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Press Release

After one of the busiest summers in its 34-year history, the Michigan Maritime Museum has announced new hours and staffing adjustments for the coming winter season.

As of October 1 the museum will be open to the public from 10 AM – 5 PM Friday, Saturday and Sunday and by appointment.  The Maryalyce Canonie Great Lakes Research Library located at the Keepers House will be open Thursdays from 10 AM – 5 PM and by appointment.

All of the facilities on the museum campus will be open including the main gallery, the VanOort Coast Guard boat house, the US Lifesaving Service crew quarters, the fish tug Evelyn S. and the Padnos boat building shed.  Dockside tours of the tall ship Friends Good Will will be available until the weather prohibits boarding. Read the rest of this entry »

Source: Chronicle of an older diver

Slightly over a month later we were in Sarnia, Ontario on a hot (34C), diving a couple of wrecks under the Blue Water Bridge. One wreck, the “Monarch”, lies in the middle of the St. Clair River at a depth of 60 feet. My log book notes a “moderate” 6 knot current. I have memories of hanging on for dear life, especially when the freighters went overhead.

Read the full entry at deepstop.wordpress.com >>

by Richard Palmer | Source: The Crooked Lake Review Blog

During the mid-19th century, Oswego was a major port on the Great Lakes. More than 100 schooners were owned here and the harbor was a beehive of activity. There were also several shipyards.

Such stirring scenes as a half-dozen ships sailing into the harbor have long since vanished. But this heritage is being reborn in the form of the Oswego Maritime Foundation’s pride and joy, the “OMF Ontario,” which is to proudly sails out of the harbor into Lake Ontario as in days of old.

Excellent detailed article on the history of this great port at Crooked Lake Review Blog >>

Source: Sault Boat Watching

The Valley Camp Museum Ship is one of our favorite spots to bring visitors to our cabin in the summer. Young and old love the chance to see a Great Lakes freighter. Plus, the Valley Camp has great exhibits including the lifeboat from the Edmund Fitzgerald and an aquarium of Great Lakes fish.

Other museum ships, vessels available and great photos at the Sault Boat Watcher >>

Peter Passi | Source: Duluth News Tribune

If you’re in the market for a retired Coast Guard buoytender, this could be your lucky hour.

The Coast Guard Cutter Sundew soon could go up for auction.

The vessel’s current owner, the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center, has quietly been shopping the Sundew around in recent weeks.

… the Sundew has proven less of a tourist draw than he hoped. The DECC initially tried charging visitors individual admission to the Sundew but decided to package it with the more popular William A. Irvin, a retired laker, because of sparse ticket sales.

Even though people who pay for admission to the Irvin now can tour the Sundew for no additional fee, Hom said only about 5 percent of visitors have set foot aboard the retired cutter in recent years.

Read the full story, options at the Duluth News Tribune >>

Source: USCG

CLEVELAND - HMCS Charlottetown, a 442-foot Canadian frigate, will arrive at Dock 32 behind the museum ship William G. Mather at 10 a.m., Sept. 10.

HMCS Charlottetown recently completed a six-month deployment to the Persian Gulf and Arabian Sea as part of Canada’s continuing contributions to the campaign against terrorism known as Operation Enduring Freedom. The frigate helped to deter threats to maritime security - illegal migration, smuggling, and piracy - that harm legitimate commerce in the Gulf region. While deployed, she boarded three vessels with known ties to terrorists, intercepting 2000 cases of alcohol and six metric tons of narcotics. The ship also rendered assistance to three vessels in distress, saving the lives of 23 mariners.

The Coast Guard Cutter Alder, a 225-foot buoytender homeported in Duluth, Minn., will escort the Charlottetown into port. Both ships will be open to the public from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. Sept. 11. Read the rest of this entry »

by Jennifer Sattler | Source: The Voice News

“Freighter Frank” Fisk will share his insights on life aboard a freighter when he kicks off the Friends’ First Thursday series at 7 p.m. Thursday at the St. Clair Library.

… Fisk … is a plethora of knowledge when it comes to the vessels that ply the St. Clair River and Lake Huron.

