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Port Reports - November 25
Duluth-Superior – Daniel Lindner
Two Harbors-Silver Bay – Gary A. Putney
St. Marys River
Northern Lake Michigan
Milwaukee, WI – MKE Marine Reports
Muskegon, MI – Shipwater News
Northern Lake Huron
Goderich, ON – Bruce Douglas
Detroit, MI – Raymond Hill
Lake Erie ports for Tuesday – Bill Kloss
Buffalo, NY – Brian R Wroblewski |
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108 years ago, the Christmas Tree ship foundered in Two Rivers 11/25 - Milwaukee, WI – On Nov. 23, 1912, the 44-year-old schooner Rouse Simmons, also known as the Christmas Tree Ship, foundered in Lake Michigan near Two Rivers, with all on board. A piece of it lives on right here in Milwaukee. Read more at this link: https://onmilwaukee.com/articles/rouse-simmons-shipwreck |
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Today in Great Lakes History - November 25
In 1890, the WESTERN RESERVE delivered a record cargo of 95,488 bushels of wheat from Duluth to Buffalo. In 1913, the schooner ROUSE SIMMONS, Captain August Schuenemann, departed Thompson Harbor (Michigan) with a load of fresh cut Christmas trees bound for Chicago. Somewhere between Kewaunee and Two Rivers, Wis., the SIMMONS was lost with all hands. On 25 November 1857, ANTELOPE (wooden schooner, 220 tons, built in 1854, at Port Robinson, Ontario) was driven ashore by a gale near St. Joseph, Michigan. Five lives were lost. She was recovered the next year and rebuilt. INCAN SUPERIOR was withdrawn from service after completing 2,386 trips between Thunder Bay and Superior and on November 25, 1992, she passed down bound at Sault Ste. Marie for service on the Canadian West Coast. Renamed PRINCESS SUPERIOR in 1993. ROBERT C. STANLEY was laid up for the last time November 25, 1981, at the Tower Bay Slip, Superior, Wisconsin. She was scrapped at Aliaga, Turkey in 1989. CITY OF MILWAUKEE (Hull#261) was launched November 25, 1930, at Manitowoc, Wisconsin, by Manitowoc Shipbuilding Co. She was sponsored by Mrs. Walter J. Wilde, wife of the collector of customs at Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She entered service in January of 1931. On 25 November 1866, F. W. BACKUS (wooden propeller, 133 foot, 289 tons, built in 1846, at Amherstburg, Ontario) was carrying hay, horses and cattle off Racine, Wisconsin. She was run to the beach when it was discovered that she was on fire. Her crew and passengers disembarked. The tug DAISY LEE towed her out while she was still burning, intending to scuttle her, but the towline burned through and she drifted back to shore and burned to the waterline. Her live cargo was pushed overboard while she was still well out and they swam to shore. On 25 November 1874, WILLIAM SANDERSON (wooden schooner, 136 foot, 385 gross tons, built in 1853, at Oswego, New York) was carrying wheat in a storm on Lake Michigan when she foundered. The broken wreck washed ashore off Empire, Michigan, near Sleeping Bear. She was owned by Scott & Brown of Detroit. During a storm on 25 November 1895, MATTIE C. BELL (wooden schooner, 181 foot, 769 gross tons, built in 1882, at E. Saginaw, Michigan) was in tow of the steamer JIM SHERRIFS on Lake Michigan. The schooner stranded at Big Summer Island, was abandoned in place and later broke up. No lives were lost. On 25 Nov 1947, the CAPTAIN JOHN ROEN was renamed c.) ADAM E. CORNELIUS by the American Steamship Co. in 1958, CORNELIUS was renamed d.) CONSUMERS POWER. Eventually sold to Erie Sand, she was scrapped at Kaohsiung, Taiwan in 1988. Built in 1927, as a.) GEORGE M. HUMPHERY. On 25 Nov 1905, the JOSEPH G. BUTLER JR (steel straight-deck bulk freighter, 525 foot, 6,588 gross tons) entered service, departing Lorain, Ohio, for Duluth on her maiden voyage. The vessel was damaged in a severe storm on that first crossing of Lake Superior, but she was repaired and had a long career. She was renamed DONALD B GILLIES in 1935, and GROVEDALE in 1963. She was sunk as a dock in Hamilton in 1973, and finally sold for scrap in 1981. 1904: B.W. BLANCHARD stranded near Alpena, MI and was wrecked. The ship had become unmanageable in heavy weather while enroute to Detroit with a cargo of lumber and was a total loss. 1908: NORTH STAR sank in Lake Huron off Port Sanilac after a collision with NORTHERN QUEEN. The accident occurred in dense fog and the ship went down quickly. All were saved. 1927: THOUSAND ISLANDER cleared Sarnia for Midland under tow of C.S.L. fleetmate COLLINGWOOD and they encountered heavy weather on Lake Huron. The ship was overwhelmed southeast of Thunder Bay Island and sank. 1950: The cargo of steel and package freight aboard the C.S.L. steamer WEYBURN shifted on Lake Ontario in a wild fall storm and the ship took on a precarious list and almost capsized. The ship was escorted to Toronto by RENVOYLE where the problem was corrected. 1971: The Greek freighter ESTIA sank on the Caribbean north of French Guiana after a violent engine room explosion. The ship was bound for Brazil with phosphates and all on board were saved. The vessel had been a Great Lakes visitor as MANCHESTER SPINNER beginning in 1963. 2003: The yacht ALISON LAKE, rebuilt at Toronto from the U.S. Coast Guard ship SAUK, hit a submerged object and sank in very deep water south of Key West, FL. All on board were rescued. Data from: Skip Gillham, Joe Barr, Dave Swayze, Max Hanley, Jody Aho, Russ Plumb, Father Dowling Collection, Ahoy & Farewell II and the Great Lakes Ships We Remember series. |
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Green Bay firefighters respond to fire aboard a ship 11/24 - Green Bay, WI – The Green Bay Metro Fire Department was dispatched to a fire aboard a ship in port Monday morning. A generator caught fire on the tug G.L. Ostrander/barge Integrity at the LaFarge dock off 9th Street shortly before 6 a.m. The Integrity was in port to unload a cargo of cement into the storage vessel S.T. Crapo at the time. The ship’s crew put the fire out before Green Bay firefighters were on the scene. The firefighters helped with ventilating the smoke and made sure the fire didn’t extend anywhere else, confirming the fire was confined to the generator room at the ship’s port bow. No one was hurt. Green Bay Metro Fire Department is investigating what caused the generator to catch fire. The U.S. Coast Guard and Port of Green Bay authorities were notified about the fire. WBAY |
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Port Reports - November 24
Duluth-Superior – Daniel Lindner
Two Harbors-Silver Bay – Gary A. Putney
St. Marys River
Northern Lake Michigan
Green Bay, WI – Jon
Milwaukee, WI – MKE Marine Reports
Northern Lake Huron
Goderich, ON – Bruce Douglas
Midland, ON
Saginaw River – Todd Shorkey
Detroit, MI – Raymond Hill
Lake Erie ports for Monday – Bill Kloss |
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Great Lakes maritime industry underutilized but has tremendous potential 11/24 - Indiana-Burns Harbor – The Port of Indiana-Burns Harbor makes a major economic contribution to the region, such as by receiving 50 shipments of wind turbines this year. "I manage a port 20 miles east of Chicago that's a little steel campus with 25 companies," Port Director Ian Hirt said at the seventh annual Summit on Regional Competitiveness last week. "We pickle steel, put it into sheets, and process it for appliances." The summit is hosted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago and co-sponsored by the Alliance for Regional Competitiveness. "We're sandwiched in between the Cleveland-Cliffs steel mill and U.S. Steel's Midwest Plant," Hirt continued. "We contribute $5.2 billion in economic activity. While steel is our bread and butter, we also serve agriculture. Fertilizer comes in for farms across northern Indiana, southwest Michigan and northeast Illinois. Then we ship the grain out." Great Lakes Ports in Burns Harbor, Chicago and Milwaukee handle millions of tons of cargo a year, linking the Upper Midwest with the wider world via international commerce. But they are underutilized and have tremendous potential to have even greater economic impact, said Great Lakes St. Lawrence Governors & Premiers CEO David Naftzger during a panel at the summit entitled "Transforming the Great Lakes Ports: The Contemporary Role of Transportation in Enhancing Commerce Throughout the Mega-Region." Panelists at the week-long summit tackled big-picture issues across the mega-region, which stretches across the Milwaukee metro through Chicago and into Northwest Indiana. Topics included the disruption caused by COVID-19, the digital divide between urban and rural communities and the need for innovation to transform the economy. "This is a regional hub for North America's transportation system," Naftzger said. "We often talk about rail, road and air, but talk less about maritime. It's often under-recognized in discussions of the regional economy because it's one or two steps removed from the consumer experience." The Great Lakes maritime industry has long supported the region's manufacturing sector. "Maritime supports the region's industrial core," he said. "It plays a key role in moving big and bulky cargo that's pivotal to the economy. It moves commodities from mines to steel mills. It supports automotive plants, food processing and manufactured food products." It's also underused. "Some parts are running at 50% capacity," Naftzger said. "It has tremendous potential to drive more growth to the region." The maritime industry connects the Great Lakes economy to global markets, especially Europe. "If you've ever been on a beach, you might have seen a 1,000-foot ship off in the distance," he said. "Shipping on the Great Lakes is moving products from mill to mill and from farm to global markets." But the ports will need to reinvest in infrastructure and target new industries for growth, Hirt said. "We need to find industries to grow in our marketplace," he said. "The automotive industry has been moving south, so the new steel mills are coming into the south as well. We need to backfill it with new industries for our region and we have to find those industries as we move forward." NW Indiana Times |
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Today in Great Lakes History - November 24
On this day in 1966, Hjalmer Edwards became ill while working as a second cook on the steamer DANIEL J. MORRELL. He was transferred to the hospital at Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan when the MORRELL transited the locks for the last time on Thanksgiving Day. Five days later, the DANIEL J. MORRELL sank during a severe storm on Lake Huron with just Dennis Hale as its lone survivor. On 24 November 1945, SCOTT E. LAND (steel propeller C4-S-A4 cargo ship, 496 foot, 10,654 gross tons) was launched at Kaiser Corporation (Hull #520) in Vancouver, Washington for the U.S. Maritime Commission. She was converted to a straight-deck bulk freighter at Baltimore, Maryland in 1951, and renamed TROY H. BROWNING. In 1955, she was renamed THOMAS F. PATTON. After serving on the Great Lakes, she was scrapped in Karachi, Pakistan, in 1981. On November 24, 1950, while bound for South Chicago with iron ore, the ENDERS M. VOORHEES collided with the up bound steamer ELTON HOYT II (now the ST. MARYS CHALLENGER) in the Straits of Mackinac during a blinding snowstorm. Both vessels received such serious bow damage that they had to be beached near McGulpin Point west of Mackinaw City to avoid sinking. ROSEMOUNT, stored with coal, sank alongside CSL's Century Coal Dock at Montreal, Quebec, on November 24, 1934. Paterson's PRINDOC (Hull#657) was launched November 24, 1965, at Lauzon, Quebec, by Davie Shipbuilding Co. Ltd. November 24, 1892 - The ANN ARBOR NO 1 ran aground on her first trip just north of the Kewaunee harbor. On 24 Nov 1881, LAKE ERIE (wooden propeller canaller, 136 foot, 464 gross tons, built in 1873, at St, Catharine's, Ontario) collided with the steamer NORTHERN QUEEN in fog and a blizzard near Poverty Island by the mouth of Green Bay. LAKE ERIE sank in one hour 40 minutes. NORTHERN QUEEN took aboard the crew but one man was scalded and died before reaching Manistique. The CITY OF SAGINAW 31 entered service in 1931. On 24 November 1905, ARGO (steel propeller passenger/package freight, 174 foot, 1,089 tons, built in 1896, at Detroit, Michigan) dropped into a trough of a wave, hit bottom and sank in relatively shallow water while approaching the harbor at Holland, Michigan. 38 passengers and crew were taken off by breeches' buoy in a thrilling rescue by the U.S. Lifesaving Service. NEPTUNE (wooden propeller, 185 foot, 774 gross tons, built in 1856, at Buffalo, New York) was laid up at East Saginaw, Michigan, on 24 November 1874, when she was discovered to be on fire at about 4:00 a.m. She burned to a total loss. The ANN ARBOR NO 1 left Frankfort for Kewaunee on November 24, 1892. Because of the reluctance of shippers to trust their products on this new kind of ferry it was difficult to find cargo for this first trip. Finally, a fuel company which sold coal to the railroad routed four cars to Kewaunee via the ferry. 1905: ARGO missed the entrance to the harbor at Holland, MI while inbound from Chicago and went aground. All on board, an estimated 72 passengers and crew, were rescued by breeches buoy in a very challenging task. The ship was salvaged in January 1906. 1938: The idle former passenger ship CITY OF BENTON HARBOR was gutted by a fire at Sturgeon Bay. 1970: C.W. CADWELL hit a submerged rock in the Niagara River near Queenston and was stranded. 1988: KATIA was abandoned off Nova Scotia, enroute from Brazil to Carleton, QC, and all 27 on board were taken off by rescue helicopter. Despite salvage efforts, the listing ship sank November 26. It had been through the Seaway earlier in 1987 after previous inland voyages as c) TIMI in 1978 and d) HAPPY MED in 1981. Data from: Skip Gillham, Joe Barr, Dave Swayze, Max Hanley, Jody Aho, Russ Plumb, Father Dowling Collection, Ahoy & Farewell II, The Marine Historical Society of Detroit and the Great Lakes Ships We Remember series. |
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1,500 tons of rock placed to shore up beloved Round Island lighthouse 11/23 - Round Island, MI – The excitement and anticipation that enveloped the Straits of Mackinac this week was almost palpable. After a successful fundraising effort to purchase loads of big riprap rock to protect the iconic Round Island Lighthouse from damaging ice and wave action, the only nail-biting questions left was could the work be done before winter closed in? Lighthouse fans and preservationists were thrilled to find out Tuesday night that the contractor’s barge carrying 1,500 tons of big rock had left its dock in northern Lake Michigan and was headed toward the lighthouse, which sits just off the coast of Mackinac Island. Matt McMullen, chairman of the Round Island Lighthouse Preservation Society, said people in the area and others close to the project were using a marine traffic app to track the progress of the 220-foot barge and its tugboat as it came across the Straits, where Lake Huron and Lake Michigan meet. “When they got to the Mackinac Bridge, everyone was watching the bridge cams. Then photos started pouring in from the residents of the Mackinac community. People are just excited to see this project come to fruition,” said McMullen, whose group acts as caretakers and fundraisers for the historic lighthouse. “It’s just truly amazing to me still how many people were involved with this. From the biggest parts to the littlest parts, everything came together to pull this off this season.” Round Island Lighthouse Workers in a barge-and-tugboat combination work to place riprap rock around the Round Island Lighthouse. Built in 1895, the red and white Round Island Lighthouse is the one hundreds of thousands of visitors see each year as they ride the ferries to and from the Mackinac Island docks. But recent high-water years on the Great Lakes have been a concern. The small, uninhabited Round Island is overseen by the U.S. Forest Service, but the nonprofit society acts as lighthouse caretakers, handling maintenance projects large and small each season. For several months, they’ve worried that next spring’s thaw and ice break-up could mean a repeat of the 1972 damage when storms and high waves washed away a side of the lighthouse building, exposing it to the elements. That damage was later repaired. Their summer fundraising campaign was moving slowly until an anonymous donor stepped in this fall with $250,000 to cover the cost of much of the needed rock work. Adding more riprap will expand the protective stone barrier that already exists around the lighthouse, lessening the impact of strong waves and ice that might get shoved ashore. The project was fast-tracked for approval by state and federal officials because of the late-season weather concerns. North Shore Marine Terminal, a shipyard in Escanaba, was contracted for the work. It was set to begin as soon as there was a good window of weather. That turned out to be this week. “They immediately began work on Wednesday morning and continued working into the night until weather conditions worsened,” McMullen said. “Star Line Mackinac Island Ferry graciously provided dockage on Mackinac Island until weather conditions improved, and they continued to work on Thursday.” The crew was able to complete the job late Thursday. Strong winds and 10-foot swells on the lake meant they had to spend another night, but the barge and tug workers today are on their way back to their home port in Escanaba, according to the lighthouse group. Round Island Lighthouse Read more and view images at this link: https://www.mlive.com/news/2020/11/see-1500-tons-of-rock-being-placed-to-shore-up-beloved-michigan-lighthouse.html |
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Port Reports - November 23
Duluth-Superior – Daniel Lindner
Two Harbors-Silver Bay – Gary A. Putney
Thunder Bay, ON
Northern Lake Michigan
Milwaukee, MI – MKE Marine Reports
Northern Lake Huron
Goderich, ON – Bruce Douglas
Detroit, MI – Raymond Hill
Buffalo, NY – Brian R Wroblewski |
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Today in Great Lakes History - November 23
In 1940, the CONSUMERS POWER, a.) HARRY YATES of 1910, collided with the MARITANA on the Detroit River. The MARITANA sustained $11,089.91 in damage. MARITANA was scrapped at Hamilton, Ontario, in 1947. On 23 November 1863, BAY OF QUINTE (wooden schooner, 250 tons, built in 1853, at Bath, Ontario) was carrying 7,500 bushels of wheat to Toronto when she was driven ashore on Salmon Point on Lake Ontario and wrecked. No lives were lost. On 23 November 1882, the schooner MORNING LIGHT (wooden schooner, 256 tons, built in 1857, at Cleveland, Ohio) was sailing from Manistee for Chicago with a load of lumber when a storm drove her aground off Claybanks, south of Stony Lake, Michigan. One crewman swam to shore, the rest were saved by a lifesaving crew, local fishermen and the tug B. W. ALDRICH. Earlier that same year, she sank near St. Helen Island in the Straits of Mackinac. She was salvaged and put back in service, but she only lasted a few months. After discharging her cargo, the SAMUEL MATHER, launched as a.) PILOT KNOB b.) FRANK ARMSTRONG (1943-73), proceeded to DeTour, Michigan, laying up for the last time at the Pickands Mather Coal Dock on November 23, 1981. She was scrapped at Aliaga, Turkey in 1988. In 1987, the self-unloader ROGERS CITY was towed out of Menominee, Michigan, for scrapping in Brazil. STADACONA's sea trials were completed on November 23, 1952, and was delivered to Canada Steamship Lines the next day. On 23 November 1872, Capt. W. B. Morley launched the propeller JARVIS LORD at Marine City, Michigan. Her dimensions were 193 feet X 33 feet X 18 feet, 1,000 tons. She was the first double decker built at Marine City. Her engine was from Wm. Cowie of Detroit. On 23 November 1867, S. A. CLARK (wooden propeller tug, 12 tons, built in 1863, at Buffalo, New York) was in Buffalo's harbor when her boiler exploded and she sank. November 23, 1930 - The Ann Arbor carferry WABASH grounded in Betsie Lake. She bent her rudder stock and her steering engine was broken up. On 23 November 1853, the wooden schooner PALESTINE was bound from Kingston to Cleveland with railroad iron at about the same time as the like-laden schooner ONTONAGON. Eight miles west of Rochester, New York, both vessels ran ashore, were pounded heavily by the waves and sank. Both vessels reported erratic variations in their compasses. The cargoes were removed and ONTONAGON was pulled free on 7 December, but PALESTINE was abandoned. A similar event happened with two other iron-laden vessels a few years previously at the same place. On 23 November 1853, the Ward Line's wooden side-wheeler HURON struck an unseen obstruction in the Saginaw River and sank. She was raised on 12 December 1853, towed to Detroit and repaired at a cost of $12,000. She was then transferred to Lake Michigan to handle the cross-lake traffic given the Ward Line by the Michigan Central Railroad. The carferry GRAND HAVEN was sold to the West India Fruit & Steamship Co., Norfolk, Virginia in 1946, and was brought down the Mississippi River to New Orleans, Louisiana for reconditioning before reaching Port Everglades and the Port of Palm Beach, Florida. She was brought back to the Lakes and locked up bound through the Welland Canal on 23 Nov 1964. She was intended for roll on/roll off carrier service to haul truck trailers laden with steel coils from Stelco's plant at Hamilton, Ont. CSL NIAGARA a.) J. W. McGIFFIN, passed Port Huron, Michigan on 23 Nov 1999, on her way to Thunder Bay to load grain. This was her first trip to the upper lakes since the vessel was re-launched as a SeawayMax carrier in June 1999. 1901: QUITO stranded off Lorain, Ohio, and broke up in a Lake Erie storm. All on board were saved. 1902: SILVANUS J. MACY was last observed battling heavy seas in Lake Erie off Port Burwell. The coal laden, wooden steamer was lost with all hands. 1936: A fire at Portsmouth, Ontario, just west of Kingston, destroyed several idle wooden steamers including the SIMON LANGELL and PALM BAY. Their remains were towed into Lake Ontario and scuttled in 1937. 1961: AMVRAKIKOS ran aground on Pancake Shoal, Lake Superior, on its first and only visit to the Great Lakes. This World War Two vintage Liberty ship was refloated on November 26, loaded scrap steel at Toledo for Japan and was the last saltwater ship of the 1961 season to depart the St. Lawrence Seaway. 1997: AN TAI, an SD 14 cargo carrier registered in Belize, began to list and then the hull cracked at the dock in Port Klang, Malaysia. The ship sank at the wharf the next day. The vessel had visited the Great Lakes, first as a) LONDON GRENADIER in 1972 and again as b) FIRST JAY in 1979. Subsequent salvage efforts failed and the hull was cut into sections, taken out to sea, and dumped in a fish breeding grounds. Data from: Skip Gillham, Joe Barr, Dave Swayze, Max Hanley, Russ Plumb, Steve Haverty, Father Dowling Collection, Ahoy & Farewell II and the Great Lakes Ships We Remember series |
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Marine museum launches fundraising effort to repair site, bring in ship 11/22 - Kingston, ON – The Marine Museum of the Great Lakes, once again the owner of its Ontario Street property after buying it back from a developer, has started an ambitious $500,000 fundraising campaign. The funds are needed after Patry Inc. Developments owned the property from 2016 to 2019. The heritage building was without power for those three years, a situation that is believed to have led to extensive damage inside the facility. “The campaign is to address the immediate and urgent repairs that are needed at our (Kingston Dry Dock) National Historic Site property on Ontario Street,” museum chair Chris West said in an interview on Thursday. The property was purchased in its current state late in the summer of 2019 after the museum received a multimillion-dollar donation from Kingston businessman and philanthropist Brit Smith. “When we bought the property, we bought it as is,” West said. It had lain vacant for three years — we knew that — but since acquiring the property and bringing in the various trades to look at the electrical, heating, plumbing, safety and fire and all of it, there’s a big job that has to be done.” West said there was a lot of degradation of the property over the three years the museum was out of its Ontario Street home. “Everything was cut off when he took possession, so even the famous engine house — which is the most important heritage structure on the property — that operates the steam engine and the pumps that drain the dry dock, it was underwater, right up to lake level.” West said. “We had a sump pump that kept it dry, but no power and no sump pump (while the museum did not occupy the building) and that was a soggy mess.” The high water levels in the spring and summer of 2019 also caused the flooding in the engine house. If the museum is able to get back in its space by next summer, it will have to start repair work this winter and next spring. But the museum has loftier goals over the next year, West said. “This $500,000 is to address the immediate repairs, but where we’re headed ultimately is a multi-year capital campaign in the millions of dollars,” West said. The larger campaign, “Steering into the Future,” will be launched sometime in 2021, he said. The museum’s long-term plan is to double its space from 15,000 to 30,000 square feet; drain the dry dock; acquire a museum ship to replace the Alexander Henry, which departed to Thunder Bay in 2017; and bring the 42-foot Red Jacket sailboat to Kingston. The Red Jacket, which was bequeathed to the museum last year, could be sailed in Lake Ontario and used for sunset cruises, executive training and other on-water activities. West also hopes to partner with the City of Kingston to reconnect the waterfront trail where it passes the dry dock. The museum is close to confirming that a historic museum ship will be coming to Kingston over the next year. The S.S. Keewatin steam ship is currently in Port McNicoll, on Georgian Bay. Built in 1907 in Glasgow, Scotland, a few years before the Titanic was built, the Keewatin was a passenger liner that once sailed the Great Lakes to link the eastern and western railheads, carrying passengers and goods to ports for the Canadian Pacific Railway’s Great Lakes steamship service. The 336-foot Keewatin is the last remaining Great Lakes passenger liner and the last of the passenger liner steamships in the world built during the Edwardian period (1901 to 1910). It ceased being used as a passenger ship in 1966, and for more than 40 years was owned by an American collector and displayed in Douglas, Mich. Since 2011, the boat has been docked at Port McNicoll. West, who has seen the ship in person, said that walking through the ship is like a trip back in time, with the main dining room and some staterooms looking just as they did early in the 20th century. “It’s a magnificent artifact and would be a great prize for the museum and the community here,” West said. To donate, go online to www.marmuseum.ca or visit the museum office at the Portsmouth Olympic Harbour. |
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Port Reports - November 22
Duluth-Superior – Daniel Lindner
Two Harbors-Silver Bay – Gary A. Putney
St. Marys River Goderich, ON – Bruce Douglas
Saginaw River – Todd Shorkey
Detroit, MI – Raymond Hill
Lake Erie ports for Saturday – Bill Kloss
Rochester, NY – Tom Brewer Johnstown, ON |
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Help wanted: Lakes Pilots Association seeking new pilot 11/22 - Lakes Pilots Association, based in Port Huron, MI., is now accepting applications for an Applicant Pilot Position. Lakes Pilots Association covers the waters of Lake Erie as well as the Detroit and St. Clair river system, along with all of the associated ports, excluding the Welland Canal. To be eligible to be an Applicant Pilot, one must accrue a minimum of 24 months sea time aboard vessels over 4000 gross tons in a licensed officer capacity. If an individual is using sea time accrued on the oceans, a minimum of 6 months experience must be on the Great Lakes. Great Lakes masters experience is preferred but not a requirement to apply. A complete list of requirements may be found in CFR Title 46, Shipping, Part 401, Subpart B. Applications must first be submitted to the Director of Great Lakes Pilotage in Washington, D.C. to determine eligibility. Applications and Information can be obtained from the US Coast Guard Director of Great Lakes Pilotage by clicking here: https://www.dco.uscg.mil/Our-Organization/Assistant-Commandant-for-Prevention-Policy-CG-5P/Marine-Transportation-Systems-CG-5PW/Office-of-Waterways-and-Ocean-Policy/Office-of-Waterways-and-Ocean-Policy-Great-Lakes-Pilotage-Div/ Please contact Lakes Pilots Association for more information at T.brandano@lakespilots.com.
