Great Lakes & Seaway Shipping News Archive

Capt. John Chomniak buys Chief Shingwauk

4/30 - Sault Ste. Marie, ON - The bad news is that Shingwauk Marine Limited is winding down its Lock Tours Canada operation.

The good news is that the Chief Shingwauk's skipper, Captain John John Chomniak, has agreed to buy the business and keep it afloat. On Monday the Sault Ste. Marie City Council voted to give Chomniak a $60,000 interest-free loan to finance the venture, repayable at the end of the 2008 tourist season.

The decision by Lock Tours Canada to cease operations was attributed to high fuel and electrical costs, a flat tourist market, increased vigilance by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, high leasing costs and taxes, and a need for major capital improvements including replacement of two new engines at a cost of $227,000.

Chomniak is planning to add two additional year-round jobs and nine more seasonal jobs. With the added staff, he wants to beef up marketing of the boat, including greater integration with the Agawa Canyon Tour Train. The City's $60,000, fully secured loan will provide working capital during the transition of ownership.

"We must prevent the loss of this attraction, which would reduce the tourism infrastructure and lessen the opportunities for Sault Ste. Marie to entice people to lengthen their stay," said Bruce Strapp, chief executive officer of the Sault Ste. Marie Economic Development Corporation.

Canadian tour boats have plied the locks since 1965. Lock Tours Canada has carried as many as 30,000 passengers during good years, but traffic has recently fallen to barely 16,000. Chomniak's business plan calls for a 15 percent increase in passengers this year, a 20 percent increase next year, and five percent increases during each of the following three years.

Funding is also being sought from Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation.

Port Reports - April 30

Toledo - Jim Hoffman
The tug Sea Service with her barge Energy 6506 was at the B-P Dock loading cargo. Peter R. Creswell was at the Midwest Terminals Stone Dock unloading stone.
The next scheduled coal boats due into the CSX Dock will be the American Mariner on Wednesday, H. Lee White on Thursday, Lee A. Tregurtha on Saturday, followed by the Robert S. Pierson on Sunday. The next scheduled ore boats due into the Torco Dock will be the Atlantic Erie on Saturday, CSL Laurentien on Sunday, followed by the Algowood on Tuesday.

Toronto - Frank Hood
Stephen B. Roman arrived back in Toronto on Tuesday.

ArcelorMittal Great Lakes Restoration Program announces funding

4/30 - Cleveland - ArcelorMittal announced 16 projects selected to receive a total of $1 million in funding through the ArcelorMittal Great Lakes Restoration Program.

The 16 selected projects will restore and enhance the environmental integrity of the lakes by controlling invasive species, restoring wetlands and other habitats, promoting the recovery of threatened species, and educating citizens on how to protect the ecosystem.

"These grants help the Great Lakes by restoring critical habitat for fish and wildlife," said Peter Stangel, director of science and conservation, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. "We are here in Northeast Ohio today because this region stands out in its commitment to conservation and in its collaborative approach. We are pleased to be able to support your good conservation projects and strong collaborative approach."

The program is funded by a three-year $2.1 million bi-national grant from the ArcelorMittal USA Foundation that was bolstered by $3 million in matches from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, the EPA, the Fish and Wildlife Service, the Forest Service and the NOAA. The contributions will then be leveraged by grantees to enable a total on-the-ground impact of $9 million throughout the Great Lakes watershed.

"The Great Lakes are among the most important natural resources in the world," said Lou Schorsch, president and CEO, ArcelorMittal Flat Carbon Americas. "The basin is crucial to the well-being of our employees and our communities, as well as to our operations and production, and we are committed to sustaining them. We're confident that these grants will promote positive steps toward significant, measurable improvement of the quality of the Great Lakes."

The ArcelorMittal Great Lakes Restoration Program is an important step toward restoring the ecological integrity of the Great Lakes Basin. The program is designed to address the habitat and ecosystem restoration goals developed through the Great Lakes Regional Collaboration. The Regional Collaboration, created by a Presidential Executive Order, is a wide-ranging, public-private cooperative effort to design and implement a strategy for the restoration, protection, and sustainable use of the Great Lakes.

Volunteers tackle projects to stabilize historic SS Meteor whaleback ship

4/30 - Superior - Blustery winds, cold temperatures and snowfall were a mere inconvenience for the nearly 40 volunteers who turned out Saturday to preserve and make presentable Superior’s unique bit of history on Barker’s Island.

Members of the Great Lakes Shipwreck Preservation Society, Lake Superior Maritime Museum Association and Friends of the SS Meteor bundled up to stave off the cold and make the world’s last whaleback presentable for another season of tours and sustain it as restoration efforts continue.

“Even in the lousy weather, they power-washed the deck,” said Susan Anderson, director of the Superior Public Museums, after the first day of work. “Talk about dedication.” There was paint to scrape and reapply, rust to remove from engine rods, gears to grease, brass to polish, junk to remove from a forward cargo hold, air scoops and portholes to reseal and displays to clean.

Young and old alike rolled up their sleeves — so to speak — to divide and tackle the projects during the two-day effort. Weather proved to be a factor for some, but not all, of the projects as volunteers from throughout Minnesota, Michigan and Wisconsin gathered to do their part to preserve the one-of-a-kind, above-water ship.

“It’s the only one left in the world,” said Gunnar David of Marshfield. The preteen and his parents led efforts to clear out years of accumulated junk from a forward cargo hold and toss it in a dumpster provided by Kimmes Construction. “We have to do everything we can to try to save it,” said Kari David, Gunnar’s mom and a member of Lake Superior Maritime Museum Association. She said the family loves the area and its rich port history and wants to help preserve it.

Mike Stich of Wyoming, Minn., a member of the shipwreck preservation society for 10 years, lent a hand by creating piles of junk that had to go. His daughter, Crystal, also was busy working on another part of the ship. “I’ve been involved in other projects,” Stich said. “This is the first time I’ve been involved in this one. I heard about it through the GLSPS … I have an interest. I’m a scuba diver and I have dived the (Thomas) Wilson, a sister ship to the Meteor. I really love this ship and this style of ship. I’ve never been on the inside of it before. This is an opportunity to see it from the inside out.”

The Thomas Wilson, the 20th of Capt. Alexander McDougall’s 44 whalebacks, sank following a 1902 collision.

In the pilot house, Stephen Daniel of Woodbury, Minn., and Helen Wright, a San Francisco-native who now lives near Two Harbors, worked together to bring back the sheen of the brass. “We got involved, primarily, because we’re used to preserving ships underwater and doing the documentation above the water,” Daniel said. “… We’re very interested in preserving vessels like this that are on top of the water. They’re easier to see, and more people can see them beyond the diving community.”

After 30 years in the diving community, he said it was time to give something back. And, he wasn’t alone. His children were working in the bow. “If we don’t preserve this stuff, the people coming behind us won’t have anything to see,” Daniel said.

Wright is a member of two organizations involved in the weekend’s volunteer effort. “I was trying to make a career in museum exhibit stuff, but I have an elderly father who needs assistance, and I can’t very well leave town,” she said. Instead, she set her sights on preserving the history she could.

Down below, Bob Olson of St. Paul, Richard Giese of Minneapolis and Tim Prenke of Shakopee worked in the engine room. Olson has worked on the ship’s engine many times.

Atop deck, Tom Brueshaver of Minneapolis braved the weather with a small crew to replace plywood seals in the air scoops that had started to rot and were leaking water into the engine room. “She’s pretty rough up on top,” Brueshaver said. In spite of frigid winds, however, he said the area is of special interest to all the volunteers working on the SS Meteor.

“Being a nonprofit ourselves, we understand what getting help means, Brueshaver said. We think it’s a very worthwhile thing to keep going. … If no one takes care of this stuff, it will eventually disappear. And that’s pretty much the drive to get it done.”

It’s not the first time volunteers from the organizations have gathered to keep the SS Meteor ship shape, according to Phil Kerber of the Twin Cities area, vice president of the shipwreck preservation society. The effort originated six or seven years ago, and was started by the Wisconsin Underwater Archeology Association. Great Lakes Shipwreck Preservation Society has since taken over much of the planning, Kerber said.

“We have a good time,” Kerber said.

Relic hunter wants Canada's help in shipwreck case

4/30 - An American relic hunter who believes he's found one of Canada's most important shipwrecks at the bottom of Lake Michigan is appealing for Canadian heritage officials to get involved in the U.S. legal battle over the site. The Griffon, which was built near Niagara Falls in 1679 and became the first sailing ship on the Great Lakes, was lost in a storm on its maiden voyage and now ranks among North America's most sought-after wrecks.

A federal U.S. appeals court ruled last week that the discoverer of the Griffon's purported resting place - Steve Libert, an underwater explorer from Virginia - does not have to reveal the location to the State of Michigan until another judge sorts out the ownership and future management of the potential heritage treasure. But Libert, who spent decades searching for the lost ship of famed French explorer Rene-Robert de La Salle - a key figure in the history of New France - is now seeking support from Canada to "expedite" a legal resolution and eventually kick-start exploration of the wreck site. "If this is the Griffon," Libert told Canwest News Service, "it will rewrite chapters in the history books - no, it will write new history books. It is time for Canada to get involved."

