Port of Green Bay needs $19 million more for port expansion

Click here for article – Green Bay Press-Gazette

U.S. Steel locks horns with steelworkers union on sale

Click here for article – Axios

Focus: How U.S. Steel became an acquisition target

Click here for article – Reuters

U.S. Steel says union cannot block company’s sale

Click here for article – Reuters

Editor’s Note: Yesterday’s technical difficulties lasted longer than expected, so stories meant for the August 16, 2023, edition of Boatnerd News have been included in today’s post instead. — Joshua

New lock goes boom!

The new lock at the Soo hit a milestone on Monday, August 14, with the first blast on the project.

Blasting is used as the means to fracture the existing bedrock to be excavated and removed. All blasting will be completed within the Corps of Engineers Soo Locks facility on the island north of the existing decommissioned Sabin Lock. Blasting activities will take place August through the remainder of the year on a semi-regular basis Monday through Saturday during daylight hours. At the visitor’s center, the vibrations will feel equivalent or less to slamming the front door of your house and will sound like a 15-mile-per-hour or less wind.

See the gallery at the bottom of this post for a video.

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

ArcelorMittal weighs possible bid for U.S. Steel

Click here for article – Reuters

2023 Marine Mart on the horizon

The 42nd annual Marine Mart nautical sale is coming to St. Clair Shores, Michigan, on Saturday, October 14. See the gallery at the bottom of this post for more information.

Great Lakes Maritime Institute

Not your typical port of call: Wisconsin now a destination for cruise ships

U.S. Steel rejects a $7.3 billion offer from rival Cleveland-Cliffs; considers alternatives

Click here for article – CNBC

U.S. Steel shares jump after Esmark makes $7.8-billion offer

Click here for article – Reuters

J.W. Westcott honored with Spirit of Detroit Award

Click here for article – WDIV

Know Your Ships author to stop at Bayfield, Duluth, Two Harbors this weekend

Honest Dog Bookstore, Bayfield, WI – Aug. 17, 5:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.
Presentation: “Behind the Book: The Know Your Ships Story and the challenges of being an Independent Author and Publisher” by Roger LeLievre, followed by a book signing and social hour.

Split Rock Lighthouse, Two Harbors, MN – Aug. 18, Noon – 3:00 p.m.
Book signing by Roger LeLievre in the Split Rock Lighthouse Gift Shop.

Canal Park Marine Museum, Duluth, MN – Aug. 19, 11:00 a.m. – Noon
Presentation: “How I Became the Luckiest Boatnerd In The World” by Roger LeLievre 11:00 a.m. – noon, followed by a book signing.

All events are free and open to all! Stop by, meet Roger and some of the other members of the KYS Crew, and meet others who share your interests.

KYS

U.S. Steel explores options after rejecting $7.3 billion offer from Cleveland-Cliffs

Aug 13 (Reuters) – United States Steel Corp (X.N) on Sunday launched a formal review of its strategic options, after rebuffing a takeover offer from rival steelmaker Cleveland-Cliffs Inc (CLF.N).

The unsolicited cash-and-stock offer from Ohio-based Cliffs valued U.S. Steel at about $7.3 billion, representing a 43% premium to its closing price on Friday.

Cliffs went public with its offer after U.S. Steel rejected the bid as being “unreasonable” and instead announced a formal review process, saying the company received multiple bids for parts or all of its business.

“Cliffs feels compelled to make its offer publicly known for the direct benefit of all of U.S. Steel’s stockholders and also make it known that Cliffs stands ready to engage on this offer immediately,” Cliffs said in a statement.

Cliffs said it had offered to pay $17.50 in cash and 1.023 shares of its own stock for each U.S. Steel share, which implied a 42% premium to U.S. Steel’s closing share price on July 28 when Cliffs privately approached the company.

A merger between Cliffs, which currently has a market capitalization of about $7.5 billion, and U.S. Steel would create a global steelmaking giant and help it compete better in an industry that is largely dominated by China.

Cliffs’ approach came after U.S. Steel reported its fifth consecutive quarter of profit declines and fourth straight quarter of falling revenue.

While its second-quarter revenue beat analysts’ forecasts, U.S. Steel shares were still trading on a weak price-to-earnings ratio of 5.7, well below the sector median of 9.0, with its shares down roughly 9.3% year to date.