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Today in Great Lakes History - November 22
In 1947, the Canadian tanker BRUCE HUDSON broke down shortly after departing Port Stanley, Ont. The U.S. tanker ROCKET, Captain R. B. Robbins, managed to get a line on the HUDSON and tow her 50 miles through high seas and a snow storm to shelter behind Point Pelee. Later, the tug ATOMIC arrived on scene and towed the Hudson to Toledo for repairs. On 22 November 1860, WABASH VALLEY (wooden propeller, 592 tons, built in 1856, at Buffalo, New York) was caught in a blizzard and gale off Muskegon, Michigan, on Lake Michigan. Her skipper thought they were off Grand Haven and as he steamed to the harbor, visibility dropped to near zero. The vessel ran onto the beach. Her momentum and the large storm waves carried her well up onto the beach where she broke in two. Her machinery was salvaged and went into the new steamer SUNBEAM. Scrapping of SPRUCEGLEN, a.) WILLIAM K. FIELD was completed on November 22, 1986, by Lakehead Scrap Metal Co. at Thunder Bay Ontario. SPRUCEGLEN was the last Canadian coal-fired bulker. On 22 November 1869, CREAM CITY (3-mast wooden bark, 629 tons, built in 1862, at Sheboygan, Wisconsin) was carrying wheat in a gale when she lost her way and went ashore on Drummond Island. She appeared to be only slightly damaged, but several large pumps were unable to lower the water in her hull. She was finally abandoned as a total wreck on 8 December. She was built as a "steam bark" with an engine capable of pushing her at 5 or 6 mph. After two months of constant minor disasters, this was considered an unsuccessful experiment and the engine was removed. CITY OF MILWAUKEE was chartered to the Ann Arbor Railroad Co. and started the Frankfort, Michigan-Kewaunee, Wisconsin service for them on November 22, 1978. November 22, 1929 - CITY OF SAGINAW 31 went out on her sea trials. On 22 November 1860, CIRCASSIAN (wooden schooner, 135 foot, 366 tons, built in 1856, at Irving, New York) was carrying grain in a gale and blizzard on Lake Michigan when she stranded on White Shoals near Beaver Island. She sank to her decks and then broke in two. Her crew was presumed lost, but actually made it to Hog Island in the blizzard and they were not rescued from there for two weeks. A final note from the Big Gale of 1879. On 22 November 1879, The Port Huron Times reported, "The barge DALTON is still high and dry on the beach at Point Edward." 1878: The wooden passenger and freight steamer WAUBUNO was lost with all hands, 14 crew and 10 passengers, on Georgian Bay. 1898: ARTHUR ORR went aground on Isle Royale when the steering gear failed in a severe storm. It was later released and survived until scrapping at Hamilton in 1947-1948. 1898: S.S. CURRY was leaking badly after it struck a reef off Duck Island, Lake Huron. 1906: J.H. JONES, en route from Owen Sound to Lions Head, was lost with all hands. The wooden passenger and freight steamer went down in 60 mph winds. 1907: Fire broke out aboard the wooden freighter LIZZIE MADDEN shortly after clearing Bay City for Little Current. The crew was rescued by the LANGELL BOYS. The burning hull drifted ashore on Little Charity Island in Saginaw Bay and was a total loss. 1911: JOLIET sank in the St. Clair River following a collision with the HENRY PHIPPS. It had been anchored due to fog when hit and all on board were saved. The remains were dynamited as a hazard to navigation. 1919: The wooden steamer MYRON sank off Crisp Point, Lake Superior and 17 crew were lost. 1950: The former Canada Steamship Lines canaller MAPLETON was destroyed at the Port of Suez, Egypt as b) EASTERN MED when a fire broke out while loading oil drums. The remains of the ship were scrapped. 1975: PIERSON DAUGHTERS hit bottom off North Colban Island in the St. Lawrence and had to go to Port Weller Dry Docks for repairs after unloading the cargo of iron ore at Conneaut. 1988: The Dutch flag freighter POOLSTER first came through the Seaway in 1969. It suffered an engineroom fire off Kuwait as e) ATLANTIC REEFER while bound for Dubai on this date. The badly damaged ship was towed to Sharjah and then sold for scrap. It was renamed f) VOYAGER I for the trip to Gadani Beach, Pakistan, and the vessel arrived April 4, 1989, for dismantling. 1998: SPAR OPAL went aground inside the breakwall at Port Colborne due to high winds and was released by the tugs UNDAUNTED and WELLAND. The ship had also been a Seaway trader beginning in 1984 as a) LAKE SHIDAKA, in 1991 as b) CONSENSUS ATLANTIC, and in 1992 as c) FEDERAL MATANE (i). It began Great Lakes service as e) SPAR OPAL in 1997. 2000: PRINSES IRENE of the Oranje Lijn made 16 trips into the Great Lakes, with passengers and freight, from 1959 through 1963. The vessel was observed beached at Jakarta, Indonesia, as c) TANJUNG OSINA on this date and appeared to be badly rusted and burned out. The hull was later reported to have been broken up. Data from: Skip Gillham, Joe Barr, Dave Swayze, Max Hanley, Russ Plumb, Steve Haverty and Ahoy & Farewell II and the Great Lakes Ships We Remember series. |
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Another record season for wind turbine shipments at Duluth port 11/21 - Duluth, MN – Massive wind turbine blades that will one day tower above Midwestern prairies hovered atop oversized truck beds along the Duluth harbor last week as they awaited the final leg of their journey. Once these parts are trucked away to wind farms, more will be arriving by ship to take their place — as they have all year. The Port of Duluth-Superior is on course to set another record for wind cargo shipments as about 525,000 tons of blades and tower parts are expected to move through the port by the end of the year. That blows past last year’s single-season record of 306,000 tons. “Part of it is location, location, location — and it’s driven off the Midwest being a hotbed for wind development,” said Jonathan Lamb, president of Lake Superior Warehousing. “We’re well-positioned to serve the market.” The wind business is a bright spot in an otherwise down year for shipping on the Great Lakes. Temporary taconite mine shutdowns this spring and summer brought iron ore shipments — the majority of the cargo moving through Duluth’s port — to their lowest levels in years. Through September, overall tonnage totals were 30% behind last year. Wind energy in the U.S. is on pace for record growth this year, meanwhile, as 6,300 megawatts of new capacity were added in the first nine months of 2020, according to the American Wind Energy Association. Xcel Energy, which promises to be carbon-free by 2050, planned to bring more than 1,200 megawatts online this year alone at projects in South Dakota and Minnesota. About 50 tower and turbine blade sets were shipped through Duluth to Xcel’s Blazing Star 2 project in southwest Minnesota this year, the company said. Construction on that 200-megawatt wind farm is expected to wrap up next year. Deb DeLuca, executive director of the Duluth Seaway Port Authority, said wind shipments “send a really important message that the port is open to a wide variety of different types of cargo. We plan together for what would benefit our terminal and what would work best for our regional economy,” she said. “We are always looking to support our regional industries to keep them competitive in a global marketplace.” Manufactured and shipped from Brazil, Germany, India, Malaysia, Mexico, South Korea, Spain and Turkey, the blades and tower parts are shipped as far inland as possible before they are loaded onto trucks and slowly rolled down the highway. “The most expensive part of that is trucking,” Lamb said, so for wind farms in Minnesota and the Dakotas, the most cost-effective route is through Duluth. Each piece is its own truckload with its own permitting and escort vehicles, which have become a common sight on some area roads this year as the massive loads maneuver their way up Highway 53 out of Duluth on a near-daily basis. The wind business started picking up around 2006, and in 2008, a longstanding record 302,000 tons of wind cargo moved through the port. With blades as long as 242 feet and tower sections stretching nearly 100 feet, several dozen or so pieces at a time arrive by water and are unloaded onto the Clure Public Marine Terminal, in which the port and the state have invested heavily over the past decade. The current terminal opened in 2016 after a nearly $18 million expansion project that brought an additional 26 acres of cargo storage space and two ship berths with dockside rail and truck service. On Friday the BBC Xingang settled into its berth with tower parts ready to unload. The Antigua-flagged bulk cargo ship had left the port of Kuantan, Malaysia, on Sept. 30 and traveled through the Suez Canal and up the St. Lawrence Seaway on its 44-day journey to Duluth. Unlike most of the ships that pass through the port with iron ore or grain stashed away inside the hold, this cargo was stacked high and visible for miles as it approached the Aerial Lift Bridge. It typically takes up to four days for crews to unload wind cargo from ships and get turbine parts ready to be moved away one at a time. A team of 12 people were getting started on the first few tower sections on Friday, their yellow vests just specks against the gleaming white-painted steel. Just one more ship with wind cargo, the 30th of the season, is expected in Duluth this year. Next year could be another busy one, though it all depends on where new wind projects are planned and where they are sourcing their parts from, Lamb said, which is the main reason shipments fluctuate so much year over year. Some projects require turbines to be made in the U.S., while projects in Texas and Oklahoma would likely receive imported parts through the Gulf of Mexico. And while Minnesota and the Dakotas had more than 2,600 megawatts of wind power under construction as of September, according to the American Wind Energy Association, just 500 more megawatts of capacity were in advanced planning stages. “With everything being as busy as it is not just here but in the wind industry overall, I expect we’ll see some wind cargo next year,” Lamb said. “But it’s a little too early to tell.” Star Tribune |
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Port Reports - November 21
Duluth-Superior – Daniel Lindner
Thunder Bay, ON
Two Harbors-Silver Bay – Gary A. Putney
Marquette, MI – Fred A Tijan
St. Marys River
Northern Lake Michigan
Milwaukee, WI – MKE Marine Reports
Northern Lake Huron
Goderich, ON – Bruce Douglas
Detroit, MI – Raymond Hill
Lake Erie ports for Friday – Bill Kloss Rochester, NY – Tom Brewer McKeil Spirit was at Lehigh Cement dock on Friday evening. |
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Michigan teens to ship care packages to sailors 11/21 - Bath, MI – Two young men are on a mission to recognize and support sailors. They’re hoping you’ll get on board with their effort. 16-year-old Brendan Falkowski lives in Bath, Michigan, and loves Great Lakes ships. So much so that he created his own website called ‘Shipwatcher News,’ where he puts out a bi-monthly newsletter focused on providing reliable, accurate news on the great lakes shipping industry and its history. But right now, he and his friend Brock Johnson have set sail on a new adventure. They’re edging forward with the ‘Shipwatcher News Caring for our Sailors’ program. They’re collecting money and donations of healthy snacks and treats to give those sailors as a gift this holiday season in the form of care packages. 6 News anchor Chivon Kloepfer spoke with the young men to learn more about their effort for this week’s “Tell Me Something Good” report. Watch the segment here: https://www.wlns.com/news/tmsg-teens-to-ship-care-packages-to-sailors |
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Today in Great Lakes History - November 21
In 1934, the package freighter EDWARD L. LOOMIS, Captain Alex McKenzie, collided with the W. C. FRANZ, Captain Alex McIntyre, about 30 miles southeast of Thunder Bay Island, Lake Huron. Four crewmen on the FRANZ drowned when the lifeboat turned over while being lowered. On 21 November 1861, ENTERPRISE (2-mast wooden scow-schooner, 64 foot, 56 tons, built in 1854, at Port Huron, Michigan) was driven ashore near Bark Shanty at the tip of Michigan's thumb on Lake Huron. The storm waves pounded her to pieces. Her outfit was salvaged a few days later. On the evening of 21 November 1890, the scow MOLLIE (wooden scow-schooner, 83 foot, 83 gross tons, built in 1867, at Fairport, Ohio) left Ludington, Michigan, with a load of lumber. About 8:00 p.m., when she was just 25 miles off Ludington, she started to leak in heavy seas, quickly becoming waterlogged. Capt. Anderson and his two-man crew had just abandoned the vessel in the yawl when the steamer F & P M NO 4 showed up, shortly after midnight. The rough weather washed Capt. Anderson out of the yawl, but he made it back in. At last a line from the F & P M NO 4 was caught and made fast to the yawl and the crew made it to the steamer. The men had a narrow escape, for the MOLLIE was going to pieces rapidly, and there was little likelihood of the yawl surviving in the gale. PATERSON (Hull#113) was launched November 21, 1953, at Port Arthur, Ontario, by Port Arthur Ship Building Co. Ltd. In 1924, MERTON E. FARR slammed into the Interstate Bridge that linked Superior, Wisconsin, with Duluth, Minnesota, causing extensive damage to the bridge. The bridge span fell into the water but the FARR received only minor damage to her bow. On 21 November 1869, the ALLIANCE (wooden passenger sidewheeler, 87 foot, 197 gross tons, built in 1857, at Buffalo, New York) slipped her moorings at Lower Black Rock in the Niagara River and went over the falls. She had been laid up since the spring of 1869. November 21, 1906 - The PERE MARQUETTE 17 encountered one of the worst storms in many years while westbound for the Wisconsin Central slip in Manitowoc. Wisconsin. She made port safely, but the wind was so high that she could not hold her course up the river without assistance. The tug ARCTIC assisted, and as they were proceeding through the 10th Street Bridge, a gust of wind from the south drove the ferry and tug against the north pilings of the 10th Street Bridge. The ARCTIC, pinned between the ferry and the bridge, was not damaged, but she crushed the hull of a fishing tug moored there, sinking her, and inflicted damage of a few hundred dollars to the bridge. November 21, 1923 - Arthur Stoops, the lookout on the ANN ARBOR NO 6, was drowned while stepping from the apron onto the knuckle to cast off the headline. On the night of 21 November 1870, C.W. ARMSTRONG (wooden propeller steam tug, 57 foot, 33 tons, built in 1856, at Albany, New York) burned at her dock at Bay City, Michigan. No lives were lost. More incidents from the Big Gale of 1879. On 21 November 1879, The Port Huron Times reported "The schooner MERCURY is ashore at Pentwater. The schooner LUCKY is high and dry at Manistee; the schooner WAUBASHENE is on the beach east of Port Colborne. The schooner SUMATRA is on the beach at Cleveland; the large river tug J P Clark capsized and sunk at Belle Isle in the Detroit River on Wednesday [19 Nov.] and sank in 15 minutes. One drowned. The schooner PINTO of Oakville, Ontario, stone laden, went down in 30 feet of water about one mile down from Oakville. At Sand beach the barge PRAIRIE STATE is rapidly going to pieces. 1883: The boiler exploded aboard the salvage tug ERIE BELLE while working to free the schooner J.N. CARTER in the Kincardine area of Lake Huron. The former was wrecked but the boiler is still on what has become known as “Old Boiler Beach”. 1902: BANNOCKBURN disappeared on Lake Superior without a trace. Its final resting place has never been found. 1906: The wooden steamer RESOLUTE anchored off the Eastern Gap at Toronto to ride out a storm but the wind switched battering the vessel until it sank. The hull was salvaged in October 1907 and rebuilt as the JOHN ROLPH. 1936: HIBOU was lost in Owen Sound Bay within two miles of the dock and seven perished. The hull was refloated in 1942. 1941: HENRY C. DARYAW, requisitioned for war and on its delivery voyage stranded on rocks in the Brockville Narrows, rolled over and slid off into deep water and sank. It was to have been used on the east coast as a tender for ocean ships. One life was lost. 1957: MONTFAUCON was built at Wyandotte, MI in 1920 and later operated on the Great Lakes as b) E.M. BUNCE. It was at Naples, Italy, as g) ANNA MARIA IEVOLI when an internal explosion caused damage that led to the ship being scrapped. 1959: MOSES GAY was built at Duluth in 1943. It was severely damaged as e) HEANGURA in a storm at Ostra Kvarken, Sweden, and went aground. While salvaged, the ship was tied up at Turku, Finland, and sold for scrap in January 1960. 1961: The British freighter RAPALLO was anchored at Istanbul, Turkey, when struck and damaged by two different freighters, both out of control due to high winds. The vessel was repaired and began Seaway trading in 1963 for the Ellerman Wilson Line. 1961: The former Paterson canaller GANANDOC left the Great Lakes as b) SUGARLAND in October 1961. It had a brief career in the south and went aground at Arcas Reef, Bay of Campeche, while inbound for Coatzacoalcos, Mexico with 2,877 tons of phosphoric rock from Tampa. The ship was abandoned on November 26 as a total loss. 1962: BRO, a Norwegian pre-Seaway visitor as early as 1953, was abandoned by the crew after taking a severe list en route from Seville, Spain, to Rotterdam, Netherlands. The ship was taken in tow, reached Lisbon, Portugal, and was repaired. 1982: CAPTAIN PANAGOS D.P. went aground at Farasan Island in the Red Sea en route from Trois Rivieres, QC to Bandar Abbas, Iran. Fire broke out in the engine room and the ship was gutted. The hull was refloated and was noted lying off Qatar “derelict” in December 1986 and finally scrapped at Gadani Beach, Pakistan, as c) JENNY in 1988. The vessel first came through the Seaway as PANAGOS D. PATERAS in 1977 and returned as CAPTAIN PANAGOS D.P. in 1980. 1994: The Russian freighter FASTOV, upbound for Green Bay with pulpwood on its first trip to the Great Lakes, lost power and struck the Shell dock at Corunna, ON, resulting in considerable damage to the structure. The vessel returned inland as d) EVANGELOS in 1999 and was scrapped at Aliaga, Turkey, as f) JONA in 2011. 2007: The engine aboard the Lake Erie passenger ship JIIMAAN became disabled after the vessel snagged a fish net off Kingsville and the vessel grounded briefly. Data from: Skip Gillham, Joe Barr, Dave Swayze, Father Dowling Collection, Max Hanley, Steve Haverty and Ahoy & Farewell II and the Great Lakes Ships We Remember series. |
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Port Reports - November 20
Duluth-Superior – Daniel Lindner
Thunder Bay, ON
Two Harbors-Silver Bay – Gary A. Putney
St. Marys River
Northern Lake Michigan
Sturgeon Bay, WI – Daniel Lindner
Green Bay, WI – Jon
Milwaukee, WI – MKE Marine Reports
Sarah Andrie/A-390 arrived at 11:01 Thur
Northern Lake Huron
Goderich, ON – Bruce Douglas
Saginaw River – Todd Shorkey
Detroit, MI – Raymond Hill
Lake Erie ports for Thursday – Bill Kloss
Rochester, NY – Tom Brewer |
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Updates 11/20 - The saltie gallery has been updated with the following images: Americaborg, BBC Oregon, BBC Xingang, Ludogorets, Maasgracht, Pechora Star, Vancouverborg, Virginiaborg and Yulia. |
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National Museum Offers Cook Holiday Card Number 52 11/20 - Toledo, OH – The National Museum of the Great Lakes has printed a maritime holiday card for the past 52 years. The artist responsible for this this accomplishment is Alexander Cook. In 1968, Cook a board member of the Great Lakes Historical Society and volunteer curator for the museum then located in Vermilion, offered to complete the artwork for the holiday card as a means of raising funds for the museum. Cook worked as an editorial cartoonist for the Cleveland Plain Dealer for a number of years as well as an executive for the Edward Howard Co., a regional advertising and public relations firm. Cook retired as an art teacher for the Cleveland Public School system. Cook has painted a maritime holiday scene every year since 1968. The 2020 Cook Holiday Card can be seen as well as purchased at nmglstore.org. The card features a lumber hooker with a lighted Christmas tree on its deck while stuck in the ice circa 1890. The lumber hooker is being assisted by two tugboats. The inside message reads “Season’s Greetings.”A pack of 10 cards retails for $16.95 per package plus shipping. Go to nmglstore.org to order cards or call the museum at 419-214-5000 extension 0. |
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Today in Great Lakes History - November 20
In 1948, the ROBERT HOBSON was blown against the Duluth-Superior breakwall as she tried to enter the harbor during a 68-mph gale. Damage to the vessel was kept to a minimum when Captain John Mc Nellis ordered the seacocks opened to settle the HOBSON on a sandbar. Renamed b.) OUTARDE in 1975, she was scrapped at Port Colborne, Ontario in 1985. On 20 November 1854, BURLINGTON (2-mast wooden brig, 80 foot, 117 tons, built in 1842, at Cleveland, Ohio) was driven hard aground near Port Bruce, Ontario, on Lake Huron while trying to assist the stranded Canadian bark GLOBE. SAGINAW was christened at the Government Dock in Sarnia, Ontario, in 1999. Bonnie Bravener and Wendy Siddall broke the traditional bottle of champagne adding the second vessel to Lower Lakes Towing's fleet. The company then opened the vessel for tours to all those in the large crowd that had gathered to witness the event. She was built in 1953 as a.) JOHN J. BOLAND. Hall Corporation of Canada's EAGLESCLIFFE HALL was launched in 1956, at Grangemouth, Scotland. Sold off the lakes, renamed b.) EAGLESCLIFFE in 1974, she sank two miles east of Galveston, Texas, on February 9, 1983. The ferry WOLFE ISLANDER was christened on November 20, 1946, at Marysville, Wolfe Island. The new ferry was the unfinished OTTAWA MAYBROOK which was built to serve the war effort in the south Pacific Ocean. She replaced two landing barges which were pressed quickly into service following the condemned steamer WOLFE ISLANDER, a.) TOM FAWCETT of 1904, which had served the community for 42 years. Officially christened WOLFE ISLANDER by Mrs. Sarah Russell, it took five tries before the champagne bottle finally broke on her port side. Pittsburgh Steamship's steamer RALPH H. WATSON (Hull#285) was launched in 1937, at River Rouge, Michigan, by Great Lakes Engineering Works. On 20 November 1872, the side wheel steamer W. J .SPICER was finally laid up and the crew dismissed. She had served for many years as the Grand Trunk ferry at Fort Gratiot on the St. Clair River. On 20 November 1880, BAY CITY (wooden barge, 199 foot, 480 tons, built in 1852, at Trenton, Michigan as the sidewheeler FOREST CITY) was carrying coal when she was cast adrift east of Erie, Pennsylvania by the steamer JAMES P. DONALDSON in a storm. She was driven ashore and wrecked. Her crew was saved by the U.S. Lifesaving Service using breeches' buoy. November 20, 1898. ANN ARBOR #3 left Cleveland, Ohio for Frankfort, Michigan, on her maiden voyage. November 20, 1924 - Pere Marquette fleet engineer Finlay MacLaren died after 42 years with the railroad. He was succeeded by his brother Robert until Leland H. Kent was named fleet engineer in 1925. On 20 Nov. 1871, the schooner E. B. ALLEN was sailing from Chicago to Buffalo with a load of corn when she crossed the bow of the bark NEWSBOY about six miles off the Thunder Bay Light on Lake Huron. The NEWSBOY slammed her bow deep into the schooner's hull amidships and the ALLEN sank in about 30 minutes. The crew escaped in the yawl. The NEWSBOY was badly damaged but did not sink. On 20 Nov. 1999, the Bermuda-flag container ship CANMAR TRIUMPH went aground on the St. Lawrence River off Varennes about 15 kilometers downstream from Montreal. She was the third vessel to run aground in the St. Lawrence River that autumn. The Canadian Coast Guard reported that she was having engine problems and the CBC News reported that the vessel's rudder was damaged in the grounding. On Saturday morning, 20 Nov. 1999, Marinette Marine Corporation of Marinette, Wisconsin, launched the 175-foot Coast Guard Cutter HENRY BLAKE. The BLAKE was one of the "Keeper" Class Coastal Class Buoy Tenders. Each ship in the "Keeper" class is named after a famous American lighthouse keeper. 1917: JOHAN MJELDE, built at Cleveland in 1916, was sailing as b) STORO when captured by the German submarine U-151 near the Azores and, after 22 tons of copper were removed, the ship was scuttled on November 26. 1920: J.H. SHEADLE ran aground on the rocks at Marquette when the steering failed while backing from the dock. The ship was badly damaged. It last sailed in 1979 as e) PIERSON INDEPENDENT. 1943: The former LAKE FINNEY, later a Pre-Seaway trader in the 1930s as SANTA EULALIA, was torpedoed and sunk by British forces as the enemy ship c) POLCEVERA off Carlovassi, Italy. 1966: The Liberty ship MOUNT EVANS made two trips through the Seaway in 1961. It stranded off Mapingil, Philippines as h) EASTERN ARGO on this date in 1966. The hull was refloated with damage and then towed to Taiwan for scrapping in 1967. 1990: GINA, a Lebanese freighter, began leaking at Varna, Bulgaria. The ship was later taken to Piraeus, Greece, and laid up. The superstructure was removed and installed on a fire damaged vessel while the hull was towed to Aliaga, Turkey, in October 1991 and dismantled. GINA had been a Great Lakes trader as a) MARCOSSA-I in 1972 Data from: Skip Gillham, Joe Barr, Brian Johnson, Dave Swayze, Russ Plumb, Father Dowling Collection, Max Hanley, Steve Haverty and Ahoy & Farewell II and the Great Lakes Ships We Remember series. |
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Kingston’s Marine Museum of the Great Lakes unveils plans to acquire Keewatin 11/19 - Kingston, ON – Kingston’s Marine Museum of the Great Lakes is charting a new course for the future with an ambitious fundraising campaign and a Titanic-era steamship in its sights. Chris West, chair of the museum’s board of directors, revealed to Global News for the first time that the museum is in “very close talks” to acquire the more than century-old SS Keewatin, an Edwardian passenger steamship, to become its flagship exhibit. West didn’t disclose a potential price to acquire the 1907-built ship, which is currently docked as a tourist attraction in Port McNicholl in Georgian Bay, but says the museum is working on a donation agreement with the owner. Part of that involves making an application to Heritage Canada to get the ship designated as Canadian cultural property, which has implications for tax write-off purposes, West explains. “This ship is in marvelous condition. It’s unfortunate that there’s not a possibility to keep it where it is. But Kingston will be very excited when they learn more about this ship.” The historical landmark ship, according to the Friends of Keewatin website, was one of six passenger ships that Canadian Pacific Railways sailed on the upper Great Lakes. The ships ferried passengers and settlers out west and were responsible for the economic growth of Alberta and Saskatchewan, which joined Confederation in 1905. The marine museum has been looking for a centerpiece artifact ever since it was forced to give up the Alexander Henry, a retired coast guard icebreaker, and was evicted from its long-time home at 55 Ontario St. in 2016 for a private redevelopment plan that never materialized. But the museum was able to purchase its former home in 2019 and is making plans to move back in as soon as funding, repairs, and COVID-19 conditions allow. West says the museum knew the heritage buildings were in poor shape as they had sat vacant with no heating or electrical service in recent years. The museum has launched a $500,000 capital fundraising campaign to restore the buildings. “We urgently need the $500,000 to turn on the lights, AC and heat, and deal with all the fire and safety and accessibility issues. We really need to get operational next year.” In addition to its plans to move back into the downtown waterfront site next year, the museum has just produced a five-year strategic plan, “Steering into the Future,” that lays out a vision to create a maritime cultural hub attraction. Global News |
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S/V Denis Sullivan’s sailing days could be over without maintenance 11/19 - Milwaukee, WI – The COVID-19 outbreak shut down the Sailing Vessel Denis Sullivan just weeks before its 20th season was scheduled to begin. With its programming halted, and lacking minimal funds for its maintenance, the sailing days of Wisconsin’s flagship and Great Lakes floating classroom could be over. As Discovery World, the scientific museum that operates the vessel, made cutbacks over 2020, many employees were furloughed. But the financial pressure has continued to mount as the pandemic stretches on and cases of infections continue to skyrocket. As a result, the last two remaining crew to maintain the special freshwater ship – her captain and chief mate – were recently let go. After 12 years in command of the S/V Denis Sullivan, Captain Tiffany Krihwan will no longer be the Senior Captain, Director of Marine Operations, and caretaker of the ship. The decision follows an unfortunate trend that is currently affecting every other classroom vessel and nonprofit museum in the country. “The idea of not being the Sullivan’s captain and caretaker saddens me to my core. I have professionally and personally grown up on this vessel. She has taught me so much. I have watched my daughter grow up on her. I have fallen in love with Milwaukee and Wisconsin,” said Captain Krihwan. In 1989, the Schooner was simply an idea, but thousands of hands and hearts shaped the S/V Denis Sullivan from the ground up. Wisconsin’s history of ingenuity, resourcefulness, and ambition have been highlighted in each sail, educational program, and presentation delivered aboard. The Sullivan did not sail during the spring, summer, and fall of 2020. Discovery World remains hopeful to lift her sails again in the spring of 2021. But funding support for her operations has been a challenge. With programming at a standstill, she has generated no revenue. The annual maintenance for a boat of its size and age costs Discovery World roughly $500,000. Even in normal times Discovery World experiences an operating deficit of about $150,000 each year. But while the lost crew could return or be replaced, time will not be so forgiving and take an irreversible toll on the wooden vessel. That is the true tragedy, because without ongoing maintenance the icon of Milwaukee’s lakefront might never sail again. “I am not going to lie, I need a job just like everyone else,” added Captain Krihwan. “But the Sullivan needs to be cared for and maintained year round. Not just in the sailing season. The chief mate is also getting furloughed and, between just Jonny and I taking care of the Sullivan in the winter months, it’s already a big job. I can’t image how she will be after our absence or for any new crew that may take over when she is to sail again.” Organizations or individuals interested to help Wisconsin’s tall ship can make donations on its official GoFundMe Charity page. Milwaukee Independent |
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Seaway will close Dec. 31 11/19 - The Seaway will close on Dec.31, according to a press release issued Wednesday. |
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Port Reports - November 19
Thunder Bay, ON
Two Harbors-Silver Bay – Gary A. Putney
St. Marys River
Northern Lake Michigan
Green Bay, WI – Jon
Muskegon, MI – Shipwatcher News
Milwaukee, WI – MKE Marine Reports
Northern Lake Huron
Goderich, ON – Bruce Douglas
Saginaw River – Todd Shorkey
Toledo, OH – James Byrne
Lake Erie ports for Wednesday – Bill Kloss |
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Research vessel Kiyi heads indoors for repowering at Great Lakes Shipyard 11/19 - Cleveland, OH – UGSG's Research vessel Kiyi is at Great Lakes Shipyard for a major repowering project. Drydocked a few weeks ago, work begun to disassemble systems. As the cold weather approaches, the vessel was moved into the yard's fabrication building where the remainder of work will be performed. View a video of the move at this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pc7Iilg_yio |
