Nice job! I have watched dozens of great videos on the ships of the Great Lakes and never heard of "Fast Eddie". Found it all interesting and beautifully narrated. Can't wait for part two!
Fun fact about the Ryerson, well, her namesake to be exact. Edward L. Ryerson was the younger brother of Arthur L. Ryerson, one of Titanic's first class passengers, who was sadly lost in the sinking. The famous picture of a young boy, Douglas Spedden, playing with his top on the deck of the Titanic, also has Arthur Ryerson in the picture, as he was one of the men watching the lad. In the film Titanic (1997), it was Arthur's coat that Jack Dawson "borrows".
John Sherwin was laid up in Nov 1981 and moved in 2006 for a self unloader conversion and new engine, but those plans were put on hold due to the economy. Looks like both hulls are in good shape after all these years.
@@LongShipsChannelThat is true. I have driven by the Ryerson in recent years and she looks in better shape than half of the ships that come into Duluth.
Outstanding. Given the abundance of hyperbole and cultish boatnerdism available, you have skilfully captured the nuances of our business with just enough nostalgia.
What year did they start going mainstream with self unloaders. I grew up right on the St Lawrence in the 60s near Ogdensburg and saw one of those only a few times . When the Roy Jodery went down near Morristown I was in college and remember seeing the pictures of it at the time 1975 and remember noting how odd that huge boom was so I’m sure there hadn’t been many around my section of the river ever or I’d have seen them constantly.
The lakes trade is growing ever tighter as the years pass. The John sherwin saw her last shot at a refit in 2008 come and go the new barker proved cheaper to build refitting the sherwin with her engine room gutted I think it’s only a matter of time before she is scrapped she was moved in 2006 but has not sailed under her own power since 1981 the Ryerson design has made booming her much too costly but given status’s on the lakes she would make a fine museum
@@LongShipsChannel Yep! She looks brand new. My grandfather was a riveter at Manitowoc Shipbuilding for 44 years, and drove a lot of rivets on the MUNSON during her building in 1952-52. He would be proud to know she's still sailing! Correction ..1951-52!
As a North Carolinian, we don’t have any lakes large enough to accommodate much more than a small yacht and river traffic pretty much ceased on the Cape Fear River except for around Wilmington NC at the coast. I have traveled up through Chicago and seen one of the boats that was eventually scrapped, that sat near the interstate. Best my memory serves, it was a white painted ship that was laid up beside some grain elevators. It’s terribly sad to see these monsters rot away. Wouldn’t they be excellent apartments? Go in and set them up like they’re being dry docked and go in and turn each compartment into multi level homes. Just spitballing ideas. Very wonderfully written and narrated. I will be looking forward to the rest of this series. Much love to you from North Carolina 🤙🤙
These ships would be great additions to maritime schools, Coast Guard and navy training, as museum pieces, like the SS Col. James M Schoonmaker, as target practice , as artificial reefs, refitted to be self unloading, or scrapped. There is no reason why these ships remain in lay-up. I love this woman's voice who is narrating this documentary. She sounds exactly like the person who narrated my book trailer.
Museum ships suck resources from every other museum ship because there are very few DONORS. People wanting to save everything forget this. Except for volunteers and donors they want someone else to spend the money and immense labor.
The sherwin has been laid up since the 80s, it was suppose to be re powered and converted to a self unloaded but the economy crash of 2008 ended that plan.
Nice video. But your first statement is correct. These are work boats. When they are of no further use, economy and efficiencies dictate these boats are either scrapped or go into layup. Boatnerders get too wrapped up in the aesthetics and design. The construction of the Mark Barker, the first American-built boat on the lakes in 40 years, hopefully is a signal of a new era in shipbuilding that puts new hulls in the water. Putting a boom on the Ryerson or Sherwin, reconfiguring the holds, repowering them and installing the latest emissions technology would make little to no sense to a penny-pinching marine carrier. If they retired the Blough and St. Clair early because of onboard fires, why would a company make the investment in bringing the Ryerson back into service.
The Blough and St.Clair were both destroyed by fire and deemed a total loss by the insurance company and owner. Just like when a car is totalled, where it's determined it would cost more to repair the car than it would to replace it.
I agree. All the comments that think fast eddie should become a museum haven't put alot of thought into that. The ships owner isn't going to just give away millions of dollars worth of scrap and if they do they think maintenance on 700+ foot of ship is cheap? Nothing lasts forever. They scrap battleships with far greater significance to people.
I watch lots of those Rouge River Ford Plant videos/documentaries where these guys were bringing ore and other products to supply that facility that built millions of cars from the late 20's and continue there on a much smaller scale. Old Henry Ford wanted to be as self reliant as was humanly possible. Having his own steel, glass, textile, rubber, and casting, ad well as generating his own power at the rouge facility. He also had his own lumber sources for what was needed in the production of the cars of the day. Unlike today where all of the automotive corporations "outsource" so much of the final product that ends up being "dead/obsolete" in 10 years.
Nice video, I look forward to the next installment. Google Earth shows that the Ryerson has been moved from the slip she occupied in the video to a spot next to dry docks further down the channel. She is berthed near a modern ore hauler that is nearly twice her size. If they retrofit her with an auto unloader it will take up quite a bit of capacity.
Yes unfortunately if they did add self unloading equipment it would be very difficult the way the stern was constructed. Also taking away cargo space 😕
I always thought they ran until they sunk😂. It's not an easy life for em and the all eventually break or get unlucky with a bad storm and a malfunction
Ive seen them pass thru the Soo Locks all these ships are amazing at what they do. As for the ships mothballed seems like they could maybe add self loaders ??? Seems like a lot of $$$$$ sitting there.
I agree! The price of steel flucates if they scrapped it. I’ve read that the Ryerson is in pretty good condition still but adding self unloading equipment would be expensive, less cargo space and very difficult the way the stern was built
I was born & raised in Minnesota, town called International Falls. And I remember the Edmund Fitzgerald incident very well. Even been to Duluth more than once. But there's nothing beautiful about the Great Lakes ships and freighters in my opinion. Was just another job and way to keep the bills paid to them people. Damn sure wasn't pretty
The Edmund Fitsgerald Crew MICHAEL ARMAGOST FREDERICK BEETCHER THOMAS BENTSEN EDWARD BINDON THOMAS BORGESON OLIVER CHAMPEAU NOLAN CHURCH RANSOM CUNDY THOMAS EDWARDS RUSSELL HASKELL GEORGE HOLL BRUCE HUDSON ALLEN KALMON GORDON MACLELLAN JOSEPH MAZES JOHN MCCARTHY ERNEST MCSORLEY EUGENE O'BRIEN KARL PECKOL JOHN POVIACH JAMES PRATT ROBERT RAFFERTY PAUL RIIPPA JOHN SIMMONS WILLIAM SPENGLER MARK THOMAS RALPH WALTON DAVID WEISS BLAINE WILHELM Rest in peace boys
The high quality iron ore in Minnesota is pretty much gone, and they are mining the lower quality iron ore, called Taconite now, which in the mining heyday was considered waste product. There is still plenty of this lower quality ore (supposedly 100 years worth). Beyond that they say there are deposits of a different type of iron deposits that would require a different type of processing.
Thanks for your comment, Harry! Actually I’ve read several books. Also, gathering information from historical societies, lectures and university papers. Sorry to disappoint you 🥰
@@LongShipsChannel Hey LongShips. My apologies. This was supposed to be a text to someone. Not sure how it ended up in comments on your feed. I enjoyed and appreciated your article.