Robert Grenier, the Canadian government's senior underwater archeologist, acknowledges that the Griffon is "one of the Holy Grails of Canadian marine history," adding that the fact that the ship "was not built in Europe makes it more attractive" to scholars documenting Canada's colonial era. But Grenier cautions that "diagnostic" proof of the wreck's identity has not yet been produced, and that the "quite complicated" legal struggle between Libert, Michigan authorities and U.S. federal heritage officials will have to be resolved before Canada or the French government - which could ultimately claim ownership of the Griffon - get involved. Grenier added that Michigan officials "would like us to do some things" at the purported Griffon wreck site once the legal issues are resolved. But he added that Libert, too, has a legitimate stake in what happens then.

Libert took photographs in 2004 of what he believes is the bowsprit - a stabilizing spar projecting from the front of a ship - belonging to a centuries-old, hand-hewn wooden vessel matching what is known about the Griffon's construction. Experts from the Field Museum in Chicago dated some wood samples from the site to the 17th century. "If it is a ship of that period, then there's a good chance that it could be La Salle's ship," said Grenier. "It's well known that the owner of that vessel came from Montreal. Canada could be an interested party."

But further dives at the site and a planned lake-bottom survey for debris were halted four years ago when the State of Michigan claimed exclusive authority over the wreck. That prompted the long-running court battle with Libert and last week's ruling that a federal "admiralty arrest" should be imposed over the wreck site to continue protecting the submerged artifacts until the ownership dispute is settled.

La Salle, a controversial but towering presence in 17th-century North America, had already helped establish Fort Frontenac (at present-day Kingston, Ont.) and led the European discovery of Niagara Falls before trying to build a fur trade empire on the Upper Great Lakes.

After the Griffon was built near Niagara Falls in the summer of 1679, it was sailed across lakes Erie and Huron and into Green Bay - the 150-kilometre-long inlet on western Lake Michigan. La Salle then turned to overland exploration and sent his flagship back toward Lake Erie, on Sept. 18, 1679, to deliver thousands of furs and other cargo obtained from native traders. The ship was never seen again, and La Salle was the first of many searchers who have failed to turn up traces of the wreck over the centuries.

La Salle went on to fame as the discoverer of the mouth of the Mississippi River and founder of Louisiana. But he is infamous as commander of a doomed French expedition to modern-day Texas in 1687, during which he is believed to have become deranged. He was eventually murdered by one of his own crewmen.

Libert, who accused Michigan of "trying to legally steal" the Griffon, has stated in the past that the wreck lies between Escanaba, Mich., and the St. Martin Islands near Wisconsin.

Guided by the journals of Father Louis Hennepin - an adventurous French priest who made drawings of the Griffon and sailed westward with La Salle on the ship's ill-fated maiden voyage - Libert says his breakthrough came when he realized the "Huron islands'' mentioned by Hennepin as the Griffon's probable whereabouts referred to a set of islands in Lake Michigan rather than Lake Huron.

30 April 1894 - The TRUANT (wooden propeller tug, 73 foot, 28 gross tons, built in 1889 at Toronto, Ontario) burned to a total loss near Burnt Island in Georgian Bay. The fire started under her ash pan.

On 30 April 1890, the wooden dredge MUNSON and two scow barges were being towed from Kingston, Ontario by the tug EMMA MUNSON to work on the new Bay of Quinte bridge at Rossmore, Ontario, 6 miles west of Kingston when the dredge started listing then suddenly tipped over and sank. No lives were lost.

The IRVIN L CLYMER returned to service April 30, 1988, after a two season lay-up.

HOWARD HINDMAN of 1910, grounded heavily when her steering cable parted at Little Rapids Cut in the St. Marys River, April 30, 1969. Due to the extensive damage, she was sold in May of that year to Marine Salvage Ltd., Port Colborne, Ontario for scrap and was scrapped at Bilbao, Spain in 1969.

The RED WING tow arrived at Kaohsiung, Taiwan on April 30, 1987, for dismantling

On 30 April 1842, the side-wheeler COMMODORE BARRIE collided with the schooner CANADA about 10 miles off Long Point in Lake Ontario. The COMMODORE BARRIE became disabled and then sank about an hour and a half later. Her passengers and crew were rescued by the CANADA.

On 30 April 1878, ST LAWRENCE (2-mast wooden schooner, 93 foot, 111 tons, built in 1842, at Clayton, New York) was carrying timber when she caught fire from the boiling over of a pot of pitch which was being melted on the galley stove. The vessel was well out on Lake Michigan off Milwaukee. The fire spread so rapidly that the crew had no time to haul in canvas, so when they abandoned her, she was sailing at full speed. The lifeboat capsized as soon as it hit the water, drowning the captain and a passenger. The ST LAWRENCE sailed off ablaze and was seen no more. The rest of the crew was later rescued by the schooner GRANADA.

Port Reports - April 29

Toronto - Charlie Gibbons
The tug Evans McKeil arrived overnight Sunday and paired up the the cement barge Metis Monday morning. They will in all probability begin their season's first run to Picton on Tuesday morning.

Holland - Bob VandeVusse
The Calumet arrived at the Verplank's dock at Holland at about 6 a.m. Monday to unload a cargo of H-1 limestone, used in manufacturing asphalt. The load originated in Cedarville and part of it was discharged in Muskegon prior to the stop in Holland. Keeping with tradition, Captain Paul Joaquin was presented with an engraved pair of wooden shoes for being the first commercial vessel in the harbor for the season.

Saginaw River - Todd Shorkey
The Agawa Canyon was inbound the Saginaw River Sunday morning on what was to be an interesting visit. On her way upriver, she stopped at the Essroc dock in Essexville for a few hours to wait for water levels in the river to come up before continuing upriver to the GM dock in Saginaw to unload. Early Monday morning, the tug Olive L. Moore and barge Lewis J. Kuber arrived with a split load for the Bay City and Saginaw Wirt docks.
While the Moore-Kuber were lightering in Bay City, the Agawa Canyon departed Saginaw headed outbound for the lake. Reaching the Lafayette Bridge in Bay City, the Canyon had to stop in the channel and drop her anchor as the bridge had a mechanical problem and would not lift. By late Monday morning, the bridge had been repaired and the Agawa Canyon was able to get underway. She passed the waiting Olive L. Moore at Bay City Wirt around 10:30 on her way to the lake and once clear, the Moore & Kuber departed Bay City for the Saginaw Wirt dock. The pair completed their unload and were outbound late Monday evening.

Alpena & Stoneport - Ben & Chanda McClain
Monday brought both cement carriers to Lafarge. The tug G. L Ostrander and barge Integrity arrived around noon. The Integrity was outbound in the bay by 5 p.m. and passed the inbound tug Samuel de Champlain and barge Innovation that tied up under the silos by 6 p.m.
At Stoneport on Monday the John G. Munson was taking on cargo. Fleetmate Arthur M. Anderson was waiting at anchor nearby to load next.

29 April 1896 - The W LE BARON JENNEY (steel tow barge, 366 foot, 3422 gross tons) was launched by F. W. Wheeler & Company (Hull #120) at West Bay City, Michigan for the Bessemer Steamship Company of Cleveland, Ohio. She went through eight owners during her career, ending with the Goderich Elevator and Transit Company, Ltd. who used her as a grain storage barge. She was scrapped in Thunder Bay, Ontario in 1974.

On 29 April 1875, the wooden schooner CLARA BELL of Sandusky was wrecked in a gale off Leamington, Ontario. Captain William Robinson was drowned.

On April 29, 1975, American Steamship’s SAM LAUD entered service.

Launched this date in 1976, was the a.) SOODOC (Hull#210) by Collingwood Shipyards Ltd. Renamed b.) AMELIA DESGAGNES in 1990.

On April 29, 1977, while inbound at Lorain, the IRVING S OLDS hit a bridge on the Black River which extensively damaged her bow, tying up traffic for several hours

A fender boom fell on the pilot house of the steamer GEORGE M HUMPHREY in the Poe Lock at the Soo in 1971.

On 29 April 1865, L D COWAN (wooden schooner, 165 tons, built in 1848, at Erie, Pennsylvania) was driven ashore near Pointe aux Barques, Michigan in a storm and wrecked.

Gary - Brian Z.
Edgar B. Speer discharged a cargo of taconite pellets at USX Steel on Saturday.
The Algosoo was still at the East vessel taking on her cargo of coke breeze destined for Port Cartier. John G. Munson arrived late Saturday with a cargo of limestone fines.