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Help wanted: Vane Brothers 11/19 - Vane Brothers is looking for Tug Masters or Mates of Towing with 200 GRT or greater with Great Lakes recency. Tank Barge experience is preferred. Please call Jennifer Brown (410) 735-8238 for more information or visit http://www.vanebrothers.com/Careers to complete an application. |
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Today in Great Lakes History - November 19
On this day in 1939, in a 24-hour-period, there were 132 transits of the Soo Locks. There were 71 upbound passages and 61 downbound passages. On this day in 1952, Mrs. Ernest T. Weir smashed a bottle of champagne against the hull of the largest freighter built on the Great Lakes and the 690-foot ERNEST T. WEIR slid down the ways at the Lorain yard of American Ship Building Company. The new vessel had a crew of 38 under the command of Captain W. Ross Maitland and Chief Engineer C. F. Hoffman. On 19 November 1897, NAHANT (wooden propeller freighter, 213 foot, 1,204 gross tons, built in 1873, at Detroit, Michigan) caught fire while docked near Escanaba, Michigan. Firefighters were hampered by sub-zero temperatures, and she burned to a total loss. The fire jumped to the dock and did $300,000 worth of damage. Two of the crew were burned to death. The wreckage of the vessel was still visible from the Escanaba lighthouse 100 years later. American Steamship's SAM LAUD (Hull#712) was launched on this date in 1974 at Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. The keel for JOHN T. HUTCHINSON (Hull#1010) was laid November 19, 1942, at Cleveland, Ohio for the U.S. Maritime Commission. The Kinsman Transit Co.'s steamer MERLE M. McCURDY was laid up for the last time at Buffalo, New York, on November 19, 1985. She was scrapped at Port Colborne, Ontario, in 1988. On 19 November 1842, the wooden schooner BRANDYWINE was carrying flour in a storm on Lake Erie when she capsized and then drifted to the beach near Barcelona, New York. One passenger's body was found in the cabin, but the entire crew of 6 was lost. More incidents from the terrible storm swept the Lakes in mid-November 1886. On 18-19 November of that year, The Port Huron Times listed the vessels that were known to have foundered in that storm. Here is the list of vessels that foundered as it appeared on 19 November 1886. "The barge EMERALD near Kewaunee, 5 lost. The barge F M DICKINSON near Kewaunee, 3 lost. Two unknown schooners (one supposed to be the HELEN) near Port Sherman. One unknown schooner near Hog Island Reef. The barge NORTH STAR near East Tawas, the fate of the crew is unknown." The list then continues with vessels ashore. "The barge WALLACE and consort on Choclay Beach, east of Marquette. The schooner SOUTH HAVEN near Pt. Sherman. The schooner MARY near Blenheim, Ontario. The schooner PATHFINDER near Two Rivers, the cargo and vessel are a total loss. The schooner CUYAHOGA and two scows in North Bay. The schooner P S MARSH and an unknown schooner at St. Ignace. The schooner HARVEY BISSELL near Alpena. The propeller CITY OF NEW YORK near Cheboygan. The schooner KOLFAGE near Goderich, Ontario has broken up. The propeller NASHUA on Grass Island, Green Bay. The barge BISSELL near Kewaunee. The schooner GOLDEN below China Beach. The propeller BELLE CROSS and barges across from China Beach. The schooner FLORIDA on Marquette Beach is a total loss. And the barges BUCKOUT, MC DOUGALL, BAKER, GOLDEN HARVEST near East Tawas. The schooner HATTIE JOHNSTON sailed from Milwaukee loaded with 26,000 bushels of wheat on the night of 19 November 1879, and then a severe gale swept Lake Michigan. After two weeks, she was presumed lost with all hands. Aboard were Capt. D. D. Prouty, his wife and 8 crewmen. On 19 Nov 1886, the steamer MANISTIQUE was towing the schooner-barges MARINETTE and MENEKAUNEE, all loaded with lumber, in a NW gale on Lake Michigan. The gale lasted three days. The barges broke loose after a long fight against the elements and both were wrecked near Frankfort, Michigan. Six of the seven aboard the MARINETTE were lost including the woman cook and her 13-year old daughter. MENEKAUNEE broke up before the Lifesaving Service could get to her and all seven aboard died. When the Lifesaving Service arrived on the beach, they found a jumbled mass of lumber and gear and the ship's dog keeping watch over the dead bodies. The dog also died soon after the Lifesaving crew arrived. EMPIRE MALDON (steel tanker, 343 foot, 3,734 gross tons) was launched on 19 November 1945, by Sir James Laing & Sons, Ltd., at Sunderland, United Kingdom for the British Ministry of War Transport She was sold to Imperial Oil Co. of Canada in 1946, and renamed IMPERIAL HALIFAX and served on the Maritime Provinces-East Coast trade. In 1969, she was purchased by Johnstone Shipping, Ltd., of Toronto and served on the Great Lakes. She lasted until 1977, when she was scrapped by United Metals, Ltd. in Hamilton, Ontario. On Friday morning, 19 Nov 1999, shortly after leaving the ADM dock in Windsor, the salty AVDEEVKA lost power in the Fighting Island Channel of the Detroit River. The main engine on the vessel quit while she was abreast of Grassy Island and she began drifting downstream. The stern anchor was dropped and then the port side bow anchor. She began swinging towards the middle of the channel with her stern outside the channel when the main engine was restarted and she headed back upstream for the Belle Isle anchorage. Once in the anchorage a team from the U.S. Coast Guard boarded the vessel to investigate. She was released the next day. It is reported that the vessel lost power due to main fuel valve being left closed after routine maintenance during her stay at the ADM dock. 1904: PHILIP MINCH caught fire 8 miles off Marblehead, Ohio, and sank in the navigation channel. All on board got off safely and rowed to Sandusky in the lifeboat. The remains were dynamited in 1906. 1914: C.F. CURTIS foundered in Lake Superior, 7 miles east of Grand Marais, with the loss of 14 lives. The towing barges ANNIE PETERSON and SHELDON E. MARVIN also went down after the trio ran into high winds and snow. 1956: The year old West German freighter WOLFGANG RUSS was beached in the St. Lawrence near Ile d'Orleans after a collision with the Cunard Line vessel ASIA. The former was inbound for Sorel and had to lightered and taken to Lauzon for repairs to the large hole in the side of the hull. The vessel began Great Lakes visits with the opening of the Seaway in 1959 and made 28 inland trips to the end of 1967. It arrived off Gadani Beach, Pakistan, for scrapping as b) KOTRONAS BEACH on Feb. 4, 1980. 1977: The Canada Steamship Lines self-unloader FRONTENAC grounded off Grassy Island in the St. Lawrence and about 5,000 tons of ore had to be lightered to the SAGUENAY to float free. 1979: The Liberian freighter DANILA was damaged when it struck the west pier while inbound at Port Weller in fog. The vessel first visited the Seaway as a) MAERSK CAPTAIN in 1976 and was back as b) DANILA in 1979. The ship was scrapped at Alang, India, as d) JAY BHAVANI in 1991-1992. Data from: Skip Gillham, Joe Barr, Dave Swayze, Russ Plumb, Father Dowling Collection, Max Hanley, Steve Haverty and Ahoy & Farewell II and the Great Lakes Ships We Remember series. |
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Algoma Intrepid update 11/18 - Algoma Intrepid arrived at Wharf 2 Port Colborne Monday evening to unload her partial cargo of rock. The expected time at the dock was 2-3 days. Her next destination of Thunder Bay was canceled and either Bruce Mines or Goderich will be her next stop. |
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Port Reports - November 18
Duluth-Superior – Daniel Lindner
Two Harbors-Silver Bay – Gary A. Putney
St. Marys River
Sturgeon Bay, WI –Daniel Lindner
Milwaukee, WI – MKE Marine Reports
Goderich, ON – Bruce Douglas
Detroit, MI – Raymond Hill
Lake Erie ports for Tuesday – Bill Kloss
Buffalo, NY – Brian R Wroblewski |
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Today in Great Lakes History - November 18
On 18 November 1869, EQUATOR (wooden propeller package freighter, 184 foot, 621 tons, built in 1857, at Buffalo, New York) was trying to pull the schooner SOUTHWEST off a reef near North Manitou Island on Lake Michigan. A storm swept in and EQUATOR foundered in the relatively shallow water. She was thought to be unsalvageable but was re-floated in 1870. Her hull was extensively rebuilt and became the barge ELDORADO in 1871, while her engine was used in the tug BISMARCK. The CARL D. BRADLEY was lost in a violent storm on Lake Michigan on November 18, 1958. The CANADIAN OLYMPIC's sea trials were conducted on 18 November 1976. Her maiden voyage was on 28 November 1976, to load coal at Conneaut, Ohio for Nanticoke, Ontario. Her name honors the Olympic Games that were held at Montreal that year. The bow and stern sections of the vessel that was to become the STEWART J. CORT were built by Ingalls Shipbuilding Division, Litton Systems, Inc., Pascagoula, MS, as hull 1173. That 182 foot vessel, known as "STUBBY" was launched on 18 Nov 1969. "STUBBY" sailed under its own power from the Gulf of Mexico through the St. Lawrence Seaway and Welland Canal to Erie, Pennsylvania where the sections were cut apart by Erie Marine, Inc. and the 818 foot mid section was added -- making the Lakes first thousand footer. The ASHCROFT was launched November 18, 1924, as a) GLENIFFER. On 18 November 1873, the tug CRUSADER was launched at 1:20 p.m. at the Leighton & Dunford yard in Port Huron, Michigan. Her dimensions were 138 foot overall, 125 foot keel, 23 foot beam, and 12 foot depth. She was built for Mr. G. E. Brockway of Port Huron. On 18 November 1842, CHICAGO (wooden passenger & package freight sidewheeler, 105 foot, 166 tons, built in 1837, at St. Joseph, Michigan) was struck by a gale between Ashtabula and Conneaut in Lake Erie. She lost both of her stacks and became unmanageable when her fires went out. She was driven ashore about 3 miles east of Silver Creek, New York and was wrecked. About 60 persons were on board and amazingly no lives were lost. On 18 November 1882, DROMEDARY (wooden propeller, 120 foot, 255 gross tons, built in 1868, at Port Dalhousie, Ontario) burned to a total loss at the dock at Hamilton, Ontario when her banked fires overheated. She was owned by Burroughs & Co. No lives were lost. A terrible storm swept the Lakes in mid-November 1886. On 18-19 November of that year, The Port Huron Times listed the vessels that were known to have foundered in that storm. Here is the list as it appeared on 18 November 1886. "The barge CHARLES HINCKLEY is ashore near Alpena. The schooner P S MARCH is ashore at St. Ignace. She will probably go to pieces. The schooner THOMAS P. SHELDON is ashore about 10 miles north of Alpena. The crew was rescued by the tug HAND. The schooner NELLIE REDINGTON is reported going to pieces at Two Rivers. Three of her crew reached harbor all right, but the other 7 men on board are in danger of their lives. The coal barges F. M. DICKINSON and EMERALD were driven ashore at Kewaunee, Wisconsin Wednesday morning [17 Nov]. Three of the DICKINSON's crew were drowned, the other four floated ashore on a plank. The EMERALD's crew started ashore in the yawl, but 5 were drowned. On 18 November 1881, the schooner JAMES PLATT left Bay City with a cargo of lumber for Chicago. However, she was wrecked on Lake Michigan during a terrible snowstorm during the first week of December and never made it to Chicago. The storm lasted two full days and six of the crew survived but the rest were lost. The ANN ARBOR NO 4 ran aground on Green Isle, the island in Green Bay to the north of her course between Sturgeon Bay and Menominee on 18 Nov 1913. ANN ARBOR NO 3 pulled her off undamaged after about 2 hours work. 1911: TURRET CAPE stranded near Cove Island, Lake Huron and was not released until 1912. It last sailed as c) WALTER INKSTER and was scrapped at Port Dalhousie in 1959. 1926: The passenger and freight carrier MONTREAL was built at Toronto in 1902. It caught fire and burned near St. Joseph de Sorel in the St. Lawrence River while operating late season in a freight only capacity. The superstructure was destroyed and the vessel was beached. Five deckhands, believed trapped in the bow area, died. 1958: CARL D. BRADLEY sank in Lake Michigan with the loss of 33 lives. 1970: SILLERY, a Canadian freighter that operated on the St. Lawrence, was heavily damaged aft due to an engineroom fire while enroute from Sept-Iles to Montreal. The ship was a total loss. The bow was later removed and transplanted to sistership CACOUNA which received collision damage on July 6, 1971. The latter was later lost on Lake Michigan as c) JENNIFER on December 1, 1974. 2006: JOHN G. MUNSON hit the Shell Fuel Dock at Corunna and knocked about 200 feet of the structure into the St. Clair River. Data from: Skip Gilham, Joe Barr, Dave Swayze, Father Dowling Collection, Historical Collections of the Great Lakes, Max Hanley, Steve Haverty and Ahoy & Farewell II and the Great Lakes Ships We Remember series. |
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Port Reports - November 17
Duluth-Superior – Daniel Lindner
Two Harbors-Silver Bay – Gary A. Putney
Thunder Bay, ON
Northern Lake Michigan
Sturgeon Bay, WI – Jon
Green Bay, WI – Jon
Milwaukee, WI – MKE Marine Reports
Northern Lake Huron
Goderich, ON – Bruce Douglas
Saginaw River – Todd Shorkey
Lake Erie ports for Monday – Bill Kloss |
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Today in Great Lakes History - November 17
On 17 November 1884, PHOENIX (wooden propeller wrecking tug, 173 gross tons, built in 1862, at Cleveland, Ohio) caught fire in one of her coal bunkers at 7 a.m. while she was tied up to the C. S. R. Railroad slip at Amherstburg, Ontario. Several vessels, including the Dunbar tug SHAUGHRAUN and the steam barge MARSH, tried to save her. The SHAUGHRAUN finally got a line on her and pulled her away from the dock and towed her near Norwell’s wharf where she burned and sank. On 17 Nov 1969, the RIDGETOWN (steel propeller bulk freighter, 557 foot, 7,637 gross tons, built in 1905, at Chicago, Illinois as WILLIAM E. COREY) was laid up at Toronto for the last time with a load of grain. In the spring of 1970, Upper Lakes Shipping, Ltd. sold her to Canadian Dredge & Dock Co., Ltd. of Toronto. She was sunk at Nanticoke, Ontario, for use as a temporary breakwater during the construction of harbor facilities in the summer of 1970. Still later, she was raised and sunk again in the summer of 1974, as a breakwater to protect marina facilities at Port Credit, Ontario. On November 17, 1984, the EUGENE P. THOMAS was towed by the TUG MALCOLM to Thunder Bay, Ontario, for scrapping by Shearmet. In the morning of 17 November 1926, the PETER A.B. WIDENER (steel straight-deck bulk freighter, 580 foot, 7,053 gross tons, built in 1906, at Chicago, Illinois) was running up bound on Lake Superior in ballast when it encountered strong Northeasterly winds. About six miles Southwest of the Rock of Ages Light on Isle Royale, the captain gave orders to change course for Duluth, Minnesota. There was no response because the wheel chains had parted from the drum, thus disabling the rudder. Repairs cost $4,000. On 15 Nov 1972, the MICHIPICOTEN (steel straight-deck bulk freighter, 549 foot, 6,490 gross tons, built in 1905, at W. Bay City, Michigan, as HENRY C. FRICK) departed Quebec in tow of Polish tug KORAL for scrapping in Spain. The tow encountered bad weather and the MICHIPICOTEN broke in two during a major fall storm on the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Her forward section sank on 17 November off Anticosti Island, and the after section sank the next day. The propeller JOHN STUART burned about two miles from Sebawaing, Michigan, at 9:00 p.m., 17 November 1872. She had been aground there for some time. On 17 November 1887, ARIZONA (wooden propeller package freighter, 189 foot, 962 gross tons, built in 1868, at Cleveland, Ohio) was carrying oils and acid used in mining operations when her dangerous cargo caught fire as she approached the harbor at Marquette, Michigan, in heavy seas. Poisonous fumes drove all of the crew topside, leaving the vessel unmanageable. She ran against the breakwater and the crew jumped off. The burning steamer "chased" the crew down the breakwater toward town with the poisonous fumes blowing ashore. She finally beached herself and burned herself out. She was later recovered and rebuilt. On 17 November 1873, the wooden 2-mast schooner E.M. CARRINGTON sank in nine feet of water at Au Sable, Michigan. She had a load of 500 barrels of flour and 7,000 bushels of grain. She was recovered and lasted another seven years. On 17 November 1880, GARIBALDI (2-mast wooden schooner, 124 foot, 209 tons, built in 1863, at Port Rowan, Ontario) was carrying coal in a storm on Lake Ontario. She anchored to ride out the storm, but after riding out the gale for 15 hours, her anchor cable parted and her crew was forced to try to bring her into Weller's Bay. She stranded on the bar. One of the crew froze solid in a standing position and his ghost is supposed to still haunt that area. The vessel was recovered and rebuilt. She lasted until at least 1898. 1902: The wooden steamer ROBERT WALLACE sank 13 miles out of Two Harbors while towing the barge ASHLAND. 1922: CITY OF DRESDEN was anchored off Long Point due to high winds and some of the cargo was thrown overboard. The ship beached on the west side of Long Point and broke up as a total loss. One sailor perished. 1922: MALTON went aground on Main Duck Island in Lake Ontario and was stuck until November 30. 1936: The steering cable of the SIDNEY E. SMITH gave way entering the harbor at Fairport, Ohio, and the ship stranded on the break wall. While released on November 22, the heavily damaged vessel was broken up for scrap the following year. 1939: VARDEFJELL, which inaugurated regular Great Lakes service for the Fjell Line in 1932, was torpedoed and sunk as b) KAUNAS 6.5 miles WNW of Noord Harbor, N. Hinder Light, River Schelde. 1996: SEADANIEL went aground at Duluth due to high winds after the anchors dragged. The ship was released, undamaged, by tugs. It last visited the Great Lakes in November 1998 and arrived at Alang, India, for scrapping on May 5, 1999. Data from: Skip Gillham, Joe Barr, Dave Swayze, Father Dowling Collection, Historical Collections of the Great Lakes, Max Hanley, and Ahoy & Farewell II and the Great Lakes Ships We Remember series. |
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Federal Margaree sold, renamed 11/16 - Federal Margaree, a former Fednav vessel built in 2005, has recently been sold and renamed. She is now the Mercury J and is registered in Palau. It first came inland in 2005 and was also a regular lakes visitor. She last visited during the 2020 shipping season. Denny Dushane |
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Port Reports - November 16
Lake Superior Sunday
Duluth-Superior – Daniel Lindner
Two Harbors-Silver Bay – Gary A. Putney
Thunder Bay, ON
Sturgeon Bay, WI – Daniel Linder
Milwaukee, WI – MKE Marine Reports
Northern Lake Huron
Port Huron, MI
Detroit, MI – Raymond Hill
Lake Erie ports for Sunday – Bill Kloss
Buffalo, NY – Brian R Wroblewski |
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Today in Great Lakes History - November 16
On 16 November 1870, BADGER STATE (3-mast wooden bark, 150 foot, 302 tons, built in 1853, at Milwaukee, Wisconsin) stranded and wrecked at Sleeping Bear Dune on Lake Michigan during a storm. The tug portion of the PRESQUE ISLE (Hull#322) built by Halter Marine Services, New Orleans, Louisiana, was up bound in the Welland Canal on November 16,1973, en route to Erie, Pennsylvania, to join with the barge. FRED R. WHITE JR (Hull#722) was launched in 1978, at Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. On 16 Nov 1909, the JAMES S. DUNHAM (steel propeller bulk freighter, 420 foot, 4,795 gross tons, built in 1906, at W. Bay City, Michigan) encountered heavy seas and began hitting bottom where charts indicated 35 feet of water, even though she was in ballast and only drawing 17 feet of water. Rather than risk tearing the bottom out of her, the captain decided to beach her at Marble Point, just east of the Bad River outlet. After the heavy snow showers cleared, a message in a bottle was floated ashore to an observer. The steel bulk freighters SIR JAMES DUNN and GEORGIAN BAY in tow of the Panamanian tug MC THUNDER arrived at Aliaga, Turkey for scrapping on 16 Nov 1989, 129 days after departing Thunder Bay. On 16 November 1887, PACIFIC (wooden propeller freighter, 187 foot, 766 gross tons, built in 1864, at Cleveland, Ohio) was loaded with lumber bound from Deer Park, Michigan, for Michigan City, Indiana. After leaving the dock, she grounded on a shoal due to low water levels. The nearby Lifesaving Service took her crew off and then returned for the captain's dog. She was broken up by a gale on 19 November. In 1892, the ANN ARBOR NO 1 arrived at Frankfort, Michigan on her maiden trip. November 16, 1990 - MWT ceased operations, ending more than a century of carferry service. The last run was made by the BADGER, with Capt. Bruce Masse in command. In 1981, Interlake's JOHN SHERWIN entered lay-up in Superior, Wisconsin and has not seen service since. On 16 November 1869, ADELL (2-mast wooden schooner, 48 foot, 25 gross tons, built in 1860, at Milwaukee, Wisconsin) was driven ashore during a storm about a half mile below Bay View Pier near Milwaukee. Her skipper had every penny he owned sunk into that vessel. He was able to salvage her rigging and spars and left them on the beach overnight. The next day he returned and found that all had been stolen during the night. On 16 Nov 1883, MANISTEE (wooden side-wheeler, 184 foot, 677 tons, built in 1867, at Cleveland, Ohio) broke up in a gale west of the Keweenaw Peninsula off of Eagle Harbor, Michigan. This is one of Lake Superior's worst disasters. Estimates of the number who died range from 23 to 37. 1901: The wooden freighter ELFIN-MERE was damaged by fire at Green Bay after a lamp exploded in the engineroom. The crew got away safely although an engineer was burned. The vessel was rebuilt the following year and returned to service in 1903 as b) CHARLES B. PACKARD. 1908: PASCAL P. PRATT was carrying anthracite coal from Buffalo to Milwaukee when it caught fire in the engineroom off Long Point, Lake Erie. The blaze spread quickly and the wooden vessel was beached. All of the crew got away safely. The hull burned to the waterline and the remains sank. 1923: GLENSTRIVEN, loaded with 160,000 bushels of oats, was wrecked at Cove Island, Georgian Bay in wind and fog. The vessel was enroute to Midland and was salvaged December 5 by the Reid Wrecking Co. The damage was too severe to repair and the hull was scrapped at Collingwood in 1924. 1927: JOLLY INEZ stranded at Saddlebag Island in the False Detour Channel and was abandoned. 1964: THOMAS F. COLE and INVEREWE collided in heavy fog off the southern end of Pipe Island in the St. Marys River. Both ships were repaired but the latter was later lost as d) THEOKEETOR off Mexico following another collision on June 20, 1973. 1965: The LAWRENCECLIFFE HALL sank in the St. Lawrence after an early morning collision with the SUNEK off Ile d'Orleans. The former, a laker in the Halco fleet, rolled on its side but all on board were saved. The ship was refloated in March 1966, repaired and returned to service. It later sailed as DAVID K. GARDINER and CANADIAN VENTURE before scrapping at Alang, India, in 2005. SUNEK received bow damage but this was repaired and this ship was scrapped at Barcelona, Spain, as b) NOTOS in 1979. 1967: CALIFORNIA SUN, a Liberty ship, made one trip through the Seaway in 1966. It suffered an engineroom explosion off Nicobar Island on the Indian Ocean and was gutted. The abandoned ship was taken in tow by JALARAJAN, a familiar Seaway salty, and delivered to the Seychelles. 1978: MONT ST. MARTIN was battered by a storm on Lake Erie and escorted to Southeast Shoal area by the STEELTON. 1978: NYX visited the Great Lakes in 1958 and returned through the Seaway in 1959. It sustained severe fire damage at Sidon, Lebanon, as c) DOMINION TRADER. It was subsequently blown aground by strong winds November 30-December 1 and broke in two. 1979: ALDORA dragged anchor while off Port Weller and was blown aground, only to be freed the same day. This ship was scrapped at Vado, Italy, in 1985-1986. 1979: SARONIC SEA was also anchored off Port Weller when it dragged anchor and stranded at the foot of Geneva Street in St. Catharines. The hull was not refloated until December 6. The ship had first visited the Great Lakes as RAVNANGER in 1964 and was later a victim of the war between Iran and Iraq, being shelled with mortar fire at Basrah on September 25, 1980. 1986: CARINA, an SD-14, first came through the Seaway in 1969. It was abandoned by the crew as d) HYMETUS when the hull cracked in heavy weather 180 miles SSE of Hong Kong while enroute to Shanghai, with steel. The ship sank the next day in the South China Sea. 2009: CSL ASSINIBOINE went aground near Cardinal. It had to be lightered and was released on November 21. Data from: Skip Gillham, Joe Barr, Dave Swayze, Father Dowling Collection, Max Hanley, Steve Haverty and Ahoy & Farewell II and the Great Lakes Ships We Remember series. |
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Algoma Intrepid transiting Seaway 11/15 - AIS shows destination Port Weller, ETA 0700 Sunday. Seaway "Order of Turn" for Welland Lock 1 shows 1323. |
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Norgoma sale a no-go 11/15 - Sault Ste. Marie, ON – A proposed plan to tow the M.S. Norgoma from Sault Ste. Marie to Tobermory in order to create a floating business venture has officially been sunk by investors. Tobermory Real Estate Investors Inc. says its feasibility study determined that the Norgoma could not be relocated to Tobermory's Little Tub Harbour without "significant and unacceptable disruption to the existing dockage arrangements, or in a manner which would enable acceptable access and parking for visitors to the vessel." Sault Ste. Marie city council agreed to sell the former floating museum ship to Michael Goman and business partner Dr. George Harpur for $2,500 in July. The investors, who have long-standing business interests in Tobermory, initially planned to convert the former floating museum ship into a coffee shop and tourist destination. “We want to thank Ryan Deska and Peggy Van Mierlo-West of the Municipality of Northern Bruce Peninsula for their cooperation while we reviewed this proposal. We also want to thank the mayor, council and staff at the City of Sault Ste. Marie for their willingness to give us some time to see if a solution can be found to create a future for Norgoma,” said TREI spokesperson Michael Goman in the release. The 188-foot vessel has been situated at Algoma Steel since June 2019, following a decision by city council in March of last year to remove it from the Roberta Bondar Marina. Soo Today |
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Port Reports - November 15
Duluth-Superior – Daniel Lindner
Two Harbors-Silver Bay – Gary A. Putney
Thunder Bay, ON
Northern Lake Michigan
Green Bay, WI – Jon
Milwaukee, WI – MKE Marine Reports
Northern Lake Huron
Detroit – Raymond Hill
Goderich, ON – Bruce Douglas
Saginaw River – Todd Shorkey
Lake Erie ports for Saturday – Bill Kloss
Buffalo, NY – Brian R Wroblewski |
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Obituary: Captain Earl McKnight 11/15 - Captain Earl McKnight was a captain with Canada Steamship Lines for 30 years and then became a pilot for Great Lakes Pilotage Authority for 20+ years. He was a member of the International Ship Masters Association, Lodge 20. After retirement, he worked part-time on the S.S. Pumper Tour Boat out of Niagara-on-the-Lake, ON. He was husband and best friend of Sandy for over 31 years, father of Tami (the late George) Kropf and Kelli (the late Jim) Driscoll. He volunteered at the St. Catharines Blood Donor Clinic for 6 years. In accordance with Earl's wishes, cremation has taken place. Visitation will be held at the George Darte Funeral Home, 585 Carlton St., St. Catharines, on Tuesday, November 17, 2020 from 12:30 - 1:30 p.m. followed by a Celebration of Earl's Life at 1:30 p.m. As per the Province of Ontario Covid-19 regulations - visitation is limited to 30% building capacity. Funeral attendance is limited to 65 guests. All guests attending the visitation or funeral must bring a mask. Donations may be made to the charity of your choice. On-Line Guest Book - www.georgedartefuneralhome.com |
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Today in Great Lakes History - November 15
In 1883, the schooner E. FITZGERALD, Captain Daniel Lanigan, went ashore and was completely covered with ice. The crew of six drowned while attempting to make shore in the yawl. A couple days after the loss, Mrs. Lanigan received a prophetic letter from her son stating he was tired of sailing and this would be his last trip. On 15 November 1871, EVERGREEN CITY (wooden propeller freighter, 193 foot, 624 gross tons, built in 1856, at Cleveland, Ohio) was carrying lumber camp supplies when she was driven on to the southwest coast of Long Point on Lake Erie by a westerly gale. She hogged and broke up. Most of her cargo and fittings were stolen over the winter. Surprisingly, she was recovered and rebuilt in 1872-1873, but only lasted until 1875, when she was abandoned at Buffalo, New York. The cargo mid-body of the then-under construction GEORGE A. STINSON was towed from Toledo, where it was built, to Lorain, Ohio, in 1977. PAUL THAYER left Lorain on her maiden voyage November 15, 1973, light for Escanaba, Michigan to load iron ore. Renamed b.) EARL W. OGLEBAY in 1995. On November 15, 1974, W. W. HOLLOWAY struck an embankment at Burns Harbor, Indiana, causing extensive damage. Departing Duluth on November 15, 1909, the BRANSFORD encountered a gale driven snowstorm. She battled the storm the entire day only to end up on the rocks near Siskiwit Bay on Isle Royale. On 15 November 1894, ANTELOPE (wooden schooner, 56 foot, 32 gross tons, built in 1878, at Grand Haven, Michigan) capsized in a storm while trying to make harbor at Grand Haven, Michigan. 4 lives were lost. November 15, 1924 - The carferry PERE MARQUETTE was renamed PERE MARQUETTE 15. On 15 November 1875, The Port Huron Times reported that "there is little doubt but that the scow SUTLER GIRL has been lost with all hands on Lake Erie. She has now been overdue two weeks." On 15 November 1869, W. W. ARNOLD (wooden schooner, 426 gross tons, built in 1863, at Buffalo, New York) was carrying iron ore when she was driven ashore near the mouth of the Two Hearted River on Lake Superior during the great gale of November 1869. The violent storm tore the schooner apart and she sank quickly losing all hands (11) including several passengers. On 15 Nov 1905, the W. K. BIXBY (steel straight-deck bulk freighter, 480 foot, 5,712 gross tons, later b.) J.L. REISS, then c.) SIDNEY E. SMITH JR) was launched at Wyandotte, Michigan, for the National Steamship Co. (M.B. McMillan). She lasted until 1972, when she was wrecked at Sarnia, Ontario, in a collision with the PARKER EVANS. 1901: The consort barge JOHN SMEATON broke loose of the steamer HARVARD and came ashore on the rocks off Au Train, Mich., and rested in 4 feet of water. The crew was safe and the ship released at the end of the month by Reid Wrecking and went to Superior for repairs. 1909: The Canadian freighter OTTAWA foundered stern first off Passage Isle, Lake Superior when the cargo of grain shifted. The crew, while they suffered terribly, were able to reach the safety of Keweenaw Point in the lifeboats after 12 hours on the open lake in wild seas. 1915: A. McVITTIE took out the gate at Lock 12 of the Third Welland Canal leading to a washout. 1919: J.S. CROUSE was enroute from Glen Haven to Traverse City when fire was discovered around the stack. The blaze spread quickly. The ship burned to the water line and sank in Sleeping Bear Bay, Lake Michigan. 1920: The wooden hulled steamer MAPLEGULF broke her back in a Lake Ontario storm. It was considered beyond economical repair and beached at Kingston. 1931: A storm forced the wooden passenger and freight steamer WINONA back to Spragge, Ontario, and the next day the ship was found to be on fire over the boiler. The vessel was towed from the dock to protect a pile of lumber and it became a total loss. 1952: The newly-built tanker B.A. PEERLESS lost power and went aground below the Detroit River Light. It was refloated on November 17. 1975: The ocean tanker GATUN LOCKS made one trip through the Seaway in 1959. The vessel was lying at Piraeus Roads, Greece, as c) SUNARUSSA when it was gutted by a fire. The hull was sold for scrap in 1977 and broken up at Laurion, Greece, beginning on April 26, 1977. 1981: ALFRED was gutted by a fire off Benghazi, Libya, after the blaze broke out in the engineroom. The hull was scuttled 100 miles out in the Mediterranean on November 24. The ship had been on the Great Lakes earlier in the year and first traveled inland as a) ALFRED REHDER in 1972. 1994: The Turkish freighter FIRAT was blown ashore at Port Everglades, FL by Hurricane Gordon when the anchors failed to hold. The ship was a beach attraction until lightered and released on November 26. FIRAT first came through the Seaway in 1990 and was scrapped at Alang, India, in 1997, after sailing 27 years under the same name. 2007: CALUMET was damaged when it struck a wall at Cleveland while moving to the salt dock. It was sold for scrap and departed for Port Colborne two days later. Data from: Skip Gillham, Joe Barr, Dave Swayze, Russ Plumb, Father Dowling Collection, Max Hanley, Jody Aho and Ahoy & Farewell II and the Great Lakes Ships We Remember series. |