He will present a PowerPoint presentation about the year he spent working and living aboard the freighter, the Paul R. Tregurtha.

At 1,013 feet, six inches long, the Tregurtha is the largest ship plying the Great Lakes and is known as the “Queen of the Great Lakes.” It is owned and managed by the Interlake Steamship Co. Fisk spent a year on the freighter as a cook, and his presentation is full of interior ship shots.

“I spent a year traveling around the Great Lakes, with all of the security measures nowadays, being on a ship is exclusive,” he said. “I will also present menus of Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, and other holiday fare.”

The St. Clair Library is located at 310 S. Second St. in St. Clair.

The program is free and all are welcome.

Benjamin Wideman | Source: Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter

“Man overboard! Man overboard!”

…Four days before the training exercise, Boyer and Petty Officer 2nd Class Linden Hannon, 27, found themselves treading water two miles offshore after rescuing two men whose boat sank. One of the Coast Guard’s dewatering pumps went down with it.

Five days after the training exercise, Boyer was back on Lake Michigan with three other crewmen, this time rescuing four Two Rivers residents — two adults and two children — from the water after their fishing boat filled with water an hour earlier.

“We live and work in the community, so the people we see in town or we live near, those are the same people we rescue and help. It’s a rewarding job.”

…On this day, [Chief Petty Officer John Davis] presents one of the youngest crewmembers, Fireman Trina Beiring, 19, of Calumet, Mich., with a boat engineer certificate.

Quarters lasts about 20 minutes.

Biering and a handful of others head home on their day off, while Davis and most of the crew return to the station.

…Petty Officer 3rd Class Jonathan Belval has been monitoring distress frequencies and incoming calls in the communications room since 6:50 a.m.

Personnel in Milwaukee handle the overnight duties remotely, immediately notifying Two Rivers crews if an emergency arises. The SAR crew works 48 hours on, 48 hours off, with sliding weekend shifts. The ATON crew typically works Mondays through Fridays.

“It’s like a dispatch in here,” says Belval 28, of Virginia Beach, Va., noting mariners frequently call seeking weather updates.

The communications room has nautical maps, weather instruments, a phone, radios set to distress frequency channel 16, a secured-access computer for confidential Coast Guard transmissions, and four security cameras scanning the fenced-in property.

“As long as we stay calm in here, they stay calm out there,” Read the rest of this entry »

by Tom Gilchrist | Source: The Bay City Times

Perhaps no one is closer to the E.M. Ford - believed to be the oldest Great Lakes freighter still afloat - than Tom Daleski.

Daleski, after all, lives on the 110-year-old vessel headed for the scrap yard this year or next. His father, James Daleski of Alpena, once served as captain of the boat sitting at the Lafarge North America cement plant in Saginaw County’s Carrollton Township.

“It’s one of a kind,” said Tom Daleski, 44, who resides aboard the cement hauler - which has sat for 12 years in the Saginaw River as a storage vessel for powdered cement.

“There’s not another one like this in the world; there just ain’t,” Daleski said. “The engine’s original, built in 1897.”

Someday soon, though, officials with Lafarge - the boat’s owner - say the boat will make its final voyage on the Great Lakes, on its way to a scrapyard.

“There’s a very good possibility the boat will go to scrap this year, and if not, it will for sure go to scrap in May of 2009,” said Mark Thomas, vessel operations manager at Lafarge North America’s office in Bingham Farms in Oakland County.

Read the rest of this entry »

Web: Great Lakes Cruise Co. website

Susan Glaser | Source: Cleveland Plain Dealer

Two small, high-end cruise ships - one new, the other newly refurbished - will make their debut next summer on the fresh-water waves of lakes Ontario, Erie, Huron, Michigan and Superior.

“It’ll be a great summer,” said Chris Conlin, owner of the Great Lakes Cruise Co., an Ann Arbor, Mich.-based travel agency that specializes in Great Lakes cruises. “We have lots of choices that we haven’t had before.”

