Captain Mike was my grandfather. We just found this video. What a great tribute to him. This was such an amazing treat for us to see him and hear his voice again!
I am so happy you found it. This ran on a couple of PBS Stations on in Sue St Marie one in Akron. I can only say what a great person he was and what a great time we had. Only met him this one time when we did this. The taped got lost in Detroit PBS for a few years. When I found them and got them back I made this around 2010 and updated a little later. It will stay on TH-cam forever I hope. One of the best trips and stories I ever had. The crew on that ship were absolutely wonderful. May you and your family enjoy and know he was a great Captain.
I’m so glad you were able to see my comment! My family honestly can’t thank you enough! Everything he said and did was so “Papa Mike” and then to see the pictures of my sister and I on his desk...just amazing!
I'm a sea going Navy vet, as a teen, and for over 40 years didn't give it much thought, but lately I've become fascinated with Great Lakes freighters and shipwrecks. All new respect and great memories
Thank you for this great video and tribute to Capt. Mike or "Old Man" as we call the Master in Germany. I'm a captain as well, served in the german merchant marine and went only once to the Great Lakes with MV Susanne Fritzen in Sept.68. Spent my last 29 years as sea- and harbor pilot on the river Weser to Bremen. Would always do the same again.
I have never met a better group of people than those working on ships. Sounds as if you had a great career sailing. I am sure you were a wonderful " Old Man" loved and respected by his crew. Thank you for your comments.
I really enjoy this: I am retired Navy; I Love the freighters. God Bless you all and those lost souls and their families of the S.S. Daniel J. Morrell , Edmund Fitzgerald and all who endured the Wicked Witch of November
Here retired and as far as I know died of old age like we all will. And you are correct he was a very good man, as we're all the crew very nice people.
I found this very interesting as a native Michigander thank you mr baker and anna you must be very proud of your grandfather! Wish all of you a great life!
I remember watching the M/V St.Clair from the deck of the Sharon come into the Monroe turning basin after unloading coal at the Monroe Edison plant. I had just got out of USN and went to work for ASC as Ship keeper on the Sharon in 1981. It was my passion to sail on the Lakes just like my father had for much of his career. Unfortunately it was a bad time to begin a Merchant Marine career on the lakes. Many of the ships were laid up and eventually scrapped. In late 1982 with no employment opportunities to sail in the foreseeable future. I left ASC for an opportunity in the commercial HVAC industry in Texas. I still have a love for the ore boats and would give anything to sail them.
The Great Lakes are really wonderful. And the Ore Boats we great. I feel the Lakes are so ignored and many of the cities around the Lakes forgotten. How cities in the US grow without water and cities along the Lakes lose population is unbelievable.
Thank you, Larry...Very good video...informative, as well. I spent the first quarter century of my life in Superior...now retired in northern Kentucky, age 75.⚘⚓
At 16 mph I am surprized somebody doesn't throw a line out and go skiing (lol). Great to see an American industry at work. Beautiful photograpy and the vastness reminds me how small we are in the scheme of things. Kudos out to the cooks who keep everyone fed and everyone on the crew, who make this operation successful.
Wow a word processor! The upgrade of the typewriter. Haven't seen one of either for yrs! Now if you remember the keypunch machine, you got some yrs behind ya!
Brought back memories when Captain Elson mentioned the United States Gypsum and Diamond Alkali. As a youngster I watched both of them coming in to Manistee, usually to load sand for foundries at the south end of Lake Michigan.
I lived on Lake St. Calir in the 40s and 50s, It was called St Clair Shores then and was regisitered as the largest village in the U.S. I used to sit on the sea wall and watch the steamers sailing back and fortn, what a sight.
That is pretty cool.....he seemed like a simple, hardworking, humble man.....more young people should watch this and learn what it is like to have a real job where people depend on you.
Great video, thank you. Saw so many sights again from my youth. Let me tell you, Went to Lake Superior in July. 5 minutes, waist deep was enough for me. Know the Soo locks and was on one of those tour boats. Worked at Mackinac Island and loved seeing these great ships pass through the Straits of Mackinac. Thank you again.
When I was a kid visiting my friends in East Tawas, Mi, we used to run down the hill/sand dune and into Lake Huron and dive in. But we would immediately have to get back out because the water was so cold (in the summer!). This was Lake Huron; I can imagine how cold Lake Superior is (all year).
My dad was a Merchant Marine seaman before WWII, and when WWII broke out he enlisted in the Navy and got sub duty. It IS a life that young men might enjoy, but not everyone is cut out for the solitude - especially on a sub. But this is wonderful and gives me more of an idea of what he did "pre-Navy", before WWII. I suspect those GM diesels are the same used in some of EMD's locomotives. At 13:20, I was trying to make out the lock names, as it sounded like he was saying the "Polock", which was unfamiliar until I saw it spelled out as "Poe Lock".
