Today in Great Lakes History

[yachtsmanwilly]

9/20 - Put-in-Bay, Ohio - Miller Ferries, which offers service to Put-in-Bay and Middle Bass Island on Lake Erie. has contracted with Fraser Shipyards of Superior, Wis., to build a new drive-on, drive-off passenger/vehicle ferry for delivery in fall 2019. The new ferry will be delivered from Lake Superior to Lake Erie and her new home port of Put-in-Bay, Ohio. The vessel will be christened Mary Ann Market in honor of the family matriarch and the company’s late owner (1935-2010).

The new 140 foot long, 38.5 foot wide ferry will accommodate 26 standard sized vehicles or 600 passengers and will join Miller’s present fleet of four passenger/vehicle ferries.

The Mary Ann Market will feature enhanced propulsion and maneuverability, a main deck ADA accessible passenger cabin and restroom, and a 20% increase in cargo capacity over Miller’s largest vessel.

The vessel will be built in modules and assembled at Fraser Shipyards beginning fall 2018 and throughout 2019.

The Miller Boat Livery was founded in 1905 in the island harbor of Put-in-Bay as a water taxi, fishing charter and ice harvesting company. The company evolved under owners Lee and Mary Miller during the late 1940’s, ’50’s and ’60s into a ferry boat line with a fleet of four passenger/vehicle ferries. William E. Market (Bill) and his wife Mary Ann, of Put-in-Bay, purchased the Miller Boat Line in 1978 from Mary Miller. The Markets chose to keep the name “Miller” in honor of the founding family. Bill Market oversaw the construction of four new ferries; the M/V Islander (built 1983), M/V South Bass (built 1989), M/V William Market (built 1993), and M/V Put-in-Bay (built 1997, lengthened 2010). These newer, larger vessels were designed to accommodate more passengers, carry longer and taller construction-type vehicles, as well as increased speed to maintain a more frequent trip schedule. During the 1980s and ’90s the older vessels were sold to other Great Lakes ferry companies.

Today, Miller Boat Line is owned and operated by Bill and Mary Ann’s children, Julene Market, Billy Market and Scott Market. Billy and Scott Market’s children work within the company.

Put-in-Bay Daily


9/20 - Duluth, Minn. – Due to inclement weather, the William A. Irvin’s move to Fraser Shipyards in Superior has been delayed.

The Irvin will need to exit Minnesota Slip to allow for crews to begin working on a project designed to stabilize and contain contaminated sediments there. Plans to move the 611-foot laker require calm winds and lake conditions, since the ship has no propulsion mechanism. However, the city has determined that weather conditions do not look favorable and the contractor is looking at rescheduling the move for the week of Sept. 24. After the Irvin leaves the slip, it will be moved to Fraser, where its hull will be painted.

Due to the reschedule, the Minnesota Slip Bridge in Canal Park will operate during normal hours for the remainder of the week. The slip bridge will be pinned up a day prior to the move.


John Jonathon Boland was born on 20 September 1875, in New York. Along with Adam E. Cornelius, he formed the partnership of Boland and Cornelius in 1903, and was one of the founders of the American Steamship Company in 1907. He died in 1956.
On September 20, 1986, vandals started a $5,000 fire aboard the laid up NIPIGON BAY at Kingston, Ontario, where she had been since April 1984.

GEORGE A. STINSON's self-unloading boom was replaced on September 20, 1983. The boom had collapsed onto her deck due to a mechanical failure on the night of April 19, 1983, at Detroit, Michigan. No injuries were reported. She continued hauling cargoes without a boom until replacement could be fabricated. She was renamed b.) AMERICAN SPIRIT in 2004.

On September 20, 1980, EDGAR B. SPEER entered service for the U.S. Steel Fleet.

CHARLES E. WILSON sailed light on her maiden voyage from Sturgeon Bay September 20, 1973, bound for Escanaba, Michigan, to load ore. She was renamed b.) JOHN J. BOLAND in 2000.

CHARLES M. WHITE was christened at Baltimore, Maryland, on September 20, 1951.

On 20 September 1873, W. L. PECK (2 mast wooden schooner-barge, 154 foot, 361 gross tons) was launched at Carrollton, Michigan.

On 20 September 1856, COLONEL CAMP (3-mast wooden bark, 137 foot, 350 tons, built in 1854, at Three Mile Bay, New York) was carrying wheat to Oswego, New York, when she collided with the wooden steamer PLYMOUTH and sank in just a few minutes. No lives were lost.

1970: MARATHA ENDEAVOUR, enroute from Chicago to Rotterdam, broke down in the Atlantic and sent out a distress call. The ship was taking water but survived. The 520-foot long vessel had been a Seaway trader since 1965 and returned as b) OLYMPIAN in 1971. The ship arrived at Huangpu, China, for scrapping as c) HIMALAYA on January 9, 1985.

1980: The Canadian coastal freighter EDGAR JOURDAIN was built at Collingwood in 1956 as MONTCLAIR. The ship had been a pre-Seaway trader to the lakes and returned as b) PIERRE RADISSON in 1965, c) GEORGE CROSBIE in 1972 and d) EDGAR JOURDAIN beginning in 1979. It was wrecked at Foxe Basin, off Hall Beach in the Canadian Arctic, after going aground. The ship was abandoned, with the anchors down, but disappeared overnight on December 15, 1982, while locked in shifting pack ice. It is believed that the vessel was carried into deeper water and, at last report, no trace had ever been found.

1982: BEAVERFIR served Canadian Pacific Steamships as a Seaway trader beginning in 1961. The ship stranded off Barra de Santiago, El Salvador, as d) ANDEN in a storm on this date in 1982 after dragging anchor. Sixteen sailors from the 26-member crew perished.

2011: MINER, a) MAPLECLIFFE HALL, b) LEMOYNE (ii), c) CANADIAN MINER broke loose of the tug HELLAS and drifted aground off Scaterie Island, Nova Scotia, while under tow for scrapping at Aliaga, Turkey. The ship was a total loss and, in 2013, was still waiting to be dismantled and removed.

[yachtsmanwilly]

On 21 September 1892, the whaleback steamer JAMES B. COLGATE (steel propeller whaleback freighter, 308 foot, 1,713 gross tons) was launched by the American Steel Barge Co. (Hull #121) at W. Superior, Wisconsin. She only lasted until 1916, when she foundered in the "Black Friday Storm" on Lake Erie with the loss of 26 lives.
ALGOWAY left Collingwood on her maiden voyage in 1972, and loaded salt for Michipicoten, Ontario, on Lake Superior.

On 21 September 1844, JOHN JACOB ASTOR (wooden brig, 78 foot, 112 tons, Built in 1835, at Pointe aux Pins, Ontario but precut at Lorain, Ohio) was carrying furs and trade goods when she struck a reef and foundered near Copper Harbor, Michigan. She was owned by Astor’s American Fur Company. She was reportedly by the first commercial vessel on Lake Superior.

On 21 September 1855, ASIA (2-mast wooden schooner, 108 foot, 204 tons, built in 1848, at Black River, Ohio) was carrying corn from Chicago for Buffalo when she collided with the propeller FOREST CITY off the mouth of Grand Traverse Bay. ASIA went down in deep water in about 10 minutes, but her crew just had enough time to escape in her boat. The schooner HAMLET picked them up.

1907: The passenger ship PICTON, a) CORSICAN caught fire and burned at the dock in Toronto. The hull was later converted to a barge and was, in time, apparently abandoned near the Picton Pumping Station.

1907: ALEX NIMICK, a wooden bulk freighter, went aground near west of Vermilion Point, Lake Superior, and broke up as a total loss. The vessel was enroute from Buffalo to Duluth with a cargo of coal and six lives were lost

1921: The 3-masted schooner OLIVER MOWAT sinks in Lake Ontario between the Main Duck and False Duck Islands after a collision with KEYWEST on a clear night. Three lives were lost while another 2 sailors were rescued from the coal-laden schooner.

1924: The whaleback self-unloader CLIFTON, the former SAMUEL MATHER, foundered in Lake Huron off Thunder Bay while carrying a cargo of stone from Sturgeon Bay to Detroit. All 25 on board were lost.

1946: A second typhoon caught the former Hall vessel LUCIUS W. ROBINSON as b) HAI LIN while anchored in the harbor at Saipan, Philippines, on a voyage to China.

