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Here’s a quick post to illustrate the “tantalus” part. If you know the word “tantalizing” but don’t know the origin in the Greek story of Tantalus, do take a very few minutes to read a short version here, and I mean short.
Here’s why I post this blurry photo of the 1909 (!!! yes, really) active tugboat Arkansas. I was working, as I have been since April aboard this vessel. I saw Arkansas close up, but as I said, I was working as we departed Cleveland yesterday. I wound up my task as quickly as I could, then ran for the camera.
As I hurried below for the camera, we also passed the 2018 Ohio. But I hadn’t gotten to my cabin to grab the camera. By the time I had camera in hand, Ohio was on the landside of the breakwater, and Arkansas,
well, it hurt that it was almost not worth taking the shot. feel my pain.
All photos, any errors, totality of pain, WVD. More on them here.
Today’s photos I took in the Detroit River, the River Rouge and the Cuyahoga.
For more info on each, refer to the GLtugs site for most particulars. Samuel de Champlain is from 1975.
Victory dates from 1981.
In the Rouge, I caught these three, the third might be the 1963 Ontario. I’m sure I’ll be corrected.
Pennsylvania and Wisconsin are both products of 2020.
Enduring Freedom is from 2001.
Ohio, here assisting Petite Forte out of the Cuyahoga, dates from 2018.
It’s always a joy to see the skill of Cuyahoga River mariners.
All photos, any errors, WVD.
Stewart calls this “museum tugs of the Great Lakes.”
“We start in Lake Superior, specifically Two Harbors, with Edna G., built in 1896 and assisted freighters for 80 years. [You can find previous appearances of this tug on this blog here. ]
Next we go to Sturgeon Bay with John Purves. She was built in 1919 [at Beth Steel in Elizabeth NJ, I might add] and during World War 2 found herself armed with machine guns on her deck and out in Alaska protecting the shipping channels….
A short ways away in Kewaunee is our next tug, Ludington. She was also a war veteran. Originally built as LT-4 in 1943, she helped moved barges to Normandy on D-Day.
All the way down in Lake Erie, at the bow of the museum freighter Col. James M. Schoonmaker, is our next tug, Ohio. She was built in 1903 as a fireboat, and stayed this way until she was bought in 1948 by the Great Lakes Towing Company, and converted into a tug. She served this job until 2015, and in 2018 was converted and restored with the purpose of being a museum ship.
Finally, we end in Lake Ontario in Oswego New York, where yet another war veteran has retired. This tug is USAT LT-5, which is a sister ship of Ludington. [In fact, Ludington is hull# 297, and Nash is hull# 298, from Jakobson in Oyster Bay NY.] She was launched in 1943, had 50 caliber machine guns on her deck, and also helped haul barges to Normandy on D-Day. [Her dimensions are 114′ x 25′ x 14′. And on June 9, 1944, her Norwegian crew shot down a German fighter aircraft.]
Thank you for reading this post. All pictures from museumships.us, which is remembering history one ship at a time.”
Thank much, Stewart.
And I could leave well done alone, but this is an opportunity to mention one more . . . Urger. Here she is less than 10 miles from Lake Ontario, pulled over above lock O-3 by a state employee on a mission. He wanted to look the 1901 tug over and lamented his son wasn’t there to get the tour with him. Hats off, officer. The info on museumships here is, unfortunately, three years out of date.
June 2014
And why not another . . . Urger here in 2018 alongside The Chancellor.
Last two photos,WVD.
Here’s what GL tugs have looked like for a century, and many of them are still working, despite their age, as you can see here by clicking on the state names. The tug below is Nebraska, launched in 1929. Grouper–frequently mentioned on this blog–has the same basic design.
A new beginning took place yesterday in Toledo at the National Museum of the Great Lakes, and Paul Strubeck of Vintage Diesel Design as well as all these photos on tugster took these photos of the ceremony: in front of the Colonel aka Schoonmaker, the 116-year-old tug Ohio was rechristened along with
the new tug Ohio. Below and to the left, the old/new Ohio (originally built as a Milwaukee fire boat) was christened with beer and the new Ohio . . . with champagne. Read the ToledoBlade story here.
Click here for a story on the new design, based on the Damen 1907 ICE class design. This blog did a post on the first of this new design about two years ago here.
The new Ohio will assist ships in port of Toledo, so juxtaposition of these three vessels will be commonplace in years to come.
Many thanks to Paul for use of these photos. And if you are ever in the Toledo area, do stop by the National Museum of the Great Lakes.
GL tug Mississippi has appeared on this blog several times before. She’s a tiller-steered boat that looks good and still works hard although built in 1916!!
GL tug Ohio was built in 1903!! and originally served as a Chicago Milwaukee fireboat.
She’s recently changed roles again, as a result of her joining up with that green-hulled laker behind her. Recognize it?
Now she’ll live on more decades, centuries we hope.
Of course, the green hull is the Colonel, Col. James M. Schoonmaker. If you’re in Toledo area, check them out.
Many thanks to Paul for use of these photos, and reminding me, I have a bunch of Schoonmaker photos I’ve never posted. Maybe I’ll do that tomorrow.
Our pilot identified Titan, located in Gamboa, as “Herman the German.” Any idea why?
She’s a floating crane, docked along the Canal but still in service. She was one of four built in Germany for the Kriegsmarine in 1941. From 1946 until 1994, she worked in Long Beach as YD-171. And in 1997 she was moved to the Panama Canal. According to this technical site (with good photos) she has lifting capacity of 350 tons.
Near the Balboa train station I saw Bucyrus steam railway crane, No. 64, one of the originals from the 100+ year ago construction.
I took this photo from a bus while passing land side of the Balboa container port.
At several of the locks, Ohio cranes stand at the ready. Maintenance on gates and valves is performed while traffic is passing; hence the crane on the lock.
All photos by Will Van Dorp.
tugster: a waterblog 
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