Crew Safe After Radcliffe R. Latimer Engine Room Fire

SAULT STE. MARIE, MI – Algoma Central Corp.’s Radcliffe R. Latimer, which experienced an engine room fire around 11 p.m. Monday as the vessel was downbound in Whitefish Bay, remained at anchor Tuesday night.
   The engine room crew was evacuated and the vessel’s C02 system was activated to put out the fire.
   The Soo, ON-based tug Wilfred M. Cohen was dispatched to the scene and assisted the Latimer, which was without power, to safe anchorage five nautical miles southeast of Ile Parisienne. The Cohen remains on scene. There are 21 crew on the vessel and all are safe, according to U.S. Coast Guard spokesman Lt. Joseph Snyder. No pollution was observed.
   Since the incident occurred in Canadian waters aboard a Canadian-flagged vessel, Snyder said Canadian authorities are taking the lead on the investigation and are putting together a transit plan. The U.S. Coast Guard Group Soo dispatched as 45-foot response boat as a precaution, he added.
   The Latimer has a cargo of petroleum coke loaded at Superior Midwest Energy Terminal Aug. 10 and is bound for Port Daniel, Quebec.

Fednav vessel grounds in St. Lawrence River

The  cargo ship Federal Yamaska ran aground in the St. Lawrence River near Verchères, QC, Tuesday morning Authorities are not currently attributing the incident to low water levels.
   Federal Yamaska reportedly came to a standstill around 5:45 a.m. due to engine failure, according to Coast Guard information obtained by TVA Nouvelles.
   No injuries or pollution spills have been reported so far. However, in the midst of the heat wave that has been hitting Quebec since Saturday, the crew—still on board the boat and without electricity—is having to deal with particularly trying conditions.
   On Monday, Le Journal reported that the water level of the St. Lawrence River is at its lowest in 15 years. According to Environment Canada, this phenomenon is due in part to the lack of precipitation in southern Quebec for nearly a month.
   A team specializing in environmental intervention and maritime hazard management is expected to visit the site during the day to assess the situation and detect any risk of pollution. As for the refloating operation, it could take several days before the ship is freed.

TVA Nouvelles

Thunder Bay’s Dark Night:
NMGL-Great Lakes Stories  Pewabic Sinks, Aug. 9 1865

Launched only two years earlier, Pewabic was famed for its speed on the busy copper run between Cleveland and Michigan’s Keweenaw Peninsula. The ship and its south-bound sister ship, Meteor, had a standing ritual of passing close enough to exchange mail and news.
   On a calm summer evening their approach went terribly wrong: Pewabic’s wheelsman veered across Meteor’s bow. The Meteor which sliced a gash deep into Pewabic’s hull. The stricken vessel slipped beneath the waves within 30–45 minutes, six miles east of Alpena.
   Contemporary accounts put the death toll anywhere between 33 and 125, making it one of the deadliest single-ship losses in Great Lakes history and the worst ever recorded on Lake Huron.
   After the collision, the Meteor reached the Soo on August 10, 1865, and was discovered to be on fire from a leak and lime in the cargo. The fire was put out and repairs were eventually made in Detroit.
   Resting in 160-plus feet of water, the Pewabic wreck became both a gravesite and a proving ground for early deep-diving technology—salvors raised tons of copper ingots (one of which you can see in our new exhibit, Every Boat Tells Our Story) during World War I and again in the 1970s.
   Today, Pewabic is protected within NOAA’s Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary, where divers can still see its stern nearly intact and historians continue to study artifacts that illuminate Civil War-era commerce on the Inland Seas.

Cleveland Boatnerd Gathering Planned Sept. 6

Cleveland’s first annual Boatnerd get together will be at the Whiskey Island Still & Eatery in Cleveland on September 6 at noon. Join us for an informal gathering of food, fellowship and hopefully some boat watching as well. Meet your fellow area boat fans! Food will be ordered off the menu and table service provided by the staff of the restaurant, which is located adjacent to the historic C&P Dock, where the 1,000 footers unload.

Directions and info for the restaurant: https://www.whiskeyislandstillandeatery.net/

Bill Kloss

2025 Luck of the Lakes Raffle Includes Ship Trips

Your raffle ticket purchase supports the Great Lakes Historical Society and its National Museum of the Great Lakes whose mission is to preserve, share, and celebrate the past, present, and future of the Great Lakes story.
Details here:
https://nmgl.org/2025lolraffle/?fbclid=IwY2xjawMDBTFleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFZUGV4UFMxNFFGYUpPbTZ2AR5OikAHiWMuo30CZrAqM9nuK93_xmmqYBsoAerabXJ3sBlZWNxpz7mZwoLuFw_aem_1pxrUONQfReTGS4dlnAgzg

Know Your Ships EXTRA Magazine 2025 Released

When Patrick Devine found out, in the summer of 1975, that he was being moved over to the Edmund Fitzgerald as a relief deckhand he was on top on the world. He had gone from one of the oldest boats in the fleet to one of the newest and best. He was devastated when union rules forced him off that September. He had lost his dream job. Then came the sinking and its horrific aftermath. He hasn’t talked about his experience until recently, and he gave Know Your Ships an exclusive interview for the 2025 Know Your Ships EXTRA midsummer magazine, now on sale.

The magazine also includes an interview with Great Lakes top cook Sissy Payment. Find out her recipe for success and learn something surprising about her in the story.

EXTRA 2025 remembers the loss 50 years ago of the EDMUND FITZGERALD with four stories.

• EXCLUSIVE! Meet Patrick Devine, who thought he had found his dream job when he signed on to the Fitz as a relief deckhand in June 1975.
• Explore the Fitzgerald’s influence in popular culture: Music, art, literature and – yes – souvenirs.
• Did you know there were two vessels named Fitzgerald on the Great Lakes, and both were lost in November storms? And yes, their namesakes were related.
• Consider what might have been if the Fitz had not gone down.

ALSO

• Check out the Great Lakes Lore Museum at Rogers City, MI, where sailors are in the spotlight.
• Read about the William G. Mather, the ‘Ship That Built Cleveland,’ which turns 100 this year.
• Litton on the Lakes: Find out how a group of California upstarts turned the Great Lakes shipping industry upside down in the 1970s with their fancy ideas about 1,000-footers.
• Catch up with the latest Great Lakes/Seaway news.
• Enjoy even more images from readers in the ongoing series FAN-TASTIC PHOTOS.

This is the third year for the Know Your Ships EXTRA Magazine, which offers even more ship, sailor and industry stories, recent shipping news and many more of the stunning photos – current and historic – for which Know Your Ships has become known for the past 66 years. Please note that the Extra, which is a feature magazine, does not duplicate the vessel and fleet listings found in the regular Know Your Ships book.

Order at www.knowyourships.com