delayed or outright cancelled in December and January.

“The U.S.-flag Great Lakes fleet cannot reliably meet the needs of commerce with only one U.S. Coast Guard heavy icebreaker on the Lakes. I urge the Senate to pass S.1129 as soon as it is brought to a vote.”

Weakley noted that facilitating waterborne commerce in and of itself is a boon to the environment. “Vessels are the greenest mode of transportation,” he said. “They use less fuel and produce few emissions in the movement of cargo than do trains and trucks.”

Lake Carriers’ Association


17 April 1871 - The wooden brig ST. JOSEPH was carrying lumber from Ludington, Michigan, to Chicago, Illinois. Her hold was filled and lumber was stacked on deck so she was indeed overloaded. A gale developed and the deck load shifted, then was lost. ST. JOSEPH became waterlogged in mid-lake. Her crew remained with her until 19 April when the propeller ST. LEWIS found them 35 miles southwest of Pentwater, Michigan, and took them there. The tug ALDRICH towed the waterlogged brig in for repairs.
The first vessels through the Straits of Mackinac for the 1870 season were the CITY OF BOSTON and the CITY OF NEW YORK, both owned by the Northern Transportation Company. They passed through the Straits on 17 April 1870. The following day they passed Port Huron but could only go as far as Algonac, Michigan, since the St. Clair River had an ice jam which raised the water level by two feet and was causing flooding.

The Collingwood-built, 610-foot aft section of the JOHN B. AIRD passed up bound through the St. Marys Falls Canal on April 17, 1983, in tow of the tugs WILFRED M. COHEN and JOHN MC LEAN heading for Thunder Bay, Ontario, where it was assembled with the 120-foot bow section.

Canada Steamship Lines a.) STADACONA (Hull#24) was launched April 17, 1929, by Midland Shipbuilding Co. Ltd. She was renamed b.) NORDALE in 1969 and was scrapped at Port Colborne, Ontario, in 1983. She was the first vessel scrapped at the old Algoma Steel Dock in Port Colborne.

April 17, 1970 - CITY OF FLINT 32 was sold to the Norfolk & Western Railway for $100,000.

On 17 April 1840, the wooden side-wheeler CATARAQUI was burned to a total loss during a great fire, which destroyed much of the waterfront area of Kingston, Ontario.

On 17 April 1874, CHARLES J. KERSHAW (wooden propeller, 223 foot, 1,324 gross tons) was launched at the Ballentine shipyard at Bangor, Michigan.

1961: FREEMAN HATCH was built at Sturgeon Bay and completed in December 1942. It left the Great Lakes the following spring for service for the British Ministry of War Transport. It was sold and renamed b) CHARLES M. in 1950 and became c) HOUSTON in 1953. The vessel was sunk on this date in 1962 during the attempted, anti-Castro, Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba.

1982: CHEMICAL TRANSPORT ran aground in the St. Lawrence near Dark Island as channel markers were out of position due to the wind and ice conditions. The vessel lightered some cargo to fleetmate JAMES TRANSPORT and then went to Sorel for repairs. In 2009, the ship was reported as lying burned out and derelict near Lagos, Nigeria, after an explosion and fire as c) REAL PROGRESS on June 1, 2001.

1990: RESERVE ran aground in the St. Marys River while downbound with a load of iron ore for Toledo on this date in 1990. The ship stranded in a snowstorm and had to be lightered to the WILLIAM R. ROESCH before going to Fraser Shipyard for repairs.

1997: ALGOLAKE got stuck on Vidal Shoal, St. Marys River while bound for Algoma Steel with a cargo of iron ore. The ship was lightered and released. After unloading, the vessel went to Thunder Bay for repairs.

[skycheney]

oops wrong heading

[yachtsmanwilly]

Its OK SKY... To err is human to forgive, well, is like Krush... ws

4/18 - Mackinaw City, Mich. – Recent damage to underwater oil and electrical lines in the waterway connecting Lake Huron and Lake Michigan that’s blamed for an insulation fluid spill was caused by a tugboat dragging its anchor, Michigan’s attorney general announced Tuesday.

Attorney General Bill Schuette said he notified Vanenkevort Tug and Barge that he’s planning civil action against the company because of the damage believed to have been caused April 1 by the tug named Clyde S. Vanenkevort in the Straits of Mackinac.

“The vessel ignored markers in the channel and clearly identified hazards on navigational charts that make clear that an anchor should not be deployed in this area of Straits,” Schuette said in a statement.

The Associated Press sent an email seeking comment from Vanenkevort Tug and Barge, based in Escanaba, Michigan.

Two electric cables leaked 600 gallons (2,270 liters) of insulation fluid containing mineral oil and benzene. Enbridge Inc.’s twin Line 5 pipelines carry crude oil and liquefied natural gas. The company has said the pipelines were dented but that the integrity of the lines weren’t compromised.