Hamilton - Eric Holmes
Sunday morning the CSL Niagara arrived at 10:30 p.m. with petroleum coke from Quebec City for US Steel. Jade Star arrived at 5 p.m. Tug Evans McKeil departed at 7:15 pm. from Pier 10 for Toronto.
The Algosteel arrived at 9:30 p.m. John B Aird, after discharging it's cargo at Pier 26, shifted to Pier 10 for repairs of some type.

Toledo - Jim Hoffman
Burns Harbor finished unloading ore at the Midwest Terminals Dock and departed mid Sunday afternoon.
Meanwhile The Halifax was at Midwest Terminals Dock waiting to load ore that the Burns Harbor brought in. Atlantic Huron was at the Torco Ore Dock unloading ore, and the tug Michigan and barge Great Lakes was at the B-P Dock. Both vessels were expected to depart Sunday evening. The next scheduled vessels due into CSX Coal Dock will be the American Mariner and Herbert C. Jackson on Wednesday, H. Lee White on Thursday, Lee A. Tregurtha on Saturday, followed by the Robert S. Pierson on Sunday. The next scheduled ore boats due into the Torco Docks will be Atlantic Erie on Saturday, followed by CSL Laurentien on Sunday.

Toronto - Frank Hood
Stephen B. Roman had departed Toronto Harbour by Sunday morning.

We would be happy to pick up and wipe the data on any donated machines to DOD standards and we have our own licensed software. We would like any equipment starting with a Pentium 4 level processor or higher and any size LCD monitor. This equipment is used to support various features of the site and also placed in regional museums as kiosk type displays.

28 April 1856 - The TONAWANDA (wooden propeller passenger-package freight steamer, 202 foot, 882 gross tons) was launched by Buell B. Jones at Buffalo, New York.

On 28 April 1891, the whaleback barge 110 (steel barge, 265 foot, 1,296 gross tons) was launched by the American Steel Barge Co. in W. Superior, Wisconsin. In 1907, she went to the Atlantic Coast and lasted until she suffered an explosion, then sank after burning, near the dock of Cities Service Export Oil Co., at St. Rose, Louisiana, on March 3, 1932.

The 660 ft. forward section of Bethlehem Steel's a.) LEWIS WILSON FOY (Hull#717) was launched April 28,1977, at Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. Renamed b.) OGLEBAY NORTON in 1991.

Nipigon Transport Ltd.'s straight deck motorship a.) LAKE WABUSH (Hull#223) by Collingwood Shipyards Ltd., was christened and launched April 28, 1981. Renamed b.) CAPT HENRY JACKMAN in 1987, and converted to a self-unloader in 1996.

On April 28, 1971, while up bound from Sorel, Quebec for Muskegon, Michigan with a load of pig iron, LACHINEDOC struck Rock Shoal off Little Round Island in the St. Lawrence River and was beached.

On April 28, 1906, Pittsburgh Steamship Co.'s J PIERPONT MORGAN (Hull#68) by Chicago Ship Building Co., was launched. Renamed b.) HERON BAY in 1966.

April 28, 1897 - The F&PM (Flint & Pere Marquette) Steamer NO 1, bound from Milwaukee for Chicago ran ashore just north of Evanston. She released herself after a few hours.

The barge LITTLE JAKE was launched on 28 April 1875, at East Saginaw, Michigan. She was owned by William R. Burt & Co. Her dimensions were 132 feet x 29 feet x 9 feet.

On 28 April 1877, the steam barge C S BALDWIN went ashore on the reef at North Point on Lake Huron during a blinding snow storm. The barge was heavily loaded with iron ore and sank in a short time. The crew was saved by the Lifesaving Service from Thunder Bay Station and by the efforts of the small tug FARRAR.

4/27 - St. Catharines - The Windoc, the bulk carrier damaged when the Allanburg lift bridge came down on it in August 2001, is likely months away from being resurrected.

The bridge was lowered onto the passing cargo carrier by mistake, causing a fire to erupt and smolder for 22 hours. The accident closed the Welland Canal for two days. For nearly two years, there have been plans by Algoma Central Corp., which purchased the Windoc in 2006, to put the cargo ship back into use.

Those plans are now months away from being realized, said John Greenway, vice-president of operations with Seaway Marine Transport. The St. Catharines company is managing the ship on behalf of its parent firms, Upper Lakes Group Inc. and Algoma Central Corp.

Greenway said a decision on what to do with the cargo vessel should be made within the next six months. Greenway said staff are still deciding on design concepts to return the cargo ship to service, either as a self-propelled vessel or pushed by a large tug. Prices have yet to be finalized, but the project is expected to cost millions. "Once that's done, then our owners will make a decision as to her future."

The Windoc spent more than a year at Port Colborne's International Marine Salvage Inc., which removed the end of the Windoc, including all machinery and the engine room, Greenway said. On Thursday, several tugs from Port-Dover-based Nadro Marine Services Ltd. hauled the ship up the Welland Canal to Seaway Marine and Industrial Inc., the former Port Weller Dry Docks. "She's just going to berth there in storage until final decisions are made."

The Windoc accident was the subject of an investigation by the Transportation Safety Board of Canada, which found the bridge operator prematurely lowered it on the moving ship as it passed underneath. The mishap was caught on film by a U.S. tourist and ended up on the Fox TV show Stupid Behavior Caught on Tape. At the time, the Windoc was part of the N. M. Paterson and Sons Ltd. fleet of Thunder Bay. Paterson is no longer in business.

Seaway Marine Transport operates the largest fleet of dry-bulk carriers on the Great Lakes, transporting cargo such as grain, iron and coal.

Port Reports - April 27

South Chicago- Brian Z.
On a very windy Friday, the American Mariner was loading coal at KCBX Terminal. Also, Algoma Central's Algosoo was discharging her cargo of road salt at the Morton Salt dock on the Calumet River.

Gary - Brian Z.
The Algosoo arrived at US Steel's East vessel dock at 2 p.m. Friday. The Algosoo was loading a cargo of coke breeze destined for Port Cartier, Quebec. Loading is expected to take 30 hours to complete.

Milwaukee - John N. Vogel
The G. L. Ostrander and barge Integrity arrived at the LaFarge terminal in the inner harbor about 2:15 Friday morning to deliver cement. It departed at 3:45 that afternoon.

Toronto - Frank Hood
Stephen B. Roman has arrived back in Toronto. Canadian Ranger has departed Toronto.

New ship coming to the Great Lakes

4/27 - Montreal - Anchored in Montreal is BBC Zarate which will leave today for the Great Lakes on her first trip to the Lakes. She is loaded with windmill sections to be unloaded at Duluth.

Behind her at the anchorage is Carola also loaded with windmill sections to be unloaded at Windsor. Both vessels took their cargo at Aarhus, Denmark

Looks like 2008 will be again a great year for the importation of windmills to Great Lakes destinations.

Correction

4/27 - The Company that lifted the drive unit from the Dorothy Ann was Ryba Marine of Cheboygan MI. with the tug Tenacious and the construction barge CT150.

Today in Great Lakes History - April 27

27 April 1889 - The ROMEO (wooden propeller excursion steamer, 70 foot, 61 gross tons) was launched by F. W. Wheeler (Hull #51) at West Bay City, Michigan for service on the Òinland route (Oden, Michigan to Cheboygan, Michigan & Bois Blanc Island) along with her sister JULIET (wooden propeller excursion steamer, 70 foot, 61 gross tons), launched the following day. The vessels had twin screws for maneuverability along the northern rivers. ROMEO lasted until 1911, when she was abandoned at Port Arthur, Texas. JULIET was converted to a 'steam yacht' and registered at Chicago. She was abandoned in 1912.

The H A HAWGOOD (4-mast wooden schooner, 233 feet) was launched at 2:00 p.m. on 27 April 1886, at F. W. Wheeler's shipyard in W. Bay City, Michigan.

On April 27, 1993, the WOLVERINE ran aground on Surveyors Reef near Port Dolomite near Cedarville, Michigan and damaged her hull.

The ASHCROFT, up bound on Lake Erie in fog, collided with Interlake's steamer JAMES H REED on April 27, 1944. The REED, fully loaded with ore, quickly sank off Port Burwell, Ontario with a loss of twelve lives. The ASHCROFT suffered extensive bow damage below the water line and was taken to Ashtabula, Ohio for repairs.

On April 27, 1973, the bow section of the SIDNEY E SMITH JR was towed to Sarnia by the Malcolm tugs TABOGA and BARBARA ANN. The two sections of the hull were scuttled and land-filled to form a dock facing.

Shenango Furnace's straight deck steamer WILLIAM P SNYDER JR left Ecorse, Michigan in ballast on her maiden voyage April 27, 1912, for Duluth, Minnesota to load iron ore.

On April 27, 1978, the TROISDOC was down bound with corn for Cardinal, Ontario when she hit the upper end of the tie-up wall above Lock 2, in the Welland Ship Canal.

On April 27, 1980, after loading pellets in Duluth, the ENDERS M VOORHEES stopped at the Seaway Dock to load a large wooden stairway (three sections) on deck which was taken to the AmShip yard at Lorain. It was used for an open house on the newly built EDWIN H GOTT in 1979.

