Boatnerd Discussion Forum

Barry wrote:How many crew work on a vessel such as the Burns harbor?
Thanks.

Barry, when I was on Interlake's Footer, MV.James R. Barker in 2004, we had a crew of 18. Much of this was due to the work of Her Late Captain, Joseph Buonocore. Even with that small a crew, morale remained high. One way of reducing crew size was to have deckhands and A.B.s on overtime working as Gatemen and Conveyormen in unloading ports.
Although it seems counterintuitive, the larger ships can get by with smaller crews than the 620 to 702 footers. Larger ships generally take longer trips and dock in well-developed ports (Indiana Harbor, Gary, Burns Harbor, Recors Bend, Conneaut. Duluth, Superior, Two Harbors, Reserve, Silver Bay), thus no need to haul cable by workboats, and the Deckhands and A.B.s have it relatively easy. Thus, they can work the tunnels when unloading.

A river sized self unloading frieghter can run with fewer- around 17 crewmembers

from the historical perspective page on the Bradley, it carried a crew of 36 at the time it sank. There were 2 survivors.

Crew size was larger for a laker in the past.

32 in 1940 for the William B. Davock

33 in 1958 for the Carl D. Bradley

29 in 1966 for the Daniel J. Morell

29 in 1975 for the Edmund Fitzgerald

All lost but for one. God Bless You, Mr. Hale.

Hope you get a reply from somebody who has sailed the Burns Harbor. I am forwarding information from previous posts. Paul Tregurtha is 1,013 feet long and 105 feet wide. It's the largest ship on the Great Lakes, with only a 21-man crew.

Freighters have a crew of 21 - 25 whereas a tug/barge has a crew of 15 +/-.

How many crew work on a vessel such as the Burns harbor?

Thanks.