Today in Great Lakes History

[yachtsmanwilly]

9/6 - Cleveland, Ohio – Shipments of limestone on the Great Lakes totaled 3,941,085 tons in August, a near carbon copy of both a year ago and July of this year. Limestone cargos also bettered the month’s 5-year average by 5.8 percent.

Loadings from U.S. quarries totaled 3.248 million tons, a decrease 3.3 percent, or 110,000 tons, compared to a year ago. Shipments from Canadian quarries totaled 693,003 tons, an increase of 9.4 percent or roughly three loads in a mid-sized laker.

Year-to-date the Lakes limestone trade stands at 17.2 million tons, an increase of 3.5 percent compared to a year ago. Loadings from Michigan and Ohio quarries total 14.1 million tons, an increase of 3.3 percent. Shipments from Ontario quarries total 3.1 million tons, an increase 4.5 percent.

Lake Carriers’ Association


9/6 - Alpena, Mich. – A group of maritime archaeologists may have come up empty handed in their search for new shipwrecks and plane crashes in the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary, but they didn’t leave empty handed.

The group of four traveled five hours south to Port Huron. There, the archaeologists headed 30 feet beneath the waves to the P-39Q plane crash site of Tuskegee Airman Lieutenant Frank Moody. Moody’s plane crashed on April 11, 1944. Maritime archaeologist Justine Benanty traveled from Brooklyn, New York to help with the recovery project.

Divers discovered the wreck back in 2014, exactly 70 years from the crash. The group needed approval from the Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corp of Engineers before taking the artifacts out of the lake. The tedious process of mapping and planning began in 2015.

On Friday, the crew began its work. The process took almost 2 days to complete. Once safely removed and put into preserving tanks, the artifacts were transported back up to Alpena for more preservation. The archaeologists will help remove zebra and quagga mussels and write down their observations. The pieces of history will be shipped down to the Tuskegee Airmen National Museum in Detroit.

“You want people to know those things because they can tell their grandkids you know that they saw Lt. Moody’s aircraft wreck in the Tuskegee Museum,” said Benanty. “That’s so cool.”

The specific artifacts and items have not been released yet as archaeologists record data from their recovery.

WBKB


9/6 - Toledo, Ohio – They call it MACAI. It's a torpedo-looking vessel that acts as an underwater laboratory. It spent six days gathering information about microsystin and the algal blooms in the western basin of Lake Erie before being recovered Monday afternoon.

"The vehicle has been wandering around the western basin measuring the toxicity of the harmful algal bloom that's out there right now," said Steve Ruberg, an observing systems researcher with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

"So this can stay out in pretty much any kind of weather out there and it can collect data just 24/7 and feed it back to the scientists in near real-time," said Brian Kieft, a software engineer with the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute in California. "And they can make decisions based on that data, and follow these interesting patches of water, and in this case following a bloom of algae, seeing where it goes and how it develops."

It's smaller and more cost-effective than a boat with scientists aboard. Because of MACAI, those scientists can be back on land discovering information and reacting as necessary.

"It's really these really tight temporal and spatial events that happen out there that these robots are great at capturing," Kieft said. "Things move very quickly. The wind can change, it can come up, it can calm down, and that really affects what's happening out there on the water."

As for what it found, the data is yet to be fully analyzed, but there are already positive preliminary results. "We were able to collect some samples along some bloom edges, and we were able to determine high and low concentrations," Ruberg said.

It's an important task at hand: using technology to explore, analyze and ultimately help solve a critical problem.

"It's a really big deal for folks in this area and for this lake, for everything from fisheries to drinking water, and we're hoping these robots can help," Kieft said.

WTOL


On September 6,1872, nine days after she set sail from Port Colborne for Detroit, the schooner J. W. SARGENT was listed as missing in the Detroit newspapers, probably a victim of a August 29 storm that struck Lake Erie. Later on the same day that the newspaper announcement was published, the SARGENT arrived in Detroit. Captain William Simms stated that the storm drove him south to Erie, Pennsylvania, where he sheltered for a few days. He sent a telegraph message to the ship's owner but the news was not relayed to Detroit. The SARGENT only lasted another three months. In November 1872, a storm got her on Lake Erie.
The BADGER was launched on September 6, 1952, at Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. A christening ceremony included the SPARTAN (launched earlier that year). The BADGER was named in honor of the University of Wisconsin. The BADGER was built by Christy Corporation, and is powered by two Skinner 4 cylinder Steeple Compound Uniflow Marine Steam engines, developing over 7,000 horsepower. She was the last of the large, coal-fired steamers to be built in the United States, and the only ship of her type still operating on the Great Lakes. The BADGER offers seasonal passenger service from Ludington, Michigan, to Manitowoc, Wisconsin, from mid May to early October.

BELLE RIVER began her maiden voyage when she loaded 56,073 long tons of western coal at Superior, Wisconsin, on August 31, 1977, and arrived at Detroit Edison Co.'s Belle River power plant at Recors Point on September 6, 1977. Renamed in 1990, she sails today as b.) WALTER J. McCARTHY, JR.

On September 6, 1992, H. LEE WHITE was in tow of the "G" tugs COLORADO and LOUISIANA entering the Trenton Channel when she struck a section of the toll bridge at Grosse Ile, Michigan, knocking down a 150 foot span immediately east of the main river channel. The WHITE was not damaged but a new section of the bridge had to be installed at a cost of $1.7 million. The bridge was back in service in late January 1993. The U.S. Coast Guard investigated this casualty and their report states that it was the failure of the bridge tender to operate and open the bridge that caused this casualty. The Coast Guard found that the master of the WHITE was operating his vessel in a prudent and lawful manner including the use of whistle signals.

CHARLES E. WILSON completed her sea trials in 1973. Renamed b.) JOHN J. BOLAND in 2000.

GEORGIAN BAY collided with the steamer CHARLES HUBBARD in the fog-covered lower St. Marys River September 6, 1955.

On September 6, 1989, the twin-screw rail car ferry GRAND RAPIDS left Muskegon, Michigan, in tow of the tugs ANGLIAN LADY and PRINCESS NO 1, and arrived at Port Maitland, Ontario, on September 11th. Scrapping was completed in the fall of 1994.

On September 6, 1887, BLUE BELL (2-mast wooden scow-schooner, 84 foot, 122 gross tons, built in 1867, at Milwaukee, Wisconsin) was carrying lumber from Wilt's Bay, Michigan, to Milwaukee when she missed the harbor entrance at Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, in a storm. She was driven ashore where she broke up. Her crew made it to the beach with the aid of the local U.S. Life Saving crew. The total loss was valued at $5,000.

On September 6,1871, the wooden schooner ROSA STEARNS, loaded with coal, was battling a storm for hours off Cleveland, Ohio. The ship was driven on the stone breakwater about 1 a.m. and was pounded to pieces. The crew jumped onto the breakwater and crawled to safety as the waves crashed over them.

1908: The wooden steamer CHAUNCY HURLBUT began leaking and was beached at Whitefish Point, Lake Superior, along a rough and rocky shore. It became a total loss and the hull was removed in August 1910 and sunk in deep water.

2009: ALGOPORT ran into heavy weather from tropical storm DeJuan while under tow of the PACIFIC HICKORY, broke up and sank in the Philippine Sea about a week's tow from the destination of Jiangyin, China.

[yachtsmanwilly]

On September 7, 1978, the ROGER M. KYES lost all power in Lake St. Clair requiring tug assistance from the Great Lakes Towing Co. tugs MARYLAND and MAINE, which escorted her to the Great Lakes Steel dock. Renamed b.) ADAM E. CORNELIUS in 1989.
CADILLAC of 1943 was laid up on September 7, 1981, for the last time at Toledo, Ohio. She was later transferred to a West coast marine operation in preparation for conversion for a proposed container ship for service between Chicago, Detroit and Quebec City. However these plans never materialized. On September 7, 1921, the D. G. KERR pulled up to the ore dock at Two Harbors, Minnesota to load exactly 12,507 gross tons of iron ore in the record-breaking time of 16 and a half minutes. This was accomplished through the cooperation of the dock superintendent, the dock employees concerned, the ship's captain and crew and the Pittsburgh Steamship Co. as a means of "showing up" the competition. Her time of arrival and departure to and from the dock took only 19 minutes. For comparison, a good average loading time at that time was about three hours and 45 minutes.

On September 7, 1975, on the St. Marys River loaded with iron ore pellets, WILLIAM G. MATHER, forced out of the channel by a saltwater vessel, struck bottom. Upon proceeding further onto Lake Huron it was discovered that her pumps were unable to cope with incoming water caused by the damage. She was beached at Frying Pan Island (De Tour, Michigan) in 19 feet of water when it became evident they couldn't make dock.

On 7 September 1883, LAURA BELL (wooden schooner, 138 foot, 269 gross tons, built in 1870, at Toledo, Ohio) was carrying coal from Cleveland, Ohio to Marquette, Michigan when she stranded off Shot Point, east of Marquette in Lake Superior. Her crew spent 3 days in her rigging and all but one was rescued by a tug from Marquette.

September 7, 1916 - The PERE MARQUETTE 3 ran aground 10 miles north of Milwaukee.

September 7, 1996 - The American Society of Mechanical Engineers designated the propulsion system of the BADGER a mechanical engineering landmark.

The launch of the 188-foot wooden schooner ELIZABETH A. NICHOLSON was set for 4 p.m., on 7 September 1872, at E. Fitzgerald's shipyard in Port Huron, Michigan. Just before 4 p.m., a telegram was received at the shipyard from Capt. Nicholson, the owner of the new vessel, which read, "Wait a while. We are coming." The launch was delayed until another dispatch was received which said to go ahead anyway. The boat Capt. Nicholson was on had broken down. The launch went well. The vessel was painted deep green with her name in gilt. All present cheered the sight, but there was no party afterwards. All of the food and beverages for the celebration were with Capt. Nicholson on the disabled vessel.

On 07 September 1883, the COLORADO (wooden schooner-barge, 118 foot, built in 1866, at Fairport, Ohio) was in tow of the steamer DON M. DICKINSON along with the schooner-barge N. P. GOODELL in a gale on Lake Huron. As the gale worsened, the string of vessels went to shelter in the harbor at Sand Beach (now Harbor Beach), Michigan. The COLORADO broke loose as they entered the harbor. Deckhand Abbot Way jumped on to the breakwater with a line to secure the COLORADO, but the line broke as soon as it went taut. It broke three times and the barge drifted out into the gale, stranding Mr. Way on the breakwater with six-foot waves washing over it. He managed to get to the harbor light at the end of the breakwater and climbed up above the waves where he was stranded for two hours until the crew of the Lifesaving Station got to him. COLORADO beached herself with no loss of life. She was later recovered and lasted until 1902 when she was abandoned.

1901: WAWATAM ran aground on Gratiot Beach above Port Huron with the whaleback barge #102 in tow.

1929: CHARLES C. WEST went aground on Gull Rock Reef damaging both frames and plates. The repair bill topped $46,000.

1942: OAKTON of the Gulf & Lake Navigation Co. was torpedoed and sunk in the St. Lawrence by U-517 about 15 miles west of Cape Gaspe. It was struck amidships on the port side and went down stern first without any loss of life except the ship's St. Bernard dog. The ship had a load of coal on board from Sandusky, Ohio, to Cornerbrook, NF when hit. Two other Greek ships, MOUNT TAYGETUS and MOUNT PINDUS were struck in the same attack with the loss of 6 lives.

1956: The former Canada Steamship Lines freighter WINONA stranded on a sand bank at Aparii, Philippines, island of Luzon, as b) EDDIE while enroute to Japan with a cargo of logs. The ship broke in two and was a total loss.