1969: AFRICAN GLADE, a Seaway caller in 1963, lost power in the Caribbean as c) TRANSOCEAN PEACE and was towed into Port au Spain, Trinidad. The repaired ship departed for Durban, South Africa, in April 1970 only to suffer more boiler problems enroute. The vessel was sold for scrapping at Kaohsiung, Taiwan, later in the year.

1977: HELEN EVANS suffered steering problems and went aground on Whaleback Shoal while upbound with iron ore in the St. Lawrence. There was minor damage and the vessel was released September 23.

1982: CALGADOC left the Great Lakes in 1975 and saw service in the south as b) EL SALINERO. The ship sank on this date in 1982 on the Pacific off the coast of Mexico.

1985: ELTON HOYT 2ND struck the 95th Street Bridge at Chicago and headed to Sturgeon Bay for repairs. 1988: The small tug MARY KAY sank in a Lake Ontario storm enroute from Rochester to Oswego. The former b) CAPT. G.H. SWIFT had recently been refitted and went down after a huge wave broke over the stern. It had seen only brief service on Lake Ontario after arriving from the Atlantic in 1987.

1993: The tug DUKE LUEDTKE sank in Lake Erie about 12 miles north of Avon Point when the ship began taking water faster than the pumps could keep up. One coastguardsman was lost checking on the source of the leak when the vessel rolled over and sank.

[yachtsmanwilly]

On September 22, 1958, the EDMUND FITZGERALD entered service, departing River Rouge, Michigan for Silver Bay, Minnesota on its first trip. The FITZGERALD's first load was 20,038 tons of taconite pellets for Toledo. The vessel would, in later years, set several iron ore records during the period from 1965 through 1969.
While in ballast, the ROGER M. KYES struck bottom in Buffalo Harbor September 22, 1976, sustaining holes in two double bottom tanks and damage to three others, whereupon she proceeded to Chicago for dry docking on September 27, 1976, for survey and repairs. Renamed b.) ADAM E. CORNELIUS in 1989.

While being towed from Duluth, Minnesota by the Canadian tug TUSKER on September 22, 1980, the D. G. KERR rammed into the breakwater at Duluth causing $200,000 in damages to the breakwater. The tow apparently failed to make the turning buoy leaving Duluth Harbor.

On September 22, 1911 the HENRY PHIPPS collided with and sank her Steel Trust fleet mate, the steamer JOLIET of 1890, which was at anchor on the fog-shrouded St. Clair River near Sarnia, Ontario. The JOLIET sank without loss of crew and was declared a total loss. The PHIPPS then continued her downbound journey and collided with the Wyandotte Chemical steamer ALPENA, of 1909, but incurred only minor damage.

The T.W. ROBINSON and US.265808 (former BENSON FORD) departed Quebec City in tow of the Polish tug JANTAR bound for Recife where they arrived on September 22, 1987. Scrapping began the next month in October.

MATHILDA DESGAGNES was freed from polar ice in the Arctic on September 22, 1988, by the West German Icebreaker Research Vessel POLARSTERN.

September 22, 1913 - The ANN ARBOR No. 5 struck bottom in the Sturgeon Bay Canal and damaged her rudder and steering gear. After undergoing repairs at Milwaukee, she was back in service the following October.

On 22 September 1887, ADA E. ALLEN (wooden propeller steam barge, 90 foot, 170 gross tons, built in 1872, at Walpole Island, Ontario.) caught fire while moored at Amherstburg, Ontario. She was cut loose and set adrift to prevent the fire from spreading ashore. She drifted to Bois Blanc (Bob-Lo) Island and burned to a total loss.

On 22 September 1882, Mr. H. N. Jex accepted the contract to recover the engine and boiler from the MAYFLOWER, which sank in the Detroit River in 1864. He was to be paid $600 upon delivery of the machinery at Windsor, Ontario. He succeeded in raising the engine on 12 October and the boiler shortly thereafter.

1917: The wooden steamer WILLIAM P. REND, a) GEORGE G. HADLEY, foundered off Alpena while carrying livestock. All 9 crewmembers were rescued.

1951: The Liberty ship THUNDERBIRD visited the Seaway in 1959. Earlier, on this date in 1951, the ship received major bow damage from a head-on collision with the Chinese freighter UNION BUILDER (built in 1945 at Brunswick, GA as a) COASTAL RANGER) at the entrance to Colombo, Ceylon. THUNDERBIRD was also a Great Lakes trader as d) NEW KAILING in 1964 and scrapped at Kaohsiung, Taiwan, in 1967.

1979: OCEANIC KLIF first visited the Seaway in 1971. The ship stranded near Las Palmas, Canary Islands, while on a voyage from Kamsar, Guinea, West Africa, to Port Alfred, QC with calcinated bauxite and was abandoned by the crew.

September 23, 1922, the 306-foot NEPTUNE loaded the first Head-of-the-Lakes cargo of pig iron at Zenith Furnace, Duluth, Minnesota. The 5,000 tons of malleable pig iron was delivered to Buffalo, New York.
September 23, 1975, HERBERT C. JACKSON lost power while upbound on Lake Superior. She was towed back to the Soo by the USS straight decker D.G. KERR.

September 23, 1952, the steamer CHARLES L. HUTCHINSON became the first boat christened at Cleveland since the early years of World War II. The 644-foot HUTCHINSON, Captain T. A. Johnson, was the new flagship of the Pioneer fleet and one of 35 boats in the three fleets operated by Hutchinson & Co. Renamed b.) ERNEST R. BREECH in 1962, c.) KINSMAN INDEPENDENT in 1988. Sold Canadian in 2005, and renamed d.) VOYAGEUR INDEPENDENT. She sails today as the motorship e.) OJIBWAY.

On 23 September 1910, the BETHLEHEM (steel propeller package freighter, 290 foot, 2,633 gross tons, built in 1888, at Cleveland, Ohio) was carrying general merchandise when she went ashore in a gale on the SW side of S. Manitou Island in Lake Michigan. Lifesavers and the crew unloaded her over several days. Although battered by several storms while ashore, she was eventually pulled free and repaired. She lasted until 1925, when she was scrapped.

The scow WAUBONSIE was launched at the Curtis yard in Fort Gratiot, Michigan on 23 September 1873. 1935: HURRY-ON was a Great Lakes visitor in 1934 when it loaded bagged flour at Port Colborne. The ship was lost off Port Hood Island, near Judique, NS, after developing leaks and a list. The lifeboat swamped twice and five were lost.

1961: CRYSTAL JEWEL, inbound for London in thick fog, was in a collision with the B.P. Tanker BRITISH AVIATOR. The captain was seriously injured and his daughter was killed. The vessel first visited the Great Lakes in 1960 and was enroute from Duluth to London with a cargo of grain at the time of the accident. The vessel grounded and, after being released, was taken to Rotterdam where the entire mid-ship superstructure was replaced. The ship made many more trips through the Seaway and returned as b) MELTEMI in 1970. It was scrapped at Busan, South Korea, after arriving as d) TETA on July 17, 1979.

1980: FERNLEAF first visited the Seaway in 1965 and returned as b) AALSUM in 1974. The ship was detained at Basrah, Iraq, in 1981 as c) INICIATIVA on this date in 1980 and declared a total loss in December 1981. It was salvaged in 1993 and renamed d) DOLPHIN V but perhaps only for a trip to the shipbreakers. The vessel arrived at Gadani Beach December 27, 2003, and dismantling began at once.

2000: Vandals attacked the museum ship NORGOMA at Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., breaking windows, light fixtures and setting off fire extinguishers, leaving an estimated $15,000 in damage.

On September 23, 1991, J.W. MC GIFFIN rescued several people in a 24-foot pleasure craft off Presque Ile State Park. The group had been disabled since the day before. They were taken aboard the McGIFFIN and their boat taken under tow. The MC GIFFIN was rebuilt with a new forward section and renamed b.) CSL NIAGARA in 1999.

The EDMUND FITZGERALD's first cargo of taconite pellets was loaded September 24, 1958 at Silver Bay, Minnesota for Toledo, Ohio.
The PERE MARQUETTE 22 entered service September 24, 1924.

In early morning fog on the St. Clair River on September 24, 1962, the J.L. REISS was hit three glancing blows by U.S. Steel's SEWELL AVERY. The AVERY had lost control just below Robert's Landing and crossed the channel from the Canadian side and struck the REISS, which was proceeding slowly by radar on the U.S. side.

