TELESCOPE September 1961 Vol. 10 N o . 9

published by the Great Lakes Maritime Institute 162 Telescope

In Umonam

Insvpll IE* Intynntnn JOSEPH E. JOHNSTON 1892 1961 Last month, on the day that TELESCOPE went into the mails, the Institute, and this column, lost a dear friend. He was the first member of the Institute, for he founded the old Great Lakes Model Shipbuilder's Guild. He started TELESCOPE as a mimeographed monthly "newsletter", back in 1952. There is no point in trying to tally his contributions, for it can only lead back to the beginning, and he was the beginning. Because Captain Johnston was a dear friend to this column, it would be impossible to untangle sentiment from our think­ ing, and we won't even try. We loved him, and we respected him in much the same way we would a father. We looked upon him with reverence and awe. To most people he was “Cap", but we were among the very few to whom he was Joe. We can call to mind many impressions of this man; spinner of yarns, a teacher, an artist, and of course, a sailor. But most of all he was a gentleman and a gentle man. The accompanying picture says a great deal of what we think when we think of Joe. “Winky, the ship's cat", was a personality in his own right and well known to the old readers of TELESCOPE. That personality was but one facet, in reflection, of the "old man" himself. There are many more of these facets which reflect Joe for what he was, and for what his having been here has meant to us. He was a tireless worker who set a pace hard to emulate or find in this day of the coffee break and the forty hour week for his work was his love, and his love was his work. In the old days on the "WING" the crew would come aboard almost any morning to find Joe in the middle of a job he had begun when they were wakening to the first break of dawn. Retirement meant little to him, if his retirement is to be measured in the lessening of productivity. He formally "Ret­ ired" in April of 1959, and took up life in Niles, Michigan. Here, forgetting that he was supposed to relax, and with the indomitable drive that has always marked him, he built a new shop, a studio, and an out-building. They show the craftsman that he was. Built like a ship, there isn't a doubt that the buildings would float. He enjoyed these last years of his life as much, and very likely a little more, than all the rest of his time. He had new interests in the area he had adopted as his home, and he had, sharing those interests, a devoted and loving wife. The time allowed them together was short, but they shared a kind love that, like so many things about him, will go on for a long, long, time. Yes, Joe, it was a better life because you were with us. And now, Bon Voyage. 164 This Month’s Issue

80MENT8

In Memoriam - Jos. E. Johnston...162 Telescope Curators’ toner PUBLISHED BY by Robert fi. Lee...... 163 Great Lakes Maritime Institute D o s s in G r e a t Lakes Museum TLe Old "Irorjsides" of tl?e Belle Isle, Detroit 7, Mich. Great Lakes George 0 . Young by A. Michael Woolson... 165-168 Editor TLe Picture Page Otto Strek by Eniory A. Massman,. J r.... 169 Assistant Editor Blue Print-Wi Ilian] A. Irvin William A. Hoey ....170-171 Advisory Editor TI]e Big Splash William M. Worden by Rev. E.J. Dowling, S.J.... 172 Gordon P. Bugbee Fleet List Associate Editors by Rev. E.J. Dowling, S.J..173-175 Rev. Edward J. Dowling, S. J. Vessel List Editor Great Lakes News by Robt. Radunz...... 176-179 TELESCOPE

The TELESCOPE magazine is the o f f i c i a l publication of the Great lakes M a r it im e COVER Institute. It was first published i n 1952 as a sheet of announcements a n d meeting notices. Today it is a full- An exceptionally fine view of the size monthly magazine, valued by mem­ bers and non-members alike as a source WILLIAM A. IRVIN, taken by member of Great Lakes data. The TELESCOPE includes articles of interest to a lm o s t Peter B. Worden. Full data and a everyone, including such subjects a s h is to ry , salvage, cu rren t news, and model print of the IRVIN appear in this shipbuilding. There are three monthly features, current news section, vessel month’s center spread. l i s t of a Great Lakes f le e t, and a b lu e­ print of a Great Lakes ship. Subscript io n to TELESCOPE is Included in the member­ sh ip fee. The editors will consider articles of Great Lakes or general marine Interest f o r p u b l i c a t i o n in TELESCOPE. Such material need not be expertly written, but must be of a nature suited to the purposes of the publication. Address any such material to: The E d ito rs, TELESCOPE Great Lakes Maritime Institute Dossin Great Lakes Museum Belle Isle. Detroit 7, Mich. Regular Membership.... $4 annually LO. 7-7441