On April 27, 1953, the steamer RESERVE entered service.

On April 27, 1984, the CHARLES M BEEGHLY struck the breakwall while departing Superior, Wisconsin on her first trip since the 1981, season. The vessel returned to Fraser Shipyards in Superior for repairs.

On 27 April 1876, the Port Huron Times reported, "The steam barge MARY MILLS arrived up this morning and looks 'flaming'. Her owner said he did not care what color she was painted so long as it was bright red, and she has therefore come out in that color."

On 27 April 1877, the 40 foot 2-mast wooden schooner VELOCIPEDE left Racine, Wisconsin for Muskegon, Michigan in fair weather, but a severe squall blew in and it developed into a big storm. The little schooner was found capsized and broken in two off Kenosha, Wisconsin with her crew of 2 or 3 lost.

Port Reports - April 26

Marquette - Rod Burdick
On Friday the tug Joyce L. VanEnkevort and barge Great Lakes Trader unloaded limestone at the Upper Harbor hopper instead of the Lower Harbor Shiras Dock. Efforts continue at the Lower Harbor to retrieve Tug Dorothy Ann's propulsion unit.

Buffalo - Brian Wroblewski
The Adam E Cornelius was unloading at the General Mills Frontier Elevator at 9a.m. Friday morning. This is the first boatload of grain through the Port of Buffalo for the year.
The Lansdowne was towed from the Cargill Pool Elevator Pier on the Outer Harbor to some unseen location off the ISG Steel (Bethlehem) Plant on Thursday.

Duluth/Superior - Al Miller
Edwin H. Gott was loading at the DMIR ore docks Friday morning while Roger Blough waited at the Duluth port terminal for its turn. Indiana Harbor was loading at Midwest Energy Terminal.

Alpena - Ben & Chanda McClain
The Coast Guard vessel Hollyhock was out in the foggy bay Friday afternoon. It was working on navigation aids, several buoys were reported to be off their normal position.

Today in Great Lakes History - April 26

26 April 1891 The NORWALK (wooden propeller bulk freighter, 209 foot, 1007 gross tons) was launched by William DuLac at Mount Clemens, Michigan. At first, she was not able to get down the Clinton River to Lake St. Clair due to low water. She lasted until 1916, when she was sold to Nicaraguan buyers and was lost in the Caribbean Sea that Autumn.

On 26 April 1859, the wooden schooner A SCOTT was carrying limestone blocks for a large Presbyterian church being built at Vermilion, Ohio. The vessel was driven ashore near Vermilion by a gale and was quickly pounded to pieces. Her insurance had expired about ten days earlier. No lives were lost.

Algoma's new straight deck bulk freighter ALGOWEST (Hull#226) of Collingwood Shipyards Ltd., was launched April 26, 1982. She was converted to a self-unloader in 1998, and renamed b.) PETER R CRESSWELL in 2001.

Sea trials were conducted April 26, 1984, on Lake Ontario for the CANADIAN RANGER.

An unfortunate incident happened on the SEWELL AVERY as four crew members were injured, one critically, when a lifeboat winch housing exploded shortly after a lifeboat drill in 1978.

Paterson's CANADOC (Hull#627) by Davie Shipbuilding Co. Ltd., was launched April 26, 1961.

The m/v BENSON FORD (Hull#245) of the Great Lakes Engineering Works was launched in 1924.

In 1982, carferry service from Frankfort, Michigan ended forever when railroad service to that port was discontinued and the remaining boats (ARTHUR K ATKINSON, VIKING, and CITY OF MILWAUKEE) were laid up. CITY OF MILWAUKEE is preserved as a museum ship by the Society for the Preservation of the CITY OF MILWAUKEE.

On 26 April 1902, M P BARKLOW (wooden schooner, 104 foot, 122 gross tons, built in 1871, at Perry, Ohio), loaded with salt, was anchored off South Bass Island in Lake Erie to ride out a gale. Nevertheless she foundered and four lives were lost, the skipper, his wife, their son and one crewman.

On 26 April 1926, THOMAS GAWN (2-mast wooden schooner-barge, 171 foot, 550 gross tons, built in 1872, at Lorain, Ohio as a 3-mast schooner) sprang a leak and sank at River Rouge, Michigan in the Detroit River. The wreck was removed the following month and abandoned. She had a 54 year career.

The vessels, all sister ships, currently sail as the Lake Michigan, Lake Erie, Lake Ontario and Lake Superior. The ships each have a summer deadweight capacity of 35,630 tons, and, at 222.48 metres in length and 23.13 metres in width, are full-size Lakers designed for Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Waterway trade. The first of the vessels will be delivered in December 2008, and the balance by December 2009. They will all be re-flagged Canadian, creating approximately 120 new jobs for Canadian seafarers.

The Lake Ontario and Lake Superior will be assigned to a new contract recently signed by CSL with Rio Tinto Shipping/QIT-Fer et Titane to transport approximately three million tons of ilmenite ore annually from Havre St-Pierre to Sorel, QC beginning in 2010. The other two vessels will be employed in domestic trades.

CSL currently operates four bulkers and ten self-unloaders in domestic, Great Lakes-Seaway trades. This purchase brings the bulker fleet to eight vessels with an overall trip carrying capacity of 275,000 tons, and reinforces CSL’s 2001 strategic decision to significantly grow its bulker fleet. These vessels are used to service CSL’s customers in the grain, steel, utilities and construction industries.

Toronto - Charlie Gibbons
English River departed just before 11 p.m. Wednesday.
Unloading of the cement storage cargo on Metis began this week in preparation for it returning to service.
The Canadian Ranger continues to unload at Redpath.
The tug Wm. Rest, which spent the winter under the Atlas crane at Pier 35, was refloated Wednesday.
Soderholm Construction Co.'s tug Diver III which has been working most of the winter on dock reconstruction at the foot of Spadina Ave., has been hauled out at the foot of Parliament St.
The tour boat River Gambler was out for it's first charter of the season Wednesday evening.
Stephen B. Roman returned to service Thursday evening, bound for Picton.

Milwaukee - John N. Vogel
The St. Mary's Conquest and tug Susan W. Hannah, arrived at its terminal on Kinnickinnic River at about 11 p.m. on Wednesday evening. They departed the harbor at 9:45 Thursday morning.

Stoneport - Ben & Chanda McClain
Early Thursday morning the Great Lakes Trader finished loading and departed the dock. The Manitowoc was next to tie up and started loading before noon. Not far behind on the horizon was the American Republic making its way towards Stoneport were it pulled up and anchored nearby.

Toledo - Jim Hoffman
Herbert C. Jackson finished loading coal at the CSX Coal Dock and departed mid-morning Thursday. The Calumet followed the Jackson loading coal and she departed by mid-afternoon. Following the Calumet out the Maumee Bay ship channel was the tug Sea Service with the barge Energy 6506. They loaded a cargo at the B-P Dock.
Tug Michigan and barge Great Lakes arrived at the B-P Dock several hours later. Tug Petite Forte and barge St. Marys Cement were at the St. Marys Cement Dock. The tug Karen Andrie with the barge A-397 were at the Ironhead Marine Shipyard. The next scheduled coal boats due into the CSX Docks will be the H. Lee White on Saturday, Mississagi on Sunday, followed by the American Mariner on Tuesday.  The next scheduled ore boats due into the Torco Ore Dock will be the Algosteel on Friday, Atlantic Huron on Sunday, followed by the Frontenac on Wednesday.

U.S. House passes ballast water treatment standards

4/25 - Washington DC - The battle to keep ocean freighters from releasing more foreign species into the Great Lakes made an historic advance Wednesday, when one branch of Congress passed the nation's first ballast water treatment standards.

On a vote of 39-7, the U.S. House of Representatives approved a Coast Guard funding bill that contained language requiring some freighters to disinfect ballast water tanks beginning next year. By 2015, all ships operating in the Great Lakes must have treatment systems on-board that kill all living organisms in ballast tanks, including pathogens.

The bill now goes to the U.S. Senate, which has been debating similar legislation. If approved by the Senate and signed into law by President Bush, the legislation would enact the world's most stringent ballast water treatment standards. "This bill contains the strong national protections that people, businesses and cities have been seeking for years," said Cameron Davis, president of the Alliance for the Great Lakes and co-chair of the Healing Our Waters Coalition, a group working to restore the lakes.

"It's time that Congress and the President seal the deal, sign this bill into law, and provide the millions of people who rely on the Great Lakes and our nation's other great waters with the security of knowing that we have finally slammed the door on invasive species introduced by ballast water," Davis said.

Ballast water discharges from ocean freighters that enter the Great Lakes through the St. Lawrence Seaway account for nearly half of the 185 foreign species in the lakes, according to government data. The invaders that transcontinental freighters imported to the lakes -- including zebra and quagga mussels and the round goby -- cause $5 billion in economic and ecological damage annually, according to a Cornell University study.