On September 24, 1952, the CHARLES L. HUTCHINSON entered service. This vessel was renamed b.) ERNEST R. BREECH when it was sold to the Ford Motor Company in 1962, and it was renamed c.) KINSMAN INDEPENDENT, when it was sold to Kinsman Lines in 1988. Sold Canadian in 2005, and renamed d.) VOYAGEUR INDEPENDENT. She sails today as the motorship e.) OJIBWAY.

September 24, 1924 - The PERE MARQUETTE 22 arrived at Ludington, Michigan on her maiden voyage.

On 24 September 1902, H.A. BARR (3 mast wooden schooner, 217 foot, 1,119 gross tons, built in 1893, at W. Bay City, Michigan) was in tow of the saltie THEANO with a load of iron ore in a storm 30 miles off Port Stanley in Lake Erie. She broke her towline in giant waves and foundered. THEANO rescued her crew.

On 24 September 1879, the tug URANIA was towing the schooner S V R WATSON into Sand Beach at about noon when the schooner struck the tug amidships, cutting a hole in the hull and sinking her in three fathoms of water. No lives were lost.

1901: M.M. DRAKE was towing the schooner barge MICHIGAN across Lake Superior when the latter began to sink. The steamer came alongside to take off the crew when a towering wave bashed the two vessels together resulting in heavy damage. Both vessels went down, but all except one sailor were rescued by the passing ships NORTHERN WAVE and CRESCENT CITY.

1915: WESTERN STAR ran aground on Robertson Rock, Georgian Bay, while enroute to Little Current with a cargo of coal. The ship was badly damaged and early attempts to refloat the freighter failed. It was not released until September 18, 1917, and was rebuilt at Detroit. The ship returned to service as b) GLENISLA in 1918 and was scrapped at Hamilton as c) PRESCOTT in 1962-1963.

1937: NEEBING foundered with the loss of 5 lives in western Lake Superior while towing the barge COTEAU in a heavy storm. The crane-equipped ship was approaching the Nipigon Strait, with a load of gravel for Red Rock, ON at the time. Nine sailors were rescued.

1947: MILVERTON, downbound with a cargo of coal, and TRANSLAKE, upbound with crude oil, collided near Iroquois, ON. The latter got caught in the current and veered to port resulting in the collision. The former, one of the few oil-burning canal ships, had the fuel lines rupture, caught fire, drifted downstream and grounded at the head of Rapide Plat. The ship burned for two days and 11 sailors were killed. Despite the heavy damage, MILVERTON was refloated, repaired and later sailed as c) CLARY FORAN and d) FERNDALE (i) before being scrapped at Hamilton in 1963.

1952: BAYTON was loading at Pool 4A Elevator at the Canadian Lakehead when there was an explosion at the elevator and chunks of concrete rained down on the deck of the Colonial Steamship Co. (Misener) steamer. One person was killed and nine more were injured.

2008: DRAGOMIRESTI was a Romanian freighter that first visited the Seaway in 1992 to load a food aid cargo in Thunder Bay for Sudan & Yemen. The ship was driven aground as j) CHUN JIANG, about 22 miles from Macao in Typhoon Hagupit. The crew were removed by helicopter.


Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. – Coast Guard marine inspectors inspected the vessel Defiance and barge Ashtabula and did not find any damage or sources of pollution related to its grounding that occurred on Friday afternoon. The integrated tug and barge has been cleared to proceed on its voyage.

The Coast Guard conducted overflights with a pollution responder on Friday evening and Saturday morning and did not identify any signs of pollution. The Coast Guard rescinded the safety zone in Round Island Passage and the waterway is open for all traffic.

The vessel Defiance and barge Ashtabula departed Cedarville, Michigan and was transiting to its next port of call in Buffington, Indiana when it ran aground Friday afternoon. The cause of the grounding is under investigation. USCG


9/23 - Duluth, Minn. – As crews worked into the night to ensure the William A. Irvin could safely move out of the Minnesota Slip Friday, hundreds of onlookers in Canal Park stood waiting to see the 611-foot ship make its first voyage in about 30 years.

Although the floating museum was scheduled to depart at 8 p.m., the move was delayed several hours as surveyors worked to ensure two barges crucial to the Irvin move were properly positioned outside the Minnesota Slip. Finally, at about 9:50 p.m., the ship started to slowly move toward the harbor.

"No complications. We're just running a little bit behind with the weather and getting the equipment and barges moved into place," said Chad Scott of AMI Consulting Engineers, the company overseeing the move, during a 9 p.m. news conference.

The ship could only be moved in 5- to 6-mph winds. The Irvin made it safely to Fraser Shipyards just before 4 a.m. Saturday.

Passing through the Minnesota Slip Bridge, the Irvin had just 7 inches of clearance on either side. Two winches — a pulling winch and a braking winch — controlled the ship's forward movement, about 1 foot every 4 seconds. Meanwhile, the new seawall on the DECC side was used as a straight edge to guide the ship. Excavators with lines tied to the Irvin kept the ship up against the seawall.

After passing through the slip bridge, the Irvin headed toward Fraser Shipyards in Superior, about a three-mile trip, for drydocking and fresh paint. While it's gone, contaminated sediments in the slip will be capped in place and stabilized as part of a $10 million project to revitalize the slip. Most of the funding is being provided by the state of Minnesota and the Environmental Protection Agency. The Irvin is slated to return to Duluth in spring 2019.

Read more and view a video at this link: www.duluthnewstribune.com/news/4503084-irvins-inch-inch-voyage-ship-moves-across-harbor-first-time-30-years


9/23 - St. Clair, Mich. – Venture back in time via sound waves, the swells of super-loud sound. Ear-splitting, stomach-quivering, time-traveling sound. It's time for the 10th annual Whistles on the Water, one of the most unique attempts on the Great Lakes to vault visitors back to the era when steamships plied the waters and used their mighty whistles to alert other ships — and anybody within earshot — of their impending presence.

"Before Great Lake freighters used radios, steamship captains used their whistles to communicate," said Dan Lockwood, one of the organizers of the event, in a statement. "Captains would tune their steam whistles to create a unique pitch that would identify their ships."

In the black of night, on storm-tossed waters and in fog banks, the whistles of steamships signaling to each other were critical in avoiding collisions. Besides the huge variety of steam whistles at the event, the fact that the whistles are blown with live steam makes the event one not to miss.

Al Johnson, who owns Johnson Hydraulics Inc. in St Clair, built and maintains perhaps the largest portable steam boiler in the world, designed specifically to blow ship whistles. The boiler stands 13 feet high and features a movable manifold with 20 ports for mounting and blowing 20 whistles in succession amid blasts of sound and clouds of steam.

Whistles on the Water is scheduled to run from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sept. 29 at Palmer Park on the St. Clair River in downtown St. Clair. The event is free, and earplugs are included.

Each year, Dave Michelson, an aficionado of Great Lakes shipping and a resident of New Baltimore on the north shore of Lake St. Clair, known locally as the sixth Great Lake, narrates the event over loud speakers. "Please do not bring your pets," said Michelson. "The loud sound is harmful to them."

Attendees are also advised against bringing small children to the event.

Michelson lines up unusual whistles to headline each event. The star whistles this year are from two passenger steamers, the Christopher Columbus and the City of Erie.

Read more at this link: www.voicenews.com/life/whistles-on-the-water-to-raise-ghosts-of-bygone-steamships/article_aab738ee-bddd-11e8-b14c-1bae35d7c815.html


9/23 - A crewmember of Jacqueline C, a general cargo ship owned by Carisbrooke Shipping, was arrested by Canadian authorities during a drug bust in Valleyfield, Canada.

“The vessel underwent a customs search resulting in a number of bags being removed and the crew member being detained,” the company said in a statement on Tuesday, September 18.

“Canadian authorities have identified the contents of the bags as cocaine, and we can confirm that the crew member, a Philippine national, has been arrested with further charges pending investigation. Carisbrooke Shipping has a zero-tolerance to drugs and is cooperating fully with the Canadian authorities.”

The vessel was not arrested and was cleared to resume its voyage with the remaining crewmembers on board. Jacqueline C, a UK-flagged 12,914-dwt general cargo vessel, built 2009, was sailing from Linden, Guyana to Canada, when the inspection occurred.

World Maritime News


9/22 - Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. – At 4:31 a.m. Saturday, after Friday's high winds and waves abated, the current freed the tug Defiance and barge Ashtabula from the clay bottom in Round Island Passage in the Straits of Mackinac where they had run aground Friday afternoon. AIS shows them at anchor between Mackinac Island and St. Ignace, likely for inspection. The Coast Guard has rescinded the safety zone in Round Island Passage and the waterway is open for all traffic. Traffic on the St. Marys River is back to normal with all vessels again on the move.

