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  1. #1

    Lessee, GPS, nope; Loran, nope; Radar and Compass

    So I am a lowly, lowly deckhand (called a Deckwatch) on a 710' Ore Boat, owned by the long ago defunct Reiss Lines. This is about 1966, and she was actually one of the biggest ore boats on the Great Lakes. But olde, and very spartan. Lots of steel decks, in the cabin, and hand turned valves to the cabin's steam heaters. AC you ask- what's that? And no fans or air circulation. That's what port holes are for, since the cabins were forward as this was an old Pilot House forward boat.

    We had runs on Lake Meeechigan (for you UofM fans), and Huron, making Zug Island (can you say Taconite), Burns Harbor and down the Cuyahoga River into Cleveland (backwards, stern first, with help of a tug. There was no turning basin). Now for anyone who thinks there is major pollution today, the Cayahoga looked just like the oil from your oil pan, during an oil change, but not as dark as Diesel oil. The Cayahoga caught fire (true) 2 or 3 times that year, and had to be extinguished by the Fire Dept. in Cleveland. (also true).

    She was not in the best of condition and we lost our propeller pitch control under the Mackinaw Bridge, and had to drop anchor for a day. The prop hydraulics had to be repaired, so that we could make way!

    So to the story. We are headed into Drummond Island, one very clear, starry, cold Spring night, about 4:00am. This is in northern Lake Huron. I and another deckhand are "getting the boat ready", which meant getting steam out to the steam-powered deck engines that pulled the mooring cables for moving the boat at the dock, during loading. We had been converted to a Self Unloader, and were no longer a "Straight Decker". But we still had hatches with hand closed clamps. Wears out glove in a hurry turning the clamps! And in general, set up lines, etc. Since we were to take on a load, the hatches had all been pulled back, earlier out in the lake. It was flat calm, and there was not movement or rocking of the boat.

    So as we are working, I feel the deck move slightly, very imperceptibly, like the furnace coming on in a house; you normally feel no movement in those boats. To this day, I don't why, but I whispered to the other hand, "we didn't just run aground did we?". Maybe I was afraid a Mate would hear me and chew me out for thinking such a thing. He replies, "No, that's not possible. We're in the middle of the lake!"

    Well, I was young, very athletic, in those days (1,000 years ago), so I sprinted up the deck from aft, to the Fore-deck. I arrive at the Fore-deck, just below the Pilot House, where I usually stood a watch in the rivers. I look below, I look left, I look right. Nice big 6" dia rocks on a beach, in both directions. We had run full aground onto a Drummond Island beach!! It was shallow enough and we were running "in ballast", i.e. no load, only water in ballast tanks, that we did not bottom out, until fully up on the beach.

    By now, two of the Mates are down in the hold, up at the bow, inspecting the damage, if any. I can hear them yelling at each other. Remember the old Sailors remarks "Stop Yelling at Me"; "I'm Not Yelling". Well, I would say their voices were raised.

    In a couple hours, they have called into HQ in Cleveland, reported minimal, if any damage, since, we were ghosting along very slowly, "BECAUSE THEY THOUGHT THEY WERE ENTERING THE HARBOR". Nope, that's a beach, Matey. We were approved to proceed, pumped out our ballast tanks, floated free and silently, slowly, backed off the beach. We then proceeded up the lake a mile or so, to the Harbor and tied up.

    Interesting aspect is, as a Deckhand, I went down to the dock to catch lines and tie up. How did you do that, you ask? You climbed into a "chair", which was a 1.5" thick board, sitting in a sling. They swung out an arm, with you and the chair hanging there, and they manually lowered you down. You better have friends up there. Here's the humor. Watch any Youtube of a modern 1,000 Footer Ore Boat, and how does the Deckhand do down to the dock? You got it. On a board in a sling, lowered from an arm. Too funny- modern times; not so much.

    Final funny story. I stood Lookout on the bow, heading down Lk Huron, into the St. Clair River. It was bitter cold, ice banging on the hull (this is March), and you could not wear enough clothes to keep the biting cold out. I kept kicking around these frozen "cigar butts", under foot. Or so I thought. One day I spot the Captain walking his dog. You guessed it- up on the Foredeck- cigar butts? I don't think so.

    At any rate, why you ask, didn't we use GPS or LORAN, as Aids to Navigation, and go directly to the harbor. Well Dear Friends, there was no GPS, or for that matter LORAN, in 1966. LORAN did not come out until a couple years after the sinking of the Fitzgerald!! GPS was much later and the US DoD did not approve highly accurate GPS, until years later, after it first came out.

    So Radar is all we had and didn't seem to use that! Why it was not used, I do not know. I think we went towards and right up to a house on the beach with colored lights, Red and Green. We dead reckoned all the way!! Don't need no stinking Radar (or compass)!!
    Last edited by spartonboat1; 11-12-2021 at 01:51 PM. Reason: update
    50 Years on the Great Lakes...

  2. #2

    Re: Lessee, GPS, nope; Loran, nope; Radar and Compass

    thanks for the great stories.
    back in that timeframe my uncle worked the moran tugs in ny harbor.
    my grandfather (my father didnt like boats) used to drive me to so some pier that had broken boards all over the place
    and the tug would pull up and pick me up. i remember sitting under the bow pad (made of rope back then) looking up at the wheelhouse as the splash came over the top.
    pretty cool adventure for a kid.
    Jim


    SALTY
    1973 38' AFT CABIN

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