Cliffs has been one of the most acquisitive players in the industry, having bought AK Steel Holding Corp in 2020 and then acquiring the U.S. business of steelmaker ArcelorMittal the same year.

“Although we are now public, I do look forward to continuing to engage with U.S. Steel on a potential transaction, as I am convinced that the value potential and competitiveness to come out of a combination of our two iconic American companies is exceptional,” said Lourenco Goncalves, chief executive of Cliffs.

Cliffs said its offer to acquire U.S. Steel had received the support of the United Steelworkers union, which is North America’s largest steel industry union.

Cliffs said it had also lined up debt financing for the proposed deal from several banks. The company has tapped Moelis & Company LLC, Wells Fargo (WFC.N), J.P.Morgan (JPM.N) and UBS as its financial advisors, with Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP serving as the company’s legal counsel.

In a separate statement later Sunday, U.S. Steel confirmed it received an offer from Cliffs and other interested parties.

“U.S. Steel was unable to properly evaluate the proposal because Cleveland-Cliffs refused to engage in the necessary and customary process to assess valuation and certainty unless U.S. Steel agreed to the economic terms of the proposal in advance,” U.S. Steel said.

U.S. Steel has hired Barclays Capital (BARC.L) and Goldman Sachs Group (GS.N) as its financial advisors, with Milbank LLP and Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz acting as its legal advisors.

Reuters

Birthday party planned for John W. Boardman/Lewis G. Harriman

DeTour Village, MI – Join Marc and Jill Vander Meulen as they mark the 100th anniversary of the launch of the cement carrier John W. Boardman, whose forward end they have been restoring on the St. Marys River waterfront.

The event is Wednesday, September 6 at noon. Lunch, pop and cake provided. Bring your own chair. The address is 1780 Sims St., DeTour Village, MI 49725.

The Vander Melulens purchased the forward section from Purvis Marine, which was scrapping the vessel, around 2005 and had it barged to its current location. Since then, they have been working on their “LRO” (large, rusty object) project, first repainting the hill and cabins.

Marc and Jill Vander Meulen

New federal money is the start of an effort to make Great Lakes coasts more resilient

Michigan is getting some federal money to help preserve coastlines in this era of climate change.

The Great Lakes region is getting about $2.8 million for coastal conservation, restoration of wetlands, and making the coastline more resilient to the changes caused by climate disruption.

Given the length of Great Lakes coastlines, that’s not a lot of money.

Michigan’s share is about a third of that.

“Michigan will get $875,000 that it will be able to spend over the next five years to address those impacts of climate change and community resilience,” said Joelle Gore, chief of the Stewardship Division for NOAA’s Office for Coastal Management.

This round of grants is just the beginning. Competitive grants in greater amounts will be released as well.

The money can be used to assess a community’s vulnerabilities. It could also be used to buy land to be a coastal buffer instead of a development that could end up being a disaster site during the next round of high lake levels. Finally, the money can be used to preserve or restore wetlands.

“Restoring important ecosystems that help protect and serve as sponges when lake levels rise, when there are extreme weather that might bring flooding,” Gore explained.

With the fluctuating levels of the Great Lakes, the hard barriers such as concrete or steel walls are being discouraged in many cases. Experts say a nature-based solution will work better to adapt to a changing shoreline rather than trying to fight against the inevitable changes that a changing climate will cause.

Michigan Radio

Bids reach $16K for century-old U.P. lighthouse

CHASSELL, MI – A century-old historic Upper Peninsula lighthouse could be yours.

The Keweenaw Waterway Lower Entrance Light went up for auction earlier this month. Bidding has reached $16,000.

Also known as Portage Entry Light or the Portage Lake Lower Entry Light, it became an active navigational aid in 1919. The light guided mariners into the Portage River, a waterway that cuts through the Keweenaw Peninsula.

The light is situated on a pier in Lake Superior’s Keweenaw Bay nearly half a mile offshore. The 1,000-square-foot lighthouse stands 68 feet tall. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2014.

The lighthouse went up for auction on Aug. 1 via the General Services Administration’s real estate sales website. Bidding started at $10,000. Five people have placed bids. The end date for the auction has not been set.

The new owner must be able to comply with the requirements of the National Lighthouse Preservation Act of 2000.

Since the passing of the Lighthouse Preservation Act, the GSA has transferred ownership of about 150 lighthouses, with around 80 being given away and the other 70 auction off, raising more than $10 million. The Keweenaw Waterway Lower Entrance Light is one of 10 being offered this year.

