May, 1998

Through a conversion process that began in October of 1997, the once proud railroad car ferry City of Midland 41 has been reduced to a simple cargo barge. I watched this transformation from a distance, via Max Hanley's Website, until April 22, 1998 when the hull of the Midland was towed from Muskegon, Michigan to Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. This move gave me a chance to fly out over Lake Michigan and photograph the vessel (soon to be known as the Pere Marquette 41) at sea. It also set the stage for me to visit the ship yard and photograph the 41 during the refitting process.

My trip to the yard was planned in late April. Per my request, Jim Anderson of the Pere Marquette Shipping Company granted permission for me to photograph the barge in the Bay Shipbuilding yard. Thom Hawley, also with PM Shipping, provided the name and number of Mr. Terry McKay, a PM Shipping employee with an extensive background in maritime operations and mechanics. I made the arrangements with Terry, and followed his directions to the yard.

On Monday, May 18th, at 10:30am, under sunny skies and with a cooling breeze blowing inland from the southeast, I arrived outside the shipyard. My companion that day was my fifteen year old daughter, Monique. She and I have shared an interest in Great Lakes merchant vessels since we discovered the old State of Michigan passenger car ferry The Straits of Mackinac languishing in Kewaunee harbor in June of 1996. We sailed on Badger in '96 and '97. The PM 41 photo trip promised to be our most rewarding ship adventure to date.

We caught our first glimpse of the PM 41 through the fence along the north boundary of the yard. The entire hull was below ground level in the graving dock. Our view was further obstructed by vehicles, work platforms, pipes, randomly placed pieces of steel, the huge overhead crane that put them there, and our general unfamiliarity with our surroundings. We could see little of the vessel other than part of the retaining walls that have been welded onto the car-deck and the uppermost part of the bow plates concealed among a tangle of scalfolding. Beyond those items we did not immediately recognize anything in view, with one notable exception.

The Midland's stern section, with propellors still attached, had been cut away and lifted onto shoring timbers only 40 feet inside the fence. We had a good view as four men clambered about on scaffolding while preparing to remove the propellors. I was impressed by the size of the four-bladed props in comparison to the men huddled around them. I estimated a diameter of fourteen feet. I wondered how the men would remove the props from the shafts.

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Some ship-viewer before me had gone to the trouble of bending one of the diamond-shaped fence openings apart, presumably to allow their camera lens a better view through the fence (Thank you, whoever you are). Not wanting their effort to go to waste, I focused through this same opening and shot several frames that printed with only slight blurring from fence-wire.

The next point of interest was an oddly-shaped steel structure roughly the size of a semi-trailer. From prior conversations with PM Shipping employees, I knew this to be one of the new stem sections that would mate the tug to the barge. A crew of men was preparing the section to be lifted from the crawler that had brought it from the assembly building. As we watched, the overhead crane moved to a point above the crawler. The cable descended to within a few feet of a man on top. The man waved a signal to the unseen crane operator. The cable stopped and the man set about attaching the cable.

I expected that multiple cables would be attached to numerous points on the stem. Instead, only two attach points were used. These had been precisely calculated as the balance points of the load. After a few minutes, the men moved clear of the stem section. A ship's horn mounted on the crane gave several loud blasts, and the lift began. The huge assembly raised only inches off of the crawler, which was then driven out from underneath. The crane operator skillfully manipulated the load to produce a 90 degree rotation. The section swung slowly around, stopped, then was lowered gently to the ground.

I think that one of those horn blasts had been the lunch whistle, because after the stern section was on the ground all of the workers sat down to eat. Monique and I took our picnic lunch down to the boat landing near the wet end of the graving dock. After lunch we drove to the local library to enjoy the air conditioning. It was getting hot outside. We had an hour to wait until Terry McKay would return to the yard.

We met Terry at 1:00, and the tour began. Terry first took us to the fabrication shop, an assemblage of huge buildings that house the cutting and joining machines and multiple assembly areas. A hundred-foot-long tugboat was going together in one bay while the stem section for another large vessel was being pieced together nearby. Various specialty shops (plumbing, electrical, machining, welding, etc.) were tucked away in work areas off to the sides of the main assembly bay. One of the most impressive devices in the plant is the computer controlled cutting table where huge sheets of plate steel are torched to precise dimensions and patterns. I saw stacks of bulkheads alongside a stack of blank steel plates. These would become the skeleton for another vessel in just a few weeks.

