4/1 - Disturbed by easy access to maritime scanners by the general public, the U.S. Coast Guard today announced it will returned to a time-tested communications device, the megaphone.
“It’s the only way we can keep things secret any more,” groused Capt. Harley M. Davidson. “Every Boatnerd and even his brother from another mother knows our every move.” He said even the more recent practice of relaying sensitive information by land line has been compromised. “Whenever we ask a captain to call us on the land line, the Boatnerds know something is up, and they won’t rest until they know what that is. And if they can’t find out, then they just make things up.”
The practice is currently being tested at Mission Point in Sault Ste. Marie. In a related decision, the Coast Guard has also decided to return to using manned wooden observation towers.
“Cameras just can’t beat the human eye when it comes to observing vessels,” David said. “It’s that personal touch that makes the megaphone so special.”
4/1 - The White House has announced a deal with Decentral Marine Illogistics to buy the long-idled and much-beloved laker Edward L. Ryerson and convert her for service in the recently announced “Space Force.”
"She was built with a futuristic look and that future has come," said Admiral Fan C. Pantz. "Besides, she just LOOKS badass. One glimpse of that thing coming out of trans-warp drive and the Klingons, or the WagonBorgs, or whoever will run back to mamma. And if that doesn’t work, she can just blow her whistle. That’ll blast them back into whatever worm hole they came from. Done deal."
The government has yet to explain how a steam-powered ore boat can be adapted for use in outer space. “We’ll just figure it out as we go,” explained Pantz, “like we always do.”
4/1 - Furniture maker La-Zee-Boi has come out with deluxe model of recliner geared to the growing number of armchair captains popping up not only around the Great Lakes, but worldwide.
The chair, only available in royal blue, comes with a built-in marine radio scanner and AIS receiver. Handy internet (requires separate subscription) is hot wired to the many maritime pages on social media sites such as Facebook and Instagram.
“That way people who have never even set foot on a boat can give their opinions on everything from why that one vessel on Lake Superior seems to be going around in circles to why another one appears to be stopped for more than 10 seconds,” said La-Zee-Boi spokesperson Chaise Davenport. “You won’t ever have to wonder if a boat is broken down … you can instantly speculate right along with hundreds of others about what might be wrong and immediately blame the captain. Or crew. Or whatever. Up to the user, really.”
The chair comes on a handsome teak base made from the deck of an authentic Great Lakes schooner from yesteryear to add extra weight to the authority of the opinions offered from it.
“There is always something wrong. Boats are broken. They run aground. They hit each other all the time. This way we don’t have to wait for the facts to come out,” said Opie I. Nionated, a proud owner of the new chair. “We can just make up our own facts, and then see what other people come up with. Plus it’s really fun to annoy those pesky page moderators.”
The chair also includes an area to display the armchair captain’s license. The manufacturer advises that a ladle-equipped model is also available for those who like to stir the pot.
4/1 - The stunning increase in popularity of Opening Day at the Soo Locks in recent years has prompted a movement to make the event a state holiday.
More than 200 die-hard, self-admitted “Boatnerds,” clad in clothing emblazoned with likenesses of their favorite vessels, showed up in the middle of a freezing cold and windy night during a season of record-breaking snowfall to cheer the first ship on to Lake Superior, a 100 percent increase over 10 years ago.
“Fireworks next year for sure, and maybe a marching band,” said Soo tourism booster Arvid Nobbly, who often serves as unofficial leader of the pack, usually sporting his trademark wrinkly old orange hat. “We want to make this as big as the Fourth of July,” he enthused. “Maybe bigger.”
Despite his optimism, some Boatnerds were less than excited. “How are we going to get our selfies with the boat in the background if there are all those bright fireworks going off?” wondered Shangie McWilliams, who makes the long pilgrimage from Daytwah every March 25 for first boat services.
Nobbly remained optimistic. “Smoke and mirrors,” he said, with a wink. “It will all be done with smoke and mirrors. Trust me.”
4/1 - Crapo Shipping Co. of Crapo, MI, has announced a new seasonal shipping service using the St. Lawrence Seaway. It will haul sewage from Detroit to Washington, D.C. “This was a really easy service to sell,” stated company vice president Sol D. Waist. “Detroit has the largest sewage treatment plant in the world and Washington, to put it mildly, can’t seem to get enough of the product.”
