SEPTEMBER • OCTOBER, 1996 VOLUME XLIV; Number 5 TELESCOPE Page 114
MEMBERSHIP NOTES • It is with deep regret that we announce the deaths of two long time supporters of the Dossin Museum. Sidonie Knighton and passed away last May and, her brother Ernest Dossin passed away in August. Both were active in the early 1960's when the museum opened and they maintained their support throughout nearly four decades. The Dossin Family donated one-half of the funds needed to build the museum and the pavillion to house their famous hydroplane Miss Pepsi. GLMI members will also note other changes at the museum this fall. Roy Vanderkhove will be retiring after thirty-four years. Roy came shortly after the museum opened and has seen both the good times of expan sion and deep budget cuts. Members visiting the museum during special events may see Roy in his new role as a volunteer, still smiling as he greets people at the front door. Also retiring during the summer was Preston Thomas. As preparator of exhibits, his talents on the restoration of the William Clay’ Ford's pilothouse allowed the public to view an interacting exhibit. One only has the see the children's excitement as they command their own ship.
MEETING NOTICES • The next joint GLMI/MHSD entertainment meeting will be Saturday, November 16, 1996 at 11 00 am in DeRoy Hall at the museum. Our guest speaker, Keith Stefke will present a slide program detailing the ships of Wyandotte, Michigan. The three-month calendar of events was sent to members in the last issue of Telescope If members know of friends wishing the receive a copy, just drop a note to the museum and we'll add their names to our mailing list.
CONTENTS • Membership Notes, Meeting Notices, etc. 114 Angry Sea Foggy Lakes Meet - The Paul H. Carnahan Joins the M.A. Hanna Fleet 115 Two African Queens . . A Short History of the Steamers Oxford and Knowlton by Peter Wright 118 From the Ocean to the Lakes - Oglebay Norton's Buckeye by Rod Burdick 123 Great Lakes & Seaway News Edited by Don Richards 126 Great Lakes Calendar & Back Cover Picture 135
Published by the GREAT LAKES MARITIME INSTITUTE ©All rights reserved. Printed in the United States by Macomb Printing, Inc.
Our Cover Picture .... The Paid H. Carnahan was one of several T-2 Class tankers originally built for ocean service, but would spend the majority of her sailing career on the Great Lakes. With the downturn in shipping in the mid-1980's, the Carnahan was laid up at Ecorse, Michigan in August, 1985. She was sold for scrap in 1988, and was towed overseas to Taiwan with her fleetmate George M. Humphrey (ii). This photo was taken by Bill Luke in 1962.
Telescope is produced with assistance from the Dossin Great Lakes Museum, an agency of the Historical Department of the City of Detroit SEP • OCT, 1996 Page 115
ANGRY SEA FOGGY LAKES M EET-
THE PAUL H. CARNAHAN JOINS
THE M. A. HANNA FLEET
Reprinted from ______Christening Brochure______The T-2 tanker Atlantic Dealer sailed a rela on deck for the long tug journey around Florida, up tively uneventful thirteen years for the Atlantic Refin the coast and through the St. Lawrence Seaway to the ing Company as compared with the exciting journey Buffalo yards of the American Shipbuilding Company of the Paul H. Carnahan's new midsection's Atlantic where her deckhouse was moved aft before continu crossing. Built by the Sun Shipbuilding & Dry Dock ing to the company's Lorain, Ohio yards. Company in 1945, the Atlantic Dealer was decom In the meantime exciting things lay ahead for missioned in 1958 in the Mobile yards of the Ala the new midbody built in Hamburg, Germany and its bama Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company. In 1960 5250-mile journey to Lorain. On the morning of April the Skar-Ore Steamship Corporation purchased the 6, 1961 three tugs of a Dutch towing company eased hull for conversion to Great Lakes service, and the the midbody into the Elbe River for the six-mile trip internationally known naval architectural and marine to the river's mouth. Here two small tugs cast off and engineering firm of J. J. Henry, Inc. was engaged to the seagoing Zeeland took over for the crossing of the handle the conversion. The ship was taken out of moth North Sea, the English Channel and the Atlantic - the balls, her stem tube sealed off and equipment stored captain estimating his am val in Montreal in six weeks. McDonald McDonald Coll/Dossin Museum Coll.
PAUL H. CARNAHAN docked in Detroit for christening ceremonies on November 2, 1961. She iras named in honor o f the president o f National Steel TELESCOPE Page 116 Peter Worden Peter Worden Photo/Dossin Museum Coll. Dossin Mus. Coll.
Top: Before she entered Great Lakes service, the PAUL H. CARNAHAN was lengthened from 523 feet to 730feet with a new midbody built in Hamburg, Germany. Bottom: The CARNAHAN remained in service until she was sold for scrap overseas in 1986. SEP* OCT, 1996 Page 117
The tow averaged 118 miles per day, but gale- force winds in the North Atlantic on eight occasions forced the captain to turn about and run with the wind for periods of from a few hours to forty-six hours at a stretch. Then 500 miles out of St. John's thick, drift ing ice altered plans and the Zeelcmd headed south for S T E P S IN TH E Halifax. With fuel cut to a dangerous six-day supply, CONVERSION the captain cut loose the midbody to drift with a skel eton crew and a radio aboard, and turned north for a Dry docked in Lorain, the old stern of the Atlantic Dealer was fast run to St. John's for fuel. Returning 2-1/2 days removed and floated out and reversed in an adjacent dry dock. later, radio contact was made with the midbody, she was made fast and the tow headed for Cabot Straits at the entrance to the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Here thick The new 530-ft. midbody was floated into the drydock and ice again delayed the tow for another day, but the last secured to the tanker’s stern. 775 miles through the Gulf and the St. Lawrence re quired only 6-1/2 days, arriving in Montreal on June The tanker’s bow was severed from the original center-section 2nd, just two weeks later than the estimated crossing (which was scrapped), and floated into the dry dock with the time. Here Canadian crews and tugs replaced the new midsection. Zeeland, which returned to Holland, while wooden fenders were installed to protect the midbody in the locks. Two tugs from the McAllister Towing, Ltd., the Last step in the conversion was securing the tanker’s bow to Graeme Stewart at the bow and the Helen McAllister the new midbody—creating a ship 730 feet long—the maxi at the stem, took over for the uneventful trip up the mum length for Great Lakes service. St. Lawrence River and across Lake Ontario. While fog was encountered out of Port Colborne and the Coast Guard warned of possible tornadoes and water spouts, these storms didn't materialize and the midbody arrived at the Lorain yards of American Shipbuilding on June 9th, just 64-1/2 days after leaving Hamburg.
