Wintering Ships depart Sturgeon Bay, continue to battle ice on Bay of Green Bay
March 25, 08 by TheFleetIf you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
GLSW Exclusive
During the early morning hours of Monday, March 24, conditions changed and the freighters PAUL R. TREGURTHA, ARTHUR M. ANDERSON, CHARLES M. BEEGHLY and EDGAR B SPEER were able to free themselves from the ice near Sherwood Point, and head northward through the bay of Green Bay.
The trip was long and arduous.
By 6:30 AM, the TREGURTHA and ANDERSON had arrived west of Porte des Mortes passage in northern Door County, with the BEEGHLY and SPEER shortly behind. The four vessels stacked in a line waiting for the USCG cutter MOBILE BAY and tug ERICA KOBASIC to clear a track through the ice north of Washington Island, through Rock Island Passage.
Rock Island Passage is a narrow stretch between Rock Island and the U.P.’s Garden Peninsula, and where an LCA shipping lane connects the bay of Green Bay to Lake Michigan.
Although a tongue of seemingly open water stretched from Porte des Mortes about 0.25 mi into the bay of Green Bay, Porte des Mortes passage was full of loose ice chunks and sheet ice, which the Coast Guard did not want to disturb for fear of blocking transit of the Washington Island Ferry. The ferry makes daily trips across Porte des Mortes passage.
After several hours of ramming, cutting and clearing, the TREGURTHA was the first cleared to enter the track and exit into Lake Michigan. By early afternoon, all four vessels had cleared the passage and were headed eastward across the lake toward the Straits of Mackinaw.
The BEEGHLY transited Round Island Passage in the Straits at about 11 PM Eastern time Monday.
Meantime, three more ships departed Sturgeon Bay’s Bay Shipbuilding on Monday. Tugs were seen assisting the KAYE E BARKER as early as 6:30 AM local time, and the JAMES R BARKER departed later Monday morning. The KAYE E BARKER and PHILIP R CLARKE also left Bay Ship on Monday, heading north into the bay of Green Bay.
The northerly wind was now replaced by a building southerly wind which obliterated most of the tracks cut by the MOBILE BAY and ERICA KOBASIC Sunday.
The JAMES R BARKER reached the northern end of the bay of Green Bay at about midnight Monday night. As of 3 AM Tuesday, the tug ERICA KOBASIC had suspended ice breaking operations, and the PHILIP R CLARKE had dropped anchor in 140 ft of water near Washington Island. The CLARKE and KAYE E BARKER both experienced handling difficulties in the rapidly moving ice on the bay of Green Bay throughout Monday night and early Tuesday morning, transiting northward with the ice floes at 0.5 MPH for much of the time.
The KOBASIC plans to resume ice breaking operations at daylight Tuesday. The CLARKE and KAYE E BARKER both intended to seek shelter from the gale force winds and high waves on Lake Michigan Monday night and into Tuesday.