Original report: The tug Defiance and barge Ashtabula, a 720-foot integrated unit, ran aground in Round Island Passage between Mackinac Island and Round Island in the Straits of Mackinac Friday afternoon.

The incident was reported to watchstanders in the Coast Guard Sector Sault Ste. Marie command center at 2:52 p.m. At the time, winds were gusting near 60 mph in the area and waves were estimated at 9-10 feet.

As of late Friday, the pair was still there, as wind and waves had not gone down enough to attempt to free them.

Winds were reported gusting to 64 mph at Stannard Rock (50 miles north of Marquette in Lake Superior) around 3:30 p.m. Friday. At the Soo Locks, waves were washing over the lock gates, prompting the closure of the locks about 4 p.m., delaying vessel traffic. They reopened about 8 p.m., and traffic began moving shortly thereafter.

Meanwhile, the Coast Guard has established a safety zone prohibiting the transit of vessels over 100 gross tons through Round Island Passage and prohibiting all vessels from navigating within 200 yards of the Ashtabula/Defiance. The vessel departed Cedarville, Mich., and was transiting to its next port of call in Buffington, Ind., when it ran aground. The cause of the grounding is under investigation. High winds were present in the area at the time.

The Defiance has 97,918 gallons of diesel fuel onboard. The vessel is taking precautionary measures to assess any damage and has not reported any injuries, pollution, or flooding.


9/22 - Duluth, Minn. – The long-awaited move of the William A. Irvin was expected to begin Friday evening. The move of the tourist ship, moored for decades in the Minnesota Slip, was expected to begin around 9 p.m., an updated time from the initial 8 p.m. move. An official with the City of Duluth says that is because crews are still in the preparation stage.

AMI Consulting Engineers are overseeing the project while Wren Works LLC are making the move. The process is expected to take four hours if there are no weather delays or complications.

Co-owner of AMI Engineers Chad Scott said, “we need the wind to drop to close to 5 or 6 miles an hour to make it safe to move the vessel out. So, as long as weather permits and weather cooperates, we’ll be able to move out of the slip here tonight.”

The Irvin will be guided by barges and towed methodically and very slowly to Fraser Shipyards in Superior, where the Irvin will undergo rehabilitation work while the slip is cleaned. The original motivation for the move was to clear the slip for a project by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.

“The vessel had to be moved out already so that they could cap the slip of all its contaminants," Scott explained. "When the vessel’s out, you might as well actually take the time and do the repairs and maintenance to the vessel.”

City officials say the Irvin is planned to return back to the slip next spring.

The Minnesota Slip Bridge between the DECC and Canal Park will be pinned in the up position until Monday. During the move, there will be no marine traffic allowed with the exception of the U.S. Coast Guard vessels and the barges. The Aerial Lift Bridge will not lift for water vessels during this move Friday night.

Duluth News Tribune

[yachtsmanwilly]

In tandem tow, MENIHEK LAKE and LEON FALK JR. arrived at Vigo, Spain, on September 25, 1985. The MENIHEK LAKE was scrapped at Vigo, and the FALK was towed to Gijn, Spain, for scrapping.

HENRY C. FRICK departed Bay City on her maiden voyage on September 25, 1905 and rammed and damaged the Michigan Central Railroad Bridge at Bay City.

On 25 September 1869, COMMENCEMENT (2-mast wooden schooner, 75 foot, 73 tons, built in 1853, at Holland, Michigan) was carrying wood in her hold and telegraph poles on deck from Pentwater, Michigan, for Milwaukee when she sprang a leak 20 miles off Little Sable Point on Lake Michigan. The incoming water quickly overtook her pump capacity. As the crew was getting aboard the lifeboat, she turned turtle. The crew clung to the upturned hull for 30 hours until the passing steamer ALLEGHENY finally rescued them. COMMENCEMENT later washed ashore, a total wreck. 1922: AUBE, on her first trip back under this name, went aground off Carleton Island, while carrying 65,000 bushels of grain. Tugs released the stranded vessel the following day.

1978: FRANQUELIN (ii) went aground in the Seaway below Beauharnois. Once refloated, the ship went to Canadian Vickers in Montreal for repairs and was caught there in a labor dispute.

1980: DERWENTFIELD, a British-flag freighter, first came through the Seaway in 1975. The ship grounded on this date as c) CAVO ARTEMIDI off Brazil, while enroute from Vitoria, Brazil, to Rotterdam, Holland, with a cargo of pig iron and broke in two as a total loss.

[yachtsmanwilly]

9/26 - Petoskey, Mich. – Researchers have released their final report on the potential cost of a worst-case scenario oil spill from Enbridge's Line 5 in the Straits of Mackinac. The report comes as environmental groups wait for Governor Rick Snyder to announce a decision on what to do with Line 5 moving forward.

The Independent Risk Analysis for the Straits Pipelines says Enbridge could be liable for almost $2 billion in the event of a worst-case scenario oil spill from the pipeline. A worst-case oil spill would mean up to 2.4 million gallons leaking into the Straits, affecting hundreds of miles of shoreline and dozens of species.

Researchers said the combined the costs of cleanup, recreational damages, loss of tourism and other damages could add up to almost $2 billion.

To environmental groups, that's not worth the risk.

“Why are we risking all of this?" asks Liz Kirkwood, the executive director of the group For Love of Water, or FLOW. "Why are we risking our very sense of being, our existence here in Michigan for a Canadian oil pipeline?"

In part of a response to the study, an Enbridge spokesperson said “The scenarios presented in this report are purely hypothetical and the probability of the events actually occurring is extraordinarily unlikely because Enbridge operates our pipelines with multiple layers of safety in mind.”

Snyder is expected to make an announcement soon on the future of Line 5. One alternative that Enbridge has put forward is to build a tunnel under the Straits to house the pipelines.

Enbridge said, “Additional assessments have shown that constructing a tunnel to house Line 5 is feasible and makes the chances of a leak into the Great lakes virtually zero. The tunnel option would also protect the pipeline from damage from an anchor." FLOW says building a tunnel would be too little, too late.

“Responses that discuss a tunnel really fail to address this issue of we have an imminent threat, right now," Kirkwood said.

Snyder's office said Monday that the Governor is waiting for a responsible agreement to be made between the state and the companies that have infrastructure in the Straits. Enbridge has said building a tunnel could take six years to complete.

WPBN/WGTU


September 26, 1930, the schooner OUR SON, launched in 1875, sank during a storm on Lake Michigan about 40 miles WSW of Big Sable Point. Seventy-three year old Captain Fred Nelson the crew of OUR SON were rescued by the self-unloader WILLIAM NELSON.
September 26, 1937, the Canadian Seaman's Union signed a tentative wage contract. Sailors would continue a two watch system (working 12 hours every 24 hours) and be paid the following monthly wages: Wheelsmen and Oilers - $72.50, Watchmen and firemen - $67.50, Second Cooks - $52.50, deckhands and coal passers - $50.00, porters - $45.00, Chief Cooks on the Upper Lakes - $115.00, and Chief Cooks on Canal boats $105.00.

September 26, 1957, Taconite Harbor, Minnesota loaded its first cargo of 10,909 tons of taconite pellets into the holds of the Interlake steamer J. A. CAMPBELL.

On 26 September 1892, JOHN BURT (3-mast wooden schooner, 138 foot, 348 gross tons, built in 1871, at Detroit, Michigan) was carrying grain in a strong northwest gale. Her rudder broke and she was blown past the mouth of Oswego harbor and was driven hard aground. Two died when the vessel struck. The U.S. Lifesaving Service rescued the remaining five crewmembers. The vessel quickly broke up in the waves.

CHI-CHEEMAUN cleared the shipyard on September 26, 1974.

H. M. GRIFFITH was christened on September 26, 1973 at Collingwood for Canada Steamship Lines.

C.C.G.S. GRIFFON (Hull#664) was launched September 26, 1969 by Davie Shipbuilding Ltd., Lauzon, Quebec for the Canadian Coast Guard.

ROGER M. KYES returned to service on September 26, 1984; she had grounded off McLouth Steel and ended crosswise in the Detroit River's Trenton Channel a month before. She was renamed b.) ADAM E. CORNELIUS in 1989.

