Fogbow

The Michipicoten is expected to undergo permanent repairs ...

Foggy wrote: ↑Thu Jun 20, 2024 10:08 am

The Michipicoten is expected to undergo permanent repairs ...

Excellent. She's not gonna be scrapped.

A very heavy piece of Great Lakes shipping history relocates back to Sturgeon Bay

Anchors are raised (weighed - Ed.) and anchors are dropped around Door County all summer long, but this anchor raising (weighing) and dropping holds more significance than usual.

That's because it's the historic 1,000-pound anchor from the Oak Leaf, a schooner-turned-barge that had a career of at least 54 years in the Great Lakes shipping industry before it sank off Bullhead Point in Sturgeon Bay in 1928. The anchor is being moved from its previous place of display outside the Eagle Bluff Lighthouse museum in Peninsula State Park to Bullhead Point, a small spit of land jutting into the Sturgeon Bay channel which is now on the National Register of Historic Places as an Historical and Archaeological District.

The Oak Leaf was built as a three-masted, 130-foot-long schooner in 1866 in Cleveland and carried bulk commodities such as grain, lumber and coal across the Great Lakes. It went through several owners, which its listing on the Wisconsin Shipwrecks website says is typical of commercial ships of the day, and conversion to a barge in 1891 that added 30 feet to its length before the Sturgeon Bay Stone Co. bought the vessel in 1906, after which the historical society said it played a significant role in the local stone industry.

The Oak Leaf was abandoned at Sturgeon Bay Stone Co.'s Bullhead Point wharf in 1928, along with stone company barges Ida Corning and Empire State, but the Wisconsin Shipwrecks site says it's not clear when the Oak Leaf went out of service. The site notes the last time it was mentioned as a working stone barge by the Door County Advocate was in 1920, a time when the newspaper frequently reported on the comings and goings of local working ships.

Foggy wrote: ↑Fri Jul 26, 2024 5:31 pm So is the Michi back in service? That would be pretty cool.

One Rand ship caught fire in Lake Erie in May 2023 and then burned again while docked in Ashtabula, Ohio, in March.

Two weeks later, another Rand vessel hit a navigational aid near Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., shutting down traffic in a vital shipping artery for 40 hours. Yet another Rand ship grounded near Detroit in November.

The U.S. Coast Guard deemed two other groundings by Rand ships in the past two years as “serious marine incidents.” And last summer, a Rand-owned ship leaked 1,500 gallons of diesel fuel into Lake Michigan after a hull breach in a fuel tank.

“That is a lot of incidents in a short time,” said Roger LeLievre, president of the Marine Historical Society of Detroit and publisher of “Know Your Ships,” an annual Great Lakes shipping guide.

northland10 wrote: ↑Fri Jul 26, 2024 7:12 pm ... publisher of “Know Your Ships,” an annual Great Lakes shipping guide.

The vessels that appear in Know Your Ships show the powerful economic engine of Great Lakes shipping. The book also explains how saltwater vessels sail across the oceans directly into the heart of North America. Recently, we have focused on an important aspect of industry that is just as important as the ships - our people. Hardworking men and women make our industry go, and we’ve barely scratched the surface.

Foggy wrote: ↑Fri Jul 26, 2024 7:58 pm


Whoa, the guide is only $19.95, or ... y'know ... $89.99 Canadian.


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northland10 wrote: ↑Fri Jul 26, 2024 6:50 pm

Foggy wrote: ↑Fri Jul 26, 2024 5:31 pm So is the Michi back in service? That would be pretty cool.

The latest word is she failed her inspection and may be scrapped.

A section of the St. Lawrence Seaway remained blocked Friday morning after a cargo ship ran aground south of Montreal.

Seaway officials say the incident happened Thursday evening, obstructing traffic along the water system near the Mohawk territory of Kahnawake.

The Heemskerkgraacht, originally from the Netherlands, was on its way to a port city in Spain when it stalled.

The Dutch vessel carrying scrap metal was coming in to perform a U-turn when it lost power causing an engine blackout, according to officials. Crews then dropped a bow anchor, leading the stern to hit the ground.

Officials say the source of the problem remains unknown but engineers on board are working on finding a fix.