Today in Great Lakes History

[yachtsmanwilly]

6/18 - Duluth, Minn. – The 1,004-foot freighter American Spirit, loaded with iron ore pellets, ran aground in the Duluth harbor Sunday afternoon, closing the Aerial Lift Bridge entry to ship traffic for the time being.

The freighter sat askew in the harbor, with its stern pointing just behind Amsoil Arena and its bow pointing toward the Canal Park seawall. It came to a stop just short of the seawall, but it didn’t hit it, according to Duluth Seaway Port Authority spokeswoman Adele Yorde. There were no injuries reported aboard the freighter and the Port Authority is requesting that boaters stay at least 500 feet away from the ship.

Video shows the vessel dropping her port anchor in an effort to slow her progress.

It’s unknown why the freighter ran aground, however a possible cause might have been strong currents whipped up by recent storms. Yorde said the reason will likely be determined during an investigation into the incident that could take weeks. Duluth firefighters and the U.S. Coast Guard were on scene, circling the American Spirit to determine whether the freighter was leaking oil. Authorities could not say Sunday evening when the ship would be moved.

As word spread about the stuck freighter, the crowd grew in Canal Park, with people standing along the seawall to take photos of the ship’s unusual location. By late evening, AIS showed the tug Kentucky near the American Spirit.

6/16 - Superior, Wis. – As a result of late-in-life transactions and maritime law, the American Victory will fly a Canadian flag and leave the Twin Ports early Sunday to journey to her resting place in a Turkish scrapyard under the crude sobriquet “Victo.”

It is an end which belies a lifetime of both distinction and despair. “She’s got a lot of bad history,” said Willie Keyes, who experienced some of the ship’s darkest hours.

Keyes is the fleet engineer for the Keystone Shipping Co., the Duluth-based operator of Canadian National Railway’s Great Lakes Fleet of ships. But half a lifetime ago, he was a young engineer working his way up the ranks aboard the American Victory, which was then known as the Middletown. Long owned by Oglebay Norton, the same company that operated the Edmund Fitzgerald, the Middletown was the sort of ship which left a lasting impression on her crewmembers.

“I was in love with it,” Keyes said. “Unfortunately with engineers that’s what we do with our ships.”

Keyes and Bryan Rydberg, a logistics expert and former Great Lakes captain, met with the News Tribune twice in recent weeks to discuss the history and importance of the ship. They reflected on her in depth at the Anchor Bar and Grill in Superior and later across the slip from Fraser Shipyards, where Rydberg was overseeing the salvaging of the vessel down to her bones.

“There come the belts,” Rydberg said earlier this week as a crane hoisted a roll of heavy conveyor material from out of the belly of the ship.

Sailors from the shipping hotbed of Northwestern Wisconsin used to pour their lives into the ship. Some even gave their lives as 24 died across her various iterations — from wartime fuel tanker to Great Lakes workhorse.

Read more and view photos at this link: www.duluthnewstribune.com/business/4460706-sailors-reflect-freighter-american-victory-nears-its-end

View photos and video of the vessel running aground at this link: www.duluthnewstribune.com/news/4461598-ship-runs-aground-duluth-harbor

Duluth News Tribune


6/16 - Duluth, Minn. – Free to a responsible owner: Lake Superior lighthouse. Sits at the end of the south breakwater adjacent to the Duluth Aerial Lift Bridge. Contact the federal government.

The U.S. General Services Administration has put the red-roofed lighthouse on the market as an available property, and is willing to transfer it at no cost to a public body or nonprofit for education, park, recreation, cultural or historic preservation.

The lighthouse became expendable when the U.S. Coast Guard deemed the structure, which is approximately the size of a small house, as an “excess” to their needs, said Doug Sharp, marine information specialist with the 9th Coast Guard District’s Office of Aids to Navigation. The lighthouse is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Under any deal, however, the federal government will keep an easement so it can maintain the beacon and fog horn, according to a notice attached to the listing. “We don’t need the whole piece of property,” Sharp said. “We just need it to support our light.”

Many lighthouses once had someone living in them or nearby who was dedicated to keeping them in good shape, Sharp said. But it has become an expensive proposition to maintain them in modern times. “We do as much as we can, which isn’t much under the current climate,” Sharp said. “We just don’t have the people.”

Probably hundreds of Great Lakes lighthouses have been divested or sold, Sharp said, including one right next to the Aerial Lift Bridge a few years ago. In many cases, he said, historical organizations take ownership of the lighthouses and restore them to their original condition.

“These private entities take these things over and they make them golden,” Sharp said. “They’re beautiful, actually.”

Interested parties must submit a letter by Aug. 10 to both the federal General Services Administration and the state historic preservation office. The application process is competitive and based on factors including financial viability and ability to handle maintenance and historic preservation requirements.

If there are no qualified takers for the lighthouse, it could be put up for public auction in about a year.

Asked if it is livable, Sharp said: “Sure. If you want to listen to the fog signal. It’s not on all the time, but when it’s on you’ll know it.”

For details on obtaining the lighthouse, go to this link: disposal.gsa.gov/LighthouseNotices

Minneapolis Star Tribune


On 16 June 1891, Alexander McDougall himself took his brand-new whaleback steamer JOSEPH L. COLBY (steel propeller whaleback freighter, 265 foot, 1,245 gross tons, built in 1890 at West Superior, Wisconsin) down the St. Lawrence River to the sea. The double-hulled COLBY left Prescott, Ontario at 3 p.m., drawing six feet nine inches aft and five feet six inches forward and started on her wild ride through the rapids. The whaleback freighter plowed through the Galops, Iroquois, Long Sault, Coteau, Cedar, Split Rock and Cascade Rapids. She grated the bottom a number of times and had a number of close calls. Captain McDougall stood immobile throughout the trip but great beads of perspiration broke out on his forehead. When the vessel finally made it through the Cascades and was safe on Lake St. Louis, the French Canadian pilot left and the crew let out shouts of joy with the whistle blowing. The COLBY was the first screw steamer to attempt running the rapids.
On 16 June 1892, GENERAL BURNSIDE (3-mast wooden schooner, 138 foot, 308 gross tons, built in 1862, at Wolfe Island, Ontario) foundered in a powerful northwest gale on Lake Erie near Southeast Shoal Light. Her crew was rescued by the tug GREGORY.

The steamer UNIQUE (wooden propeller passenger/package freight steamer, 163 foot, 381 gross tons) was built by Alexander Anderson at Marine City, Michigan. She was launched stern first at 3:00 p.m. on 16 June 1894. There was quite a crowd assembled to watch the launch. While waiting for the launch, Engineer Merrill of the steamer MARY composed the following verse:

"The new steamer Unique
Made a beautiful suique
On a direction oblique
Into a big crique,
So to spique."

The vessel was painted a bright yellow up to the promenade deck with white cabins and upper works. In 1901, she left the upper lakes and was chartered for the Thousand Islands cruise trade. Later that year, she was sold to Philadelphia buyers for Delaware River service. Her upper cabins were removed in 1904, when she was rebuilt as a yacht. She lasted until 20 November 1915, when she burned to a total loss in New York harbor.

On 16 June 1905, at 2:00 a.m., a fire was discovered around the smokestack of the North Shore Navigation Company's CITY OF COLLINGWOOD (wooden propeller passenger-package freight steamer, 213 foot, 1,387 gross tons, built in 1893, at Owen Sound, Ontario) burned at the Grand Trunk Railway docks at Collingwood, Ontario and was destroyed along with the dock and nearby sheds. Four died, but most of crew jumped overboard. Captain Wright had gone to his home on Pine St. about an hour before and was preparing for bed when he heard four whistles sounded by the steamer BRITTANIC, which was laying alongside. He ran to the dock, went aboard and woke the 1st mate J. D. Montgomery and a wheelsman. They had to jump to the dock to escape the flames. James Meade, Lyman Finch, A. McClellan, and another unidentified crewmember who had just joined the vessel at the Soo were all sleeping in the forecastle and lost their lives.

In 1967, the FEUX FOLLETS (Hull#188) was launched at Collingwood, Ontario, by Collingwood Shipyards Ltd., for Papachristidis Co. Ltd. She was the last steam-powered lake ship. Renamed in 1972 as b.) CANADIAN LEADER and scrapped in 2012.

Upbound in the Welland Canal on June 16, 1963, loaded with iron ore for Chicago, U.S. Steel's BENJAMIN F. FAIRLESS suffered bow damage in collision with Canadian steamer RALPH S. MISENER. In 1918, the WILLIAM P. SNYDER JR was in collision with the steamer GEORGE W. PERKINS in Duluth Harbor resulting in damage of $5,000 to both vessels.

On 16 June 1861, ANDOVER (2-mast wooden schooner, 98 foot, 190 tons, built in 1844, at Black River, Ohio) was carrying lumber in a storm and ground on Pointe aux Barques reef on Lake Huron. Though not thought to be seriously damaged, she resisted all efforts by the tug ZOUAVE to release her. She was finally stripped and abandoned.

On 16 June 1887, CHAMPLAIN (wooden propeller passenger/package freight vessel, 135 foot, 438 gross tons, built in 1870, at Cleveland, Ohio) was carrying passengers, merchandise and horses on Lake Michigan when an engine room lamp exploded. The fire spread so quickly that the pumps could not be started. She headed for Fisherman's Island, Grand Traverse Bay, Lake Michigan, but struck a bar and sank a mile short of the beach. 22 of the 57 persons aboard died, most from drowning. Although initially declared a total loss, the hull was towed into Harbor Springs, Michigan, then taken to Milwaukee, Wisconsin and rebuilt as CITY OF CHARLEVOIX. She was also lengthened to 165 foot. She lasted until 1924, when she burned at her lay-up dock in Manistee, Michigan. At that time, she was named KANSAS.

On June 17, 1895, the J. W. Westcott Co. inaugurated its unique mail delivery service.
On 17 June 1878, the Canadian schooner JAMES SCOTT of Port Burwell capsized and sank in Lake Erie. The captain's wife, their child and two seamen were drowned.

The wooden schooner MONTEREY, which stranded on Sleeping Bear Point on Lake Michigan in early December 1890, was released on 17 June 1891.

The SCOTT MISENER (Hull#11) was christened on June 17, 1951, for Colonial Steamships Ltd. She was the first vessel built at Port Weller Drydocks Ltd. Renamed b.) JOHN E. F. MISENER in 1954, she was scrapped at Cartagena, Columbia, in 1986.

