Freighter Mystery | Great Lakes Now

[@rickmckay5701]

My Great Uncle was the captain of a number of the Paterson Line Great Lake Freighters out of Fort William (now Thunder Bay) in the 50's, 60's & 70's. Thanks for your research very interesting

[@rtrThanos]

I’ve seen videos explaining benefits of the pilot house being aft, but this is the first I’ve seen that explains the benefit of locating it fore. Thumbs up.

[@Twobeers1]

I served on a ship called the M.V. Charles R. Huntley in the late '80s. She was previously the S.S. Charles R. Huntley. Converted to a Trail Suction Dredge sometime in the early 60's. She had 2 boilers, 2 big steam-powered bilge pumps, the boilers were converted to fuel tanks with a 3rd fuel tank added in the next room forward of the engine room when she was converted to diesel engines. She still had the steam winches on deck (since powered by a diesel air compressor). According to a bulkhead in the main engine room, she was built in Scotland in 1932. Still, inside the hull there were big copper wound coils about every 10' on the inside of the hull, these were apparently for repelling magnetic mines. You could still see the markings on the deck where guns had been mounted. I could not find any references to the Charles R. Huntley before the '60s and always wondered what she did during the war. If anybody knows, I would surely like to know just out of curiosity. She has since been cut up for scrap out on the east coast. I spent 2 yrs on her as the electrician. She was 311' long, with a 48' beam, if memory serves me correct, built to fit into the locks of the Welland Canal.

[@rushbuzzy]

Really interesting. I never knew how the unloading process actually worked. Very cool. Thanks.

[@tyroniousyrownshoolacez2347]

Always fun and informative. 👍Well done. Thanks for sharing.

[@pkhansen4101]

fantastic work! thank you!

[@SteamCrane]

Looks like the film was shot at 24 frames per second, which was common for home movies. Film was so expensive that a slow frame rate was used to save film. Set the playback speed to 0.5, and the Huletts are operating at approximately the correct speed, still a bit too fast.

[@thecreepynightshiftguy]

You know, it's not that hard to get a trip on a great lakes freighter. Just get a merchant marine document, a TWIC card, and apply for a job. A little manual labor won't kill you and the pay is really good. It's real easy and you'll get to see way more of the ship than you would as a 'guest'.

[@lisapence2890]

If I was younger , I would in a heartbeat but they probably make me the cook😊 Great video!

[@The_ZeroLine]

The film is incredibly highly quality. That’s a clue in itself. It didn’t seem like some cheap handheld film camera.

[@SteamCrane]

Could you also post the raw footage uninterrupted by commentary.

[@Tiredoldchannel]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/opK7lXyHo9aGbJo I believe that link is the one

[@maryjojo1154]

Awesome! I love history. Thank you for sharing.

[@scottlowran1404]

Awesome video

[@neilmac3731]

Since I was young I thought it would be an interesting job on the lakes and since I've worked on afew of the classic bulk carriers of yesteryear in drydock getting repairs...quebecois ,voyager independent(ojibway)and some old tugs in Hamilton Ontario I've never sailed out though as a crew member that would be pretty neat for a season

[@PlanesTrainsBoatsOnline]

great video

[@GreatLakesNow]

Thanks! We haven't solved any more of the mysteries -- still hoping someone out there will have more info about who shot this and who the people are on board!

[@jackiejanetm]

Very interesting video!

[@yellow57projectxxx]

Edmund Fitzgerald was launched in late 50s. Not self unloading so they were still built in 50s

[@copescale9599]

this was a nice video

[@cleanwillie1307]

Know those docks well. Spent 4 summers ('71-'74) working on US Steel Great Lakes Fleet ore boats. I was on the William A. Irvin in '72. The Irvin carried passengers every week that the company wanted to wine and dine. Picked them up in Chicago, went up to Duluth empty to load taconite pellets and then take them back to Chicago. We ran on a regular schedule where the trip took a week. Going up empty of course meant that we had a lot of water in ballast tanks. One trip we were behind schedule getting to Duluth so the Captain thought he would save a little time by pumping the tanks nearly dry before we got to the loading dock. Unfortunately that meant that the boat was sitting high in the water and the Irvin was built with one more deck up front than the usual laker (which is how passenger cabins were accommodated) so as we came into the dock the pilot house deck tangled with the dock superstructure and came off second best. Oops. Needless to say, that manuever did not help get us back on schedule. The Captain wasn't the most well-liked guy aboard so the incident generated a significant amount of mirth among the crew.

