the cruise ship grand crib transited the upper lakes and yesterday, lake Ontario bound for the nys barge canal at Oswego NY.
One of the main reasons along with declining patronage was that boats with a lot of wood construction were banned from carrying passengers (overnight, anyway) after the Yarmouth Castle fire in 1965.
Your second photo of the partially submerged ship brings a question to my mind. I remember taking a Cuyahoga river cruise on the Goodtime back in the 1970’s or 80’s, possibly 1976 which is when I would have started kindergarten but it also could have been later. Anyhow, besides the giant, dark, scary, rusting hulks of the Hulett loaders that abounded on the river in those days, I distinctly remember seeing a half sunken ship at what I believe is called “Collision Bend”.
http://images.ulib.csuohio.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/herrick/id/341/rec/496
The description only says: “Sunken excursion boat”. Behind the reddish freighter, which I believe to be the Mather, is the Cleveland Union Terminal complex which was mostly sealed off in those days.
Georgian Bay Lines ran the North and South American until the mid-60s.
Beautiful ships! Very little built nowadays to compare with them.
they were no doubt beautiful ships. But they were also Death traps. Many instances where they caught fire and sank in the great lakes, Hudson river and along the Mississippi.
Besides being of wood construction. Any fires that broke out while being underway were spread quickly by lake winds and the ship making way.
They burnt to their water lines in short order, usually with a high death toll.
The SS North American and South American were built of steel, but ultimately could not pass newer fire safety codes. Congress passed a law in 1966 forcing the ships to be docked. The South American made a final cruise in 1967.
http://cruiselinehistory.com/ss-south-american-the-final-voyage/
Worked out of B&O’s Clark Avenue Yard in Cleveland for a while in the early 70’s. Made many a trip between the Clark Ave. office and the Whiskey Island interchange with the NYC (later PC and later still CR). B&O had 3 drawbridges to negotiate between Clark Ave and Whiskey Island - Bridges 460, 463 & 464. Bridge 460 had it’s own 24 hour operators.
Bridges 463 & 464 were operated by a single individual working 3 PM - 11 PM under normal circumstance. 2nd trick yard job would perform the interchange work at Whiskey Island. When the job would approach Bridge 463 the operator would lower the bridge for rail tr
the hulls were steel but their interior and upper decks, were wood.
Many of the old steam ferries and overnight ships, like the city of Detroit, boffola and Cleveland ended their careers being towed out to a shallow spot, and being burnt.
Sounds like a maritime version of burning wood body freight cars to salvage the steel framework as performed at Hyman Michaels in Hegewisch up to the early 1960’s.
That’s right any iron or steel from the super structure fell into the iron hull. The hull, boilers, machinery and misc iron was towed back and recycled.
Could it be Jim’s Steakhouse which was sort of “half under” the Detroit Superior bridge?
From the Google Earth view (and a 50+ year memory), the restaurant would have been in the location now occupied by Trident Marine. The old B&O Freight Agency building was located on Canal Road across the river.
Google Earth - 41°29’31.91" N 81°41’15.53" W
Balt, you are thinking of Jim’s Steak House on Collision Bend in the Flats. It had a huge red neon sign on the roof identifying itself and looked to be an oasis in a dusty, busy, industrial part of town. When one got inside it was a bit modern/spartan in appearance. I’m not sure if it even had tablecloths, but I suspect its main business was lunch, because in the 1960’s people didn’t have much reason to venture downtown anymore, as one by one the nightlife and finally even the corporate office culture diminished.
Jim’s served delicious versions of Cleveland’s three favorite dinners in those days: steak, lobster, and chops.
Jim’s was really for adults. Families and kids, as well as adults, of course, loved Captain Frank’s Seafood House on the East 9th Street pier. Great view of the lakefront, lots of good deep-fried seafood, lots of neon signage, and maybe best of all, the South American tied up right next to the restaurant (so did the North American).
People today who didn’t get to see the ore boats on Lake Erie, or watch them edging their way up or down the Cuyahoga River with a few attendant tug boats, really missed something. Cleveland even used to have a fleet of fishing boats that tied up at State Fish in the Flats to off-load the day’s catch. Northern Pike, anyone? Yellow Perch?
Balt, did you ever eat at Joe Kindler’s Cafe, right under the Shoreway bridge on the east side of the Flats? Open 24 hours a day, its customers consisted almost entirely of steel
Five complete decks, the lower three being of steel. The interiors have wood paneling, but so did the Queen Mary, Elizabeth, etc.
SS South American article with diagrams, specs.
Well it looks to be a big boo boo. You can see the lift and wreck barges parked and ready to “Re Rail” and raise the boat. The boat is parked on a major navigable waterway in a place that is called collision bend for a reason. Also Cleveland has “Dead Mans Curve” on the Shoreway aka I-90
Then there is this-
https://www.curbed.com/2016/3/15/11240180/s-s-columbia-steamboat-restoration-historic-preservation still in serivice untill 1970s
I remember this boat docked in Buffalo the Aquarama. It looked big and scary like something that belonged in the past on the bottom of Lake Erie forvever haunted
Most of these I took in 1993(?) at the end of the MS walk.
The large structure across the river was the power house for the Cleveland streetcar systems.
Not the best scan job but I’ve always liked this one with the juxtaposition of the enourmous towering bridge and that tiny racing shell right below it.
The crowd in front of the powerhouse is the walkers gathering at the Nautica stage for our “reward” for finishing the MS walk: a concert by Beatles tribute band 1964. Man were they good!
The only spot on the river large enough to turn a lake freighter.
I took this one in 2006 from an American Airlines regional jet on final for Hopkins. The windows were tinted adding to the difficulties of shooting handheld on a moving plane so this was the best I could do to clean up a lagely “blue” photo.
Obviously that large orange thing front and center is Browns stadium and just to the left of it are the Great Lakes Science Center and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. If you look between them in the lagoon, you can see the permanently moored William G. Mather. To the left of the Rock Hall is the East 9th Street pier where Captain Frank’s used to be. And if you look reeeaaaal hard at