Steve Fisher, executive director of the American Great Lakes Ports Association, said the shipping industry supported the legislation because it established national ballast water treatment standards. Congress has been debating the issue for the past five years.

The shipping industry wanted national standards so that ships wouldn't have to comply with a hodge-podge of state rules. "The shipping industry has supported this bill out of a belief that it can reach the treatment standards," Fisher said. "The technology needed to meet the treatment standards is not in the marketplace yet, but we realize that it won't get to the marketplace until there is a law setting national standards and a timeline for compliance."

Invasive species have fundamentally changed lakes Michigan, Huron, Erie and Ontario over the past two decades, according to researchers. Dime-sized zebra and quagga mussels have clogged water intakes, fouled boat motors and devastated some fisheries. The filter-feeders have profoundly changed the ecosystems of lakes Michigan, Huron, Erie and Ontario by hogging much of the aquatic life and nutrients needed to support the lakes' $7 billion sport and commercial fisheries. Some scientists believe the mussels have caused the most dramatic ecological changes ever documented in the Great Lakes.

To the delight of some boaters, the mussels have dramatically increased water clarity in the lakes. But that has fueled an explosion of nuisance and toxic algae that has fouled beaches and killed more than 70,000 fish-eating birds and countless fish over the past decade.

After zebra mussels were discovered in Lake St. Clair in 1988, Congress required ocean freighters to exchange ballast water at sea before entering the St. Lawrence Seaway. That law only regulated ships with ballast water in their tanks-- it didn't apply to 85 percent of ocean freighters that entered the lakes fully loaded with cargo and no ballast water on board.

Recent studies found that those unregulated ships, so-called NoBOBS (no-ballast-on-board), often had upwards of 100,000 gallons of muddy slop teeming with aquatic life in their ballast tanks. As NoBOBs unloaded cargo at U.S. ports, they took on ballast water, which was later discharged at other ports in the Great Lakes, releasing billions of viable fish, mussels, plankton and deadly pathogens, according to government data.

Dozens of invasive species have been discovered in the lakes since Congress passed the ballast water exchange rules in 1990. A new invasive species is discovered every 28 weeks, on average, though not all are imported by ocean freighters, according to scientific studies.

U.S. Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Holland, said a law requiring ballast water treatment "should remain a top priority in Congress." "Invasive aquatic species remain one of the single largest economic and environmental threats to the Great Lakes," Hoekstra said. "We need to continue developing the tools and strategies necessary to protect against more of them entering and becoming a permanent part of the regional ecosystem."

The Bush administration, however, is threatening to veto the bill – though the ballast water regulations are not its main objection to the legislation. The White House says it would recommend the president veto the bill because of another aspect which would require the Coast Guard to protect liquefied natural gas terminals and vessels. In a statement of administration policy, the president’s office called that provision “an unwarranted and unnecessary subsidy.”

The White House also raised concerns about the ballast water provisions, however, saying that as written they would require recreational vessels as well as shipping fleets to have a permit to control discharges beginning Sept. 30. The administration said it has offered substitute language which provide for the development of national standards without putting an undue burden on boat owners.

Rep. Candice Miller, a Harrison Township Republican, supports dealing with the permitting question on recreational boaters through another piece of legislation and, today, spoke of the need to have the Coast Guard bill approved. “Since the Great Lakes were opened to international shipping in 1950’s and 1960’s many invasive species have entered the lakes through the untreated ballast water” of tankers entering the nation’s inland waters, she said.

Ballast water controls are widely seen as necessary to control the spread of invasive species in the Great Lakes. Oceangoing vessels often carry water from other parts of the world to weigh down and stablize their tankers, releasing the water once they get closer to port. Some harmful species – like zebra mussels – are believed to have been brought to the Great Lakes in that ballast water.

Under the bill, vessels operating in U.S. waters would be requited to meet ballast water treatment system standards beginnign next year, with even stricter standards to go into place in 2012. Until ballast water systems are installed, ships headed for U.S. ports would have to flush their systems with saltwater while in the ocean. States like Michigan which have put in place their own restrictions on ballast water can keep those in place until the final federal standards are enacted.

The Ann Arbor-based Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition also urged Congress to pass the bill. “Congress is on the verge of finally enacting a law to stop ballast water discharges of invasive species into the nation’s waters,” said Andy Buchsbaum, regional executive director of the National Wildlife Federation’s Great Lakes office and coalition’s co-chairman. “They need to move full steam ahead. This is our last, best chance. If this effort sinks, all of our nation’s great waters will suffer devastating and irreversible damage.”

Gearin determined that the MPCA must regulate discharges of ballast water as water pollution and must require permits for ships emptying ballast water into the lake by Oct. 1. In its lawsuit, the MCEA asked that the water be regulated immediately.

The St. Paul-based environmental group sued the MPCA because it said the agency wasn't doing enough to stop viral hemorrhagic septicemia from reaching Lake Superior and other state lakes and rivers. It asked the court to force the MPCA to enforce state and federal laws banning the dumping of pollutants into the lake and to force it to regulate discharges from Great Lakes ships.

Without those measures, it said, the fish-killing virus likely would spread from other Great Lakes through ballast water and infect state fish, including walleye, northern pike and muskellunge. Sometimes called the "bleeding-fish disease," the virus can cause severe internal and external hemorrhaging and eventual death in fish.

The virus has not been found in Lake Superior or other Minnesota lakes. But it has been found in the other four Great Lakes and in at least one eastern Wisconsin lake. It spreads through fish urine and reproductive material.

In her ruling, Gearin recognized that other states and Canada have land along Lake Superior and have ships in their waters that could discharge ballast water into the lake. But she said that is no excuse for the MPCA not to take action. "The Court does not believe that the MPCA has handled the Minnesota ballast water issues with the urgency that the danger of VHS demands,'' Gearin wrote.

MCEA attorney Kevin Reuther said Gearin's ruling provides the MPCA with the time and legal backing it needs to develop the regulations. "This really sets a deadline that is legally enforceable,'' he said.

The agency recently announced a draft permit plan that would force ships to have discharge permits by Oct. 1 and would require them to treat ballast water by 2013. "We are pleased that the court rejected MCEA's request to enact regulation immediately and instead affirmed the timeline for regulation that MPCA developed and implemented last year,'' MPCA Commissioner Brad Moore said in a statement.

Ships use ballast water to provide stability and maneuverability when they don't have enough cargo. But when they take in that water, they also take in small organisms that can be moved from one place to another when the ballast water is later discharged. In Lake Superior, many invasive species, such as zebra mussels, that once hitched rides in ballast water have become established and are causing problems.

At the Minnesota Legislature, VHS-related bills have been introduced restricting the movement of fish and regulating ballast-water discharges into Lake Superior, but no final action has been taken.

4/25 - Green Bay - Dredging of critical portions of the shipping lane in the Port of Green Bay will begin in June with $1.46 million in funding secured last summer.

Port and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers officials say acquiring funds for dredging continues to be a hard-fought battle. "After this work is done, we will have taken care of a couple areas of critical need, but we will not have dented the quantity of backlogged dredging that exist," Green Bay port Director Dean Haen said. "We're trying to get another $2 million, and we really need that sustained over four of five years to return our channel to a fully operational state."

This summer's work includes dredging in several areas where the shipping lane jogs on the approach on the lower section of the bay, he said. Local and state officials, along with politicians, were part of the port's annual symposium late last week, at which dredging was one of the discussion topics.

A number of the Great Lakes — including Superior and Michigan — have seen diminished water levels in the past few years that have forced some ships to lighten loads to avoid bottoming out.

"If you're up at the locks at the Soo and you have a strong wind blowing out of the east, you'll see vessels setting out in the western approach because there's not enough water for them to go down the St. Mary's River," said Wayne Schloop, chief of operations with the Army Corps of Engineers for the Detroit region. "We routinely dig rock out of the bottom … of the down-bound channel of the St. Mary's River with brownish-red paint on it."

Water levels are projected to be closer to the long-term average this year in some areas of the lakes.

Schloop pointed out vessel groundings at several ports around the Great Lakes last year, including four at Muskegon, Mich. "People ask me, 'Why didn't you dredge Muskegon?' Well, I didn't have the money," he said. For other cases, funds were pulled from some port projects to pay for dredging in another area, Schloop said.

Last year, the corps dredged 20 projects for 2.3 million cubic yards. With congressional passage of an omnibus appropriations bill, it is looking at 53 projects for 4.3 million cubic yards of dredging in 2008, he said. To maintain the current system, the corps needs to dredge about 3.3 million cubic yards.

"Since 2000, we've been way under that line," Schloop said. "2008 looks pretty healthy and the President's budget for 2009 pretty much puts us at the line." Haen said Green Bay and other ports will continue to fight for funding in 2009 and succeeding years. Dredging is the top priority for the port. "We're working hard on getting some add-on money," he said. "We've done that in the past and have been unsuccessful. We got money one year."