Statistics Tanker Carnahan The
Length overall 523'6" 730'0" PAUL H. CARNAHAN
Length (bp) 503'0" 708' 8-3/4" Now Joins
Beam, molded 68'0" 75’0" The M. A. Hanna Fleet
Depth, molded 39'3" 39’0"
Keel draft 30'2" 25'6" Serving as a ‘bare boat charter,’ the Paul H. Carnahan will be Displacement 21,880 29,500 (fw) operated for National Steel Cor poration as a member of the Light ship, est. 5,260 LT. 7,800 LT M. A. Hanna Fleet.
Cargo deadweight 15,620 LT. 21,200LT
Fuel oil capacity 408,000 gal. 209,000
Shaft horsepower 6,000 shp 6,000
Speed normal 16 m.p.h. # * TELESCOPE Page 118
Two African Queens . . . a Short History of Steamers
OXFORD and KNOWLTON
by PETER WRIGHT
Long before you saw them you knew they were down at a creek-side village so that the canoes and coming. High above the mangrove swamps along the stilted huts would not be sucked into midstream, they banks of the Bonny River, great clouds of black smoke sidled by before their busy way to the Gulf of Guinea drifted in the fetid Nigeri an air, heralding the approach and Lagos. of one of Elder Dempster Lines' latest acquisitions. Built a year apart in the postwar depression Purchased not for their beauty, but for their flat-bot years, one in Quebec in 1922, and the other, a year tomed usefulness, O xford and Knowlton had been re later in England, both ships were designed for trade prieved from noble sacrifice on the Normandy beaches on the Great Lakes for the carriage of bulk cargoes. and put to work hauling coal up and down the tortu With the bridge perched on the forecastle head and ous creeks of West Africa. bowsprit-like pole extending forty feet forward by As they came into sight around a distant bend in which to "eyeball" the speed at which the ship was the river, a hoarse, bronchial blast from the highly swinging when altering course, and a tall, thin "Willie polished whistle on a "Woodbine" funnel, proclaimed Woodbine" funnel atop the engine room aft, neither of that this was "their river". Then graciously slowing these ladies could be described as graceful or attrac
The N.H. BOTSFORD at Chicago, IL. in 1923. SEP* OCT, 1996 Page 119 Earl Earl Simzcr Coll/Courtesy of Geoige Ayoub The KNOWLTON on the St. Lawrence. tive. Economic products of almost-bankrupt shipyards going ships only encounter at the beginning and end eager for business, both were constructed to owners of much longer voyages. The "lakers" almost daily specifications with a complete absence of frills. Their entering or leaving locks and frequent contacts with job was to haul grain, iron ore, coal or whatever was lay-by berths and docksides soon ages them. Wrinkles offered, and eventually earn enough to amortize the appear in the shell plating between the frames. Caught loan, which had been taken out for their construction. in a crosswind in confined spaces, they are prone to With freight rates on bulk cargoes mere pennies a ton, heavy contact and possible frame damage, something their future looked bleak and arduous. the shipowner might try to hide out, but which the Built in 1922 at Three Rivers, Quebec by Fraser, eagle-eye of a surveyor will see and note as a defi Brace Ltd., and named N.H. Botsford by her first ciency to be repaired at the next dry-docking or sooner, owners, George Hall & Shipping Corporation of depending on the severity. As the years go by the an Montreal, Quebec, the older ship was sold to Canada nual and quadrennial list of repairs becomes longer Steamships, Ltd., Montreal in 1926 and renamed and more costly. Knowlton, the name she bore until her end twenty- By 1939, their seventeenth year of service and eight years later. their fourth quadrennial survey just completed, both A year later in 1923, the other vessel was built ships were showing their age. Well maintained by ef on the famous blocks of Swan Hunter & Wigham ficient officers and engineers, they were nonetheless Richardson, Ltd., Sunderland, England to the order of becoming too expensive to keep. Each trip to the dry The Glen Line, Ltd., Montreal, Quebec and upon de dock cost the owner thirty percent more than the last livery was named Glenorvie. In 1926 she too was sold one. The owners' dilemma would become acute in 1943 to Canada Steamships Ltd., Montreal, Quebec and when the next quadrennial was due. renamed Oxford. The meticulous planning which went into the Although not at the mercy of a constantly heav allied landings on the Normandy beaches started as ing ocean and the corrosive effects of saltwater, Great early as 1942 and culminated on June 6,1944. Among Lakes vessels are subject to daily buffeting from physi the serious considerations of allied planners was how cal contact with lock walls and docksides which ocean to keep a continuous supply-line after the landings without access to an established port. Until Le Havre TELESCOPE Page 120 or Cherbourg, two ports adjacent to the intended in Falmouth England late in that year and were moored vasion site, had been captured, it became increasingly side-by-side under the rolling green downs of devon evident that a makeshift port would have to be con while Britain seethed with pre-invasion activity. structed directly on the beaches! Stripped of all their valuables, O xford and To this end, ballasted concrete quay-like cais Knowlton were prepared for sacrifice - to steam to an sons were manufactured as part of the proposed port. appointed place near Arromanches-les-Bains, a small But for these floating docksides to be effective, it would coastal village half way between Le Havre and the be