[@cleanwillie1307]

I have to question whether you've got the right boat, based on the photos shown here. The boat in the video is clearly a "hatch farm", where the hatches were only about 2-2.5 ft apart and there were a lot of them. The picture of the smith Thompson shows only 13 hatches and they are much further apart.

[@walterhemker7524]

Good eye about the "hatch farm". Brings back memories. I first shipped out of the Lake Carriers hall on West 25th and caught the Ben Moreell for Wilson Marine Transit. That was a hatch farm.

[@jefferystolzman9652]

Do guys ever do a thing on the well know ship called the Edmond Fitz Gerald

[@scottyb68]

Every time I see a classic laker and a 1,000 footer I get sad. Those new boats have no class they're boring to look at. I prefer the lines of the old boats. Knowing they're gone and not coming back makes me so sad.

[@sdc5683]

I agree. I see Algoma boats coming into Goderich and they look like barges with apartment buildings on the stern.However they are more efficient in there load capacity.

[@rascal0175]

Sad is right. I watched the old boats from the time I was in diapers and am now 74. We would come to know those boats as familiar friends. I have nothing against the big boats and understand the benefits. I do miss those friends and have noticed there is less ship traffic on the waterways.

[@rottenroads1982]

3:18, The Ship that is called the D.M. Clemson here is not the First D.M. Clemson. No, the First D.M. Clemson was the D.M. Clemson built in 1903. The Clemson of 1903 Sank in Lake Superior on the 1st of December 1908. The Second D.M. Clemson is the Clemson of 1917. It served a long career, and was ultimately scrapped.

[@chloehennessey6813]

Is the William clay Ford?

[@larselder874]

The hullett unloaded in Ashtabula caused the fitz to break in half. That had operator higher up, at the elbow. The claw edge struck the bottom plate next to the weld. This is a brittle area named ‘weld effected zone.’ They knew the crack was there. This did not cause the sinking. That was taking on water because the hatches were not secured.

[@bigmonmagoomba9634]

As the years passed it was revealed that the Fitz had seen a ‘temporary’ repair job at the Frazier Shipyard in Duluth about a month before she went down to repair the crack you speak of, with the permanent repair scheduled to be done after the season which was only weeks away. It turns out this was never mentioned in the investigations that followed because the shipyard workers feared for their jobs & pensions if they spoke up. Years later when that was no longer a threat they began to come forward with the information.

[@desi4lyfe379]

PFAS contaminated lakes.

[@cleanwillie1307]

Know those docks well. Spent 4 summers ('71-'74) working on US Steel Great Lakes Fleet ore boats. I was on the William A. Irvin in '72. The Irvin carried passengers every week that the company wanted to wine and dine. Picked them up in Chicago, went up to Duluth empty to load taconite pellets and then take them back to Chicago. We ran on a regular schedule where the trip took a week. Going up empty of course meant that we had a lot of water in ballast tanks. One trip we were behind schedule getting to Duluth so the Captain thought he would save a little time by pumping the tanks nearly dry before we got to the loading dock. Unfortunately that meant that the boat was sitting high in the water and the Irvin was built with one more deck up front than the usual laker (which is how passenger cabins were accommodated) so as we came into the dock the pilot house deck tangled with the dock superstructure and came off second best. Oops. Needless to say, that manuever did not help get us back on schedule. The Captain wasn't the most well-liked guy aboard so the incident generated a significant amount of mirth among the crew.