The Port of Green Bay gets about $1 million a year for dredging. Its channel is about 100 feet wide, well under the congressionally authorized width of 500 feet. The work could create a more favorable port for international shipping; some ships have been leery of using the port for fear of grounding. The channel is 24 feet deep, about 3 feet shy of the suggested depth.

The Port of Green Bay saw a slowing economy reflected in the amount of cargo it handled in 2007. Last year's tally came in at 2.3 million tons of cargo, down from 2.6 million in 2006 but well above 1999, when the total was pegged at 1.9 million tons, according to figures from the port. The economic impact of the port also declined to an estimated $76.1 million. That number comes on the heels of two record-setting years in 2006 ($88 million) and 2005 ($80.4 million). While it may be down from those two years, the impact is still estimated to be about $20 million more than it was a decade ago.

Among the more common commodities that arrive through the port are coal, limestone, cement, salt and lumber.

4/25 - Traverse City - A federal appeals court says the federal government should have authority over a Lake Michigan shipwreck that could be The Griffin, a 17th century vessel built by the French explorer La Salle. The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday reversed a lower court ruling in a dispute between the state of Michigan and the private underwater exploration company that found the wreckage seven years ago.

Great Lakes Exploration Group wants the federal government to have jurisdiction but to appoint the company as custodian until the courts determine who has ownership and salvage rights. The state is seeking title to the wreckage, saying federal law gives it ownership of all abandoned vessels "embedded in the state's submerged lands."

The company has refused to tell the state where the wreckage is until it gets assurances that it'll have a say over what is done with the shipwreck if it turns out to be The Griffin.

The exercises caused a public stir when they began two years ago and the Coast Guard scrapped them. The need for the training didn’t go away so officials moved it to the Salt River at Fort Knox in Kentucky.

Chief Petty Officer Robert Lanier says it’s more expensive there but it’s the best alternative, all things considered. He says the Coast Guard won’t even try to train on the Great Lakes unless there’s “an emergent need.” Meanwhile, Lanier says they’re looking at alternatives to live-fire exercises, including a simulated laser system called MILES.

The Bush administration defended the weapons’ training when it began on Lake Superior, saying it was needed to keep terrorists away. But the Canadian border has a tradition of being the world’s longest unarmed border and folks from both countries said they wanted to keep it that way.

Free program at Vantage Point, Saturday

4/25 - Port Huron - The Lake Huron Lore Marine Society will present a special program, with Great Lakes shipwreck diver and historian Chris Roth, entitled "The Gov. Smith: Lake Huron's Forgotten Treasure!"

The program is Saturday at 7 p.m. at the Great Lakes Maritime Center at Vantage Point in Port Huron.

Today in Great Lakes History - April 25

25 April 1890 - The Collins Bay Rafting Company’s tug ALANSON SUMNER (wooden propeller tug, 127 foot, 300 gross tons, built in 1872, at Oswego, New York) burned at Kingston, Ontario. She had $25,000 worth of wrecking machinery onboard. The SUMNER was repaired and put back in service.

On 25 April 1888, JESSIE MAGGIE (wooden schooner, 63 foot, 49 gross tons) was re-registered as a 2-masted schooner. She was built on a farm in Kilmanagh, Michigan in 1887, as a 3-masted schooner and she was launched near Sebewaing, Michigan. It took 16 spans of oxen to haul her over frozen ground to the launch site. She lasted until 1904.

Interlake Steamship’s WILLIAM J DE LANCEY (Hull#909) of American Ship Building Co., was christened April 25, 1981. Renamed b.) PAUL R TREGURTHA in 1990.

On April 25, 1973, the self-unloading boom on Canada Steamship Lines a.) TADOUSSAC of 1969, collapsed while she was at Sandusky, Ohio. She sails today as b.) CSL TADOUSSAC.

In 1925, the ANN ARBOR 4 was back in service after running aground on February 13th off Kewaunee, Wisconsin.

In 1973, it was announced that the CITY OF SAGINAW 31, would be scrapped after a fire which destroyed her cabin deck in 1971.

Hall Corp. of Canada's bulk canaller a.) ROCKCLIFFE HALL (Hull#615) by Davie Shipbuilding & Repair Ltd., was launched April 25, 1958. Converted to a tanker in 1972, renamed b.) ISLAND TRANSPORT, and c.) ENERCHEM LAKER in 1987.

Pittsburgh Steamship Co.'s BENJAMIN F FAIRLESS (Hull#824) by American Ship Building Co., was launched April 25, 1942.

Mutual Steamship Co.'s WILLIAM LIVINGSTONE (Hull#41) by Great Lakes Engineering Works, was launched April 25, 1908. Renamed b.) S B WAY in 1936 and c.) CRISPIN OGLEBAY in 1948. She was scrapped at Santander, Spain in 1974.

The PERCIVAL ROBERTS JR sailed light on her maiden voyage April 25, 1913, from Lorain to load ore at Two Harbors, Minnesota.

On April 25, 1954, CSL's, T R MC LAGAN entered service. At 714 feet 6 inches, she took the title for longest vessel on the Great Lakes from the JOSEPH H THOMPSON, beating the THOMPSON by three inches. The THOMPSON had held the honor since November 4, 1952. She was renamed b.) OAKGLEN in 1990, and was scrapped at Alang, India in 2004.

Whaleback a.) FRANK ROCKEFELLER (Hull#136) by the American Steel Barge Co., was launched in 1896, for the American Steel barge Co., Pickands, Mather & Co., mgr. Converted to a sand dredge and renamed b.) SOUTH PARK in 1927, and converted to a tanker and renamed c.) METEOR in 1945.

On April 25, 1949, CSL's, GRAINMOTOR collided with the abutment of the railroad bridge above Lock 2 of the Lachine Canal.

The wooden schooner OTTAWA was launched on 25 April 1874, at Grand Haven, Michigan. She was owned by Capt. William R. Loutill and could carry 180,000 feet of lumber.

T S CHRISTIE (wooden propeller, 160 foot, 533 gross tons) was launched at F. W. Wheeler's yard (Hull #22) in W. Bay City, Michigan on 25 April 1885. She was built for the Bay City & Cleveland Transportation Company at a cost of $45,000. Originally built as a double deck vessel, she was cut down to a single decker at Chicago in 1902.

Poe Lock closed for repairs, reopened

4/24 - 4:30 p.m. Update - The repairs appear to be completed and the Edgar B. Speer is moving into the lock.

4/24 - 11a.m. - The Poe Lock has been closed temporarily for repairs. The repairs are estimated to take six hours.

Reported by: Art Pickering

Port Reports - April 24

South Chicago - Brian Z.
The tug Samuel de Champlain and barge Innovation were headed to Lake Calumet on Tuesday evening to discharged its cargo of cement. Over at KCBX Terminals, the Capt. Henry Jackman completed loading its cargo of petroleum coke early Wednesday morning. The Jackman was destined for Bath, Ontario.

Escanaba - Lee Rowe
The Joseph L Block was joined at the Escanaba ore dock by a rare sight, the Algocape, on a foggy, rainy Tuesday. Once the Block departed, the Algocape moved to the other side of the dock.

Marquette - Rod Burdick and Lee Rowe
Wednesday afternoon at the Upper Harbor, Robert S. Pierson was back for another load of ore, and Tug Dorothy Ann and barge Pathfinder remained secured on the south side of the ore dock.
The Z-Drive from the tug Dorothy Ann has been located, but has not yet been raised. It is expected to be installed on the tug sometime this week. Divers were at work in the lower harbor assisted by the tug BeeJay and barge. The Dorothy Ann/Pathfinder remained at the ore dock.

Today in Great Lakes History - April 24

24 April 1882 Ð The ferry HAWKINS (wooden propeller ferry, 73 foot, 86 gross tons, built in 1873, at Au Sable, Michigan) was renamed JAMES BEARD. She had received a thorough overhaul and was put in service between Port Huron, Michigan and Sarnia, Ontario on 25 April 1882. She lasted until 1927, when she was abandoned.

On 24 April 1872, the 3-mast wooden schooner JENNIE GRAHAM was sailing up Lake Huron to pick up a load of lumber. She was light and at full sail when a sudden squall caused her to capsize. Two crew members were trapped below decks and died. Captain Duncan Graham was washed away and drowned. The remaining seven crew members clung to the overturned hull for about an hour and then the vessel unexpectedly turned upwards and lay on one side. The crew was then able to cut away a lifeboat and get in it. They were later picked up by the schooner SWEEPSTAKES. The GRAHAM was salvaged and taken to Port Huron for repairs.

The ONTADOC sailed from Collingwood, Ontario on her maiden voyage on April 24, 1975, for Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario to load steel for Duluth, Minnesota. She was renamed b) MELISSA DESGAGNES in 1990.

Pittsburgh Steamship Co.'s D M CLEMSON (Hull#716) of the American Ship Building Co., departed Lorain on her maiden voyage April 24, 1917, to load iron ore at Duluth, Minnesota.