Under Michigan law, causing such a leak is punishable by a civil fine of up to $25,000 per day of the discharge, as well as damages for harm to natural resources, attorney’s fees and court costs, Schuette said. He said those responsible for the anchor deployment or maintenance also could face criminal charges or other legal liability.

An anchor strike had been suspected in the damage, but officials hadn’t previously released details, including of who might be responsible.

Enbridge announced Monday afternoon it has restarted its Line 5, which was shut down over the weekend. The company blamed a power outage. Sens. Gary Peters and Debbie Stabenow of Michigan had pushed for a temporary shutdown because of high winds and heavy currents in the Straits of Mackinac.

Line 5 carries 23 million gallons (87 million liters) of oil daily between Superior, Wisconsin, and Sarnia, Ontario. The segment that crosses the 5-mile-wide (8-kilometer-wide) straits linking Lake Huron and Lake Michigan is divided into two side-by-side pipes that were laid on the lake bottom in 1953.

The ruined power cables are owned by American Transmission Company. The Coast Guard and other agencies have been monitoring the straits by boat and air but have reported no sheen or other evidence of pollution. Plans call for using an underwater vehicle to check the damaged cables and pipeline.

The Associated Press


4/18 - Milwaukee, Wis. – The U.S. Senate is set to vote on a measure this week that conservation groups say could have devastating — and permanent — consequences for the Great Lakes.

The legislation attached to the U.S. Coast Guard Authorization Act calls for giving the Coast Guard the exclusive authority to regulate the shipping industry when it comes to discharging ship-steadying ballast water that can harbor invasive species.

As the law currently works, both the Environmental Protection Agency and the Coast Guard share management of ballast water discharges. The shipping industry contends this situation, along with varying state ballast regulations, has created a regulatory quagmire and that the new measure will streamline things for the industry and still protect the Great Lakes and other U.S. waters.

Conservationists contend ballast water management belongs in the hands of the EPA, and stripping the agency of that authority means significantly weaker protections for the Great Lakes that have been ravaged for decades by contaminated ballast water discharges.

The push to loosen the regulations is the latest chapter in an environmental saga that started in the early 1970s, when the EPA made a decision that had momentous consequences for the Great Lakes: It quietly removed contaminated ballast discharges from the list of industrial pollutants to be regulated under the newly adopted Clean Water Act. The rationale at the time was that ship-steadying ballast tanks weren't a form of pollution because they held nothing but seawater.

“This type of discharge generally causes little pollution,” the EPA explained when it published the regulation granting the shipping industry exemption in 1973, “and the exclusion of vessel wastes from the (Clean Water Act) will reduce administrative costs drastically.”

Read more at this link: www.jsonline.com/story/news/special-reports/great-lakes/2018/04/17/u-s-senate-voting-week-looser-rules-great-lakes-ships-dumping-ballast-water/520637002


18 April 1907 - At least 20 freighters were anchored at De Tour, Michigan, waiting for the frozen St. Marys River to break up. The vessels found their provisions running low after waiting for about a week and they bought everything edible in De Tour.
The U.S. Lighthouse Service Tender ASPEN (steel propeller tender, 117 foot, 277 gross tons, built in 1906, at Toledo, Ohio) was sent to Cheboygan, Michigan to get more provisions. De Tour did not have railroad facilities at this time and therefore was compelled to stretch the provisions from the last boat in the fall through winter until a boatload of supplies was delivered in the Spring.

On 18 April 1889, the CITY OF RACINE (wooden propeller passenger/package freight steamer, 220 foot, 1,041 tons) was launched by Burger & Burger at Manitowoc, Wisconsin, for the Goodrich Transportation Company. The vessel was ready for service three months later. Her total cost was $125,000.

On her maiden voyage April 18, 1980, the AMERICAN MARINER left Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin in ballast for Escanaba, Michigan to load 31,322 gross tons of taconite pellets for Ashtabula, Ohio and arrived there on April 26th.

Hall Corp. of Canada’s b.) MONTCLIFFE HALL began trading on the Great Lakes on April 18, 1978. Renamed c.) CARTIERDOC in 1988 and d.) CEDARGLEN in 2002. Built in 1959 in Germany as the a.) EMS ORE, she was purchased by Hall Corp. in 1977. Converted to a bulk carrier with the addition of a forward cargo section at Davie Shipbuilding in Lauzon, Quebec.

PATERSON (Hull#231) was launched April 18, 1985, by Collingwood Shipyards Ltd. She was the last straight deck bulk freighter built on the Lakes and was built to the maximum size permitted to lock through the Seaway. Renamed b.) PINEGLEN in 2002.