Address a ll other correspondence to the Contributing Membership..$5 annually Coordinating Director. The e d ito rs w ill assume no re s p o n sib ility Sustaining Membership...$10 annually for statements made by the authors. Supported in part Life Membership...... $100 by the Detroit Historical Society Membership by the Calendar Year Single Copies 35

A. Michaelby Woolson of the Great Lakes

During the early months of 181*3, the few people living along the raw roads that pushed north through the forests from Pittsburgh were amazed by the sight of oxen teams hauling heavy, curved iron plates, and beams up toward Erie, At the foot of French Street in Erie, the townspeople watched as the beams were set up into a heavy skeleton, and the long curved plates were fitted over them lap- strake fashion. As the weeks went by, the form of a ship’s hull rose on the ways, the sleekness in her lines bespeaking a purpose other than cargo carrying. This was to be the first iron ship in the U.S. Navy, the paddlewheel gunboat U.S.S. MICHIGAN. It seems like the Great Lakes would be a rather remote station for the Navy to build a revolutionary ship like this,but in reality the MICHIGAN was a product of the basic views of that time both about naval construction and international affairs. It was only thirty winters before,in 1813, that Commodore Perry and Noah Brown had built their wooden fleet on Presque Isle, within sight of the French Street ways. In the intervening years, the fresh winds of the advent of steam, the screw propeller, the beginnings of shells and rifled ordnance, and iron construction and armor, had begun to sweep away the fog of Naval Doctrine that had changed little In essence over hundreds of years.

The U.S.S. MICHIGAN after she had become the WOLVERINE. She is well remembered by a t great many old timers of the Detroit River area, where this shot was taken. Pesha Photo

To be sure, these ideas were all new and generally untested, and viewed with scepticism by all but a few. The use of iron in con­ struction of ships had been attacked for many reasons, from the simple doubt In many minds that it would float at all,being heavier than water, to the more practical difficulties with magnetic com­ passes in an iron hull and the difficulty in keeping the bottom clean, since copper plating could not be applied over iron due to the electrolytic effect in salt water. A particularly important reason for feeling iron was unsuitable for warships was the series of tests conducted by the British Admiralty In l8lj.O. At this time, a small Iron ship was set up as a target on land and the effects of the naval gunnery then in use was studied. The effects even of 166 Telescope