necessary for them to be moored with something Cherbourg peninsula, and there, run up onto Sword more substantial than an anchor, and to something tcompany house flag proudly flying at the truck, these more solid than a wooden piling. A sunken ship would Beach (Bntish) or Omaha Beach (American) and deto do mcely, thought the planners, several sunken ships nate the small, but lethal charges placed strategically would be even better. The idea was enlarged, the plan along the length of the ship below the water. Resting refined and in 1943, a channel port, codenamed "Mul firmly on the bottom and semi-submerged, they were berry" was bom. It was bold, brilliant and it worked. to form a rampart against which the floating concrete In 1943, Canada Steamships, among other ship caissons would be secured. owners, received a top-secret request from the Brit Perhaps because Caen was captured on July 11 ish Government for the use of a couple of their smaller and Cherbourg on July 22, only six weeks after D- steamers. Although the actual plan for their ultimate Day, or perhaps it was the weather, so foul that it may use was not revealed, the owners, without shedding have been considered fruitless to continue with 'Mul many tears, gladly accepted whatever offer of pay berry", O xford and Knowlton were never called to ment was made and hastily prepared O xford and action. They were still there, holding hands on May Knowlton for a trans-Atlantic crossing. Battered by 8th, V.E.-Day, wondering what all the fuss was about fierce equinoctial storms and indignant from the con Of the 574 merchant ships lost by enemy action stant scoldings of the convoy Commodore to "make during the Second World War, twenty-six belonged to less smoke" and "maintain station", they arrived at Elder Dempster Lines, pioneers in the West African Earl Earl Simzer Coll/Courtesy of Gcoige Ayoub
The OXFORD in C.S.L. colors. SEP • OCT, 1996 Page 121 Capt. Capt. F.S.H. Weber/Author's Coll.
KNOWLTON at I JORA Wharf, Nigeria, 1950. trade. Departing from their traditional liner service. company house flag proudly flying at the truck, these Elders discovered that an intercoastal feeder service rejuvenated old dears went to work hauling coal from from the creeks of the Niger, Bonny and Forcados Port Harcourt to Lagos, the capital and main port of Rivers to main distribution ports on the Atlantic coast Nigeria, and to Takordi, the main port of the Gold Coast might be a profitable business. Even though their own (now Ghana). During the next four years, 400,000 tons liner ships were able to reach such ports as Port of coal was delivered to various merchants in Sierra Harcourt, Sapele, Warn and Burutu many miles from Leone, Liberia, the Gold Coast, the Ivory Coast and the Atlantic Ocean, the amount of cargo loaded was Nigeria. The largest of these buyers was perhaps the limited by draft restrictions over the sand bar at the Nigerian Railway Company. But time was running out estuary. Oh, for some small shallow drafted ships! for these two work horses. The discovery of oil in Ni Like waifs up for adoption, O xfo rd and geria and the Gold Coast sounded their death knell. Knowlton were inspected by several prospective buy Their seventy special survey (twenty-nine years) was ers (including a scrap dealer or two) and in October due in 1951. They were not worth the expense of in 1946, were purchased by Edler Dempster Lines for a stalling new mandatory technology, and with saddened, restitution price of 5,000 pounds sterling, each. Ide rust-streaked faces, these two Amazons accepted de ally constructed, not only for navigation in confined feat. waters, but for easy loading and tnnuning into a single The first to go was Oxford. She had been adver hold, both vessels could comfortably cross the bars tised for sale on the London market. The silence of dis when fully laden. interest was as ominously loud as a death sentence. Their arrival on the West African coast caused Each day afloat cost the owners her daily upkeep. She some eyebrows, especially among the locals, who had had at last become a burden. On a gloomy day in No never seen ships so constructed. "Why is the bridge vember, 1950, dismantled and worthless, a few sad on the forecastle head?", they asked. "Because the dened dockworkers at Elders shipyard in Lagos captain gets to port sooner that way," was always the watched her being towed down the lagoon, between ready answer. the breakwaters and out to sea, where, twenty miles Dolled up in new colors, in particular the tall southeast of Lagos harbor, she was scuttled in 1000 funnel aft now painted buff (yellow), and with the fathoms of water. TELESCOPE Page 122
The older sister Knowlton was tendered for which cross the Pacific Ocean in five days with 6,000 sale during that same year. Her end was less noble, containers, have been written-off before their third but more profitable. Sold to Thomas W. Ward, quadrennial survey simply because they were con Shipbreakers, "as is-where is", she was towed to structed out of greed and therefore have no soul. Ox Milford Haven, Wales, in July 1951 and demol fo rd and Knowlton will be remembered as two humble ished. vessels constructed with care and attention. They were Author's note: Long after the grand new liners a couple of classy old dears with soul and spirit. 1 have been turned into floating hotels off the north Af mourn the passing of those old steamers - and the men rican coast, and those wondrous "cubic" monsters who sailed them. David David McMillan Pholo/CiiIlham Coll.