The PATERSON of 1954 collided with the steamer EDMUND W. MUDGE in 1957, in fog on the St. Clair River opposite Marine City, Michigan.

The WILLIAM A. IRVIN was towed to the Duluth Convention Center on June 17, 1986, by the tugs SIOUX and DAKOTA to be on station as a museum ship at the new $3 million convention facility.

June 17, 1998 - The barge PERE MARQUETTE 41 and tug UNDAUNTED arrived Ludington, Michigan from Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, after the remainder of the conversion there.

The propeller OWEN SOUND was launched at Collingwood, Ontario, on 17 June 1875. She measured 900 tons and could carry 30,000 bushels of grain.

1909 – The iron hulled passenger and freight steamer CAMPANA had been cut in two to leave the Great Lakes in 1895, but the hull broke in 1909 where the sections had been rejoined and sank in the St. Lawrence at Point St. Michael a few miles below Quebec City.

1918 – JAY GOULD was loaded with coal and towing the barge COMMODORE when it began leaking and then sank eight miles southeast of Southeast Shoal, Lake Erie. The hull was later dynamited as a hazard to navigation. The barge was overwhelmed by the seas and rolled in the trough for about two hours before it also sank. All on board both ships were saved.

1941 – The Lake Ontario passenger steamer KINGSTON ran aground on a shoal in the St. Lawrence 15 miles SW of Ogdensburg, NY after losing her way in thick fog. The passengers were transferred to RAPIDS PRINCE and the ship was released with the aid of pontoons and repaired at Kingston.

1998 – MOUNTAIN BLOSSOM was downbound in the Seaway when it struck the approach wall at the Eisenhower Lock, opening a crack in the hull that allowed about 50 gallons of xylene to escape. The immediate area was evacuated but the problem was quickly cleaned up. The ship was a regular Great Lakes trader from 1986 to 2007 and was scrapped at Xinhui, China, after arriving on January 10, 2010.

The steamer ILLINOIS was the first vessel to pass through the newly opened Soo Locks in 1855. To help commemorate the 100th anniversary of this event, an open house was held aboard the J. L. MAUTHE. While tied up at the Cleveland Lakefront dock, an estimated 1,700 persons toured the MAUTHE.
During a moonlight charter on 18 June 1936, the TASHMOO (steel side-wheel excursion steamer, 308 foot, 1,344 gross tons, built in 1900, at Wyandotte, Michigan) struck a boulder in the Sugar Island channel in the Detroit River. The vessel docked at Amherstburg, Ontario, where her passengers disembarked as the vessel settled to the bottom in 14 feet of water. Although the damage was not fatal, the salvage crew botched the job. The TASHMOO had one end raised too quickly and her keel broke. This ended this well-loved vessel’s too-short career.

The Soo Locks opened for their first season on 18 June 1855. The first vessel through the locks was the steamer ILLINOIS of 1853.

In 1949, the WILFRED SYKES (Hull#866) was launched at American Shipbuilding Co., Lorain, Ohio, for Inland Steel Co. At the time she was the largest and most powerful vessel on the lakes. The SYKES was also the first boat to have a poop deck. She was converted to a self-unloader in 1975.

In 1964, the bulk freighter SAGUENAY (Hull#647) was launched at Lauzon, Quebec, by Davie Ship Building Ltd., for Canada Steamship Lines Ltd.

In 1968, the ALGOCEN (Hull#191) was launched at Collingwood, Ontario by Collingwood Shipyards Ltd, for Algoma Central Railway. Renamed b.) VALGOCEN in 2005, she was used as a spoils barge in Keasby, New Jersey. She returned to the lakes in in 2008 as J.W. SHELLEY. Sold and renamed PHOENIX STAR in 2012.

On 18 June 1869, a little less than a week after being launched, the schooner DAVID A. WELLS sailed on her maiden voyage from Port Huron for Menominee, Michigan. On 18 June 1858, the steamship CANADA left the Lakes via the St. Lawrence rapids since she was too large for the existing locks. She had been built by Louis Shickluna at the Niagara Drydock Company in 1853, at a cost of $63,000. She was sold for ocean service after the Depression of 1857. Her hull was rebuilt and she was renamed MISSISSIPPI. She foundered in a gale in the South Atlantic on 12 August 1862.

The venerable side-wheel passenger ferry TRILLIUM (Hull #94) was launched June 18, 1910, at Toronto, Ontario by Polson Iron Works, for the Toronto Ferry Co. 1905 –ETRURIA sank after a collision with the AMASA STONE off Passage Island Light, Lake Superior.

1942 – The steamer THOMAS MAYTHAM of 1892 vintage was rebuilt as the New York State Barge Canal tanker DOLOMITE 2 in 1938 and renamed MOTOREX in 1942. It was sunk by gunfire from U-172 near the Colon entrance to the Panama Canal and all on board were rescued.

1944 – ALBERT C. FIELD, a former Great Lakes bulk canaller, was hit by an aerial torpedo from German aircraft and broke in two and sank in minutes. There were 4 lives lost when the ship was hit in the English Channel while carrying munitions and 130 bags of mail in support of the Normandy invasion.

1959 – SPRINGDALE, a Great Lakes trader in the early 1950s and later operated on charter to Reoch Transports, capsized and sank in the Gulf of Bothnia after the cargo of timber shifted in heavy weather.

1960 – GEERTJE BUISMAN came to the Great Lakes in 1960 and ran aground on Vienne Shoal in northern Lake Michigan while outbound from Chicago with a cargo that included new Nash Rambler automobiles for Europe. The Dutch vessel was stuck for 4 days, and had to be lightered. It returned to the Seaway again in later years and was finally scrapped as f) MOUNT at Varna, Bulgaria, in 2003-2004.

1991 – The saltwater trader AKTI was driven aground 14 miles north of Necochea, Argentina, in a storm and sold “as lies” before being refloated as d) AKTO on July 27. Examination determined that the ship was a total loss but it was rebuilt by Chilean interests as e) RIO CIERVOS. The vessel had been through the Seaway as a) ASIA PROSPERITY beginning in 1974, as b) HAN PACIFIC in 1983, and c) AKTI in 1988. It was scrapped at g) AL GIORGIS after arriving at Chittagong, Bangladesh, on November 17, 2005.

1997 – CANADIAN MARINER ran aground in the St. Lawrence near Crossover Shoal after losing power. The vessel had to be lightered to be released and was repaired by Port Weller Dry Docks. The ship was scrapped at Aliaga, Turkey, in 2007.

[yachtsmanwilly]

6/19 - Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. – The U.S. Coast Guard cleared the motor vessel Paul R. Tregurtha in Lake Superior for transit to her next port of call for repairs Monday evening. After a generator fire was extinguished Monday morning, Coast Guard marine inspectors began a marine casualty investigation. The investigation is ongoing. No injuries or pollution were identified. The vessel was at anchor off Brimley, Mich., for most of Monday. She was downbound at the Soo in the late evening headed for St. Clair, Mich., to unload coal.


(6/18 - Soo, Mich. - Monday afternoon the Paul R. Tregurtha departed the anchorage near Point Iroquois and continued her downbound trip. It is unknown if repairs have been completed or if they will stop in the Soo.

Original Report: Monday morning about 4:20 a.m. the Paul. R. Tregurtha reported a generator fire while travelling downbound above the Soo.

The vessel master reported the fire extinguished at 5:30 a.m. and stated that there were no injuries or pollution, and all 23 crewmembers are accounted for. The thousand footer is carrying 68,200 tons of coal, 124,000 gallons of fuel, and 88,000 gallons of caustic soda used in the exhaust scrubber.

The Coast Guard had a vessel on scene to conduct an Investigation into the cause of the incident.

The Paul R. Tregurtha is anchored near Point Iroquois, in Whitefish Bay.
USCG



6/18 - Duluth - American Spirit floated free from the bottom at approximately 10 p.m. (central standard time) Sunday. Tug were on scene but the Coast Guard reports that the thousand footer floated free due to a water level. It proceeded under its own power, with tug assistance, to the Husky Fuel dock. An examination of the interior and exterior of the hull is ongoing.

Original report: The American Spirit remains aground in Duluth Harbor Sunday evening. The thousand footer grounded about 3:30 p.m. local time Sunday.

The vessel was departing Duluth Harbor fully loaded with taconite when it ran aground just short of the breakwall while attempting to turn out of the harbor. The cause of the incident is under investigation.

USCG


On 19 June 1889, NORTH STAR (steel propeller freighter, 299 foot, 2,476 gross tons, built in 1889, at Cleveland, Ohio) collided with CHARLES J. SHEFFIELD (steel propeller freighter, 260 foot, 1,699 gross tons, built in 1887, at Cleveland, Ohio) about sixty miles west of Whitefish Point on Lake Superior in heavy fog. The NORTH STAR kept her bow in the SHEFFIELD's side after the impact, giving the crew time to board. The SHEFFIELD then sank in 8 minutes. Her loss was valued at $160,000. The courts found both vessels to be equally at fault after years of litigation.
In 1954, GEORGE M. HUMPHREY (Hull#871) (named for President Eisenhower's Secretary of Treasury) was launched at Lorain, Ohio, by American Shipbuilding Co, for National Steel Co., M.A. Hanna, mgr.

In 1978, ALGOBAY (Hull#215) was launched by Collingwood Shipyards Ltd. for Algoma Central Railway. Renamed b.) ATLANTIC TRADER in 1994, and renamed c.) ALGOBAY in 1996 and d.) RADCLIFFE R. LATIMER in 2012.

On 19 June 1836, DELAWARE (wooden passenger/package freight side wheeler, 105 foot, 178 tons, built in 1833, at Huron, Ohio) was carrying general merchandise and passengers in a storm on Lake Michigan when she was thrown ashore off Niles, Illinois. She broke in two and was wrecked. No lives were lost.

On 19 June 1900, the wooden schooner THOMAS L. HOWLAND was raised and towed to Buffalo, New York for repairs. She had been sunk by the ice off Windmill Point in the Detroit River early in the season.