Crapo Shipping will initially haul the product in Great Lakes freighters from Detroit to Baltimore. There it will be offloaded and stockpiled. It will be sent to Washington as needed in specially-built high-speed tank cars attached to the back of Amtrak passenger trains. “Traveling that last 40 miles by high-speed train will really agitate the product, making it perfect for final consumption” stated Waist.
Initial plans were to use the long inactive Edward L. Ryerson for the service, but no one in the company had the heart to do that to such a beautiful freighter. So instead the plan is to charter the barge Ashtabula. The barge was designed for ocean service and it is equipped with a forward mounted unloading boom. That would come in handy if Congress ever appropriates long-promised funds to make the Potomac River navigable to Washington.
“With that forward boom, we could deposit the product practically on the steps of the Capital” said Waist.
4/1 - Skittlez on the lakes? It would be a sweet cargo says one ship owner How many Skittlez could a typical 1,000-footer haul in one trip? Bean counters say 63,297,866,667 Skittlez (plus or minus about 1.7 billion on account of average fluctuations in the average candy weight) in a single trip. It would take the entire capacity of the country’s Skittlez-producing facilities just under 317 days to produce a full cargo, enough for every person in the U.S. – five times over.
Given that information, the Outerlake Diesel Co. has decided to convert all its taconite ore carriers to handle the growing Skittle demand.
“We got a real sweet deal from the shipyard, observed Butt R. Finger, owner of the Outerlake fleet. “We are looking at carrying Jujubes next if we could figure out how to keep them from gumming up the cargo holds.”
4/1 - Tuber Publishing Company of Anne’s Harbor, MI, has announced the release of its newest flagship publication, “Know Your Chips: A Field Guide to Chips and Chip Making in the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway Region.” This annual publication is celebrating its 60th anniversary and is considered the bible for the region’s chip enthusiasts, who often refer to themselves as Chipnerds.
Editor Rogets T. Hesarus said the book is packed with information on both the history and current consumption of potato chips in the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence region.
“We have listings for all the regional brands, including fan favorites like Ballreich’s, Better Made, Conn’s, Covered Bridge, Herr’s, Old Dutch, Spud Island, Uncle Ray’s, Utz, Yum Yum, and the relatively new upstart P-Ring-Gull’s Potato Chip Co., which offers a revolutionary new wavy, stackable chip.
The volume also includes historical perspectives on the now-defunct brands Made-Rite of Bay City, MI, Geiser’s of Milwaukee, WI, and Scotties of Centreville, Nova Scotia. A 24-page photo essay documents the slow packaging conversion from metal canister to cardboard box to Mylar foil bags, known to chip insiders as MFBs.
Pringles-boat---Don-Lee.jpg (85250 bytes)“A lot of old time Chipnerds swore that they would stop eating chips when the metal canisters faded away. Well, they have been gone for almost two generations now, and you would hardly even see cardboard boxes anymore if it weren’t for Old Dutch.” stated Hesarus. “The MFB’s may not look as classy as the traditional metal canisters, but they get the job done.”
Another popular feature is a listing of those exotic north-of-the-border Canadian chip flavors like ketchup, poutine, all dressed, Atlantic lobster, and maple-bacon. And with over half of America’s chipping potatoes originating in Michigan, the book rounds out with a colorful identification chart for chipping varieties such as Beacon Chipper, Kalkaska, Liberator, Manistee, McBride, Missaukee and the popular red-tinted MSQ558-2RR.
Don’t forget to join the Know Your Chips crew at a special chip-signing event today at the Great Lakes Maritime Square in Port Huron. The event is expected to take several hours as it is very difficult to sign a chip without breaking it.
4/1 - Happy April Fools Day. Today’s edition of fake news has been brought to you by Don Lee, Dave Nobbe, Tom Hynes, Matt Miner and Roger LeLievre.
The real news continues below.
4/1 - Multiple credible reports from Duluth-Superior have the laid-up Great Lakes Fleet self-unloader Arthur M. Anderson headed for Fraser Shipyards this week for a refit expected to cost around $4 million. Ice has been broken in the slip where she has been laid up since January 2017, and a tow to Fraser could happen once the Tim S. Dool is removed from the drydock, possibly on Tuesday.
She could be back in service by June or July.
