About 25 years ago, I decided to start checking off the good bands that I neglected to see in my younger days. Unfortunately, it seems many will forever remain unfulfilled, I don’t see Led Zeppelin or Pink Floyd ever touring again.

For Christmas, my wife got tickets to see AC/DC. In typical Matt fashion, I have to make the journey at least as interesting as the destination! My son and I left about 8:30 in the morning (for a 8 o’clock concert and a 4 hr drive! &#128513 my plan was to stay off the interstate and take my time.

After a while of winding rural state highways, I found myself in Toledo. In addition to a fondness for moldy oldey music, I have an interest in the Great Lakes, and the freighters that travel on them. This interest started about 30 years ago on a snowmobile trip to Michigans upper peninsula.

Anyone in readerland familiar with the Edmund Fitzgerald sinking might be aware of the significance of the ore carrier Aurthur M. Anderson. For this unfamiliar, it was the ship directly following the Fitzgerald in the storm, and assisted in the search. Based on info found on the ships facebook page, I knew the ship had been docked for winter layup in Toledo. I also knew it was due for its 5 year inspection, which has not been done. The fact that it’s still in Toledo has a few people on boat nerd kingdom speculating that it might not sail again. As many times as I have been to the Sault St Marie locks, that’s one ship I have not personally seen. I was determined to correct that. However, many people on the ships facebook page said that due to the sad state of the world today, getting near the ship would be unlikely due to security.

I knew the ship was at the TORCO dock (whatever that means?). The Toledo port is a pretty big area, I just drove around, anytime I saw anyone with a yellow or orange vest, I would casually ask for directions. Surprisingly, I got one of 2 responses: either they had no idea, or they gave me directions.

After about a half hour of driving around, and talking with 5 different security people, I finally was able to see it thru some trees. While I had technically accomplished my goal, I decided to try for a better pic.

More driving: I finally found an open fence gate that ran along side the dock. Figuring it’s better to ask forgiveness than for permission, I went in. I was now within 20 feet of the ship. I took a bunch of pictures, then decided to be REALLY bold!

There was a ramp that led from the dock to the entryway. While humming the “Mission Impossible” theme in my head, I ran up the ramp, stepped onto the ship while my son took a quick picture. Having far exceeded my goal, I decided to leave.

We also found what was left of the Packard Auto factory, one of the abandoned Fisher Body plants, the location of the old Royal Oak Pontiac dealership, the giant Uniroyal tire that was at the 1964 Worlds Fair, visited the Henry Ford museum, and visited the Great Lakes museum and The Col. James M Scoonmaker Mueseum ship.

As for the concert, all I can say is when I’m in my 70s like Angus Young and Brian Johnson, I hope to be moving around half as well as they do! While they omitted a couple of my “hopeful” songs, they did check off most of them. I was disappointed the parade float girl from the “Whole lot of Rosey” didn’t make an appearance!!

My first view thru the trees

In all its glory!



Me on the ship!


“The church bells chimed till the rang 29 times for each man on the Edmund Fitzgerald “

 

According to a Google search, this is the the address and what the Royal Oak Pontiac dealership looked like.

It’s now a law firm.

 

Matt, you're livin the dream and giving us incentive. Thank you for posting !!!

 

Thanks. I got the travel bug my first year of college. I realized this is a pretty big country, and I’m determined to see as much of it as possible before I take that big dirt nap.

Im extremely fortunate to have a wife and kids who enjoy the oddball roadside attractions. Some people thing we are strange for traveling the way we do. As I have said many times, one of my favorite things to do is to pick a road and start driving, not really sure where I’m going until I get there.

Unfortunately, life seems to get in the way, I don’t get to do it nearly as often as I’d like.

 

My family and I have vacationed many times in the Mackinac straights area.
We got to see the Anderson three times passing through the straights.
Cool pics and story, thanks for posting.

 

I grew up on Lake Erie in WNY. Lots of cool history on the great lakes that is widely unknown. My sister dates a fellow who was writing his thesis on shipwrecks on Lake Erie. Unfortunately he unexpectedly passed away before finishing it. I was looking forward to reading it.

 

I spent a lot of time back in the sixties fishing out of the Buffalo harbor with my dad. We would see those big lake freighters come and go all the time. Not so much anymore, the grain mills closed and the steel plants are gone. Time marches on!

 

Stuff like this is always cool. If you make it farther east, the Brig Niagara is stationed at the Maritime Museum in Erie PA and open for deck tours when not being refurbished or out on a sailing tour. If you're into this type of stuff, check out the Tall ships challenge, I've seen it many times living on the shores of Lake Erie and it always impresses.

 

Thanks for posting your story and pics. If you get up this way (Muskegon, Mi.) check out the Silversides submarine and it's store, and the LST 493 museum.

