Boatnerd Discussion Forum

I served on the Pittsburgh Steamship, Enders Vorhees (1942 - AA - 639') for the 1966 season. The last weeks of that year were most exciting weatherwise. On November 29th we were northbound on Lake Huron within a few dozen miles of the Morrell when she broke up. It was cold and we arrived in S. Chicago to unload our cargo of Labrador iron-ore, heavily iced. The the first half-dozen hatch covers were encased in ice and the deck crane winch was unusable. We usually unloaded at the mills in a few hours, but were stuck in port for two days, deicing (brutal work) and fixing the hatch crane.

I'm guessing about December 8 we were downbound on Lake Superior with a load of Mesabi ore for Conneaut, Ohio. That was another wild night, 60 mph winds from the west (that's 60 on the pilot house anemometer, plus the speed of the ship since the wind was from astern, plus the gusts, which makes it close to a hurricane?) Anyway, I remember sitting on watch in the warmth of the texas house companionway door, looking aft, watching the boat flex rather dramatically, up and down several feet, and twisting 5 or 10 degrees over the length of the main deck. The seas were running about 250' crest-to-crest.

Personally after experiencing the stresses on a straight deck ore boat, I think the Fitz suffered progressive structural failure.

We finished the season with a calm run up to Rogers City to load limestone for Lorraine, and got paid off after lay-up in Cleveland. I signed the crew list for the next shipping season, but to the great joy of my Mom, went back to college in the fall.

In 20 plus years of sailing I never had a Captain I didn't trust and respect. If I did, I wouldn't sail with him. I just read the the article above about the drunk Captain. That is the kind of guy that has no business being in command of a row boat. I heard of an incident of a Chief Engineer that had a Captain like that. They were leaving a West Coast Port when he noticed that the Captain was drunk. To resolve the situation, he refused to start the engine. The Mate called the tugs and had the vessel towed away from the dock and out to the anchorage. The Captain threatened to have the Chief fired. End result was that the Captain was fired and had his license suspended for 120 days and ordered to complete a rehab program before it would be restored.

Brent: I'm glad you had a Capt. you had confidence in as there is no bigger compliment than to hear "We sleep soundly, when your on". I mean it respectfully but just like the spokes of a wheel, less movement occurs near the base and more at the outer ends. The E/R control room is a preferred place to be, the 50 degrees at the other end of the spoke differs.

I always enjoyed a good blow on the lake. Get my coffee cup in a secure place, wrap my arm around a stanchion, and light my pipe. Watched the inclinometer swing back and forth and made bets with my oiler on how far she would roll the next time. Once she got to rolling 50 degrees, we were too busy to bet, just interested in hanging on. Those are the days I miss.

I sailed from 1970 through 1976. including 3rd mate CSL last year. was on Huron the day Fitz went down. when we heard weather forecast when rounding Cove Island light on Huron headed for Detroit. the 2:00 am weather. the captain said in response as he headed below. "good night to be in Whitefish Bay!". so it wasn't just the Fitz at that time. before and after we called it running and hiding. on occasion there could be up to 20 25 boats at anchor under lee of Whitefish. nonetheless in shelter or not. good time to reflect great not to be out there when Mother Nature is in charge!

The Canadian Progress, Canadian Transport, Candian Olympic, Algosoo, Algolake, Algoway ...2001 the Joseph L Block

The Armco was here in 2005, anchored over by Dollar Bay waiting out a storm.

We came up the length of Lake Michigan about 6-8 miles off the west shoreline on Wednesday. No troubles. Rolled a bit when crossing the "top" of the lake headed for the straits early Thursday morning.

Agreed Brent. I believe that the sinking of the Fitz was a very real "wake-up" call on the Lakes. I think a lot of Skippers lost that sense of invulerability that seem to be so prevalent. All-in-all, if anything good came of the loss of the Fitgerald, I think it was the affect it had on the thought process when it comes to taking shelter.

Before the Fitz sank, almost all the vessels that were in shelter would have sailed and thought nothing of it. Just part of fall sailing on the lakes.

largest to use the portage ship canal is the Lee A. Tregurtha.

Has anything larger than the Jackson ever been in that area?

Don't know what kind of conditions the Herbert C Jackson encountered last nite but they backed out of the Portage Lake/Canal and headed to Marquette and they been there most of the day so far.

Just wondering if anyone knows if any ships braved the storm? According to most posts it looks like everybody took shelter. Does anyone know if anyone ventured out? If so, what conditions did they encounter? Thanks. Justin