The BELLE RIVER was sideswiped by the Liberian FEDERAL RHINE, of 1977, at Duluth on September 26, 1985. Both vessels received minor damage.

On 26 September 1914, MARY N. BOURKE (wooden schooner-barge, 219 foot, 920 gross tons, built in 1889, at Baraga, Michigan) was docked at Peter's Lumber Dock in St. Mary's Bay, 15 miles north of St. Ignace, Michigan. The crew was awakened at 9:30-10:00 p.m. by smoke coming from her hold and they escaped. The BOURKE burned to the waterline and the fire spread ashore, destroying the dock and a pile of lumber.

At 3 a.m., 26 September 1876, the steam barge LADY FRANKLIN burned while moored near Clark's dock, about three miles from Amherstburg, Ontario in the Detroit River. One life was lost. This vessel had been built in 1861, as a passenger steamer and ran between Cleveland, Ohio and Port Stanley, Ontario. In 1874, she was converted into a lumber freighter, running primarily between Saginaw, Michigan and Cleveland. The burned hull was rebuilt in 1882.

1979: MAHONI, an Indonesian-registered freighter, went aground on the west coast of Taiwan and was abandoned by the crew. The ship was refloated in June 1980 and sold to Taiwanese shipbreakers for scrapping at Kaohsiung. It had been a Seaway saltie as b) CLARI beginning in 1968 and returned as c) ARNIS in 1970.

[yachtsmanwilly]

September 27, 1959: The West Neebish Channel, through which downbound traffic normally passes, was temporarily closed to permit dredging to the maximum Seaway depth of 27 feet. Two-way traffic was instituted in the Middle Neebish Channel until dredging was completed.
On 27 September 1877, the HIPPOGRIFFE (wooden schooner, 295 tons, built in 1864, at Buffalo, New York) had just left Chicago for Buffalo, loaded with oats, on a fine day with clear weather. The crew saw EMMA A. COYNE (wooden schooner, 155 foot, 497 tons, built in 1867, at Detroit, Michigan) approaching from a long way off loaded with lumber. The two vessels' skippers were brothers. The two schooners collided about 20 miles off Kenosha, Wisconsin. The COYNE came along side and picked up the HIPPOGRIFFE's crew a few minutes before that vessel rolled over and dove for the bottom.

The CITY OF GENOA arrived with the first cargo of iron ore for the new factory at Zug Island, reported The Detroit Free Press on September 28, 1903.

The H. M. GRIFFITH experienced a smoky conveyor belt fire at Port Colborne, Ontario on September 27, 1989. Repairs were completed there.

ROGER M. KYES proceeded to Chicago for dry-docking, survey and repairs on September 27, 1976. She struck bottom in Buffalo Harbor September 22, 1976 sustaining holes in two double bottom tanks and damage to three others.

GEORGE M. HUMPHREY under tow, locked through the Panama Canal from September 27, 1986, to the 30th on her way to the cutter’s torch at Kaohsiung, Taiwan.

The tanker IMPERIAL COLLINGWOOD (Hull#137) was launched September 27, 1947, at Collingwood, Ontario by Collingwood Shipyards Ltd. for Imperial Oil Ltd., Toronto, Ontario. Renamed b.) SEAWAY TRADER in 1979, sold off the Lakes in 1984, renamed c.) PATRICIA II, d.) BALBOA TRADER in 1992.

September 27, 1909 - The ANN ARBOR NO 4 entered service after being repaired from her capsizing at Manistique, Michigan the previous May.

On 27 September 1884, WALDO A. AVERY (wooden propeller, 204 foot, 1,294 gross tons) was launched at West Bay City, Michigan. Her construction had been subcontracted by F. W. Wheeler & Co. to Thomas F. Murphy.

On 27-29 September 1872, a big storm swept the lower lakes. On Lake Huron, the barges HUNTER and DETROIT were destroyed. The tug SANDUSKY rescued the 21 survivors from them. The schooner CORSAIR foundered off Sturgeon Point on Saginaw Bay at 4 p.m. on Sunday the 29th and only 2 of the crew survived. The barge A. LINCOLN was ashore one mile below Au Sable with no loss of life. The barge TABLE ROCK went ashore off Tawas Point and went to pieces. All but one of her crew was lost. The schooner WHITE SQUALL was sunk ten miles off Fish Point -- only one crewman was saved. The schooner SUMMIT went ashore at Fish Point, 7 miles north of Tawas with two lives lost.

1911: The water-logged wooden steamer THREE BROTHERS was beached off South Manitou Island, Lake Michigan. The cargo of lumber was salvaged but the 23-year-old vessel was left to rot.

1912: The wooden steamer GEORGE T. HOPE, loaded with 2,118 tons of iron ore, foundered in Lake Superior near Grand Island when it began leaking in heavy weather. All on board were saved.

1934: SASKADOC departed Erie, Pa., for the short run to the Welland Canal with 7,500 tons of coal and the hatches left open. The vessel encountered a storm on the lake, developed a list and arrived 11 hours late.

1943: NORMAN B. MACPHERSON, a small canaller in the Upper Lakes fleet, went aground on Hammond Shoal in the American Channel of the St. Lawrence near Alexandria Bay, N.Y.

1969: OPHELIA was a Great Lakes caller before the Seaway opened. The West German freighter also made 16 trips inland from 1959 to 1964. It was under Greek registry when it was abandoned off Sibu, Sarawak, with a fire in the engine room, on this date in 1969. The vessel was enroute from Sibu to Kuching, China, and the hull drifted aground as a total loss.

1991: OGDENSBURG was built as a barge to ferry rail cars across the St. Lawrence between Prescott and Ogdensburg. The vessel had joined McKeil as a regular deck barge in 1988 and broke loose in a storm on this date in 1991 while working off Blanc Sablon, Q.C. carrying heavy construction equipment. Refloated, the hull was towed to Hamilton and became one of three former railway barges rebuilt as a floating drydock.

[yachtsmanwilly]

9/28 - Milwaukee, Wis. – In a huge boost to Milwaukee’s redeveloping Harbor District, Komatsu Mining Corp. will create a new corporate campus on a desolate former industrial site with around 1,000 jobs that include 600 local employees who will move there.

Komatsu's future $285 million development will house manufacturing operations now based at 4400 W. National Ave., West Milwaukee, as well as corporate offices at Honey Creek Corporate Center, 135 S. 84th St., on Milwaukee's far west side.

They will move by 2022 to a 60-acre site overlooking the inner harbor at the end of East Greenfield Avenue, it was announced Thursday by company executives and state and local officials.

It’s the largest development site in the Harbor District, where work is underway to convert vacant lots and underused buildings into a hub of industrial jobs, housing, retail space and other new uses. Komatsu hopes to break ground by fall 2019. For Komatsu, the Harbor District site provides space for future growth as well as improved logistics.

Currently, when Komatsu ships out large pieces of mining equipment by Great Lakes freighters, those products travel between the West Milwaukee factory complex and the harbor by a slow, circuitous route to handle wide loads. With the South Harbor campus, the equipment can be more efficiently loaded on to freighters.

www.jsonline.com/story/money/real-estate/commercial/2018/09/27/komatsu-harbor-development-grow-milwaukee-workforce-1-000-jobs/1437787002


9/28 - Amherstburg, Ont. – Without giving town officials any prior notice, a work detail from the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans descended on the decrepit Boblo Dock in Amherstburg Tuesday and removed what was left of the sheet metal roofing.

The DFO owns the dock, which once served as the jumping off point for passenger ferry service to the island amusement park. The wooden superstructure that supported the metal roof remains.

Mayor Aldo DiCarlo said administration only got an update from the DFO Wednesday after town hall received a media inquiry regarding the roofless pier. “They didn’t let us know ahead of time. They said someone was supposed to call us,” DiCarlo said. “You really don’t know whether to laugh or cry.”

The town has been after the federal government to address the decaying condition of the defunct dock since Coun. Diane Pouget asked for a report on it back in February 2016. At the time, Pouget described the dock as an “eyesore” and said residents complained about sections of the roof blowing off in high winds, ending up in the Detroit River and then washing up on local beaches.

A spokesman for the DFO confirmed Wednesday it was their staff who “recently removed the metal roofing panels from the Boblo dock in order to address potential health and safety concerns.”

In June, another DFO spokesperson told the Star the Canadian Coast Guard had an interest in the dock and was doing a study to determine possible future uses for the site.

