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9. Ship of the M onth - cont'd. "Capt. Roen wa n t e d the salvage job of the SINA L O A ver y much, but so did the Canadians, Earl M c Q u e e n and Tom Reid, both of whom had made names for t h e m selves in ship salvaging. However, whe n we learn ed that the C a n adians were trying to get the job, we got off a te legram of protest to the S e c r e t a r y of Commerce and also en listed the aid of Senator Wil ey on our behalf, as Lake M i c h i g a n is the one of the Great Lakes whe re C a nadians are not per m i t t e d to engage in salvage op er ations if A m e r i c a n conc er ns are co mpetent and a v a i l able to d o the work. Roen St e a m s h i p Comp a n y got the job N o v ember 30, 1940, under a "no cure - no pay" cont ra ct for $ 5 7 , 000 if raised and d e l i v e r e d to the shipyard at Mani to wo c, or in lieu thereof, the Own er s could turn over the ves sel to Roen St eamship C o m p a n y in full payment. "As soon as the contr ac t was signed, Capt. Roen com m e n c e d pre p a r i n g the (barge and former Detro it River c a r ferry - E d . ) TR A N S P O R T for the job, as her large flat deck and hea vy cranes w ould be of great value. W r e c k i n g gear, i n c lud in g large steam pumps, diving equipment, timbers and extra men and s u p plies were quic k l y a s s embled and put on the TRANSP O R T ' S deck, and on the m o r n i n g of Decem b e r 2, 1940, the tug J OHN ROEN, with the TR A N S P O R T in tow, d e p a r t e d S t u rgeon Bay. "When the equipment got to Sac Bay, the fo rward deck of the SI NALOA was s u b merged. The T R A N S P O R T and steam tug were able to get b e t w e e n the SINA L O A and shore. The TR A N S P O R T tied up to the SINALOA, and remo ve d the SINA LO A' s s e l f u n l o a d i n g boom, which was in the wa y for digg i n g out of her cargo hold, and the crew of the T R A NSPORT took the hat ch covers off the SINALOA. In the meantime, Capt. Roen had sent for the Str. FRED W. GREEN (a 1918 -b ui lt World War One 'laker', [a] C R A Y C R O FT [27] - E d . ), Capt. Ole J a c o b s e n in charge, w hi ch soon arrived, tied up on the ou tboard side of the wreck, and u s i n g her c lam sh ell buckets, dug as m uch sand out of the SINA L O A as she could wit ho ut h ers e l f getting on the bottom. This was perh ap s 2 , 000 tons, and was (taken out) for the purpo se of l ightening the st randed vessel. "Since several of the SINA LO A' s forwa rd hatch es were submerged, Capt. Roen had Matt Overvog, an exc el le nt ca rpenter as well as sailor, take m e a s u r e m en ts for c o n s t r u c t i o n of w o o d e n co ff erdams whi ch were needed to put aro un d those hatch openin gs which were submerged. Cap sent Matt on the TRA N S P O R T over to Escanab a wit h the steam tug to get the co ff erdams built, but when they got over to Escanaba, Matt had lost the paper wit h the d imensions on it so they had to send him back on the steam tug to take the m e a s u r e m e n t s over again. "In the meantime, Roen St eamship en gineers were busy on the SINALOA. There was no water in her boiler room, and they soon got the bo ilers going to provide steam for the large steam w r e c k i n g pumps. Whe n the TRA N S P O R T got back with the cofferdams, they were fa stened to the s u b merged for wa rd deck of the SINALOA, u sing divers. Then the pumps were set up and started. Since the GREEN had taken off about 2, 000 tons of the 6 , 000 ton cargo, the T R A N S PORT also u n l o a d e d some of it. The part she u n l o a d e d she threw into the w a ter. The part the G REEN unloaded, she bro ug ht to Sturg e o n Bay and u n l o a d e d on the quarry dock, along wi th the SI NALOA's boom, w h i c h she had taken off the TRANSPORT. "The bow of the SINA L O A came up after the boilers got going good (sic), and the steam tug (JOHN ROEN) and JOHN ROEN JR. pulled her off the strand. By that time, there was a good deal of ice around her. Som e t h i n g almost i m m e d i ately went wr ong with the boilers on the SINALOA, so the steam tug had to go alon gs id e and hook into the pumps' steam lines to provide steam until the S IN ALO A's boilers were again in operation. "They got most of the water out of the SINA L O A and she p r oceeded for S t u r geon Bay in tow of the JOHN ROEN and JOHN ROEN JR., with the T R A NSPOR T trail ing be hin d the SINALOA. The tugs acc i d e n t a l l y ran the SINA L O A on a sand bar w h i c h is a little north of the old stone quarry at Sturgeon Bay. More sand was taken out of the SINALOA wi th the TRAN SPORT in order to get her up to the qu a r r y dock.