At 5:30 p.m., on 19 June 1872, the wooden package freight/passenger propeller MONTANA (236 foot, 1,535 gross tons) was finally afloat at Port Huron, Michigan. She was successfully launched at the Port Huron Dry Dock Company on Saturday, 15 June, but she got stuck in the mud. The tugs VULCAN, PRINDEVILLE, BROCKWAY and BURNSIDE were all employed to free her and the MONTANA's engines were also going. It took four days of pulling, hoisting and dredging to free her. The effort to get her free and afloat cost Alexander Muir, her builder, over $3,000 (in 1872 dollars). She lasted until 1914, when she burned near Alpena, Michigan.

1905 – The wooden passenger and freight steamer CITY OF COLLINGWOOD of 1893 vintage was destroyed by a fire at Collingwood and four lives were lost.

1917 – The Canadian bulk carrier NATIRONCO was beached in the Detroit River after a collision with the ASTERN STATES and was deemed a total loss. It was raised and repaired at Toledo and survived until scrapping at Civitavecchia, Italy, as d) SAN CARLO in 1929.

1925 – The wooden freighter MAPLEGLEN (i), is scuttled in Lake Ontario, west of Kingston, near Amherst Island. It had been idle since 1921 and was originally the WYOMING of 1881.

1929 –JOHN HANLAN was torched as a spectacle off the Sunnyside area of Toronto after having failed an inspection to continue service as a Toronto Island ferry. 1933 – MEADCLIFFE HALL sustained rudder damage after being struck by the CALGADOC (i) at Thorold. The grain-laden canaller was towed back to Port Colborne, unloaded, and repaired at Port Dalhousie.

1962 – Hatch cover planks give way at Cleveland aboard FLOWERGATE and a forklift and two men fell into the cargo hold, striking a third man. All were badly injured. The British freighter later returned through the Seaway under Panamanian registry as b) AMENITY and was scrapped at Troon, Scotland, in 1977.

[yachtsmanwilly]

6/20 - Cleveland, Ohio ñ Shipments of limestone on the Great Lakes totaled 3.745 million tons in May, an increase of 3.9 percent compared to a year ago. Mayís loadings also bettered the monthís 5-year average by the same percent.

Loadings from U.S. quarries totaled 3.155 million tons, an increase of 7.9 percent compared to a year ago. Shipments from Canadian quarries totaled 590,000 tons, a decrease of 13.5 percent.

Year-to-date the Lakes limestone trade stands at 5.2 million tons, a decrease of 1.5 percent compared to a year ago. Loadings from Michigan and Ohio quarries total 4.47 million tons, an increase of 3.1 percent. Shipments from Ontario quarries total 767,000 tons, a decrease of 21.7 percent.

Lake Carriers Association


6/20 - Manitowoc, Wis. ñ Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker helped Manitowoc officials celebrate the groundbreaking for $4 million in repairs to the S.S. Badger dock. Walker was joined by U.S. Rep. Glenn Grothman, Wisconsin Department of Transportation Secretary Dave Ross and Manitowoc Mayor Justin Nickels during the Monday celebration.

"It's (the car ferry) a great asset, not only for here, but for anything water-based throughout the Great Lakes," Walker said.

The S.S. Badger is one of six ferries in Wisconsin and provides four-hour passage between Manitowoc and Ludington, Michigan, for passengers and vehicles. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2016.

The project will update the docking and berthing facilities in Manitowoc, which are approximately 70 years old.

In mid-April, a sudden spring storm caused damage to the loading structure and severely eroded the harbor side of the S.S. Badger facility. An emergency $800,000 HAP grant was given to the city for repairs before the ferry began its 2018 sailing schedule, which started May 11.

In 2017, the federal government awarded a $5 million grant for work on both the Ludington and Manitowoc docks. Manitowoc also received a $2 million Wisconsin HAP grant to replace a seawall at the ferry dock.

"I think this is the type of thing the federal fund should be used for, a kind of interstate commerce," said Grothman. "It does so much to connect Wisconsin and Michigan."

Work on the repairs will begin in October, after the S.S. Badger completes its sailing season and will be completed by May 2019 before the ferry sets sail again.

Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter


6/20 - Duluth, Minn. ñ The U. S. Coast Guard in Duluth, Minn., is scheduled to establish security restrictions on portions of the Duluth-Superior Harbor on the afternoon of Wednesday, June 20, as part of President Trumpís visit to the area.

The U.S. Coast Guard will establish and strictly enforce two security zones on northern and central portions of the Duluth-Superior Harbor, including the Duluth Ship Canal, East Gate Basin, and around the Blatnik Bridge. Enforcement times provided are subject to change. The most up-to-date information will be provided via Broadcast Notice to mariners over VHF channel 16.

Security Zone A covers northern Duluth Harbor Basin and will be enforced from 4 p.m. through approximately 8 p.m. on June 20, 2018.

Security Zone B covers central portions of Duluth-Superior Harbor and will be enforced from 4 p.m. through approximately 6:30 p.m. on June 20, 2018.

All vessels and persons are prohibited from entry into or remaining in the security zones unless authorized by the Coast Guard Captain of the Port (COTP) Duluth or designated representative. Vessels already at berth, moored, or anchored at the time the security zones are implemented do not have to depart the zone unless directed to depart by the COTP Duluth or designated representative. All vessels underway within the security zones at the time they are implemented are to depart the zone.

Vessels and persons who wish to request authorization to enter the security zones may contact COTP Duluth or designated representative via VHF radio on channel 16.

USCG


On this day in 1943, the IRVING S. OLDS departed Two Harbors with 20,543 tons of ore and the BENJAMIN F. FAIRLESS departed Two Harbors with 20,386 tons of ore. It was the first time that two lakers departed the same harbor on the same day with cargos in excess of 20,000 tons.
The SENATOR (steel propeller freighter, 410 foot, 4,048 gross tons) was launched by the Detroit Dry Dock Company (Hull #122) at Wyandotte, Michigan, on 20 June 1896, for the Wolverine Steamship Company. She lasted until 31 October 1929, when she collided with the steamer MARQUETTE in fog off Port Washington, Wisconsin, and sank with her cargo of 241 automobiles.

On 20 June 1893, GEORGE STONE (wooden propeller freighter, 270 foot, 1,841 gross tons) was launched by F. W. Wheeler & Co. (Hull #98) at West Bay City, Michigan. She lasted until 1909, when she stranded and burned on Lake Erie.

The WILLIAM P. COWAN (Hull#724) cleared Lorain, Ohio on her maiden voyage in 1918. Renamed b.) AMOCO ILLINOIS in 1962. Scrapped at Windsor, Ontario, by M & M Steel Co., in 1987.

In 1903, the twin-screw rail car ferry GRAND HAVEN (Hull#92) was launched at Toledo, Ohio, by the Craig Ship Building Co., for the Grand Trunk Carferry Line, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

1953 ñ The Paterson steamer SCOTIADOC sank in Lake Superior near Trowbridge Island after a collision in wind and fog with the BURLINGTON of Canada Steamship Lines. One man was lost when the starboard lifeboat was swamped after being launched.

1954 ñ The bulk carrier PATRIA, built in Canada during World War Two as the tanker MOOSE MOUNTAIN PARK, was declared a total loss after coming ashore 1 mile northwest of East Point, Santa Rosa Island, California. The ship was salvaged, repaired and made one trip through the Seaway in 1961 as PATAPSCO RIVER before being scrapped at Hirao, Japan, in 1963.

1973 ñ The bulk carrier ATLANTIC TRADER first traded through the Seaway in 1961 and returned on a regular basis as INVEREWE beginning in 1962. It was back again as d) THEOKEETOR in 1972 but sank June 20, 1973, after a collision with MARINA L. in dense fog off the Baja Peninsula of Mexico. All on board were saved.

1978 ñ A fire broke out in the cargo of coal aboard WILLIS B. BOYER and the ship docked at River Rouge where part of the cargo was unloaded to get at the fire. The vessel was enroute from Toledo to Silver Bay.

1995 ñ SAULT AU COCHON, built by Port Weller Dry Docks as a pulpwood barge in 1969, buckled and sank at Forestville, QC. The hull was refloated and taken to Hamilton for repairs later in the year.

2007 ñ KAPITAN RADIONOV first came to the Great Lakes in May 1992 with coal tar for Cleveland. It sank in severe weather on this date in 2007 as i) ALEXANDRA C. after flooding began in the engine room the previous day. The vessel went down 95 miles off Socotra Island, Yemen, while enroute to Australia with ammonium nitrate. All 19 crew on board were rescued.

On June 20, 1959, the SEAWAY QUEEN began her maiden voyage. The vessel was appropriately named, as at the time she was the largest Canadian vessel on the Great Lakes, the 2nd largest on the Great Lakes overall (behind the EDMUND FITZGERALD), and she entered service the same week that Queen Elizabeth II and President Dwight D. Eisenhower formally dedicated the St. Lawrence Seaway. She was one of the more popular and classic looking vessels on the Great Lakes. June 20, 1936 - PERE MARQUETTE 21 was blocked in Manitowoc following an accident that disabled the Manitowoc Tenth Street Bridge, making it impossible to raise the structure.

June 20, 1993 - BADGER struck the Ludington breakwall while arriving Ludington. She was sent to Sturgeon Bay for repairs. Ten operating days and 21 sailings were lost. The 230-foot wooden freighter JAMES DAVIDSON (Hull#4) was launched at West Bay City, Michigan, for James Davidson at his shipyard on 20 June 1874. JAMES DAVIDSON was wrecked in Lake Huron in 1883.

The MINNEHAHA, a wooden "clipper" schooner, was launched at James A. Baker's shipyard in Oswego, New York, on 20 June 1857. Her dimensions were 110 foot keel, 125 foot overall, x 25 foot 6 inches x 10 foot 6 inches. She could carry 13,000 bushels of grain. Mr. James Navagh, her master builder, received a gold watch and chain worth $200 in appreciation of his fine work on this vessel.

On Wednesday night, 20 June 1877, the schooner EVELINE (wooden schooner, 118 foot, 236 gross tons, built in 1861, at Litchfield, Michigan) was struck by lightning about sixty miles out from Alpena, Michigan. The bolt shattered the mainmast, throwing three large pieces over the vessel's sides. The large spar was split perpendicularly in two and the lightning bolt followed the grain of the wood in a circular manner until it reached the main boom jaw, which is enclosed in a band of iron fastened by a large bolt. This bolt was literally cut in two. The mate, George Mayom, had the left side of his body blistered and the skin burned off from the shoulder to the foot. His right leg, hands and arm were also severely burned, and he suffered internal injuries and bled freely. The vessel made it to port and she was repaired. She lasted until September 1895, when she sank off Kewaunee, Wisconsin.