MLive

$43 million sewage project underway in Macomb County

MACOMB COUNTY, Mich (WJBK) – Major upgrades are underway in Macomb County to keep sewage from leaking into Lake St.Clair.

The project, totaling $43 million, is going towards preventing sewage overflows and preparation for heavy rains in the future.

According to the Alliance for the Great Lakes, tens of billions of gallons of raw or poorly treated sewage ends up in our lakes.

“Literally for decades we’ve been discharging combined sewer overflows after heavy rain events,” said Commissioner Candice Miller of Macomb County Public Works.

Overflows are coming from multiple places in Metro Detroit,  not just from the Chapiton pump station. This is where the canal and Retention Treatment Basin are getting an upgrade to an additional 13 million gallons of storage.

“We are creating additional storage so that after ir rains, we’re able to store it and treat it until the rain has passed and then send down to Detroit for proper treatment,” Miller said.

A second project upgrades the electrical systems at the pump station including adding generators in case the lights go out, which we’ve seen all too often.

Many of these electrical components date back to 1968.

“Hubert Humphrey cut the ribbon on this thing, which was great back in the day – but unfortunately a lot of the infrastructure remains,” Miller said.

The bulk of the money comes from the American Rescue Plan act.

“We’re finding little ways to reduce these combined sewer overflows year after year. So in Macomb County, we are making huge strides,” said State Senate Kevin Hertel.

Officials say the projects should also help with basement flooding.

Overflow is expected to be reduced by 38 percent and the project is expected to take two years to complete.

Fox 2 Detroit

Northern Venture officially underway

We’re thrilled to share some exciting news! Introducing the newest addition to our fleet: the Northern Venture! She’s fresh from an extensive refit and all set to embark on an incredible journey.

Currently en route to Japan where it will load a cargo of blast furnace slag bound for Picton, Ontario, the vessel will transit the Panama Canal on its way to Canada. She’ll be exclusively trading in the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence corridor, and there is truly nothing quite like this vessel on the Lakes. Her name reflects the primary trading pattern in the northern Great Lakes, and notably, she’s the first self-unloader in our fleet.

McKeil Marine

Algoma Central Corporation celebrates 124th birthday

From reliable cargo transportation to an unwavering dedication towards our customers and the vital industries they serve worldwide, we’ve proudly been Your Marine Carrier of Choice for over a century.

We’re grateful for our incredible 124-year long journey – here’s to many more decades of working with amazing people, developing successful partnerships, and achieving our sustainable goals.

Happy 124th Birthday Algoma!

Algoma Central Corporation

Initial reports “substantially” overestimated Manitowoc spillage

MANISTEE — Original estimates of the amount of diesel fuel that spilled into Lake Michigan Aug. 2 from a damaged cargo vessel were too high, the U.S. Coast Guard said Thursday.

“There was nowhere near that 45,000 gallons,” Lt. Heather Stemmerman said. “It was substantially less.”

The reason the Coast Guard knows this is because they were able to transfer what Stemmerman characterized as a “good amount” of recovered red-dyed diesel fuel from the damaged Manitowoc onto another ship.

Stemmerman said she could not confirm yet the exact amount of fuel that spilled into the lake about 1.5 nautical miles offshore, northwest of where the Manistee River enters Lake Michigan. But the investigation is continuing to determine the cause of the hull breach on the vessel’s starboard diesel tank.

The 612-foot-long bulk carrier has a maximum spill potential of 45,174 gallons of diesel fuel, authorities have said.

When the crew reported the breach at 2:50 p.m. Aug. 2, as the vessel was starting to make headway out of its port and into Lake Michigan, a response plan was activated. That’s when they dropped anchor and called in a spill response organization, which transferred fuel from one tank to another. That drew down the level of the fuel in the leaking tank so that it was below the location of the hole in the hull.

As of midnight the following day, Stemmerman reported the vessel was no longer leaking diesel. On Aug. 4, after U.S. Coast Guard engineers and the American Bureau of Shipping approved the temporary epoxy repair on the vessel’s hull, the Manitowoc returned to port in Muskegon to undergo more extensive repairs.

Stemmerman confirmed the vessel had made it safely to Muskegon four days later without any additional spillage.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Lt. Cmdr. Chris Duffy said researchers are still looking into how diesel spills affect freshwater as compared to salt water.