1965: AMARYLLIS was driven ashore about 1.5 miles north of Palm Beach Inlet, Florida, during Hurricane Betsy. The crew lived on board for another 4 months keeping up steam in hope of being refloated but the ship was eventually abandoned as a total loss. The vessel, enroute from Manchester, England, to Baton Rouge, LA in ballast, visited the Great Lakes in 1959. The hull became increasingly unpopular with local residents and, in 1975, a gravel road was built to the ship to truck the scrapped steel away. The remains were later floated off and sunk off West Palm Beach as an artificial reef.

1979: INDIANA HARBOR loaded a record 61,649 tons of iron ore at Two Harbors.

1997: NORTH ISLANDS, a Cypriot flag SD14, came through the Seaway in 1994 and loaded peas at Thunder Bay for Cuba. The vessel went aground near San Antonio, Chile, after losing her propeller. The ship broke in two, but all 30 on board were rescued by a helicopter from the Chilean Navy.


9/7 - The deep-sea tug Ocean Delta (IMO 7235707), built in 1973 and registered in Panama, arrived in Montreal at Section 56 North on Wednesday to tow the retired laker Nito, now of Panamanian registry, to Aliaga, Turkey, for scrap.

Nito was the former Lower Lakes Towing Ltd. vessel Manitoba, which had its registry closed on July 31. At about that same time, the vessel's name was shortened to Nito.

Nito has an interesting history. She was built in 1967 at Collingwood Shipyards in Collingwood, Ont. for the first of four different owners, the N.M. Paterson & Sons Ltd. It carried the name Mantadoc for them from 1967 until 2002 when Paterson sold three of its vessels to Canada Steamship Lines, with the Mantadoc being one of them. The ship sat idle in Montreal for most of 2002 before it was reactivated, renamed Teakglen, and loaded a grain storage cargo from Quebec City to be taken to Goderich, Ont., in September of that year. That was her only trip under that name.

From 2002 until 2005 the ship was used as a grain storage hull before being sold to its third owner, Voyageur Maritime Trading Inc. in 2005. It left Sarnia in late July 2005 and departed in early September for Thunder Bay where it was repainted and renamed Maritime Trader. It carried that name for its owners from 2005 until 2011 when it was acquired by its fourth and final owner, Lower Lakes Towing Ltd. in 2011. At that time the ship was renamed the Manitoba.

As the Manitoba, the vessel last operated during the 2015/16 shipping season arriving in Hamilton, Ont., to unload a grain cargo and layup on December 30, 2015. The ship departed from Hamilton under its owner power on April 16, 2016 and sailed to Montreal where it arrived for layup on April 17, 2016 and never sailed again.

Manitoba is one of the last traditional-style lakers built at Collingwood with the fore and aft cabin design. The Manitoba also had a close sistership, the Vandoc (ex-Sir Denys Lowson), which was scrapped in 2002 at Algoma Steel in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.

[yachtsmanwilly]

On 10 September 1890, the PORTER CHAMBERLAIN (wooden propeller bulk freighter, 134 foot, 280 gross tons, built in 1874, at Marine City, Michigan) was floated free of the Wolverine Drydock in Port Huron, Michigan where she had steel arches installed. When she floated free, the arches broke in three places and she stayed in Port Huron to have them repaired.
September 10, 1952, the forebody and afterbody of the future JOSEPH H. THOMPSON arrived at the American Shipbuilding yard in South Chicago. The two sections were delivered to the lakes via the Mississippi River and Chicago Ship Canal. The afterbody departed Baltimore, Maryland on August 2 and the forebody departed Pascagoula, Mississippi on August 21.

On 10 September 1884, the 137-foot steam barge HENRY HOWARD was sailing up bound with the schooner-barge GEORGE WORTHINGTON in tow when she caught fire near Harsens Island at the mouth of the St. Clair River. The fire broke out near the HOWARD's engine room and spread rapidly. The vessel was beached on the island but the WORTHINGTON ran against her and was thus scorched. No lives were lost. The HOWARD was valued at $5,000, but only insured for $3,000 by her owners, B. Hoose and Julia Miner.

The whaleback tanker METEOR was towed from Manitowoc, Wisconsin by the tug JOHN ROEN IV to Superior, Wisconsin on September 10, 1972.

The KINSMAN ENTERPRISE turned 75 years old on September 10, 2002. When she entered service as a.) HARRY COULBY, on this date in 1927, the 631-foot bulk freighter was the third largest on the Great Lakes.

While up bound in the Welland Canal on September 9, 1986, it was noted that the port anchor of the J. W. MC GIFFIN was missing, her chain was almost touching the water. Rebuilt with a new cargo hold section by Port Weller Drydocks, Ltd., in 1999, renamed b.) CSL NIAGARA.

On 10 September 1909, COLUMBUS (wooden propeller bulk freighter, 136 foot, 439 gross tons, built in 1874, as the tug JOHN OWEN) burned to a total loss at her dock at Gargantua, Ontario, in Lake Superior. She was cut loose and allowed to drift out into the bay where she sank. The top of her engine reportedly still shows above the water.

September 10, 1979 - The SPARTAN was laid up. She remains in Ludington, Michigan.

The barge N. MILLS was launched at P. Lester's yard in Marysville, Michigan on 10 September 1870. Her dimensions were 164 feet x 30 feet x 12 feet.

1910: PERE MARQUETTE 18, inbound for Milwaukee with 29 rail cars, began leaking and sank 30 miles off Sheboygan, Wis. There were 33 survivors but 29 were lost including the captain. 1918: The barge SANTIAGO, under tow of the small bulk carrier JOHN F. MORROW, sank in Lake Huron off Pointe aux Barques without loss of life. 1940: A.E. AMES was once part of Canada Steamship Lines. The vessel was sold for saltwater service about 1917 and was lost, via enemy action, as c) GINETTE LEBORGNE on this date in 1940 when it struck a mine on the Mediterranean, west of Sardinia, while returning demobilized troops from North Africa to France.

On 09 September 1889, the FOLGER (wooden propeller wrecking tug, 69 foot, 64 gross tons, built in 1881, at Kingston, Ontario) was sailing upbound past St. Clair, Michigan when fire was discovered in her engine room. Her wheelsman stuck to his post as long as possible, trying to beach her at Courtright, Ontario, but the flames engulfed the vessel and all hands had to abandon her.
September 9, 1936. For the second consecutive day, boats of the Interlake and Pittsburgh fleets collided. The SATURN collided with the HENRY H. ROGERS in heavy fog above Whitefish Bay. The SATURN continued upbound to repair damage at Superior Shipbuilding. The ROGERS continued downbound to South Chicago where the anchor of the SATURN was removed from the Mate's starboard cabin.

September 9, 1940, the steamer MARITANA, Captain Charles E. Butler, went to anchor in Whitefish Bay due to weather. When they retrieved their anchor the next day, they also recovered a second anchor. The second anchor had an oak stock 12 feet across and 17 inches in diameter. The 8 foot forged metal shank was stamped with a date of 1806.

On 09 September 1886, GENERAL WOLSELEY (wooden side-wheel steamer, 103 foot, 123 tons, built in 1884, at Oakville, Ontario) caught fire on her way to Dyer's Bay, Ontario. She was run ashore for the crew to escape near Cape Croker on Georgian Bay and burned to the water's edge.

The WOLVERINE (Hull#903) was launched September 9, 1974, at Lorain, Ohio by American Ship Building Co. for the Union Commerce Bank (Ohio), Trustee (Oglebay Norton Co., mgr.), Cleveland, Ohio.

DETROIT EDISON (Hull#418) was launched September 9, 1954, at Manitowoc, Wisconsin by Manitowoc Ship Building Co. for the American Steamship Co. (Boland & Cornelius, mgr.) Buffalo, New York.

The Steamer PERE MARQUETTE 18 sank on September 9, 1910, with a loss of 29 lives. No cause for the sinking has ever been determined. The PERE MARQUETTE 17 picked up 33 survivors, losing 2 of her own crew during the rescue.

The first of two fires suffered by the Grand Trunk carferry GRAND RAPIDS occurred on September 9, 1980. The cause of the fire was not determined.

On 9 September 1929, the ANDASTE (steel propeller self-unloading sandsucker, 247 foot, built in 1892, at Cleveland, Ohio) was probably overloaded with gravel when she 'went missing' west of Holland, Michigan. The entire crew of 25 was lost. When built, she was the sister of the 'semi-whaleback' CHOCTAW, but was shortened 20 feet in 1920-21, to allow her to use the Welland Canal.

On 9 September 1871, Captain Hicks of the schooner A H MOSS fired the mate, a popular fellow, in a fit of anger the same time that a tug arrived to tow the schooner out of Cleveland harbor. The crew was upset to say the least, and when the towline was cast off and Capt. Hicks ordered the sails hoisted, the crew refused to do any work. The skipper finally raised the signal flags and had the tug tow his vessel back into the harbor. When the MOSS dropped anchor, he fired the entire crew then went ashore to hire another crew.

The ROY A. JODREY (Hull#186) was launched in 1965, at Collingwood, Ontario by Canadian Shipbuilding & Engineering Co. Ltd. for Algoma Central Railway Ltd.

1924: A fire aboard the ship SOUTH AMERICAN at Holland, MI destroyed the upper works of the popular passenger steamer.

1964: A collision between the GEORGE R. FINK and the Swedish freighter BROHOLM occurred in zero visibility on Lake Huron just north of the Bluewater Bridge. The latter, on her only voyage through the Seaway, received a gash on the starboard side above the waterline while the former had only minor damage. BROHOLM arrived at Hsinkang, China, for scrapping as d) PROODOS on September 2, 1974.

1977: The British freighter PERTH began service to Canada in 1951 and ooperated into the Great Lakes until 1960. The ship ran aground about 200 miles south of Suez as e) GEORGIOS on this date but was later refloated and taken to Suez. The ship was arrested there and subsequently sank on October 1, 1979. The hull was likely refloated and dismantled at that location.

1993: INDIANA HARBOR received major hull damage when it struck Lansing Shoal. The ship was repaired at Sturgeon Bay.

September 8, 1936, the Interlake steamer CRETE and the Pittsburgh steamer CORNELL collided in heavy fog above Whitefish Point. After temporary repairs were made in the Weitzel lock, the CRETE proceeded to Chicago Shipbuilding to repair a damaged bow. The CORNELL proceeded to Manitowoc to repair damage to her starboard side just forward of her boiler house.
On September 8,1868, HIPPOCAMPUS (wooden propeller, 152 tons, built in 1867, at St. Joseph, Michigan) stranded in a storm off St. Joseph and was pounded to pieces. 36 of the 41 passengers were lost. Litigation continued until November 10,1884, when the owner was held innocent of blame in the U. S. Court at Grand Rapids, Michigan.

GEMINI (Hull#745) sailed on her maiden voyage in August, 1978, from Levingston Shipbuilding Co., at Orange, Texas, to load fuel oil at Baytown, Texas, for delivery at Detroit, Michigan. Passing up bound the next month on September 8 through the Welland Canal, GEMINI became the largest U.S. flagged tanker on the Great Lakes with a capacity of 76,000 barrels. GEMINI was renamed b.) ALGOSAR in 2005.

The W. E. FITZGERALD (Hull#167) was launched September 8, 1906, at Wyandotte, Michigan, by Detroit Ship Building Co. for the Chicago Navigation Co., Chicago, Illinois (D. Sullivan, mgr.).

The bulk freighter HENRY A. HAWGOOD was launched on September 8, 1906, at Cleveland, Ohio, by the American Ship Building Co. for Minerva Steamship Co. (W. A. & H.A. Hawgood, mgr.), Cleveland. Renamed b.) C. RUSSELL HUBBARD in 1912, and c.) W. W. HOLLOWAY in 1935.

RADIANT departed the shipyard September 8, 1913, light on her maiden voyage bound for Montreal, Quebec.

September 8, 1970 - MILWAUKEE CLIPPER made her last run from Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

On September 8, 1985, the downbound the Panamanian NORCHEM collided with the upbound CANADIAN PROSPECTOR near Kanawake, Quebec. PROSPECTOR had little damage but NORCHEM was ripped open near her port anchor.