[yachtsmanwilly]

6/21 - AuSable Towsnhip, Mich. – The AuSable River mouth, known as AuSable Harbor, will undergo a $420,000 dredging project in the near future, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Detroit District.

The harbor location was one of many listed for funding for various projects, which will utilize $79 million to conduct work to repair breakwaters, dredge harbors and complete various projects and studies throughout the Great Lakes.

According to a press release, the Detroit District’s work planned increase of $79 million includes funding to do 21 dredging projects and four repair, replacement, or construction projects. Significant funding will be applied to the Soo Locks to help further asset renewal projects and the major rehabilitation of key components of the MacArthur and Poe Locks. In addition, the work plan includes design funding for two environmental projects.

“These Work Plan funds will help address critical asset renewal and major rehabilitation projects at the Soo Locks facility, and also address numerous dredging needs around the Great Lakes. We construct, maintain and operate key infrastructure projects that are crucial to the nation’s economy, environment, safety and quality of life, now and in the future,” said Lt. Col. Dennis Sugrue, district engineer, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Detroit District.

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Public Affairs Officer Lynn Rose said she is unsure of the scope of work for the AuSable Harbor project, or even when the work will be conducted.

“We come up with the plan on how much we want to be dredged, the contractors will ask how much they can dredge on how much is offered,” she said. “And other things go into the amount that we see here, other than the actual dredging.”

According to Rose, the last time the river was dredged was in July and August of 201 where it was brought to a depth of 10 feet below low water datum (LWD).

“The plan is to award a contract as soon as possible to dredge the harbor (most likely in the spring) to full authorized project depth, which is 10 feet below LWD in the inner channel and 12 feet below LWD in the channel entrance,” she said.

AuSable Harbor is mostly used for recreational purposes, but Rose said the Corps is tasked with maintaining it all the same.

“We are responsible for keeping navigational channels open,” she said. “Some of these harbors are what we call low use harbors and we don’t use them for commercial shipping, but that is our main focus is the shipping this is considered a federal channel and dredging keeps the channel at the authorized depth.”

Because of the movement of the river water, the channel will continually need dredged. “Most channels fill in with silt and sand because of the water,” she said. “Sometimes they are so shoaled in even a small ship could not get in.”

Oscoda Press


6/21 - Ordinary seaman needed aboard the S.S. Badger: An entry level position in the deck department. The OS performs deck department functions including line handling, deck maintenance, and fire/lifeboat/emergency duties. The OS can expect to live aboard the ship and stand a 4 hour watch, twice a day, 7 days per week during the sailing season from now until mid-October. The OS is required to hold a USCG Merchant Mariner Credential and a Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC). Benefit eligible after completing 90-day probationary period. Please visit our website at www.ssbadger.com scroll and click on the Employment Opportunities box to obtain an online or printable application. If you have difficulty with the application or need further information, please email [e-mail]


On 21 June 1868, the D&C Line's MORNING STAR (wooden side-wheel steamer, 243 foot, 1,075 tons, built in 1862, at Trenton, Michigan) was late in leaving her dock in Cleveland, Ohio, because she was loading some last-minute freight (iron bars and glass). As she sailed on Lake Erie to Detroit during the dark and rainy night, she collided with the heavy-laden bark COURTLAND and sank quickly, 10 miles off Lorain, Ohio. Twenty feet of the steamer's bow had been torn off while the bark was swept into one of the paddle wheels and destroyed. The side-wheel steamer R N RICE arrived on the scene at 3 a.m. and picked up the survivors - only 44 of them. In September, MORNING STAR was raised, towed to Lorain and re-sunk in 55 feet of water, for possible future rebuilding. Attempts were made to raise her again several times, but in the summer of 1872, she was abandoned because it was determined that the previous attempts had reduced her to rubble.
On 21 June 1878, the small passenger steamer J. HOLT, which ran between Chatham and Wallaceburg, Ontario, burned on Lake St. Clair. The passengers and crew escaped in the lifeboats.

On June 21, 1942, the LEON FRASER entered service as the largest vessel on the Great Lakes. The Pittsburgh Steamship Co. bulk freighter, originally 639 foot 6 inches long, retained at least a tie for that honor until the WILFRED SYKES entered service in 1949. She was shortened, converted to a self-unloading cement carrier and renamed b.) ALPENA in 1991.

June 21, 1942, the U.S. Steel bulk freighter EUGENE J. BUFFINGTON ran hard aground on Boulder Reef in Lake Michigan and broke in two. The vessel was subsequently recovered and, after a long career with U.S. Steel, was finally sold for scrap in 1980.

The m/v RANGER III (Hull#385) was side-launched at Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin by Christy Corporation, on Saturday, June 21, 1958. The vessel was custom designed by R.A. Stearns (Bay Engineering) also of Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, for the National Park Service, Isle Royale National Park.

On June 21, 1986, during a severe thunderstorm (and unofficial observations of a funnel cloud) in the Duluth area, the JOSHUA A. HATFIELD broke loose from Azcon Scrap Dock in Duluth and was blown across the harbor and ended up hard aground on Park Point (Minnesota Point). She remained stuck for nearly 3 weeks when a storm with east winds pushed the HATFIELD free and she blew most of the way back across the harbor back to the scrap dock. Tugs were dispatched in time to safely guide the HATFIELD back to the scrap dock. (June seems to be a bad month for U.S. Steel in accidents, with the June 7, 1977, accident involving the WILLIAM A. IRVIN, the June 15, 1943, collision between the D. M. CLEMSON and the GEORGE M. HUMPHREY, and the June 21, 1942, grounding of the EUGENE J. BUFFINGTON on Boulder Reef.)

June 21, 1916 - The ANN ARBOR NO 5, after departing the shipyards in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on June 21, 1916, where 3 buckets (blades) were replaced on her starboard propeller, arrived in Manistique, Michigan. While maneuvering around in the harbor she struck the rocky bottom and broke off the same three blades off her starboard propeller.

June 21, 1994 - The Ludington Daily News reported a planned sale of the CITY OF MIDLAND 41, to Contessa Cruise Lines of Minnesota. The deal included an option to sell the SPARTAN and Contessa was prohibited from competing against Lake Michigan Carferry Co., but it fell through.

The 3-mast wooden schooner GEORGE MURRAY was launched in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, on 21 June 1873. At the time, she was billed as the largest vessel ever built on Lake Michigan. Her dimensions were 299 foot long x 34 foot beam x 14 foot depth, with the capacity to carry 50,000 bushels of grain. She was built by G. S. Rand for J. R. Slauson of Racine, Wisconsin.

1910 – The tug C.W. ELPHICKE sank at Michigan City, Indiana, after a bizarre accident. The steamer UNITED STATES had struck the Franklin Street Bridge, which then collapsed on the tug. The tug was salvaged on July 12.

1941 – BOMMESTAD, a small Norwegian freighter, came to the Great Lakes in the 1920s and 1930s. It was sold and renamed HILDA in 1934 and registered in Finland when it was torpedoed and sunk by U-52 in the Bay of Biscay while enroute from Dunkirk, France, to the U.K. with a cargo of wheat.

1964 – The Norwegian freighter STELLA NOVA ran aground off Alexandria Bay, N.Y., while enroute from Duluth to Bombay, India. It was refloated June 24 with major bottom damage but was repaired. It had been a Seaway trader as a) VITO in 1959 and was scrapped as f) CORALBA after arriving at Split, Yugoslavia, on September 19, 1978.

On 21 June 1900, the wooden bulk freighter R C BRITTAIN was raised at Toledo, Ohio. She was brought to Sarnia where repairs were made and the engine of the tug F A FOLGER was installed in her. She had previously sunk at Toledo and remained there for several years before being raised. She lasted until 1912, when she burned at Sarnia.

[Avenger]

Trio to pay tribute to Fitzgerald while crossing Lake Superior on paddleboards
6/22 - Three Michigan men will attempt something that has never been done before later this summer. Sometime in mid-July, Joe Lorenz, 32, Kwin Morris, 31, and Jeff Guy, 32, will attempt to paddleboard across Lake Superior, the largest, coldest, and most dangerous of the Great Lakes, with the goal of raising $10,000 for the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society.
"It can pick up like crazy out there in a matter of seconds," Morris said. "Superior's weather and waves have taken thousands of sailors and their ships to the grave."
Dressed in their dry suits, the trio will traverse the often-deadly lake from Sinclair Cove, Ontario, near centuries-old pictographs of paddlers painted on the cliffs by the Ojibwe, to Whitefish Point in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, the site of the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum.
It's a route that crosses near the site of the freighter Edmund Fitzgerald, Lake Superior's most-infamous victim which sunk on Nov. 10, 1975, killing the entire crew of 29. "We can stop and give respect to all of the shipwrecks and sailors that have gone down," Morris, a teacher in the Elk Rapids School District, said.
Read more and view a video at this link: www.mlive.com/news/index.ssf/2018/06/trio_to_tribute_edmund_fitzger.html

Today in Great Lakes History - June 22
On 22 June 1959, BAYPORT (steel propeller tug, 72 foot, 65 gross tons, built in 1914, at Cleveland, Ohio, formerly named a.) FAIRPORT) had the steamer MOHAWK DEER in tow when she was hooked by her own tow cable, capsized and sank at Collingwood, Ontario. Three lives were lost. The tug was later raised and converted from steam to diesel. Later renamed c.) TWIN PORT, and d.) ROD MC LEAN in 1974. She was scrapped in 2008 at the Purvis west yard at Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario.