Another assembly bay held a 250 foot, all aluminum yacht, virtually complete from its keel to the top-most mast. This was a Palmer-Johnson project being

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built with the combined resources of the Bay yard and the PJ teams. I marveled at how so large a boat could be build indoors, and wondered aloud how it would be moved to the water. I knew, however, that the ingenuity was there, somewhere within the walls of the fabrication shop. The boat will be in the water before summer's end.

The second stern section for the PM 41 was nearing completion among these other projects. The odd shape of the sterns dictated that they would be built upside down, as the flat upper surface provided the only stable base for construction. Four people were putting the finishing touches on the section, most notably in the area where the steel docking pins from the tug will engage the stern to secure the two vessels together. Terry asked that I photograph only PM Shipping property, as the other owners might object to my taking photographs of their projects. I took three photos, then invited Terry to talk about the stern sections.

PM 41 will be a self-unloading barge. Electric power for lights and cranes will be provided by a 200 kW diesel generator housed in the starboard stem section along with a 400 gallon fuel tank. The new stern sections will come very close to restoring the hull to its original length. The wedges for the docking pins allow the tug to engage the hull under a variety of load conditions. The tug will not normally disengage from the hull, unless heavy seas are encountered. This would be an extreme situation in which the tug would move ahead of the barge and take her in tow.

After we finished examining the stem sections, we moved out into the yard. I'm still kicking myself for not photographing the floating dry-dock. In the aerial photos taken on April 22, Calcite H can be seen high and dry in the dock. The ore carrier Kaye E. Barker is in the graving dock. Terry explained that the term "dry-dock" only applies to the submersible dock that is refloated once the ship is in place above it. "Graving dock" refers to the permanent installation that uses a system of gates and valves similar to those of a sea-way lock.

I did take photos of an unusual looking vessel near the dry-dock. This was the twin-hulled research vessel Halcyon, recently raised from the waters near Muskegon following a mishap which sank the vessel. She appeared to be in good condition on the outside, but Terry said the appraisers have written her off as a total loss. She is destined to be broken up, but I'm not sure how soon that will happen. It does not seem to be a priority. I imagine she could be purchased if someone had the desire and the means.

We left Halcyon to examine the cut-off stern and propellors from the Midland. Even in dismemberment, the massive blades made a statement of pure, intense power. The two propellors are of opposing pitch, as they rotated in opposite directions. One blade on the port prop was missing part of its leading edge, but

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Terry stated that this type of damage is common. Propellers, or "wheels" as Terry called them, can be damaged by striking submerged objects or floating debris such as logs. He also told me that Midland's propellors are interchangeable with those on Badger. They will be reconditioned and placed in storage until needed.

I didn't expect the severed stern section to provide a biology lesson, but examination of the outer surfaces led to a discussion of zebra mussels, their effect on vessel performance (marginal), and their effect on the Great Lakes ecosystem (significant). A thick layer of zebra mussels still coats the steel plates of the stern. Terry reported that the entire area below the ship's waterline was encrusted with mussels, up to three inches thick in some places. The zebra mussels are to a large extent responsible for the improvement in the Great Lakes' water quality over the last 20 years, as they filter out impurities while feeding. Unfortunately, they also filter out vast amounts of the zooplankton, a primary food source for many species of water life. In fastening themselves in place to feed, the mussels clog water intakes on vessels and industrial or municipal water systems. Zebra mussels have migrated to inland lakes and rivers via the launching and recovery of pleasure boats. These smaller ecosystems are suffering now, as they cannot withstand the impact of reduced zooplankton levels. As is so often the result, a solution to one problem has become the source of another.

Our next stop showed us that PM 41 will not immediately be affected by zebra mussels. From the edge of the graving dock rail we could see the entire length of the hull, resplendent in a thick coat of black epoxy paint. The hull was sand blasted to remove the zebra mussels and rust, and was then primed and painted. The resultant appearance is that of a new vessel.

The painting was not complete in the bow area, due to the ongoing work. The view from forward of the vessel reminded me of the camouflage scheme applied to some World War II ships. The blend of flat black paint, grey primer and rusted steel was common to warships and merchant vessels alike. It is unlikely that PM 41 will ever face torpedoes or aerial bombs. Camouflage won't be necessary. Her bow will be painted black when the work is finished.

Terry next led us down a long stairway and out onto the floor of the graving dock. The hull towered above us, and extended far down the concrete expanses of the dock. I noticed the thick ridge of steel that ran along the upper edge of the hull for the entire length of the vessel. This "bumper", as I call it, is a reinforced area designed to be the first point of contact when the ship is moored against pilings, or if the ship inadvertently bangs against another vessel. I recalled that this band had been only a few feet above the waterline when the Midland was intact and loaded. I then realized that nearly all of what I saw above me had been below the surface. Amazing...