Johnstown Steamship's a) MIDVALE (Hull#167) of Great Lakes Engineering Works was launched April 18, 1917. Renamed b.) BETHLEHEM in 1925 and scrapped at Santander, Spain in 1974.

Problems occurred on the ALASTAIR GUTHRIE's first trip of the year on April 18, 1979, when she began taking on water in the engine room while loading grain at the International Multifoods elevator at Duluth, Minnesota. Her stern settled to the bottom of the slip with 12 feet of water in the engine room.

Upper Lakes Shipping's RED WING was sold for scrap on April 18, 1986.

On April 18, 1960, the ROBERT C. STANLEY struck Vidal Shoal in St. Marys River about 1.5 miles above the Soo Locks, and tore a hole in her bottom.

Superior Steamship Co.'s a.) SINALOA (Hull#609) of the West Bay City Shipbuilding Co., was launched April 18, 1903, as a straight deck bulk freighter. Renamed b.) WILLIAM F. RAPPRICH in 1924, c.) SINALOA in 1927. Converted to a self unloader in 1931. Renamed d.) STONEFAX in 1960. Scrapped at Santander, Spain in 1971.

April 18, 1936 - Albert W. Ackerman, chief engineer of the Pere Marquette car ferries for 35 years, died (Friday afternoon) at the Paulina Stearns hospital.

On 18 April 1848, the wooden schooner TRIBUNE went missing in lower Lake Michigan. Her fate was unknown until native fishermen discovered her masts standing upright off Cathead Point in November 1849. All 10 of her crew were lost.

On 18 April 1885, the schooner-barge ELEANOR was launched at Mount Clemens, Michigan. Her dimensions were 185 foot overall, 32 foot beam and 11 foot 3 inch depth. She had three spars and was the consort of the steam barge A WESTON. She was built for the Tonawanda Barge Line and was named after Capt. William Du Lac's wife.

1945 The steel barge GEORGE T. DAVIE, en route from Oswego to Kingston with 1,100 tons of coal and under tow of the SALVAGE PRINCE, began leaking and sank off Nine Mile Point, Lake Ontario, in 85 feet of water. The hull was located by divers in 1999. The ship had once been part of Canada Steamship Lines.

1989 ENERCHEM AVANCE spent 7 hours aground in the St. Marys River below the Soo Locks on this day in 1989. At last report the ship was under Nigerian registry as e) ERINGA.

[yachtsmanwilly]

4/19 - The U.S. Senate voted narrowly Wednesday against a measure that would have pulled some significant Clean Water Act protections for the Great Lakes and other U.S. waters.

The measure, which would have removed the Environmental Protection Agency from managing contaminated ballast water discharges from freighters and turned it over to the U.S. Coast Guard, was fiercely opposed by Great Lakes conservation and environmental groups.

Those groups viewed it as a giant step backward in compelling the shipping industry to better disinfect its ship-steadying ballast water, which can be contaminated with unwanted species from around the globe.

Contaminated ballast water is how some of the Great Lakes’ most notorious invaders are believed to have arrived in the world’s largest freshwater system, including zebra and quagga mussels, spiny waterfleas, round gobies and the fish-killing VHS virus.

Shipping industry advocates have been pushing for the change for years, arguing that the existing ballast water management program is too complicated because it is handled by both the Coast Guard and EPA. Many states also have their own ballast regulations

The idea was to streamline and standardize treatment requirements for an industry that, by its nature, must operate in multiple jurisdictions.

The problem, according to the conservation groups, is that the Coast Guard is ill-suited to manage this form of biological pollution and cannot compel the shipping industry to limit its discharges under the authority of the Clean Water Act, which is administered by the EPA.

Read more at this link: www.jsonline.com/story/news/local/wisconsin/2018/04/18/senate-drops-measure-exempt-ship-ballasts-clean-water-act/529421002


4/19 - Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. – Ferry service to Neebish Island was suspended Saturday morning. Last weekend’s storm force winds and significant deposits of snow forced the EUP Transit Authority to suspend ferry operations.

The EUP Transit Authority announced the start of a modified schedule last Wednesday after island residents went nearly two weeks without ferry service. Last weekend’s storm sent ice down from Lake Nicolet effectively blocking the ferry crossing again. Coast Guard ice breakers work to flush ice in the lower river to create space for this new ice to go. The current weather forecast calls for increased sunshine and a slow rise in daily temperature which will help the ice blocking the channel to deteriorate. Island residents who need supplies should contact Mr. Jamie Pringle, Captain of the Neebish Island Ferry. Mr. Pringle is the Coast Guard’s liaison to Neebish Island. Calls for medical emergencies should be placed to 911.