conventional round shot were so extensive that iron was felt to be inferior to wood since it splintered on impact and more important, did not tend to close a hole made in it as the more elastic wood did. For several years, until armor was more effectively used and tested, it was felt in informed naval circles that iron, although indestructable under normal usage, was only appropriate in a naval vessel such as a cutter or gunboat whose primary mission did not require absorbing punishment. United States Secretary of State Upshor, who was to die in an explosion during a gunnery demonstration aboard the U.S.S. PRINCE­ TON a year later, was sensitive to these views and naval thought in general. In addition, he was particularly concerned by the con­ struction of three new warships by the British on the Canadian shores of the Great Lakes, jeopardizing the agreements of 1817 con­ cerning limitations of arms on the Great Lakes. The construction of a warship on the Great Lakes was also favor­ ably received by the Secretary of State as an opportunity to spend money on the steel industry west of the Alleghenies. Accordingly, in May 1842, the contract was given to Stackhouse and Tomlinson of Pittsburgh for the engines and the hull, which was designed by Samuel Hartt. The plates were of 3/8 inch iron made by the char­ coal process then in use, and were pounded into forms with hand mauls while still orange-hot to get the curve laid off from the designer’s lines. Two direct action engines with 36-inch cylinders and 8-foot stroke drove paddle wheels twenty feet in diameter. The newness of iron construction caused the designers to treat it like wood so that the ribs were heavy and the plates were laid over them like planks, but the hull remained tight during a hundred years of service and was much lighter than a comparable one of wood. Both the hull and the engines were set up in Pittsburgh and tested before being dismantled for the trip to Erie. No railroads connected the cities in those days so that the heaviest parts were sent via canal barge. At Erie, the assembly progressed steadily through 1843, and on 4 December an attempt was made to launch her; this attempt failed however, and according to local tradition the MICHIGAN launched herself during the night. The newspaper accounts give a less romantic explanation by stating that the bow was raised more on the ways the next day and the ship then slid smoothly into Lake Erie. The tonnage at launching was 582, and the dimensions were: length, 167 feet; beam, 27 feet; beam Including the paddle boxes, 40 feet; and draft, 10 feet. She was an extremely handsome ship, with the long sweep of her barkentine rig and the clean entrance of her bow; an early photograph shows her hull painted black with white trim at the strakes and gilded scrollwork on the billet head. Particularly imposing were large gold eagle figures which contrasted with the black sides of the paddle boxes. In the summer of 1844 sk© made her trial runs, logging 10 knots, and then visited Chicago where the news of her construction had caused a sensation. She had also caused a sensation of a different kind among the British in Canada, and after an exchange of diploma­ tic notes, both sides agreed to reduce the armament on the lakes to one gun for each country. The MICHIGAN had been commissioned with six guns, but upon orders from the Secretary of the Navy Mason, she reduced her batteries to one 32-pounder carronade. In the years before the Civil War, she patrolled the lake borders. It Is claimed that the MICHIGAN picked up a wounded French Canadian trapper, Alexis St. Martin, and took him to the army surgeon at Mackinac Island, Dr. William Beaumont, who was able to trace the actions of digestion through the hole in his abdomen and wrote his famous Telescope 167 definitive medical work on the basis of his observations. In these years, her duty had little excitement, perhaps with the exception of disbanding a Mormon Colony on Beaver Island that had defied federal authority. During the Civil War, however, the MICHIGAN became enmeshed in a plot to free the several thousand Confederate prisoners held on Johnson's Island off Sandusky, Ohio. In 1864, a Confederate agent in Sandusky, Captain Charles Cole, communicated with an officer held on the island and conceived a plot to take over the MICHIGAN, which was guarding the island, free the prisoners, and use the MICHIGAN as a raider on the lakes. One can imagine the monumental uproar that would have ensued if the Confederate forces had simul­ taneously opened a second front on land, and had another ALABAMA steaming on Lake Erie. Capiain Cole enlisted the charms of a female Confederate sympathizer, and they both became great friends over a period of time with the wardroom of the MICHIGAN, hoping to entice all of the officers to a dinner and drug them. It was planned that another agent, Lieutenant John Beall of the Confederate Navy, would then arrive on the scene with armed men in a pirated passenger steamer, and they would take over the federal gunboat in the confu­ sion. The date set for the operation, 19 September 1864, was a beauti­ ful day with a clear Indian summer sky setting off the brilliant autumn foliage on the shore of the lake. Lieutenant Beall boarded the Sandusky-bound passenger steamer PHII/) PARSONS at a Canadian stop with several of his men, all in civilian dress. At another stop the remainder of his men came aboard similarly disguised, and carrying a small armory in a leather trunk. As the PARS3NS drew close to Sandusky, Lt. Beall and his men opened the trunk and took the ship over, keeping the crew at their stations tinder force of arms; about this time, the steamer ISLAND QUEEN approached and Beall ordered her to stop. Beall deposited his collection of pass­ engers and the crew of the ISLAND QUEEN on a remote island, later scuttling the ISLAND QUEEN in shoal water. After darkness, the PARSONS slipped back into the bay off John­ son's Island to await the signal from Cole on the MICHIGAN that he had disposed of the officers. However, Cole was at that moment jailed, as the drugging had been discovered and the Commanding Officer in the MICHIGAN, CDR. J.C. Carter was waiting for the PAR­ SONS with decks cleared for action. Beall realized that Cole had failed, and began retiring North towards Canada at flank speed. Beall entered the Detroit River and dropped the crew of the PARSONS off at an uninhabited Island south of Detroit and then ran the steamer aground on the Canadian side of the river and escaped in­ land with his men. He was later captured and both he and Cole stood trial; Cole was pardoned for reasons not clear, but Beall was hung for piracy on Governor's Island, New York in February of 1865. Immediately after the war, in 1866, the MICHIGAN figured in the suppression of the Fenian Invasion when a force of Irish Nationa­ lists crossed the Niagara River into Canada with the hopes of conquering that country; they were soon caught in a pincers move­ ment between the enraged Canadian Militia and the MICHIGAN offshore and surrendered to the MICHIGAN, which must have seemed the lesser of two evils to the Irishmen. The years began to flow past the MICHIGAN now, as she fulfilled her employment of training cruises and surveying the lakes. In 1870 an Ensign named Gridley served aboard her, who was later to figure as the recipient of the famous command from Dewey at Manila 168 Telescope