DiCarlo believes the government is loathe to make a decision and then have to pay for it. “My best guess is that they’ll let it fall in the water and then nobody has to pay for anything,” DiCarlo said. “Now we’ve got a shell of a dock just sitting there.”

The DFO completed its own condition assessment and option study for the dock in March 2017 and shared that information with council that same spring.

Part of that report said “it is recommended that the pier either be demolished and the site restored to a natural state or a new pier, including new piles, be constructed in its place to enable public access.”

The problem, as DiCarlo has noted before, is that the land adjacent to the dock’s entrance on the west side of Front Road South is privately owned. “There is no land access,” he said again Wednesday. “You can only access it from the water so why would they want it? Which means, they don’t want it and they don’t want to pay to remove it.”

Rachelle Smith, a DFO communications advisor, said Wednesday a final decision on the dock’s fate isn’t likely to come before 2020.

“The Canadian Coast Guard is currently undergoing a multi-year, strategic infrastructure assessment that includes assessing the potential use of the Boblo Dock for operations. A final decision on ownership is not anticipated before spring of 2020,” Smith wrote.

Windsor Star


On September 28, 1980, BURNS HARBOR entered service, departing Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, bound for Superior, Wisconsin, to load pellets.
THOMAS WILSON left Toledo on September 28, 1987, in tow of the tug TUSKER for overseas scrapping. WILSON had been laid up since December 16, 1979.

On 28 September 1891, THOMAS PARSONS (2 mast wooden schooner, 135 foot, 350 tons, built in 1868, at Charlotte, New York) was carrying coal out of Ashtabula, Ohio, when she foundered in a storm a few miles off Fairport in Lake Erie.

On 28 September 1849, W.G. BUCKNER (wooden schooner, 75 foot, 107 tons, built in 1837, at Irving, New York) was carrying lumber in a storm on Lake Michigan when she sprang a leak, then capsized. The man to whom the cargo belonged was aboard with his wife and five children. One child was washed overboard while the wife and three children died of exposure. The schooner ERWIN took off the survivors plus the bodies.

1921: The W.H. RITCHIE caught fire and sank at Port Arthur, ON where it had become a bulk grain transport vessel. The remains were uncovered during dredging work in 1961.

1946: BRIG. GEN. M.G. ZALINSKI, built at Lorain in 1919 as a) LAKE FROHNA and later operated inland in the package freight trade as b) ACE, hit the rocks off Pitt Island, British Columbia. The vessel was enroute from Seattle to Whittier, Alaska, with a cargo of army supplies, and sank in 20 minutes. All on board were rescued by the tug SALLY N. and taken to the fishing village of Butedale.. The hull was located in June 2011 and is upside down.

1960: CHICAGO TRIBUNE and SHENANGO II were both damaged in a collision in the St. Clair River off Marysville.

1973: FRANK R. DENTON and FEDERAL SCHELDE (i) collided in the St. Marys River with minor damage to both ships. The former was scrapped at Ashtabula in 1985-1986. The latter began Seaway service when new in 1968, returned as b) C. MEHMET in 1977 and was delivered to the scrappers at Nantong, China, on March 16, 1999.

1998: ANDROS TRANSPORT, a Fortune Class cargo ship, first came through the Seaway in 1978. Flooding occurred in the engineroom in the Caribbean off Trinidad as d) GRIGOROUSSA on this date while traveling in ballast. The crew of 15 were removed and the ship was towed into Port au Spain. It was declared a total loss, sold to Mexican shipbreakers, and arrived at Tuxpan, under tow for dismantling on December 4, 1998.

[Avenger]

Today in Great Lakes History - October 1
In 1986, the HERBERT C. JACKSON rescued Carl Ward and his nephew after they had been adrift on lower Lake Michigan for 80 hours.

On October 1,1888, the ST CLAIR (3-mast wooden schooner, 156 foot, 296 gross tons, built in 1859, at Montreal as a bark) was carrying coal in a storm on Lake Huron as part of a 5-barge tow of the tug CHAMPION. She broke loose and came to anchor off Harbor Beach, Michigan. The anchor dragged and she sank near the mouth of the harbor. The crew was rescued by the U.S. Life Saving Service. However, this rescue was ill fated since all were taken in the lifesavers surfboat and the boat was rowed 23 miles to Port Sanilac. 100 yards from shore, just a half mile from Port Sanilac, the surfboat capsized and five lives were lost. The wreck of the ST. CLAIR was later lightered, raised and towed out into the lake and re-sunk.
CHICAGO TRADER, a.) THE HARVESTER of 1911, was laid up on October 1, 1976, at the Frog Pond in Toledo, Ohio.
Dismantling commenced October 1, 1974, on the KINSMAN INDEPENDENT a.) WILLIAM B. KERR of 1907, at Santander, Spain.
October 1, 1997 - The CITY OF MIDLAND 41 was towed out of Ludington to be converted to a barge.
On October 1, 1843, ALBANY (wooden brig, 110 tons, built in 1835, at Oswego, New York) was carrying merchandise and passengers when she went aground in a storm and was wrecked just a few miles from Mackinaw City, Michigan.
The steam barge C. H. GREEN was launched at E. Saginaw, Michigan, for Mason, Green & Corning of Saginaw on October 1, 1881. She was schooner rigged and spent her first year as a tow barge. The following winter her engine and boiler were installed. Her dimensions were 197 feet X 33 feet X 13 feet, 920 tons. She cost $70,000.
On October 1,1869, SEA GULL (wooden schooner, 83 tons, built in 1845, at Milan, Ohio) was carrying lumber in a storm on Lake Michigan. She was driven ashore and wrecked south of Grand Haven, Michigan. The wreck was pulled off the beach a few days later, but was declared a constructive loss, stripped and abandoned. She was owned by Capt. Henry Smith of Grand Haven.
1918: The Canadian bulk carrier GALE STAPLES was blown ashore Point au Sable about 8 miles west of Grand Marais. All on board were saved but the wooden vessel, best known as b) CALEDONIA, broke up.
1942: The former CANADIAN ROVER, Hull 67 from the Collingwood shipyard, was torpedoed and sunk as d) TOSEI MARU in the Pacific east of Japan by U.S.S. NAUTILUS.
1946: KINDERSLEY, loaded with 2074 tons of excess munitions, was scuttled in the deep waters of the Atlantic. The former C.S.L. freighter had been on saltwater to assist in the war effort.
1984: ANNEMARIE KRUGER arrived at Finike, Turkey, as e) BANKO with engine damage on this date and was laid up. The ship, a frequent Seaway visitor in the 1960s, was sold for scrap and arrived at Aliaga, Turkey, under tow on August 3, 1986, and was dismantled.
1998 The tank barge SALTY DOG NO. 1 broke tow from the tug DOUG McKEIL and went aground off Anticosti Island the next day. The vessel was released and it operated until scrapping at Port Colborne in 2005.


Lawsuit settled; former passenger ship Norisle to become a dive site
9/30 - Assiginack, Ont. – A lawsuit leveled against the Township of Assiginack by the S.S. Norisle Steamship Society for $10 million has been settled, but at considerable cost to the municipal coffers.
As was reported previously, after the municipality entered discussions with the Tobermory Maritime Association for the group to take away the aging passenger ferry to sink as a dive site, the Steamship Society launched a lawsuit claiming that the Norisle was theirs by way of “constructive trust.” The Society also accused Assiginack of breaching a joint venture agreement between the town and the Society, a breach of fiduciary duty, unjust enrichment and constructive trust, negligence and damages.
A press release from the municipality states that, “as part of the resolution, the township will make a payment of $45,000, equal to the amount paid by the Steamship Society for the removal of asbestos on the ship, a necessary part of its decommissioning. No other compensation will be made. The ship will not be restored. Negotiations are underway to have it removed as soon as reasonably possible.”
“When you’re sued you have to defend yourself,” said Mayor Paul Moffatt, noting that it cost the municipality $250,000 in lawyers’ fees. “We’re glad to have it finally settled,” the mayor added, “but I am sorry that this happened and at the cost to the taxpayers.”
“The town gave them (the Steamship Society) every chance they had,” Mayor Moffatt continued. “We were really blindsided by the suit. We had no alternative but to defend the municipality,” he reiterated.
Mike Marcotte, president of the Tobermory Maritime Association, said it will take some time before the regulatory processes are in place, but he hopes to have the Norisle towed to Tobermory next fall. “We are going to preserve her just outside the Fathom Five Park,” he told The Expositor.
The Norisle will be scuttled in Little Cove Harbour in 120 feet of water, 100 metres from the shore. The area is a 25-minute boat ride from Tobermory. The Norisle will be the Association’s third sunken site outside the Fathom Five Park.
Plans are in the works for a special plaque to be fastened to the Norisle that would share with divers the good works of the Steamship Society and the Friends of the Norisle in keeping her so well maintained.
“We don’t want to damage the ship at all,” Mr. Marcotte assured, explaining that the Association will be speaking with engineers on the best way to sink the Norisle. “If the ship was to be sent off for scrap, we would much rather it be preserved somewhere,” Mr. Marcotte continued.
Her history connecting Manitoulin with Tobermory before the Chi-Cheemaun came into service in late 1974 makes the vessel a fitting addition to the park’s dive sites, he added, and one they are honored to have.
Approximately 5,000-6,000 divers come to Tobermory each year, making it Canada’s scubadiving capital and a major economic driver in the area. A comment from the Steamship Society was not available for press time.