On 22 June 1909, W.P. THEW (wooden propeller freighter, 133 foot, 207 gross tons, built in 1884, at Lorain, Ohio) was in ballast, creeping through the fog off Alpena, Michigan on Lake Huron when she was rammed by the WILLIAM LIVINGSTONE (steel propeller freighter, 532 foot, 6,634 gross tons, built in 1908, at Ecorse, Michigan). After the collision, the LIVINGSTONE drifted away and lost track of the THEW. The THEW sank in 80 feet of water. Fortunately the steamer MARY C. ELPHICKE answered the distress whistle and picked up the THEW's crew from the lifeboat. No lives were lost.
The WILLIAM R. ROESCH (Hull#901) was launched and christened at Lorain, Ohio by American Ship Building Co., on June 22, 1973, for the Union Commerce Bank, Ohio (Trustee) and managed by the Kinsman Marine Transit Co., Cleveland, Ohio. Renamed b.) DAVID Z. NORTON in 1995, c.) DAVID Z in 2007 and d.) CALUMET in 2008.
June 22, 1957 - W. L. Mercereau, known as the Father of the Fleet, died. Mercereau developed the Pere Marquette fleet of car ferries into the largest in the world.
On 22 June 1853, CHALLENGE (wooden propeller freighter, 198 foot, 665 tons, built in 1853, at Newport, Michigan) was bound from Chicago for Buffalo with barreled pork and oats on one of her first trips. However, her boiler exploded off Cheboygan, Michigan. She burned and sank. Five died. The schooner NORTH STAR heard the blast ten miles away and came to the rescue of the rest of the passengers and crew.
On 22 June 1875, The Port Huron Times reported that "the Northern Transportation Company's fleet of 20 propellers, which have been idle all the season owing to difficulties between the Central Vermont and the Ogdensburg & Champlain Railroad Companies, have passed from the control of the Central Vermont Railroad Company and will commence regular trips as soon as they can be fitted out."

[yachtsmanwilly]

Hey SCROD! Thanks for handling this last Friday. I seriously thought it was Saturday! This boat job is killing me and I have about 3 days to go before a respite! ws

In 1976 the NEPCO 140, carrying six million gallons of No. 6 bunker oil and being pushed toward Oswego by the tug EILEEN C., grounded on the shore of Wellesley Island in the American Narrows section of the St. Lawrence River, just upstream from Alexandria Bay, N.Y. The grounding occurred about 1:35 a.m. in heavy fog and was followed by a second apparent grounding further up river, just before the barge reached the Seaway anchorage site off Mason's Point, some four miles above the initial grounding site. In all, over 300,000 of the thick crude was spilled into the River, creating the largest slick ever to pollute an inland U.S. waterway to that day. Seaway traffic was halted immediately, sending at least 20 ships to anchor. Within hours, over 20,000 feet of boom were deployed, but the spill moved steadily down river, coating granite shoreline, trapping waterfowl, forcing boat owners to pull their boats, and oozing into sensitive marshland, particularly Chippewa Bay in New York waters. Some oil eventually reached as far down the river as Lake St. Lawrence and coated shoreline along the Long Sault Parkway on the Canadian side of the lake. Clean-up lasted into the fall and cost in excess U.S. $8 million.
On 23 June 1903, the tug O.W. CHENEY steamed out of Buffalo harbor in heavy fog to tow the steamer CHEMUNG into the harbor. The tug ran too close to the oncoming steamer, was struck by the bow, and the CHENEY overturned and sank. Three crewmen were killed; two survivors were picked up by the tug FRANK S. BUTLER. On 23 June 1969, RALPH MISENER (steel propeller bulk freighter, 730 foot, 19,160 gross tons, built in 1968, at Montreal, Quebec) transited the Soo Locks upbound for the first time. She had an innovative self-unloading system with twin booms. The movable crane was equipped with a chain of buckets so it could discharge cargo from either side. This unloading system only lasted until 1976, when it was severely damaged in a squall on Lake Michigan. The vessel was then converted from a combination self-unloader/bulk carrier to a bulk carrier. She was renamed b.) GORDON C. LEITCH in 1994.

In 1926, the GLENMHOR (Hull#16), the name was soon corrected to GLENMOHR, was launched at Midland Ontario by Midland Shipbuilding Co., for Great Lakes Transportation Co., (James Playfair). She was 6 feet wider and 4 feet shallower than the largest ship at that time. Purchased by Canada Steamship Lines in 1926, renamed b.) LEMOYNE. Scrapped at Santander, Spain in 1969.

In 1929, the WILLIAM G. CLYDE (Hull#804) was launched at Lorain, Ohio, by American Shipbuilding Co., for the Pittsburgh Steamship Co. Converted to a self-unloader and renamed b.) CALCITE II in 1961. Renamed c.) MAUMEE in 2001. Launched in 1972, was the ALGOWAY (Hull#200) at Collingwood, Ontario, by Collingwood Shipyards Ltd., for Algoma Central Railway.

The first whaleback barge, 101, was launched along the shore of St. Louis Bay near Duluth, Minnesota, on 23 June 1888. Captain Alexander Mc Dougall, the inventor and designer, was there along with his wife, her sister-in-law and several hundred spectators. As the vessel splashed in to the bay, Mrs. Mc Dougall is supposed to have muttered, "There goes our last dollar!"

On 23 June 1900, the 450 foot steel steamer SIMON J. MURPHY (Hull#135) was launched at Wyandotte, Michigan, by the Detroit Ship Building Co., for the Eddy - Shaw Transportation Co. of Bay City, Michigan.

On 23 June 1873, B. F. BRUCE was launched at Crosthwaite's yard in East Saginaw, Michigan. She is not properly a schooner, but what is known as a "three-and-after" in nautical terms. Her capacity was 50,000 bushels of grain (800 tons) and the building cost was $50,000.

1942 – EUGENE J. BUFFINGTON struck Boulder Reef, Lake Michigan and the hull cracked in two places. The vessel as on the rocks for 25 days until it coould be strapped together and refloated. The ship was towed to Chicago for one of the largest repair jobs in Great Lakes history.

1948 – CRETE and J.P. MORGAN JR. were in a head-on collision, in fog, off the Apostle Islands, Lake Superior. Both ships suffered extensive damage. Two were killed, 3 more injured, aboard the latter steamer. ALTADOC and E.A.S. CLARKE also collided in fog near the Apostle Islands but the damage, while requiring repairs, was less serious.

The whaleback steamer WASHBURN (steel propeller freighter, 320 foot, 2,234 gross tons) was launched by the American Steel Barge Co. (Hull #124) at W. Superior, Wisconsin on 25 June 1892. She lasted until 1936, when she was scrapped at Cleveland, Ohio.
On this day in June 25, 1892, the American Steel Barge Company, West Superior Wisconsin, Captain Alexander Mc Dougall manager, held the first triple launching on the Great Lakes, which included the whalebacks PILLSBURY, WASHBURN and the small tug ISLAY. A crowd in excess of 10,000 people witnessed the event. Only the tug ISLAY remains.

On 25 June 1892, the PILLSBURY (steel propeller whaleback bulk freighter, 320 foot, 2,234 gross tons) was launched by the American Steel Barge Co., at West Superior, Wisconsin. She was rebuilt at Conneaut, Ohio in the winter of 1918-1919 (315.75 feet x 42.25 feet x 24.16 feet; 2,394 gross tons- 1,465 net tons) when she received straight sides and a flattened deck. In 1927, she was converted to crane vessel, with two cranes on deck. In November 1934, she stranded on the north pier at Muskegon, Michigan in a storm and then broke in half. She was scrapped the following year. In 1927, the B. F. AFFLECK (Hull#178) was launched at Toledo, Ohio by Toledo Shipbuilding Co., for the Pittsburgh Steamship Co.

On June 25, 1938, the WILLIAM A. IRVIN began her maiden voyage for the Pittsburgh Steamship Co., leaving Lorain, Ohio for Duluth to load iron ore. INDIANA HARBOR set a record cargo on June 25, 1993, loading 71,369 tons of western low sulfur coal at Superior's Midwest Energy Terminal and transporting it 50 miles to Silver Bay, Minnesota.

At 1:00 a.m. on 25 June 1878, the 161 foot, 3-mast wooden schooner PESHTIGO and the 143 foot, 3-mast wooden schooner ST ANDREW collided and sank near Cheboygan, Michigan and the Straits of Mackinac. Newspapers of the time claimed that forest fire smoke hampered visibility. Both vessels sank quickly. Two of the crew of PESHTIGO were lost, but the rest were rescued by the schooner S V R WATSON. The entire crew of ST ANDREW was rescued by the Canadian propeller OCEAN.

On the afternoon of 25 June 1885, the tug NIAGARA had the schooner MOUNT BLANC in tow while coming rounding to pick up the schooner REINDEER near Stag Island on the St. Clair River. The MOUNT BLANC struck the wreck of the tug B.B. JONES. The JONES had exploded in Port Huron on 25 May 1871, and the wreck was towed to the head of Stag Island where it was abandoned. After striking the wreck of the JONES, the ore laden MOUNT BLANC sank. She was later recovered and repaired and lasted until 1901.

1903 – JOHN CRAIG was seriously damaged in a grounding on Simmons Rock in the Straits of Mackinac. Once refloated, the wooden steamer was taken to St. Ignace and declared a total loss. It was subsequently rebuilt as PANAMA only to be lost in a storm on November 1, 1906.

1950 – Five lives were lost and another 12 passengers injured aboard the passenger ship CITY OF CLEVELAND III when it was in a collision with the Norwegian freighter RAVNEFJELL in fog on Lake Huron. The former was a total loss while the latter was repaired and returned to service. It became b) RINGSTEIN in 1955 and visited the Great Lakes through 1958. It was wrecked near Achona Point, Ghana, on September 11, 1966.

1959 – The Liberian registered MONROVIA became the first saltwater vessel of the Seaway era to sink on the Great Lakes. It went down in heavy fog on Lake Huron after going off course and colliding with the downbound ROYALTON off Thunder Bay Island. The vessel landed upright on the bottom and some of the cargo of steel was salvaged in the 1970s.

1980 – MONTREALAIS of Upper Lakes Shipping and ALGOBAY of Algoma Central collided head-on in heavy fog on the St. Clair River and both suffered massive bow damage. These vessels were repaired and today both sail in the Algoma fleet with the former as ALGOMA MONTREALAIS and the latter, later rebuilt with a new forebody in China, as RADCLIFFE R. LATIMER.

1980 – JEAN LYKES collided with and sank an 18-foot fishing boat in the St. Clair River, 2 miles north of St. Clair, MI. The American flag saltwater vessel was later beached at Alang, India, for scrapping as b) VELMA LYKES on July 9, 1994

1994 – While departing Bay City, McKEE SONS was swept crossways in the Saginaw River and went aground. Four tugs pulled the ship free without damage save for some shoreline erosion.

6/24 - Windsor Ont. – The normally sedate Detroit River came alive with roaring diesels and blaring air horns Saturday when tug boats of all sizes raced for glory and trophies in the 45th annual International Tug Boat Race.