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Port Reports - November 14
Duluth-Superior – Daniel Lindner
Two Harbors-Silver Bay – Gary A. Putney
Thunder Bay, ON
Northern Lake Michigan
Sturgeon Bay, WI – Daniel Lindner
Green Bay, WI – Jon
Northern Lake Huron
Detroit – Raymond Hill
Goderich, ON – Bruce Douglas
Lake Erie ports for Friday – Bill Kloss |
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Desgagnés renounces plan for further container shipments this fall to Toronto 11/14 - There will be no follow-up this year to the first dedicated container shipment via the St. Lawrence Seaway in four decades to a Great Lakes port. This was confirmed, in an interview, by Alexandre Beauchamp-Parent, President of Navigation Desgagnés, which last month deployed a geared, self-unloading vessel to transport nearly 400 containers from Montreal to the Port of Toronto to facilitate deliveries to receivers of congestion-delayed cargo. The shipment , responding to a container backlog at the Port of Montreal and on the railway network, was carried out by the general cargo vessel Claude A. Desgagnés, part of the fleet of Quebec City-based Groupe Desgagnés. It was coordinated by the Mediterranean Shipping Company, Groupe Desgagnés, the Port of Montreal, the Port of Toronto, Termont, and Logistec Stevedoring. “Other voyages were planned after the one on October 20 from Montreal to the Port of Toronto,” Mr. Beauchamp-Parent said. “We had a window. But congestion and other issues arose in Toronto and prevented us from continuing before the closing of the Seaway season. Things are all in the timing.” Continued Mr. Beauchamp-Parent: “We feel that with some improvements, the model can be economically feasible. “One thing is certain, we have been very grateful to have partnered with MSC in such a shortsea option that has long been sought by various stakeholders in the Great Lakes. “It was a very positive experience for us, the Port of Montreal and MSC. We want to look at ways of making such voyages more predictable in the future.” According to Mr. Beauchamp-Parent, the geared general-cargo vessels typically used by Desgagnés during its summer Arctic sealifts represent an excellent fit for shortsea ventures of this kind. “We are always looking for creative solution opportunities and alterative options to transportation problems.” Maritime Magazine |
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Today in Great Lakes History - November 14
ALGOBAY (steel propeller bulk freighter, 719 foot, 22,466 gross tons, built at Collingwood, Ontario in 1978) departed Sept Iles, Quebec on 14 Nov 1978, with an iron ore pellet cargo for Sydney, Nova Scotia when she collided with the 90,000 ton Italian-flag ore carrier CIELO BIANCO. The Collingwood-built tug POINTE MARGUERITE, which was towing the big salty, was unfortunately crushed between the two vessels and sank, killing two crewmembers. On November 14, 1934, the WILLIAM A. REISS grounded off Sheboygan and was declared a constructive total loss. Built as the a.) FRANK H. PEAVEY in 1901, renamed b.) WILLIAM A. REISS in 1916. She was scrapped at Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin in 1935. Cracks across the ENDERS M. VOORHEES' spar deck were first noticed in a storm on Lake Superior November 14, 1942. Her fleetmate NORMAN B. REAM came to her assistance by releasing storm oil which helped calm the seas so the crew of the VOORHEES could run cables the length of her deck and winch them tight to arrest the cracking. She proceeded to the Soo escorted by the REAM and later sailed to the Great Lake Engineering Works for repairs. The THOMAS WILSON (Hull#826) was launched November 14, 1942, at Lorain, Ohio, for the U.S. Maritime Commission. The U.S. Coast Guard buoy tender MESQUITE (Hull#76) was launched November 14, 1942, at a cost of $894,000, by Marine Iron & Shipbuilding Co. at Duluth, Minnesota. MESQUITE ran aground off Keweenaw Point on December 4, 1989, and was declared a total loss. MESQUITE was scuttled off Keweenaw Point on July 14, 1990. On November 14, 1952, the SPARROWS POINT, b.) BUCKEYE entered service for Bethlehem Steel Corp. Reduced to a barge at Erie, Pennsylvania, and renamed c.) LEWIS J KUBER in 2006. On 14 November 1879, C G BREED (2 mast wooden schooner, 140 foot, 385 tons, built in 1862, at Milwaukee, Wisconsin) was carrying 24,000 bushels of wheat from Detroit to Buffalo when she capsized and sank in a sudden squall near Ashtabula, Ohio in Lake Erie. 5 lives were lost, but 3 were saved. The three survivors were rescued by three different vessels. In 1940, following the Armistice Day Storm, The CITY OF FLINT 32 was freed by the tug JOHN F. CUSHING assisted by the PERE MARQUETTE 21. In 1990, Glen Bowden (of MWT) announced that he would suspend cross-Lake Michigan ferry service indefinitely. On 14 November 1886, the steamer BELLE WILSON was crossing Lake Ontario with a load of 11,800 bushels of oats when a severe gale and snowstorm blew in. The vessel lost her rudder and the crew rigged sails, but these were blown away. Then they rigged a drag made of 600 feet of line and a log to help maneuver the vessel and they headed for Oswego, New York. This lasted for 12 hours, but the chain parted at 3:00 a.m. and the vessel was driven ashore at Ford's Shoals, 4 miles east of Oswego harbor. No lives were lost. On 14 November 1892, the 2-mast, 95 foot wooden schooner MINNIE DAVIS was rammed on a dark night by the 2-mast, 117 foot wooden schooner HUNTER SAVIDGE near Amherstburg, Ontario. The DAVIS sank, but no lives were lost. The wreckage was removed in May 1893. 1922: The composite hulled freighter JOS. L. SIMPSON was upbound on Lake Ontario from Ogdensburg to Milwaukee when it stranded at Tibbett's Point. The repair bill was close to $12,000 but the vessel returned to service and last operated in 1957 as YANKCANUCK (i). 1933: The wheat laden D.E. CALLENDAR stranded in Lake Erie off Long Point and was a total loss. The hull was salvaged in 1934 and laid up at Toledo. It was taken to New Orleans during World War Two for reconstruction as a barge but the change was never registered and the hull was likely scrapped. 1933: The wooden tug FLORENCE sank off False Duck Island in a storm that brought snow, high winds and waves on Lake Ontario. All 7 on board were saved and taken aboard the barge PETER G. CAMPBELL. 1943: RIVERTON stranded at Lottie Wolf Shoal, Georgian Bay and declared a total loss. Later salvaged and repaired, it returned to service as MOHAWK DEER. 1960: ISLAND KING II was destroyed by a fire while laid up for the winter at Lachine, QC. The vessel had been built as DALHOUSIE CITY and operated across western Lake Ontario between Toronto and St. Catharines from 1911 until the end of the 1949 season before being sold and moving to Montreal. 1966: The Liberian freighter FREIDA went aground at Poe's Reef, Lake Huron, and had to be lightered by MAITLAND NO. 1. The ocean ship began Great Lakes terading as c) SEAWAY STAR in 1960 and returned as d) DEALMOUTH in 1962 and as e) FREIDA earlier in 1966. Data from: Skip Gillham, Joe Barr, Dave Swayze, Father Dowling Collection, Max Hanley, Jody Aho and Ahoy & Farewell II and the Great Lakes Ships We Remember series. |
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Great Lakes iron ore trade down 22.1 percent in October 11/13 - Cleveland, OH – Shipments of iron ore on the Great Lakes totaled 4.2 million tons in October, a decrease of 22.1 percent compared to a year ago. Shipments were below the month’s 5-year average by 19.9 percent. Year-to-date the iron ore trade stands at 32.3 million tons, a decrease of 26.3 percent compared to the same point in 2019. Through October iron ore loadings are 23.7 percent behind their 5-year average for the January-October timeframe. Lake Carriers’ Association |
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Port Reports - November 13
Duluth-Superior – Daniel Lindner
Two Harbors-Silver Bay – Gary A. Putney
Thunder Bay, ON
Northern Lake Michigan
Sturgeon Bay, WI – Daniel Lindner
Muskegon, MI – Brendan Falkowski
Milwaukee, WI – MKE Marine Reports
Northern Lake Huron
Goderich, ON – Bruce Douglas
Erie, PA – Brendan Falkowski
Lake Erie ports for Thursday – Bill Kloss |
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Heddle Shipyards signs new agreement to bring shipbuilding jobs to Ontario 11/13 - Hamilton, ON – The Ontario government congratulates Heddle Shipyards on their new long-term agreement with Vancouver-based shipyard Seaspan to fabricate Ontario-made ship components under the National Shipbuilding Strategy. In the 2020 budget, the government has taken significant steps to make the province more attractive to businesses and manufacturers like Heddle Shipyards. Through a plan to create growth, including lowering electricity prices, investing in the skilled trades, and providing tax relief, the government is creating an environment for future investment, job creation and a strong economic recovery. Participating in today's announcement were Premier Doug Ford, Rod Phillips, Minister of Finance, Vic Fedeli, Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade, Donna Skelly, Parliamentary Assistant for Job Creation and Trade, and Shaun Padulo, President of Heddle Shipyards. "I want to congratulate Heddle Shipyards on this long-term agreement, as it cements Ontario's position as one of the best places in the country for major manufacturers to compete, succeed, and grow," said Premier Ford. "This historic partnership with Seaspan will create highly skilled, well-paying jobs in communities across the province, contribute to the construction of quality, Ontario-made components for these ships, and reinforce Hamilton's status as a critical transportation hub in the province." Over the next decade, Heddle Shipyards will be the primary supplier for ladders, gratings and handrails for the JSS 1 (currently under construction), JSS 2, and an Offshore Oceanographic Science Vessel. These components will be manufactured at their facilities in Hamilton, St. Catharines, and Thunder Bay, creating jobs across Ontario's advanced manufacturing supply chain. These projects will generate tens of millions of dollars in economic activity in Ontario, employ at least 50 workers, and create the potential for additional opportunities, such as supplying larger ship modules in the future. Seaspan and Heddle have also partnered to bid on the construction of the Polar icebreaker for the Canadian Coast Guard. If won, Heddle will support the construction through its modular fabrication program. This announcement reinforces Hamilton's status as a critical transportation hub sitting at the crossroads of trade and commerce for the province and the country. The City of Hamilton was recently designated as a Foreign Trade Zone by the federal government, joining Niagara and Windsor. Foreign Trade Zones (FTZs) attract new investment and encourage Ontario and Canadian businesses to expand internationally by providing local businesses with access to tariff and tax exemption programs, while importing materials or goods. The FTZ designation further positions Hamilton as an international transportation hub. Ontario.ca |
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Today in Great Lakes History - November 13
In 1952, the 626-foot SPARROWS POINT successfully completed her sea trials and departed Chicago on her maiden trip. The new Bethlehem boat, the largest boat to enter the lakes via the Mississippi River Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, was under the command of Captain Wilfred Couture and Chief Engineer James Meinke. She was lengthened to 682 feet in 1958, converted to a self-unloader in 1980, renamed b.) BUCKEYE in 1991, converted to a barge in 2006, renamed c.) LEWIS J. KUBER. ARAB (2-mast wooden schooner, 100 foot, 158 tons, built in 1854, at Buffalo, New York) beached on 01 November 1883, near St. Joseph, Michigan, during a storm, but quick work by salvagers got her free. However on 13 November 1883, while being towed to Racine, Wisconsin, she capsized and sank well off of Arcadia, Michigan. One man lost his life, an engineer who was desperately trying to start her pumps when she rolled. On November 13, 1976, the TEMPLE BAR (later LAKE WABUSH and ALGONORTH) arrived at Singapore, where she was lengthened 202 feet. CONDARRELL was laid up for the last time on November 13, 1981. Built in 1953 as a.) D. C. EVEREST, she was renamed b.) CONDARRELL in 1982. GEORGE HINDMAN was in collision with the British salty MANCHESTER EXPLORER on Lake St. Louis, above the Lachine Lock in 1956. Built in 1921, as a.) GLENCLOVA, renamed b.) ANTICOSTI in 1927, c.) RISACUA in 1946, d.) GEORGE HINDMAN in 1955, and e.) ELIZABETH HINDMAN in 1962. Scrapped at Duluth, Minnesota, in 1971. J. P. MORGAN JR (Hull#373) was launched November 13, 1909, at Lorain, Ohio, for the Pittsburgh Steamship Co. HOMER D. WILLIAMS was involved in a collision with the steamer OTTO M. REISS at Duluth November 13, 1917. In 1984, HOMER D. WILLIAMS was towed to Thunder Bay, Ontario, by the tug MALCOLM for dismantling. On 13 November 1870, the schooner E. FITZGERALD left Port Huron on her maiden voyage to load lumber at Au Sable, Michigan, for Chicago. She was commanded by Capt. A. McTavish. On 13 November 1883, H. C. AKELEY (wooden propeller bulk freighter, 240 foot, 1,187 tons, built in 1881, at Grand Haven, Michigan) was carrying corn from Chicago to Buffalo when she encountered a heavy storm off Holland, Michigan. She took the disabled tug PROTECTOR in tow but let her go when her own rudder broke off. AKELEY anchored but started to sink when she fell into the troughs of the waves. The disabled schooner DRIVER managed to save 12 of the crew who had taken to AKELEY's yawl before she went down. 6 lives were lost. Captain W. H. Van Dyke was born at Escanaba, Michigan, on November 13, 1871, and spent most of his life on the Great Lakes (he joined the crew of a schooner at the age of 15). He first captained the Pere Marquette Line Steamer PERE MARQUETTE 8 then, in 1916, he joined the Pere Marquette carferry fleet. His first command was the str. PERE MARQUETTE 15. Then for 10 years he served as master of the PERE MARQUETTE 17, and after the launch of the CITY OF FLINT 32 in 1929, he served as master of the PERE MARQUETTE 22. On 13 November 1865, CLARA PARKER (3-mast wooden schooner, 175 foot, 425 gross tons, built in 1865, at Detroit, Michigan) was fighting a losing battle with storm induced leaks, so she was beached 400 yards off shore near the mouth of the Pigeon River, south of Grand Haven, Michigan. The local Lifesaving Service plucked all 9 of the crew from the rigging by breeches buoy after the vessel had gone down to her decks and was breaking up. On 13 November 1888, LELAND (wooden steam barge, 148 foot, 366 gross tons, built in 1873, at New Jerusalem, Ohio) burned at Huron, Ohio. She was valued at $20,000 and insured for $15,000. She was rebuilt and lasted until 1910. JAMES DAVIDSON (steel propeller bulk freighter, 587 foot, 8,349 gross tons, built at Wyandotte, Michigan, in 1920) entered service on 13 Nov 1920, for the Globe Steamship Co. (G. A. Tomlinson, mgr.) when she loaded 439,000 bushels of wheat at Duluth, Minnesota, for delivery to Buffalo, New York. She was the last ship built at Wyandotte, Michigan. An unnamed salty (formerly RANGUINI) arrived at Milwaukee's heavy lift dock on Saturday night, 13 Nov 1999, to load a large desalinization filtration system built in Milwaukee for Korea. The vessel entered the Seaway in ballast for Milwaukee on 09 Nov 1999. The following day, the crew rigged scaffolding over the side so the new name BBC GERMANY could be painted on the ship. The Toledo Blade published the following vessel passages for Detroit on this date in 1903: -Up- VOLUNTEER, AMAZON, HARLOW, 12:30 Friday morning; ROCKEFELLER, 4:20; MARISKA, 4:40; FRENCH, 5:20; CONEMAUGH, 6; S M STEPHENSON, FAUSTIN, barges, 7:30; OLIVER, MITCHELL, (sailed), 7:50; AVERILL, 8. 1909: The steamers CHARLES WESTON and WARD AMES collided in lower Whitefish Bay. The former, which had been at anchor waiting to head downbound through the Soo Locks, ran for shore but settled on the bottom. The ship was saved, repaired and last sailed as c) SAUCON for Bethlehem Transportation before being scrapped at Hamilton, ON in 1950. 1909: JAMES H. HOYT went aground on a reef about two miles off the northeast corner of Outer Island after the engine was disabled in a snowstorm. The vessel was refloated November 29 and later became the BRICOLDOC. 1929: BRITON was wrecked in Lake Erie off Point Abino. The stranded vessel was battered for two days before being abandoned as a total loss. 1934: WILLIAM A. REISS (i) stranded off Sheboygan while inbound with 7025 tons of coal from Toledo. The ship was refloated November 17 with heavy damage and considered a total loss. 1942: H.M. PELLATT, a former Great Lakes canal freighter, was sailing as f) SCILLIN under the flag of Italy, when it was hit by gunfire from the British submarine H.M.S. PROTEUS while 9 miles off Kuriat, Tunisia, and sank. 1956: The downbound and grain-laden GEORGE HINDMAN and the upbound MANCHESTER EXPLORER collided in fog on the St. Lawrence above Lachine and both ships were damaged. 1958: LUNAN, a Pre-Seaway trader on the Great Lakes, sustained major bottom damage in a grounding on the St. Lawrence near Murray Bay. The ship was refloated, towed to Lauzon for repairs and it returned to service as b) MARIDAN C. in 1959. 1967: SANTA REGINA, the first American saltwater vessel to use the St. Lawrence Seaway, put into San Francisco with boiler problems and machinery damage while headed from Los Angeles to Saigon, South Vietnam as f) NORBERTO CAPAY. The vessel was sold at auction and towed to Kaohsiung, Taiwan, for scrapping in 1969. 1971: The small St. Lawrence freighter C. DE BAILLON, better known as a) DONNACONA NO. 2 and b) MIRON C., went aground at Mont Louis and was a total loss. 1975: There was a boiler explosion on the Egyptian freighter CLEOPATRA after leaving Hartlepool, England, for Alexandria, Egypt, and 8 crewmen were severely injured with at least one fatality. The former Victory Ship first traveled through the Seaway in 1963. It was scrapped at Gadani Beach, Pakistan, in 1981. 1976: OCEAN SOVEREIGN lost steering at Sault Ste. Marie and was wedged into the wall at the Soo Locks. The rudder was damaged and the Greek saltie had to be towed to Lauzon, Quebec, for repairs. The vessel initially traded inland as a) BOLNES in 1970 and returned as b) OCEAN SOVEREIGN for the first time in 1973. It was scrapped at Ulsan, South Korea, as d) MARIA JOSE after being blown aground from the anchorage during Typhoon Vera on September 27, 1986. 1979: A steering failure put VANDOC aground at Harvey Island in the Brockville Narrows. The vessel spent time at Port Weller Dry Docks after being released. 1996: JOLLITY reported it was taking water in the engine room (Pos: 17.47 N / 119.20 E). The ship was was taken in tow two days later and reached Hong Kong on November 18. The vessel was scrapped at Chittagong, Bangladesh, in 1999. 1997: ARCADIA BERLIN visited the Great Lakes in 1971 when it was a year old. The ship was carrying bagged cement and sailing as f) ALLISSA when it collided with and sank the Ukrainian vessel SMENA off Yangon, Myanmar. The former was apparently laid up with collision damage and scrapped at Alang, India, in 1998. 2002: WILFRED SYKES was inbound with a cargo of limestone when it went aground in Muskegon Lake. Some of the cargo was lightered to PERE MARQUETTE 41 and the stranded ship was pulled free. Data from: Skip Gillham, Joe Barr, Dave Swayze, Russ Plumb, Father Dowling Collection, Historical Collections of the Great Lakes, Max Hanley and Ahoy & Farewell II and the Great Lakes Ships We Remember series. |
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Saltie Ludogorets loses power near Iroquois Lock 11/12 - Wednesday afternoon, the Ludogorets main engine stalled while the ship was a short distance above Iroquois lock. Because of strong cross-currents above the lock, downbound ships were requested to go to anchor at Prescott. Ludogorets secured above Iroquois lock and was still there Wednesday night although traffic appeared to be moving again. Ludogorets is owned by NAVIBULGAR and flies the flag of Malta. Ron Beaupre |
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McKeil Marine’s latest purchase arrives at Hamilton 11/12 - McKeil's newest addition, Julian, arrived at Hamilton Wednesday morning. She headed over to pier 12 where she'll discharge her cargo of gypsum. Upon completion she'll be re-flagged Canadian, renamed Harvest Spirit, and depart for Thunder Bay to begin her new career on the Great Lakes. |
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Port Reports - November 12
Duluth-Superior – Daniel Lindner
Two Harbors-Silver Bay – Gary A. Putney
Thunder Bay, ON
Northern Lake Michigan
Green Bay, WI – Jon
Milwaukee, WI – MKE Marine Reports
Northern Lake Huron
Goderich, ON – Bruce Douglas
Lake Erie ports for Wednesday – Bill Kloss |
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Obituary: Jim Hoffman 11/12 - James “Jim” Robert Hoffman, age 72, of Toledo, passed away at home on November 7, 2020 surrounded by his family. Jim was born June 8, 1948 in Toledo to the late Robert and Sylvia (Terriss) Hoffman. He graduated from Woodward High School and served honorably as a boatswain’s mate in the United States Coast Guard, working search and rescue and keeping lighthouses around the Great Lakes. Jim married the love of his life, Mary Alice Williams, on June 14, 1974. For 37 years he worked as a traffic signal technician for the City of Toledo. He had a lifelong passion for the history and photography of ships on the Great Lakes. He leaves an impressive photo-historical legacy and is among the most notable Great Lakes shipping photographers of all time. Recently, he was recognized by the Marine Historical Society of Detroit as its 2020 Great Lakes Historian of the Year. His photography has been featured internationally in prominent books and publications including USA Today and the Wall Street Journal and serves as a comprehensive visual history of Great Lakes shipping. Those interested can view some of his photographs at: http://boatnerd.com/pictures/special/hoffman/. Jim was also an avid fisherman, always eager to help nieces, nephews and grandchildren learn to fish. Jim was preceded in death by his parents and his brother Gerry. He is survived by his wife of 46 years, Mary Alice; daughters Maureen (Adam) Perzynski, and Colleen Hoffman; Sisters: Patricia (Greg) Price and Susan Stickley. Grandchildren: Holly, Aiden, Sophie and Edward. The family will receive guests Thursday, November 12 from 4:00 pm-8:00 pm at Newcomer Funeral Home; 4150 W. Laskey, Toledo. Funeral Mass will begin at 10 am on November 13 after an hour of prayer at Christ the King; 4100 Harvest Lane, Toledo with burial to follow at Calvary Cemetery. Memorial contributions may be made to the family toward Marine Historical Society of Detroit in Jim's memory. |
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Today in Great Lakes History - November 12
In 1920, FRANCIS WIDLAR stranded on Pancake Shoal in Lake Superior and was written off as a total constructive loss of $327,700. The wreck was purchased by Mathews Steamship Company in 1921 and placed back in service as BAYTON. The BAYTON sailed until 1966, and the hull was later used as a temporary breakwall during construction at Burns Harbor, Indiana. On 12 November 1878, JAMES R. BENTLEY (3-mast wooden schooner, 170 foot, 575 tons, built in 1867, at Fairport, Ohio) was carrying grain when she struck a shoal in heavy weather and foundered off 40 Mile Point on Lake Huron. Her crew was rescued in the rough seas by the bark ERASTUS CORNING. On 12 Nov 1964, THOMAS F. COLE (steel propeller bulk freighter, 580 foot, 7,268 gross tons, built in 1907, at Ecorse, Michigan) collided with the British motor vessel INVEREWE off the south end of Pipe Island on the lower St. Marys River in foggy conditions. The COLE suffered severe damage to the port bow and was taken to Lorain for repairs. On 12 Nov 1980, ALVA C. DINKEY (steel propeller bulk freighter, 580 foot, 7,514 gross tons, built in 1909, at Lorain, Ohio) and GOVERNOR MILLER (steel propeller bulk freighter, 593 foot, 8,240 gross tons, built in 1938, at Lorain, Ohio) arrived near El Ferrol del Caudillo, Spain for scrapping in tow of the FedNav tug CATHY B. Demolition by Miguel Partins began on 28 Nov 1980, at Vigo, Spain. On November 12, 1919, PANAY, upbound on Lake Superior for Duluth, Minnesota, in rough weather, was one of the last vessels to see the down bound JOHN OWEN which, apparently later the same day, disappeared with all hands. Renamed b.) WILLIAM NELSON in 1928, and c.) BEN E. TATE in 1936. Scrapped at Bilbao, Spain in 1969. On 12 November 1881, BRUNSWICK (iron propeller bulk freighter, 248 foot, built in 1881, at Wyandotte, Michigan) was carrying 1,500 tons of hard coal in a night of fitful squalls in Lake Erie. CARLINGFORD (wooden schooner, 155 foot, built in 1869, at Port Huron, Michigan) was also sailing there, loaded with 26,000 bushels of wheat. They collided. After the skipper of BRUNSWICK made sure that the sinking schooner's crew were in their lifeboats, he ran for shore with his sinking vessel, but sank a few miles off Dunkirk, New York. A total of 4 lives were lost. On 12 November 1835, the small wooden schooner ROBERT BRUCE was sailing from Kingston, Ontario to Howell, New York when she was wrecked west of Henderson, New York. Her crew of 4, plus one passenger, were all lost. On 12 Nov 1886, the tug WM L. PROCTOR (wooden tug, 104 foot, 117 gross tons, built in 1883, at Buffalo, New York) left Oswego, New York with the schooner-barges BOLIVIA and E.C. BUCK in tow before a big storm struck. During the snowstorm, the tug got lost and the towline broke. Alone, the PROCTOR finally made it to Charlotte, New York, badly iced up, but there was no word on the barges. They were presumed lost with all onboard. 1881: BRUNSWICK sank in Lake Erie after a collision with the CARLINGFORD. The wooden hulled, coal-laden steamer, made a run for the American shore but the effort fell short. Three lives were lost. 1914: The wooden steamer COLONIAL began to leak on Lake Erie and was beached in Rondeau Bay only to be pounded to pieces by gale force winds. All on board were rescued. 1967: The Swedish freighter TORSHOLM began visiting the Great Lakes as early as 1953. The ship was enroute from the Seaway to Stockholm when it ran aground near Uto, Sweden, and became a total loss. 1968: CLARA CLAUSEN, a Danish freighter, ran aground at Les Escoumins on the St. Lawrence and was abandoned. After being salvaged, the vessel came to the Great Lakes in 1970 and was rebuilt at Kingston as ATLANTEAN. 1974: BELVOIR (ii), enroute from Puerto Cortes, Honduras, to Corpus Christi, Texas, with a load of ore concentrates, struck a submerged object in the Gulf of Honduras and sank. Only 4 crew members are rescued while the other 21 were presumed lost. 1980: The former Lake Michigan rail car ferry PERE MARQUETTE 21 left the Great Lakes in 1974. It was lost on this date as the barge d) CONSOLIDATOR. It was hit by Hurricane Jean off the coast of Honduras while carrying a load of truck trailers. 2005: SPAN TERZA, an Italian freighter, first came through the Seaway in 1977 and returned as b) ANANGEL HORIZON in 1983. It was damaged on this date as d) SALAM 4 in a collision near Dondra Head, Sri Lanka, with SHANGHAI PRIDE and had to go to Colombo for assessment. The ship was repaired and eventually scrapped as e) ALINA at Xinhui, China, in 2009. Data from: Skip Gillham, Joe Barr, Dave Swayze, Russ Plumb, Father Dowling Collection, Historical Collections of the Great Lakes, Max Hanley and Ahoy & Farewell II and the Great Lakes Ships We Remember series. |
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Algoma Intrepid arrives at Montreal 11/11 - Montreal, QC – Algoma Intrepid arrived Montreal around 11 am Tuesday at Berth 35. Delivery crew will be changed over to a Canadian crew, flag will be changed from Tuvalu to Canada and her port of registry will likely be changed to Toronto. She is the second of two Equinox-class 650-foot long forward-mounted self-unloading vessels built in Croatia, with Algoma Innovator being the first. Algoma Innovator entered service during the 2018 shipping season. Algoma Intrepid is the 9th Equinox-class ship to join the Algoma fleet since 2013, when the Algoma Equinox, the first of the Equinox-class vessels, arrived late in 2013. Expected to join the Algoma fleet in 2021 will be the 10th ship in the Equinox-class series, the Capt. Henry Jackman a, 740-foot long noniself-unloading bulk carrier. This will be the second ship to bear that name. Andy Torrence, Denny Dushane |
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Port Reports - November 11
Duluth-Superior – Daniel Lindner
Two Harbors-Silver Bay – Gary A. Putney
Thunder Bay, ON
Northern Lake Michigan
Milwaukee, WI – MKE Marine Reports
Northern Lake Huron
Goderich, ON – Bruce Douglas
Detroit, MI – Raymond Hill
Lake Erie ports for Tuesday – Bill Kloss |
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Today in Great Lakes History - November 11