[yachtsmanwilly]

10/2 - Green Bay, Wis. – After years of discussion, the future of Renard Island, a 55-acre island just off Bay Beach in Green Bay, is about to be decided.

Created from dredged sediment from the late 1970's through the 90s, it's now crunch time for the island. "It's time to put pencil to paper and make some decisions on what the end-use for that island is long term," says Dean Haen, Brown County Port Director.

Haen says input during the month of October will be comprehensive and led by consulting firm SmithGroup, hired to plan and develop the island's future.

"Economists, you got environmental engineers, you got waterfront planners, you got just a group of professionals that are going to help us figure out the end-use of the island and with that we'll be talking with the stakeholders, the neighbors in the area, potential users of the island, Convention and Visitors Bureau, PMI and others, as well as the public," says Haen.

Public input begins during a listening session next Tuesday, October 2, at 6 p.m. at the Neville Public Museum.

Haen says all ideas are welcome, and some already floating around include an amphitheater, walking trails, fishing piers, a boardwalk, an observation tower, an RV park, and miniature golf to name just a few.

Haen says it's an exciting time and a unique opportunity for the community.

After next Tuesday's listening session, there will be an intense three-day brain-storming session involving the public to finalize the plan. That will be held October 16 through October 18 at the T2 Accelerator space in the Rail Yard Innovation District on Broadway Street.

WBAY


On her maiden trip in 1905, the PETER WHITE grounded outside the Lackawanna breakwall. After lightering 200 tons, she proceeded to the Lackawanna Steel mill where the remainder of the cargo was unloaded.
On this day in 1979, the ELTON HOYT 2ND unloaded her last cargo as a straight decker at the Ashtabula & Buffalo Dock, Ashtabula, Ohio.

On October 2,1901, M. M. DRAKE (wooden propeller freighter, 201 foot, 1,102 gross tons, built in 1882, at Buffalo, New York) and her consort MICHIGAN (3-mast wooden schooner-barge, 213 foot, 1,057 gross tons, built in 1874, at Detroit, Michigan) were loaded with iron ore while sailing in a strong gale on Lake Superior. The MICHIGAN began to leak and the DRAKE came around to take off her crew, but the two vessels collided. Both sank off Vermilion Point, Michigan. One life was lost. As the vessels sank, the passing steamers NORTHERN WAVE and CRESCENT CITY stood by and rescued the crews.

Upper Lakes Shipping's new self-unloader CANADIAN OLYMPIC was christened on October 2, 1976, at St. Catharines, Ontario. Her name honored the Olympic Games that were held at Montreal that year.

TADOUSSAC (Hull#192) departed Collingwood on her maiden voyage for Canada Steamship Lines Ltd. on October 2, 1969, to load iron ore at Fort William, Ontario.

The sandsucker AMERICAN last operated in 1956, and laid up at Manitowoc, Wisconsin. She was scrapped in S. Chicago in 1984.

JOHN T. HUTCHINSON and CONSUMERS POWER arrived at Kaohsiung, Taiwan on October 2, 1988, where dismantling began on October 14t by Li Chong Steel & Iron Works Co. Ltd.

On her maiden voyage October 2, 1943, E. G. GRACE cleared Lorain, Ohio, bound for Superior, Wisconsin, to load iron ore.

HOCHELAGA of 1949 departed Toronto October 2, 1993, in tow of the McKeil tugs GLENBROOK and KAY COLE for Montreal, Quebec, and then to the cutter’s torch.

October 2, 1954 - The PERE MARQUETTE 21 sailed into Ludington, Michigan, on her second maiden voyage of her career.

On October 2,1888, OLIVER CROMWELL (wooden schooner-barge, 138 foot, 291 tons, built in 1853, at Buffalo, New York) was being towed by the steamer LOWELL in a storm in Lake Huron when she broke her towline. She rode out most of the storm at anchor, but then she snapped her anchor chains and she was driven ashore at Harbor Beach, Michigan, where she broke up.

The 183 foot, 3-mast wooden schooner QUEEN CITY was launched at W. Bay City, Michigan, on 2 October 1873.

The Port Huron Times reported the following shipwrecks from a severe storm that swept the Lakes over 2-3 October 1887: Schooner CITY OF GREEN BAY lost near South Haven, Michigan; the schooner-barge CHARLES L HUTCHINSON, lost near Buffalo, New York; the steam barge ALBION and her consort the schooner-barge ARK ashore near Grindstone City, Michigan; the 3-mast schooner EBENEZER ashore near Holland, Michigan; the wooden package freighter CALIFORNIA sunk in the Straits of Mackinaw; the schooner HOLMES ashore at Middle Island on Lake Huron; the schooner GARIBALDI ashore near Port Elgin on Lake Huron; the barge MAYFLOWER disabled near Grand Haven, Michigan; the schooner D. S. AUSTIN ashore at Point Clark; and the schooner HENRY W HOAG ashore at Erie, Pennsylvania.

1891: WINSLOW ran aground in fog while inbound at Duluth. The hole in the wooden hull was patched and the ship was released and able to be docked. The vessel caught fire while unloading the next day and destroyed.

1938: The first WINDOC was struck when Bridge 20, a railway bridge across the Welland Canal, was lowered prematurely and removing the stack, spar and lifeboats of the N.M. Paterson steamer.

1953: A collision occurred between PIONEER and WALLSCHIFF in the St. Clair River on this date and the latter, a West German visitor to the Great Lakes, rolled on its side and settled in shallow water. One crew member perished. PIONEER, a Cleveland-Cliffs steamer, was repaired for further service and was later scrapped at Genoa, Italy, in 1961. WALLSCHIFF, on her first and only trip to the Great Lakes, was refloated and departed for permanent repairs overseas in 1954. The vessel was still sailing as g) GOLDEN MERCURY in 2011.

1973: A head-on collision in fog off Gull Island, Lake Michigan between the T-2 tanker MARATHONIAN and Norwegian freighter ROLWI left both ships with massive bow damage. The former had begun Seaway service as f) MARATHON in 1960 and was repaired at South Chicago. It disappeared in the Bermuda Triangle as h) SYLVIA L. OSSA in October 1976. ROLWI, a Norwegian salty, was also repaired and returned inland as b) DOBERG in 1974 and c) LORFRI in 1976. It arrived at Alang, India, for scrapping as e) PEROZAN on February 6, 1996.

1992: The Canadian coastal freighter SIR JOHN CROSBIE was built in St. Catharines by Port Weller Dry Docks in 1962. It sank in the Gulf of Mexico off the west coast of Florida as c) HOLSTEN on this date but all on board were rescued.

[yachtsmanwilly]

10/3 - Alpena, Mich. – In the distance where Lake Huron connects to the waves crashing against the rocks on shore, the largest Great Lakes cruise ship made its way to the sunrise side on Monday. It carries 420 passengers, 170 employees, all 15–thousand tons anchored in the water with many locals waiting to catch sight of the Hamburg cruise ship.

“Tourism is a big thing here, and this will even make it bigger if we get more of these cruise ships coming in,” said Alpena resident Richard Lefevere.

It’s been a 12-day journey for hundreds of tourists waiting to touch land. Passengers were loaded on to orange boats called tenders. Ship crews boated groups of 50 through the Thunder Bay River to the edge of the loading dock near the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary.

Peter Wagner was one those passengers on the ship, assisting a number of German travelers to tour parts of Northeast Michigan for a day. “It’s a fantastic experience for us Germans to see the wonderful cities here.” he said, “to meet very nice and friendly people and have such a lot fun here.”