“Because it was a lighter oil, we would expect it to evaporate within 12 hours,” Duffy said. “That’s why there was very little sheen.”

Within hours after the initial report, a red slick, 1.6 miles long by 200 meters wide, was seen drifting northeast from the vessel.

By Thursday, the size of the slick had spread to 2 nautical miles long by 3.5 nautical miles wide, according to responders, who used absorbent booms to clean up the diesel fuel on the water.

It will be difficult to determine what, if any, environmental impact will occur as a result of this spill, Duffy said. Water and fish species will need to be tested to find that out, he said.

As far as any immediate impact on wildlife, Stemmerman said the Coast Guard has received no reports from any state agencies regarding damage to the surrounding area.

Cleanup response efforts were directed and overseen by U.S. Coast Guard-established unified command, with representatives from the U.S. Coast Guard; the Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy; Manistee County Emergency Management; Benzie County Emergency Management; Little River Band of Ottawa Indians; Manistee and Benzie County Sheriff’s Offices; and the City of Manistee.

Their work concluded last Friday.

On Monday, the District Health Department #10 announced through spokesman Nick Eckhart that all beach advisories had been lifted.

Eckhart confirmed Thursday that they hadn’t received any reports of diesel fuel in or near the water since last week.

Record Eagle

Great Lakes water levels getting ready for seasonal lowering

All of the Great Lakes are higher than their long-term average water levels. The forecast shows the lakes are getting ready to start lowering as we head into fall.

The Great Lakes’ water levels have an annual cycle of rising and falling. Water levels start rising in March or April as the snow melts and spring rains becomes more numerous and heavier. The water levels rise to around July or August, reaching a high water mark. The water then typically lowers through fall and winter to do it all over again in March or April.

This is the usual cycle if precipitation is near normal. If it’s extremely dry or very wet, the ups and downs of the Great Lakes’ water levels may not follow this pattern.

None of the Great Lakes are currently situated at a very abnormal level. All of the Great Lakes are higher than their long-term averages. Lake Superior is 6 inches above normal, but still 7 inches lower than a record August level. Lake Superior is the closest to a record high water level, but not in a threat of climbing to record levels. Lakes Michigan and Lake Huron are only 4 inches above the August normal level. Essentially, Lakes Michigan and Huron are near normal. Lake Erie is 12 inches higher than normal and Lake Ontario is 10 inches above normal. Aside from Lake Superior being somewhat close to record high levels, Lakes Michigan-Huron, Erie and Ontario are 29 inches below record, 17 inches below record and 17 inches below record, respectively.

The Great Lakes are also all 2 to 4 feet higher than record low water levels for August.

When comparing to last year, Lake Superior is one inch higher. Lakes Michigan-Huron are 5 inches lower. Lake Erie is one inch higher. Lake Ontario is 12 inches higher.

The September forecast reflects the start of the annual decline of Great Lakes’ water levels. September rain amounts are typically lower than the heavy summer thunderstorm rains, and the evaporation is high with warm days and cooler nights.

Lake Superior is still forecasted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to remain at about the same level. Lakes Michigan-Huron are projected to decline one inch. Lake Erie is projected to decline 5 inches and Lake Ontario 6 inches.

In all at the current time, the Great Lakes have just about normal water level conditions.

MLive

Obituary: Capt. Bill Cline

Capt. Bill Cline, formerly of the Port Huron, MI-area, passed away August 10 from complications of a surgery in Florida, his residence for the past several years.

He was active in the International Shipmasters’ Association and was a past Grand President and Past President of Port Huron Lodge #2. He was a captain for Gaelic Tugboat Co. and Diamond Jack’s River Tours in Detroit.

Bill and his wife MJ were essential in keeping Port Huron Lodge #2 active in the 1980s and building it to the healthy lodge it is today.  He was very active in all aspects of the Grand Lodge guiding the Grand Lodge installation ceremony and Jurisprudence Committee for many years. Always a gentleman and friendly to all, Bill was a huge part of the Great Lakes sailing community and well known and respected by everyone.  He will be missed by all of us who knew him.There is no information about funeral arrangements at this time but will be passed on once received.