The Anderson is especially well-liked on the Great Lakes because of her heroic role involving the loss of the Edmund Fitzgerald on November 10, 1975. The Anderson was the last vessel to have had visual, radio and radar contact with the Fitzgerald. In addition, she left safety and returned out into the storm to look for any possible survivors.
Built by the American Shipbuilding Company, Lorain, OH, she was launched Feb. 16, 1952 for the Pittsburgh Steamship Div., U.S. Steel Corp., Cleveland, OH. The Anderson was lengthened 120 feet to 767 feet during the spring of 1975 at Fraser Shipyards, Superior, WI. She was converted to a self-unloader during the 1981/82 winter lay up, also at Fraser. She is one of a handful of Great Lakes vessels to still rely on steam power.
4/1 - Marquette, Mich. – It's the beginning of the end for the Presque Isle Power Plant, as it's powered down for the final time Sunday. At 9 am, they started shutting off different levels of the power plant.
WEC Energy Group’s subsidiary, Upper Michigan Energy Resources (UMERC), began commercial operation of the A.J. Mihm Generating Station in Baraga County and the F.D. Kuester Generating Station in Negaunee Township on March 31. These new natural gas powered generating stations replace the energy from the company’s coal-fueled Presque Isle Power Plant retired the same day.
The plant received coal shipments via Great Lakes freighter.
“The new generating stations are good for our customers, good for business and good for electric reliability throughout the U.P.,” said Kevin Fletcher, President and Chief Executive officer of WEC Energy Group. “Closure of the Presque Isle Power Plant also helps achieve our goal of reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 40 percent, well ahead of our 2030 target.”
Plans for this transition date back to 2015 when Michigan Governor Rick Snyder issued a call to action to solve the Upper Peninsula’s energy crisis. WEC Energy Group says they answered that call and developed a reliable, affordable and clean energy solution.
WEC Energy Group funded the $275 million investment. Half of the investment will be recovered through a 20-year agreement with Cliffs Natural Resources. The other half will be recovered in retail electric rates.
The state-of-the-art generating stations are expected to save UMERC customers nearly $600 million over the next 30 years. The new stations will eliminate the need for additional transmission capacity as well as upgrades that would have been needed at the aged Presque Isle Power Plant if it had continued to operate.
Fletcher says the Presque Isle Power Plant’s closure is part of WEC Energy Group’s larger plan to reshape its electrical generation to balance reliability and customer cost with environmental stewardship. He adds plans for the future use of the retired coal plant site will be developed as the company continues to evaluate potential uses for the property.
The city of Marquette is hopeful the property will be reused in a beneficial way for the community.
WLUC
3/31 - Milwaukee, WI – The Coast Guard plans to expand spring ice breaking operations, entering the bay of Green Bay, Monday. During the ensuing days, icebreaking operations will involve fracturing ice and track preparations to the port cities of Escanaba, Marinette-Menominee and Green Bay. Ice breaking and track work will also occur west of the Sturgeon Bay Ship Canal.
The timing, schedule and locations of operations will depend of weather and wind conditions. Ice breaking operations may take several days to complete. Commercial carriers are expected to begin transiting the bay of Green Bay on or about April 3rd.
USCG
3/30 - The Great Lakes are now into their seasonal water rise, which normally peaks sometime in mid-summer. The forecast for increased water levels shows some pretty impressive additions of water.
Lake Michigan is six inches higher than this time last year. It is forecast to rise four inches in the next month, 10 inches by summer's high water mark and sit seven inches higher than last summer.
The 10 inch rise in water now through July represents 8 trillion gallons of additional water. Lakes Michigan-Huron are just nine inches below an all-time monthly water level for March.
Lake Superior is two inches higher than this time last year, and only two inches from its all-time March highest water level. Lake Superior is expected to rise two inches in the next month and a total of eight inches by mid-summer. Lake Superior could flirt with or break its record high water mark sometime between now and summer.
Lake Erie is one inch higher than last March, and is expected to jump up five inches in the next month. Lake Erie currently sits seven inches below record high March water levels. Erie is forecast to rise a total of 10 inches by summer, and be on a similar water level path as last year.
Lake Ontario is three inches higher than last March and 16 inches below all-time March water levels. Ontario is forecast to rise seven inches in the next month and a total of 10 inches by summer.