When all was said and done, the Detroit-based tug Cheyenne emerged the overall winner. The tug is on it’s first season on the Great Lakes after being brought from the East Coast late last year by the Open Lake Group, a new company owned by Detroiter Wade P. Streeter. Sindbad came in second and Josephine came in third.

The race began at 1 p.m. at the Ambassador Bridge and ran to the finish line off Windsor’s Dieppe Park. Trophies were awarded to the first tug to finish the race as well as to each tug that finished first in its horsepower class.

It is the most unusual tug race anywhere. As many as 30 tugs of all sizes race in a mad dash for the finish line. Tugs ranging in length from 45 to 140 feet compete at the same time, all muscling for the best position. Some of the larger tugs are actual working tugs with more than 2,000 horsepower. The Detroit River boils as the tugs create a huge wake.

The race features tugs from all over the region — from tugs based in Detroit to others that arrive from Lake Huron ports just to participate in this great tradition.

Tug boat racing on the Detroit River dates back to the 1950s and was originally a loosely organized event. For many years the event was discontinued until 1976 when the International Freedom Festival started the tradition once again. In 2003 the International Freedom Festival declared bankruptcy and the future of the race was in limbo. Local Detroit tug man Brian Williams, with the help of numerous companies, individuals and the Detroit and Windsor Port Authorities was able to organize the event, keeping the long standing tradition alive.

Williams, who owns the Detroit-based tug Sheila Kaye, said there are few things more exciting than watching powerful tug boats racing at full throttle.

“I love tug boat racing,” said Williams. “I’ve been doing it myself for seven years. My father has been doing it since the ‘70s.”

He said it’s just as exciting to watch from shore as it is to participate aboard a tug.

“How many tug boats do you ever see in one spot?” he asked. “There’s no kid out there – and people in general – who doesn’t think a tug is cool. Twenty or so tugs running at full speed is something you don’t see very often.

“When you are on the tug, you’ve got a 3,000-horsepower engine screaming under you. There’s the thrill of actually being on a tugboat, and the waves. It’s a good time,” he said.

Windsor Star

6/24 - Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. – Capt. John Wellington of Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., recently received the Great Lakes Captain’s Association’s Professional Maritime Achievement award.

Captain Wellington was born on Mackinac Island July 25, 1931. At a very early age he and his twin brother Jim acquired a small row boat and explored the area. At 14 or so he got a small sailboat and expanded his exploration to all around the Straits. At 17 he decided joining the United States Coast Guard was the way to see over the horizon.

His first assignment was to Duluth and while there met his soon-to-be wife Dolly. He was sent to the station at Little Rapids Cut at the Soo, where he operated small boats for search and rescue. While there bought the Sugar Island ferry with his father and brother Jim. He was next sent to Kodiak Island, Alaska, where he sailed aboard the cutters Citrus and the Storis.

He was finally assigned to Portland, Maine, where he remained until retirement in 1969. After retiring to the Soo he operated the ferry until they sold it in 1973. A stint at Famous Soo Locks Boat Tours followed. The open water called and he went tugging for several different companies and delivered boats all over the lakes. Soon he bought two tugs, the Seaway One and Two, and then the tugs Chippewa and Iroquois. These were used for ship assist and contract ice breaking on the St Mary’s River. A big achievement was converting the Chippewa from steam to diesel.

He also owned the pilot boats in the Soo and Detour for a while, served the City of Sault Ste. Marie as Harbor Master for many years and facilitated port calls by numerous ships, providing them with anything they needed.

He was instrumental in getting International Shipmasters Lodge 22 chartered as well as serving as Grand Lodge President. He is also a longtime supporter of the Great Lakes Captain’s Association and is currently serving as a board member. He continues to serve as a board member and president of Sault Historic Sites (Valley Camp museum ship) as well at the Soo Locks Visitors Association.

Great Lakes Captain’s Association

6/23 - Every spring, it starts again: The great treasure hunt. Not for actual treasure, as the ships that met their fates on the Great Lakes weren't known to carry gold, valuable coins or jewels. The prizes are the shipwrecks themselves.

Of the estimated 10,000 ships believed to have been lost on the lakes over the past four centuries, only about a third have been found and identified.

Amateur and experienced shipwreck hunters hit the water every year as soon as the weather warms, eager to make a new discovery and unearth a piece of the past.

"There's still some real mysteries out there," said David Trotter, a renowned shipwreck hunter who has found about 100 lost ships.

The cold, fresh water of the Great Lakes means wrecks are typically better preserved there than in the oceans. Advances in sonar and positioning technology have led to a surge in discoveries in recent years.

Still, a number of famous vessels remain missing — for now. Here are the stories behind some of the most unique and sought-after undiscovered wrecks in the Great Lakes.

See the list and view images at this link: www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2018/06/22/great-lakes-most-mysterious-shipwrecks/621615002

6/23 - Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. – SooToday received word Thursday of an accident involving a light aircraft near Ile Parisienne, a remote undeveloped island located in the middle of Whitefish Bay about 25 kilometres northwest of Sault Ste Marie.

Details were few as of 6:30 p.m. Thursday, but an accident involving a Piper PA-18 Super Cub, a two-seat, single-engine monoplane, was reported to the Transportation Safety Board (TSB) and the Sault OPP detachment, said TSB spokesperson Chris Krepski. He said initial investigation shows there were two people aboard, with no reports of injuries. The plane is believed to be registered with a Sault pilot.

Editor’s note: On Friday, the Purvis Marine tug W.I. Scott Purvis with the barge PML 357 was enroute back to Sault, Ont., from the scene of the crash after recovering the aircraft.

SooToday

[Avenger]

Jun 25, 2018 4:38:20 GMT -5 yachtsmanwilly said:

Hey SCROD! Thanks for handling this last Friday. I seriously thought it was Saturday! This boat job is killing me and I have about 3 days to go before a respite! ws

Every day is Saturday. That's the joy of retirement, right?

Don't feel too bad. All last week, and even this morning I've been thinking June was over but we still have a week to go. No idea why.

[yachtsmanwilly]

6/26 - Traverse City, Mich – President Donald Trump has thrown out a policy devised by his predecessor to protect U.S. oceans and the Great Lakes, replacing it with a new approach that emphasizes use of the waters to promote economic growth.

Trump revoked an executive order issued by President Barack hateful muslim traitor in 2010 following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The largest offshore oil spill in U.S. history, it killed 11 workers and spewed millions of gallons of crude that harmed marine wildlife, fouled more than 1,300 miles of shoreline and cost the tourism and fishing industries hundreds of millions of dollars.

In his order this week, Trump did not mention the Gulf spill. He said he was “rolling back excessive bureaucracy created by the previous administration” and depicted the hateful muslim traitor council as bloated, with 27 departments and agencies and over 20 committees, subcommittees and working groups.

The Republican president said he was creating a smaller Ocean Policy Committee while eliminating “duplicative” regional planning bodies created under hateful muslim traitor.

Trump’s order downplays environmental protection, saying the change would ensure that regulations and management decisions don’t get in the way of responsible use by industries that “employ millions of Americans, advance ocean science and technology, feed the American people, transport American goods, expand recreational opportunities and enhance America’s energy security.”

The Detroit News


6/26 - Superior, Wis. – Major improvements are being made to the Cenex Harvest States (CHS) grain elevator facility in Superior, where 35 to 40 maritime vessels are loaded every year before sailing to to Europe, the Mideast and North Africa.

The Wisconsin Harbor Assistance Program has awarded a $1.7 million grant for the project, in which 600 feet of dock is being rehabilitated. In addition to new sheet piling, the concrete top is being replaced.

The investment will ensure the grain elevators remain active long into the future, said Superior Mayor Jim Paine. Currently, up to 70 percent of the grain transported through the Port of Duluth-Superior is loaded on vessels from CHS. It totals from 40 to 50 million bushels annually, said Chuck Schwede, CHS director of agriculture business terminal operations. It is brought to the facilities from Upper Midwest farms in about 14,000 rail cars per year.

“If it wasn’t for the Harbor Assistance Program, we wouldn’t have this infrastructure in Superior and other ports in Wisconsin,” said State Sen. Nick Milroy. Keeping the working waterfront active is a top priority, he added.

“Wisconsin is one of the most agricultural states in the entire country. It wouldn’t matter much if you can’t take the product of that agriculture and move it throughout the country and world, and that’s what this port does,” noted Paine, who once worked as a grain inspector.

“Without ports and harbors like this, Wisconsin would not be the great agriculture state it is,” said Sheila Harsdorf, secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection. “We can’t export without facilities like this.”

The project is the third phase of dock work at the 82-year-old facility. Other dock walls were replaced in 2003 and 2006, said AMI Consulting Engineers Principal Chad Scott. AMI designed the project and is providing construction management services.

Over the years, the Harbor Assistance Program has provided more than $30 million to Superior’s harbor-related projects, according to city Port and Planning Director Jason Serck.

Wisconsin Department of Transportation Secretary Dave Ross said the state is planning to make another large waterfront investment in about 10 years. He was referring to replacement of the Blatnik Bridge.

“We will be spending hundreds of millions of dollars on that project,” said Ross, who formerly was Superior’s mayor.

Business North


6/26 - Ottawa, Ont. – The Liberal government has concluded a deal with a Quebec shipyard to purchase three medium icebreakers to relieve pressure on the Canadian Coast Guard's aging fleet. The agreement struck with Chantier Davie of Levis, Que., which operates the Davie shipyard, was announced Friday in a release by Public Services and Procurement Canada.

No dollar figure was included in the statement, but sources close to the negotiations said that between the purchase and modification phase, the agreement could be worth just under $500 million.

Negotiations to acquire the vessels were launched in January after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau abruptly announced the plan in a Radio-Canada interview. There has been growing concern in Quebec about both the shipyard — and its workforce of roughly 1,300 — and the coast guard's ability to break ice in the St. Lawrence River.

What the federal government signaled Friday was its intention to award the contact to Davie. Competing shipyards will have two weeks to challenge that decision and demonstrate they can deliver ships with similar — or better — capabilities.

The deal that was struck involves a straight-up purchase of three icebreakers, with the Davie yard set to complete a series of modifications, said sources. A spokesman for Public Services and Procurement Canada said no price tag was included with the announcement because the contract has yet to be negotiated.

In an interview with CBC News, Alex Vicefield, CEO of Inocea Group — the company that owns the Davie yard — said he wouldn't speculate on how much the deal will cost taxpayers.