The Port of Huron, Ohio received its first grain boat in seven years when Westdale Shipping's AVONDALE arrived at the Pillsbury Elevator on November 11, 1971, to load 200,000 bushels of soybeans for Toronto, Ontario. On 11 November 1883, NEMESIS (2-mast wooden schooner, 74 foot, 82 gross tons, built in 1868, at Goderich, Ontario) was wrecked in a terrific storm that some called a hurricane. She went ashore near Bayfield, Ontario, on Lake Huron. She may have been recovered since her registration was not closed until 1907. In 1876, this little schooner rescued all but one of the crew from the sinking freighter NEW YORK. The Armistice Day Storm of November 11, 1940, was one of the worst storms in the recorded history of Lake Michigan. In all, the storm claimed 5 vessels, and 66 lives. The storm hit late Monday afternoon, November 11th, with winds of hurricane proportions. The winds struck suddenly from the southwest at about 2:30 p.m. and were accompanied by drenching rain, which later changed to snow. The winds reached peak velocities of 75 miles per hour, the highest in local maritime history. Some of the vessels affected were: CITY OF FLINT 32: Beached at Ludington, no damage. Jens Vevang, relief captain, in command. Her regular captain, Charles Robertson, was on shore leave. Also: PERE MARQUETTE 21: Blown into a piling at Ludington, no damage, captained by Arthur Altschwager. She had 5 passengers aboard. CITY OF SAGINAW 31: Arrived Milwaukee 6 hours late with over a foot of water in her hull. The wireless aerial was missing and her seagate was smashed by the waves. She was captained by Ed Cronberg. Ann Arbor carferry WABASH: A railcar broke loose from its moorings on her car deck and rolled over, nearly crushing a crewman. The steamer NOVADOC: Ran aground at Juniper Beach, South of Pentwater, Michigan. Two crewman (cooks) drowned when the ship broke in half. Seventeen crewman, found huddled in the pilothouse, were rescued by Captain Clyde Cross and his 2 crewman, Gustave Fisher and Joe Fontane of the fishing tug THREE BROTHERS. CONNEAUT of 1916, ran hard aground on Lansing Shoal near Manistique, Michigan, on Lake Michigan. She reportedly had lost her propeller and rudder. Two days later she was pulled off. The SINALOA had taken on a load of sand near Green Island and was heading for Chicago through Death's Door on Wisconsin's Door Peninsula when the November 11th Armistice Day storm of 1940, struck in upper Lake Michigan. During the storm the SINALOA lost her rudder. The anchor was dropped but her anchor cable parted. In this helpless condition she ran aground at Sac Bay on Michigan's Garden Peninsula. Fortunately the stricken vessel was close to shore where the Coast Guard was able to rescue the entire crew. Declared a constructive total loss, her owner collected the insurance and forfeited the vessel to the Roen Salvage Co. ANNA C MINCH: Sank South of Pentwater with a loss of 24 lives. WILLIAM B DAVOCK: of the Interlake fleet, Capt. Charles W. Allen, sank in 215 of water off Pentwater, Michigan. There were no survivors among the crew of 33. The fishing tugs INDIAN and RICHARD H: Lost with all hands off South Haven, Michigan. On 11 November 1872, the schooner WILLIS collided with the bark ELIZABETH JONES on Lake Erie and sank in a few minutes. The crew was saved. On 11 November 1936, J. OSWALD BOYD (steel propeller fuel tanker, 244 foot, 1,806 gross tons, built in 1913, in Scotland) was carrying 900,000 gallons of gasoline when she stranded on Simmons Reef on the north side of Beaver Island. The U.S. Coast Guard from Beaver Island rescued the entire crew of 20. On 11 November 1890, BRUNO (wooden propeller bulk freighter, 136 foot. 475 gross tons, built in 1863, at Montreal) was carrying coal to Cleveland with the schooner LOUISA in tow when she struck Magnetic Reef, south of Cockburn Island in Georgian Bay and sank in rough weather. No lives were lost. On 11 November 1835, the 2-mast wooden schooner COMET was carrying iron and ashes on Lake Erie when she foundered in a gale, one mile northwest of Dunkirk, New York. Just her topmasts protruded from the water. All seven on board lost their lives, including a passenger who was a college student bound for Vermont. In a storm on the night of 11 November 1874, The schooner LA PETITE (3-mast wooden schooner, 119 foot, 172 gross tons, built 1866, J. Ketchum, Huron, Ohio) was on Lake Michigan carrying a cargo of wheat and corn from Chicago when she sprang a bad leak and tried first to reach Ludington, then Manistee. Before reaching safety, she grounded off Big Point au Sable, eight miles from land, in eight feet of water. Previous to striking, the vessel had lost her bowsprit and foremast. After she struck, her main and mizzenmasts went by the board, and the schooner began to break up rapidly. The crew clung to the forecastle deck, and when that washed away, four men were drowned. Captain O. B. Wood had his arms broken by the falling off a square-sail yard. When he fell into the water, the ship's dog jumped in and kept him afloat until they were rescued by the crew of the steam barge CHARLES REITZ. Of the 10 crewmen, six were saved. The LA PETITE was salvaged and repaired and lasted until 1903, when she was lost in another storm. On 11 Nov 1999, the Maltese flag bulk carrier ALCOR was examined by personnel from Transport Canada, the Canadian Coast Guard, a salvage company and the vessel's owners in hopes of forming a plan to save the vessel. She ran aground on a sand bar off the eastern tip of d'Orleans Island on the St. Lawrence River two days earlier. This vessel did not visit Great Lakes ports under the name ALCOR, but she did so under her two previous names, firstly as PATRICIA V and then as the Soviet flag MEKHANIK DREN. The Groupe Desgagnes finally refloated the ALCOR on 05 Dec 1999, after part of the cargo of clinker had been removed. The ship was then towed to Quebec City. Later, it was reported that Groupe Desgagnes purchased the ALCOR from its Greek owners. Below is a first hand account of the Storm of 1913, from the journal of John Mc Laughlin transcribed by his great grandson Hugh McNichol. John was working on an unknown vessel during the Storm of 1913. The boat was captained by John McAlpine and Harry Roberts as Chief Engineer. The boat was loading iron ore in Escanaba when the storm started on November 8th. Tuesday, November 11, 1913: I got up at 12 a.m. and went on watch. We were above Presque Isle. It is still blowing hard and quite a sea running. Presque Isle at 1:45 a.m., Thunder Bay Island at 4:30 a.m., Harbor Beach at 1:00 p.m., we are about in the River at 7:05 p.m. It is fine tonight, wind gone down. 1940: The famous Armistice Day storm claims the ANNA C. MINCH, WILLIAM B. DAVOCK and NOVADOC (ii), on Lake Michigan and leaves CITY OF FLINT 32 and SINALOA aground and damaged. 1946: The former Canada Steamship lines bulk canaller LANARK was scuttled off the coast of Ireland with a load of World War Two bombs. 1977: The 380-foot, 8-inch long West German freighter GLORIA made 4 visits to the Great Lakes in 1959-1960. It went aground on the Adriatic at Sestrice Island as d) ARISTOTELES. While the 25-year old hull was refloated, it was declared a total loss and towed to Split, Yugoslavia, for scrapping. 1980: The DINIE S. suffered an engineroom fire at Palermo, Italy and became a total loss. The ship had visited the Seaway as a) CATHERINE SARTORI (1959-1967) and b) CURSA (1967) and was sailing under a seventh name. It was scrapped at Palermo in 1985 1980: CITY OF LICHFIELD stranded near Antalya, Turkey, while leaving the anchorage in heavy weather as c) CITY OF LEEDS. The ship was refloated but never sailed again and was eventually scrapped at Aliaga, Turkey, in 1984. The ship had visited the Great Lakes in 1964. 1995: JAMES NORRIS was loading stone at Colborne, ON when the wind changed leaving the hull exposed to the gale. The ship was repeatedly pounded against the dock until it settled on the bottom. Subsequent hull repairs at Port Weller Dry Docks resulted in the port side being all welded while the starboard remained riveted. 1995: The Cuban freighter AREITO had a mechanical problem in the St. Lambert Lock and had to be towed back to Montreal for repairs. This SD-14 class vessel was scrapped at Alang, India, as e) DUNLIN in 2001. Data from: Skip Gillham, Joe Barr, Dave Swayze, Russ Plumb, Father Dowling Collection, Max Hanley and Ahoy & Farewell II and the Great Lakes Ships We Remember series. |
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Great Lakes water levels go down more than normal, inch away from record levels 11/10 - Great Lakes water levels are in their seasonal decline. All of the Great Lakes dropped more that normal in October. The Great Lakes have been near or at record high water levels at some point in the past few years. Each lake had a run on its record level. Now we are in the time of year when the Great Lakes normally have declining water levels. The Great Lakes all typically peak around July and then fall through March before rising again to July. Read more and view charts at this link: https://www.mlive.com/weather/2020/11/great-lakes-water-levels-go-down-more-than-normal-inch-away-from-record-levels.html |
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Port Reports - November 10
Duluth-Superior – Daniel Lindner
Two Harbors-Silver Bay – Gary A. Putney
Thunder Bay, ON
Northern Lake Michigan
Green Bay, WI – Jon
Milwaukee, WI – MKE Marine Reports
Northern Lake Huron
Detroit, MI – Raymond Hill
Lake Erie ports for Monday – Bill Kloss
Oswego, NY – Ned Goebricher |
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Today in Great Lakes History - November 10
On this day in 1892, whaleback barge 102 loaded 2,073 tons of iron ore at Superior consigned to Cleveland. This was the first shipment of Mesabi Range iron ore carried by Oglebay Norton. On 10 November 1901, the ROBERT A. PACKER (wooden freighter, 209 foot, 921 tons, built in 1882, at Milwaukee, Wisconsin) was found by the wrecking tug RUMBLE eleven miles north of off De Tour, Michigan, ablaze and abandoned by her crew. Captain Isaac Zess of the RUMBLE fought the flames for four hours and then was helped by the THOMAS W. PALMER. The fire was speedily extinguished with both vessels pouring water on the flames and the PACKER was tied up at the dock in DeTour, Michigan. On 10 November 1887, A. BOODY (wooden schooner, 137 foot, 287 gross tons, built in 1863, at Toledo, Ohio) struck the Port Austin reef on Lake Huron and was declared a total loss. However, after ten days of hard work, the BOODY was finally pulled off the reef. The EDMUND FITZGERALD foundered on Lake Superior during a severe storm November 10, 1975, at approximately 7:10 p.m. about 17 miles north-northwest of Whitefish Point, Michigan, at position 47 0'N by 85 7'W in Canadian waters. IMPERIAL ST CLAIR (Hull#57) was launched November 10, 1973 , by Port Weller Drydocks at St. Catharines, Ontario. Renamed b.) ALGOSAR in 1998, sold off the lakes, renamed c.) GENESIS EXPLORER in 2005. The STEELTON sailed on her maiden voyage for Bethlehem Steel Corp. on November 10, 1943. The ROBERT C. STANLEY, in her first season of operation, on November 10, 1943 during a Lake Superior storm, developed a significant crack across her spar deck and 12 to 14 feet down both sides of her hull. As the hull worked in the heavy seas, the crack widened to as much as three to four inches. The crew ran cables between the fore and aft winches that maintained a force sufficient to hold the hull together. November 10, 1972, in the vicinity of the entrance to the East Outer Channel near Amherstburg, Ontario, the UNITED STATES GYPSUM collided with her towing tug MAINE and as a result her bow was punctured. The GYPSUM was beached to prevent sinking. Pittsburgh Steamship's WILLIAM A. IRVIN (Hull#811) was launched November 10, 1937, at Lorain, Ohio. The IRVIN serves as a museum ship in Duluth, Minnesota since 1986. November 10, 1892, the carferry ANN ARBOR NO 1 left the shipyard in Toledo, Ohio, bound for Frankfort on her maiden voyage. In 1895, the first major accident caused by cars coming free on the car deck of a rail ferry happened when the ANN ARBOR NO 1, was on an eastbound voyage. Approaching Frankfort in a northwest gale, she rolled so violently that many of the car fastenings broke and the cargo began to move about on the car deck. None of the early rear-loading car ferries were equipped with a sea gate to protect the stern from the seas, and seven cars of flour and butter went off the deck of the NO 1 into the lake. Captain Charles Moody resigned from the Ann Arbor as a result of this incident and returned to the Pere Marquette and Goodrich lines. ATLANTIC (formerly MANITOULIN, wooden propeller passenger/package freight, 147 foot, 683 gross tons, built in 1880, at Owen Sound, Ontario) was bound for Byng Inlet with lumber camp supplies when she was caught in a storm and grounded in the lee of Pancake Island in Georgian Bay. Her cargo and aft cabin were thrown overboard to lighten her, but she caught fire and was destroyed. Her passengers and crew took to her boats and survived. On 10 November 1856, ST JOSEPH (wooden propeller steam barge, 170 foot, 460 tons, built in 1846, at Buffalo, New York) stranded and was wrecked near Fairport, Ohio. No lives were lost. November 10, 1911 - The ANN ARBOR NO 4 was back in service after damaging several plates in October. The tanker MARIA DESGAGNES struck bottom in the St. Lawrence Seaway on 10 November 1999. After temporary repairs were made, the vessel was cleared to proceed to Hamilton, Ontario, to discharge its cargo of jet fuel. A survey of the seaway was completed with no indications as to what caused the vessel to ground. On 10 November 1887, BLAZING STAR (wooden schooner, 137 foot, 265 tons, built in 1873, at Manitowoc, Wisconsin) was sailing on Lake Michigan in fine weather with a load of lumber. However, she grounded on Fisherman Shoal near Washington Island, Wisconsin even though the wreck of the steamer I N FOSTER was in full view on that reef. The captain was unable to locate a tug to pull the BLAZING STAR off and later she broke up in heavy weather. No lives were lost. Below is a first hand account of the Storm of 1913, from the journal of John Mc Laughlin transcribed by his great grandson Hugh Mc Nichol. John was working on an unknown vessel during the Storm of 1913. The boat was captained by John Mc Alpine and Harry Roberts as Chief Engineer. The boat was loading iron ore in Escanaba when the storm started on November 8th. Monday, November 10, 1913: I got up at 12 a.m. and went on watch. We were laying at anchor. It was blowing a living gale and kept it up. They hove up the anchor near 10 o'clock but monkeyed around until after dinner. We got under way. We passed the Light Ship about 3, and White Shoal at 5:15. More entries from the Storm of 1913 tomorrow. 1900: The iron package freighter ARABIAN went aground 8 miles west of Whitefish Point, Lake Superior due to heavy weather. The ship was salvaged with only minor damage. It was later part of the Canada Steamship Lines fleet and was broken up about 1939. 1903: The passenger and freight steamer ATLANTIC was destroyed by a fire on Georgian Bay enroute to Parry Sound. The blaze apparently started in the cargo of hay that had become soaked with coal oil while riding out a late fall storm off Spruce Island west of its destination. 1922: Fleetmates GLENMAVIS and GLENCLOVA were in a collision at Montreal. Both were repaired and remained as part of the Great Lakes fleet for years as ACADIAN and GEORGE HINDMAN (ii) respectively. 1936: SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN was upbound in Lake Huron and ran into a fall storm that damaged 62 automobiles as part of the deckload of new Packard & Chrysler cars. 1968: MANTADOC and FRANCOIS L.D. collided in heavy fog on the Seaway and sustained considerable bow damage. Both were repaired and the former still sails as d) MANITOBA while the latter was scrapped at Alang, India, as b) CINTA in 1987. 1989: ELPIS, Freedom Class deep sea freighter, first came through the Seaway in 1978. It raised considerable ire after stranding on a coral reef off Key Largo, FL while carrying sugar to Mexico. When it was refloated on November 12, the ship was seized by U.S. Marshals until assessment of the damage to the delicate coral reef could be made. The ship was later released and survived further trading until being scrapped at Alang, India, as c) CITY OF HOUSTON, in 2001. Data from: Skip Gillham, Jody Aho, Joe Barr, Dave Swayze, Russ Plumb, Father Dowling Collection, Max Hanley and Ahoy & Farewell II and the Great Lakes Ships We Remember series. |
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Port Reports - November 9
Duluth-Superior – Daniel Lindner
Two Harbors-Silver Bay – Gary A. Putney
Thunder Bay ON
St Marys River
Northern Lake Michigan
Green Bay, WI
Milwaukee, WI
Southern Lake Michigan
Northern Lake Huron
Goderich, ON – Bruce Douglas
Detroit, MI – Raymond Hill
Lake Erie ports for Sunday – Bill Kloss
Buffalo, NY – Brian R Wroblewski |
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Today in Great Lakes History - November 9
The NIMROD (3-mast wooden schooner, 184 foot, 559 tons, built in 1873, at Toledo, Ohio) was carrying 37,000 bushels of corn from Chicago to Buffalo. On 08 November 1874, she encountered thick fog on Lake Erie and the large double decked schooner MICHIGAN collided with her. The MICHIGAN continued on her course while the NIMROD filled with water and sank in 70 feet of water off Port Burwell-Port Stanley, Ontario. The crew escaped in the yawl and were picked up by the schooner GRANTHAM. The wreck was discovered in 1978, when Capt. Robert Hamilton, a commercial fisherman, snagged his nets on it. COLUMBIA STAR (steel propeller bulk freighter, 1000 foot, 35,923 gross tons) was launched November 8, 1980, at Bay Shipbuilding Co., Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin (Hull#726) . She was part of the Oglebay Norton fleet. Renamed b.) AMERICAN CENTURY in 2006. BENJAMIN F. FAIRLESS and IRVING S. OLDS arrived on November 8, 1988, at Kaohsiung, Taiwan for scrapping by Sing Cheng Yung Iron & Steel Co. Ltd. The Great Lakes Engineering Works built steamer STADACONA of 1909, renamed b.) W. H. McGEAN in 1920, was renamed c.) ROBERT S. McNAMARA by its new owner Ford Motor Company's Marine Division on November 8, 1962. The McNAMARA was rescued from potential scrapping when Ford purchased her for $80,000 and spent $15,000 for renovation at AmShip's Toledo yard. J. P. MORGAN JR. arrived in Spain on November 8, 1980, for scrapping. PETER A. B. WIDENER passed down the Welland Canal November 8, 1986, towed by the tugs TUSKER and GLENADA en route to Lauzon, Quebec. From there she was towed overseas for scrapping. When built, the PETER A. B. WIDENER and fleet mates J. PIERPONT MORGAN, NORMAN B. REAM and HENRY H. ROGERS were the first 600-footers built for the Pittsburgh Steamship Co. as "The Class of 1906." On 08 Nov 1986, B. F. AFFLECK (steel propeller freighter, 588 foot, 7,964 gross tons, built in 1927, at Toledo, Ohio), under tow of the tug THUNDER CAPE, went adrift on Lake Superior in a storm after the tug lost power. The tug AVENGER IV was dispatched to pick up the AFFLECK, which was headed for scrap, and the tanker EASTERN SHELL towed the THUNDER CAPE to Thunder Bay for repairs. BEN HUR, a wooden schooner-barge wrecker, 314 tons, built in 1874, at Dunville, Ontario, had been purchased for the job of salvaging the schooner M. E. TREMBLE. On 8 November 1890, she was at the job near Port Huron in the St. Clair River when she was rammed and sunk by the schooner-barge SUPERIOR which was being towed by the steamer PASSAIC. BEN HUR settled on top of the schooner she was attempting to salvage and a lighter-scow she was using also went down with her. On 8 November 1877, the bark GREAT WEST was carrying 262,000 feet of lumber from Caseville to Chicago. Much of it was piled topside. In a big storm on Lake Michigan, she lost her deck load. She then became waterlogged and finally went ashore near Hyde Park, Illinois on 10 November. The crew were all saved. On 8 November 1877, KATE L. BRUCE (3-mast wooden schooner, 307 tons, built in 1872, at Manitowoc, Wisconsin) was carrying wheat in tow of the tug JOHNSON when she was let go in heavy weather. She disappeared with all eight of her crew off Alpena, Michigan. A bureau containing her papers washed ashore in August 1878. The sunken wreck was discovered in 6 fathoms of water in Thunder Bay during the Autumn of 1879. The forebody of the former CANADIAN EXPLORER arrived in Prescott on 05 Nov 2000, under tow of the Trois Rivieres tug DUGA. It remained there for three days. The previous March, it was reported that the hull was undergoing conversion to a 498-foot grain storage barge for Les Elevateurs des Trois Rivieres, Quebec. (The engine room portion of the former CANADIAN EXPLORER was mated to the forward section of the HAMILTON TRANSFER in 1998, and is now the CANADIAN TRANSFER.) 1981: EMERALD, the former LACHINEDOC, sank in the Persian Gulf during heavy weather while carrying steel mesh and aggregates. Nine members of the crew were missing while another three were rescued. 2007: SPIRIT OF NANTUCKET, the former NANTUCKET CLIPPER, struck an uncharted object in the Intercoastal Waterway and had to be beached. The ship was repaired at Norfolk, VA and resumed its journey to the Pacific for a new career as an Alaska cruise ship after earlier Great Lakes, St. Lawrence and East Coast service. Data from: Skip Gillham, Joe Barr, Dave Swayze, Father Dowling Collection, Jody Aho, Ahoy & Farewell II and the Great Lakes Ships We Remember series. |
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U.S. Steel plans to restart Keetac in December 11/8 - An early Christmas present for Keetac steelworkers, as they are being called back to work. The plan is to restart the plant in mid-December. Dan Pierce, president of Local 2660, said, "It's a good feeling, going back to work. A lot of our members were running out of insurance. So this is perfect timing to get everyone back to work safely, and start producing pellets again." Mayor Bill King said, "I'm relieved. I just want these folks to get back to work. It's good for our community." Parent company U.S. Steel made the announcement Thursday afternoon. Here is their statement: “After careful consideration, we have made the decision to restart our Keetac mining facility. We are encouraged by the increase in demand and believe this restart will best support our customers. This will also ensure that we have sufficient iron ore supply where it is needed to meet that demand. We expect to fill nearly 400 positions as part of this restart and will work with the United Steelworkers (USW) to recall employees that may have been affected by the idle. We thank our employees for their patience as we work through the continuing impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.” The plant has been on indefinite idle since the spring, due to slowdowns for steel because of the pandemic. Some of the Keetac workers have gone to work for other mines in the meantime. But those details will be sorted out. WDIO |
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Mariners' Church to honor 45th anniversary of Fitzgerald shipwreck 11/8 - Detroit, MI – Mariners' Church of Detroit will observe the 45th anniversary Sunday of the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald during its yearly memorial service for those who have died in Great Lakes shipwrecks. The event will be live-streamed on Facebook for the first time, said the Rev. Jeffrey M. Hubbard, rector at the church also known as "The Maritime Sailors' Cathedral." "This year, we're especially mindful of the challenges first responders face in protecting our freedom, our rights and our health," Hubbard said. "That includes all the current and past sailors who ply the Great Lakes waterways. As beautiful as they are, the Great Lakes can be incredibly dangerous. This service honors and remembers those who have perished over the centuries." More than 10,000 lives have been lost in the roughly 6,000 shipwrecks on record in the five inland seas. The S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald sank Nov. 10, 1975, during a storm on Lake Superior. The vessel was carrying a load of iron ore pellets to a Detroit steel mill when it plunged to the bottom 17 miles from Whitefish Point in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. All 29 crewmen were lost. The Rev. Richard Ingalls, then pastor of Mariners' Church, rang its "brotherhood bell" 29 times to honor them as described in Gordon Lightfoot's ballad, "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald." As is customary, it will be rung again during the Sunday memorial. The service at the 178-year-old church regularly attracts sailors, veterans, recreational boaters and their families. Those wishing to attend this year must email the church beforehand at info@marinerschurchofdetroit.org because of social distancing requirements. Star Tribune |
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Port Reports - November 8
Duluth-Superior – Daniel Lindner
Two Harbors-Silver Bay – Gary A. Putney
Thunder Bay ON
St Marys River
Northern Lake Michigan
Green Bay, WI
Muskegon MI – Shipwatcher News
Southern Lake Michigan
Northern Lake Huron
Detroit, MI – Raymond Hill
Lake Erie ports for Friday – Bill Kloss
Buffalo, NY – Brian R Wroblewski |
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Group asks for donations to help save Milwaukee’s tall ship S/V Denis Sullivan 11/8 - Milwaukee, WI – Friends of Milwaukee’s tall ship Denis Sullivan have posted the following plea on social media: “Please help us to save the S/V Denis Sullivan so she might still be around to set sail again in the future! We are in desperate need of donations to have the chance of her receiving the maintenance and care she needs until whenever she might set sail again. Neglect is one of the worst things to happen to a wooden ship. If you would like to help save Wisconsin's Flagship, please donate online at the link below or with a check by mail to the address below. https://charity.gofundme.com/.../support.../tiffanykrihwan Discovery World LTD C/O Denis Sullivan Funds 500 North Harbor Drive Milwaukee, WI 53202 Please be sure to write on the check "For the Denis Sullivan" so your donation will be properly allocated to the ship! The hope is to keep at least a crew member on to continue caring for the ship while it remains docked. The minimum yearly cost to maintain the S/V Denis Sullivan is about $300,000, according to the group. |
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Obituary: Jim Hoffman 11/8 - Respected Toledo photographer and marine historian Jim Hoffman passed away Saturday evening after waging a valiant battle against cancer. He served in the U.S. Coast Guard from 1967-1971 on various lifeboat stations and offshore lighthouses on Lake Superior and Lake Michigan. While he was in the Coast Guard, he started taking pictures of boats and traveled to all five Great Lakes and the Welland Canal to do so. He primarily used a small boat as well as bridges and various shoreline areas for his marine photography. He was named the Historian of the Year by the Marine Historical Society of Detroit earlier this year. His generosity in sharing, along with his love of ship photography over the decades, has provided thousands of beautiful historic ship images, and he was always glad to share them and even tell stories or talk about histories of the vessels. We will have more information as it become available |
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Today in Great Lakes History - November 8
The NIMROD (3-mast wooden schooner, 184 foot, 559 tons, built in 1873, at Toledo, Ohio) was carrying 37,000 bushels of corn from Chicago to Buffalo. On 08 November 1874, she encountered thick fog on Lake Erie and the large double decked schooner MICHIGAN collided with her. The MICHIGAN continued on her course while the NIMROD filled with water and sank in 70 feet of water off Port Burwell-Port Stanley, Ontario. The crew escaped in the yawl and were picked up by the schooner GRANTHAM. The wreck was discovered in 1978, when Capt. Robert Hamilton, a commercial fisherman, snagged his nets on it. COLUMBIA STAR (steel propeller bulk freighter, 1000 foot, 35,923 gross tons) was launched November 8, 1980, at Bay Shipbuilding Co., Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin (Hull#726) . She was part of the Oglebay Norton fleet. Renamed b.) AMERICAN CENTURY in 2006. BENJAMIN F. FAIRLESS and IRVING S. OLDS arrived on November 8, 1988, at Kaohsiung, Taiwan for scrapping by Sing Cheng Yung Iron & Steel Co. Ltd. The Great Lakes Engineering Works built steamer STADACONA of 1909, renamed b.) W. H. McGEAN in 1920, was renamed c.) ROBERT S. McNAMARA by its new owner Ford Motor Company's Marine Division on November 8, 1962. The McNAMARA was rescued from potential scrapping when Ford purchased her for $80,000 and spent $15,000 for renovation at AmShip's Toledo yard. J. P. MORGAN JR. arrived in Spain on November 8, 1980, for scrapping. PETER A. B. WIDENER passed down the Welland Canal November 8, 1986, towed by the tugs TUSKER and GLENADA en route to Lauzon, Quebec. From there she was towed overseas for scrapping. When built, the PETER A. B. WIDENER and fleet mates J. PIERPONT MORGAN, NORMAN B. REAM and HENRY H. ROGERS were the first 600-footers built for the Pittsburgh Steamship Co. as "The Class of 1906." On 08 Nov 1986, B. F. AFFLECK (steel propeller freighter, 588 foot, 7,964 gross tons, built in 1927, at Toledo, Ohio), under tow of the tug THUNDER CAPE, went adrift on Lake Superior in a storm after the tug lost power. The tug AVENGER IV was dispatched to pick up the AFFLECK, which was headed for scrap, and the tanker EASTERN SHELL towed the THUNDER CAPE to Thunder Bay for repairs. BEN HUR, a wooden schooner-barge wrecker, 314 tons, built in 1874, at Dunville, Ontario, had been purchased for the job of salvaging the schooner M. E. TREMBLE. On 8 November 1890, she was at the job near Port Huron in the St. Clair River when she was rammed and sunk by the schooner-barge SUPERIOR which was being towed by the steamer PASSAIC. BEN HUR settled on top of the schooner she was attempting to salvage and a lighter-scow she was using also went down with her. On 8 November 1877, the bark GREAT WEST was carrying 262,000 feet of lumber from Caseville to Chicago. Much of it was piled topside. In a big storm on Lake Michigan, she lost her deck load. She then became waterlogged and finally went ashore near Hyde Park, Illinois on 10 November. The crew were all saved. On 8 November 1877, KATE L. BRUCE (3-mast wooden schooner, 307 tons, built in 1872, at Manitowoc, Wisconsin) was carrying wheat in tow of the tug JOHNSON when she was let go in heavy weather. She disappeared with all eight of her crew off Alpena, Michigan. A bureau containing her papers washed ashore in August 1878. The sunken wreck was discovered in 6 fathoms of water in Thunder Bay during the Autumn of 1879. The forebody of the former CANADIAN EXPLORER arrived in Prescott on 05 Nov 2000, under tow of the Trois Rivieres tug DUGA. It remained there for three days. The previous March, it was reported that the hull was undergoing conversion to a 498-foot grain storage barge for Les Elevateurs des Trois Rivieres, Quebec. (The engine room portion of the former CANADIAN EXPLORER was mated to the forward section of the HAMILTON TRANSFER in 1998, and is now the CANADIAN TRANSFER.) 1981: EMERALD, the former LACHINEDOC, sank in the Persian Gulf during heavy weather while carrying steel mesh and aggregates. Nine members of the crew were missing while another three were rescued. 2007: SPIRIT OF NANTUCKET, the former NANTUCKET CLIPPER, struck an uncharted object in the Intercoastal Waterway and had to be beached. The ship was repaired at Norfolk, VA and resumed its journey to the Pacific for a new career as an Alaska cruise ship after earlier Great Lakes, St. Lawrence and East Coast service. During the 24 hour period ending on midnight, November 8, 1886 a total of 113 vessels entered Chicago harbor. Data from: Skip Gillham, Joe Barr, Dave Swayze, Father Dowling Collection, Jody Aho, Russ Plumb, Ahoy & Farewell II and the Great Lakes Ships We Remember series. |
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USCGC Hollyhock returns from 74-day East Coast mission 11/7 - Port Huron, Mich. – A small group of people lined a patch of grass in the moorings for the U.S Coast Guard Hollyhock Thursday night in Port Huron, holding signs and flashlights and waving small American flags. They were waiting for the return of their family members aboard the Hollyhock, which left 74 days prior, with orders to head to the East Coast and help with post-hurricane reconstruction of ports and waterways, with a secondary mission to help other Atlantic-area cutters with backlogged aids to navigation work. At about 7 p.m., the faint outline of the ship could be seen traveling upbound on the St. Clair River. It was an unusual mission for the ship, said Lt. Cmdr. Nick Monacelli. Ashley Wisecup, who waited with her two sons for her husband, BM2 Cory Wisecup to return, said the hardest thing about her husband being gone was trying to balance the different aspects of her life — her full-time work schedule and her kids’ ever-changing school schedules. “We’re just ready to have him home,” she said. While some of the crewmembers missed out on birthdays or anniversaries, Melissa Vlasblom and her two daughters missed her husband, Chief Robert Vlasblom, being awarded the rank of chief and being pinned. “The girls should’ve been able to pin him,” she said. “That was a big thing that we missed.” As Monacelli, the ship's captain, stepped off the ship, his kids cheered and ran down the concrete path to meet him, each taking turns to hug their father. After leaving Port Huron on Aug. 24, the Hollyhock and its crew transited to New York, where it assisted two ships out of Newport, Rhode Island, with aids to navigation work. Then, the ship started sailing towards Charleston, South Carolina, where one of the components on the ship’s main crane failed. The ship waited there for about a week to have it fixed before heading towards the Caribbean to assist another ship.