ISMA Lodge 2

Tour the research vessel Blue Heron

Toledo, OH – On Sunday, August 20, the National Museum of the Great Lakes welcomes the largest U.S. Academic Research Fleet vessel on the Great Lakes, the R/V Blue Heron. Operated by the Large Lakes Observatory at the University of Minnesota Duluth, the R/V Blue Heron is well-equipped for research and has berthing for 11 crew and scientists. NMGL members and the general public will have a chance to climb aboard to tour the vessel and meet its crew and science personnel.

“This is an exciting event where we open up the vessel to the public and allow them to see, first-hand, what happens on a research vessel,” explained R/V Blue Heron Marine Superintendent Doug Ricketts. “The crew and science personnel are stationed around the vessel and talk to visitors, explaining their research project and the portion of the ship that the visitor has entered.” Ellen Kennedy, the museum’s Education and Visitor Experience Director said, “This is such a great opportunity for our members, lake enthusiasts, and anyone interested in marine research to learn about the important work done by the Large Lakes Observatory.”

Registration is required for this event. Research vessel entry is limited to 20 individuals at a time, so advanced registration is recommended. Day-of signups will only be available if space allows. NMGL members will be given priority boarding from 10 a.m.-noon. General admission will follow during regular museum hours from noon-5 p.m. FREE access to this special event is included for GLHS/NMGL members, Museums for All/SNAP participants, and those who purchase museum admission for the day of the program.

Click here to register for the event on Eventbrite.

National Museum of the Great Lakes

Great Lakes shipping continues to decline

LANSING — Shipping on the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway is continuing its long-term downturn, and changes in the region’s steel industry are largely responsible for the trend, according to a recent Congressional Research Service report.

Iron ore, limestone and coal are the three leading commodities by tonnage shipped on the lakes. They’re followed by salt — mostly Canadian rock salt to deice roads — asphalt and slag left over from extracting iron from ore.

Iron ore for steelmaking accounted for 42% of Great Lakes tonnage in 2020, the report said.

“Iron ore volumes show a steady decline, as steel is increasingly produced from scrap metal in mini-mills that are plentiful and scattered throughout the country,” according to the nonpartisan agency’s report. Scrap metal can easily be transported overland, so mini-mills don’t need to be near a waterway or iron ore mine.

The volume of asphalt, salt and gravel, slag iron and cement being shipped is holding steady, and sand and gravel volume is increasing, it said.

Most Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway traffic is on foreign-flagged ocean-going saltwater vessels, freshwater vessels crewed and owned by American companies, and Canadian freshwater vessels.

The maximum size of Great Lakes ships is limited by the dimensions of the locks they must pass through.

The Welland Canal locks between lakes Erie and Ontario can’t accommodate vessels more than 740 feet long by 78 feet wide. The maximum for ships traveling through the Soo locks between lakes Huron and Superior is 1,200 feet long and 110 feet wide.

As for slowing or reversing the decline in shipping, “there are limits to what we can do to stimulate market demand,” said Jim Weakley, the president of the Lake Carriers’ Association, which representsU.S.-flag vessel operators.

Even so, Weakley and the congressional report point to several positive developments, including more container shipping and construction of the first large U.S.-built self-propelled ship for use on the Great Lakes.

Weakley said U.S. and Canadian shipping companies have benefited from tariffs imposed on Chinese steel to combat that country’s dumping of its excess steel at prices below production costs.

The Army Corps of Engineers is constructing a new lock in Sault Ste. Marie. The agency said it completed the first phase of the project last August “under budget and ahead of schedule” and announced last month that it remains on schedule as major construction continues with phases 2 and 3 this season.

The Army Corps estimates that the 2nd phase will be done next summer and the 3rd phase will be finished in 2030.

Also, the Biden administration’s infrastructure funding law has boosted demand for limestone and cement used for constructure, he said.

But the switch by electric utility companies from coal to natural gas to renewable energy sources has slashed the volume of coal shipped on the Great Lakes.

“It’s hard to replace that many millions of tons of cargo with limestone or iron ore,” Weakley said.

Eric Peace, the association’s vice president, said ship operators and companies that depend on shipping, such as steel mills and iron ore mines, have been hurt in recent years by the Coast Guard’s insufficient ice breaker capacity. Some of those ice breakers are more than 40 years old.

In 2020, ice in Whitefish Bay — a critical point between Duluth and the Upper Great Lakes at one end and the Lower Great Lakes at the other end — idled vessels for three days or longer because of a shortage of ice breakers, he said.