Bay. On 21 June 1905 her name was changed to U.S.S. WOLVERINE, the nickname of the state whose name she had borne, as the Navy had authorized construction of the new battleship MICHIGAN and her sistership, the SOUTH CAROLINA. In 1913* the centennial of Perry’s victory was commemorated with great festivities around the Great Lakes, and the hull of his flag­ ship, the brig NIAGARA, was raised and reconstructed. In the summer months of that year, the WOLVERINE escorted the brig NIAGARA on a tour of the large cities of the Lakes. During World War I, the WOLVERINE, with only shortened masts remaining of her rigging, trained recruits from the area. The beginning of the end for the old ”Iron Steamer” came just after the seventy-ninth anniversary of her commissioning, on 12 August 1923; while transiting the Straits of Mackinac on a training cruise, the connecting rod to the port paddlewheel sheared, and the crusty old veteran limped back to Erie on one engine. It was the first major disabling casualty to her engines in the eighty years since their construction. She lay at the Public Pier for 5 years, as the frugal conditions of peacetime navy denied her even the f\ands to weld the connecting rod. In 1928, the last of her ij.0-odd skippers, Commander William L, Morrison, and another old Lakes sailor, Captain P.J. Grant, had towed to her final berth at Crystal Point in Misery Bay, where the Perry Monument looked out over the bay on which the wooden fleet of 1813 had been launched. The Presque Island State Park Commission opened her to the public and now the slow cycle of the seasons went on around her, the summer bringing the tourists and the winter en­ closing her in ice and sending howling winds around her silent hull. In the years of World War II, as her indestruetable hull slowly filled with rain water from the rotting decks above, the old gun­ boat passed her hundreth year,forgotten in the rush of fast carrier task—forces and L\.£f 000 ton battleships. Now even her name was gone, the Navy having commissioned a converted sidewheel passenger steamer in Chicago, the training aircraft carrier WOLVERINE. At the time she was scrapped after the war, in 19^8 , she was probably the oldest iron ship in the world; but iron is a commodity without emotion in the twentieth century and the old plates, laid up like planks because the builders had knowledge only of wooden ships, were broken up and melted down into a new destiny.

References 1) Bennett, Steam Navy

2) U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings. April, June, and October, 192k issues

3) Baxter, Introduction of the Ironclad Warship. Harvard, 1933 i|) Bowen, Lore of the Lakes 5) Hatcher, Lake Erie Telescope 169

The Picture Page - by - EMORY A. MASSMAN, JR.

CAPT.C.D. SECORD (d) S.B. WAY (1) (c) A.E.R. SCHNEIDER (b) CHAS. R. VAN HISE (a). Canadian #l5861jl|.. Gross tons 6943, net tons 5168, 542 x 50 x 28.8. Builder: Superior S.B. Company. Hull #144 In 1900. Reconstructed by Lake S.B. Company at Buffalo, 1918. Lengthened by G.L.B.W. at Ashtabula, 1920. Engine: 3500 H.P. Harland & Wolff diesel Installed, 1954* Owner: Mohawk Navigation Company, Ltd. In service.

OTTO M. REISS (c) LYNFORD E.GEER (b) JAMES S. DUNHAM (a),US.203656 net £0nS 3P 6 t 1+30 x x 28 • Builder: West Bs oo 5*f*, Company. In 1906, Hull #620. Engine triple expansic buTlt‘h^A5 American

4500a/

------vo------4 WILLIAM A. IRVIN

The WILLIAM A. IRVIN was one of the first four ore carriers on the Lakes to use turbine engines, sharing the distinction with the GOVERNOR MILLER, RALPH H. WATSON, and JOHN HULST. In the latter two, General Electric turbines and Babcock & Wilcox boilers were used, while the IRVIN and MILLER had DeLaval tur­ bines and Foster Wheeler boilers. Vital statistics are: US 237395; Built 1938 by American Ship Building at Lorain, Ohio. Hull number 811. Dimensions are 593. 2* x 60.2 ‘ x 28.2'. Owner; Pittsburgh Steamship Division, U.S. Steel Corporation.

0 c J tr o k e j‘B.C.D'29iA t0!9lb. o f ends Bottom tony Is 10*645* 2bblb OutjideJfrap 2!\ *26 lb. 172 Telescope