OXFORD docked at Takoradi, Gold Coast (how Ghana) in July 1947. SEP • OCT, 1996 Page 123
FROM THE OCEAN TO THE LAKES
OGLEBAY NORTON’S BUCKEYE
by ROD BURDICK
Buckeye (Hi) (US 264391) is a typical Great other. Sparrows Point and Johnstown were two of the Lakes ore earner. Her pilot house is set forward at the first vessels built off-lakes for Great Lakes service. bow. Stack and propulsion rest aft. What makes her Since the St. Lawrence Seaway had not been untypical is that she was not built on the Great Lakes. constructed to reach the lakes, Sparrows Point was Buckeye is a product of Bethlehem Steel's Spar towed down the Atlantic Coast around Florida, across rows Point Shipyard in Sparrows Point, Maryland. the Gulf of Mexico, up the Mississippi River and fi Her onginal name was Sparrows Point, named after nally through the Illinois Waterway to Chicago where Bethlehem's Sparrows Point steel mill. She slid into she was completed for lakes service. the water on Apnl 18, 1952, built for Bethlehem Steel. Her original length of 626 feet was a limitation Dunng the early 1950's, Great Lakes shipyards placed by locks on the Illinois Waterway. On her first were busy building new vessels to meet iron ore ton Great Lakes trip, she called at Superior, Wisconsin, nage increases created by the Korean War. Bethlehem to load iron ore on November 16, 1952. To increase needed extra capacity and built two boats at their east capacity, she was lengthened in 1958 to her present coast shipyard since Great Lakes yards were commit- length of 698 feet. The work was done in Chicago. ted. Johnstown, Sparrows Point's sister ship, was the From 1952 to 1979, Sparrows Point serviced Massman Massman Photo/Dossin Museum Coll.
SPARROWS POINT n os built at Bethlehem Steel's Sparrows Point Shipyard in Matyland. TELESCOPE Page 124 Author's Author's Coll.
SPARROWS POINT unloading stone at Marquette on July 5, 1988. Bethlehem's steel mills on Lake Michigan and Erie Columbia Transportation Division purchased both carrying taconite from Lake Superior ports and occa vessels and renamed and repainted them before the sionally from Quebec and Ontario via the St. Lawrence 1991 season. Sparrows Point became Buckeye and Seaway and Welland Canal. She also carried some Lewis Wilson Foy became Oglebay• Norton stone. For Bethlehem, Sparrows Point had a taconite With Columbia, Buckeye had a bnck-red hull red hull and white superstructure. Stack designs and off-white superstructure. Columbia's "star with a changed over the years, but yellow and black colors C" graced her stack. In 1994, Oglebay Norton phased were used. During winter lay-up 1979-80, Bethlehem out Columbia Transportation Division and changed had Sparrows Point converted to a seIf-unloader at the appearance of their vessels Colors remained the Superior's Fraser Shipyard. A seIf-unloader increases same, but under the vessel's name on the bow, cargo flexibility and ports served since shoreside un "Oglebay Norton Company" was added. Columbia's loading equipment is not needed. "star and C" was removed from the stack. In 1995, During the 1980's, Great Lakes shippers faced Oglebay Norton added a new star design with "ON" a downturn in the economy along with record imports to their stacks of foreign steel. Taconite shipments plummeted, but Since her purchase by Oglebay Norton, Buck Bethlehem kept Sparrows Point in service carrying eye has been a regular visitor to Lake Superior ports mainly stone. A particular cargo that I remember was loading taconite. Occasionally, she will carry lime limestone into Marquette, Michigan. On the other stone into the Twin Ports of Duluth-Superior and other hand, Sparrows Point sister, Johnstown, did not sur lower lakes ports, including Ludington and Marysville, vive the 1980's because she was not converted to a Michigan. Stone has been loaded in Rogers City, seIf-unloader and was scrapped along with many other Stoneport and Cedarville. straight-deck ore earners. During the 1995 season. Buckeye handled fifty- By 1990, Bethlehem's fleet consisted of three six cargoes. Forty-three were taconite, eleven stone, 1,000-foot vessels: Stewart J. Cort, Burns Harbor and and two ore tailings. Her most common trips was Sil Lewis Wilson Foy and Sparrows Point. That season, ver Bay, Minnesota to Toledo, Ohio with taconite. She Bethlehem put Lewis Wilson Foy and Sparrows Point averaged 22,000 tone for each ore trip and 19,000 up for sale to help downsize the fleet. Oglebay Norton's tons of stone. Together, Buckeye moved 1,171,508 SEP. OCT, 1996 Page 125 total tons. From the ocean to the lakes, Buckeye con tinues to play an important role in the transportation of raw materials on the Great Lakes and is a favorite vessel of mine. Special thanks to Mark Rohn o f Oglebay Norton Company for supplying Buckeye's 1995 season trip. log.
BUCKEYE'S new stack marking, June 19, 1995.
BUCKEYE downbound at the Soo Locks on May 11, 1991. GREAT LAKES & SEAWAY NEWS
Those who have contributed to the News Editor: Donald Richards Section in this issue are: 21101 Violet St. Clair Shores, MI. 48082 ROD BURDICK PHILIP & ANGELA CLAYTON STEVE ELVE WILLIAM HOWELL WILLIAM KELLER M.B. MACKAY Seaway News Editor: Skip Gillham ALAN MANN DAN McCORMICK JIM SPRUNT IOHN VOURNAKIS IERRY WALTER
May 1... Ice in Lake Superior remained a problem for shipping. The A Igowood and A lgomarine were trapped in ice off Marquette. The next day, the USCG M ackinaw arrived to assist the vessels into the harbor. Because of heavy ice, the L.S. & I. Ore Dock loaded only twelve vessels in Apnl.