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Terry was briefly called away to answer technical questions from some of the yard hands. Monique and I were left to examine the bow area on our own, with the instruction not to wander away. We were content to stay where we were. There was plenty to see. PM 41 was supported by hundreds of concrete and wooden shoring blocks. These had been placed in the graving dock in preparation for her arrival. As Terry later explained, each ship has a construction plan that shows the contour of the hull. When the ship is scheduled into dry-dock, these plans are examined and the blocks positioned to precisely fit that ship's individual contours. The blocks are then secured in place in the dock. Docking marks are made on the upper surfaces of the dock to allow positioning of the vessel. The dock is flooded and the ship is brought in. As the water is pumped out, points on the ship are kept in alignment with the docking marks to ensure that the hull settles onto the shoring blocks. Winches adjust the alignment until the vessel rests securely on the blocks. The remaining water is evacuated from the dock, and work can begin.

One of the first tasks performed on PM 41 was the sandblasting of the hull. As Monique and I stared in wonder at the steel beast above us, Bobcat tractors scooped the accumulated mix of blasting medium, rust particles, and zebra mussel shells from the bottom of the graving dock. This clean up process was nearly complete, yet there was still a lot of the stuff waiting to be collected. Sandblasting the hull must have been a monumental task.

Monique and I took turns photographing each other standing beneath the keel at the point where the curve of the bow transitions into the bottom of the ship. I was awestruck at the size of the vessel. At only forty percent of Midland's original size, PM-41 was enormous! I could only imagine what the Midland must have looked like in dry-dock when it was still intact.

Terry returned and directed our attention to two large, oval-shaped holes cut on opposite sides of the hull, just aft of the bow. These are the ports for the bow thruster, a set of six-foot diameter propellors mounted in a tube which runs laterally through the bow approximately six feet above the keel. The two counter-rotating props are driven by a marine diesel engine via a 90-degree gear box. The bow thruster draws water in one side of the ship and expels it out the other. The resultant motion of the bow is directly opposite the flow of water. A second result is the creation of turbulence in the water on both sides of the bow. Terry explained that the circular warning marks to be painted above the thruster ports will alert small craft operators to the presence of the thrusters.

As we walked along the port side of the hull, toward the stem more than 300 feet away, Terry showed us the reason for his brief interruption. Like all of the railroad car ferries, Midland had used lake water to cool the engines and steam condensers. The water had been drawn in through a series of intake ports on

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the underside of the hull. (It is this type of intake that is effected by the accumulation of zebra mussels.) With the engines removed, PM-41 would not need all of these ports open to the outside. Terry had to identify which ports were to be blanked off.

During this discussion we heard the warning horn from the overhead crane again. Some welding equipment was being hoisted aboard directly above where I was standing to photograph the intake ports. Terry stated that the safest place to be during an overhead hoist is beneath the overhang of the hull. I stepped back beneath the ship and watched the shadow of the welding gear until it was out of sight. My hard-hat would have been of little use against the weight of so large a load.

I was impressed by the view along the underside of the hull. The rows of steel plating were still straight and true. Dimples in the thick, black epoxy showed the effect of nearly 60 years of exposure to water. The rivet lines were clearly defined beneath the paint as well. In welded-hull construction, the heat of the joining process distorts the steel plates, destroying the straightness of the lines. The riveting process does not induce this distortion. But for the pitting from rust (at least to my untrained eye), PM-41 could have been a new hull.

We reached the stem section during a flurry of activity. PM-41 'S stern was shrouded in scaffolding. The precision cut-away operation had required close positioning of men and equipment. Preparations for joining the new stern sections were nearly complete. The center plates were already in position. Areas of red lead had been stripped from the aft side of the bulkhead to allow the stern sections to be welded into place. Like most of the tasks being performed on PM-41, these relatively simple processes were complicated by the size of the pieces involved. From my own experience in working on complex aircraft, I knew that, to the men on the project, these processes were all in a day's work.

The floor of the graving dock is a unique work environment. My knowledge of being below ground level created a sense of containment, but not confinement. The hull dominated the setting, with all the other equipment and devices being there solely to support the project. There were no distractions. The vessel was there to be worked on, and the work was getting done.

Terry showed us some of the alignment marks that would be used to position the new stern sections. Reference marks were drawn right onto the concrete. The shoring blocks that had supported the now removed propeller shaft housings were still in place, as were other various mooring and shoring devices used for work on Kaye E. Barker in April. Terry waited while I took photos, then asked if we were ready to go on board. We were.

