Maritime History of the Great Lakes

Scanner, v. 35, no. 7 (April 2003), p. 11

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11. Ship of the Month - cont'd. son, of Cleveland, had purchased the 202-foot vessel early in 1919. On Au­ gust 11th that year, the MILLS lost her bearings in fog and missed the Oswe­ go piers, grounding on Ford Shoal, some four miles west of the entrance. Despite several attempts to free her, the MILLS pounded to pieces where she lay. To this day, a marker warns boaters of the navigation hazard caused by a portion of the MILLS' boiler which lies close to the surface of the lake. It was not until the end of January, 1986, that divers could examine the hull of ROBERT KOCH for damage, Weather and ice conditions had earlier pre­ vented such an examination of the grounded wreck. Meanwhile, her owner had to resort to trucking cement from Clarkson to Buf­ falo and Oswego, until the small cement carrier PORTLAND CARRIER was brought in from the east coast to make several runs to Oswego. Her availability was restricted by her owner's own requirements, so St. Lawrence Cement chartered the salt water vessel DHAN for a number of trips out of Clarkson for Oswego. PORTLAND CARRIER, a machinery-aft, diesel-electric cement carrier was launched as FRAGUADOR in 1969 for a Spanish cement firm. The vessel was sold to Fitzennis Cement Carriers Ltd., Canada, in 1985 and was renamed PORTLAND CARRIER (C. 803734). PORTLAND CARRIER was inbound through the Seaway on April 6, 1986, for Clarkson, where she arrived on April 9th. She ran se­ veral trips to Oswego but was reported outbound from the lakes in ballast late in April, heading to Newfoundland. She was back on Lake Ontario at the end of May, running Clarkson to Oswego, but was outbound again in ballast for Newfoundland on June 11th, never to return. PORTLAND CARRIER was sold to Fantoft Cement K/S and registered in Norway in 1986; she is still trading, but under the name CEM CARRIER which she acquired in 1996. DHAN was built in 1981 in Japan by Shikoku Dockyard Co. at Takamatsu. Owned by Gulf Cement Co., her port of registry was Ras al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates. DHAN first entered the Great Lakes upbound in ballast for Clarkson in June of 1985. Her deliveries to Oswego were few. DHAN ran regularly be­ tween Clarkson and Boston from 1985 through 1987. In 1993, she was sold to the Achaiki Maritime Co. (Greece) and renamed ELEFSINA; as of last year, she was still trading as such. Meanwhile, back at Oswego, McAllister Towing and Salvage Inc. took on the task of salvaging the KOCH. The venerable tug DANIEL McALLISTER and lighter MAPLEHEATH were dispatched to Oswego. Work began on July 7th , and some 800 tons of cement were salvaged from the wreck. Strangely enough, for the first time in many years, both McAllister salvage lighters were active at the same time that July. While MAPLEHEATH was diverted from the KOCH to work on the P. & H. steamer BEECHGLEN, which had grounded on July 19th in Lake St. Francis, the Montreal-based lighter P. S. BARGE NO. 1 was brought up to Oswego to as­ sist McAllister crews with the ROBERT KOCH, which by this time had been pur­ chased by McAllister in the hope that she could be refloated. The barge eventually was freed on July 24th and was taken to Kingston the same day. ROBERT KOCH was downbound in the Seaway at Snell Lock early on July 26 in tow of the tugs DANIEL McALLISTER and HELEN M. McALLISTER. By Ju­ ly 27, the KOCH was lying at Sorel. She later was drydocked by Marine Indus­ tries Ltd., and any salvageable equipment was removed. On August 22, the KOCH was towed out of Sorel, bound for the Gondel International (Pakistan) Ltd. scrapyard at Contrecoeur, Quebec. During this time, the St. Lawrence Cement Company, in desperate need of a new snip, purchased a cement barge from Saudi Arabian owners. The AL-SAYB 7 was a self-propelled barge, 334 x 76 x 17. 8, which had been built in 1980 at Singapore. She was capable of handling 4, 800 tons of cement. Originally named BIGORANGE XVI under Panamanian registry, she was sold to Saudi Arabian interests in 1984 and renamed (b) SAYF. A year later, she was renamed (c) AL-SAYB 7. The barge was flagged Bermudan (Br. 710464) by St. Lawrence Cement and was renamed (d) CLARKSON CARRIER.

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