"It's too early to say simply because we do not know the final specifications," said Vicefield, referring to the modifications his company will be asked to perform on the ships. "There's a lot engineering to go into this initially."

When talks started with Davie, the federal government was looking to lease or buy four ships which would be converted from existing vessels. Those vessels had been intended for use in Alaska's offshore oil and gas industry until there was a downturn in the market.

The agreement avoids a major work slowdown at the yard — and the resulting layoffs — ahead of a provincial election which will see the Liberal government of Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard fighting for its life.

Vicefield said it's too early to say how many jobs will be saved. The company will have a clearer idea once the coast guard outlines the extent of the modications it requires.

The contract also is bound to raise questions about the National Shipbuilding Strategy, which was introduced by the former Conservative government and championed by the Liberals since they came to power in 2015.

The Davie shipyard was in bankruptcy when the strategy was announced. It submitted a bid but lost and therefore was excluded from the National Shipbuilding Strategy, which has seen Ottawa form a special relationship with Irving Shipbuilding in Halifax and Seaspan of Vancouver. Irving and Seaspan are the go-to companies for federal ship construction.

The coast guard's new heavy icebreaker is supposed to be built by Seaspan, but the project is still years away from construction.

The Quebec yard has been been aggressive in its pursuit of federal work. It pitched the federal government a series of unsolicited proposals over more than three years. One of them involved a plan worth roughly $1.7 billion to build or re-purpose a fleet of icebreakers and support ships for the coast guard.

The Liberals have said consistently that the country's coast guard fleet is in desperate need of new ships.

A comprehensive analysis of the nation's transportation network, completed at the end of 2015 as part of a statutory review, said icebreakers and support vessels that keep the nation's waterways clear and safe were old and in rough shape.

"Not only is it understaffed, but its fleet is one of the oldest in the world and urgently requires renewal," said the review of the Canadian Transportation Act, which was led by former Conservative cabinet minister David Emerson. "Without such renewal, it will have to pull ships from service, further reducing reliability."

It noted that most ships were nearly four decades old, well past their service life.

CBC


On this day in 1942, the LEON FRASER, Captain Neil Rolfson, completed her maiden voyage and delivered a record cargo of 16,414 tons of ore to Conneaut. The downbound trip only required 67.5 hours and broke the record of 15,218 tons set by the Canadian freighter LEMOYNE 15 days earlier. The FRASER was shortened and converted to a bulk cement carrier in 1991, and sails today as the b.) ALPENA.
On this day in 1969, the new Poe Lock was dedicated and opened to traffic. The first boat to transit the new lock was the PHILIP R. CLARKE. Captain Thomas Small, a 95-year old retired Pittsburgh captain, was at the wheel of the CLARKE. Thomas Small was also at the wheel of the COLGATE HOYT the first boat to transit the original Poe Lock on August 4, 1896.

On 26 June 1890, the SKATER (wooden propeller excursion steamer, 85 foot, 65 gross tons, built in 1890, at Detroit, Michigan) burned to the water’s edge about 20 miles north of Manistee, Michigan. The crew did not even have time to save their clothes, but they all escaped unharmed. The SKATER had just been fitted out for the season and had started her summer route on Traverse Bay. She was rebuilt in Cleveland and lasted until 1942, when she was abandoned at Michigan City, Indiana.

On 26 June 1895, the GEORGE FARWELL (wooden propeller steam barge, 182 foot, 977 gross tons) was launched by Alexander Anderson at Marine City, Michigan. After leaving the ways, she looked like she would capsize, but she righted herself. About 500 people watched the launch. She was taken to the Atlantic Coast in 1900. She only lasted until 1906, when she stranded on Cape Henry, Virginia and was a total loss.

On 26 June 1867, WATERS W. BRAMAN (wooden propeller tug, 89 tons, built in 1858, at Boston, Massachusetts, for the U.S.Q.M.C. and named RESCUE) was near Pelee Island in Lake Erie when fire started in her coal bunker and quickly spread. Her crew abandoned her in the yawl and were later picked up by the propeller TRADER. She had been sold by the Quartermaster Corps just the previous year and she had come to the Lakes from the East Coast just five weeks before this accident.

On 26 June 1900, Boynton & Thompson purchased the wreck of the NELLIE TORRENT (wooden propeller bulk freighter, 141 foot, 303 gross tons, built in 1881, at Wyandotte, Michigan) to raise her. She had been destroyed by fire at Lime Island near Detour, Michigan, on 22 June 1899.

On 26 June 1882, The Port Huron Times reported that the ARAXES (wooden propeller, 182 foot, 569 gross tons, built in 1856, at Buffalo, New York) sank in the Straits of Mackinac. She was raised on 6 July 1882, and repaired. She was built in 1856, and lasted until the summer of 1894, when she sank 4 miles off Bay City in Saginaw.

1916: The first STORMOUNT, a steel canaller, was wrecked on Gull Ledge, near Marie Joseph, N.S.

1937: Passengers from the SOUTH AMERICAN, stranded on a shoal, were removed with the aid of ALGOMAH II.

1993: The Norwegian tanker BOW ROGN first came through the Seaway in 1970. It was back as b) JO ROGN in 1981 and was leaking sulphuric acid into the pump room on this date as c) BETULA after discharging at Lazaro Cardenas, Mexico. The vessel was towed offshore but later driven aground on a sandy beach north of the port on June 28-29, and then blown over on its side during the passing of Hurricane Calvin on July 7, 1993.

2000: EMIL REITH first came through the Seaway in 1970. It was attacked by Tamil Tiger rebels as h) MERCS UHANA off northern Sri Lanka while carrying foodstuffs from Colombo to Tricomalee. The ship caught fire and five lives were lost. The ship sank the next day about 48 miles off Point Pedro.

[yachtsmanwilly]

6/27 - Sault Ste. Marie – The Purvis Marine tug Avenger IV left Sault, Ont., Tuesday evening and appeared to be heading eastbound to where the Algoma Central Corp.’s newest vessel, Algoma Innovator, appeared to be having problems. The vessel was sailing a little over 13 knots near Whitefish Point on Lake Superior downbound Tuesday morning. She turned in a northerly direction and spent the day barely moving. More details will be posted as they become available.


6/27 - Thunder Bay, Ont. Just over a year after being towed to the Lakehead from Kingston, the former Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker Alexander Henry will open for public tours on July 18. The date is significant, as it will mark the anniversary of her launching at the Port Arthur Shipbuilding Company in 1958.

Charlie Brown, spokesperson for the volunteer group Lakehead Transportation Museum Society, says July 18 will be "60 years, to the day, that she went into the water."

The LTMS had hoped to have the ship ready for tours by the middle of June, and to take advantage of the influx of people to the waterfront for Canada Day celebrations. Brown said there was an unanticipated delay, however, in cabling the Alexander Henry to keep it secure after she was moved about 20 metres farther along the cruise ship dock at the former Pool 6 elevator site.

Before visitors can board the ship for tours, she needs an inspection for insurance purposes, and must undergo a final electrical inspection. Both are scheduled for next week.

Brown said the LTMS is still inviting people to come down to the dock on Canada Day "We will open the gate. We will have staff and board members down here. We're going to dress the entire ship, she will be full of flags, and people will be able to talk to us, take pictures and hopefully come back on July 18 for the official opening and re-dedication."

When shipboard tours begin, the admission charge will be $9 for adults, and $7.00 for seniors and children. Family and group rates will also be available.

Thunder Bay Newswatch


6/27 - Traverse City, Mich. – Sleek sailboats leaning with the breeze. The muted rumble of a powerboat accelerating in the distance. Summer boat traffic on West Grand Traverse Bay means a little something for everybody.

But when Tall Ship Manitou is nudged from her berth and glides into the bay - her huge sails catching the wind - people who get a glimpse of her might feel like they've just stepped back in time. Two centuries back.

The double-masted Manitou is a replica of an 1800's coasting cargo schooner. It represents the workhorse chapter in our maritime history, the type of boat that tirelessly ferried cargo and fed the early industries around the Great Lakes.

But this 114-footer was built to carry passengers. She's now in her 27th summer in Traverse City. With three trips a day and a growing number of specialty sailing events, the Manitou has become a well-known attraction on the bay.

This season is special for her owners and crew because they undertook a massive renovation project over the winter, and now they get to show off their handiwork.

Read more and view photos at this link: www.mlive.com/travel/index.ssf/2018/06/tall_ship_manitou_debuts_new_l.html


On 27 June 1892, in rain and fog, the FRED A. MORSE (wooden schooner, 182 foot, 592 gross tons, built in 1871, at Vermilion, Ohio) was being towed downbound by the HORACE A. TUTTLE (wooden propeller freighter, 250 foot, 1,585 gross tons, built in 1887, at Cleveland, Ohio) about 12 miles southeast of Thunder Bay on Lake Huron, both carrying loads of iron ore. At the same time, JOHN C. PRINGLE (wooden propeller freighter, 173 foot, 474 gross tons, built in 1880, at Detroit, Michigan) was sailing upbound in that vicinity with a load of coal and Italian marble with the schooners HARRISON, SWEETHEART and SUNSHINE in tow. At 1:30 a.m., the PRINGLE collided with the schooner MORSE, which sank in less than 15 minutes. The crew made it to the TUTTLE in the lifeboat, although one woman was badly injured. The PRINGLE's bow was stove in, her deck planks forward were split and spread, her bulwarks torn away, and her anchors and foremast were lost. She cast off her tow and made for Alpena, Michigan, where she arrived later in the day. At 4:04 p.m. on 27 June 1890, the Beatty Line's MONARCH (wooden propeller passenger-package freight steamer, 240 foot, 2,017 tons) was launched at Sarnia, Ontario. The launching was watched by numerous people on the decks of various steamers and on both sides of the St. Clair River. The MONARCH was built of white oak and braced with iron. She had 62 staterooms

Package freighter CHIMO (Hull#662) was launched in 1967, at Lauzon, Quebec by Davie Shipbuilding Ltd., for Canada Steamship Lines Ltd. In 1983, CHIMO's stern was attached to the bow and cargo section of the HILDA MARJANNE to create the CANADIAN RANGER.