Love this ship videos been a Michigander all my life and enjoy watching these mastedons every year.next time I hear people whining bout being confined for weeks I'll tell em these guys are confined MONTHS at a time EVERY YEAR!
if it was not for you people working these ships, we would NOT have cars, sky scrapers, building,s convenient stores, shopping malls or even a grocery store, let alone the truck that delivers our goods. all made from taconite ore shipped by ore freighters like the big Fitz and so on thank you for your service! live on!!
I made a delivery via truck working for JW Westcott mail boat to the St Clair docked in Toledo. Crew Insisted I sit down and eat lunch with them aboard. Must Always take your hat off however, no matter what.
Thank You !! If it wasn't for these hard working people the Country would shut down !! This is how we get our food supplies and other life needed materials !! This is an excellent documentary, and I like the fact that it's a older documentation, now I'm hoping things are good for these worker's and the families are thriving !! Great job !!!
Just stumbled onto this; amazing video and personal story. Captain was a regular good man in my opinion. Simply awesome documentary. And how did the Captain's life end?
The St. Clair was badly damaged by fire during layup in Feb 2019. No one was injured but it's still trying to be determined if it will return to service. The superstructure was completely gutted
@@hilljoseph6764 How do you know? I haven't found anything other than about the fire. They could just rebuit the pilot house as the rest of the ship was fine
Great Video, I agree, If it had a better title it would see more views, I'm sure a lot of others would cheese to see this. The William Clay Ford video is a favorite of mine. This one, however, provides a lot more technical info about the engines, but alas, is only half as long and the ship is 50 years newer! The St. Clair remained on course in the film, but the captain's bridge mounted lazy-boy was a little out of control.
St Lawrence seaway opened up in the 1960's. Thats where the invasive species problems started happening in the great lakes . Sea Lamprey, Zebra Mussel, Asian Gobi, etc...
Not so much worried about the Asian carb them zebra mussels will kill Lake Michigan long before them carp get in there and if the government would have took care of them Asian carp 40 years ago when they knew they had a problem we wouldn't have that problem today
All three terms are correct. "Boats" come from the term "ore boats" for the vessels that carry iron ore on the Great Lakes. "Lakers" - for obvious reasons, are called that because they sail on the Great Lakes. "Boats" or "ore boats" and "lakers" can still correctly be referred to as "ships". Another anomaly on the Great Lakes - ships can have a man's name (i.e. "James R. Barker" or "Arthur M. Anderson") and are stilled referred to "she".
@@charlespaul5160 Thank You @ Charles Paul !! I was chided for calling them " ships" thank you for letting me know that I wasn't wrong, I will call them what I damn will please !! This is America, isn't it ??
Unfortunately in February 2019 the ship suffered a major fire. The conveyor belt system somehow caught fire while the ship was wintered over. Firefighters tried but unable to put the rubber fire and finally decided to let it burn itself out. It pretty much gutted the fore and aft deck houses, engineroom, bridge, etc.
I've learned over the years, that the term 'Accident' is not only overused...it's really stigmatized, to the point that people don't take ownership of their screwups, so consequently, they never really learn, that more than 95% of all accidents, are truly preventable.
5:33 for you young people watching this, the machine he is using is called a "typewriter." It is what we used before computers. Some were easier to use than others. Some were electric. Some were manual (non-electric). Maybe one day you can see one in a museum and an old fart, like myself, could tell you how they were used.
После кадров о том как моют посуду !!! Сколько бы им не платили вся романтика дохнет Жрать из тарелки вымазанной в химии это так по гандийски) Впрочем командиру наверное химию с тарелок смывают...
See my reply above. Yeah, they are also called freighters if they carry freight. If they carry liquid cargo (i.e. oil or chemicals) that are called tankers. I don't think there are many, if any, U.S. flag tankers operating on the Great Lakes. Maybe tank barges (i.e. ITB's). I know Canada has them.
Captain Mike was my grandfather. We just found this video. What a great tribute to him. This was such an amazing treat for us to see him and hear his voice again!
I am so happy you found it. This ran on a couple of PBS Stations on in Sue St Marie one in Akron.
I can only say what a great person he was and what a great time we had. Only met him this one time when we did this. The taped got lost in Detroit PBS for a few years. When I found them and got them back I made this around 2010 and updated a little later. It will stay on TH-cam forever I hope.
One of the best trips and stories I ever had. The crew on that ship were absolutely wonderful.
May you and your family enjoy and know he was a great Captain.