An association report by Peace estimated blamed inadequate icebreaking in 2019 for $1 billion in losses and more than 5,000 lost jobs.

And despite last winter’s comparatively mild weather, a quick freeze left nine vessels stuck for a several days after Christmas in the Toledo-Monroe area of western Lake Erie.

Congress has authorized $350 million to build a new ice breaker, but it’s expected to appropriate only $75 million of that amount  for the upcoming fiscal year, he said.

It’s a lengthy process,” Peace said, noting that it will likely take 10 years to finish the vessel, although “we are looking to have that expedited with additional funding.”

Meanwhile, Pure Michigan, the state’s tourism promotion unit, touts cruising as a way to “experience the Fresh Coast,” urging, “Experience unique ports of call in Michigan and surrounding states and provinces as you cruise through the Great Lakes and discover thriving cities, grand landscapes filled with indigenous wildlife, rolling dunes and miles of white sandy beaches.”

The Congressional Research Service report cited a “nascent cruise business” on the lakes with an estimated 170,000 passenger visits on 11 ships this year. However, American Queen Voyages announced in June that it will discontinue its Great Lakes cruises later this year for financial reasons and will sell two of its ships, the Ocean Voyager and Ocean Navigator.

Peace said American Queen Voyages, unlike other cruise companies, has left its Great Lakes vessels idle in the winter.

“Those guys were not going to leave the lakes and not have a winter (cruise) season (elsewhere). I don’t see the other operators slowing down,” Peace said. He noted that other operators move their ships for use in warmer climates during the winter.

Bridge Michigan

Reserve now for MHSD’s Detroit River cruise September 9

Join members of the Marine Historical Society of Detroit aboard the passenger vessel DIAMOND QUEEN (captained by the MHSD’s very own Mike Nicholls and with MHSD member Ken Borg as narrator) for a Detroit River cruise 1-4 p.m. Saturday, September 9. We will do our best to get up close to freighter traffic (going up the Rouge River is not an option this year due to delays incurred in 2022). Snacks and refreshments will be available on the boat.

Tickets are $28 ($30 at the dock if space is still available). Click here to order online via credit card or PayPal. By mail, send a check, payable to the Marine Historical Society of Detroit, to MHSD Cruise, 1020 Iroquois St., Detroit, MI 48214. Late orders will not be mailed; they will be held for you at the dock. We are limiting the number to 100 passengers so there will be plenty of room to move about the boat. Reserve now!

MHSD

You will soon be able to board the Boblo Boat again

DETROIT – You will soon be able to board the historic Boblo Boat once again, but it won’t actually take you to Boblo Island. Restoration has come a long way in the last year in an effort to turn the boat into a museum.

There are actually two Boblo Boats and both of them are being restored. MLive has been updating you over the years on the restoration efforts of both the S.S. Ste. Claire, built in 1910, and the S.S. Columbia, built in 1902.

The ferries, which could hold around 2,500 passengers, used to take people on an 18-mile cruise on the Detroit River to Boblo Island Amusement Park.

The Columbia is being restored in New York and will stay there for good, but the Ste. Claire is being brought back to its old glory at Riverside Marina in Detroit and the plan is to keep it in the area.

“We are currently working on getting the last deck complete,” Stephen Faraj, the restoration project manager wrote on Facebook. “Our plans are to have the entire fourth deck done by the end of September. The final addition will be the pilot house – either in the fall or spring. We have the original blueprints and will recreate it with the walkways that were on both sides of the pilot house.”

By next spring, Faraj says the museum will be complete on board the Ste. Claire’s main deck. It will feature dozens of artifacts and historical pieces collected over the years. There will also be a souvenir stand with new items available for purchase.

“We want to give people a chance to come down and walk the decks, reminisce, and see our plans for the future.”

The Ste. Claire’s restoration was almost derailed after fire significantly damaged the boat in 2018. The fire set the restoration team back by about a year.

“What was really lost was the irreplaceable pieces we won’t be able to bring back, but we know that we have enough of the boat preserved for it to still be the Boblo Boat and we’ll be able to recreate what was lost,” Faraj told MLive when we toured the boat a year ago.

He says one example is the boat’s 110-year old Mahogany walls. “It’s still going to look like it was with new Mahogany walls, but it’s not THAT wood. The bottom line is, all of that wood would have had to come down and been replaced regardless. It was just too rotted to keep up there.”

