Boatnerd Discussion Forum

RogerKYS wrote:And you will, sometime this fall in the Detroit Marine Historian. Bill has written an excellent piece for us.

I will be looking forward to it!

And you will, sometime this fall in the Detroit Marine Historian. Bill has written an excellent piece for us.

RogerKYS wrote:Bill, the Marine Historical Society of Detroit would be very interested in publishing a story about these vessels should you be inclined to write one. Roger

As a member of this Society and author of Great Lakes shipping books, I too would be interested in reading your story about these vessels.

My photos show that Emmett J. Carey and F. M. Osborne were scrapped May-June 2016 at the north end of the old Diamond Alkalai Stone Dock in Fairport.

EPA had stopped sand dredging, rendering these boats unusable.

Yes, the Carey was scrapped in Fairport, I believe around 2016, along with the F. M. Osborne, at the north end of the old Diamond Alkalai Stone Dock, next to the old Fairport ship repair slip.

I have pix and some video of the process, haven't had time to post on Youtube yet.

If I recall correctly, wasn't the Carey scrapped in 2016?

I believe this sale did take place in late 1987 as the dock location at which the Lyons was taken in the Lake Log Chips Report in December of that year is the same as the one Erie Builders Concrete had leased from the Erie Western Pennsylvania Port Authority in March of 1987. The information on the dock comes from an unsuccessful lawsuit brought forth by Erie Builders and Presque Isle Sand & Gravel Inc. in 1989.

It looks like the Lyons was towed to Erie in November of 1987 for repairs following a fire at Lorain earlier that fall. A snippet in Lake Log Chips relates the person that sent in the report of its arrival heard that the Lyons was to be put into service for Erie Builders Supply. Did the sale actually take place in late 1987?

From looking at some contemporary marine journals it looks like the renaming of the Lyons to Emmet J. Carey was an on again off again proposition during the early part of 1988. With some reports of it being renamed later retracted before finally being renamed later in the season.

Bill, the Marine Historical Society of Detroit would be very interested in publishing a story about these vessels should you be inclined to write one. Roger

Back when Capt. Jack Lyons and his brother owned the vessel, there were some interesting stories about the ship. On that I had heard had to do with the vessel rolling over and was being towed to Toledo to be set upright and while in tow, either Jack or his brother were seen painting the ships bottom with a bucket of paint and a roller. Now, I don't know if any of that was true or not but knowing Captain Jack as I did, I can believe it being possible..

Erie Builders Concrete Company was the vessel's owner through its subsidiary, Presque Isle Sand and Gravel, Inc. In summer 1988 it appears EBCC obtained the Lyons to dredge a proposed slip at Tom Monaghan's "Domino's" resort at Drummond Island, but that never got anywhere. I think it sailed only sporadically in 1989. That year the Erie-Western Pennsylvania Port Authority refused to renew the firm's lease. EBCC appealed to the courts and lost twice, and went into bankruptcy. The now Emmett J. Carey was sold at auction along with the other equipment associated with the dock in August 1989, I assume the vessel going to Osborne.

I started writing an article about these two vessels over a year ago but stopped, doubting there is much interest in them today, although they lived very interesting lives.

Does anyone know when the Emmet J. Carey (formerly James B. Lyons) made its first trip for Presque Sand & Gravel Inc.? The BGSU shows that that firm owned the ship from 1988 to 1990, but I believe it was sold to Osborne Material in late 1989. To make matters more confusing, the Telescope printed by the GLMI says it was owned by the Erie Builders and Concrete Company.