On September 8,1885, ADVANCE (wooden schooner, 119 foot, 180 gross tons, built in 1853, at Milwaukee, Wisconsin) was carrying wood when she became waterlogged and capsized in a gale and blinding rain near Port Washington, Wisconsin, in Lake Michigan. All but one of her crew of seven drowned when her yawl capsized in the surf.

On September 8,1871, the schooner MORNING LIGHT was sailing from Kelley's Island on Lake Erie with a cargo of stone for Marquette, Michigan, in heavy weather. Trying to enter the Detroit River, the crew miscalculated their position and ran the ship aground on Pointe Mouille, just below Gibraltar. The crew scuttled the vessel in the shallow water to save her from harm. The following day, the tug GEORGE N. BRADY was sent out with steam pumps and hawsers and the MORNING LIGHT was raised and towed to Detroit for repairs.

1860: The wooden passenger and freight steamer LADY ELGIN sank in Lake Michigan following a collision with the schooner AUGUSTA with an estimated 297 lost their lives.

1979: The Norwegian carrier INGWI first came through the Seaway in 1960 and made about 10 trips inland through 1967. The hull was reported to have fractured as b) OH DAI enroute from Singapore to Calcutta. The ship foundered in the Bay of Bengal but there was speculation at the time that this was an insurance fraud.

1980: The idle rail car ferry GRAND RAPIDS sustained fire damage from a blaze in the pilings at Muskegon, buckling plates on the car deck. It was extinguished by the U.S.C.G. and Fire Department.

2010: The tug MESSENGER came to the Great Lakes for the Gaelic Tugboat Co. in 1984 and was renamed b) PATRICIA HOEY. It was later sold and became c) NEW HAMPSHIRE and then d) SEA TRACTOR II before leaving the lakes, via Oswego, about 1991. It was known as e) SHARK when scuttled as an artificial reef near Miami, on this date in 2010.

9/8 - A team of divers, including some involved in finding the wreck of the Jane Miller in Colpoy’s Bay last year, have discovered another previously lost shipwreck off the Bruce Peninsula.

This time the coastal steamer J H Jones, which went down in a storm off Cape Croker on Nov. 22, 1906, has been found. All passengers and crew were lost.

Ken Merryman, who was part of the team that found the J H Jones on July 1, said he has been involved in finding many wrecks, but this one was special because they had the great-grandson of the ship’s captain was there to experience the find.

“I have never hunted for a wreck with one of the descendents of the captain or of the people that perished on the wreck,” Merryman said Thursday. “We really enjoy finding these wrecks, but when you make a connection with the descendents of the people involved it really makes it special.”

Merryman and Jerry Eliason of Minnesota, who found the Jane Miller, set out on the trail of the J H Jones along with maritime historian and diver Cris Kohl from Windsor, Ont., after they were contacted by the ship captain’s great-great grandson Dan Crawford. He had learned of the discovery of the Jane Miller last summer and asked if they would come back and look for the J H Jones.

“The Jones was kind of on our shortlist anyway, but being able to make a connection with one of the descendents made it a very important thing to do,” said Merryman.

“It has been a dream of Dan’s as a little kid to find it, and we helped him do that, so that feels pretty good.”

While Dan Crawford couldn’t make the trip up from Warren, Mich., for their search, his 83-year-old father Robert Crawford, who was ship captain J.V. Crawford’s great-grandson and still owns property on the peninsula, joined the team.

While the ship had remained lost for almost 112 years, it didn’t take them long to find it, after Kohl had done considerable research about the wreck.

Merryman, who had a archaeological licence issued by the province of Ontario, said they found the wreck on the third pass with their sonar, after less than two hours of searching in under 200 feet of water.

Merryman said it was an exciting moment for both the searchers and for Crawford.

“He was very excited,” Merryman. “He never thought it would be found in his lifetime.”

The team made a video of the wreck, which can be seen at

Read more at this link: www.owensoundsuntimes.com/news/local-news/j-h-jones-wreck-found-off-cape-croker


- Toldeo, Ohio – A tugboat more than a century old soon will join the Col. James M. Schoonmaker freighter as a display vessel at the National Museum of the Great Lakes.

The tug Ohio, built in 1903 as a fireboat for the city of Milwaukee and converted to a tug half a century later, has been donated by the Great Lakes Towing Company for display, officials at the East Toledo museum announced Friday.

The tug, 106 feet long and 26 feet wide, “will fill a void in the museum’s exhibition program that currently does not adequately explore the importance of tugboats on the Great Lakes,” the museum’s announcement reads in part.

“When we opened the museum, we did not have a feature artifact that could tell the tugboat story. Now we do,” said Christopher Gillcrist, the museum’s executive director.

Larger than the harbor tugs Toledoans might see guiding freighters up and down the Maumee River, the vessel was a “Lake Class” tug assigned to long hauls across the Great Lakes, along with occasional ice-breaking, wrecking, or salvage duties. The Ohio is believed to have traveled more miles for Great Lakes Towing than any other tug in company history, according to the museum.

Paul LaMarre III, who represented the museum in securing the tug from Great Lakes Towing, said the tugboat company approached the museum about a donation after determining the Ohio could not economically be brought in compliance with stricter inspection procedures recently adopted by the Coast Guard because of its age.

“After finally reaching the end of her useful commercial life, we are delighted that the famous tug Ohio has found a new home at the museum. ... The tug is rich in history with a wonderful story to tell,” the museum’s announcement quoted Joseph Starck, Jr., Great Lakes Towing’s president, as saying.

Mr. LaMarre said the tug is currently at the George Gradel Co. shipyard in Toledo, where it will receive hull repairs and restoration this fall followed by sandblasting and a fresh coat of paint before being moved to the museum’s wharf. “We will moor it in front of the Schoonmaker, as if she [the tug] is beginning a tow,” Mr. Gillcrist said.

A public opening is planned next spring, following interior restoration over the winter by volunteers, the museum director said. The tug may be opened to museum members and guests before then as part of efforts to raise $30,000 toward its restoration expenses, he said.

Mr. LaMarre, now the Port of Monroe’s director, a decade ago shepherded the preservation of what was then the Willis B. Boyer museum ship after the city of Toledo declared it could no longer afford the vessel’s upkeep. It was cosmetically restored and rechristened to its original name, the Col. James M. Schoonmaker, in 2011 and towed the following year — by Great Lakes Towing tugs on donated time — to the wharf next to what was to become the Great Lakes museum, a Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority-owned building initially built to be a ferry terminal.

The Ohio’s restoration will allow museum visitors “to experience the tugboat environment ... and what life is like aboard a tugboat,” Mr. LaMarre said. It will keep its engine but will not be operational.

Tugs “have aesthetically pleasing lines and a romantic appeal that many other vessels don’t often have,” Mr. LaMarre observed. “The Ohio is not our largest artifact, but tugboats have always had a special place in people’s hearts, and we are proud to bring this icon to Toledo,” Mr. Gillcrist said.

Read more and view a photo at this link: www.toledoblade.com/local/2018/09/07/Toledo-museum-to-add-tugboat-to-its-floating-exhibit/stories/20180906144

[ppat324]

9/11 - Duluth, Minn. – Passengers are cruising Alaska’s icy coast in record numbers. Cruise ships have been making more waves in the rivers of Europe. Even the outer Great Lakes are drawing more and more luxury vessels.

With the cruising industry booming across the globe, officials in Duluth are betting that someday soon their ships will come in, too.

In hopes of establishing the Lake Superior port city as a destination for passenger ships, the city and local agencies are investing in port infrastructure while tourism leaders are promoting the area’s natural beauty, history and culture to cruise lines. “It’s definitely an industry that’s in expansion mode,” said Anna Tanski, president and chief executive at Visit Duluth, the city’s tourism arm.

“Lake Superior is now sort of at the forefront of being the new and fresh itinerary to develop. … For us, it just opens up a whole new market that we’re very excited about.”

Cruise line operators and promoters say they believe interest in Great Lakes voyages will surge in the years ahead as high-earning baby boomers look for new, unusual travel experiences. Lake Superior’s history and wilderness will make it a hot destination, they contend.

Next August, one such ship will make two stops in Duluth. Cruise companies are planning for several more stops in 2020, though many are still in the preliminary stages. Duluth tourism leaders have an ultimate goal of 20 visits a season, trusting that once a few cruises are filled and deemed a success, others will follow.

“The Great Lakes is on the verge of an opportunity that is mind boggling,” said Bruce Nierenberg, chairman and founder of Victory Cruise Lines, which will add Lake Superior to a couple of its Great Lakes itineraries starting next summer. “Lake Superior for us is going to be, I believe, one of our real gems.”

Others in the industry agree that Great Lakes cruising might soon have its moment.

“There is a hunger for something different,” said Colleen McDaniel, senior executive editor at Cruise Critic, a website that assesses cruises all over the world. “Duluth is a special city … I think that a lot of people would love to visit by cruise ship.”

While Duluth, which sits at the westernmost point of the Great Lakes, hasn’t seen a cruise ship in its harbor for five years, it’s no stranger to luxury ship passengers. About a century ago, the city welcomed thousands of passengers over two decades, some from opulent vessels commissioned by railroad executive James J. Hill. A postwar boom in car ownership, superhighways and jets was later blamed for killing the popularity of cruising on the Great Lakes.

Trips on Lake Superior have been especially scarce, though Duluth saw a few cruise ship stops in the mid-1990s and some in the first decade of the 2000s. Like those of years past, today’s luxury ships sliding under the Duluth Lift Bridge will be relatively small because they must be able to pass through existing locks.

Nierenberg’s Miami-based Victory Cruise Line has launched its Victory I and Victory II ships, approximately 300-foot vessels each holding about 200 passengers and nearly 85 crew members. Unlike the behemoth megaships that float in the tropics and hold thousands of people, Great Lakes cruises are designed to offer more intimate experiences for well-traveled passengers who want to go places where big ships can’t, Nierenberg and others explained.

“They love authentic. They love real,” Nierenberg said of the target clientele. “They like uncrowded.”

The Victory ships feature fine dining and onboard enrichment such as lectures about each port from historians and naturalists. The price tag for an 11-day cruise between Detroit and Thunder Bay ranges from about $6,000 to more than $10,000.

Shipmakers continue to build new cruise ships, but only about 60 ships in the world will be sized for the Great Lakes, said Stephen Burnett, executive director of the Great Lakes Cruising Coalition.

It’s unclear how many could end up in Lake Superior in 2020 and beyond. Duluth is listed as a June 12, 2020, stop for a ship called Hanseatic Inspiration. Officials expect more will follow.

Jeanne Psychas, passenger service representative for the Great Lakes Cruise Co., which acts as a booking agent for many ship operators, said most recent passengers on Great Lakes cruises have hailed from Florida, Texas, California and the West. But operators hope to draw interest from all over the world.

Industry watchers say Duluth’s goal of 20 cruise stops a year is plausible. If that happens, it could mean a boost for the local economy. A conservative estimate projects that passengers disembarking from Great Lakes luxury ships would spend about $200 each — an estimated $40,000 per day, said Tanski of Visit Duluth.

What passengers would do in and around Duluth would be up to the tour companies, Tanski said. It could include taking history tours to browsing art galleries to watching birds on Hawk Ridge.

They could go deep inside mines on the Iron Range or bicycle, kayak, hike or fish along the North Shore. Passengers would still have time to explore shops, restaurants and art galleries in the city, operators said.

Duluth has been identified as one of four passenger ports of clearance in the Great Lakes. Others are Cleveland, Detroit and Sault Ste. Marie, Mich.

A key step in getting cruise traffic will be establishing a U.S. Customs and Border Protection facility at a cruise terminal where customs agents can clear passengers coming from a foreign port. To get a facility, Duluth must first establish an information technology connection.