The remains of the wooden steamer Three Brothers have been located off South Manitou Island in Lake Michigan. She was the lost on September 17, 1911.
May 3. . Calcite II passed downbound at the Soo on her first trip of the season. At the end of the 1995, it was rumored that she may not have fitted-out in 1996.
May 4 . . . Kinsman Independent returned to service, arriving in Duluth-Supenor.
The Canadian National railbarge Scotia II under tow of tugs Paid E. No. I and A tom ic, passed down through the Welland Canal for Hamilton.
May 6 . Oglebay Norton's M iddletown suffered turbine failure while downbound in the upper St. Marys River. She was towed to the Carbide Dock and remained there for several days for repairs.
May 7 . . . ULS's James Norris cleared Port Weller Dry Docks for sea trials in Lake Ontario She passed her trials and resumed service on the lakes.
. . CSL's Nanticoke arrived in Halifax, NS with the first grain cargo of the season from the Great Lakes.
May 8 . . . The House of Representatives passed an amendment to the Ocean Shipping Act of 1996, allowing the transfer of six Navy Cherokee-class tugs to the Wisconsin Railroad Trans. Comm. The bill must still be passed by the Senate and signed by the President. The tugs will be leased by the commission to the Escanaba & Lake Supenor Railroad Co. The railroad will use the ocean-going tugs in a tug/barge operation between Ontonagon, Michigan and Canada. The six tugs were built in 1943-1945 and were scheduled to be scrapped
May 9 . . . A lgosound was stopped at Lock 1 in the Welland Canal due to an overdraft. She cleared for Hamilton to lighter part of her cargo and returned upbound thru the canal the next day.
. Sarah Spencer, ex-Adam E. Cornelius, Sea Barge One, passed upbound through the Welland Canal with the tag Atlantic Hickory. They were bound for Detroit with a load of ore. Page 126 SEP* OCT, 1996 Page 127
GREAT LAKES & SEAWAY NEWS •
SARAH SPENCER ex-AD AM E. CORNELIUS, ex-SEA BARGE ONE cmd tug ATLANTIC ______HICKORY upbound in Welland Canal on May 10, 1996.______The Canadian National railbarge St. Clair cleared Sarnia under tow of the tug Robert B. No. 1 for Hamilton. She passed through the Welland Canal on the 12th.
May 11... Columbia Star took a break from her coal runs and loaded a cargo of pellets in Escanaba for Indiana Harbor
May 13 . A crewman was reported missing from Stolt Alliance after crossing Lake Ontario.
May 14 A Cook County Illinois judge has ruled that Harry Zych can keep the artifacts that he salvaged from the Lady Elgin, which sank in Lake Michigan in September, 1860 after a collision with the schooner Augusta. About 300 people died in the sinking. Zych began searching for the wreckage in the 1970's and discovered it in 1989. The State of Illinois sued Zych, citing the Federal Abandoned Ship Act of 1987, which would have entitled the state to the wreck. The judge ruled that the wreck still belonged to the insurance company and wasn't abandoned as claimed by the state. At the time of the decision, it was not known if the state would appeal.
May 15 The tug M iseford made a rare appearance at the Welland Canal to assist the Federal Aalesund from Wharf 6 at Thorold.
Atlantic Erie was observed at Dartmouth, NS with CSL painted on her hull in large letters.
May 16 . The Canadian Coast Guard's search and rescue vessel Clarks Harbour was christened at Hike Metal Products in Wheatley, Ontario.
May 17 . . . The carferry Badger opened her season on Lake Michigan. TELESCOPE Page 128
• GREAT LAKES & SEAWAY NEWS
.. Two Fednav ships were christened at the Jiangnan Shipyard in Shanghai, China. The ships are the Federal Calumet and Federal Saguenay. The first vessel in the group of six to be built for Fednav by Jiangnan was chastened Federal St. Laurent. Of all the vessels are designed to operate in the St. Lawrence Seaway and Great Lakes.
May 18 CSL's Tadoussac amved in Grand Haven and unloaded salt at the Verplank Dock. It's believed that this was her first visit to Grand Haven and she was the second CSL vessel to call at this port in nine years
The Canadian National Railroad's tugs Margaret Yorke and Phyllis York amved in Port Colborne under tow of tug Glenbrook. The tow was delayed at Port Colborne because of high winds. They passed down the Welland Canal the next day for Hamilton.
. . The Algois/e, ex-Sih’er Isle amved in Port Weller Drydocks for survey.
May 19... Amencan Steamship's St. Clair loaded a rare cargo of taconite pellets in Escanaba
May 20 . . . CSL's M anitoulin amved in Port Weller Drydocks for bow thruster repairs. She departed on the 22nd.
The unloading boom has been installed on Algoma's Capt. Henry Jackman at Port Weller Drydocks. She was towed out to the fit-out wall on the 22nd. Photo ini Sprunt Photo by J
ALGOVILLE with tug ROBERT B. No. 1 below Lock / in the Welland Cana! on May 31, 1996. SEP • OCT, 1996 Page 129
GREAT LAKES & SEAWAY NEWS •
U.S. Steel's EDWIN H. GOTT with her new self-unloading boom in the St. Marys River.
May 22 Thousands of pulpwood logs that were being earned on a barge fell into Lake Michigan near Frankfort, MI. The company that owned the logs and the tug company plan to form the floating logs into a raft and tow it ashore. A crane will then reload the logs onto the barge.