Launch of the JUPITER at Lorain, 1901 Photo, Courtesy Elmer Treloar

THE BIG SPLASH

The steel freighter JUPITER was built by the Amerioan Shipbuilding Company and launched at the Lorain Yard as builder *s hull #308 for the Gilchrist Transportation Company of Cleveland. Dimensions 246 x 48 x 28; 3719 gross tons and 2769 net tons. Official regis­ try number was US.77458. Powered by triple expansion engines of 22, 35, and 58 inch diameter of cylinders by 42 inch stroke, also built by American Ship. JUPITER was one of six identical sister vessels built for Gilchrist in 1901,the others being MARS, NEPTUNE, SATURN, URANUS, and VENUS. MARS became Canadian MARTIAN i in 1916 and was scrapped in the Thirties. NEPTUNE is now the second MARTIAN and belongs to Canada SS Lines. SATURN is now Algomafs ALGOSOO. URANUS became Algoma*s W.C.PRANZ and was lost in collision in 1934. VENUS is presently the craneship STEEL PRODUCTS. JUPITHl passed into the Interlake S.S. Company fleet in 1913 and retained its name. Later on it sailed in the Jupiter Steamship Company fleet and that of Cargo Carriers, Inc. (Cargill Grain Co.) until it was finally scrapped at Hamilton. Our photo below shows JUPITER in the late Forties being towed up the Chicago River by the tug RHODE ISLAND. Telescope 173

Fleet of the Standard Oil Company of Indiana

Five steam tankers, one tanker barge and one seagoing tug, comprise the total fleet since its establishment in 1912, when the Standard Oil Company was partitioned into separate corporations, Str. WILLIAM P. COWAU (US.216311),1918 Lorain, Ohio, 1*20 x 55 x 28. In present fleet.

Tug OUTAGAMIE (US. 219804) ,1920 Green Bay .Wisconsin, 142 x 27 x 14. Steel seagoing tug built for U.S. Shipping Board. Acquired by Standard shortly after World War I. Requisitioned for World War II by U.S. Maritime Comnission and renamed LT54 and assig­ ned to U.S. Army. Returned to peacetime duty for the second time as SEA QUEEN of San Francisco. Out of U.S. Registry,1960.

Str. RED CROWN (US.236830), 1937 Manitowoc, Wisconsin, 453 x 55 x 25* In present fleet. Str, RENOWN (US.210175), 1912 Lorain, Ohio, 373 x 52 x 25. Later BEAUMONT PARKS. Sold, 1957, and renamed MERCURY. In service in fleet of Cleveland Tankers, Inc. Barge S.O. Co. "Cn (ex ANTRIM, US.107282), 1897 Cleveland, 0hi<* 366 x 44 * 22. Originally a bulk dry cargo barge. Converted to tanker barge, c.1913* Scrapped at Indiana Harbor, Ind., 1946, Str. EEWARD G. SEUHERT (US.230184), 1930 Manitowoc, Wisconsin, 390 x 53 x 24« In present fleet. Str. ROBERT W. STEWART (US.227263), 1928 Lorain, Ohio, 379 x 52 x 25. In present fleet. The Standard of Indiana vessels have black hulls with orange water line, dark red cabins with white trim, green tank tops, and high black stacks with large block letter "S". On the COWAN the "S* has been replaced recently by the emblem trademark of the parent com­ pany, a torch with the word "Standard'1 on a red, white, and blue circle, as shown in photo above. 174 Telescope

Fleet of the Chicago and Duluth Transportation Company

This short lived venture begun by the Elphicke Interests of Chicago and continued by the Sullivans lasted a little over five years, approximately 1910-1916. Three steel package freighters and one freight and passenger vessel made up the fleet.

Str. ALVA (US.107034), 1893 Cleveland, 324 x 42 x 23. Renamed MINNETONKA, c.1911• Sold Canadian 1916 and renamed GLENFINNAN (C.1266^9) and later RENFREW. Scrapped about 1937. Str. CHILE (US.127078), 1895 Cleveland, 320 x 42 x 21. Sold Cana­ dian and renamed SARNIAN (C.134011). Stranded, L&kB Superior, 1943, salvaged and scrapped at Indiana Harbor, Ind., 1944* NOTE: In 1931 this vessel became the first unit of the pre­ sently prosperous Upper Lakes Shipping, Ltd.

Str. WILLIAM H. GRATWICK (US.81427), 1893 W. Bay City, Michigan, 328 x 42 x 30. Renamed MINNEKAHTA, 1911. Sold Canadian 1916, and renamed GLENLYON (C.126660). Stranded, Isle Royale, 1924* NOTE: Of five vessels, four freighters and one tug, which bore this name, this was the fourth ship, In chronological order.

Str. MINNESOTA (ex HARLEM, US.95972), 1888 Wyandotte, Michigan, 288 x 41 x 22. Sold to Northern Michigan Transportation Com­ pany, 1915. Went to Atlantic during World War I. Later operated out of Florida and was renamed FELICIANA there. Abandoned In the middle 30s.

