Maritime History of the Great Lakes

Scanner, v. 29, no. 7 (April 1997), p. 3

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3. Marine News - cont'd. At the time of this writing, there was good news for fans of the Inland Steel Company's 1960-built, straight-deck steamer EDWARD L. RYERSON. The ship, which was drydocked last autumn at Sturgeon Bay for survey and inspec­ tion, was scheduled to depart lay-up on April 4th, bound for Marquette to load a cargo of iron ore. We understand that the Lafarge Corporation has taken over actual ownership of two of the inactive steamers of the Inland Lakes Transportation fleet. J. B. FORD and E. M. FORD, used for cement storage at South Chicago and Sagi­ naw, respectively, have had their Inland Lakes insignia, including stack co­ lours, painted out. In addition, another steamer-turned-storage-barge, LEWIS G. HARRIMAN, is now serving St. Marys Cement at Green Bay, replacing the barge METIS, which moved last year to Windsor. In previous issues, we have mentioned the tractor tugs Z-ONE and Z-TWO, built in 1996 by Halter Marine Inc., of Lockport, Louisiana, for Tugs Inter­ national L. L. C., of Cleveland, an affiliate of the Great Lakes Towing Compa­ ny. We have learned that the 4, 400-h. p. tugs currently are working at Mobile, Alabama, under charter to Hvide Marine Inc., of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Some local observers recently were enquiring about the reported purchase by a Hamilton area engineering firm of a former Russian naval tug, and we now can give details. The tug is the 107. 6-foot RUDOKOP, built at St. Petersburg in 1958. She is powered by a 600-ihp triple expansion steam engine and is ice-strengthened. She actually was purchased in November of 1991 by Thordon International Inc., whose president is G. A. Thomson, of Burlington. Since then, the tug has been painstakingly dismantled, overhauled and restored, and then put back together, and now she is operating as a floating exhibi­ tion and test bed for Thordon's products, such as bearings, seals, and other marine components. RUDOKOP spent the summer of 1996 visiting various British ports, and she is spending the current winter in British waters. A new park on Manitoulin Island, to be named Blue Jay Creek Provincial Park, will honour the memory of the late Capt. George Hindman and his wife, Edith Blanche Hindman. The donation of 600 acres of land for the park, on the south tip of the island in the area of Michael Bay, was made by the Hind­ mans' son, Howard Hindman, and his sister, Helen Evans, both of Owen Sound. The Hindman family was long associated with the pulpwood and lake shipping industries. * * * * * SIR THOMAS SHAUGHNESSY'S NEW SMOKESTACK In our December feature on the Jenkins and Mohawk steamer SIR THOMAS SHAUGH­ NESSY, we mentioned that she received a new stack in the 1950s, but we did not mention the date nor why the new stack was fitted. Seems the registers never caught it, but the fact is that the SHAUGHNESSY was reboilered by Col­ lingwood Shipyards over the winter of 1949-1950. One of Ivan Brookes' clip­ pings, dated December 22, 1949, reported the SHAUGHNESSY's arrival at the shipyard on December 15th after sailing over from Midland, where she had unloaded a grain cargo from the Lakehead. (Thanks to Ron Beaupre for this. ) * * * * * SEAWAY LAKERS AND SALTIES 1996 The new edition of Norm Eakins' annual reference work is now available. It is 106 pages and follows generally the same format as in last year's publi­ cation, listing details of all vessels that made transits of the Montreal - Lake Ontario section of the Seaway during the year. It is priced at $19. 95 Canadian or $16. 50 U. S., including postage, and is available from Norman Eakins, P. O. Box 25010, Point Edward, Ontario N7V 4K1. * * * * *

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