The B F JONES left Quebec on April 24, 1973, in tandem with her former fleet mate EDWARD S KENDRICK towed by the Polish tug KORAL heading for scrapping in Spain.

The wooden schooner WELLAND CANAL was launched at Russell Armington's shipyard at St. Catharines, Ontario. She was the first ship built at St. Catharines and the first to navigate the Welland Canal when it opened between St. Catharine's and Lake Ontario on 10 May 1828.

According to the Coast Guard, the Z-Drive, which is a multi-directional propeller unit, was torn from the vessel when it grounded. The search for it continues, making a hazard for navigation. The Coast Guard reports that the drive could still hold oil, despite having released 30 to 50 gallons of gear oil when it was torn from the Dorothy Ann.

From the Marquette Mining Journal and WLUC TV6

Marquette - Lee Rowe
The Herbert C. Jackson took a load of ore and left, while the Robert S. Pierson arrived and tied up at the south side of the dock to await the Jackson's departure. Once the Jackson left, the Pierson moved to the north side of the dock, as the south side was loaded for the Pathfinder.

South Chicago - Brian Z.
The Calumet River in South Chicago was busy on Monday with the Capt. Henry Jackman arriving at KCBX Terminal to load petroleum coke.  Lower Lakes' McKee Sons also was loading pet coke at Beemsterboer dock a little further up the river. Pere Marquette 41 was outbound around 7 p.m. heading to Lake Michigan in ballast.  Also outbound, the St. Mary's Conquest passed the 106th Street bridge at 8 p.m. after unloading up in Lake Calumet.

Muskegon - Herm Phillips
Monday morning, about 9 a.m. the Alpena arrived in Muskegon, Michigan and tied up at the West Michigan Mart Dock's eastern slip to start a temporary lay-up. Her fleet mate, the Paul H, Townsend, is still tied up on the western wall. With a slight list and riding high out of the water it doesn't look like she's going anywhere soon. Alpena should be back out in a few weeks.

Toledo - Jim Hoffman
Tug Sea Service and barge Energy 6506 was at the B-P Dock. Michipicoten's trip into the CSX Coal Dock was cancelled, she remains at Erie, PA. The tug Dorothy Ann and barge Pathfinder were cancelled for the Torco Ore Dock. Herbert C. Jackson will replace her for this ore run.
The next scheduled coal boats due into the CSX Coal Docks will be the Halifax, Herbert C. Jackson, and Calumet for Wednesday. H. Lee White for Saturday, followed by the Mississagi on Sunday. The next scheduled ore boats due into the Torco Ore Dock will be the American Fortitude for late Tuesday evening. Nanticoke and Herbert C. Jackson on Wednesday, followed by the Algosteel on Friday.

Toronto - Charlie Gibbons and Clive Reddin
Canadian Ranger arrived Tuesday afternoon with raw sugar for Redpath. Hamilton Energy came in later in the evening to bunker the Ranger before returning to Hamilton.

After making the approximately 1mile trip, what’s remaining of the Lansdowne will be turned into scrap metal. Demolition crews have already dismantled the top sections of the 123-year-old vessel that has been moored at the South End Marina, along Fuhrmann Boulevard. The original plan was to perform all demolition at the current site. But John Wargo, president of Wargo Enterprises and Demolition Services, said the company decided to move the hull to a location that could more easily accommodate the massive equipment.

Akron-based Wargo Enterprises has been tearing apart the vessel the size of a football field for more than two weeks. Wargo recently bought the Lansdowne from Specialty Restaurants Corp., operator of Shanghai Red’s at Erie Basin Marina, for an undisclosed price. The vessel, which once ferried railroad cars and was later a floating restaurant, was brought here about two years ago with plans to salvage it.

But visions of turning the ferry’s skeletal remains into a functioning vessel never materialized.

Local officials grew weary of seeing the unsightly structure in Buffalo’s outer harbor. In February, Mayor Byron W. Brown and Rep. Brian Higgins, D-N. Y., told Specialty Restaurants the vessel’s dilapidated state broke numerous laws and insisted it be removed. So city officials said they were relieved when crews started demolishing the Lansdowne earlier this month.

The debris is being trucked to a mill and sold as scrap metal. Wargo said some items will be preserved, including the steam engine. Rail cars that some believe once served as dining rooms were recently removed from the Lansdowne and have been acquired by the Illinois Railroad Museum, Wargo said.

Two tugs owned by Great Lakes Towing Service of Cleveland are scheduled to tow the vessel to a site near the old Bethlehem Steel slag piles.

The final phase of the dismantling mission should take about two weeks, Wargo predicted. “By the end of April or early May, we should be all swept up and gone,” he said, adding that the company has all necessary approvals to proceed.

Meanwhile, The Common Council’s Legislation Committee has an item on today’s agenda that would tighten city regulations involving vessels that come into Buffalo. South Council Member Michael P. Kearns, whose district includes part of the waterfront, said the goal is to pass a law that would ban dilapidated or abandoned vessels from coming into the city.

The Lansdowne was an “eyesore” from the first day it arrived, Kearns lamented. “The Common Council is looking at an ordinance to make sure this doesn’t happen again,” he said.

Michigan Shipwreck Research Associates says it worked for a year to identify the wreckage, which was found under 275 feet of water off Saugatuck.

The Hamilton was 113 feet long. It sank during a November gale while hauling 117,000 board feet of lumber from Muskegon toward Chicago, where rebuilding efforts were under way after the devastating fire of 1871. Captain Harvey Burch and his six-man crew escaped into a 17-foot yawl boat, which washed ashore near South Haven the next day.

The shipwreck group will make a presentation about the Hamilton at Holland’s Knickerbocker theater on May 3.

Volunteers at the Grand Traverse Lighthouse discovered a large “nun” buoy washed ashore at Leelanau State Park near Northport. “We’ve known it was there for some time — it was walled up in the ice,” said Al Ammons, chief of the State Park which includes the Grand Traverse Lighthouse at the tip of the peninsula.

Ammons said a red nun buoy and a green buoy were found this spring along the waterfront in Leelanau Township, near Gills Pier.

Each weighs and estimated 400 pounds and are believed to have broken away from their concrete moorings in Lake Michigan near Sturgeon Bay, Wis., about 30 miles west, and come to rest on the Leelanau Peninsula. “It’s got 40 to 50 feet of chain attached to it,” Ammons said.

The buoys are used in winter months to mark the shipping channel, which are identified by lighted buoys for the remainder of the year.

Occurrences such as this are not unusual, according to Doug Sharp, marine information specialist with the Ninth Coast Guard district in Cleveland. “Some break loose and end up somewhere else on the beach,” he said.

Retrieval of the buoys could prove challenging for a Coast Guard team based in Milwaukee. The buoys have been replaced with lighted markers. “If possible, they would use a tow truck and a winch,” Sharp said. “They may send a buoy tender and send a small boat in with a line to retrieve it.”

Whatever the scenario, it could be sometime for the work to be completed. The Ninth Coast Guard District, responsible for the U.S. Great lakes basin and St. Lawrence Seaway, has been busy breaking ice on the Great Lakes.

“We still have a lot of resources in the upper St. Mary’s River, breaking ice and keeping the shipping route open,” Sharp said.

The extensive ice season, second only to 2003, has created an addition challenge for the Ninth District's Operation Spring Restore. The largest U.S. domestic buoy operation restores nearly 1,300 navigational aids to their assigned position, including lighted an unlighted buoys and beacons.

Operation Spring Restore could be delayed significantly and will require increased cutter hours to meet the May 30 deadline.

Today in Great Lakes History - April 23

23 April 1907 - The SEARCHLIGHT (wooden propeller fish tug, 40 foot, built in 1899, at Saginaw, Michigan) capsized and sank while returning to Harbor Beach, Michigan with a load of fish. The vessel had been purchased by Captain Walter Brown and his son from the Robert Beutel Fish Company of Toledo, Ohio just ten days before. The sale agreement stated that the tug was to be paid for with fish, not cash. All six crew members drowned.

On 23 April 1883, STEPHEN S BATES (wooden schooner, 97 foot, 139 tons, built in 1856, at Manitowoc, Wisconsin) was bound from Horne's Pier, Wisconsin with posts and hardware for Chicago when she was driven into the shallows just north of Grosse Point, Illinois by a storm and broke up. No lives were lost.

In 1953, the PERE MARQUETTE 22 was cut in half, then pulled apart and lengthened by 40 feet, as part of a major refit at Manitowoc, Wisconsin. Also during this refit, her triple expansion engines were replaced with Skinner Unaflows, and her double stacks were replaced with a single, tapered stack. The refit was completed August 28, 1953.

On April 23, 1966, the b.) JOSEPH S WOOD, a.) RICHARD M MARSHALL of 1953, was towed to the Ford Rouge complex at Dearborn, Michigan by her new owners, the Ford Motor Company, she was renamed c.) JOHN DYKSTRA.

Canada Steamship Lines FORT YORK was commissioned April 23, 1958.