19 April 1884 - The KASOTA (wooden propeller bulk freighter, 246 foot, 1660 gross tons, built in 1884 at Cleveland, Ohio) was launched by Thomas Quayles & Sons at Cleveland, Ohio for Capt. Thomas Wilson of Cleveland, Ohio. The hull was painted green with white bulwarks and upper works.
On 19 April 1956, the newly-converted cement carrier E.M. FORD had her steering equipment break when she was abeam of Harsens Island on the St. Clair River. She plowed head-on into the down bound freighter A.M. BYERS which was loaded with dolomite for Buffalo, New York. The BYERS sank in just 17 minutes and the FORD anchored. No lives were lost.

Sea trials were completed for Upper Lakes Shipping's CANADIAN TRANSPORT on April 19, 1979, and she departed Port Weller Dry Docks Ltd., on her maiden voyage the next morning.

The GEORGE A. STINSON's self-unloading boom collapsed onto her deck due to a mechanical failure on the night of April 19, 1983, at Detroit, Michigan. No injuries were reported. She continued hauling cargoes without a boom most of the year until it was replaced on September 20. She sails today as b.) AMERICAN SPIRIT.

On April 19, 1951, the CLIFFS VICTORY began her much publicized 1,000 mile journey up the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers through the Illinois Waterway pushed by a towboat to Lockport, Illinois where two Great Lakes Towing Co., tugs took up the tow through the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal.

Hall Corp. of Canada's a.) HUTCHCLIFFE HALL (Hull#261) by Canadian Vickers Ltd., Montreal, Quebec, was launched April 19, 1954.

Pittsburgh Steamship's steamer RICHARD TRIMBLE (Hull#707) of the American Ship Building Co., Lorain, Ohio, was launched April 19, 1913. She was scrapped at Duluth, Minnesota between 1978 and 1981.

On April 19, 1950, the WILFRED SYKES entered service, departing Lorain, Ohio for Toledo to load coal on her maiden voyage. The SYKES also became the largest vessel on the Great Lakes, taking the honor from Pittsburgh Steamship Company's LEON FRASER class (the "Supers"), which had held it since June 21, 1942.

April 19, 1917 - ANN ARBOR NO 5 broke off her starboard shaft and bent the rudder stock on the rocky corner of the old Goodrich dock in Manitowoc, Wisconsin.

On 19 April 1880, the Port Huron Times reported the results of a severe gale: "The schooner CHRIS GROVER, ashore near Oscoda, Michigan, is reported going to pieces. The crew is aboard. The schooner ATHENIAN, lumber laden, is reported to have gone ashore off Au Sable and to be a complete wreck. The schooner HATTIE JOHNSON is abandoned on Goose Island shoal. The cabin and part of her deck are gone. The stern is gone from her mizzen and the gale probably broke her up completely and her outfit and cargo may prove a total loss." The GROVE and the JOHNSON were later recovered and put back in service.

On 19 April 1884, EUROPE (wooden propeller, passenger/package freight vessel, 136 foot, 628 gross tons, built in 1870 at St. Catharines, Ontario) was almost totally destroyed by fire at St. Catharines. The remains of her hull were later rebuilt as the barge REGINA.

1915: PALIKI of the Algoma Central Railway fleet was carrying steel rails to Chicago when it ran aground on Simmons Reef near the Straits of Mackinac.

1922: LAMBTON, a steel lighthouse tender, was last seen on the date by the MIDLAND PRINCE. It was lost with all hands on Lake Superior somewhere south of Michipicoten Island while delivering lighthouse keepers to their stations. Wreckage was later located but no bodies were ever found.

1927: DAVID S. TROXEL was damaged in a storm on Lake Superior. Plates and rivets worked loose and there were problems with the rudder. The ship was renamed c) SONOMA later in 1927 and was scrapped by Stelco in Hamilton as d) FRED L. HEWITT in 1962.

1938: REDRIVER had loaded coal at Charlotte, NY and was crossing Lake Ontario when it ran aground, due to fog, near Point Petre.

1939: VALLEY CAMP ran aground on Cole's Shoal, near Brockville, due to fog and part of the cargo of coal had to be lightered before the ship was refloated with the help of the tug SALVAGE PRINCE on April 24.

1940: SANDLAND battled through heavy ice to open the port of Port Colborne on this date in 1940. The ship had a cargo of scrap steel from Detroit for the Algoma Steel mill.

1956: A.M. BYERS was loaded with limestone and bound from Drummond Island to Buffalo when it sank in the St. Clair River following a collision with the E.M. FORD on this date in 1956. The ship was hit on the port side abreast of the pilothouse but all on board were rescued. The ship was later salvaged and repaired becoming b) CLEMENS A. REISS (ii) in 1959 and c) JACK WIRT in 1970.