The Duluth Economic Development Authority, the local port authority and the City Council have dedicated $85,000 to make that happen.

In the end, officials hope a new wave of cruise traffic will bring more attention to Duluth and help build its reputation around the country and the world. “It’s what it does beyond just the immediate economic impact,” Tanski said of the expanded promotion. “It’s exposure to an entirely new market and demographic.”

Minneapolis Star Tribune

1872, at Milwaukee, the Wisconsin, which was transferred to the Atlantic coast from Lake Erie in 1898, struck Romer Shoal off the shore of Staten Island and was wrecked. She was sailing from Norfolk, Virginia to Saco, Maine at the time. Her crew managed to reach the Life Saving Station through the heavy surf.
September 11, 1969, the Bethlehem steamer LEHIGH, Captain Loren A. Falk, delivered the first cargo to the new Bethlehem Steel mill at Burns Harbor, Indiana. The cargo consisted of 15,700 tons of taconite pellets loaded at Taconite Harbor, Minnesota.

On 11 September 1883, EXPLORER (2-mast wooden schooner, 48 foot, 33 gross tons, built in 1866, at Chatham, Ontario) struck rocks and went down on Stokes Bay on the outside of the Bruce Peninsula. Her crew was visible from shore clinging to the wreck until the vessel broke up. All five were lost.

The GEORGE M. HUMPHREY, of 1927, was patched and refloated on September 11, 1944. She had sunk in 80 feet of water after a collision with the steamer D.M. CLEMSON, of 1916, off Old Point Light, on June 15, 1943. On May 6, 1944, the barges MAITLAND NO. 1 and HILDA were employed as pontoons for the salvage operation positioned over the sunken hull. Cables were attached to the HUMPHREY's hull and to the barges. The hull was raised through a series of lifts, which allowed it to be brought into shallower water. Partial buoyancy was provided by the HUMPHREY's ballast tanks, which were pumped out to about 25 percent of capacity. The HUMPHREY was patched and refloated on September 11, 1944. She was taken to the Manitowoc Ship Building Co. first for an estimate of repairs, which totaled $469,400, and then was towed to Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin for reconditioning which was completed at a reported cost of $437,000. Captain John Roen's Roen Transportation Co. assumed ownership on September 18, 1944, and the next year the ship was renamed b.) CAPTAIN JOHN ROEN. She re-entered service on May 1, 1945, chartered to the Pioneer Steamship Co. on a commission basis. Renamed c.) ADAM E. CORNELIUS in 1948, and d.) CONSUMERS POWER in 1958. She was scrapped at Kaohsiung, Taiwan in 1988.

September 11, 2001, the former Bob-Lo boat STE. CLAIRE was towed from Detroit to Toledo by Gaelic's tug SHANNON. In August 2005, she was taken to Belanger Park in River Rouge and in the spring of 2006 she was returned to Nicholson's Slip in Ecorse by Gaelic's tugs PATRICIA HOEY and CAROLYN HOEY.

Carrying cargoes off the lakes, CANADA MARQUIS departed Halifax bound for Philadelphia with a cargo of grain. HON. PAUL MARTIN departed Halifax the same day on her way to Tampa with a load of gypsum.

HORACE JOHNSON sailed on her maiden voyage light from Lorain, Ohio, on September 11, 1929, bound for Two Harbors, Minnesota to load iron ore.

On 11 September 1895, S.P. AMES (2 mast wooden schooner, 61 foot, 43 gross tons) was driven ashore at Pointe aux Barques, Michigan, in a storm. She was quickly stripped before she went to pieces. She had been built in 1879, at Montrose, Michigan, in farm country, well inland, on the Flint River by Mr. Seth Ames. He wanted to use her to return to sea, but he died the day before her hull was launched.

On 11 September 1876, the schooner HARVEST HOME sank on Lake Michigan while bound from Chicago for Cleveland with a load of scrap iron. She was about 26 miles off Grand Haven, Michigan. The crew was taken off by the schooner GRACIE M. FILER just as the boat was going down.

1942: H.M.C.S. CHARLOTTETOWN, a Canadian naval corvette built at Kingston, ON in 1941, was torpedoed and sunk by U-517 on the St. Lawrence near Cap Chat, QC. Nine of the 64 on board were lost. 1946:

The former Hall freighter LUCIUS W. ROBINSON, heading for new service in the Far East as b) HAI LIN, ran into a typhoon on the Pacific during its delivery voyage but was unscathed.

1961: The retired PERSEUS, under tow for scrapping overseas, broke loose of the tug ENGLISHMAN, and was abandoned in rough seas near the Azores. It was later found drifting and taken in tow only to sink on September 21.

1968: GRINDEFJELL, a pre-Seaway and Seaway-era visitor for the Norwegian Fjell Line from 1953 to 1965, put into Mozambique as b) LENRO after fire had broken out in a cargo hold. The flames spread and, at one time the hull glowed red hot. The ship was gutted, later capsized and was abandoned as a total loss. The vessel was enroute from Assab, Ethiopia, to Rotterdam, with a cargo of bagged niger seed expellers and had to take the long way around due to the Suez Canal being closed. The hull was either scrapped or scuttled.

1987: An arson fire gutted the bridge and top deck of the laid up former C.S.L. package freighter FORT YORK at Sarnia. There had been another suspicious fire three weeks earlier that had been extinguished.

[Avenger]

Sudden spike in temperature of the Great Lakes has scientists worried
9/12 - The Great Lakes are getting hotter, seeing a rise in some parts of three degrees. Aaron Fisk, a professor with the Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research at the University of Windsor, spoke with the CBC's Julianne Hazlewood about why temperatures are on the rise and what that means for the Great Lakes and the things that live in it.
Read more or play the interview at this link: www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/lakes-ontario-hot-1.4817127

As Lake Superior rises, alder trees die in wetlands
9/12 - Houghton, Mich. – Experts say alder trees in Lake Superior wetlands are dying due to high water levels. Rodney Chimner, an ecologist at Michigan Technological University, says it's all part of a natural process, but he's never seen such a dramatic change. He tells The Daily Mining Gazette that wetlands and alder trees began to emerge in 2007 when Lake Superior had low lake levels.
Chimner says the cycle has been changing since 2015. The newspaper reports that dead alder can be seen all around Lake Superior in the Houghton area and other waters such as Portage Lake. Invasive species, including purple loosestrife, are taking root instead in Nara Nature Park.
The Associated Press

Today in Great Lakes History - September 12
On 12 September 1903, the R E SCHUCK (steel propeller bulk freighter, 416 fott, 4713 gross tons) was launched by the American Ship Building Company (Hull #327) at Lorain, Ohio for the Gilchrist Transportation Company. She was purchased by the Interlake Steamship Co. (Pickands, Mather & Co., Mgrs.) in 1913, and renamed b.) HYDRUS. However, she foundered in the "Big Storm" of 1913, on Lake Huron with all hands; 24 lives were lost.

On 12 September 1902, EXPERIMENT (2-mast wooden schooner, 65 foot, 50 gross tons, built in 1854, at St. Joseph, Michigan) was carrying firewood in a storm on Lake Michigan when she went out of control in the harbor at St. Joseph, Michigan after swerving to miss an unmarked construction crib. She wrecked and was declared a total loss. Her crew was rescued by the Lifesaving Service. Three days later she was stripped and abandoned in place.
ROGER BLOUGH was laid up at Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin from September 12, 1981, through 1986, because of economic conditions.
CANADIAN PIONEER was christened at Port Weller Drydocks Ltd. on September 12, 1981, by Mrs. Louise Powis, wife of the Chairman and President of Noranda Mines for Upper Lakes Shipping Ltd. Renamed b.) PIONEER in 1987.
CARTIERCLIFFE HALL, a.) RUHR ORE, was towed by the tug WILFRED M. COHEN to Collingwood, Ontario for repairs from a June 5th fire and arrived at Collingwood Shipyards Ltd. on September 12, 1979. Renamed c.) WINNIPEG in 1988, and d.) ALGONTARIO in 1994.
Canadian Shipbuilding & Engineering Limited at Collingwood, Ontario closed the yard on September 12, 1986, after 103 years of shipbuilding. Collship was famous for its spectacular side launches. 214 ships were built at Collingwood.
While unloading steel in South Chicago from the a.) CANADA MARQUIS on September 12, 1988, a shoreside crane lifting a payloader into the hold collapsed onto the ship. CANADA MARQUIS had a hole in her tank top and damage to her hatch coaming. She sails today on the ocean and lakes as e.) BIRCHGLEN, for CSL.
On 12 September 1900, ALBACORE (2 mast wooden schooner, 137 foot, 327 tons, built in 1872, at Port Dalhousie, Ontario) had a storm blow out her sails, driving her into the seawall at Fort Bank just east of Oswego, New York where she broke up. The tug J NAVAGH tried unsuccessfully to save her. Her crew of seven was rescued by the U.S. Lifesaving Service.
After an extremely dry summer, forests were burning all over the Great Lakes region in the autumn of 1871. The smoke from these fires affected navigation. Newspaper reports stated that on 12 September 1871, 38 ships and four strings of barges anchored near Point Pelee on Lake Erie due to the restricted visibility caused by the smoke from the forest fires.
On 12 September 1900, the schooner H. W. SAGE was raised by the McMorran Wrecking Company and was then towed to Port Huron for repairs. She had sunk near Algonac, Michigan in a collision with the steamer CHICAGO on 30 July 1900.
1889: ROTHESAY, a wooden sidewheel passenger vessel, collided with the tug MYRA in the St. Lawrence between Kingston and Prescott. The latter sank with the loss of 2 lives. The former was beached on the Canadian shore where it settled and was abandoned. The wreck was dynamited in 1901 and part of it remains on the bottom in 35 feet of water.
1900: The wooden steamer JOHN B. LYON began taking water in a storm about 25 miles east of Ashtabula and sank in Lake Erie. There were 9 lost with only 6 rescued from the 19-year old vessel.
1917: GISLA was built at Wyandotte, MI in 1916 and went overseas for war duty. The vessel was hit by gunfire from U-64 in the western Mediterranean off Cape Palos, Spain, and sunk by a timed bomb. The ship was carrying nuts and vegetable oil from Kotonou, Dahomey, for Marseilles, France, when it was attacked.
1919: The wooden barge CHICKAMAUGA began leaking in huge seas off Harbor Beach, MI while under tow of the CENTURION and the ore laden vessel sank the next day. The crew of 10 was rescued by the JAMES WHALEN and the wreck was removed the following year.
1928: B.B. McCOLL was virtually destroyed by a fire at Buffalo while loading and had to be abandoned as a total loss. The ship was salvaged, rebuilt and last sailed as h) DETROIT. The ship was scrapped in 1982-1983 at Lake Calumet, IL.
1953: MARYLAND was mauled by a storm on Lake Superior and 12 hatch covers were blown off. The ship was beached near Marquette and all 35 on board were saved. The ship was abandoned but the extensive bottom damage was repaired and the ship resumed service as d) HENRY LALIBERTE.
1989: POLARLAND began visiting the Great Lakes in 1968 and returned as b) ISCELU in 1980, c) TRAKYA in 1981 and d) TRAKYA I in 1982. The ship was lying at Hualien, Taiwan, as e) LUNG HAO during Typhoon Sarah and got loose in the storm prior to going aground. The hull broke in two and was a total loss.
1989: SACHA, Liberian registered SD 14, began Seaway trading in 1973. It returned as b) ERMIONI in 1982. The ship stranded on the wreck of the ORIENTAL PEARL while approaching Bombay, India, from Tampa as d) SAFIR on December 22, 1984, and sustained considerable damage. This was repaired but SAFIR was lost after stranding on a reef off Tiran Island in the Red Sea on September 12, 1989.
2006: TORO went aground in the St. Lawrence off Cornwall Island with damage to the bulbous bow and #2 hold. The ship, enroute from Thunder Bay to Progresso, Mexico, with a cargo of wheat, was released September 18 and repaired at the Verreault shipyard in Les Mechins, QC before resuming the voyage on October 27. The vessel had previously visited the Great Lakes as a) LA LIBERTE, c) ASTART and d) ULLOA. It was still sailing as g) XING JI DA as of 2011.

