Boatnerd Discussion Forum

The answer to both questions, the formation of Canada Interlake Line, Ltd.., and the preference for British shipbuilders to supply Canadian shipping, revolves primarily around one economic concept: scales of economy. Norcross's experience as master and manager proved to him that a large fleet of ...

"Year Unknown" for the plight of the barge John F. Ritchie discussed in the Great Lakes and Seaway History section today is 1871.

I did a search this evening, and saw that Mac Mackay had a notice posted to his blog on December 8, 2025 about having computer woes, and that Shipfax would be offline until further notice

I saw that, too, when first posted, but the complete lack of any status updates in the months since is ...

I've been scanning the Halifax newspapers the past few months and nothing has been said about Mr. Mackay, nor, as you have probably discovered, anything on Google or his FB page. I suppose that is a positive sign, though not necessarily a good sign.

Can anyone explain why the Norwegian tanker Prime has been sitting in the DeTour anchorage for a week? It's being used to ship CaCl east from Ludington, so that seems to be a strange place for it, and especially to remain there for that long.

In today's history section the tanker Wilhelmine is cited as having grounded near Port Colborne on this date. The year was 1934, not 1933. The Essberger interests of Hamburg purchased the elderly vessel 25 September 1933 specifically to haul liquified lard rendered at the Chicago stockyards to ...

Of little significance, but today's history page states "[t]he 71-foot tug and patrol boat CARTER H. HARRISON was launched at Chicago, Illinois, for the City of Chicago Police Department." The vessel was launched from slip A, near the Illinois Central elevators on the south bank of the Chicago River ...

On 12 December 1941 Roosevelt issued Executive Order EO 8976, "Authorizing the Secretary of Commerce To Waive Compliance With the Navigation and Vessel Inspection Laws for War Purposes," which also put the Jone Act in abeyance for the duration. During the war this allowed Canadian lake vessels to ...

The vessel shown on today's history page is Pere Marquette 6, the former steam barge Mark B. Covell. Attached is Pere Marquette 4, the former F & PM No. 4.

Yes. Grand Trunk sold Grand Haven to the West Indies Fruit & Steamship Company on 16 September 1945 for around $100000. It had been idle since 1930 at Manitowoc except for a short stint in 1937, and the fleet's smallest carrier. After numerous delays the vessel left Port Everglades on its first trip ...

Did the Carol have General Electric steam turbines?

Yes, 9350-shp.

The last vestige of South Chicago steelmaking is the former Acme Steel sheet rolling plant at "Acme Bend" on the Little Calumet just west of the old Chicago Regional Port District facility on south Lake Calumet, once part of Interlake Iron Company, later owned by ISG, Arcelor/Mittel, and now ...

Speaking of Tugfax, Mr McKay hasn’t posted in a while. Hope he is well.

This recently appeared on LiveJournal under Shipfax. Mr. Mackay has had computer problems before posting from his remote Québec vacation home. I assume this is related, and applies to Tugfax, as well.

Out of curiosity, was Dwight Boyer any relation to Willis B. Boyer, onetime name of the Toledo museum ship?

No. Willis Boyer, a Pennsylvania native, was a longtime Republic Steel executive who ended his career as president, then CEO, and finally chair of Republic Steel, all positions that ...

Mr. Boyer died 15 October 1977. Here is an extensive obituary from the Cleveland Plain Dealer, 16 October 1977. I have never seen a reference to a dog in contemporary press reports of the loss of Kamloops.

Max Hanley specialized in carferries, rather than the auto carriers. The Ludington native passed away in 2022. The book already cited, Autos on the Water by Lawrence Brough, is a fairly good overview of the trade, the focus on Nicholson and McCarthy for obvious reasons. There was a copy available on ...

Indiana Harbor had a close encounter of the embarrassing kind with the Lansing Shoal lighthouse 8 September 1993 that culminated in $1.96 million in damages, blame placed on a third mate. Is that the incident?

Unfortunately I have not found any pictures online of the near capsizing.

From the Ludington Daily News article I posted earlier.

The Ludington Fire Department pumped about 200000 gallons of water out of its engine room. I'm not sure how close to "capsizing" it really was. From the Ludington Daily News, 30 January 1987:

The Virginia Steamship Company, Mentor, Ohio, was incorporated 9 June 1909 at Columbus with a capitalization of $150000, incorporators being J. S. Ashley, Robert L. Ireland, Samuel Folsom, and William D. Crawford, for the purpose of owning and operating the Isaac M. Scott , which you will note was ...