The Clelia II, an all-suite ship with room for 100 passengers, will sail seven-day itineraries between Toronto and Duluth, Minn., starting in late June. Ports of call include Niagara Falls, Ontario (via the Welland Canal); Mackinac Island, Mich.; Houghton, in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula; and Thunder Bay, Ontario. All sailings will offer educational themes,

Read the rest of this entry »

Source: Duluth News Tribune

For sale: Prime waterfront property, centrally located with spectacular views of Lake Superior, Park Point, Canal Park and the Lift Bridge.

The catch? A list of restrictions and requirements — including agreeing to maintain the structure’s historic designation and allowing unrestricted government access.

The federal government is putting the light tower next to the Aerial Lift Bridge on Duluth’s south breakwater on the auction block Sept. 16.

…The federal government decided last year that it no longer needs the 107-year-old light… The government made the tower available at no cost to any qualifying government agency, nonprofit, school or community development organization willing to use it for educational, recreational or historic preservation purposes. But with no takers, the U.S. General Services Administration decided to put it on the auction block.

The structure, properly called the “Duluth Harbor South Breakwater Inner Light Tower,” will come with many strings. The property is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and a new owner must maintain the structure’s historic designation and conduct a photographic survey. The owner must get a lease from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers before the property is transferred. The winning bidder must obtain written approval from the government before making any alterations or improvements to the property. And the Coast Guard would reserve an unrestricted right to enter the structure to service, replace or move the still-operating aids to navigation.

“Outside of that, it’s yours,” Ullenberg said.

Read the full story, photos and how to place a bid (you know you want it!) at the Duluth News Tribune >>

by Sue Clark | Source: Lighthouse News

The entrance at the base, however, remains open for a look inside, but no one can climb the tower of Michigan’s oldest lighthouse. It’s definitely not a case of the museum falling down on the job, though. The money is there in the form of a grant, waiting, unfortunately, for the GSA to get off its rear and transfer the lighthouse to the museum officially.

But it’s not totally the fault of the GSA. The Environmental Protection Agency is mostly at fault here.

Sue Clark boils it down to the bottom line at the Lighthouse News >>

Source: The Bay City Times

There are still a few days left to see the exhibit ”Great Lakes Titanics: Shipwrecks on the Inland Seas” at the Herbert D. Doan Midland County History Center.

Artifacts, photographs and information about shipwrecks on the Great Lakes will be featured, including that of the Edmund Fitzgerald, in which 29 men perished during a storm on Lake Superior in November of 1975. In addition, visitors can learn about diving and recent shipwreck dives and about the U.S. Life Saving Service, the forerunner of today’s Coast Guard.

The exhibit may be viewed through Sunday. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 1-5 p.m. Sunday. The History Center is at 3417 W. Main St. in Midland. Admission is $5 for adults and $3 for children. For more information, call (800) 523-7649, (989) 631-8250, or log on to www.mcfta.org.

by Jordan Press | Source: Kingston Whig-Standard

Kenn Feigelman and his team of underwater filmmakers planned to spend the summer documenting on film all the known wrecks in the waters around Kingston.

They also hoped to find a new wreck.

They didn’t expect to find four old ships, including one that likely hasn’t been seen for nearly 200 years, along with a debris field of other ships near the city.

One wreck was previously found then lost. The wreck, a large hulk sitting on the bottom of the lake, is believed to be HMS Montreal, a Kingston-built ship that was scuttled after the War of 1812, said Feigelman, who runs DeepQuest2 Expeditions.

“This isn’t just Kingston history, this is North American history,” Feigelman said, referring to the warships his crew stumbled upon.

… The location of the find is being kept a secret. Parks Canada will be made aware of the location of the wrecks, but finds of this nature are kept secret to ensure nobody steals from or damages the remains, Feigelman said.

“We don’t want people to do souvenir hunting,” Feigelman said.

… Among these ships are several from the War of 1812, some of which researchers have been seeking for years. Feigelman said the large ship found this month is believed to be HMS Montreal.

During the war, the British ordered ships built in Kingston to counter the American fleet being built at Sackets Harbor, N. Y., on the south side of Lake Ontario. The Montreal was built in Kingston and launched in 1813.

Originally, she was named after Sir George Provost, the British governor-general who ordered her built. After launching, she was renamed HMS Wolfe and later HMS Montreal in January 1814.