[yachtsmanwilly]

On 13 September 1894, the GLOBE (steel propeller package freighter, 330 foot, 2,995 gross tons) was launched by the Globe Iron Works (Hull #53) at Cleveland, Ohio. She was lengthened to 400 feet and converted to a bulk freighter in 1899, when she was acquired by the Bessemer Steamship Company and renamed JAMES B. EADS. She lasted until 1967, when she was scrapped at Port Weller Drydocks.
On 13 September 1872, the wooden schooner RAPID left Pigeon Bay, Ontario bound for Buffalo, New York with 5000 railroad ties. While on Lake Erie, a storm blew in and Capt. Henderson decided to turn for Rondeau. While turning, the vessel capsized. Annie Brown, the cook, was trapped below decks and drowned. The seven other crew members strapped themselves to the rail and waited to be rescued. One by one they died. Finally, 60-hours later, the schooner PARAGON found the floating wreck with just one man, James Low, the first mate, barely alive.

The EDMUND FITZGERALD's sea trials occurred on September 13, 1958.

The HOFFMAN (United States Army Corps of Engineers Twin Screw Hopper Dredge) collided with the Japanese salty KUNISHIMA MARU at Toledo, Ohio, September 13, 1962. Reportedly the blame was placed on the pilot of the Japanese salty. Apparently the damage was minor.

On September 13, 1968, the AUGUST ZIESING grounded in fog 200 yards above the Rock Cut in the St. Marys River. The grounded vessel swung into the shipping channel blocking it until September 15th when lightering was completed.

September 13, 1953 - PERE MARQUETTE 22 made her second maiden voyage since she was new in 1924. She was cut in half, lengthened, had new boilers and engines installed. On 13 September 1875, CITY OF BUFFALO (wooden schooner, 91 foot, 128 tons, built in 1859, at Buffalo, New York, as a propeller canal boat) beached and sank after striking a rock in the St. Marys River. The tug MAGNET worked for days to release her before she went to pieces on 19 September. No lives were lost.

On 13 September 1871, the bark S D POMEROY was anchored off Menominee, Michigan, during a storm. Archie Dickie, James Steele, John Davidson and James Mechie were seen to lower the yawl to go to shore. Later the empty yawl drifted ashore and then the bodies of all four men floated in.

1967 – The former Great Lakes passenger ship NORTH AMERICAN sank in the Atlantic (40.46 N / 68.53 W) while under tow for a new career as a training ship at Piney Point, Maryland.

1988 – The Cypriot freighter BLUESTONE, at Halifax since August 19, had 3 crewmembers jump ship at the last minute claiming unsafe conditions due to corrosion in the tank tops, but this could not be checked as the vessel was loaded.


9/13 - Manistique, Mich. – The Coast Guard, along with federal, state, tribal and local partners, is slated to participate in a full-scale pollution response exercise in Manistique Harbor Saturday through September 21.

A plethora of agencies will arrive in the area in preparation for the exercise. Boats, helicopters, unmanned aerial systems and pollution response equipment, such as oil containment boom and skimmers, are scheduled to be deployed in and around Manistique Harbor during the week of the event.

The full-scale exercise is conducted in accordance with the National Preparedness for Response Exercise Program, which was developed to establish a workable exercise program to meet the federal oil pollution response exercise requirements of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990.

The Coast Guard will apply, test, and evaluate the effectiveness of the Northern Michigan Area Contingency Plan, which details the strategy for a coordinated federal, state, tribal and local response to a discharge or substantial threat of a discharge of oil, or a release or substantial threat of a release of a hazardous substance within the boundaries of Coast Guard Sector Sault Ste. Marie’s Coastal Zone.

USCG

[yachtsmanwilly]

9/14 - Washington, D.C. – The U.S. House voted Thursday to approve legislation including authorization for $922.4 million to build a large replacement lock at the Upper Peninsula's Soo Locks. The water-infrastructure bill, which passed on a voice vote, next heads to the U.S. Senate, where its passage and the president's signature would be the first concrete step in decades toward building the new lock.

Lawmakers said funding will still need to be appropriated next spending cycle.

"This modernization project is long — as in decades — overdue," said Rep. Jack Bergman, R-Watersmeet, whose district includes the locks. "We’ve accomplished more in the first 18 months of this session than was done in the last 18 years."

The progress is due in part to a study by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers released this summer that recommended a 1,200-foot-long lock to mirror the 49-year-old Poe Lock at Sault Ste. Marie. The Army Corps provided an economic analysis that will allow the project to compete for construction funding, estimating the cost at $922 million at next year's pricing level, or $1 billion over the seven-year to 10-year construction period.

The Poe is the only one of the four aging locks operated by the Army Corps in the Soo is big enough to handle the largest freighters that carry 89 percent of the cargo through the corridor.

An unexpected outage of the Poe could cause a bottleneck with a rippling disruption through the supply chain for steel production and, thus, manufacturing across the country.

Republican Rep. Paul Mitchell said he helped push for the project's inclusion in the authorization bill as a member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. "It’s an issue nationally in terms of the economy and national defense,” said Mitchell of Dryden. “Turns out it was authorized in 1986, and there’s been studies and discussion but nothing got done.”

He noted the findings of a 2015 Department of Homeland Security report that found no alternative transportation mode exists for getting iron ore from Minnesota mines to steel mills on the lower Great Lakes. The same study concluded the Poe Lock is a weak link in the North American industrial economy, and an unplanned, six-month closure could plunge the U.S. economy into recession, costing up to 11 million jobs.

Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Lansing, who worked to include authorization in the Senate version of the bill, applauded Thursday's House vote. She and Bergman had co-sponsored a bill last year with the objective of authorizing the lock.

"The locks are vital to commerce in Michigan and our national defense," Stabenow said in a statement. "This is a significant step toward finally getting this done.”

Rep. John Moolenaar, R-Midland, pledged to work with his colleagues on the House Appropriations Committee to fund the Soo Locks upgrade. "Today's legislation makes it crystal clear: President Trump, Republicans, and Democrats support a new lock in the Soo," he said.

The Detroit News


9/14 - Ogdensburg, N.Y. – A new report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office has found that shipping along the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway system does not live up to its potential, and that traffic along the international waterway has dropped off significantly since 1980.

The GAO report, issued to members of Congress, found that the tons of cargo moved by both Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway traffic have declined since 1980 by 32 and 48 percent, respectively.

Great Lakes traffic is generally defined as U.S. flagged ships that move cargo exclusively between Great Lakes ports. The ships are often referred to simply as “lakers.” Seaway traffic, on the other hand, is comprised mostly of foreign flagged ships that move goods to and from international destinations, according to officials.

The most recent government report on shipping along the international waterway was issued on Sept. 5. The GAO investigation was launched to look at efforts to modernize the Great Lakes- Seaway system. The report examines how Great Lakes-Seaway shipping trends have changed since 1980 and what factors have shaped those trends.

In compiling the report, government officials solicited the opinions of approximately 24 so-called stakeholders in the shipping industry, asking how modern challenges and aging infrastructure are affecting the nearly 60-year-old waterway.

They also spoke to Army Corps of Engineers and Seaway Corp. officials regarding progress on lock infrastructure renewal efforts and what the agencies are doing to measure the results performance of the improvements.

Trends that have influenced the downward spiral in commodities traversing the seaway system include a shift away from traditional cargo hauls of iron ore and coal and growth in the commodities being transported in shipping containers.

The seaway system is also antiquated in design, according to officials, in that the locks that allow ships to traverse the waterway are in some cases too narrow to accommodate the more modern and larger Great Lakes oceangoing vessels used today.

Since 1959, the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway navigation system has provided an important transportation route to the manufacturing and agricultural heartland of North America, according to the report. The system extends 2,300 miles from Duluth, Minn., to the Atlantic Ocean and serves more than 100 ports in eight U.S. states and two Canadian provinces, officials said.

In 2007, a joint U.S.-Canadian study found that the Great Lakes-Seaway system was operating at about half of its potential capacity and could absorb additional traffic. “Further, in 2016 the Congressional Research Service reported that U.S. domestic cargo volume within the Great Lakes was about half that of the 1950s and 1960s,” the report stated.

The 2007 study also led to U.S. asset renewal plans to improve the system’s lock infrastructure condition — at the time, the first coordinated effort to assess and improve the system’s infrastructure in its 50-year existence. But despite lagging shipping numbers, the waterway still has potential, according to officials.

“Now over a decade after the 2007 report and almost 60 years since the opening of the system, the Great Lakes-Seaway’s potential as America’s ‘fourth coast’ remains, as it provides direct access to a region that is home to 107 million people, including major cities such as Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, and Toronto,” the study said.

Watertown Daily Times


September 14, 1962, the HORACE S. WILKINSON was involved in a collision with the Canadian freighter CAROL LAKE in the Welland Canal. Rather than repair the WILKINSON, Wilson Marine had her towed to Superior, Wisconsin, for conversion to a barge. All cabin superstructure, the engine, boilers, and auxiliary machinery were removed. The stern was squared off and notched to receive a tug. The WILKINSON was renamed WILTRANCO I and re-entered service in 1963, as a tug-barge combination with a crew of 10, pushed by the tug FRANCIS A. SMALL of 1966.
September 14, 1963, the BENJAMIN F. FAIRLESS, Captain Earl C. Bauman, received a National Safety Council Award of Merit for operating 1,001,248 consecutive man-hours without a lost time accident. This accomplishment required 15 years, 600 round trips, and 1,200 passages through the Soo locks.

Captain Albert Edgar Goodrich died on September 14,1885, at the age of 59, at his residence in Chicago. He was a pioneer steamboat man and founded the Goodrich Transportation Company, famous for its passenger/package freight steamers on Lake Michigan.

The J. J. SULLIVAN (Hull#439) was launched September 14, 1907, at Cleveland, Ohio, by American Ship Building Co. for the Superior Steamship Co. (Hutchinson & Co., mgr.). Renamed b.) CLARENCE B. RANDALL in 1963. She was scrapped at Windsor, Ontario in 1988.

On September 14, 1871, R. J. CARNEY (wooden barge, 150 foot, 397 gross tons) was launched at Saginaw, Michigan.

The 203-foot wooden schooner KATE WINSLOW was launched at J. Davidson's yard in East Saginaw, Michigan, on 14 September 1872.

The steamer ASIA sank in a storm off Byng Inlet on Georgian Bay September 14, 1882. Over 100 people lost their lives with only two people, a man and a woman, rescued. ASIA was built in St. Catharines, Ontario, in 1873, and was bound from Collingwood, Ontario, to the French River and Canadian Sault.

1960: The Bahamas registered vessel ITHAKA stranded 10 miles east of Chhurchill, Manitoba, after the rudder broke and the anchors failed to hold in a storm. The ship had served on the Great Lakes for Hall as a) FRANK A. AUGSBURY and e) LAWRENCECLIFFE HALL (i), for Canada Steamship Lines as b) GRANBY and for Federal Commerce & Navigation as f) FEDERAL PIONEER.

1965: FORT WILLIAM, which recently entered service as a package freight carrier for Canada Steamship Lines, capsized at Pier 65 in Montreal. There was an ensuing fire when part of the cargo of powdered carbide formed an explosive gas and five were killed. The vessel was refloated on November 22, 1965, repaired, and still sails the lakes a b) STEPHEN B. ROMAN.

1970: The barge AFT, the forward part of the former STEEL KING (ii), arrrived at Ramey's Bend, Port Colborne, under tow of the tug HERBERT A. for dismantling. The barge had been part of a tandem tow with the dipper dredge KING COAL but the latter broke loose in a Lake Erie storm and sank.