The vessels of this fleet had black hulls, white cabins, and dark red stacks with black tops. They carried a circular monogram or emblem on the bows, using the letters "C-D" circled by the words "Lake Superior Line." Telescope 175

Fleet of the Port Huron and Duluth Transportation Company This company operated in the package freight trade and carried some passengers between ports on Lake Huron and Lake Superior for about ten years, 1905-1915. The following eight vessels were in this fleet at one time or another during this decade*

Str. LAKELAND (ex CAMBRIA, US.1261j.20), 1887 Cleveland, 280 x 1+0 x 20. Steel. Formerly a bulk freighter of the old between-deck design. Later fitted with cabins on the main deck. Later used as an auto carrier. Foundered off Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin under mysterious circumstances, 12-3-24. Str. LAKEPORT (ex BOSTON, US.311+0), 1881+ Wyandotte, 263 x 36 x 15, iron, double-decked package freighter. Later converted into a sand carrier and scrapped in the middle Thirties,

Str. LAKEWOOD (ex SYRACUSE, US.116025)* 1881+ Wyandotte, 267 x 38 x 16. Iron, double decked package freighter. Later used in the sand trade and shortened 20 feet in 1919. Later K.V. SCHWARTZ and ALGONAC. Still afloat though Inactive recently.

Str. NEW YORK (US.130157)* 1879 Buffalo. Wooden package freighter, 268 x 36 x 16. Foundered, Lake Huron, 10-1-10. Str. PERE MARQUETTE 5 (ex F.& P.M. No 5* US.120812), 1890 W. Bay City, Michigan. Wooden passenger and freight steamer, 226 x 38 x 21+. Chartered by P.H. & D. Later sold to owners in New­ foundland and renamed ANZAC. Foundered in Atlantic off Nanset. Mass., 2-23-17. * Str. PORTLAND (ex A.B. WOLVIN, US.107563), 1900 Cleveland, Ohio, 21+2 x 1+2 x 26, steel freighter. Went to salt water during World War I and sailed for some time later on the North Paci­ fic Coast.

Str* RUSSIA (US.110063), 1872 Buffalo, 231 x 35 x 13* Iron package freighter. Foundered on Lake Huron near Detroit, 1+-30-09. Str. WYOMING (US.81150), 1887 Buffalo, 21+1 x 39 x ll+. Wooden freighter. Out of U.S. Registry, 1920. Vessels of this fleet seem to have had white hull early, later dark probably black. Stacks show early as silver or white with black top, later with some sort of a stripe design, still later all dark. Possibly, some of our readers can inform us accurately in this regard. 176 Telescope

EDITED BY ROBERT RADUNZ CONTRIBUTORS Edwin Sprengeler, Milwaukee Richard J. Wright, Akron George Ayoub, Ottawa James M. Kidd, Toronto

July 29 Two ocean-going freighters, PRINS FREDERIK WILLEM and LEAPAUL were forced to postpone loading operations at Sarnia because of a lack of pilotso The shortage was due to pilots normally assigned to the Port Weller to Sarnia run being ordered to take ships througi the upper lakes. A third ship,CAPO MELE, requested its cargo be shipped to an eastern port. The INNSTEIN passed through the Welland Canal on July 28, without a pilot. July 30 The 4*392 ton Greek freighter MIHALIS ANGELUS went aground just outside the western gap of Toronto Harbor* Harbor officials believe electro-magnets used for loading scrap iron may have thrown the ship’s compass out of order. Pour tugs tried unsuccessfully for 12 hours in the first attempt to remove the ship.

August 3 LAKE ONTARIO, a 5,500 ton motor vessel, built at Landskrona,Sweden, for Atlanttraffice Express Great Lakes Service, arrived in Montreal on her maiden voyage. Contracts have been awarded for the building of a new grain ele­ vator at Duluth. It will have a five spout loading gallery oapable of loading ships at a 40,000 bushel hourly rate. August 8 President Kennedy reappointed Milwaukee’s Port Director, Harry C. Brockel, as a member of the Advisory Board of the St. Lawrence Sea­ way Development Corp., but dumped three other members. The corp­ oration is the government entity that built and now operates the U.S. share of the seaway.