While sailing to the Caribbean, one of the ship’s three generators failed, so they turned around and docked in Mayport, Florida, where the ship stayed more than three weeks. Due to the estimated time it would take to repair and uncertainty of the damage, the crew made the decision to sail home with the two remaining generators, said Monacelli.
COVID-19 on the ship Following the U.S. Coast Guard’s orders, the crewmember was taken off the ship and was tested. When the test returned positive, the rest of the crew was tested. Of the 48 crewmembers aboard the Hollyhock, 26 were positive, said Sutschek. The Coast Guard then required the crewmembers to stay out of the workplace for 10 days. Sutschek said the U.S. Coast Guard has a program in place to help keep the virus from spreading throughout the ship. Crewmembers have to wear masks, and they perform daily cleaning rounds. In addition, the Hollyhock’s crew have limited the number of crewmembers allowed to eat at the same time and the number of people allowed in enclosed spaces. “It’s kind of difficult to come up with policies for a ship because you do live and sleep in a close proximity,” she said. The USCGC Hollyhock is seen docked Thursday, Nov. 5, 2020, in Port Huron. The ship left Port Huron on Aug. 24, with orders to transit to the East Coast and help with post-hurricane reconstruction of ports and waterways.
What's next for the Hollyhock The repair is expected to take approximately four weeks, said Sutschek. Once it has been repaired, the ship will get underway to begin its buoy work for the fall season. Port Huron Times Herald Read more and view photos at this link: https://www.thetimesherald.com/story/news/2020/11/06/uscgc-hollyhock-returns-port-huron-74-day-east-coast-mission/6181028002 |
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CN shatters grain record by delivering biggest month ever 11/7 - Montreal, QC – In late October CN had exceeded the previous record of 2.88 million metric tons of Canadian grain moved set in October 2019 and is on track to exceed the previously unattained 3 MMT mark. This unprecedented performance follows seven record months of Canadian grain movement in March, April, May, June, July, August, and September. CN is also pleased to announce that it will be receiving its first shipment of the 1,500 North American-built, new-generation, high-capacity, grain hopper cars, with 100 cars already received and another 500 expected to be in service between now and the end of the year. These new 5,431 cubic foot, 55-foot eight-inch jumbo grain hopper cars, can carry approximately 10% more grain than older generation cars. This order follows CN’s 2018 order of 1,000 grain cars which are all in service. CN |
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Port Reports - November 7
Duluth-Superior – Daniel Lindner
Two Harbors-Silver Bay – Gary A. Putney
Thunder Bay ON
St Marys River
Northern Lake Michigan
Green Bay, WI – Jon
Southern Lake Michigan
Northern Lake Huron
Detroit, MI – Raymond Hill
Lake Erie ports for Friday – Bill Kloss
Buffalo, NY – Brian R Wroblewski
Oswego, NY – Ned Goebricher |
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‘Lost Mariners Remembrance’ Tuesday on Facebook 11/7 - Detroit, MI – Tuesday, November 10, 2020 at 7 PM EST – 8:30 PM EST Public · Hosted by Dossin Great Lakes Museum and Detroit Historical Society Online with Facebook Live Out of concern for the health and safety of our community, this year's Lost Mariners Remembrance will take place virtually on Facebook. A lantern vigil at the Edmund Fitzgerald anchor begins the night, followed by the live Honor Guard escort of a memorial wreath to the Detroit River for receipt by an Honor Flotilla of Great Lakes vessels. A performance by Great Lakes balladeer Lee Murdock and a historical presentation by Valerie van Heest, underwater explorer and maritime historian, will follow the wreath ceremony. This year's presentation remembers the Armistice Day blizzard on November 11 and 12, 1940. The fierce early season storm struck the middle of the country, from Kansas to Michigan, when two powerful weather systems collided over the Midwest. Its resulting rain, snow and wind lasted two days and claimed 146 lives, including 66 sailors on three freighters and two smaller craft on Lake Michigan. Guests wishing to watch this year's flotilla in-person may do so from the museum grounds starting at 7 p.m., but the museum will not be open for visitors. The historical presentation and musical performance will only be available online. Presented with support from the Lake Carriers Association and the International Shipmasters Association Detroit Lodge 7. |
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Today in Great Lakes History - November 7
On 07 November 1871, M COURTRIGHT (wooden schooner, 276 tons, built in 1856, at Erie, Pennsylvania) was carrying lumber in a storm on Lake Michigan. She struck bottom after her anchor dragged. She then became waterlogged. The crew abandoned in the yawl. The vessel went ashore several miles south of Kenosha, Wisconsin. The revenue cutter ANDREW JOHNSON tried in vain to pull her free but couldn't. The COURTRIGHT broke up a few days later. On 7 November 1852, ST LOUIS (wooden side-wheeler, 190 foot, 618 tons, built in 1844, at Perrysburg, Ohio) was carrying railroad cars when she capsized and sank in a gale off Kelley's Island on Lake Erie. She was owned by Beer & Samuel Ward. On 07 Nov 1906, the Grand Trunk carferry GRAND HAVEN (steel carferry, 306 foot, 2,320 gross tons built in 1903, at Toledo, Ohio) was put up for sale at a receiver's auction when the Grand Trunk Car Ferry Line defaulted on its bonds. It was purchased by a new Grand Trunk subsidiary, the Grand Trunk Milwaukee Car Ferry Company. This vessel had a long career both on the Lakes and in the Caribbean. She was finally scrapped at Hamilton, Ontario in 1970. The T-2 converted laker HILDA MARJANNE's 1961, German-built hull forward of the engine room, minus her pilot house, was towed by the tugs G W ROGERS and BAGOTVILLE to Port Weller Dry Docks arriving there on November 7, 1983. This section was to become part of the CANADIAN RANGER. On November 7, 1989, the SAMUEL MATHER, a.) HENRY FORD II, was moved to Toledo's C & O Frog Pond on her way to the cutter's torch. ARTHUR B HOMER (Hull#303) was launched November 7, 1959, for the Bethlehem Steel Corp., Cleveland, Ohio. She was the last ship built by Great Lakes Engineering at River Rouge, Michigan. In 1902, BRANSFORD rammed and sank the tug RECORD with a loss of a tug crewman in the Portage Lake Ship Canal in Michigan's Keweenaw Peninsula. Renamed b.) JOHN H MC GEAN in 1916, and c.) CLIFFORD F. HOOD in 1943, the HOOD was scrapped in Bilbao, Spain in 1974. On November 7, 1913, the storm responsible for sinking or damaging more vessels than any other began a six-day assault on the Great Lakes. The "Big Blow" of 1913, struck Lake Superior on November 7 and reached Lake Michigan by November 8, where the Pittsburgh Steamship Company vessel CLARENCE A. BLACK was severely damaged by the waves at the dock in Gary, Indiana. On 7 November 1893, ALBANY (steel propeller package freighter, 267 foot, 1,918 gross tons, built in 1884, at Wyandotte, Michigan) collided with the iron freighter PHILADELPHIA in a thick fog. PHILADELPHIA took ALBANY in tow to try to save her, but she sank a few miles off Pointe aux Barques, Michigan. Her crew transferred to PHILADELPHIA, but they soon had to abandon her too since she also sank. Eight lives were lost, presumably when one of the lifeboats was run down by the still running, but abandoned, PHILADELPHIA. On 7 November 1865, LILY DANCEY (2-mast wooden schooner, 92 foot, 132 gross tons built in 1856, at Goderich, Ontario) was carrying grain in a gale on Lake Huron when she was driven ashore near Port Elgin or Kincardine, Ontario. Her cargo was later recovered, but the schooner broke up by 27 November of that year. CITY OF FLINT 32 ran aground at Manitowoc, Wisconsin in 1947. 1885: ALGOMA hit Greenstone Rock off Isle Royale, Lake Superior and became a total loss. There were 46 casualties and only 16 on board were saved. 1887: OSCEOLA ran aground on Flat Rock Reef, Saginaw Bay, and all on board were rescued. The ship was abandoned as a total loss in December but refloated in the spring of 1888 and rebuilt. 1910: WASAGA caught fire and burned off Copper Harbor while seeking shelter in a storm, but all on board survived. 1921: ARAGON stranded off Salmon Point, Lake Ontario. It was released the following year but declared a total loss. The hull was sold and rebuilt and last sailed as BAYANNA in 1962. 1921: The wooden schooner barge MARY E. McLAUCHLAN sank in a storm on Nipigon Bay, Lake Superior. 1947: WILLIAM C. WARREN ran aground near Presque Isle Point, Lake Huron, while downbound with grain and had to be abandoned to the underwriters. It was not released until the following year. 1969: The Norwegian tanker CATE BROVIG hit the wall while upbound at the Eisenhower Lock and had a hole punched in the hull. The vessel was headed for Duluth. The ship first came inland in 1959 and was scrapped at Split, Yugoslavia as c) STAVROS T. in 1976. 1974: IRIS had come to the Great Lakes in 1969 and 1971. It sank as d) EUROPEAN PERSISTENCE while 510 miles southeast of Bermuda after developing leaks while enroute from Tampa to Venice. All on board were rescued. 1991: The former Swedish freighter FALKON, a first time Seaway trader in 1984, sank as c) APPOLONIA FAITH off the southwest coast of Sardinia while traveling from Valencia, Spain, to Piraeus, Greece. Two lives were lost. Data from: Skip Gillham, Joe Barr, Dave Swayze, Father Dowling Collection, Historical Collections of the Great Lakes, Jody Aho, Max Hanley, Ahoy & Farewell II and the Great Lakes Ships We Remember series. |
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Lakes limestone down 13.8 percent in October 11/6 - Cleveland OH – Shipments of limestone on the Great Lakes totaled 3.3 million tons in October, a decrease of 13.8 percent compared to a year ago. Limestone cargos were also below the month’s 5-year average by 6.9 percent. Loadings from U.S. quarries totaled 2.6 million tons, a decrease of 17.3 percent. Shipments from Canadian quarries totaled 708,406 tons, an increase of 1.6 percent. Year-to-date the limestone trade stands at 22.6 million tons, a decrease of 16.9 percent compared to 2019. Loadings from Michigan and Ohio quarries total nearly 18 million tons, a decrease of 19.3 percent. Shipments from Ontario quarries total 4.7 million tons, a decrease 6.2 percent. Lake Carriers’ Association |
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Over 150 ocean-going vessels will have visited Thunder Bay by year's end 11/6 - Thunder Bay, ON – By the time the 2020 shipping season ends in Thunder Bay, more than 150 ocean-going vessels, or salties, will have dropped anchor in the port. It's a reflection of the increased demand this year for Canadian grain in overseas markets including Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. Thunder Bay hasn't seen this many salties in one season in two decades. As of Oct. 31, more than 2.0 million metric tonnes of grain have been directly exported from Thunder Bay elevators on ocean-going vessels, a 54 per cent increase over the same period last year. An additional 4.9 million metric tonnes have been shipped from the port to other Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway ports, much of which was then transferred to salties for export overseas. The Thunder Bay Port Authority says the grain surge has been boosted by record European imports of canola. Since China embargoed imports of the oilseed from this country last year, the European Union has sourced more canola from Canada. Shipments of all grain products out of Thunder Bay are up about 22 per cent over last year. To date, a total of 358 domestic and foreign cargo vessels have visited the port, 44 more than in the same period in 2019. TB Newswatch |
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Cook taken from ship in Sarnia dies from COVID-19 11/6 - UPDATE: Sarnia, ON – The chief cook aboard a Great Lakes freighter that docked in Sarnia has died from COVID-19, according to multiple sources. Renato Battisti, a Quebec native, was taken from the Damia Desgagnés while the ship was in Sarnia and moved to hospital after contracting the virus while at sea. The Seafarers International Union of Canada said on a Facebook post shortly before noon Tuesday they were “deeply saddened to announce the tragic passing” of Battisti. The union added Battisti was a “proud” member who will be missed by many, including his family, crewmates and fellow union members. “Our deepest condolences go out to his loved ones during this difficult time. Rest in peace, brother. You will always be remembered as a true COVID hero,” the statement said. Battisti worked for Quebec-based shipping firm Groupe Desgagnés and was the chief cook on several of its ships, most recently on the asphalt-bitumen-chemical tanker Damia, according to Maritime Magazine. Groupe Desgagnés said in a statement it will lower its flags for three days starting Thursday as a mark of respect. “Mr. Battisti has made his mark with his colleagues and will certainly have brought nothing but positive things to our fleet during these many years. The sudden death of Mr. Battisti in such circumstances is tragic and upsets us,” the company said. Claude Dumais, executive vice-president of Groupe Desgagnés, did not immediately respond Thursday to an interview request. The Damia initially arrived at Sarnia Harbor Sept. 29 for an unplanned docking prompted by probable COVID-19 cases on board. Only one of the positive crew members was showing symptoms, Dumais said at the time, but 19 crew members were placed in quarantine after testing. Lambton public health said at the time it was monitoring five confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 14 close contacts in the transportation industry. A 61-year-old man not from Sarnia-Lambton checked into Bluewater Health from self-isolation Oct. 5 and was later transferred into the intensive-care unit, but officials didn’t link the ship with the patient, citing privacy concerns. The outbreak was the first instance of COVID-19 on any of the ships in the company’s fleet, but the Desgagnés Group had already established protocols and had practice with a few false alarms with crew members who fell ill with conditions that turned out not to be COVID-19, Dumais said. James Given, the Seafarers International Union president, and Ron Realesmith, the city’s manager of emergency management, said they would comment later Thursday. Allan Columbus, harbour master and wharfinger of the Sarnia Harbour, said Thursday he couldn’t comment. It wasn’t immediately clear which hospital Battisti was taken to. A Bluewater Health spokesperson said Thursday they haven’t had a COVID-19-related death in several months. Sarnia Observer |
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Port Reports - November 6
Duluth-Superior – Daniel Lindner
Two Harbors-Silver Bay – Gary A. Putney
Thunder Bay ON
St Marys River
Northern Lake Michigan
Sturgeon Bay, WI
Green Bay, WI – Jon
Southern Lake Michigan
Northern Lake Huron
Saginaw River – Todd Shorkey
Detroit, MI – Raymond Hill
Toledo, OH
Lake Erie ports for Thursday – Bill Kloss
Buffalo, NY – Brian R Wroblewski |
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Museum offering “The Fitzgerald Experience” guided tours November 7th/8th 11/6 - Toledo, OH – Plenty of sunshine and a bit of a breeze – today’s weather is a far cry from what one Great Lakes freighter turned legend experienced nearly 45 years ago. “The boat had the nickname ‘The Toledo Express’, because she came to Toledo probably 40 times a year,” explains Christopher Gillcrist, executive director of the National Museum of the Great Lakes. By any other name, the story of the Edmund Fitzgerald would still captivate us decades later – with 29 souls aboard when the ship went down in a Lake Superior storm on November 10th, 1975. “The Fitzgerald was the last major vessel to suffer a complete loss, with all lives lost, on the Great Lakes," says Gillcrist. "That’s 45 years of very safe commercial transportation on the Great Lakes... which may also explain why it still holds a certain mystique.” Gordon Lightfoot’s song catapulted the ship’s infamy and may be many people’s first exposure to the story – though some poetic license was taken, especially with the song penned only a year after the wreck. “For one thing, she was actually headed to Zug Island near Detroit, not Cleveland,” says Gillcrist. "In fact, Gordon Lightfoot changed the line ‘At 7pm, a main hatchway caved in...’ in live performances, since a lot of NTSB evidence has been put forward that says it did not suffer a hatch collapse and completely imploded.” The National Museum of the Great Lakes prefers an in-person approach to the story, with special guided tours for “The Fitzgerald Experience” being offered this weekend. “We take people on board our museum ship, the Col. James M. Schoonmaker, and we use that ship to visually show elements of the Fitzgerald loss,” explains Gillcrist. “We often will use things like the Fitzgerald Experience to help illustrate the greater story of how the Great Lakes have impacted American history.” Those elements include the hatch clamps and covers, the pilot house, and even a venture into the cargo hold to explain how the Fitz may have had her hull compromised from a shoaling event – though no exact cause of her demise has been determined. The usual 25-person groups are off the table this year, so the museum is opting for families of 4: “They’ll have to wear masks, our tour guides will be wearing masks, and we’re also limiting it in terms of timing so no one group crosses another on the Schoonmaker.” 1975 may seem like ancient history to younger generations, but for many Toledoans, the Fitzgerald story is living history. “So many of the crew were from the Toledo area," offers Gillcrist, "so people who come on the tour will come because they understand the Fitzgerald, but they will also come because it’s a Toledo story.” To book your weekend tour, visit NMGL.org. WTVG |
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Today in Great Lakes History - November 6
On 06 November 1880, the W. R. HANNA (2-mast scow-schooner, 86 foot, 103 gross tons, built in 1857), carrying 1,600 tamarack railroad ties to Toledo, sank in Lake Huron in a snowstorm. She sprang a leak off Pointe aux Barques and filled so fast that the pump was of no use. She broached to and rolled over when about 5 miles north of Sand Beach, Michigan, (now Harbor Beach). s the sun set the snow storm turned into a blizzard. The icy waves swept over the hull while the crew clung on as best they could. Four hours later, they drifted past Sand Beach, not 500 feet from the breakwater. They shouted for help, saw lights moving here and there on the breakwater, but no help came. When the wind shifted and started to blow the vessel out into the lake, the skipper cut away the weather lanyards and the vessel righted herself and they dropped the anchor. The weather was freezing cold; and there was no dry place left. The cabin was gone and the only spot out of water was on one side forward - a space about four feet wide by ten feet long. The waves kept washing over the waterlogged vessel, drenching the crew. The crew survived through the night. Heavy snow kept falling, cutting visibility to almost zero. Finally, at 10 a.m., the following morning, the storm broke and the propeller H. LUELLA WORTHINGTON (wooden propeller freighter, 148 foot, 375 gross tons, built in 1880, at Lorain, Ohio), which was in the harbor, saw the wreck and rescued the crew. The skipper of the WORTHINGTON stated that he had heard the cries of the crew throughout the night, but couldn't navigate in the blinding snowstorm. He was awake all night waiting for the storm to break so he could rescue the crew. On 06 November 1867, ALBEMARLE (3-mast wooden schooner, 154 foot, 413 gross tons, built in 1867, at Buffalo, New York) was carrying iron ore from Escanaba, Michigan, to Cleveland, Ohio in a storm when she stranded and wrecked near Point Nipigon in the Straits of Mackinac. This was her first year of operation. She had been put into service just the previous July. The US266029, a.) WILLIAM CLAY FORD was towed from Nicholson's River Rouge dock November 6, 1986, by tugs TUSKER and GLENADA to Port Maitland, Ontario for scrapping. On November 6, 1913, the J. H. SHEADLE left Fort William, Ontario bound for Erie, Pennsylvania, with grain and encountered fog, gale winds and a snow blizzard in one of the fiercest storms of the century. On November 6, 1925, the Northern Navigation passenger steamer HAMONIC lost her propeller 20 miles west of Caribou Island in Lake Superior and was wallowing in gale force winds with gusts to 80 m.p.h. She was towed to safety by Pittsburgh Steamship Co.’s RICHARD TRIMBLE. On 06 Nov 1985, Desguaces Heme began scrapping the LEON FALK, JR. in Gijon, Spain. This vessel was built in Chester, Pennsylvania, in 1945, as the tanker a.) WINTER HILL, (504 foot, 10,534 gross tons) and then was converted to a 710 foot, 12,501 gross ton bulk freighter in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1960-61. On 6 November 1872, the wooden propeller tug MILDRED, while towing a vessel out of Alpena, Michigan, had her engine fail. Soon she was in trouble and sank. The crew was saved. On 6 November 1827, ANN (wooden schooner, 53 foot, 58 tons, built in 1819, or 1821, at Black River, Ohio) was carrying salt, general merchandise and passengers when she was driven ashore on Long Point almost opposite Erie, Pennsylvania. 7 Lives were lost, including 5 passengers. 6 survived. In 1912, the Pere Marquette Railroad announced plans to build a new roundhouse at Ludington, Michigan. It still stands today. On 6 November 1874, The Port Huron Times listed the following vessels lost in the month of October and in the first week of November of that year: Propellers - BROOKLYN, FRANKFORT, NEW YORK; tug DOUGLAS; schooners - CITY OF PAINSVILLE, WANDERER, PREBLE, THOS S MOTT; and barges - CLIFTON and SHERMAN. On 6 November 1883, GUIDING STAR (3-mast wooden schooner, 139 foot, 324 tons, built in 1869, at Oswego, New York) was carrying coal to Milwaukee in fog when she went ashore 12 miles north of Milwaukee. Four of the crew made it to shore in the yawl, but it was wrecked in the process. The rest of the crew was finally rescued by the Milwaukee Lifesavers. Crews began painting the hull of the SAGINAW (formerly JOHN J. BOLAND) in the colors of Lower Lakes Towing Ltd. (gray) on 06 Nov 1999, at Sarnia, Ontario. The vessel had recently been purchased from American Steamship Co. Inside the vessel, crews were gutting the living quarters to remove asbestos and add fireproof walls and new flooring. The engine room equipment and the unloading gear were also refurbished. On November 6, 1897, the Minnesota Steamship boat MARIPOSA (steel, 348', 2898 gross tons, built in 1892, Globe Iron Works, Cleveland, Ohio) under the command of Capt. Frank Root, rescued the two remaining survivors of the wreck of the package freighter IDAHO (wooden package freighter, 220', 915 gross tons, built in 1863, Peck & Masters, Cleveland, Ohio.) off Long Point, Ontario on Lake Erie. The MARIPOSA'S first mate, Capt. Myron K. Chamberlain, had sighted the two Idaho survivors clinging to the 100' spar of the sunken IDAHO. Gale winds and seas of 12'-15' overtook the IDAHO taking with it to their deaths 19 crewmen including Captain Alexander Gillies. "In what is considered one of the greatest accomplishments of ship handling and rescue by a major Great Lakes vessel,” Capt. Root and his crewmen were able to turn the MARIPOSA around ("rolling her rails under") three times in the midst of a gale, bringing their vessel right up to the spar where IDAHO Second Mate Louis LaForce Jr. and Deckhand William Gill were pulled "half dead" on board the MARIPOSA by the officers and deck crew. Both LaForce & Gill recovered. An appreciative City of Buffalo, (hometown to most of the IDAHO crew), and the Minnesota Steamship Company awarded Capt. Root a gold watch, and instructed him to award his first mate and chief engineer each an extra month's pay, and the MARIPOSA crew each an extra half month's pay for a job well done. At 10 p.m. on November 6, 1975 the newly refurbished sidewheel ferry TRILLIUM was towed from the drydock at Ramey's Bend, Ontario, down the Welland Canal by the Canada Dredge & Dock tugs G. W. Rogers and BAGOTVILLE, arriving at Toronto on early on a foggy November 7. 1918: CHESTER A. CONGDON cleared Fort William with grain and stranded on Canoe Rock, Isle Royale in rough weather and poor visibility. The crew was rescued but the ship broke up and was listed as the first $1 million dollar loss in Great Lakes’ history. 1928: A.W. THOMPSON served as a Great Lakes consort barge before going to the Atlantic in 1918. The vessel foundered 60 miles south of Brunswick, GA, enroute from Wilmington, DE to a Gulf of Mexico port. 1968: OAK HILL visited the Great Lakes for seven trips in 1961-1962. It arrived at Singapore under tow as c) AGENOR on this date with leaking in the engine room while on a delivery trip to Chinese shipbreakers at Whampoa. The vessel was resold for scrapping in Singapore. 1969: REINHART LORENZ RUSS made 22 trips through the Seaway from 1960 through 1966. It sank as b) NAIS one mile off Raffles Light, Singapore, after a collision with the Norwegian tanker BERGEBRAGD (68/80,003) and one life was lost. 1981: LA LOMA, an early and frequent Seaway trader, arrived at Cape Town, South Africa, with hull damage as e) AEGEAN SUN. The ship was traveling from China to Abidjan, Ivory Coast. It was assessed as beyond economical repair and laid up at Mombasa. The vessel was eventually sold to Pakistani shipbreakers and arrived at Gadani Beach under tow on April 18, 1985, for dismantling. 1983: EVA MARIA C., a Seaway caller in 1976, developed leaks as c) LAGADA BEACH and sank about 200 miles northeast of Aden. The vessel was enroute to Bandar Abbas, Iran, with iron and steel products. Data from: Skip Gillham, Joe Barr, Dave Swayze, Historical Collections of the Great Lakes, Father Dowling Collection, Max Hanley, Ahoy & Farewell II and the Great Lakes Ships We Remember series. |
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Oborishte briefly grounds in Welland Canal 11/5 - Port Weller, ON – The saltwater vessel Oborishte was aground for about two hours Wednesday in the Welland Canal below Lock 2. Wind may have been a factor in the incident. When the wind died down, she was able to back off and moor at the tie-up wall. |
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Chief cook on Damia Desgagnes dies of COVID-19 11/5 - The Seafarers International Union of Canada has released the following statement: “We are deeply saddened to announce the tragic passing of Chief Cook Renato Battisti after a battle with COVID-19 that was contracted while at sea. Brother Renato was a proud SIU member and he will be missed by many, including his family, his crewmates on board the Damia Desgagnes, and all of us at the SIU of Canada. Our deepest condolences go out to his loved ones during this difficult time. Rest in Peace Brother. You will always be remembered as a true COVID hero.” Battisti, who lived in Quebec, left his vessel Nov. 2 at Sarnia, ON, and was taken to the hospital. |
