Boatnerd News – September 11, 2022

Two receive Mariner of the Year awards at Sault Ste. Marie ceremony

SAULT STE. MARIE, MI – Two men with strong ties to the Great Lakes maritime industry were honored at a Mariner of the Year awards dinner Friday night in Sault Ste. Marie.

In opening remarks, James H.I. Weakley, president of the sponsoring Lake Carriers Association, said the event was meant to turn “Great Lakes heroes into Great Lakes legends.”

Honored were Kevin E. Sprague and Paul LaMarre Jr. Sprague served as the Soo Area Engineer for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers until his recent retirement. He not only oversaw the daily operations of the Soo Locks, he managed a badly-needed asset renewal project and saw the beginning of new lock construction.

Sprague began his federal career with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Detroit District, Soo Area Office in 1992 as a member of the St. Marys River branch, performing navigation channel maintenance. In 2000 he became the Chief of the Lock Operations Branch and eventually Chief of Lock Maintenance and Lock Operations. In 2010, he was selected as Soo Area Engineer. He spent his entire federal career in support of the Great Lakes shipping industry.

As Area Engineer he was responsible for the most important navigation project in the Great Lakes and Soo Locks. He was also responsible for federal hydropower facilities and was the onsite representative for the International Joint Commission’s Lake Superior Board of Control. His effort in support of the economic study for construction of a new lock at the Soo and telling its story was crucial for its subsequent funding. He retired from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 2022, after a 30-year career at the Soo Locks.

Paul LaMarre Jr. comes from a family of Great Lakes sailors. He is a highly talented maritime artist, honored Great Lakes maritime historian and licensed tugboat captain. With more than 45 years of Great Lakes tugboat experience, he works for Detroit-based Gaelic Tugboat Co. and captains the passenger vessel Diamond Jack.

Mr. LaMarre has dedicated his life to the Great Lakes maritime industry past, present, and future. Following in the footsteps of his great uncles Frank and William Hoffman, both masters of Great Lakes freighters in the early 1900s, he has touched every aspect of the Great Lakes maritime trade and is highly regarded as an industry leader and historian.

His career began at the University of Detroit as an understudy to famed Great Lakes marine artist Fad1er Edward J. Dowling where he learned the principles of painting Great Lakes vessels in watercolor. His artistic talents would open the door to many industry friendships, the most important being that of Capt. William A. Hoey, who would introduce him to a career as the corporate treasurer of the Gaelic Tugboat Co. & Diamond Jacks River Tours. Working for Gaelic Tugboat Co. for over 45 years (1978 to present), he has also served as longtime captain of d1e MN Diamond Jack.

He was also a founding board member of Lower Lakes Towing Ltd. of Port Dover, ON which now operates one of the largest fleets on the Great Lakes.

In 2001, LaMarre was named Historian the Year by the Marine Historical Society of Detroit.

In 2013, received the International Shipmasters Detroit Lodge #7, Captain Lewis Ludington Award for his years of virtuous service. In 2015, the National Museum of the Great Lakes named LaMarre one of the Masters of Great Lakes Marine Art of the 20th Century as he has been the “industry’s artist” for over 50 years, completing commissioned works for nearly every Great Lakes fleet.

LaMarre has also inspired the next generation of Great Lakes leadership as his son Paul C. LaMarre III is a prominent industry advocate, port director and tug captain.

Plaques honoring both men will be installed in the Capt. John Wellington Marine Hall of Fame aboard the museum ship Valley Camp. The Great Lakes Hall of Fame is dedicated to the memory of those explorers, inventors, shipbuilders, sailors, and countless others who have made a contribution to the exploration and development of the Great lakes through the eras of sail, steam, and present.

Roger LeLievre

Great Lakes iron ore trade down in August

 CLEVELAND, OH – Shipments of iron ore on the Great Lakes totaled 5.1 million tons in August, a decrease of 9.1 percent compared to a year ago.  Shipments were also below the month’s 5-year average by 8.7 percent.

Year-to-date the iron ore trade stands at 24.2 million tons, a decrease of 24.5 percent compared to the same point in 2021.

Through August iron shipments are 22.5 percent below their 5-ye

ar average for eight months of the year.

Lake Carriers’ Association 

 

James Whalen tug raised from Kaministiquia River

THUNDER BAY, ON – Months after it sank at its berth along the Kaministiquia River, the historic James Whalen tugboat has been raised, though not without a notable mishap along the way.

Crews began lifting the 117-year-old boat using a heavy lift barge, cranes, pumps, and other specialized equipment on Thursday morning.

At one point in the raising of the tug Thursday, a cable attached near the front of the boat snapped, causing it to fall back into the river. The incident caused only a momentary setback, said Halvorsen. “There was a little bit of a setback this morning with the first approach at this, but then they quickly pivoted.”

Around 4 p.m., crews successfully raised the boat after another attempt, leaving it sitting upright as workers began setting up pumps.

The plan is to tow the vessel upriver to the Paterson

Dock, near the James Street Swing Bridge, on Friday – though the city cautioned that may depend on an assessment of the boat’s condition.

The boat has sat largely submerged on the river bottom since sinking on May 1.

After being raised to the surface using cranes and cables, crews used high-capacity pumps to remove water from the vessel.

The city awarded that job to LH North for $793,000. The company also contracted with Thunder Bay Tug and local outfit Big Lake Dive, which provided five divers to assist in the operation.

The need for specialized staff and equipment was one facto

r accounting for the delay in the boat’s recovery, said Cory Halvorsen, the city’s manager of parks and open spaces.

“We obviously wanted to get to this point sooner, it did take some time,” he said. “But as you can see, the amount of work and the complexity of it wasn’t conducive to just selecting someone and proceeding in a matter of weeks.”

The city has said the Whalen is expected to remain at Paterson Dock for one to two years as municipal leaders consider its future.

The Lakehead Transportation Museum has expressed interest in acquiring the vessel to house at its site near Pool 6.

TBNewsWatch