The restoration team plans to make the boat look as much like it did when it took people to and from the amusement park, located across from Amherstburg, Ontario, for decades before it closed in 1993.

The first deck will have that same gray, steel floor. The second deck will once again have a DJ booth and ballroom with dance floor. Deck three will have the beer garden where parents used to hang out while their kids ran around the boat. The boat simply won’t move. It will remain docked to keep it from being damaged.

Despite that, Faraj says visitors will still get to feel and see the engine just as they did when the boat took them to and from the island.

“If we were to try and re-power this ship with something other than steam, we would have to take so much of the Boblo Boat out of it, it wouldn’t be worth it. We’d rather preserve the original steam engine. We will run it on an electrical motor so it will spin and you’ll be able to look, just like you did as a kid, down into the engine room and see it move, but we feel it will be much more beneficial to preserve the original steam engine than to gut it and try to make the boat go up and down the river.”

And about the fourth deck. Way back when, passengers weren’t able to go on it. That will change once restoration is finished.

“The steel will allow us to have people on that level. That’s one thing you weren’t able to do back in the day. Now, you’ll be able to walk on the top level and go right up to the pilot house and look at it closely.”

Faraj says he hopes the millions of dollars spent and the countless hours it has taken to restore the Ste. Claire will not only allow people to relive a part of their childhood, but give those who never went to the amusement park a chance to experience what it was like to ride on the old ferry.

“It will be loaded with nostalgia from Boblo and you’ll really get a feeling of what people used to experience. That’s what we’re going for.”

MLive

A working Michigan lighthouse is for sale. The bidding started at just $10,000

A historic, 68-foot-tall lighthouse, in a remote part of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, is for sale.

But, before you start dreaming about turning the more than a century-old structure into a home — or a long- or short-term rental unit — consider that it’s small, about 1,000 square feet, and in a part of the state that, especially in the winter, could be challenging to get to and keep warm.

It’s also a working navigation aide maintained by the Coast Guard, marking the southern end of the Portage River in Houghton County.

“Generally, people who buy a lighthouse, buy it because they love lighthouses,” Paul Hughes, a public affairs officer in Boston, told the Free Press, adding that they are romantic properties to own. “It’s a true passion for them. They have the means and the wherewithal to restore them.”

Formally known as the Keweenaw Waterway Lower Entrance Light, the Torch Lake Township lighthouse is being auctioned off by the U.S. General Services Administration and is connected to an Army Corps of Engineers breakwater. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Cost: $10,000 to $1 million

The deed comes with historic preservation restrictions, which, among other things, could limit how you paint, renovate, and make use of it.

Hughes said lighthouses tend to sell from about $10,000 to almost $1 million, and usually take thousands of dollars and more to restore and maintain. Some of them are in rough shape.

And in addition to the Michigan lighthouse, the government is selling three others: one in Ohio, the Cleveland Harbor West Pierhead; and two in Connecticut, the Penfield Reef in Fairfield, and the Stratford Shoal. Bidding for the Michigan lighthouse began Tuesday. Bidders must submit at least a $10,000 deposit.

Proceeds from the sale, Hughes said, usually go to the Coast Guard.

Michigan, with more than 3,200 miles of shoreline, boasts of having more lighthouses than any other state, nearly 130. The have been referred to as lakeshore sentinels, offering waypoints on water and markers on land, and come in all shapes and sizes. Some are short, others tall. Some tiny, others spacious.

No date has been set for the bidding to close; but similar auctions, officials said, often remain open for up to six weeks. After two days of bidding, there were just two with a high bid of $12,000, and bidding in increments of $1,000.

It’s about ‘preserving history’

Opened in 1919, the Keweenaw lighthouse is known by other names, the Portage Entry Light or the Portage Lake Lower Entry Light.

The Keweenaw lighthouse sits at the offshore end of a breakwater extending southward from shore, according to the historic preservation application. The structure includes a timber crib foundation and concrete pier that support a concrete one-story machine room and a three-story octagonal steel tower topped with a circular lantern.

The concrete portion of the lighthouse is unpainted. The steel tower and lantern are white. The lantern’s roof is red. The lantern gallery’s guard rail is black with a red handrail. And it signals a modern fog horn and a solar-powered white flash every six seconds.

“You can’t knock it down,” Hughes said. “This whole thing is about preserving the lighthouses. Preserving history.”