On April 23, 1980, the ARTHUR B HOMER's bow thruster failed while maneuvering through ice at Taconite Harbor, Minnesota, resulting in a grounding which damaged her bow and one ballast tank.

The a.) GRIFFIN (Hull#12) of the Cleveland Ship Building Co. was launched April 23, 1891, for the Lake Superior Iron Mining Co. Renamed b.) JOSEPH S SCOBELL in 1938, she was scrapped at Rameys Bend, Ontario in 1971.

On April 23, 1972, PAUL H CARNAHAN arrived at the Burlington Northern Docks at Superior, Wisconsin to load 22,402 gross tons of iron ore bound for Detroit, opening the 1972, shipping season at Superior.

On 23 April 1859, at about midnight, the schooner S BUTTLES was fighting a severe gale. She was carrying staves from Port Burwell, Ontario to Clayton, New York and sprung a leak while battling the gale. While manning the pumps, one man was washed overboard, but his shipmates quickly rescued him. Capt. Alexander Pollock beached the vessel to save her about 10 miles east of the Genesee River.

On 23 April 1882, GALLATIN (2-mast wooden schooner, 138 foot, 422 tons, built in 1863, at Oswego, New York) was carrying pig iron from St. Ignace, Michigan to Erie, Pennsylvania when she sprang a leak in a storm on Lake Erie. She struck bottom on Chickanolee Reef and foundered in shallow water at Point Pelee. Her crew was saved from the rigging by the fishing sloop LIZZIE.

Twin Ports - Al Miller
The Twin Ports waterfront was busy Monday morning with Canadian Enterprise loading at Midwest Energy Terminal, Adam E. Cornelius loading grain at General Mills Elevator S in Superior, American Spirit loading at CN ore dock, and CSL Tadoussac loading at BNSF ore dock.
Kaye E. Barker was scheduled to arrive later in the day to load taconite pellets at CN ore dock.

The sound barely registered with his fellow students, but the 13-year-old knew exactly what he was hearing and where it was coming from. "It was the (Edward L.) Ryerson," Max said, referring to the massive freighter that was cruising by a few weeks ago on Lake St. Clair. "It has a very distinctive horn and that was a formal salute." Amazing? Not necessarily. A Boatnerd knows these things.

Watching and appreciating the huge ships that cruise the Great Lakes has been a passion of many Michigan residents for generations. But what was once mostly a solitary pursuit has been revolutionized by Internet freighter-cams and Web sites such as the Port Huron-based Boatnerd.com., which allows enthusiasts to network and share their hobby. A repository for information and images concerning Great Lakes shipping, the site has helped foster a sense of community among those who affectionately refer to each other as "nerds."

Through the Web, enthusiasts share stories, information and photos generated by their shared interest. Want to know what ships passed west through the locks at Sault St. Marie last night? Want to see the newest photos of your favorite ship that's just come out of dry dock? Looking for the dimensions of your favorite bulk carrier? It's all there, and more and more people are finding it. Since its creation in the late 1990s, Boatnerd.com is up to 20 million hits -- requests for individual files -- each month, its organizers say.

And the Boatnerds have expanded beyond the Internet. In the summer of 2005, the group set up its headquarters in Port Huron in what is now the Great Lakes Maritime Center, and a future expansion is possible. Last year, the nonprofit Great Lakes and Seaway Shipping was formed in Port Huron to support the Web site's efforts. The site's popularity even extends to those onboard the giant freighters.

Capt. Eric Treece, who is something of a rock star in the Boatnerd community as the captain of the much-beloved 730-footer Edward L. Ryerson, says his crew checks the site almost daily to keep up on lakes gossip. And in his short career in the pilothouse, the 40-year-old has developed a reputation as someone who appreciates those who appreciate him. Those he sees waving from the shores of the lakes and rivers are treated to a salute more often than not.

"Dealing with them takes me back to my childhood," Treece said in an interview with The Detroit News while guiding the Ryerson through the Welland Canal, which connects lakes Ontario and Erie. "I swore then that if I ever got my own boat I wouldn't be one of those captains who was stingy with the whistle. Those salutes go a long way."

For those who don't quite understand the thrill of that salute, Max Mager puts it this way: "It makes me feel pretty special -- like that horn was just for me." Despite the wealth of technical information about freighters on the Web, it's the human connections made over the years that have proven most valuable to some.

The ship-watching season runs from March 25 through Jan. 15 and, if you're a fan, you're likely to be at one of Michigan's main popular viewing spots for Opening Day. Three years ago, Cathy Kohring marked the occasion with a trip from her DeTour Village home at the Upper Peninsula's east end to the locks at Sault Ste. Marie.

"At one point, a woman walked up to me and said, 'Your name wouldn't happen to be Cathy, would it?' " she recalled. The stranger turned out to be Lee Rowe, a retired schoolteacher and fellow Boatnerd, with whom Kohring had been in touch through the group's site. Another of Kohring's friendships that began online has morphed into an annual visit from a fellow enthusiast and her husband who live in Tennessee. "The site has extended my family," Kohring said. "Your flesh and blood family, well, you're stuck with them. But with boaters, I've chosen my family."

Roughly 200 miles west of Kohring's location, her friend Lee Rowe tried to describe what it is about the Great Lakes ships that so captivates her that she's pushing her husband to upgrade the family's digital camera for the fourth time in recent years.

"When you stand alongside the river and you see those ships coming in ... it's just impressive," said the 65-year-old Marquette resident. "They're surprisingly quiet. It's fascinating." Rowe regularly posts her photos of ships from her most recent trips to viewing points like Escanaba. And the vessels, some longer than three football fields, never fail to stir the imagination.

For Sterling Heights resident and Boatnerd John Belliveau, photos aren't enough. Belliveau pairs his appreciation of ships with his engineering expertise to create computer-generated renderings of Great Lakes vessels. He has painstakingly reproduced nearly 40 craft -- from ill-fated vessels like the Edmund Fitzgerald and the S.S. North American to current ships like the Ryerson and the massive Stewart J. Cort. What began as a personal hobby has turned into a mini-industry. He estimated he has sold "a few hundred" prints of his work.

Like others, the Internet has opened up a whole new world to Belliveau in terms of his passion for ships. "In the old days, the only way we knew other people were into it was if we were standing on the shore and saw someone else jumping around with a camera," Belliveau said. "With the expansion of the Internet, you start to realize, I'm not the only one who's a freak about these freighters."

Roger LeLievre, a member of the Boatnerds' board of directors, focuses his love for the ships of the Great Lakes into work on the book "Know Your Ships," a guide to boat watching that has been published annually since 1959. LeLievre traces his zeal for the work to his earliest days growing up in Sault Ste. Marie. His grandfather operated a coal crane on the docks and was allegedly capable of identifying incoming ships by the smoke coming out of their funnels.

In those days, he did most of his boat-watching alone. His involvement with Boatnerd has changed that. "This really has brought it all together," said LeLievre, who works as the music writer for the Ann Arbor News. "The site allows me and others to share our pictures with people of a like mind. "It has also given me chances to meet people of a like mind. I didn't know there were so many."

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BoatNerd Tops 13 Million

4/22 - Sunday over 13,000,000 visits had been recorded to the main page of the Great Lakes & Seaway Shipping home page. The counter was started as the page was launched in 1995 and only counts visitors to the main page.

The thirteen millionth visitor passed without noticing the counter.

It is interesting to note that the first month the page was live in 1995, 590 visits were recorded.

This counter was started as the page was launched in 1995 and topped one million visits in October 2000, two million in November 2001, three million in September, 2002, four million in June, 2003, five million in February, 2004, six million in October, 2004, seven million in June, 2005, eight million in December, 2005, 9 million in June, 2006, 10 million in November 2006, 11 million in May 2007 and 12 million in November, 2008.

Today in Great Lakes History - April 22

22 April 1873 - The ST JOSEPH (wooden propeller passenger-package freight steamer, 150 fot, 473 gross tons, built in 18,67 at Buffalo, New York) was sold by the Goodrich Transportation Company to Charles Chamberlain and others of Detroit, Michigan for $30,000.

On 22 April 1872, Capt. L. R. Boynton brought the wooden propeller WENONA into Thunder Bay to unload passengers and freight at Alpena, Michigan. The 15 inch thick ice stopped him a mile from the harbor. The passengers got off and walked across the ice to town. Later, because of the novelty of it, a couple hundred people from Alpena walked out to see the steamer. In the evening, Capt. Boynton steamed back to Detroit without unloading any of the cargo.

American Steamship Co.'s, ST CLAIR (Hull#714) was christened April 22, 1976, at Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin by Bay Shipbuilding Corp.

The CHICAGO TRIBUNE of 1930, laid up for the last time at Toronto on April 22, 1986.

CSL's HOCHELAGA of 1949, lost her self-unloading boom during a windstorm at Windsor, Ontario. on April 22, 1980. As a consequence she made ten trips hauling grain as a "straight decker".