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A long flight of steel stairs took us up the side of the graving dock to a railed gangway leading out onto the barge. We stepped aboard approximately one-third of the way forward from the stem, and were immediately confronted by the congestion and activity of the on-deck construction site. Ventilation hoses, air hoses, steel cables and electric power cords criss-crossed the deck in a tangle of coils and trip-lines. We had to watch our steps very carefully.

Thirty men were scattered throughout the vessel. Most of the work under way involved the cutting or joining of metal. Sparks and arcs could be seen in numerous places. The smell of oxidized steel lingered briefly on deck before being swept away by the noticeably stronger breeze. The overhead crane was still in action. The warning horn sounded and we turned around just in time to see the crane effortlessly lift a torch-scarred sheet of old deck plate as if it was a piece of notebook paper. A new section was soon lowered into place. Then, more sparks and arcs flashed as the men moved in to weld steel to steel.

For the conversion from car ferry to barge, the City of Midland had been cut down to its car deck. Terry showed us the anchor points where the steel rails had been fastened down. We saw the hatches to the four coal bunkers between the rows of anchor points. Steel plates were being fitted to seal the bunkers, as they will not be used to hold cargo. All of the cargo will be carried above deck. The hull is now needed only to displace enough water to remain buoyant under load.

Many parts of the Midland are to be reused on PM-41. In addition to the anchor windlass, the anchors and chains will be put to use again, along with several of the massive mooring bents. These items, and many other steel fittings, were noticed in random storage on the port side of the deck, about halfway forward.

Our walk along the deck gave us another view of the bow thruster installation. Through an open section of the deck we could look down to see the propeller housing and transmission mounted between the oval-shaped holes in the hull. The fuel tank for the diesel engine had been installed on the port side aft of the thruster tube. The platform for the engine itself was still under construction. The original red lead paint below deck appeared shiny and fresh. At times it was hard to believe that the vessel is nearly sixty years old.

Back above deck, a crew of men worked to reinforce the blanking plates installed at the former anchor stowage location in the bow. Terry explained that the bow area over the anchor windlass will be enclosed by a steel deck. A companion way below deck will be kept open from this bow compartment all the way back to the stern, to allow crewmen to traverse the length of the ship without having to be exposed to the weather. A steel platform for the anchor windlass had been installed, but work had not progressed beyond that point.

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Terry talked about the work still to be accomplished, including the finishing of the deck surface itself. The steel deck will be paved with a two-inch layer of asphalt, to create a level surface free of the numerous steel protrusions left by the conversion work. Then, a layer of 2-inch oak planks will be laid down over the entire deck. Finally, six-inch oak timbers will be installed to form the load-bearing surface. There was still a lot of steel work to be accomplished before paving and decking could begin. It is estimated that the PM41 will be ready to leave Sturgeon Bay sometime around June 10th.

It was getting very close to quitting time in the yard. By the time we turned to walk back along the deck, all of the workmen were getting ready to leave. Terry gave us a chance to climb down into the former engine room. The two cavernous bays that once housed the massive five-cylinder Skinner Unaflow engines now held only a few feet of bilge water. Sadly, the engines had been cut up to allow their removal. It was depressing to stand there in the damp emptiness. I stayed only long enough for photos, then climbed back up on deck. Terry said it was time to go. Monique and I were ready. The wind had kept us cool enough but the sun had been slowly cooking us all day. We hadn't noticed.

I took one final photo from the deck of PM41. This was a view looking down the length of the graving dock as seen from the stern of the barge. The shoring blocks leftover from Kaye E. Barker stood in long, silent rows. The doors at the far end of the dock were all that kept the waters of Sturgeon Bay from rushing in and prematurely re-floating the barge. It would have been fun to wander around down there and play for a while, but time and circumstance did not permit. I crossed the gang way, stopping only long enough to take two more photos of the barge, one looking forward, one looking aft.

Our last stop was in the machine shop where the anchor windlass and bow thruster engine were being prepared for installation. I told Terry that my shot of the windlass would be my last of the trip. As soon as I took this picture, Terry pointed out the bow thruster engine. To my way of thinking, I had given my word. I did not photograph the engine. Terry had spent the whole afternoon with us. He was ready to leave, too. I didn't want to seem unappreciative.

On our way out of the yard we walked through the office building. Terry introduced us to Todd Thayse, the Bay Shipbuilding official who had allowed us to enter the yard. I thanked Todd for his courtesy, thanked Terry again for all he had shared with us that day, then headed back to the guard shack to return our borrowed hard-hats. My cameras were empty, my mind full of information and images. On the long drive home, Monique and I talked about it all. We agreed that our day off together was much more enjoyable than work or school would have been. Our trip to the shipyard had been time well spent.

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