HMS Montreal took part in several battles, including the raid and capture of the fort at Oswego, N. Y.

Read the full story, background of area and hopes of team at the Kingston Whig-Standard >>

Michael Folsom | Source: The Ship Watcher

This afternoon I was greeted at my work mailbox by a package from the fine folks at Canada Steamship Lines.

Again like a kid in the candy shop I wanted to jump for joy.

Check out Michael’s haul at The Ship Watcher >>

Related:

• Coast Guard Days: Port Huron says thank you - Times Herald
• Port Huron celebrates the Coast Guard - Times Herald

By BOB GROSS | Source: Times Herald

On Saturday, residents and visitors watched the U.S. Coast Guard demonstrate a helicopter rescue — not once, but twice — in the St. Clair River near the Great Lakes Maritime Center at Vantage Point.

They also toured the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Bramble Museum at the Seaway Terminal as well as the Bramble’s replacement, the USCGC Hollyhock; the U.S. Navy Sea Cadets vessel, the Gray Fox; and the Huron Lightship at Pine Grove Park.

The U.S. Coast Guard Station at Omar Street also was open for tours.

Awesome pictures of Dolphin Helicopter rescue demonstration with this story at the Times Herald >>

By BOB GROSS | Source: The Times Herald

[T]ourists and visitors no longer can climb the 86 feet to the top of the Fort Gratiot Lighthouse.

The lighthouse tower, which was built in 1829 and increased to its present height in 1861, was declared off limits to the public by the U.S. Coast Guard on Friday because of “deteriorating brickwork, falling debris and questionable structural integrity.”

The lighthouse was supposed to be one of the centerpieces of Port Huron Coast Guard Days, which started Friday evening and continue through Sunday.

Visitors instead were greeted Friday by bright orange safety fencing keeping them away from the tower.

By LARRY OAKES | Source: Minneapolis Star Tribune

Somewhere down below, hidden in 500 feet of water, lay the wreckage of the Sunbeam, a wooden sidewheeler that sank with at least 25 passengers in 1863.

Jerry Eliason, Kraig Smith and two friends are determined to find it. They are a rare breed: Adventurers who spend much of their spare time and money searching for the shipwrecks that litter the bottom of Lake Superior.

‘There are only about 50 serious wreck hunters on the whole Great Lakes, and those guys on western Lake Superior are in the top five,” said Brendon Baillod, a maritime historian who runs www.ship-wrecks.net, a Great Lakes shipwreck research website.

About 100 Lake Superior shipwrecks remain unaccounted for, while the locations of more than 200 other submerged wrecks are known.

Eliason, Smith, and their friends Ken Merryman and Randy Beebe already have discovered eight of the lake’s long-lost wrecks.

Much more to this story, video at the Minneapolis Star Tribune >>

Source: USCG

TOLEDO — The Coast Guard Investigative Service is investigating a report of vandalism to the Toledo Harbor Lighthouse after damage was discovered on Tuesday at approximately 2 p.m.

The specific date of damage to the lighthouse is unknown.

Coast Guard Station Toledo personnel were conducting routine maintenance when they discovered the damage.  Station personnel reported stolen tools, burned papers, pulled electrical wiring and damage to an urn containing the remains of a former Station Toledo mascot.

Toledo Harbor Light is functioning properly.

Damage or the attempt to damage a navigational aid can result in a fine up to $250,000, up to 10 years imprisonment, or both.

Anyone with information on the vandalization of the lighthouse is requested to contact the Coast Guard Investigative Service at (586) 239-6759.

Yahoo Video (click to view) hosts a nearly 7-minute ABC News Law & Justice Webcast about the discovery and location of the possible Griffon shipwreck; excellent quality, and shows footage from recent trip over wreck site. Story includes in-person interviews with Door County residents involved in the exploration, as well as an interview with Steve Libert about the current court order to divulge the wreck’s location.

View video here

Based on video shots provided in the news piece, it appears that the wreck is likely not far into Michigan waters, north of Washington and Rock Islands, south of St. Martin Island. They are three in a series of many islands which form a chain from Wisconsin’s Door County to the U.P.’s Garden Peninsula.