Boatnerd Discussion Forum

Thank you everyone for the helpful information. Here is the completed Smith painting...

Thank you!

Guest wrote: March 4, 2025, 6:51 am

Guest Jon Paul wrote: November 13, 2024, 7:01 am I wrote a book on the collision and can supply that information to you on the Smith's final trip.

I was reading "Collision Under the Bridge" and read that when the Smith left the Maumee river and went full ahead, she was heading for the black and white Maumee Bay junction buoy. Where would that buoy be in reference to the Toledo Harbor Lighthouse and would the Smith have had to pass the light?

Lighthouse circled in orange, junction buoy in red:

Guest Jon Paul wrote: November 13, 2024, 7:01 am I wrote a book on the collision and can supply that information to you on the Smith's final trip.

I was reading "Collision Under the Bridge" and read that when the Smith left the Maumee river and went full ahead, she was heading for the black and white Maumee Bay junction buoy. Where would that buoy be in reference to the Toledo Harbor Lighthouse and would the Smith have had to pass the light?

Guest wrote: November 13, 2024, 7:26 pm I did reference Collision Under The Bridge, however the library I went to only had one copy and wouldn't let me check it out and I was short on time. Great cover art and good pics. I'm a reservist in the Coast Guard and stationed at Port Huron and wanted to paint the ship to go next to a photo of the wreck we have at our entrance. I also have one of her lifeboat oars.

20240818_223015.jpg

Collision Under The Bridge has been out of print since 2008. I had thought about doing another printing but not sure it's worth the time, dollars or effort. My late brother was stationed at CG St. Clair Flats and called our home in Flint right after the sinking and Dad and I were at the scene shortly after daybreak.
I was 16 at the time and my father and I took over 200 photos of the salvage which where instrumental in writing our book.
Paul LaMare Jr was gracious enough to paint the cover art and our good friend Skip Gilham helped my brother and me find a publisher.
I have a life ring and life vest from the sinking.

Years ago I attended a presentation in St Clair entitled “The Sinking and Salvaging of the Sydney Smith”. One of the speakers was the on-watch wheelsman aboard the PARKER EVANS, which was involved in the collision. Others who spoke were USCG, USACE and the Captain of the Port Huron Pilot Assoc. boat that plucked everyone out of the water. Later if I recall there was a video produced of that presentation.

Guest wrote: November 13, 2024, 9:22 pm I was a deck watch on the August Ziesing with USS/GLF that season. We were the 1st or 2nd boat they allowed to come down from the Lake Huron anchorage after the mishap. There's some home video out there somewhere of us slowly going by the Smith. We all stood on deck and we're silent, it was really a sad thing to see it sunk laying on its side. And the eventual start of 1 way traffic thru there. Back then there were more boats and we had to check down a lot above and below because of it.

I believe I've seen the home video if it's the one on youtube. Thank you for sharing that. I watch the freighters every time I'm at the station and I'm amazed how they navigate that turn . I can't imagine how you guys did that before the wreck nor going around it

Guest Jon Paul wrote: November 13, 2024, 7:01 am I wrote a book on the collision and can supply that information to you on the Smith's final trip.

I'd appreciate that! I'd really like to know the time frame she would have went through Detroit and Lake St. Clair. The time I had at the library was short and I had to skim the pages of your book, but I did find some pictures to reference that i hadnt seen before and some useful information from a few pages.

Guest wrote: November 13, 2024, 7:13 pm I was trying to find out about what time she would have went through Detroit and up Lake St. Clair

Toledo would have been on Daylight Saving Time while Michigan was on Standard Time. It departed Toledo at 0945 Eastern Standard Time on Sunday and the collision occurred at 0145 EST Monday, so the journey from Toledo to the wreck site would have taken 16 hours. Reported weather at the time of the wreck was clear skies, unlimited visibility, darkness, calm seas, wind light and variable. Unfortunately, the local papers weren't reporting vessel passage times at Detroit in those days, so you might have to estimate that it was mid to late afternoon as it entered Lake St Clair? Attached is the forecast for Detroit for Sunday, June 4th.

"Guest"'s post about home video of the August Ziesing passing by sparked a recollection of something that i've been curious about for a while. Back in the early 1980s the Lake Superior Marine Museum Association briefly had a Twin Cities chapter that met monthly down in the cities. At one of the meetings we watched a documentary on the Sydney E Smith incident. As I recall it had lots of footage of numerous boats of the era passing by during the salvage including one shot that some people present thought was the Fitzgerald going by. (Inconclusive discussion. :) :) )

As I recall it was a genuine documentary, about 30 minutes long, on 16mm film, so not just home movie super 8 footage. Unfortunately I don't remember the name of the film and have never been able to find anything on-line about this documentary. Just wondering if anyone out there knows the name of where/if it is available anywhere. Thanks.
--Ray--

I was a deck watch on the August Ziesing with USS/GLF that season. We were the 1st or 2nd boat they allowed to come down from the Lake Huron anchorage after the mishap. There's some home video out there somewhere of us slowly going by the Smith. We all stood on deck and we're silent, it was really a sad thing to see it sunk laying on its side. And the eventual start of 1 way traffic thru there. Back then there were more boats and we had to check down a lot above and below because of it.

I did reference Collision Under The Bridge, however the library I went to only had one copy and wouldn't let me check it out and I was short on time. Great cover art and good pics. I'm a reservist in the Coast Guard and stationed at Port Huron and wanted to paint the ship to go next to a photo of the wreck we have at our entrance. I also have one of her lifeboat oars.

I was trying to find out about what time she would have went through Detroit and up Lake St. Clair

Find a copy of the excellent book Collision Under the Bridge by Jon Paul Michaels and his brother, (the late USCG LCDR) Brenton Michaels. Jon Paul is a frequent poster here in the forum. Brent posted as “Chief.” Lots of good info in the book.

The SIDNEY E. SMITH departed Toledo, Ohio, at 1045 on Sunday, 4 June 1972, bound for Lime Island, Michigan, with a partial coal cargo of 6,646 tons. How far back did you want to go?

Sidney E. Smith, Jr. left Toledo at 10:45 AM, 4 June 1972, with 6646 tons of coal for delivery to Lime Island, Michigan. It was its first trip above Detroit for Erie Sand Steamship Company. It operated primarily between the Kellstone plant on Kelleys Island and Lake Erie and Ontario ports.

I wrote a book on the collision and can supply that information to you on the Smith's final trip.

Hoping someone can help. I'm currently working on a painting of the Sidney E. Smith Jr and was wondering if there was any log information of her voyage prior to the collision.