All of the Great Lakes are expected to rise significantly through summer. This forecast from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is based on current snow melt conditions and a precipitation forecast centered around average amounts of precipitation. If we got back into a heavy than average rainfall pattern for a significant time of a month or two, the eventual high water mark could be much higher.
We will watch for near record or record water levels if it turns real wet.
Read more and view charts at this MLive link:
expo.mlive.com/news/g66l-2019/03/2474f95d886038/lake-michigan-and-lake-huron-to-gain-nearly-a-foot-of-water-8-trillion-gallons-by-summer.htmlThe tanker CHEMICAL MAR arrived at Brownsville, Texas on March 30, 1983, in tow of the tug FORT LIBERTE to be scrapped. Built in 1966, as a.) BIRK. In 1979, she was renamed b.) COASTAL TRANSPORT by Hall Corp. of Canada, but never came to the lakes. She was sold by Hall and was renamed c.) CHEMICAL MAR in 1981.
March 30, 1985 - CITY OF MIDLAND's departure was delayed when her anchor snagged one that she had lost in Pere Marquette Lake the previous summer.
March 30, 1900, the carferry ANN ARBOR NO 2, grounded on the rocks east of the approach to the channel at Manistique, Michigan. She was pulled off quickly by the ANN ARBOR NO 3 and the tug GIFFORD. She was found to have bent a propeller shaft and broken rudder, resulting in a trip to the drydock at Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
1917: GERMANIC was the last wooden passenger ship built in Collingwood. It was completed there in 1899 and burned there, at the dock, on this date in 1917. The ship was part of Canada Steamship Lines at the time of loss. The hull settled on the bottom but was raised, towed towards Wasaga Beach, and run aground. The remains were torn apart for firewood during the Depression.
1940: The first THORDOC, a) J.A. McKEE, stranded at Winging Point, 10 miles southwest of Louisbourg, N.S., due to heavy fog. The ship was abandoned on April 1 and declared a total loss. This member of the Paterson fleet had been travelling in ballast and had been involved in Great Lakes trading since 1908.
On 31 March 1971, the American Steamship Company's RICHARD J. REISS grounded at Stoneport, Michigan, while moving away from the dock. She damaged her number nine tank.
Christening ceremonies took place at St. Catharines, Ontario, on March 31, 1979, for d.) CANADIAN PROSPECTOR, lengthened by Port Weller Drydocks Ltd.
ROGER M. KYES (Hull#200) was launched March 31, 1973, at Toledo, Ohio, by American Ship Building Co. Renamed b.) ADAM E. CORNELIUS in 1989.
WILLIAM R. ROESCH was renamed b) DAVID Z. NORTON in christening ceremonies at Cleveland, Ohio, on March 31, 1995. The PAUL THAYER was also renamed, EARL W. OGLEBAY, during the same ceremonies.
JOSEPH S. WOOD was sold to the Ford Motor Co. and towed from her winter lay-up berth at Ashtabula, Ohio, on March 31, 1966, to the American Ship Building's Toledo, Ohio, yard for her five-year inspection. A 900 h.p. bowthruster was installed at this time. She would be rechristened as c.) JOHN DYKSTRA two months later.
The steamer b.) J. CLARE MILLER was launched March 31, 1906, as a.) HARVEY D. GOULDER (Hull#342) at Lorain, Ohio, by American Ship Building Co., for W.A. & A.H. Hawgood of Cleveland, Ohio.
On March 31, 1927, the WILLIAM MC LAUGHLAN entered service for the Interlake Steamship Co. when she departed Sandusky, Ohio for Superior, Wisconsin, on her maiden trip. Later renamed b.) SAMUEL MATHER in 1966, sold Canadian in 1975, renamed c.) JOAN M. MC CULLOUGH, and finally d.) BIRCHGLEN in 1982. Scrapped at Point Edward, Nova Scotia, by Universal Metal Co. Ltd.
On 31 March 1874, E. H. MILLER (wooden propeller tug, 62 foot, 30 gross tons) was launched at Chesley A. Wheeler's yard in E. Saginaw, Michigan. The power plant from the 1865, tug JENNIE BELL was installed in her. She was renamed RALPH in 1883, and spent most of her career as a harbor tug in the Alpena area. She was abandoned in 1920.