1998: The Cypriot-registered STRANGE ATTRACTOR first came through the Seaway in 1989 as a) LANTAU TRADER. It returned under the new name in 1996 and lost power on this date in 1998 while leaving the Upper Beauharnois Lock and had to be towed to the tie up wall by OCEAN GOLF and SALVAGE MONARCH. The ship was soon able to resume the voyage and continued Great Lakes trading through 2003. It arrived for scrapping at Aliaga, Turkey, as d) ORIENT FUZHOU on August 7, 2009.

[yachtsmanwilly]

On September 17, 1898, KEEPSAKE (2-mast wooden schooner, 183 foot, 286 gross tons, built in 1867, at Newport [Marine City], Michigan) was carrying coal from Ashtabula when she was struck by a terrible storm on Lake Erie. Her rudder was damaged, a sail torn away and her bulwarks were smashed. The CITY OF ERIE saw her distress signals at 3:30 a.m. and came to help. With the CITY OF ERIE's searchlight shining on the doomed schooner, a huge wave swept over the vessel taking away everything on deck and snapping both masts. The crew, some only half dressed, all managed to get into the lifeboat. They rowed to the CITY OF ERIE and were all rescued. Three days later, the other lifeboat and some wreckage from the KEEPSAKE were found near Ashtabula by some fishermen.
GRIFFON (Hull#18) was launched September 17, 1955, at St. Catharines, Ontario by Port Weller Drydocks Ltd. for Beaconsfield Steamship Ltd., Montreal, Quebec. Renamed b.) FRANQUELIN in 1967, c.) EVA DESGAGNES in 1987. Sold foreign in 1989, renamed d.) TELCHAC, scrapped at Tuxpan, Mexico, in 1992.

On September 17, 1985, PATERSON suffered a crankcase explosion as she was bound for Quebec City from Montreal. She was repaired and cleared on September 21. Renamed b.) PINEGLEN in 2002.

On September 17, 1830, WILLIAM PEACOCK (wood side wheel steamer, 102 foot, 120 tons, built in 1829, at Barcelona, New York) suffered the first major boiler explosion on Lake Erie while she was docked in Buffalo, New York. 15 - 30 lives were lost. She was rebuilt two years later and eventually foundered in a storm in 1835, near Ripley, Ohio.

On September 17, 1875, the barge HARMONY was wrecked in a gale at Chicago, Illinois, by colliding with the north pier, which was under water. This was the same place where the schooner ONONGA was wrecked a week earlier and HARMONY came in contact with that sunken schooner. No lives were lost.

On September 17, 1900, a storm carried away the cabin and masts of the wrecked wooden 4-mast bulk freight barge FONTANA. The 231-foot vessel had been wrecked and sunk in a collision at the mouth of the St. Clair River in the St. Clair Flats on August 3,1900. She had settled in the mud and gradually shifted her position. She eventually broke in two. After unsuccessful salvage attempts, the wreck was dynamited.

Tragedy struck in 1949, when the Canada Steamship Lines cruise ship NORONIC burned at Pier 9 in Toronto, Ontario. By morning the ship was gutted, 104 passengers were known to be dead and 14 were missing. Because of land reclamation and the changing face of the harbor, the actual site of Noronic's berth is now in the lobby of the Harbour Castle Westin hotel.

1909: The towline connecting the ALEXANDER HOLLEY and SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN broke in a Lake Superior storm and the former, a whaleback barge, almost stranded on Sawtooth Shoal. The anchors caught in time and it took 5 hours to rescue the crew.

1980: HERMION began Great Lakes trading shortly after entering service in 1960. The vessel stranded as d) AEOLIAN WIND, about a half mile from Nakhodka, USSR, during a voyage from North Vietnam to Cuba. The ship was refloated on October 8, 1980, and scrapped in 1981 at Nakhodka.

On September 16, 1893, HATTIE EARL (wooden schooner, 96 foot, 101 gross tons, built in 1869, at South Haven, Michigan) was driven ashore just outside the harbor of Michigan City, Indiana, and was pounded to pieces by the waves. No lives were lost.
At about 8:30 a.m. Sunday, September 16, 1990, the inbound motor ship BUFFALO passed close by while the tanker JUPITER was unloading unleaded gasoline at the Total Petroleum dock in the Saginaw River near Bay City, Michigan. As the BUFFALO passed the dock's aft pilings broke off and the fuel lines parted which caused a spark and ignited the spilled fuel. At the time 22,000 barrels of a total of 54,000 barrels were still aboard. Flames catapulted over 100 feet high filling the air with smoke that could be seen for 50 miles. The fire was still burning the next morning when a six man crew from Williams, Boots & Coots Firefighters and Hazard Control Specialists of Port Neches, Texas, arrived to fight the fire. By Monday afternoon they extinguished the fire only to have it re-ignite that night resulting in multiple explosions. Not until Tuesday morning on the 18th was the fire finally subdued with the assistance of the U.S. Coast Guard's BRAMBLE and BRISTOL BAY. The tanker, which was valued at $9 million, was declared a total constructive loss, though the engine room was relatively untouched. Unfortunately the fire claimed the life of one crew member, who drowned attempting to swim ashore. As a result the Coast Guard closed the river to all navigation. On October 19th the river was opened to navigation after the Gaelic tugs SUSAN HOEY and CAROLYN HOEY towed the JUPITER up river to the Hirschfield & Sons Dock at Bay City (formerly the Defoe Shipyard) where a crane was erected for dismantling the burned out hulk. Her engines were removed and shipped to New Bedford, Massachusetts, for future use. The river opening allowed American Steamship's BUFFALO to depart the Lafarge dock where she had been trapped since the explosion. JUPITER's dismantling was completed over the winter of 1990-91. Subsequent investigation by the NTSB, U.S. Coast Guard and the findings of a federal judge all exonerated the master and BUFFALO in the tragedy.

Parrish & Heimbecker Ltd. purchased all nine of the Soo River's fleet on September 16, 1982, for a reported C$2.5 million and all nine returned to service, although only four were running at the end of the season.

The NORISLE went into service September 16, 1946, as the first Canadian passenger ship commissioned since the NORONIC in 1913.

On September 16, 1952, the CASON J. CALLAWAY departed River Rouge, Michigan, for Duluth, Minnesota, on its maiden voyage for the Pittsburgh Steamship Co.

On September 16, 1895, ARCTIC (2 mast wooden schooner, 113 foot, 85 gross tons, built in 1853, at Ashtabula, Ohio) was rammed and sunk by the steamer CLYDE in broad daylight and calm weather. ARCTIC was almost cut in half by the blow. The skipper of CLYDE was censured for the wreck and for his callous treatment of the schooner's crew afterwards. Luckily no lives were lost.

On September 16,1877, the 46 foot tug RED RIBBON, owned by W. H. Morris of Port Huron, Michigan, burned about 2 miles below St. Clair, Michigan. Capt. Morris ran the tug ashore and hurried to St. Clair to get assistance, but officials there refused to allow the steam fire engine to go outside the city. The tug was a total loss and was only insured for $1,000, half her value. She had just started in service in May of 1877, and was named for the reform movement that was in full swing at the time of her launch.

On September 16, 1900, LULU BEATRICE (2-mast wooden schooner, 72 foot, 48 gross tons, built in 1896, at Port Burwell, Ontario) was carrying coal on Lake Erie when she was wrecked on the shore near the harbor entrance at Port Burwell in a storm. One life was lost, the captain's wife.

1892 The wooden propeller VIENNA sank in foggy Whitefish Bay after beiing hit broadside by the wooden steamer NIPIGON. The latter survived and later worked for Canada Steamship Lines as b) MAPLEGRANGE and c) MAPLEHILL (i) but was laid up at Kingston in 1925 and scuttled in Lake Ontario in 1927.

1901 HUDSON was last seen dead in the water with a heavy list. The steeel package freighter had cleared Duluth the previous day with wheat and flax for Buffalo but ran into a furious storm and sank in Lake Superior off Eagle Harbor Light with the loss of 24-25 lives.

1906 CHARLES B. PACKARD hit the wreck of the schooner ARMENIA off Midddle Ground, Lake Erie and sank in 45 minutes. All on board were rescued and the hull was later dynamited as a hazard to navigation.

1937-- The large wooden tug G.R. GRAY (ii) of the Lake Superior Paper Co., got caught in a storm off Coppermine Point, Lake Superior, working with GARGANTUA on a log raft and fell into the trough. The stack was toppled but the vessel managed to reach Batchawana and was laid up. The hull was towed to Sault Ste. Marie in 1938 and eventually stripped out. The remains were taken to Thessalon in 1947 and remained there until it caught fire and burned in 1959.

1975 BJORSUND, a Norwegian tanker, visited the Seaway in 1966. The 22--year old vessel began leaking as b) AMERFIN enroute from Mexico to Panama and sank in the Pacific while under tow off Costa Rica.

1990 JUPITER was unloading at Bay City when the wake of a passing shipp separated the hose connection spreading gasoline on deck. An explosion and fire resulted. One sailor was lost as the ship burned for days and subsequently sank.

2005 Fire broke out aboard the tug JAMES A. HANNAH above Lock 2 of the Welland Canal while downbound with the barge 5101 loaded with asphalt, diesel and heavy oil. City of St. Catharines fire fighters help extinguish the blaze.


On 15 September 1886, F. J. KING (wooden schooner, 140 foot, 280 tons, built in 1867, at Toledo, Ohio) was carrying iron ore from Escanaba, Michigan, to Chicago, Illinois. She sprang a leak and sank in a heavy southwesterly gale three miles off Rawley Bay, Wisconsin. Her crew reached shore in the yawl. Her loss was valued at $7,500.
The A. H. FERBERT of 1942 was towed out of Duluth by the Sandrin tug GLENADA September 15, 1987; they encountered rough weather on Lake Superior and required the assistance of another tug to reach the Soo on the 19th. On the 21st the FERBERT had to anchor off Detour, Michigan, after she ran aground in the St. Marys River when her towline parted. Her hull was punctured and the Coast Guard ordered repairs to her hull before she could continue. Again problems struck on September 24th, when the FERBERT went hard aground at the Cut-Off Channel's southeast bend of the St. Clair River. Six tugs, GLENADA, ELMORE M. MISNER, BARBARA ANN, GLENSIDE, SHANNON and WM. A. WHITNEY, worked until late on the 26th to free her. The FERBERT finally arrived in tow of GLENSIDE and W. N. TWOLAN at Lauzon, Quebec, on October 7th.

The steamer WILLIAM A. AMBERG (Hull#723) was launched September 15, 1917, at Lorain, Ohio, by American Ship Building Co. for the Producers Steamship Co., (M. A. Hanna, mgr.). Renamed b.) ALBERT E. HEEKIN in 1932, c.) SILVER BAY in 1955, d.) JUDITH M. PIERSON in 1975 and e.) FERNGLEN in 1982. Scrapped at Port Maitland, Ontario, in 1985.

On September 15, 1925, the JOHN A. TOPPING left River Rouge, Michigan, light on her maiden voyage to Ashland, Wisconsin, to load iron ore for delivery to Cleveland, Ohio. Renamed b.) WILLIAM A. REISS in 1934, she was scrapped at Alang, India, in 1994.

On September 15th, lightering was completed on the AUGUST ZIESING; she had grounded above the Rock Cut two days earlier, blocking the channel.

September 15, 1959, was the last day the U.S. Coast Guard Buoy Tender MESQUITE was stationed at Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan.

MIDDLETOWN suffered a fire in her tunnels on September 15, 1986. Second and third degree burns were suffered by two crew members. She was renamed f.) AMERICAN VICTORY in 2006.

In 1934, the ANN ARBOR NO 6 collided with the steamer N. F. LEOPOLD in a heavy fog.