May 24 CSL's Frontenac arrived at Bruce Mines, Ontario to load 23,000 tons of aggregate at the new Ontano Trap Rock Dock. Frontenac was the first large commercial vessel to load at the Bruce Mines in over eighty years, according to the newspaper article. Bruce Mines is located on the North Channel in northern Lake Huron near Thessalon.
May 25 CSL's Saguenay has been temporarily renamed Sicilia at Toronto for a film project.
May 27 . . Manitoba Pool Elevators in Thunder Bay, Ontano will close the largest of their two temnnals. The company cited low grain shipments and high taxes as the reason for the closing. Thunder Bay now ships about seven to eight million tons of grain per year, almost half of what it shipped in the 1980's. Canadian grain shipments could take another hit this summer. In June, a Coast Guard marine service fee will go into effect and Canadian railroads are aggressively pursuing a plan to haul grain in unit trains to St. Lawrence River ports.
May 27 Interlake's 1,000-footer Mesabi Miner mader her first appearance in Marquette to unload coal. She returned for a second trip on June 12th. On previous visits, the M iner only loaded taconite pellets in Marquette. Her fleetmate Jam es R. Barker also did the same on May 4th - arriving to unload coal.
May 28 The Michigan House of Representatives passed a bill that would ban the photographing of bodies found on shipwrecks in Michigan waters. The Senate must still pass the bill and the governor must also sign in into law. It's not known when the Senate will take up the bill. TELESCOPE Page 130
• GREAT LAKES & SEAWAY NEWS
May 29 . . . The USCG buoy tender Juniper passed downbound through the Welland Canal for the east coast She will be based at Newport, Rhode Island. The Juniper was the lead ship of sixteen new buoy tenders for the U.S. Coast Guard. She was launched on June 28, 1995 at Marinette Mamie Corp in Marinette, WI
May 30 . . . Fednav's new Federal St. Laurent amved at Port Weller on her maiden voyage to unload at the sand dock.
May 31 . . . The tanker LeBrave was expected to join the Imperial Oil fleet and will probably be renamed
. After being granted a two month extension, Wallaceburg's Canada Custom's Office closed after 150 years of service. The office closed because of the lack of commercial shipping to the port
Jun. 1 . . . The Canadian Government planned to implement a marine services fee The fee applies to the commercial shipping industry and is meant to offset the Canadian Coast Guard's cost of maintaining aids to navigation. There will be three separate regions, each with their own fee structure The Central and Laurention Region will take in the Great Lakes and apparently the St. Lawrence Seaway In this region, foreign-flag vessels will be charged fourteen cents a ton of cargo loaded or unloaded. Cruise ships will be charged a flat fee of $845 per call at a Canadian port with a maximum of three calls per month. Canadian-flag vessels will be charged a flat fee of $3.40 gross registered tons (GRT) a year (Ed note: at this writing, 1 have no further information as to whether this fee was actually implemented There was considerable opposition to this plan )
. . The 71-foot tug Steven M. Selvick was sunk in Munising Bay and became part of the Alger Underwater Preserve in Lake Superior. The tug was built in 1915 at Cleveland, Ohio and was christened Lorain At the
U & COAST GUARD
The U.S. Coast Guard's newest buoy tender JUNIPER, downbound in the St. Clair River on May 26. 1996. SEP • OCT, 1996 Page 131
GREAT LAKES & SEAWAY NEWS • time she was built, she was powered by a steam engine built in 1889. Later she was refitted with a diesel angiteandiBrHnedCaAo/. She was purchased by Selvick Marine and Towing Co. of Sturgeon Bay, WI. in 1988 and renamed Steven M. Selvick. The company donated the tug to the preserve in 1994.
. . . The Algoville was towed to Port Weller Drydocks where she will be "widened" and have her side tanks replaced. Algoma Central Marine will spend $6.5 million on the project. Delivery is expected in early October.
Jun. 2 .. . Lady Hamilton, ex-Saskatchewan Pioneer amved at Wharf 6 at Thorold to unload a cargo of hard coal from overseas. This was the first such shipment there in almost thirty years. While she was docked, her hull was painted black and her stack sported Fednav colors.
Jun. 4 . . . Algoma's Capt. Henry Jackman was rechristened as a seIf-unloader in a brief ceremony at the Port Weller Drydocks.
Jun. 6 . . . Calcite II loaded stone at Port Colborne. This was her first visit of the season to this port.
At Toledo, the unloading boom and hydraulic ram were being removed from the Nicolet. The boom is being cut into sections for removal and it will be stored for future use. American Steamship was accepting bids on the hull for scrap.
Federal St. Laurent arrived at Twin Ports on the first voyage into the lakes. She tied up at the Cargill Elevator in Duluth to load a cargo of spring wheat. She cleared that evening for Norway.
Jun. 7 . . . CSL's Windoc went aground in thick fog after departing the Iroquois Lock downbound. She was released the next day with assistance from the tug Robinson Bay.
Jun. 8 . . LaFarge Corp's, new cement barge Integrity was floated at Bay Shipbuilding in Sturgeon Bay, WI.
Jun. 9 . . . From Grand Haven, Jerry Walter reports that the tug Atlantic Hickory and barge Sarah Spencer amved there for the first time. The barge unloaded a cargo of dolomite.
Enerchem Catalyst passed upbound through the Welland Canal for Toledo. She will be drydocked in Toledo for shaft repairs.
. The Olympic torch arrived in Detroit and was earned onto the American Republic at Hart Plaza. The vessel departed shortly after 10:00 a.m., heading for ceremonies in Cleveland, OH later that same day. A special holding area was designed on the bow section to prevent high winds or rain from extinguishing the flame. From Cleveland the torch will continue onto to Buffalo, NY and eventually to Atlanta.