August 9 The city of Montreal is seeking to acquire the Lachine Canal from the Canadian government for conversion into a major, modern road­ way* An earlier request was turned down by the St. Lawrence Seaway Authority which now administers the canal. Traffic in the once busy waterway is dwindling, with only about ten ships expected this season. Milwaukee has put the city’s cargo Terminal No. 2 on the new municipal south pier on Jones Island into service. The Harbor Commission authorized use of the pier on a temporary basis even though some concrete work is unfinished. Cargo was pressing on the port and with limits on space, the new facility had to be pressed into service. Telescope 177

August 9 The Greek freighter ZERMATT collided with the lumber carrier MACKINAC ISLANDER in dense fog in northern Lake Michigan five miles northwest of Gull Island,near the point where the freighter CARL D. BRADLEY sank. The ZERMATT received no damage but the MACKINAC IS­ LANDER suffered stern and bow damage and her plates were buckled. No injuries were reported to crew members. The ZERMATT’S captain stated the ISLANDER had rammed into his vessel on the starboard side at about 6:30 a.m. He said he stopped, asked if the lumber carrier needed help and proceeded on his way when he got a negative answer. The ZERMATT was involved in another incident recently when the captain delayed his entrance into the harbor at Holland, Michi­ gan, on grounds he thought the harbor entrance was too narrow. He put in only after getting help from two tugs. The ship left Holland with 5*000 tons of scrap iron bound for Japan. She planned to lay over at Ashtabula, Ohio, and Montreal to make up the balance of an 11,500 ton cargo. Steel business upturn has brought out four more ships for the first time this year. They are: E. Y. TOWNSEND and D. J. MORRELL of Bethlehem Transportation Company. LASALLE of Cleveland Cliffs and LABELLE of Steinbrenner.

August 10 The MACKINAC ISLANDER tied up in Manistique, Michigan, for a sur­ v e y of damages from her collision with the Greek freighter ZERMATT. Prom April 23 to August 1+ this year, Detroit had 378 overseas ship stops con^ared to 351 for the same time last year. These ships lost 2,7i|7 hours sitting at anchor in the Detroit River waiting for berths to unload or load cargoes. This has brought an endorsement from the Detroit-Wayne County Port Commission for government action on the problem. Mayor Miriani of Detroit has stated that the City should develop a public port and decide later what governmental agency should run it. However, terminal operators state the figures are not indicative of port inadequacy and blame the latest surplus of vessels upon a longshoremen’s strike which began in Toronto on July 17. They also state there are a multitude of reasons why ships wait in the river and more often than not, the cause is not the fatilt of the terminal. August 12 U.S. authorities arrested Captain A. Petinakis, skipper of the ZERMATT, at Ashtabula, Ohio, for making a false statement in the collision with the MACKINAC ISLANDER. Petinakis told Coast Guard investigators that the ZERMATT sounded the customary three blasts of the horn in the fog off Gull Island.Crew members of the ISLANDER said they only heard one blast. Members of the crew of the ore carrier PHILLIP BLOCH which stood by to assist the damaged vessel, also asserted that only one blast was sounded.

August 16 The Canadian Brotherhood of RR Transport and General Workers has threatened to close the St. Lawrence Seaway against U.S. lake ships in retaliation for a boycott of a CBRT manned freighter in Duluth. The vessel NORTHERN VENTURE is owned by Island Shipping Ltd., Bermuda, and is operated by Upper Lakes Shipping Ltd., with a Canadian crow.Pickets assigned by the Seafarers International Union of America have tied up the vessel since July 20. 178 Telescope

The port of Chicago received its first load of Japanese sperm oil when the MAGAMISAN MARU delivered 275 long tons.

August 17 The State of Michigan filed a $15,076 damage suit against the Ger­ man freighter BETEIGEUZE for damage caused when the ship struck the US-23 highway bridge over the Saginaw River at Zilwaukee last November 10. The repair cost was listed as $13,180, with $1,895 more for additional maintenance. The suit contends the accident was caused by carelessness and poor seamanship.

August 20 It has been ruled by the Canada Labor Relations Board that the in­ dependent Seafarers International Union of Canada committed "acts of fraud" against the board in certification hearings involving Great Lakes marine engineers. The judgment upheld evidence given by two former SIU members that a vote was rigged in 1958 to show that the engineers wanted ta amalgamate with the SIU. August 21

Traffic in the Montreal-Lake Ontario section of the St. Lawrence Seaway showed a 10# increase from April to July and about even for the Welland Canal. The gain was mainly in downbound grain move­ ments but iron ore shipments were down for the same period. Milwaukee put its new municipal cargo Terminal 2 into full opera­ tion with the loading and unloading of the Dutch freighter SALATIGA. August 22

Cuban freighter BAHIA de SANTIAGO de CUBA departed from Montreal for Havana after being held under arrest in port since July 25. The 1,000 ton ship was released on $80,000 ball pending court action by the registered owners Llnea Golfo Cuba who are claiming the ship was expropriated illegally by the Cuban government. An injunction was imposed by the SIU against two Bermuda flagships, NORTHERN VENTURE and WHEAT KING of Island Shipping Ltd., from un— loading at Hamilton. LEECLIFFE HALL built at Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Co., Ltd., Glasgow, for the Hall Corp. of Canada, has completed her trials. The huge 730* lake carrier is the first of her class to be completed for a Canadian owner outside the country.