 

"About 25 years ago, I decided to start checking off the good bands that I neglected to see in my younger days. Unfortunately, it seems many will forever remain unfulfilled, I don’t see Led Zeppelin or Pink Floyd ever touring again."

If you get the chance, go see The Jason Bonham Experience. I think this is about as close to Led Zeppelin as any of us will ever get. I saw it in K.C. a few years ago and it was incredible. I took my ex father in-law who told me he actually had tickets to see Zeppelin, but the show was cancelled because of John's death. And my Dad said he saw them twice in, I think, 69 and 70.

 

The tall ship is something my wife wants to see.

It’s strange, I have never had any desire to own a boat, and don’t really care for the water, but these freighter's have always interested me. And come retirement time, my wife and I are going to have to make some decisions. She has family south, I don’t want to live anywhere without a variety of seasons. I despise the heat and humidity, Tennessee is just as hot and humid as Indiana, but without the winter. No thanks. If I’m living anywhere hot, I’m thinking Arizona or Nevada.

Unfortunately, those decisions are still years away.

 

Thanks for the pics!

 

For what its worth,
Not a ship nerd however I did a stint as a assistant to a Loftsman (explanation to follow) I worked for a while at American Ship building Company 101st and Av N Calumet/Chicago Il. very interesting working in a ship yard which was also across from huge grain elevators that filled cargo ships with grain all day. People do not realize how much of those cargo ships are under water, when they are empty how much of the the hulls are exposed they also don't realize the size of the props/screws until they are exposed , that port/ dry dock was a hub of activity for sure ! small vessels, tugs, and big freighters I worked on ( repaired ) a ship called the Marathonion a Greek freighter that collided with another freighter on Lake Michigan both made it back to port. our job was to get her repaired before the St Lawrence seaway closed for the year !! You see if this ship didn't get repaired before the seaway closed it would be devastating for both the owner of the ship because she would have to stay in drydock until the seaway opened again tremendous loss of revenue !! and bad for American Ship building Company as she would be tying up a dry dock preventing work on other ships again tremendous loss of revenue !! We worked around the clock on her and made the deadline !! There's another story here about how the old guys tried to send the newbie (me) up to the crows nest on the end of a crane hook but Ill save it for another time. I learned a lot there like what the assorted blast of a ships whistle meant, ship lingo. cuss words I didnt know existed etc... and of course how to be a loftsman . For those of you not familiar with the term here's a explanation ( a chance to expand your mind and vocabulary ) you spend alot of time on your knees with hammer and nails and a batten
A ship's loftsman, or linesman, is a skilled tradesperson who translates a ship's design from a draftsman's drawing into a full-size, practical layout. They prepare molds and patterns for shipbuilding, ensuring accurate construction and the proper fit of various structural components. This process, called lofting, involves transferring the ship's design to a large, flat surface to create a full-size plan.
The money was good for a 20 year old but I only toughed it out for about a year , came down with Mono and Scarlatina and had to leave.

 

matt69olds i joined the SIU in Canada / started working on the Great Lakes as a young lad , was great fun to go ashore in many different ports with my ship mates . started as a deck hand ,then wheelsmen , then worked in the engine rooms until i became an officer / engineer . then ended up on the navy base in Esquimalt / Victoria BC.

One picture above shows the steering pole on the bow , this would indicate to the wheels men when the ship starts to turn / respond to the helm . a small amount of movement of the pole , would be huge amount of swing at the back of the ship . as the helm is very close to the bow . Would have to lift up the steering pole straight up to fit into the Welland Canal . so a ship with a steering pole means it's at least 730 feet long , the maximum lenght to fit the canal .

As the song says was the pride of the American side , so go to an SIU hiring hall in the US to get the answer to a question about past or present ships .

solly another prank pulled on newbies , was to get them to ask around the ship as to where the legs are for the bosons chair .

 

Sailors, longshoremen Iron workers just gotta mess with the newbies its tradition !! On my first day the had me working on the bow deck they were welding giant plates in to place they had the repair pieces of deck all marked with soap stone and the forecast for the next day called for rain !! they didn't want the soap stone lines and measurements to wash away in the rain so they had me crawl around all day with a center punch and hammer marking all the measurements and lines so if the soapstone washed off they could retrace it !! by the end of the day my knees were toast and I thought my arm was going to fall off !! they messed with me about everyday for a week ( we worked 12 hour shifts to get that freighter finished ) on my second week the Loftsman needed a assistant and I got transferred there, Great old guy !!

 

One of the more interesting things I saw was a auto welder !!! if they had a very long heavy weld to complete they had this machine it had a large hopper on it that they filled with some kind of flux they would precisely position this auto welder over the seam to be welded then they would temporarily tack weld a track to the deck and start this machine it would crawl along the preset track and lay down this big beautiful bead of weld
my job that one day was to keep that hopper full of flux, of course the bags of flux were 50 lbs each Make the new kid do it !! It was a pretty sophisticated machine for the 70' s