Jun. 10... The upbound salty M alinska glanced off the seawall near the Blue Water Bridge in Port Huron, MI.
The Toronto passenger boat Capt. Matthew Flinders passed up the Seaway after spending the winter in Flonda. She passed down the Seaway in November, 1995.
Jun. 11... The first ship-to-ship coal transfer of the season took place on the lower St. Lawrence River. CSL's H.M. Griffith and Tadoussac transferred 56,892 net tons of western coal into the salty Anniversary. The next day, Halifax arrived to offload 25,252 short tons of western coal into the salty. The vessel cleared Sept-Iles Bay that evening for El Ferrol, Spain.
Water surges in Lock 2 in the Welland Canal snapped lines from the Canadian Progress. She was forced TELESCOPE Page 132
• GREAT LAKES & SEAWAY NEWS Massman Massman Photo/Dosssin Museum Coll. American Steamship has sold the NICOLET for scrap at Port Maitland, Ontario. to back out of the lock until the problem subsided
Jun. 14. . Cuyahoga experienced a breakdown in her bucket unloading system while unloading salt at Ogdensburg, NY.
The Army Corps of Engineers derrick barge H.J. Schwartz and tug D.L. Billmaier were commissioned at Park Point in Duluth, MN. The barge replaced the old steam-powered derrick barge Coleman The batge was named in honor of a Corps of Engineers employee Howard J. Schwartz, who was a maintenance foreman at the Duluth yard. His son Leigh is a crewman aboard the baige. The tug was named in honor of Donald L Billmaier, who was chief of operations at the Detroit branch The tug replaced the tug Lake Superior, which was built in 1943.
Jun. 15... The tanker Gemini went aground on a sand bar on the lower Mission River at Thunder Bay. There was no information given as to when and how she was released.
Canadian Mariner laid-up in Toronto due to summer "lack of cargo". Already in lay-up were the Seaway Queen and Canadian Explorer.
Jun. 17.. Interlake's CharlesM. Beeghly arrived at Grand Haven to unload coal at the BLP Sims #3 Power Plant. The Beeghly was the largest vessel to call at Grand Haven and this was her first visit to that port.
Jun. 19 ... A premier for a new Welland Canal video was held at St. Catherines Historical Museum at Lock 3
The Panamanian freighter Blue Bay, which unloaded a cargo of steel at Hamilton was delayed because of complaints over rotting food.
Jun. 20 . . . ULS Montrealais lost power while upbound in the St. Lawrence River and went aground one mile SEP* OCT, 1996 Page 133
GREAT LAKES & SEAWAY NEWS • above the Iroquois Lock. She was released with the aid of five tugs.
. . The Union Pacific ore dock in Escanaba is for sale. This includes connecting rail lines that were part of the Chicago Northwestern and now owned by U P due to last year's mergers of the two railroads. These lines include the one from Ishpeming to Escanaba.
. . Oglebay-Norton is selling its share (18.5 percent) in Eleveth Mines in Minnesota. The sale means that Oglebay-Norton is ending 143 years in the iron mining business.
Jun. 21 . . . The tug Jacklvn M . passed upbound through the Welland Canal, bound for Bay Shipbuilding at Sturgeon Bay. This tug will push LaFarge's new cement barge Integrity.
Algoma's Capt. Henry Jackman cleared Port Weller for Windsor, Ontario to load salt for Toronto.
. . . Algoisle was floated out of drydock at Port Weller and laid up in Welland.
Jun. 22 . . . The Lake Carriers' Assoc, reported that heavy ice has had an adverse effect on shipping in April. Various cargoes carried in U.S.-flag lakers declined by 13.5% in April as compared to the same period in 1995. Shipments of iron ore, coal and stone at US and Canadian ports declined by 16% in April.
Iron ore cargoes earned by US flag lakers declined by 3.3% in April. Since the iron ore trade began on March 4th, at Escanaba tonnage carried declined 10%.
CAPT. HENRY JACKMAN rechristened as a seIf-unloader at Port Weller Dty Docks on June 4, 1996. TELESCOPE Page 134
• GREAT LAKES & SEAWAY NEWS
VIKING at Port Stanley, Ontario on July 4, 1996. She is scheduled to operate between Port Stanley and Cleveland, Ohio.
. . . Coal shipments in US flag lakers declined 28% in April. The largest decline was at Superior where loadings fell by 400,000 tons. Stone shipments fell 30%.
Jun. 23 .. After a 38-hour voyage from Manitowoc, WI. The carferry Viking arrived in Port Stanley, Ontario. The carferry is to be refurbished this winter at Port Stanley. Ferry service across Lake Erie between Port Stanley and Cleveland is scheduled to begin in March of 1997.
Jun. 24 . . . The Duluth Port Authority reported that heavy ice conditions have caused a 53% drop in tonnage shipped through the Twin Ports of Duluth-Superior from March to May 31st. Iron ore shipments were down by 74% and coal shipments declined by 37% compared to the same period last year. Bulk grain shipments declined by 73%. As of May 31st, only 188 vessels amved compared with 296 in 1995.
Jun. 26 .CSL's M anitoulin returned to Port Weller Drydocks to have her repaired bow thruster reinstalled.
Bethlehem Steel 1,000-footer Burns Harbor, operating on one engine, was escorted up the St. Marys River by Great Lakes Towing tug M aine. The Bums Harbor is scheduled for repairs at Bay Shipbuilding in mid-July.
Jun. 30 . .Enerchem Catalyst passed down the Welland Canal after receiving repairs to her propeller shaft at Toledo Shipyard.