September 15, 1993 - Robert Manglitz became CEO and president of Lake Michigan Carferry Service after Charles Conrad announced his retirement and the sale of most of his stock.

On 15 September 1873, IRONSIDES (wooden propeller passenger/package freight vessel, 220 foot, 1,123 tons, built in 1864, at Cleveland, Ohio) became disabled when she sprang a leak and flooded. The water poured in and put out her fires. She sank about 7 miles off Grand Haven, Michigan, on Lake Michigan. Reports of the number of survivors varied from 17 to 32 and the number lost varied from 18 to 28.

On 15 September 1872, A. J. BEMIS (wood propeller tug, 49 tons, built in 1859, at Buffalo, New York) caught fire while underway. The fire originated under her boiler. She ran for shore but sank about six miles from Alpena, Michigan. No lives lost.

1882: The wooden passenger steamer ASIA got caught in a wild storm crossing Georgian Bay, fell into the trough and sank stern first. There were 123 passengers and crew listed as lost while only two on board survived.

1915: ONOKO of the Kinsman Transit Company foundered in Lake Superior off Knife Point, while downbound with wheat from Duluth to Toledo. The crew took to the lifeboats and were saved. The hull was located in 1987, upside down, in about 340 feet of water.

1928: MANASOO, in only her first season of service after being rebuilt for overnight passenger and freight service, foundered in Georgian Bay after the cargo shifted and the vessel overturned in heavy weather. There were 18 casualties, plus 46 head of cattle, and only 5 survived.

1940: KENORDOC, enroute to Bristol, UK, with a cargo of lumber was sunk due to enemy action as part of convoy SC 3 while 500 miles west of the Orkney Islands. The ship had fallen behind the convoy due to engine trouble, and was shelled by gunfire from U-48. There were 7 casualties including the captain and wireless operator. H.M.S. AMAZON completed the sinking as the bow of the drifting hull was still visible.

1940: The Norwegian freighter LOTOS came inland in 1938 delivering pulpwood to Cornwall and went aground there in a storm. The ship was torpedoed and sunk by a German submarine while about 15 miles west of Rockall Island, Scotland, while inbound from Dalhousie, NB for Tyne, UK.

1962” A collision between the HARRY L. FINDLAY of the Kinsman Line and the Greek Liberty ship MESOLOGI occurred at Toledo. The latter began Seaway service that year and made a total of six inland voyages. It was scrapped at Aioi, Japan, as f) BLUE SAND after arriving in November 1969.

9/15 - Ontonogon, Mich. – It was October 1894 when the then-brand-new red brick lighthouse at 14 Mile Point, a wild tract of Upper Peninsula property accessible only by boat, first beamed its beacon out over the dark waters of Lake Superior.

One hundred and 24 years later, the now privately owned parcel of land the lighthouse sits on is still almost every bit as remote and rugged as it was during the light's earliest days.

That lighthouse and that parcel -- 49 untamed acres, including rare old-growth forest and a 4,000-foot stretch of pristine Lake Superior shoreline -- is for sale. The listing, with Century 21 North Country Agency, is priced at $890,000.

"You're kind of on an island without being on an island," said listing agent David Jukuri. "Some of the sunsets you'd see there are absolutely second to none. It's definitely spectacular."

Read more and view photos at this link: www.mlive.com/expo/life-and-culture/erry-2018/09/5aba2ca64b7523/for-890k-a-historic-up-lightho.html


9/16 - Halifax, N.S. – Canada’s lead Arctic and Offshore Patrol Vessel, the future HMCS Harry DeWolf, was launched Sept. 15, 2018, marking a significant milestone for the National Shipbuilding Strategy (NSS) and the revitalization of the Royal Canadian Navy’s combatant fleet.

At 103 metres and 6,615 tonne, the future HMCS Harry DeWolf is the largest Royal Canadian Navy ship built in Canada in 50 years. The ship was transitioned from our land level facility to a submersible barge yesterday, Sept. 14, 2018, and launched in the Bedford Basin today.

The lead ship in the Arctic and Offshore Patrol Ship program is now pier side at Halifax Shipyard where our shipbuilders will continue working to prepare the ship for sea trials in 2019. HMCS Harry DeWolf is scheduled to be turned over to the Royal Canadian Navy in summer 2019.

Construction of the second and third ships, the future HMCS Margaret Brooke and Max Bernays, are well underway at Halifax Shipyard. Later this month, the first two major sections of the future HMCS Margaret Brooke will be moved outside.

The National Shipbuilding Strategy was created to replace the current surface fleets of the Royal Canadian Navy and the Canadian Coast Guard. Through a competitive, open and transparent process, Irving Shipbuilding was selected to construct the Royal Canadian Navy’s future combatant fleet—Arctic and Offshore Patrol Vessels followed by Canadian Surface Combatants.

As a result of the National Shipbuilding Strategy, Irving Shipbuilding has become one of Atlantic Canada’s largest regional employers, with thousands of Canadians now working in skilled, well-paying jobs. The Halifax Shipyard, long at the centre of Canadian shipbuilding, is now revitalized and home to the most modern, innovative shipbuilding facilities, equipment, and processes in North America.


9/16 - Toledo, Ohio – Reversing a policy statement from 24 years ago, the Coast Guard has told representatives of Great Lakes ports, ship operators, and labor unions it will no longer allow pilots who provide navigational guidance for foreign ships to refuse to work during labor disputes.

“The Coast Guard is committed to ensuring safe, efficient, and reliable pilotage service for foreign merchant vessels transiting the Great Lakes System to facilitate commerce,” Michael Emerson, the Coast Guard’s director of marine transportation systems, wrote in a letter dated Friday to announce a policy which took effect Wednesday.

The announcement followed a meeting Monday in upstate New York of the Great Lakes Pilotage Advisory Committee, attended by representatives of various ports — including Toledo’s — plus several associations representing American pilots and the International Longshoremen’s Association.

The issue arose in large part because of the mid-spring detention at Toledo’s docks of three ocean-going freighters because pilots called out to direct their navigation refused to pass a picket boat deployed by the ILA.

The longshoremen have been embroiled in a long-running dispute with Midwest Terminals of Toledo International, the stevedore at the port authority-owned facility.

The ships’ owners were estimated to have lost tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of dollars in operational time before they made arrangements to have tugs tow the vessels away from the dock as “dead ships,” allowing pilots to then board without having to pass the ILA picket.

Fear of similar situations afterward prompted foreign vessel owners to steer cargo away from Toledo’s port.

Alex Johnson, Midwest Terminals’ president, said Friday he had already received several calls from ship operators with prospective cargoes to deliver between now and the year’s end.

“I think we’re open for business,” Mr. Johnson said before thanking local businesspeople and labor leaders whom he said weighed in on the issue in support of his operation.

Read more at this link: www.toledoblade.com/news/local/2018/09/14/Coast-Guard-Pilots-of-foreign-ships-may-not-refuse-to-work-during-labor-disputes/stories/20180914203

[yachtsmanwilly]

9/18 - Duluth, Minn. – The William A. Irvin, Duluth’s floating museum, will be moved out of Minnesota Slip sometime this week between Tuesday and Friday. To allow for the vessel’s passage, the city of Duluth announced that it will be necessary to pin the pedestrian lift bridge that spans the slip in an upright position.

The bridge will be out of commission until the laker has completed its transit out of the slip. The timing of the ship’s movement will depend on weather conditions, with calm conditions desired to execute what will be a tight squeeze for the 611-foot-long vessel.

Duluth News Tribune


On September 18, 1855, SEBASTOPOL (wooden side-wheel steamer, 230 foot, 863 tons, built in 1855, at Cleveland, Ohio) was sailing on Lake Michigan in a gale. Her cargo included copper, tin, lead and iron ingots, safes and general merchandise. Her skipper misread the shore lights while she was coming in to Milwaukee and she stranded 500 feet from shore, broadside to the storm waves which pounded her to pieces. Most of the crew and 60 passengers were saved with the help of small boats from shore, but about 6 lives were lost. This was the vessel's first year of operation. Her paddlewheels were 50 feet in diameter.
On September 18,1679, GRIFFON, the first sailing ship on the upper Lakes, left Green Bay with a cargo of furs. She left the explorer Robert Cavelier, Sieur de la Salle, behind. GRIFFON never reached her planned destination.

E J BLOCK, a.) W. R. WOODFORD of 1908, returned to service on September 18, 1946, as the first large bulk freighter powered by a diesel-electric power plant and one of the first equipped with commercial radar on the Great Lakes. She lasted until scrapped at Ramey's Bend in 1988.

On September 18, 1959, the HENRY FORD II ran aground in the St. Marys River and damaged 18 bottom plates.

LAKE WINNIPEG was the first vessel to enter the Nipigon Transport fleet. She loaded her first cargo of 22,584 gross tons of iron ore clearing Sept Isles, Quebec, on September 18, 1962, bound for Cleveland, Ohio.

The Pere Marquette carferry CITY OF MIDLAND 41 (Hull#311) was launched on September 18, 1940, at Manitowoc, Wisconsin. She was built by Manitowoc Shipbuilding Corporation at a cost of $2 million. She was named after Midland, Michigan, for one of the Pere Marquette Railway's biggest customers, Dow Chemical Co. She was christened by Miss Helen Dow, daughter of Willard H. Dow, president of Dow Chemical Co. Converted to a barge in 1998, renamed PERE MARQUETTE 41.

On September 18, 1871, E. B. ALLEN (wooden schooner, 111 foot, 275 tons, built in 1864, at Ogdensburg, New York) was carrying grain when she collided with the bark NEWSBOY and sank off Thunder Bay Island in Lake Huron.

On September 18, 1900, the large steamer CAPTAIN THOMAS WILSON was taken from her launch site on the Black River in Port Huron out to the St. Clair River. The tug HAYNES was at the bow and the tug BOYNTON at the stern. It took an hour and a half to maneuver through the various bridges. Newspapers estimated that a couple thousand persons watched the event. Once the WILSON made it to the St. Clair River, she was towed to Jenks Shipbuilding Company where she was completed and received her machinery.

1909: LACKAWANNA lost steering and sank in the St. Clair River with a hole in the starboard bow after a collision with the wooden schooner CHIEFTAIN off Point Edward.

1918: BUFFALO, formerly the Great Lakes package freighter a) TADOUSAC, b) DORIC, was torpedoed by U-117 and sunk off Godfrey Light and Trevose Head, Cornwall, UK

1942: ASHBAY traded on the Great Lakes for Bay Line Navigation from 1923 until 1935 when it was sold for Brazilian coastal service. The ship was sunk by gunfire from U-516 on this date at the mouth of the Marowyne River, Brazil, as c) ANTONICO and 16 lives were lost.

1942: NORFOLK, enroute from Surinam to Trinidad, was hit, without warning, by two torpedoes from U-175, on the starboard side near the British Guiana Venezuela border. The Canada Steamship Lines ship went down in minutes. Six lives were lost was well as the cargo of 3055 tons of bauxite destined for Alcoa.

1958: ASHTABULA sank in Ashtabula harbor after a collision with the inbound BEN MOREELL. All on board were rescued but there were later two casualties when the captain committed suicide and an insurance inspector fell to his death while on board.

1970: HIGHLINER was heavily damaged amidships as d) PETROS in a fire at Tyne, UK. The vessel was not repaired and, after being laid up at Cardiff, was towed to Newport, Monmouthshire, for scrapping on June 12, 1972.

1978: The British freighter DUNDEE was a pre-Seaway trader into the Great Lakes and returned through the new waterway on 14 occasions from 1959 to 1962. It foundered in the Mediterranean as g) VLYHO near Falconera Island after an engine room explosion caused leaks in the hull. The vessel was enroute from Chalkis, Greece, to Tunis, Tunisia, at the time.