The Hamburg is able to visit the Great Lakes because it’s small enough to cruise through small towns like Alpena.

“I don’t remember all the places we’ve been,” said Horst Halden, “but we really enjoy where we have been.” Halden traveled with his wife. His family is no stranger to the States. A nephew lives another major city.

The tourists flew to Chicago to start their journey and will dock in Montreal at the end of 21 days. “When people are traveling they want to purchase souvenirs,” said Anne Gentry, “They want to buy things from the place that they stopped.”

Gentry is the executive director of Alpena’s Downtown Development Authority. She volunteered with the Maritime Heritage Center, and the Convention and Visitors Bureau to greet travelers and pass out maps.

The town has worked for quite some time to orchestrate this day to fruition. Gentry said, “I think it shows that we are a viable tourist destination.”

By the time the sun sets, Alpena’s new friends will be on their way. Until next time. The luxury cruise line will return later this month.

WBKB11


10/3 - Several environmental groups are stepping up their efforts against an expected plan to build a tunnel for an oil pipeline that passes through the Mackinac Straits. A spokesman for Governor Rick Snyder says the state is still “reviewing studies and working through all possible options” for what to do with Line 5.

But environmentalists believe the governor has already decided. “In the waning days of his administration, Gov. Snyder is trying to fast track approvals for Enbridge to build an oil pipeline through the Straits of Mackinac,” says Sean McBrearty with the group Clean Water Action.

“Building a tunnel through the Straits of Mackinac would not only be unnecessary, and take too long to complete, it would also come with a significant risk of explosion,” says McBrearty. “If electrical utility lines run through the tunnel as well, everything needed to create a massive explosion under the Straits would be present.”

Environmental groups expect the governor will announce the tunnel plan soon.

Officials with Enbridge (one of Michigan Radio's many corporate sponsors) say it will take five to seven years to build, and they say it'll cost upwards of a half billion dollars. The company maintains that building a tunnel is one option being considered.

“Our focus is and has always been the safe and reliable delivery of energy for Michigan. Line 5 is a vital part of Michigan’s energy infrastructure, having safely delivered energy for more than six decades. Improvements we have already made through our rigorous inspection and maintenance programs, along with ongoing discussions with the state, will make a safe pipeline even safer,” says Enbridge spokesman Ryan Duffy.

Concerns about the aging pipeline have led to calls to shut it down. The fear is the pipeline will break and spew oil into the fragile Great Lakes ecosystem.

Michigan Radio


On October 3,1887, EBENEZER (3-mast wooden schooner-barge, 103 foot, 158 gross tons, built in 1847, at Buffalo, New York) was driven ashore off the breakwater at Holland, Michigan, during a storm. She had sprung a leak in the terrific storm, lost her deck load of shingles and struck the pier trying to get into the harbor. She broke in two but was later raised and rebuilt. She lasted until 1903.
On October 3,1887, CITY OF GREEN BAY (3-mast wooden schooner, 145 foot, 346 gross tons, built in 1872, at Green Bay, Wisconsin) was carrying iron ore from Escanaba to St. Joseph, Michigan, on Lake Michigan and having difficulty in a strong westerly gale. She sprang a leak and anchored four miles from South Haven and put up distress signals. The wind and waves were so bad that the crew could not safely abandon the vessel. She slipped her anchor and was driven on to a bar at Evergreen Point, just 500 feet from shore. The crew scrambled up the rigging as the vessel sank. The South Haven Life Saving crew tried to get a breeches buoy out to the wreck, but their line broke repeatedly. So much wreckage was in the surf that it fouled their surfboat. Soon the masts went by the board and the crew members were in the churning seas. Six died. Only Seaman A. T. Slater made it to shore. The ineffective attempts of the Life Saving crew resulted in Keeper Barney Alonzo Cross being relieved of his command of the station.

The E. G. GRACE was delivered to the Interlake Steamship Co., Cleveland on October 3, 1943. The GRACE was part of a government program designed to upgrade and increase the capacity of the U.S. Great Lakes fleet during World War II. In order to help finance the building of new ships, the U.S.M.C. authorized a program that would allow existing fleets to obtain new boats by trading in their older boats to the government for credit. As partial payment for each new vessel, a fleet owner surrendered the equivalent tonnage of their existing and/or obsolete vessels, along with some cash, to the Maritime Commission.

October 3, 1941 - The CITY OF FLINT 32, eastbound from Milwaukee, collided with the PERE MARQUETTE 22 westbound. The PERE MARQUETTE 22 headed directly for Manitowoc for repairs while the CITY OF FLINT 32 continued to Ludington where she discharged her cargo, then headed for the shipyard in Manitowoc, Wisconsin.

The barges BELLE CASH and GEO W. HANNAFORD, owned by Capt. Cash of East China Township, Michigan, were driven ashore on Long Point in Lake Erie on 3 October 1875.

On October 3, 1900, the steel freighter CAPTAIN THOMAS WILSON left Port Huron on her maiden voyage for Marquette, Michigan, where she loaded 6,200 tons of iron ore for Cleveland, Ohio.

ARK (3-mast iron-strapped wooden scow-schooner-barge, 177 foot, 512 tons, built in 1875, at Port Dalhousie, Ontario) was in tow of the steam barge ALBION (wooden propeller, 134 foot, 297 gross tons, built in 1862, at Brockville, Ontario) on Lake Huron when a terrific storm struck on October 3,1887. Both were loaded with lumber. Both vessels were driven ashore near Grindstone City, Michigan. The U.S. Lifesaving Service rescued the crews. The ALBION was pounded to pieces the next day and the ARK was declared a total loss, but was recovered and was sailing again within the month.

1907: The wooden tug PHILADELPHIA dated from 1869 and briefly served in the Algoma fleet. It was wrecked at Gros Cap, Lake Superior, on this date in 1907.

1911: The wooden freighter A.L. HOPKINS had cleared Bayfield the previous day with a full load of lumber and foundered in a storm on this date near Michigan Island, Lake Superior. Buoyed by the cargo, the hull floated a few more days before it disappeared. All 15 on board were picked up by the ALVA C. DINKEY.

1928: The steel bulk carrier M.J. BARTELME ran aground at Cana Island, Lake Michigan. The bottom was ripped open and the ship was abandoned. It was dismantled on site in 1929.

1953: The superstructure of the idle passenger steamer PUT-IN-BAY was burned off in Lake St. Clair and the remains of the iron hull were later dismantled at River Rouge.

1963: The Liberian flag Liberty ship TRIKERI, on her only trip to the Great Lakes, swung sideways in the Welland Canal near Welland, blocked the waterway and delayed traffic for 4 hours. The ship arrived at Kaohsiung, Taiwan, for scrapping as e) DAHLIA on December 27, 1967.

1963: A fire broke out in the cargo hold of the FRED CHRISTIANSEN while downbound at Sault Ste. Marie. The stubborn blaze took 4 hours to put out and was believed caused by some of the grain igniting as it was close to a steam line. The Norwegian freighter began Seaway trading in 1959 and returned as b) HERA in 1964. It arrived at Pasajes, Spain, under this name for scrapping on May 30, 1974.

1969: JOSEPH H. ran aground at Bic Island, in the St. Lawrence while enroute from Milwaukee to Russia with a cargo of rawhides. The Liberian-flag vessel sustained heavy bottom damage. It was refloated on October 6, taken to Levis, QC, and subsequently broken up there for scrap. The ship was operating under her fifth name and had first come through the Seaway as a) GRANADA in 1959.

1980: POLYDORA first came inland for four trips as a) FERNFIORD in 1963 and returned under her new name in 1964 on charter to Canadian Pacific Steamships. The ship had been at Marina di Carrara, Italy, and under arrest as d) GEORGIOS B., when it sailed overnight without permission. A fire in the engineroom broke out the next day and, while taken in tow, the ship foundered east of Tavolara Island, Sardinia.

1999: MANCHESTER MERCURIO traded through the Seaway in a container shuttle service beginning in 1971. It was abandoned by the crew and sank off the coast of Morocco as f) PHOENIX II on this date in 1999.

2000: The tug KETA V. usually operated on the St. Lawrence for Verreault Navigation but came to the Great Lakes with barges for Windsor in 1993. It ran aground and sank near Liverpool, NS on this date in 2000 but all on board got away safely on life rafts.