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Port Reports - November 5 Duluth-Superior – Daniel Lindner Great Republic arrived Duluth at 04:19 Wednesday morning carrying limestone to unload at Hallett #5. H. Lee White was outbound from Midwest Energy at 04:58, bound for Charlevoix with petroleum coke, and Joseph L. Block entered port at 08:39 to discharge stone at Graymont Superior. James R. Barker departed at 10:27 after loading iron ore pellets at CN. Great Republic finished her unload at 16:30 and shifted to SMET to load pet coke; she was expected to depart around midnight. The Block moved from Graymont to Hallett #5 at 18:00 to load a partial cargo of blast furnace trim, and is expected to be outbound early Thursday for Two Harbors to finish her load. The only traffic in Superior on Wednesday was Burns Harbor, which departed at 09:46 laden with iron ore from Burlington Northern. Two Harbors-Silver Bay – Gary A. Putney American Integrity arrived Two Harbors on Nov. 4th for South of #2 at 01:35. As of 17:30 she was still at the loading dock. Due Two Harbors after the Integrity are the Frontenac that anchored off Duluth on Nov. 4th at approx. 05:30. Also due Two Harbors is the Joseph L. Block that at 17:30 on Nov. 4th is unloading stone at Graymont in Superior. After discharge she goes to CN-Hallett #5 for a partial load of bft after she goes to Two Harbors. Both the Block and the Frontenac should arrive Two Harbors on Nov. 5th. Thunder Bay ON Wednesday; 17:57 The saltie Johanna G arrived at the Richardson Main Terminal to load grain. St Marys River Downbounders Wednesday included Manitoulin, Mississagi and, after dark, Indiana Harbor, American Mariner and Edwin H. Gott. Upbounders included Paul R. Tregurtha, Kaye E. Barker, Michipicoten, Saginaw (to Algoma) and Fraserborg. Federal Hunter was at the Algoma Export Dock. Northern Lake Michigan Port Inland: Wednesday; 18:07 Joyce L Van Enkevort departed for the Straits of Mackinac. Charlevoix: 15:11 Bradshaw McKee / Commander arrived at St Marys Cement to load. Southern Lake Michigan Burns Harbor played host to Federal Yoshino, Stewart J. Cort and Happy River Wednesday. Arthur M. Anderson was at Gary. Manitowoc was at Indiana Harbor. Alpena was unloading cement at S. Chicago. Northern Lake Huron Spragge: Wednesday; 11:00 Algoma Conveyor departed down bound on Lake Huron. Meldrum Bay: Wednesday; 6:00 Whitefish Bay departed for Windsor. Drummond Island: Tuesday; 21:48 Laura L Van Enkevort departed for Fairport. Port Dolomite: Wednesday; 9:34 Defiance / Ashtabula arrived to load limestone and departed at 13:49 for Toledo. Calcite: Tuesday; 21:29 John J Boland arrived to load and departed Wednesday at 13:47 for the Saginaw River. Stoneport: Tuesday; Kaye E Barker proceeded to the dock to load limestone and departed Wednesday at 6:01 for Marquette. Olive L Moore / Menominee arrived to load and departed at 17:31 for Marine City. Alpena: Wednesday; 4:06 Undaunted / Pere Marquette 41 arrived at the Lafarge plant to unload. 9:22 Algoma Buffalo arrived at the Thunder Bay River dock to unload road salt and departed at 14:20 for Goderich. 14:23 Undaunted / Pere Marquette 41 departed for Port Inland. Marine City – Rich Larson Presque Isle passed MC downbound in the mid evening on the 3rd. Fraserborg passed upbound at 11:45pm on the 3rd. Algoterra moved back upstream to a berth in Sarnia the late evening of the 3rd. BBC Rio Grande passed MC downbound at 12:30am. Algocanada passed downbound at 1am. Evans Spirit passed downbound at 2:15am. Federal Asahi passed upbound at 6:15am. Calumet passed downbound at 7:30am. Victory/Maumee was upbound at the southeast bend of Harsens Island at 8:15am. Samuel de Champlain/Innovation passed upbound at 12:15pm. Algoterra passed downbound at 1:30pm, followed by Damia Desgagnes at 1:45pm. Baie Comeau passed upbound to a berth at Sarnia at 2:15pm. Lee A Tregurtha passed MC downbound at 2:15pm. Mesabi Miner downbound arrived at the power plant to unload coal at 3pm. Hon James L Oberstar passed downbound at 3:45pm. CSL St-Laurent passed downbound at 5:45pm. Algoma Discovery passed upbound at 6:30pm. Laura L Vanenkevort/Joseph H Thompson passed downbound at 6:30pm. Dorothy Ann/Pathfinder should pass MC upbound at 7:15pm. Algoma Enterprise was on approach to the mouth of the St Clair River at 6:30pm; if not to a berth at Sarnia it would pass MC around 9pm. Sunny and 62 degrees F with light winds from the south-southwest. Detroit, MI – Raymond Hill Sharon M I/Huron Spirit unloaded steel coils at Nicholson's Ecorse Terminal on Wednesday Lake Erie ports for Wednesday – Bill Kloss Sandusky: CSL Laurentian departed at 02:05 for Hamilton. Algoma Transport is due early Wednesday morning. Lorain: Calumet arrived at 18:54 to unload at LaFarge. Cleveland: Dorothy Ann left at 00:56 for Escanaba. Samuel deChamplain left for Alpena. Sam Laud is loading another shuttle from the Bulk Terminal. Sea Eagle II arrived at 02:36 for St. Mary;'s Cement. Fivelborg arrived at 12:42 for the Port, dock 24W. Ashtabula: Spruceglen departed at 02:42 for Conneaut: Walter J. McCarthy departed at 09:54. Nanticoke: Algosea went back to anchor. Algonorth is at Imperial Oil. Algocanada arrived at 19:30. Algoma Innovator left at 02:27 for Detroit. CSL Tadoussac arrived at 14:00 and went to anchor. Presque Isle arrived at 18:00.
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2020 updated list of new saltwater visitors 11/5 - As of November 1, there were 42 new saltwater vessels making their first inland trips into the Great Lakes/Seaway system . They include Alanis, Amber Bay, Amoenitas, Atlantic Spirit, Aujaq, Barbarica, BBC Direction, BBC Dolphin, BBC Eagle, BBC Echo, BBC Gdansk, BBC Mekong, BBC Norfolk, BBC Song, BBC Swift, Caroline, Comet, Fure Ven, FWN Rapide, Heemskerkgracht, Hilke, Hudsongracht, Ijborg, Imke, Janet C, Josef, Julie C, Keith, Lagertha, Maasgracht, Mick, Nadja, Northern Spirit, Ortolan Beta Strait, Patrona I, Pechora Star, Puna, Sider Amy, Sinaa, Spiekeroog, Trito Navigator and Zea Servant. Eleven of the new saltwater visitors have made inland trips with other names. They are the Atlantic Spirit, which last visited as the Adfines Star in 2019, while the Northern Spirit also last visited in 2019 as the Adfines Sea. Both vessels are tankers and sisterships. Caroline last visited in 2019 as the Palmerton and was renamed while at Sarnia on December 1. Hilke last visited in 2018 as the Palabora and Lagertha last visited in 2016 as Halit Bey on its only visit with that name. Puna last visited in 2019 as the Three Rivers, while Ortolan Beta Strait last visited in 2019 as the Pacific Huron. Both vessels are sisterships. BBC Norfolk last visited at the Thorco Alliance in 2015 on its only visit with that name. Heemskerkgracht has visited twice with two former names. It first came inland in 2009 as the Beluga Faculty and last visited as such in 2010. It returned inland in 2011 as the HHL Nile and last visited as such in 2015. The Josef first came inland as the HHL Congo in 2012 and last visited as such in 2018. In June 2018, the ship was renamed from HHL Congo to Josef while at Burns Harbor. Finally, the Imke last visited in 2016 as the Palau. Denny Dushane |
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Feds to city: Give us back Chicago Harbor Lighthouse 11/5 - Chicago, IL – The city of Chicago has been unable to do anything with the deteriorating lighthouse in a decade of ownership. The federal government is upset at how the city has taken care of the Chicago Harbor Lighthouse since it transferred ownership of the aging icon more than a decade ago — and now they want it back. In particular, they scoffed at the idea of turning the lighthouse into a luxury hotel with a helicopter pad; two Chicago developers floated that concept, but it stalled then died in the spitballing phase after both concluded it’d be too tough to turn a profit. The city has owned the lighthouse since the Coast Guard, National Park Service and General Services Administration signed off on handing over the deed in 2009 under an agreement the city would figure out a way to restore the deteriorating building for public use and education. Similar arrangements have been made for other lighthouses around the country since the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act of 2000 provided the blueprint. The city initially hinted at the possibility of turning the lighthouse into a museum with a cafe. The idea of a bed and breakfast was kicked around. A ready supply of curiosity seekers could be ferried over from nearby Navy Pier, the thinking went. City planners were open to other ideas and tried to match the lighthouse with a suitor whose repurposing plans fall within preservation requirements. The Sun-Times learned about the luxury hotel idea through an open records request and published a story in December detailing how it was one of several ideas that surfaced in the last few years on how to breathe life back into the building. The story was the focal point of several emails the National Park Service sent in June to the city’s Department of Planning and Development; those emails also were obtained through an open records request. Referring to the Sun-Times story, NPS employee Alesha Cerny wrote the General Services Administration “is hounding me on this and we’ve got to get this figured out. ... The article includes an architectural rendering of a possible hotel and restaurant at the [lighthouse] that is completely inappropriate and presents a treatment that is not in compliance with the terms” of the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act. “While this may have not been a serious contender, it is very problematic that such an idea was even printed,” Cerny wrote. The lighthouse was not being cared for as promised and efforts to preserve and repurpose the building “should have been well underway,” Cerny added. Read more and view images at this link: https://chicago.suntimes.com/2020/11/1/21542197/lighthouse-lake-michigan-chicago-ownership-feds-want-it-back-national-park-service-gsa |
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Updated saltie transits by the numbers for 2020 11/5 - As of November 1, 2020, there were 401 westbound transits at the Eisenhower Lock in Massena, N.Y., made by 231 vessels for the 2020 Great Lakes/Seaway shipping season from March/April through November 1. That is up 18 transits from the same period in 2019 and is also up 28 transits from the same time period on the five-year average during the same time from 2015-2019. The October 2020 westbound transit total of 70 made by saltwater vessels, showed a big spike among transits when compared to the same time period in 2019 at 59 transits at that time last year. The October 2020 total of 70 westbound transits made by vessel is up 11 transits from the same time period in 2019 during the month of October. It is also worth noting that the 70 westbound transits is the highest total amount of westbound transits made by saltwater vessels so far for the season. Also, the 70 transits made by vessels is the second highest total amount made in the month of October with 2015 showing the highest amount at 72 westbound transits during that time. Wind turbine parts still remain one of the top inbound cargoes, with most of those shipments going to ports such as Monroe, Bay City and Duluth. Grain exports also continue to show strong demand thanks to a strong grain crop for the 2020 season. Ports such Thunder Bay and Duluth and Superior have all seen great numbers for export grain so far for the 2020 season. Other ports that have seen high volumes of export Grain shipments so far include Hamilton, Sarnia and Toledo.
A month-by-month breakdown of the 2020 westbound transits shows the following: It is also worth mentioning that in the March/April timeframe, all transits took place in April, as there were no transits made during March due to higher water levels on Lake Ontario and the concern regarding flooding issues along the St. Lawrence River. Denny Dushane |
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2020 updated list of new saltwater visitors 11/5 - As of November 1, there were 42 new saltwater vessels making their first inland trips into the Great Lakes/Seaway system . They include Alanis, Amber Bay, Amoenitas, Atlantic Spirit, Aujaq, Barbarica, BBC Direction, BBC Dolphin, BBC Eagle, BBC Echo, BBC Gdansk, BBC Mekong, BBC Norfolk, BBC Song, BBC Swift, Caroline, Comet, Fure Ven, FWN Rapide, Heemskerkgracht, Hilke, Hudsongracht, Ijborg, Imke, Janet C, Josef, Julie C, Keith, Lagertha, Maasgracht, Mick, Nadja, Northern Spirit, Ortolan Beta Strait, Patrona I, Pechora Star, Puna, Sider Amy, Sinaa, Spiekeroog, Trito Navigator and Zea Servant. Eleven of the new saltwater visitors have made inland trips with other names. They are the Atlantic Spirit, which last visited as the Adfines Star in 2019, while the Northern Spirit also last visited in 2019 as the Adfines Sea. Both vessels are tankers and sisterships. Caroline last visited in 2019 as the Palmerton and was renamed while at Sarnia on December 1. Hilke last visited in 2018 as the Palabora and Lagertha last visited in 2016 as Halit Bey on its only visit with that name. Puna last visited in 2019 as the Three Rivers, while Ortolan Beta Strait last visited in 2019 as the Pacific Huron. Both vessels are sisterships. BBC Norfolk last visited at the Thorco Alliance in 2015 on its only visit with that name. Heemskerkgracht has visited twice with two former names. It first came inland in 2009 as the Beluga Faculty and last visited as such in 2010. It returned inland in 2011 as the HHL Nile and last visited as such in 2015. The Josef first came inland as the HHL Congo in 2012 and last visited as such in 2018. In June 2018, the ship was renamed from HHL Congo to Josef while at Burns Harbor. Finally, the Imke last visited in 2016 as the Palau. Denny Dushane |
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Next week’s Edmund Fitzgerald ceremony, Gales of November events will be virtual 11/5 - Duluth, MN – Maritime heritage will take center stage – virtually – for much of next week. The annual Split Rock Lighthouse ceremony on Tuesday, Nov. 10, commemorating the 1975 sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald and the loss of its 29 crew members will take place online this year though the grounds will be closed. The commemoration will be held via social media platforms starting at 4:30 p.m. with the beacon lighting following the ceremony at around 4:45 p.m. The video stream of the beacon lighting will be provided by KBJR TV in Duluth and can be accessed live through the Minnesota Historical Society and Split Rock Lighthouse Facebook pages. It will also be available as a recording on Facebook and YouTube. The beacon will be extinguished at 7 p.m. and that is when the annual Gales of November program presented by the Lake Superior Marine Museum Association will begin. Gales also will be virtual this year, with speakers every evening at 7 p.m. from Tuesday-Saturday with an additional presentation at 2 p.m. Saturday. On Nov. 10, the speaker will be Peter Brunk, a retired US Coast Guard member who will recount his Atlantic Strike Team mission to find the Fitz after its sinking in 1975 and also his time as commander of the Nantucket Lightship. On Nov. 11, Hayes Scriven, the new site manager of Split Rock Lighthouse, will be available to answer questions after a short documentary about his first year at the Light. On Nov. 12, Dave Mascarenas, retired commander on the Los Angeles Police Department dive team, will recount his career that includes a dive in the LaBrea Tar Pits. On Nov. 13 (Friday the 13th), maritime historian and author of the Haunted Lakes series, Fred Stonehouse, will recall some of his favorite hauntings on the Great Lakes. On Nov. 14 at 2 p.m., shipwreck hunters Ken Merryman and Jerry Eliason will talk about their discovery this summer of the Pere Marquette 18 carferry on Lake Michigan. Later that day at 7 p.m., Scott Bjorklund, a ranger at the Lake Superior Maritime Visitor Center, will recount the 150-year-history of the Duluth Ship Canal. |
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“Edmund Fitzgerald: The Legend Lives On” today in the Virtual Visitor Center 11/5 - Four decades after the Edmund Fitzgerald vanished from the radar screen of the trailing steamer, Arthur M. Anderson, the largest ship ever lost on the Great Lakes continues to inspire our capacity for wonder and grief. As the "Pride of the American Side" slashed across Lake Superior that fearful November night in 1975, her veteran skipper reported some seemingly incidental topside damage and a portside list. At around 7:10 p.m., Fitzgerald "went missing" without a distress call of any kind. There were no survivors. Drawing from rare archival material and exclusive underwater images of the wreck site, Great Lakes photojournalist Chris Winters will provide a comprehensive look at the life and the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. This fascinating presentation draws on photographs of the ship above and below the surface, exploring the haunting legacy of this vanished "Queen of the Lakes." The program is free and begins today at noon Eastern (11:00 Central), use a Chrome browser to join on the web here: www.gotomeet.me/VirtualVisitorCenter/edmund-fitzgerald. The Virtual Visitor Center is a cooperative endeavor between the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Soo Locks Visitor Center Association and Lake Superior Marine Museum Association. |
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Teens launch ‘Caring for Our Sailors’ program, seek community help 11/5 - Brendan Falkowski, a high school student from Bath, Michigan, and publisher of the on-line bi-monthy Shipwatcher News, has launched a program called “Caring for Our Sailors.” The goal is to deliver holiday care packages to as many of the ships as possible. “We want to serve as many sailors as possible through this program, and have partnered with the S/S Alpena, Grand River Navigation, Interlake Steamship Co., Lower Lakes Towing, Port City Marine Services and VanEnkevort Tug & Barge to provide gifts for over 550 sailors on 29 ships,” Falkowski said. He has been joined by his friend Brock Johnson, a high school student from Grand Rapids, Michigan, who also shares a passion for Great Lakes ships and is a volunteer at the Milwaukee Clipper marine museum, for help on this project. They have been awarded a $250 grant from Thrivent, as well as a $50 donation from Costco. “We plan on filling our care packages with healthy snacks and treats, gum, hot chocolate packets, and more,” Falkowski said. “Beyond these items, we also have set up a way for the sailors to register for a chance to win a bonus gift, with chances to win two VIP ferry tickets to Mackinac Island aboard Shepler’s Mackinac Island Ferry or an autographed Know Your Ships 2020 book. “While I have worked through life during the COVID-19 pandemic, I was inspired to do something for the sailors on Great Lakes ships, who spend a month or more at a time on their ships, away from their homes and families. They put in countless hours of work to support their families and keep the economy moving. I thought that they deserved something special this holiday season,” Falkowski he added, “and I wanted to share something with them to show them how appreciated their sacrifices are.” The two are working with the J. W. Westcott Co.of Detroit and Soo Marine Supply of Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, for delivery of the care packages, both of which have agreed to deliver them for. Now they are looking for support from the community to give the project a final push. You can find more information on the project at https://shipwatcher-news.com/caring-for-our-sailors, and can view and donate to our gift shopping list at https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/1ADSMSCU3MDLN?ref_=wl_share. If you wish to donate money to our cause, please see the donation form on the Shipwatcher News Caring for our Sailors webpage. Reporting by Boatnerd.com |
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Today in Great Lakes History - November 5
At 2 a.m. 05 November 1884, the steamer GRACE GRUMMOND (iron side-wheel excursion steamer, 138 foot, 250 tons, built in 1856, at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, as the survey steamer JEFFERSON DAVIS, specifically for the survey of the Great Lakes) burned at Grand Haven, Michigan. Her cargo of apples, pears and potatoes was also destroyed. No lives were lost. After the fire she was towed to Chicago to lay up until it was decided what to do with her. It is not known if she ever operated as a steamer again, but in 1887, she was rebuilt as a schooner at Milwaukee. She was one of the only sizable iron-hulled schooners ever used on the lakes. In 1904, as a tow-barge, she was sold Canadian and renamed BALTIC (C.116760). She was later used as a breakwater at Clear Creek, Ontario and was finally scrapped in 1939. On 05 November 1852, BUCKEYE STATE (3-mast wooden bark, 132 foot, 310 tons, built in 1852, at Black River, Ohio) stranded off S. Milwaukee Point on Lake Michigan in a storm and was then broken up by waves. This was her first year of operation and she had been in service less than three months. LOUIS R. DESMARAIS cleared Owen Sound, Ontario on her maiden voyage November 5, 1977, bound for Thunder Bay, Ontario, to load 27,117 gross tons of iron ore for Stelco at Hamilton, Ontario. Her forward end was replaced at Port Weller in 2001, and renamed b.) CSL LAURENTIEN. On her final trip, the IRVIN L. CLYMER passed up bound at the Soo on November 5, 1990, and arrived at Duluth two days later to unload limestone at the Hallet Dock #5, after which she moved to her final lay-up berth at Fraser Shipyard and tied up, blowing one last three long and two short salute from her whistle. In 1993, she was sold to Azcon Corp. of Duluth, Minnesota for scrapping. GRAND HAVEN was raised on November 5, 1969, from the Old River Bed, where she sank on September 19, 1969. She was raised for scrapping. Mr. J. W. Isherwood visited the Great Lakes Engineering Works shipyard on November 5, 1910, and personally inspected the hull which was being built according to his patented design. This vessel, the WILLIAM P. PALMER, was the first vessel on the Great Lakes built to the Isherwood system of longitudinal framing. On 05 Nov 1917, a foggy and rainy day, the JAMES S. DUNHAM (steel propeller bulk freighter, 420 foot, 4,795 gross tons, built in 1906, at W. Bay City, Michigan) sank in a collision with the steamer ROBERT FULTON (steel propeller bulk freighter, 424 foot, 4,219 gross tons, built 1896, at Wyandotte, Michigan) just below Grassy Island on the Detroit River. Repairs for both vessels totaled $125,000. On 5 November 1896, ACADIA (iron-framed wooden propeller, 176 foot, built in 1867, at Hamilton, Ontario) was driven ashore and broke up in a gale near the mouth of the Michipicoten River in Lake Superior. Her crew made it to shore and five of them spent more than a week trying to make it to the Soo. The Port Huron Times of 5 November 1878: "The schooner J. P. MARCH is reported lost with all on board. She was lost at Little Traverse Bay on the northern shore of Lake Michigan. The MARCH was a three-masted schooner and was owned by Benton & Pierce of Chicago." On 5 November 1838, TOLEDO (2-mast wooden schooner, 98 foot, 215 tons, built in 1836, at Buffalo) was carrying dry goods valued at more than $100,000 up-bound on Lake Erie when she was driven ashore by a gale a half mile east of the mouth of the Grand River. She broke in two. No lives were lost. On 5 November 1869, TITAN (wooden schooner, 132 foot, 361 gross tons, built in 1856, at Oswego, New York) was carrying 17,500 bushels of wheat on Lake Michigan in a terrific gale. She was driven toward shore. Her anchors were dropped as she came close in and they held for about an hour. However, the ship finally dragged ashore, losing both of her masts and breaking up as she struck. Of the nine on board, only one survived and that one was found crawling along the beach in a dazed state. When she was new, TITAN broke the record by completing the trip from Chicago to Oswego in only 8 days and 4 hours. Her record only lasted one day since the schooner SURPRISE broke it by 6 hours the following day. In the summer of 1875, the propeller EAST ran down and sank the tug JOE MAC, not even pausing to save her crew from drowning. The following winter Messrs. Seymour & Co., owners of the JOE MAC, obtained a judgment in a U.S. Court against the owners of the EAST. Since the EAST was a Canadian vessel, they were unable to seize her because the judgment could only be effected in American waters. On Sunday morning, 05 Nov 1876, the steam tug SEYMOUR, with a United States Marshal and posse on board, proceeded up to Allen's (presumably at Ogdensburg, New York), and there lay in wait for the EAST, which went up by the Crossover light channel into American waters. The SEYMOUR ran out and captured the vessel and brought her to Averell's wharf in U.S. waters to await justice. CALCITE II arrived in Sarnia at 6 a.m. on Sunday, 05 Nov. 2000, for lay-up. After leaving Cleveland the previous day, she anchored in Western Lake Erie, so she could arrive at the North Slip in Sarnia when shoreside personnel would be on-hand to assist. A chartered bus from Rogers City left about noon to take many of the crew home. Around 4:10 p.m., the downbound MYRON C. TAYLOR passed her fleetmate CALCITE II, perhaps for the last time in USS Great Lakes Fleet colors, and she blew her sister an extended 3 long and 2 short master salute. The TAYLOR was bound for Cleveland with a load of stone. 1885: The Canadian Pacific passenger and freight steamer ALGOMA cleared Owen Sound on its final trip with 11 passengers and headed for the Canadian Lakehead. 1897: IDAHO departed Buffalo and was caught in a wild storm on Lake Erie. The wooden passenger and freight carrier fell into the trough and only two survived. They had climbed the mast and were plucked from the crow's nest the next morning in a heroic effort by the crew of the MARIPOSA. 1940: SPARTA was wrecked near the Pictured Rocks after stranding on a reef in a heavy gale. The hull was abandoned on November 11 but salvaged in 1941 and never repaired. 1957: The Finnish freighter KORSO struck a drifting World War Two mine off Cape Mondjego, Portugal, and sank as a belated casualty of the conflict. The vessel had been built at Kingston, ON in 1942 as H.M.C.S. IRONBOUND and converted for mercantile use in 1948. 1962: EDWIN REITH, a West German salty, grounded near Tibbetts Point, Lake Ontario, and had to be lightered to P.S. BARGE NO. 1. It was released and came to Toronto to unload on November 14. 1967: The Canadian laker MOHAWK DEER, enroute to La Spezia, Italy, for scrapping, ran aground in the Gulf of Genoa near Portofino, Italy, and sank the next day. 1987: CATHARINA WIARDS sank in the Red Sea as d) TRADER after the engine room flooded during a voyage from Augusta, Italy, to China. The vessel was a year old when it came through the Seaway for the first time in 1970. 1991: OLYMPIC PEACE, a Seaway trader for the first time in 1976, arrived at Piraeus, Greece, with damage to the main engine cooling system as c) FREE PEACE. It was later seized by Banco-Hellenique and sold at auction. The ship was scrapped in China during 1994 as e) PATMOS I. Data from: Skip Gillham, Joe Barr, Dave Swayze, Ahoy & Farewell II and the Great Lakes Ships We Remember series. |