WILLIAM EDENBORN (Hull#40) (steel propeller freighter, 478 foot, 5,085 gross tons) was launched at West Bay City, Michigan by West Bay City Ship Building Co. for the American Steamship Co., Duluth (A. B. Wolvin, mgr.) on 27 June 1900. PRETORIA (3-mast schooner-barge, 338 foot, 2,790 gross tons) was launched at J. Davidson's yard (Hull #94) in West Bay City, Michigan on 27 June 1900. Mr. Davidson built her for his own fleet. She was one of the largest wooden vessels ever built and lasted until September 1905, when she sank in Lake Superior.

1916 JAMES J. HILL collided with the wooden steamer PANTHER in fog off Parisienne Island, Lake Superior and held its position so all of the crew could come safely aboard before their ship sank.

1952 WOODFORD, enroute from Quebec City to Europe, received major damage in a collision off Ile Verte, near the mouth of the Saguenay River, with the pulpwood laden canaller JOHN A. FRANCE. The former, a British freighter, was holed and leaking and the crew was taken off to the BIRCHTON. The damaged WOODFORD was towed back to Quebec City and almost sand at the dock but was kept afloat and repaired. It was a Seaway visitor in 1960 and was scrapped at Shanghai, China, in 1978 as d) WOOSUNG.

1954 WILCOX, a former minesweeper that was rebuilt for passenger and freight service down the St. Lawrence from Montreal, was blown ashore at Potato Bay, Anticosti Island, and was a total loss. The remains of the hull are still there. 1982 CLIO, a West German freighter, made 12 trips to the Great Lakes from 1959 to 1965. It arrived at Callao, Colombia, with engine damage as e) SUNLIGHT on this date in 1982 and was abandoned as a total loss. An apparent effort to repair the engine was not completed and the ship was eventually scrapped.

[yachtsmanwilly]

6/28 - Sturgeon Bay, Wis. – A Sturgeon Bay shipyard specializing in commercial vessels will build a new 740-foot barge to move products on the Great Lakes. Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding in Sturgeon Bay said Wednesday that it has inked a deal with VanEnkevort Tug & Barge of Escanaba, Michigan, to build the self-unloading vessel by mid-2020, according to a press release.

VanEnkevort Tug & Barge operates a trio of articulated tug and barges. The cost of the vessel was not released. There was no information about what tug would push the barge.

The work is important to the roughly 700 people who work at the shipyard and suppliers. “It brings steady work to the hundreds of women and men we employ from across the region,” said Todd Thayse, Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding’s vice president and general manager, in the release.

Green Bay Press Gazette


Made in CHINA! 6/28 - Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. – Algoma Central Corp.’s newest vessel, Algoma Innovator, remained at anchor in Goulais Bay above the locks on Wednesday. She was towed there on Tuesday by the Purvis Marine tug Avenger IV after experiencing a presumed mechanical issues while downbound on Lake Superior Tuesday morning.


Manitowoc, Wis.
The Calumet River Fleeting tug Nathan S was expected in the late evening/early morning hours of June 27/28. The USCG Mackinaw was inbound to Manitowoc at around 7 a.m. on a calm but cloudy Wednesday morning.

6/28 - White paint covers up most of her name. The American Victory, once a star of the Seaway, is slowly making her last trip down the St. Lawrence as the ‘‘Victo.”

On Tuesday, she made her way through the Eisenhower locks in Massena, a vessel stripped to the bone and being towed by three tugs to a scrap yard in Turkey.

Once she was an oiler known as the Neshanic. She served during World War II in both the Atlantic and Pacific and was hit by a Japanese bomb while refueling a destroyer. In 1958, she was owned by the Gulf Oil Company and known as the Gulfoil. Then, she was involved in a deadly collision with another tanker, which led to her final configuration. The ship was widened and lengthened while being converted to a bulk carrier designed specifically for the newly opened St. Lawrence Seaway. She was built as a maximum sized Seaway carrier, 730 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 39 feet 3 inches deep.

From 1962 to 2006, she was known as Middletown and was famous for her speed on the Great Lakes.

In 2006, she was sold to American Steamship and became the American Victory. She last sailed in 2008. Once the ship reaches Turkey, according to the Duluth News Tribune, her hull, reduced to scrap, will be worth $3 million.

View photos at this link: www.watertowndailytimes.com/news05/historic-seaway-carrier-makes-last-trip-down-st-lawrence-20180627


Manitowoc's lighthouse comes to life for 100th birthday; could be opened to public

6/28 - Manitowoc, Wis. – There’s been a lot of buzz around town lately concerning Manitowoc’s lighthouse, and with good reason.

After about 10 years with no lighting and several decades of abandonment, the beacon of the Lakeshore is coming to life. New York businessman Phil Carlucci visited the iconic lighthouse he owns a few weeks ago, and says renovations should be completed in time for a 100th birthday celebration and ribbon-cutting during Subfest, July 13-15.

Carlucci has invested around $300,000 to renovate the structure, which he bought in 2011 for $30,000 when he was the successful bidder after the U.S. Coast Guard put it on its “excess list.” Crews have been in town for a few months cleaning the building inside and out, replacing windows and redoing floors. Carlucci wanted the interior and exterior restored 100 percent so people can see the craftsmanship that went into building it, he said.

The work all fits with his longstanding love of lighthouses.

“One of my childhood dreams was to own a lighthouse,” Carlucci said. “I’ve always enjoyed going to visit them, I was so glad I got to buy one. I’m very fortunate to be able to do this project for the community.”

At some point, he plans to open the building to the public for special events or on specific days for tours. He has expressed interest in making the interior time-specific to when the lighthouse opened in the early 1900s.

“I want it to be of use to the public,” Carlucci said. “I’m very excited to see so much interest in what’s being done.” He is working with the city and the Wisconsin Maritime Museum to coordinate tours and events.

In addition to restoration work, Carlucci has had security cameras put in place at the three-story structure, in part to discourage vandals from doing graffiti. As part of his obligation as the purchaser from the federal government, he must have the lighthouse retain proper historical appearance, and he also is responsible for paying for labor and materials linked to graffiti removal.

Carlucci said he appreciates the city’s willingness to work with him to bring power to the lighthouse. Manitowoc Mayor Justin Nickels said Monday that city leaders are excited about the work that’s being done.

“I think it’s awesome,” the mayor said. “The lighthouse is a symbol of Manitowoc. We were ecstatic when we found out he wanted to buy the building and redo it. It was something we would have liked to do, but never had the city funding to do. It’s so great someone is willing to do this, and he doesn’t even live in the community.

“The lighthouse has been the talk of the town," Nickels added. "It’s something Manitowoc has always been proud of. It fits into our whole maritime heritage. It’s such a great thing.”

Herald Times Reporter



Today in Great Lakes History - June 28

On this day in 1955, the 456 foot WYCHEM 105, a.) SAMUEL F. B. MORSE, was loaded with sand at the B&O docks in Lorain and towed to Rocky River, Ohio where she was sunk as a temporary breakwall. She was later raised and taken to Bay Ship Building Co, and became a barge for the Roen Steamship Co. fleet. In the early 1970s, most of the hull was scrapped, except for two sections of the bottom, which were used for scows around Sturgeon Bay until the 1980s.
On this day in 1957, the JOSEPH S. YOUNG departed Manitowoc, Wisconsin on her maiden voyage. She traveled in ballast to Port Inland, Michigan to load a cargo of stone. The YOUNG was the a.) ARCHERS HOPE, A T2-SE-A1 tanker, converted to Great Lakes service at Maryland Shipbuilding and Drydock, Baltimore, Maryland. Renamed c.) H. LEE WHITE in 1969, and d.) SHARON in 1974. Scrapped at Brownsville, Texas in 1986.

On June 28, 1938, at 8:50 a.m., the WILLIAM A. IRVIN departed Duluth with her first cargo of iron ore for Lorain, Ohio. 48 years later, in 1986, almost to the minute, the WILLIAM A. IRVIN opened as a museum to the public.

The ATLANTIC SUPERIOR arrived at the Algoma Steel Plant, Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario on her maiden voyage in 1982, with a load of taconite but before she was unloaded christening ceremonies were conducted there.

The SAM LAUD ran aground June 28, 1975, on a shoal south of Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, with a cargo of coal from Chicago, Illinois for Green Bay, Wisconsin. Six-thousand tons of coal were off-loaded the next day into the NICOLET, a.) WILLIAM G. MATHER, before she could proceed to Green Bay along with the NICOLET to discharge cargoes. SAM LAUD entered the dry dock at Sturgeon Bay on July 3rd for repairs. She had suffered extensive bottom damage with leakage into seven double bottom tanks and the forepeak. She returned to service on August 21, 1975.

On 28 June 1893, JAMES AMADEUS (wooden propeller tug, 65 foot, 44 gross tons, built in 1872, at Cleveland, Ohio) sprang a leak and foundered near Cleveland, Ohio. Her crew abandoned her just before she went down.

On 28 June 1909, TEMPEST (wooden propeller bulk freighter, 138 foot, 370 gross tons, built in 1876, at Grand Haven, Michigan) burned to a total loss while unloading coal at the Galnais Dock at Perry Sound, Ontario. She was consumed very quickly and six of her crew were killed.

1923 The PHILETUS SAWYER sinks in the Detroit River off Windmill Point after a collision with the HARRY R. JONES.

1960 DIVINA sustained heavy damage to the portside after striking a pier of the Prescott-Ogdensburg Bridge along the St. Lawrence. The Norwegian freighter had been a Great Lakes visitor since 1952 and was scrapped as d) PETROL 20 at Eleusis, Greece, in July 1984.

1970 CASTOR, enroute from Japan to Chicago with automobiles and steel products, sinks in the Pacific after a collision with the ORIENTAL HERO two days out of Yokohama. All 38 on board are saved. The ship dated from 1960 and first came through the Seaway in 1966.

1979 STAR GERANTA, a Seaway visitor in 1966 and a return caller as d) REGAL SWORD in 1977, sinks in the Atlantic off Cape Cod, MA after a collision in fog with the EXXON CHESTER.

1987 The small tanker NADY was built at Rochester, NY as the army tanker Y-86 in 1944 and returned to the Great Lakes as b) NADY in 1953 and again in 1955. It was abandoned, in leaking condition as d) ELENI S. while inbound 12 miles off the Lagos, Nigeria, breakwall. Water is entering the engineroom and the ship settles in shallow water. (One source suggest this may have occurred 2 days earlier) 2005 CSL NIAGARA loses power and goes aground in the American Narrows of the St. Lawrence while upbound with a cargo of coke. The ship is holed in the forepeak but soon released and repaired.