A\igust 24

The heaviest piece of cargo in the history of Milwaukee's port 86,6 tons was lifted aboard a barge at the municipal dock on Jones Is­ land. The piece was part of an 800 ton cement mill made for the Huron Portland Cement Co., Alpena, Michigan. Nicholson Transit Co.have closed their local office in Duluth and disbanded operations. Representatives of the ports of Milwaukee, Detroit, Chicago, Cleve­ land, and Toledo have met at Detroit and have started a campaign to change the defense department's custom of shipping mostly from Atlantic and Gulf ports. Although ij.0# o f military material was produced on the perimeter of the Great Lakes, only 1# was shipped overseas from Great Lakes ports. Telescope 179

August 26 Milwaukee Police Department has been requested by the owners of the sunken PRINS WILLEM V to keep an eye on vandalism occuring 80 feet below the Lake Michigan surface. The owners state that amateur skin divers are doing considerable damage to the ship. An attempt is expected to be made this fall to raise the ship.

August 27 Owners of the MACKINAC ISLANDER have filed suit asking damages in excess of $25,000. In a counter suit, Kifissia Shipping Corp., owners of the ZERMATT have sought more than $30,000.

August 30 Cunard liner CARINTHIA and the Canada SS Lines excursion steamer TADOUSSAC collided in thick fog on the St. Lawrence River near Quebec City. The 22,000 ton CARINTHIA proceeded to Montreal and the TADOUSSAC to Quebec to discharge her passengers before docking at Lauzon for repairs to upper two decks and some life-boats.

August 31 The Norwegian cargo ship HARPEFJELL was reported aground on the St. Lawrence River some 1+0 miles upriver from Quebec. Preliminary work on the latest attempt to salvage the PRINS WILLEM V,that sank off Milwaukee, has been started. Salvage workers hoped to have the ship floating in six weeks.

September 1+ Five seamen were burned after an explosion at Sarnia on the Imperial Esso oil tanker, IMPERIAL HAMILTON. The ship was being loaded with gasoline, and it was stated that the ship explosion probably was caused when the ship’s boiler fire ignited gasoline vaporo The fire raged 2\ hours in the two rear compartments of the ship before it was brought under control.

September 5 Former auto ferry VACATIONLAND will head for Quebec soon to enter service on the St. Lawrence River between Rimouski and Baie Comeau. The new Canadian owners Compagne Navigation Nord-Sud Ltd. have com­ pleted the 10 per cent down payment of $120,000, on the $1,200,000 price. She will go to Port Weller, Ontario, first for inspection, before entering the 28 mile service. Telescope

GREAT LAKES MARITIME INSTITUTE. INC. The Great Lakes Maritime Institute^ was organized in 1952 as the Great Lakes Model Shipbuilders' Guild. Its primary purpose at that time was the promotion of the building of models of Great Lakes vessels. Since then the organizations scope of interest has been widened considerably, and the monthly publication TSLSSCOPS includes articles on History, Salvage, Current Hews, and Model Building as well. The building of models remain one of the main projects of the In stitu te, and the organ­ ization has created the largest collection of Great Lakes scale models. The office of the Institute is located at the Dossin Great Lakes Museum, Belle Isle, Detroit 7, Michigan. The Institute is incorporated as an organization for no profit under the laws of the State of Michigan. Ho member receives any remuneration for services rendered. Donations to the Institute have been ruled deductible by the Internal Revenue Service. OFFICERS

Capt. William J. Cowles Robert E. Lee President Coordinating Director

Robert L. Ruhl Emory A. Massman, Jr. Vice-President Recording Secretary

William N. Stevens Treasurer

DIRECTORS

♦Terms expire Jan. 1962 ♦Terms expire Jan. 1963 Donald V. Baut Capt. Frank Becker John A. Bruehl Henry D. Brown Kenneth L. Fairbanks Robert H. Davison Fred Heath Howard J. Schuldt, Jr. William A. Hoey Otto Strek William M. Worden George 0. Young

MEETING NOTICE The September meeting of the Institute will be held at the Dossin Museum, Friday September 29th., at 8:00 P.M. The program will be an excellent set of movies of the Detroit River area, by Carl and Eleanor Turnquist. Those who have enjoyed the privilege of seeing the Turnquist's exceptional films in the past will attest to their fine quality. DON'T MISS THIS MEETING!