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Port Reports - November 4
Duluth-Superior – Daniel Lindner
Two Harbors-Silver Bay – Gary A. Putney
Thunder Bay ON
St Marys River
Northern Lake Michigan
Sturgeon Bay, WI
Milwaukee, WI
Southern Lake Michigan
Northern Lake Huron
Goderich, ON – Bruce Douglas
Marine City – Rich Larson
Lake Erie ports for Tuesday – Bill Kloss
Rochester, NY – Tom Brewer |
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Today in Great Lakes History - November 4
The Great Lakes Steamship Company steamer NORWAY passed downbound through the Soo Locks with 6,609 tons of rye. This cargo increased the total tonnage transiting the locks in 1953 to 120,206,088 tons – a new one-season tonnage record. Renamed b.) RUTH HINDMAN in 1964, she was scrapped at Thunder Bay, Ontario in 1978. On 04 November 1883, MAYFLOWER (wooden propeller freighter “steam barge,” 185 foot, 623 gross tons, built in 1852, at Buffalo, New York) was carrying lumber when she stranded in a gale off Point Abino near Buffalo, New York where the waves pounded her to pieces. The crew made it to shore in the yawl. She was built as a very fine passenger steamer for the Western Transportation Line then in 1868, she was rebuilt as a “steam barge.” On 4 November 1875, SWAN (wooden propeller tug, 11 gross tons, built in 1862, at Buffalo, New York) caught fire while lying out in the Saginaw River near East Saginaw. She was abandoned by the crew and burned to the water’s edge. JOSEPH G. BUTLER JR (steel bulk freighter, 525 foot, 6,588 gross tons) was launched on 04 Nov 1905, at Lorain, Ohio for the Tonopah Steamship Co. (Hutchinson & Co., mgr.). She lasted until 1971, when she was stripped of her cabins and scuttled, along with HENRY R. PLATT JR., at Steel Co. of Canada plant, Burlington Bay, Hamilton, Ontario, as breakwater and fill. CARTIERCLIFFE HALL was registered at Toronto, Ontario, on 04 Nov 1977, but didn't enter service until the spring of 1978 because of mechanical difficulties during her sea trials. On 04 Nov, 1986, TEXACO CHIEF was renamed A.G. FARQUHARSON. She was renamed c.) ALGONOVA (i) in 1998. CALCITE II departed Cleveland at 5:30 a.m. Saturday, 04 Nov 2000, on her last trip for USS Great Lakes Fleet. She sailed upbound for Sarnia, Ontario, where she spent the winter in lay-up. Grand River Transportation had entered into a sale agreement with USS Great Lakes Fleet, Inc. for the purchase of the CALCITE II, GEORGE A. SLOAN and MYRON C. TAYLOR. Built as the WILLIAM G. CLYDE in 1929, CALCITE II is awaiting scrapping as c.) MAUMEE. HERON BAY proceeded under her own power to Lauzon, Quebec, for her final lay-up on November 4, 1978. CSL's NIPIGON BAY was launched November 4, 1950. CHARLES L. HUTCHINSON developed a sizable leak and almost sank November 4, 1925, during her tow to Superior after she struck a reef a few nights before. ROBERT C. STANLEY's keel was laid November 4, 1942. UNITED STATES GYPSUM of 1910 grounded at Toledo, Ohio, on November 4, 1972, resulting in damage totaling $125,000. Her propeller was removed and the rudder shaft was locked in position to finish the season as a manned barge on the coal run from Toledo to Detroit, Michigan. JOSEPH H. THOMPSON became not only the largest vessel on the Great Lakes but also the longest dry bulk cargo vessel in the world when it entered service on November 4, 1952, departing Chicago on its first trip. Setting the stage for the fateful storm that followed less than a week later that sank the EDMUND FITZGERALD, many locations in Minnesota and Wisconsin were setting all-time record high temperatures for the month of November during the period of November 4-6, 1975. Grand Marais, Minnesota, reached 67 degrees on November 5 and Superior reached 74 degrees on November 6, both all-time records for the month. Many other notable Great Lakes storms, including the Armistice Day storm of 1940, and the storm that sank the HENRY STEINBRENNER in 1953, were proceeded by record-setting warm weather. On 4 November 1877, MARY BOOTH (wooden scow-schooner, 132 tons, built in 1857, at Buffalo, New York) was carrying maple lumber in a storm in Lake Michigan. She became waterlogged but her crew doggedly clung to her until she appeared ready to turn turtle. Then her crew abandoned her and she rolled over. She drifted in the lake for several days. The crew landed at White Lake, Michigan and they were near death. The Port Huron Times of 4 November 1878: "The propeller CITY OF MONTREAL is believed to have gone down on Lake Michigan on Friday [1 NOV 1878]. The schooner LIVELY, laden with coal for Bay City, is reported ashore 6 miles above Sand Beach, having gone on at 12 o'clock Sunday night [3 NOV 1878]. The schooner WOODRUFF, ashore at Whitehall, is a total loss. Two men were drowned, one died from injuries received, and Capt. Lingham was saved. The tugs E M PECK and MYSTIC, which went from the Sault to the assistance of the propeller QUEBEC, were wrecked near where she lies, one being on the beach and the other sunk below her decks. Both crews were rescued and were taken to St. Joseph Island." On 4 November 1856, J W BROOKS (wooden propeller, 136 foot, 322 tons, built in 1851, at Detroit) was carrying provisions and copper ingots to Ogdensburg, New York in a storm when she foundered on Lake Ontario, 8 miles northeast of False Ducks Light. Estimates of the loss of lives range from 22 to 50. In July 1857, she was partially raised and some of her cargo was recovered. She only had a five year career, but besides this final incident, she had her share of disasters. In July 1855, she had a boiler explosion and in May of that same year, she sank in Canadian waters. In 1980 the tug LAUREN CASTLE sank while towing the AMOCO WISCONSIN near Lee Point in Traverse Bay. Engineer William Stephan was lost. 1891: The iron freighter NORTH, which had become the first ocean ship to be cut in two and brought to the Great Lakes, arrived at Collingwood to be rebuilt as b) CAMPANA for the passenger & freight trades on the upper lakes. 1898: The wooden passenger and freight steamer PACIFIC burned at the Grand Trunk Railway dock in Collingwood along with the freight sheds and their contents. The blaze had begun the previous evening and roared for hours. The vessel was valued at $65,000. 1959: WESTRIVER arrived at Halifax for repairs after an earlier engine room explosion on Lake Superior had left the ship with significant damage. 1967: PEARL LIGHT, a World War II Empire ship, came through the Seaway for one trip in 1965. It was wrecked off Vietnam as g) HABIB MARIKAR while enroute from Dalian, China, to Chittagong, Bangladesh, with bagged cement. One life was lost. 1972: INLAND TRANSPORT went aground off Garden Island Bank, near Little Current, Manitoulin Island, and received major hull damage that led to the retirement of that Halco tanker after one more trip. 1991: CARLI METZ struck the wall below Lock 2 of the Welland Canal and the vessel had to go to Port Weller Dry Docks for repairs. It had been inbound for the first time earlier in the year and returned in 1992. It was scrapped at Chittagong, Bangladesh, as d) METZ ITALIA in 2001. 1993: ZIEMIA ZAMOJSKA, while under tow, struck the raised 106th Street Bridge on the Calumet River at Chicago resulting in damage to the structure and traffic problems. The corn-laden vessel received a hole in the port bow, which was repaired at Montreal. Data from: Skip Gillham, Joe Barr, Dave Swayze, Jody Aho, Russ Plumb, Father Dowling Collection, Ahoy & Farewell II and the Great Lakes Ships We Remember series. |
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Algoma Intrepid due in Canada 11/3 - Algoma Intrepid (IMO 9773387) is expected to arrive in Montreal on November 10 at 0700, according to AIS. Upon arrival in Canada, Algoma Intrepid will be registered Canadian and be reflagged as well. The vessel currently is flagged in Tuvalu and has a foreign crew on board. After arriving in Canada, that crew will disembark and be replaced by an all-Canadian crew. Algoma Intrepid is the ninth Equinox-class vessel to be built and join the Algoma Central Corp. fleet as part of Algoma’s fleet renewal program started in 2013 with the arrival of the Algoma Equinox the first of the Equinox-class series of vessels. She is also the second of two 650-foot-long forward-mounted self-unloading vessels built in Croatia, with its sistership and fleetmate Algoma Innovator being the first. Algoma Innovator joined the Algoma Central Corp. fleet in 2018 and was also their first “river-class” self-unloading vessel. Denny Dushane |
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Work is continuing on Interlake’s Mark W. Barker 11/3 - The Interlake Steamship Company posted photos last week of the engineering happening on the M/V Mark W. Barker, a self-unloading bulk carrier. It's believed to be the first ship for U.S. Great Lakes service built on the Great Lakes since 1983. Measuring 639 feet long, the ship is being constructed in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin at Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding. It will transport raw materials to support manufacturing through the Great Lakes region. “When we approached a historic project of this magnitude – building our company’s first ship since 1981 – we knew it was critical to choose the right partners. Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding is the shipyard that has the experience and skill to execute on our long-term vision,” Interlake President Mark W. Barker said at the time the ship was announced. In the latest post on social media, the photos showed the work being done on the hull structure, accommodation house structure and engine control room. Construction is on schedule. Major equipment including port & starboard main engines, reduction gear and shaft generators will arrive soon to the shipyard if they haven't already. The ship is expected to sail in the spring of 2022. Read more and view images at this link: https://www.wxyz.com/news/photos-construction-continues-on-first-ship-to-be-built-on-the-great-lakes-in-35-years |
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Port Reports - November 3
Duluth-Superior – Daniel Lindner
Two Harbors-Silver Bay – Gary A. Putney.
Thunder Bay ON
Northern Lake Michigan
Northern Lake Huron
Goderich, ON – Bruce Douglas
Lake Erie ports for Monday – Bill Kloss |
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Today in Great Lakes History - November 3
On 03 November 1907, tug ESCORT (wooden propeller, 45 foot, 40 gross tons, built in 1894, at Port Colborne, Ontario) tried to pass the barge BENJ HARRISON at the mouth of the Niagara River. In a navigational error, the tug sheared under the barge’s bow, was run over and sunk. Three lives were lost. B. A. PEERLESS sailed on her maiden voyage November 3, 1952, bound for Superior, Wisconsin, where 110,291 barrels of crude oil were loaded destined for British-American's refinery at Clarkson, Ontario. The PEERLESS was built for the express purpose of transporting crude oil from the Interprovincial / Lakehead Pipeline terminus at Superior to B / A's Clarkson refinery. The vessel lasted until 1991, when she was broken up. On 3 November 1898, PACIFIC (wooden propeller passenger/package freighter, 179 foot, 918 gross tons, built in 1883, at Owen Sound, Ontario) caught fire at the Grand Trunk dock at Collingwood, Ontario. She burned to a shell despite a concerted effort to save her. She was later towed out into Georgian Bay and scuttled. On 3 November 1855, DELAWARE (wooden propeller, 173 foot, 368 tons, built in 1846, at Black River, Ohio) was carrying general merchandise from Chicago to Buffalo with a stop at Milwaukee. She was driven ashore by a gale eight miles south of Sheboygan, Wisconsin and sank. Ten or 11 of the 18 on board lost their lives. Within a few days, only her arches were visible above the water. Dismantling of the H. C. HEIMBECKER began on 03 Nov 1981, by Triad Salvage Company at Ashtabula, Ohio, and was completed the following year. This vessel was originally named GEORGE W. PERKINS (steel bulk freighter, 556 foot, 6,553 gross tons, built in 1905, at Superior, Wisconsin.) 1928: CANADIAN TRADER was Hull 39 of the Port Arthur shipyard. Following a sale to Japanese interests, the ship departed Seattle on this date in 1928 on its delivery voyage, still as c) GUILDA SCUDERI, and was never seen again. 1953: The tug J.A. CORNETT went hard aground about seven miles north of Clayton, NY and was leaking badly. The vessel was eventually refloated and survived at Port Dover, ON at least as recently as 2011. It has been laid up there since 1992 and is now in derelict condition. 1965: The tug MISEFORD was towing the barge CHARLES W. JOHNSON when they were caught in a storm on the St. Marys River. The tug was pulled over on her side and rested on the bottom. MISEFORD was salvaged in the spring of 1966 and remains in service in 2012 as a harbor tug at Thunder Bay, Ont. Data from: Skip Gillham, Joe Barr, Dave Swayze, Ahoy & Farewell II and the Great Lakes Ships We Remember series. |
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Port Reports - November 2
Duluth-Superior – Daniel Lindner
Two Harbors-Silver Bay – Gary A. Putney
Thunder Bay ON
St. Marys River
Northern Lake Michigan
Southern Lake Michigan
Northern Lake Huron
Goderich, ON – Bruce Douglas
Marine City, MI – Rich Larson
Detroit, MI – Raymond Hill
Lake Erie Ports for Sunday – Bill Kloss
Rochester, NY – Tom Brewer
Buffalo, NY – Brian R Wroblewski |
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World Ship Society casualties and demolitions 11/2 - Vessels with Great Lakes / St Lawrence Seaway connection reported as a casualty or sold for demolition taken from November issue of Marine News – Journal of the World Ship Society. Casualties: None reported Demolitions: ALI-B (8418253; Comoros) (Ana Maria D-14, H Emine Sagbas-11, Fora-98, Reysol-95, Boe Sea-93 - 1st Seaway trip 1985) 5,451 / 1985 General Cargo ship. By Anna Maria Maritime SA (Virtu Marine Ltd SA), Honduras, to Vijay Shipbreaking Corp, India and commenced demolition 30.01.2020 SOMERSET (7609697; Marshall Islands) (Anangel Might-01 - 1st Seaway trip 1983) 13491 / 1978 Cement Carrier. By Somerset Shipping Co Ltd (SMT Shipmanagement & Transport Gdynia Ltd Sp zoo), British Virgin Islands, Rushil Industries Ltd., India and arrived Alang - commenced demolition 28.12.2019 TOPAZ (8323551; Gabon) (Blue April-19, Agatha-12, L Star-08, Jovian Lilac-96, Shoun Nectar-91 - 1st Seaway trip 1990) 4,509 / 1984 Chemical/Products tanker. By I Globe Shipping Inc Panama, to Dewan Ship Breaking Pvt Ltd., Pakistan and commenced demolition 19.12.2019 Report prepared by Barry Andersen and Réne Beauchamp |
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Today in Great Lakes History - November 2
On 02 November 1924, TURRET CROWN (steel propeller "turret ship,” 253 foot, 1,827 tons, built in 1895, in England) was driven ashore in a gale on Meldrum Point on the north side of Manitoulin Island on Lake Huron. Her hull was wrecked during the storms that winter. She was cut up and removed for scrap the following year. On November 2, 1984, the tugs ATOMIC and ELMORE M. MISNER towed the ERINDALE, a.) W.F. WHITE, to the International Marine Salvage scrap dock at Port Colborne, Ontario, where demolition began that month. H.C. HEIMBECKER proceeded under her own power to Ashtabula, Ohio, for scrapping, arriving there November 2, 1981. On November 2, 1948, FRANK ARMSTRONG collided head-on with the c.) JOHN J. BOLAND of 1905, a.) STEPHEN B. CLEMENT, in a heavy fog on Lake Erie near Colchester, Ontario. Both vessels were badly damaged and resulted in one fatality on the BOLAND. The ARMSTRONG was towed to Toledo, Ohio, for repairs. In 1972, the A. E. NETTLETON's towline parted from the OLIVE L. MOORE during a snowstorm with gale force winds 17 miles west of the Keweenaw Peninsula on Lake Superior. The barge developed a 15-degree list when her load of grain shifted. Three of her five-member crew were air lifted by a U.S.C.G. helicopter to the MOORE to assist in re-rigging the towline. The NETTLETON was towed the next day into the Lily Pond on the Keweenaw Waterway to trim her cargo. The WILLIAM C. MORELAND was abandoned to the underwriters on November 2, 1910, as a constructive total loss, amounting to $445,000. She had stranded on Sawtooth Reef off Eagle Harbor, Michigan, on Lake Superior in mid October. The keel of the new section, identified as Hull #28, was laid down on November 2, 1959. A new forward pilothouse and a hatch crane were installed and her steam turbine engine and water tube boilers were reconditioned. The vessel was named c.) RED WING after the Detroit Red Wing hockey team, honoring a long association with Upper Lakes Shipping and James Norris, the founder of ULS, and his two sons, James D. and Bruce, owners of the National Hockey League team. In 1971, the Lake Michigan carferry BADGER was laid up due to a coal strike. On 2 November 1889, FRANCIS PALMS (wooden schooner, 173 foot, 560 tons, built in 1868, at Marine City, Michigan, as a bark) was sailing from Escanaba to Detroit with a load of iron ore when she was driven ashore near Beaver Island in Lake Michigan. Her entire crew was taken off by the tug GLADIATOR that also pulled in vain while trying to free the PALMS. The PALMS was pounded to pieces by the storm waves. November was a bad month for the PALMS since she had previously been wrecked on Long Point in Lake Erie in November 1874, and again at Duluth in November 1872. During the first week of November 1878, The Port Huron Times reported wrecks and mishaps that occurred during a severe storm that swept over the Lakes on Friday and Saturday, 1-3 November. The information was reported on 2, 4 & 5 November as the reports came in. The same reports will appear here starting today: The Port Huron Times of 2 November 1878: "The schooner L. C. WOODRUFF of Cleveland is ashore at the mouth of the White River with her foremast gone. She is loaded with corn. Three schooners went ashore at Grand Haven Friday morning, the AMERICA, MONTPELIER, and AUSTRALIAN. One man was drowned off the AUSTRALIAN. The schooner WORTS is ashore and full of water on Beaver Island. Her cargo consists of pork for Collingwood. The tug LEVIATHAN has gone to her aid. The schooner LAKE FOREST is ashore at Hammond's Bay, Lake Huron, and is full of water. She has a cargo of corn aboard. The tug A J SMITH has gone to her rescue. The barge S. C. WOODRUFF has gone down in 13 feet of water off Whitehall and her crew is clinging to the rigging at last accounts. A lifeboat has been sent to her relief. The barge RUTTER is in 25 feet of water and all the crew are now safe." On 2 November 1874, PREBLE (2-mast wooden schooner, 98 foot, 166 tons, built in 1842, at Buffalo, New York as a brig) was lost in a storm off Long Point on Lake Erie and broke up in the waves. The steamer ST PAUL rescued her crew. On 02 Nov 1862, BAY STATE (wooden propeller, 137 foot, 372 tons, built in 1852, at Buffalo, New York) was bound for Lake Erie ports from Oswego, New York when she broke up offshore in a terrific gale in the vicinity of Oswego. All 22 onboard, including six passengers, lost their lives. The shoreline was strewn with her wreckage for miles. PAUL H. CARNAHAN was christened at the foot of West Grand Boulevard in Detroit, Michigan on 02 Nov 1961. She had been converted from the tanker b.) ATLANTIC DEALER to a dry bulk cargo carrier by American Ship Building Co. at Lorain, Ohio and came out on her maiden bulk freighter voyage just two weeks before this christening ceremony. 1912: JUNO, which had lost the barge P.B. LOCKE the previous day on Lake Ontario, arrived safely at Cobourg and then sank at the dock. 1923: The wooden steamer WESEE caught fire in Lake Erie off Middle Bass Island and burned as a total loss. The crew took to the yawl boats and all were saved. 1956: The former schooner J.T. WING, which had operated as a museum at Belle Isle in Detroit until condemned due to rotting timbers, was burned. 1981: FROSSO K., an SD 14 ocean freighter, suffered an engine room fire enroute from Vancouver to Japan. The ship was towed back to Vancouver November 15 and repaired. It first came through the Seaway in 1974 and arrived at Cartagena, Columbia, under tow, for scrapping on February 15, 1995, as e) MAMER. 1981: The West German freighter POSEIDON first came through the Seaway in 1962 and became a regular inland trader. It was abandoned, in leaking condition on this date, as e) VIKI K. in the Red Sea. There was some suspicion that the vessel was scuttled as part of an insurance fraud. 1988: PETER MISENER struck a shoal while upbound in the Saguenay River for Port Alfred with coke. There was major damage and the ship went to Montreal for repairs. 2001: AUDACIOUS stranded at Keleman Island, Indonesia, but was refloated two days later. The damage was severe and the vessel was laid up at Singapore and then sold to shipbreakers. The ship arrived at Alang, India, to be broken up, on April 27, 2002. The ship visited the Great Lakes as a) WELSH VOYAGER in 1977, and returned as b) LONDON VOYAGER in 1982 and c) OLYMPIC LEADER in 1983. It made its first inland voyage as d) AUDACIOUS in 1996 and its final call in 2000. Data from: Skip Gillham, Joe Barr, Dave Swayze, Max Hanley, Ahoy & Farewell II and the Great Lakes Ships We Remember series. |
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Herbert C. Jackson at Toledo for mechanical repairs 11/1 - Herbert C. Jackson was towed across Lake Erie to Toledo Saturday afternoon/evening by the Great Lakes Towing tug Wyoming, with the tug Michigan astern. She is experiencing unspecified mechanical issues. |
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Port Reports - November 1
Duluth-Superior – Daniel Lindner
Two Harbors-Silver Bay – Gary A. Putney
Thunder Bay ON
St. Marys River
Marinette, WI
Northern Lake Michigan
Northern Lake Huron
Goderich, ON – Bruce Douglas
Marine City, MI – Rich Larson
Detroit, MI – Raymond Hill
Lake Erie Ports for Saturday – Bill Kloss
Rochester, NY – Tom Brewer |
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Today in Great Lakes History - November 1
The LEHIGH, Captain Edward P. Fitch in command, cleared the Great Lakes Engineering Works yard at River Rouge, Michigan, to begin her maiden trip on this day in 1943. The LEHIGH was one of two Maritimers (the other was the STEELTON) acquired by Bethlehem Steel Corp. as part of a government program to upgrade and increase the capacity of the Great Lakes fleet during World War II. Bethlehem exchanged three older vessels, the JOHNSTOWN of 1905, the SAUCON, and the CORNWALL, plus cash for the two Maritimers. On 01 November 1880, NINA BAILEY (wooden schooner, 30 tons, built in 1873, at Ludington, Michigan) filled with water and went out of control in a storm on Lake Michigan. She struck the North Pier at St. Joseph, Michigan and capsized. Her crew climbed up on her keel and was rescued by the Lifesaving Service. The vessel later broke up in the waves. The Grand Trunk Western Railway was granted permission by the Interstate Commerce Commission on November 1, 1978, to discontinue its Lake Michigan service between Muskegon, Michigan and Milwaukee, Wisconsin. MAITLAND NO 1 made her maiden voyage on November 1, 1916, from Ashtabula, Ohio to Port Maitland, Ontario, transporting rail cars with coal for the steel mills at Hamilton, Ontario. SCOTT MISENER of 1954 returned to service in the grain trade on November 1, 1986, after a 3-year lay-up. On 1 November 1917, ALVA B (wooden steam tug, 74 foot, 84 gross tons, built in 1890, at Buffalo, New York) apparently mistook amusement park lights for the harbor markers at Avon Lake, Ohio during a storm. She struck bottom in the shallows and was destroyed by waves. On 1 November 1862, BLACK HAWK (wooden brig, 138 foot, 385 tons, built in 1854, at Ohio City, Ohio) was carrying 19,000 bushels of corn and some stained glass when a gale drove her ashore and wrecked her near Point Betsie. In 1858, this vessel had sailed from Detroit, Michigan to Liverpool, England and back. On 1 Nov 1862, CHIEF JUSTICE MARSHALL (2-mast wooden schooner, 105 foot, 182 tons, built in 1830, at Cape Vincent, New York) was driven aground between Dunkirk and Barcelona, New York during a storm. All hands were lost and the vessel was a total loss. The Mackinac Bridge was opened to traffic on 01 November 1957. The CITY OF MILWAUKEE (steel propeller carferry, 347 foot, 2,988 gross tons, built in 1931, at Manitowoc, Wisconsin) made her last run for Grand Trunk's rail car ferry service on 01 November 1978. In the fall of 1978, after termination of Grand Trunk's carferry service, she was then chartered to Ann Arbor Railroad. She is currently a museum ship at Manistee, Michigan. Port Maitland Shipbreaking Ltd. began scrapping P & H Shipping's f.) ELMGLEN on 01 November 1984. She had a long career, being built in 1909, at Ecorse, Michigan as the a.) SHENANGO (steel propeller bulk freighter, 580 foot. 8,047 gross tons). 1907: WILLIAM E. REIS settled on the bottom of the St. Clair River following a collision with the MONROE C. SMITH. It was finally refloated for good on December 7 after several earlier efforts were short lived. The former last sailed as SASKADOC in 1966. 1908: TELEGRAM, a wooden passenger and freight carrier, stranded at Horse Island, Rattlesnake Harbour, Georgian Bay. The ship caught fire when the stove upset and the vessel was a total loss. All on board were rescued. 1912: The barge P.B. LOCKE, under tow of the JUNO, was lost in a storm on Lake Ontario enroute from Pointe Anne to Toronto. 1921: The Canadian wooden freighter CANOBIE, a) IRON KING received major storm damage on Lake Erie and arrived at Erie, Pa., in a leaking condition. The ship was stripped of valuable parts and abandoned. It later caught fire and subsequently scuttled about 2 miles offshore. 1924: GLENLYON stranded at Menagerie Island, Siskiwit Bay, Lake Superior while enroute to Port Colborne with 150,000 bushels of wheat. It had been seeking shelter in a storm but grounded as a total loss and then sank over the winter. All on board were saved. 1929: KEYSTATE and the schooner MAGGIE L. collided in the St. Lawrence near Clayton, NY, and the latter was lost. 1956: JAMES B. EADS and fleetmate GREY BEAVER were in a collision in western Lake Ontario and both received bow damage. 1965: High winds blew the Taiwanese freighter KALLY aground on a mud bank at Essexville, MI while inbound to load a cargo of scrap. The ship was released the next day. 2000: The Panamanian freighter OXFORD was only two years old when it came through the Seaway in November 1984. It got caught in typhoon Xangsene, as d) MANILA SPIRIT, on this date in 2000. The ship, still flagged in Panama, was driven aground and then sank off Hualien, Taiwan. One crewman was apparently able to swim to shore but the other 23 sailors were missing and presumed lost. Data from: Skip Gillham, Joe Barr, Dave Swayze, Jody Aho, Russ Plumb, Father Dowling Collection, Ahoy & Farewell II and the Great Lakes Ships We Remember series. |
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