. .. A crewman aboard a sailboat in Lake Erie was knocked overboard by a boom. He spent two hours in the water before being rescued by the crew of the CSL's Manitoulin, north of Pelee Island.
... A lgosoundarrived in Sarnia and went into temporary lay-up at the North Slip. A lgocen arrived in Thunder Bay for temporary lay-up at Pascol Engineering dock. SEP • OCT, 1996 Page 135
GREAT LAKES & SEAWAY NEWS •
Miscellaneous ...... The Ene-Western Pennsylvania Port Authority announced that a new tenant has been found for the vacant shipyard at Erie, PA. The property was vacant due to the bankruptcy of Erie Marine Enterprises. The new tenant Metro Machine, a shipbuilder with operations in Norfolk, VA., Philadelphia and Chester, PA. will use the facility for ship repair and possible construction of double-hulled tank barges.
Great Lakes Calendar . . .
Sat-Sun.-Oct. 26-27th - A Lighthouse weekend - special display of Great Lakes lighthouses, highlighted by an art exhibit by Leo Kuschel. His artwork was selected to be one of the special U.S. Postal Service stamps in 1995. On Saturday at 2:00 p.m. there will be a concert by Don Whirling, titled Ballads of the Great Lakes. Admission $2.00 - GLMI members-free. On Sunday, Dr. Charles Hyde, author of Northern Lights/Light houses of the Great Lakes will lecture at 2:00 p.m. Admission $2.00 - GLMI members-free.
Sat.-Nov. 9th - Concert by folksinger Lee Murdock at 2:00 p.m. in DeRoy Hall. Tickets are $12.00 for non- memebers and $10.00 for members. Limited seating in DeRoy Hall.
Sat.-Nov. 16th - GLMI-Marine Hist. Soc. of Detroit Entertainment meeting. Guest speaker will be Keith Stefke on Shipbuilding at Wyandotte, MI.
Sat. - Dec. 7th - Great Lakes Marine Mart at Harbor Hill Marina Clubhouse (St. Jean and Freud streets near Detroit River) from 10:00-3:00 p.m.
Dec. 27-29th - Annual Ford Fleet Festival at Dossin Museum. Come meet the former crewmembers.
Our Back Cover Picture . . . Peter Smith (US 150133), iron tug built in 1863 at Renfrew, Scotland. Measured 116.0’ x 18.0' x 9.6’. 161 Gross Tons; 109 Net Tons. Originally Little Ada, British coaster, which served as a Confederate blockade runner in 1864 during Civil War. She was captured on July 9,1864 by USS Gettysburg and commissioned a US gunboat at Boston on October 5, 1864. Transferred to US Army Engineers Survey and renamed A da in August, 1865. Brought to Great Lakes in 1884 by P. Smith of Bay City, MI. for touring on Saginaw River and was renamed Peter Smith. Rebuilt: 1884-1896-hull was wood. From 1897 to 1940-iron hull. Sold Canadian in 1909 and renamed Little Ada (C 47635) at Quebec. Dropped from Canadian List from 1917-1921. Re-registered in Motor Vessels of U.S., renamed Buxton. Burned on April 13, 1922 at Berkley, Virginia. Re-registered in 1923, converted to oil screw and renamed Betty Jane Hearn. Owned by Hearn Oil Company, Wilmington, Delaware. Foundered in Atlantic Ocean in 1940. TELESCOPE Page 136
• GREAT LAKES & SEAWAY NEWS
The tug CAROL ANN pushing sideways on the WOLVERINE'S bow.
Institute member Donald Harms was watching the Oglebay> Norton's Woh’erine depart from Grand Ha\’en., Michigan and sent the following story about vessel captains earning their money the hard way. The W oherine had unloaded at Verplank's Dock on the Grand River in Grand Haven on June 23 1996 Because of her length of 630 feet, she couldn't turn in the turning basin and so it would be necessary for her to back out the river, including a close 90 degree turn near the Coast Guard Station After she was unloaded on Monday morning, she delayed departing due to heavy fog and a strong river current. By 2:00 p.m. in the afternoon, the fog had lifted and so the Woh’erine, with the help of the tug Carol Ann, began the process of backing down the river. After the Wolverine had passed the municipal marina and was approaching the 90 degree turn, which would take them directly out onto Lake Michigan, the river widens and as they came abeam of Grand Haven's Musical Fountain, the 30-knot breeze which had been blowing out of the west/northwest, began to have an impact on the the Wolverine. All of a sudden, the tug Carol A nn, finding the bow of the Wolverine being pushed dangerously close to the seawall, stopped pushing against the bow and instead took up the hawser and applied full power to try to move the bow back toward the center of the river against the wind For awhile, it seemed as though the Carol Ann was losing the battle as the bow of the Wolverine moved closer to the breakwater, almost within two feet. Finally, the brute force of the Caro! Ann's power was able to move the Wolverine slowly back toward the middle of the river. They began to move backwards in the river once again. The Wolverine s Captain requested permission from the Coast Guard to dock at the seawall near the station The Wolverine docked against the wooden fenders at the base of the seawall. She remained docked until about 10.00 pm when the wind had finally died down. The tug Carol Ann returned and both departed for Lake Michigan. While the captain of the Wolverine was earning his pay the hard way, the action on the river certainly provided spectacular viewing for those of us who were present. SEP* OCT, 1996 Page 137
GREAT LAKES & SEAWAY NEWS • Author's Author's Coll. Author's Coll.
Top: The 30-knot wind caused problems for the WOLVERINE as she edged towards the seawall. Bottom: The CAROL ANN moves the WOLVERINE back towards the center o f the river. SERVICE DIRECTORY
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