[yachtsmanwilly]

9/19 - Cleveland, Ohio – U.S.-flag Great Lakes freighters (lakers) moved 10 million tons of cargo in August, a near repeat of a year ago. The August float was also largely in line with the month’s 5-year average.

Iron ore cargos for steel production totaled 5 million tons, an increase of 6.8 percent compared to a year ago, and the second consecutive month in which ore shipments topped 5 million tons.

Coal loads totaled 1.6 million tons, a slight increase over a year ago. Shipments of aggregate, fluxstone, chemical stone and scrubber stone totaled 2.9 million tons, a decrease of 10 percent compared to a year ago.

Year-to-date U.S.-flag cargo movement stands at 48.4 million tons, a decrease of 4.1 percent compared to the same point in 2017. Iron ore cargos total 26.55 million tons, a decrease of 3.7 percent. Coal loadings total 6.5 million tons, a decrease of 13.7 percent. Limestone tops 12.8 million tons, an increase of 2.3 percent.

Lake Carriers’ Association


9/19 - Thunder Bay, Ont. – The national transportation safety board has wrapped up an investigation into an incident at the Thunder Bay port where a sailor had to be rescued from frigid water after being unable to climb back up the ship’s ladder.

The incident happened on Dec. 8, 2017 at Thunder Bay Terminals while the Federal Champlain was loading potash.

The third officer, who was continuously monitored, climbed down a ladder to the side of the ship to read draft measurements after an on-deck device used to take measurements failed when its water and antifreeze mixture froze.

The third officer, who was wearing winter clothing, was seated on the second last step of the ladder, one metre from the surface of the water, with his feet pressed against the hull of the ship.

After 20 minutes, the sailor said he was uncomfortable and asked to be relieved. He was unable to climb up the ladder and was said to be in severe pain. He was then lowered into the water, put the life buoy around his neck and floated on his back.

Crew members launched a rescue boat, while a small craft was launched from shore. That small craft boat rescued the sailor and eventually transported him to an ambulance.

The sailor was taken to the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre, where he was briefly hospitalized with moderate hypothermia.

The air temperature had been measured at – 12C, with wind chill values of – 14C. The water temperature was – 2C, though there was no ice present in the harbour.

The investigation determined that neither the ship’s risk assessment nor its permit to work overboard included provisions for recovery or rescue in case of emergency.

The company conducted an internal investigation and has since encouraged crews to use a small craft vessel to measure seaward draft in cold weather conditions and that using a ladder to read draft marks in cold weather should be kept to a minimum.

TBNewswatch


9/19 - A Bell's 12-pack arrived at the Port of Indiana-Burns Harbor last week — a 12-pack of 25,353-pound brewery tanks that stretch 40 feet long and can hold 800 barrels of beer.

The Federal Mackinac shipped in a dozen stainless steel brewery tanks that each can hold 198,400 pints of beer and collectively weigh 304,235 pounds, according to the Indianapolis-based Ports of Indiana. The cargo headed from the deepwater port on Lake Michigan to Bell's Brewery in Kalamazoo, a Midwestern favorite best-known for its popular Two-Hearted Ale and Oberon Ale.

"When you consider our port's strategic location in the U.S., its logistical access to ocean vessels, river barges, rail and truck transportation, and our experienced cargo-handling services, our port is uniquely qualified to handle oversized cargoes," port director Ian Hirt said. "For large shipments of beer tanks, wind turbines or machinery, shippers can realize significant savings by keeping the cargo on water as long possible, rather than dealing with the hassle, permitting and costs to drive oversized loads to or from the East Coast or West Coast. Having ocean access in Indiana is a tremendous advantage for Midwest shippers."

Federal Marine Terminals used a crane to lift the massive tanks, which will be loaded onto heavy-haul semi-trucks for the journey to one of Michigan's best-known craft breweries.

The stevedore, along with workers from the International Longshoremen's Association and the International Union of Operating Engineers, unloads "heavy lift" and "project cargoes" that have become increasingly common at the port.

Over the last three years, the Port of Indiana-Burns Harbor has unloaded dozens of brewery tanks in five different shipments from Europe, the center of the brewery tank manufacturing industry.

NW Indiana Times


9/19 - Transport Canada has awarded a contract to ESSA Technologies to look at ways of assessing the cumulative impacts of marine shipping on coastal marine ecosystems.

The $95,000 initiative will involve collecting data from six pilot sites: Northern British Columbia, Southern British Columbia, the St. Lawrence River (Quebec), the Bay of Fundy (New Brunswick), the South Coast of Newfoundland, and Cambridge Bay (Nunavut).

In August, Canada's Minister of Transport Marc Garneau announced an investment of over $175 million in seven measures to help protect Arctic waters as part of the Oceans Protection Plan. These measures include:

• $94.3 million over five years to support safer and more efficient Arctic resupply operations through the Federal Investments in Safety Equipment and Basic Marine Infrastructure in Northern Communities Initiative.

• The Government of Canada will enhance partnerships with Indigenous communities and Arctic stakeholders to establish Low Impact Shipping Corridors. The shipping routes established through these initiatives will provide the infrastructure, navigational support and emergency response services needed for safer marine navigation, while respecting the environment and local ecology and cultures.

• $29.9 million to build a new Arctic National Aerial Surveillance Program Complex in Iqaluit, Nunavut, featuring a hangar and accommodations unit, to further improve spill prevention. This investment will enhance Transport Canada's National Aerial Surveillance Program Arctic operations to keep watch over the growing number of ships operating in Canada's Arctic waters.

• $21 million over five years for Transport Canada's Marine Training Contribution Fund. This investment will enhance and expand marine training and opportunities to underrepresented groups, including Indigenous people, Northerners and women in Canada's Arctic.

• $16.89 million over five years to establish Transport Canada's Office of Incident Management, which will modernize and standardize the department's incident response processes. The Office will oversee implementation of the Incident Command System, a widely recognized and used response tool. This will improve the department's response capability in emergency situations and improve seamless coordination with other response partners.

• $13.4 million over five years to expand Transport Canada's Community Participation Funding Program. This investment will facilitate meaningful partnerships with Indigenous groups and increase their participation and input into decisions affecting Canada's marine transportation system.

• The continued expansion of the Canadian Coast Guard Auxiliary in the Arctic to bolster the nation's collective ability to respond to maritime all-hazard incidents in the future. The Coast Guard Auxiliary is made up of trained volunteers who use their own vessels to respond to incidents in Canadian waters.

Earlier this year, Garneau announced a range of coastal protection measures under the Oceans Protection Plan. Among them, Aqua-Guard Spill Response from British Columbia was awarded a $1.2 million contract for new multi-cassette portable skimmer packages to recover marine pollution spills. Over $167 million has been assigned to whale research, including the survival risks faced by the endangered Southern Resident Killer Whale. The ultimate aim is to implement regulatory and other measures to reduce underwater noise from vessels. To date, the Government of Canada has announced approximately $800 million in investments under the Plan.

Maritime Executive


9/19 - Gay, Mich. – A slow-moving environmental catastrophe unfolding in Lake Superior starts beneath the shadow of an old smokestack.

That’s where the Mohawk Mining Co. left a heaping pile of waste when it shuttered its stamp mill 86 years ago in the far western Upper Peninsula. As much as 23 million metric tons of crushed rock sat along the shore — enough to fill more than 1.4 million commercial dump trucks today. Line up those trucks end to end, and the queue would stretch more than 7,000 miles, circling more than a quarter of the globe.

Whittled down by winds and waves, the pile now weighs in at 2.4 million metric tons (more than 150,000 trucks) and is shrinking. But none of the dark, coarse sands actually vanished.

Instead, they’ve seeped into the lake, bringing along metals like arsenic and copper – as well as the potential to decimate fisheries and a way of life for Native American tribes who rely on them along the Keweenaw Peninsula.

“It’s a man-made natural disaster,” said Jeff Ratcliffe, executive director of the nonprofit Keweenaw Economic Development Alliance. “People have been kind of ignoring it for a long time.”

Left over from the mining bonanza that gave the western Upper Peninsula its “Copper Country” nickname, the waste now covers five miles of coastline along the corner of Lake Superior known as Grand Traverse Bay.

Drifting southward from Gay, a tiny unincorporated community, the mining waste is damming stream outlets, covering wetlands and jeopardizing one the lake’s most productive spawning grounds for lake trout and whitefish. That’s Buffalo Reef.

The waste already covers more than 35 percent of the reef and could blanket up to 60 percent by 2025 without major intervention, according to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.

Stretching 2,200 acres beneath the bay, Buffalo Reef supports a roughly $5 million-a-year recreational and commercial fishery around the Keweenaw Peninsula in the western Upper Peninsula. Nearly a quarter of the lake trout caught in Michigan’s portion of Lake Superior, the world’s largest freshwater lake, comes from within 50 miles of the reef, according to the DNR. The reef produces 22 percent of commercial fish in southern Lake Superior.

“There’s almost as much harvest in Keweenaw Bay as there is the entire eastern half of Lake Superior,” said Dave Caroffino, a fisheries biologist in the DNR’s tribal coordination unit. “The Keweenaw Bay is a very important area.”

But life is vanishing in waste-covered sections of the reef. That’s because stamp mill sands are smothering crevices between the reef’s cobbles, where fish lay, fertilize and incubate eggs. The metals in the sand, particularly copper, are toxic to tiny organisms that grow on the reef and are at the bottom of the food chain.

The trend worries the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community and other Ojibwe tribes. The tribes fished Superior — called gitchi-gami— long before miners swooped in to strip away earth’s metal.

“Every single tribal member is affected by what goes on on this reef,” said Evelyn Ravindran, natural resources director of the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, a 3,600-member tribe whose L'Anse reservation includes 19 miles of Lake Superior shoreline.

Read more and view photos at this link: www.bridgemi.com/michigan-environment-watch/slow-moving-disaster-threatening-lake-superior-and-way-life


At Rush Street in Chicago, Illinois, a hand-operated ferry carried pedestrians across the Chicago River. The ferry operator would pull on a rope, hand over hand, to move the ferry across the river. At a signal from schooners, the rope was dropped and the schooner would sail over it. On 19 September 1856, the rope was dropped but the impatient passengers picked it up to move the ferry themselves. The incoming schooner snagged the rope and the ferry was spun around and capsized. 15 people were drowned.
When Cleveland Tankers’ new SATURN entered service and made her first trip to Toledo, Ohio, on September 19, 1974, she became the first of three tankers built for the fleet's modernization program. EDGAR B. SPEER departed the shipyard on her maiden voyage for U.S. Steel on September 19, 1980, bound for Two Harbors, Minnesota, where she loaded her first cargo of taconite pellets.

The twin-screw rail car ferry GRAND HAVEN of 1903, was laid up in the spring of 1965, at the old Pennsylvania Dock at Cleveland, Ohio and later at dockage on the Old River Bed where she sank on September 19, 1969.

September 19, 1997 - officials at Lake Michigan Carferry, Inc. announced that the CITY OF MIDLAND 41 would be converted to a barge.

On 19 September 1893, SAMUEL BOLTON (wooden schooner-barge, 150 foot, 330 gross tons, built in 1867, at Bangor, Michigan as a schooner) was loaded with lumber and being towed in fog in Lake Huron. She got lost from the tow and drifted ashore near Richmond, Michigan where she broke in two and was then torn apart by waves. She was owned by Brazil Hoose of Detroit.

On Saturday, 19 September 1891, at 11 a.m., the whaleback steamer CHARLES W. WETMORE left Philadelphia, Pennsylvania loaded with the materials to build a nail mill, iron smelter and shipyard for the new city of Everett, Washington. Her skipper was Captain Joseph B. Hastings and she had a crew of 22.

On 19 September 1900, the Great Lakes schooner S.L. WATSON foundered off Cape Cod, Massachusetts. She had been sent to the Atlantic the previous autumn by her owner, J. C. Gilchrist of Cleveland.