1974: The nine-year old Liberian freighter CAPE PALMAS first came through the Seaway in 1969 after it had been purchased from Swedish interests. The vessel was at Bilbao, Spain, undergoing repairs, on March 31, 1974, when a blaze broke out aft and caused extensive damage. This was repaired and the ship resumed trading. It was converted to the cement carrier c) ASANO in 1978 and served until arriving at Shanghai, China, for scrapping on September 10, 1993.
1999: VARADERO was the first new ship of the 1991 season to use the Seaway. It was bound for Toronto with a cargo of sugar. This bulk carrier was sailing as e) MANPOK, and under North Korean registry, when it sank on this date in 1999 following a collision with HYUNDAI DUKE some 500 miles off Colombo, Sri Lanka, while inbound from Jakarta, Indonesia, with a cargo of cement. Two crew members were rescued while another 37 were posted as missing.
2011: BBC STEINHOEFT got stuck in the Seaway on this date in 2011. The Liberian registered freighter had just been renamed at Toronto, having entered the lakes as BELUGA FUSION. It lost power near the St. Lambert Lock and ended up sideways and blocking the channel until she was refloated and realigned.
On 01 April 1887, W. T. Botsford & Company of Port Huron, Michigan bought the COLORADO (wooden propeller package freighter, 254 foot, 1,470 gross tons, built in 1867, at Buffalo, New York). She was added to their two other vessels: DEAN RICHMOND and ROANOKE.
STEWART J. CORT was commissioned on April 1, 1972.
In April 1965, Interlake's steamer J. A. CAMPBELL was renamed c.) BUCKEYE MONITOR after being purchased by the Buckeye Steamship Co.
Realizing that the bulk trades were too competitive, Captain John Roen's Roen Transportation Co. sold the CAPTAIN JOHN ROEN to the American Steamship Co. (Boland & Cornelius, mgr.) on April 1, 1947, for $915,000.
ROY A. JODREY started her first full season opening navigation at the Soo Locks April 1, 1966, with a load of stone for Algoma Steel.
Dismantling of the G. A. TOMLINSON, a.) D. O. MILLS, began in Ashtabula, Ohio, on April 1, 1980, and was completed eight months later.
April 1, 1903 - Gus Kitzinger of the Pere Marquette Line steamers, acquired the PERE MARQUETTE 3 & 4 from the Pere Marquette Railway Co.
Sailors at Chicago went on strike on 1 April 1871, for an increase in pay. They were getting $1.50 a day. Some ship owners offered $1.75 but when word came that the Straits of Mackinac were clear of ice, the sailors demanded the unheard of daily wage of $3.25. Although some ships stayed in port, the $1.75 wage was accepted and the barks MARY PEREW, J G MASTEN and C J WELLS, along with the schooners DONALDSON, PATHFINDER and CHAMPION set sail on 1 April 1871
On 1 April 1904, CONDOR (2-mast wooden schooner, 58 foot, 22 gross tons, built in 1871, at Sheboygan, Wisconsin), while lying at anchor in the Kalamazoo River at Singapore, Michigan, was crushed by ice moving out in the spring breakup.
1941: ROBERT W. POMEROY had served the Eastern Steamship Co. as well as Upper Lakes & St. Lawrence Transportation Co. while on the Great Lakes from 1923 to 1940. It went overseas and worked for the British Ministry of War Transport hauling coal on coastal routes. While north bound on April 1, 1942, the ship hit a mine and, four minutes later, a second mine and went down in the North Sea off Norfolk, U.K. Twenty-two survived although two were injured when the boiler exploded.
1942: The Norwegian salty GUDVANG came to the Great Lakes in 1939. It was intercepted by a German patrol boat between Denmark and Norway, while trying to escape to England, on this date in 1942. The ship was sunk by gunfire and the crew became prisoners of war.
1968: GHISLAIN was more at home on the St. Lawrence, but had delivered pulpwood to the Great Lakes in the late 1960s. It had several escapades during these years including a grounding while entering Yarmouth, NS with 1400 tons of herring on this date in 1968. The vessel was repaired at Liverpool, NS. It was listed as g) ANIK in 1974 and in need of repairs. While it was not deleted from LR until 1986, the ship was likely broken up in the mid-1970s.
1983: REGENT MARIGOLD visited the Great Lakes in 1975 under Panamanian registry. It was sailing as d) LEXINGTON when the hull fractured in a storm while en route from Bukpyong, South Korea, to Bangladesh. It went down on this date about 200 miles northwest of Penang, Malaysia.