I’m so glad you were able to see my comment! My family honestly can’t thank you enough! Everything he said and did was so “Papa Mike” and then to see the pictures of my sister and I on his desk...just amazing!
Any chance we would be able to get a hard copy of this video?
@@zoekertesz2024vb Yes I can get you one. Email me at lbaker1234@hotmail.com.
Larry Baker thanks...sent you an email!
I'm a sea going Navy vet, as a teen, and for over 40 years didn't give it much thought, but lately I've become fascinated with Great Lakes freighters and shipwrecks. All new respect and great memories
The Great Lakes are so unappreciated. This area has water yet everyone wants to live in Phoenix
Nuts!
My grandfather was on the cedarville when she went down. He survived. Came across this video and was floored when i saw that clip. thanks
Thank you for this great video and tribute to Capt. Mike or "Old Man" as we call the Master in Germany. I'm a captain as well, served in the german merchant marine and went only once to the Great Lakes with MV Susanne Fritzen in Sept.68. Spent my last 29 years as sea- and harbor pilot on the river Weser to Bremen. Would always do the same again.
I have never met a better group of people than those working on ships. Sounds as if you had a great career sailing. I am sure you were a wonderful " Old Man" loved and respected by his crew. Thank you for your comments.
I really enjoy this: I am retired Navy; I Love the freighters. God Bless you all and those lost souls and their families of the S.S. Daniel J. Morrell , Edmund Fitzgerald and all who endured the Wicked Witch of November
Fascinating. Thanks for
That Captain is the epitome of professionalism.
Here retired and as far as I know died of old age like we all will. And you are correct he was a very good man, as we're all the crew very nice people.
Love the freighters of the Great Lakes.
My 'Thanks' to the working men for their interviews.
Such a shame the St Clair is no longer here. Thanks for this awesome video
Larry
Thanks for posting this video. My grandfather spent time on the Alpena, always had great stories of his days on the Great Lakes.
I found this very interesting as a native Michigander thank you mr baker and anna you must be very proud of your grandfather! Wish all of you a great life!
I remember watching the M/V St.Clair from the deck of the Sharon come into the Monroe turning basin after unloading coal at the Monroe Edison plant. I had just got out of USN and went to work for ASC as Ship keeper on the Sharon in 1981. It was my passion to sail on the Lakes just like my father had for much of his career. Unfortunately it was a bad time to begin a Merchant Marine career on the lakes. Many of the ships were laid up and eventually scrapped.
In late 1982 with no employment opportunities to sail in the foreseeable future. I left ASC for an opportunity in the commercial HVAC industry in Texas. I still have a love for the ore boats and would give anything to sail them.
The Great Lakes are really wonderful. And the Ore Boats we great. I feel the Lakes are so ignored and many of the cities around the Lakes forgotten. How cities in the US grow without water and cities along the Lakes lose population is unbelievable.
Worked with all of these Men and Learned more daily with Men Like These On the Great Lakes.
A Great Life on the Great Lakes
i have sailed on some of the boats on the great lakes and this is a very well done production. thank you mr baker.
FANTASTIC VIDEO 👍👍
Thank you, Larry...Very good video...informative, as well. I spent the first quarter century of my life in Superior...now retired in northern Kentucky, age 75.⚘⚓
At 16 mph I am surprized somebody doesn't throw a line out and go skiing (lol). Great to see an American industry at work. Beautiful photograpy and the vastness reminds me how small we are in the scheme of things. Kudos out to the cooks who keep everyone fed and everyone on the crew, who make this operation successful.
ps almost forgot i worked as a qmed for mac lamp. good chief and and i was always happy to see him when i came aboard. hi chief wherever you are.
Wow a word processor! The upgrade of the typewriter. Haven't seen one of either for yrs! Now if you remember the keypunch machine, you got some yrs behind ya!
I grew up with the freighters that traversed the Saginaw River and Bay in Bay City Michigan. Have always loved watching them.
This was wonderful. So informative. I enjoyed it very much, thank you!
Thanks for posting this up: just a really high quality documentary.
Nice seeing footage onboard the St. Clair! I really liked the design of that ship.
This was a very interesting story. Life onboard one of the ships of the Great lakes. Thank you.
Damn good show. Those men have my respect. RIP Captain
Wow!
What a great crew..
Good hard working men.
Thankful for everything they do..
Greetings from Lake Erie Michigan
They are great honest hard workers. Really truly wonderful people.
Brought back memories when Captain Elson mentioned the United States Gypsum and Diamond Alkali. As a youngster I watched both of them coming in to Manistee, usually to load sand for foundries at the south end of Lake Michigan.
I lived on Lake St. Calir in the 40s and 50s, It was called St Clair Shores then and was regisitered as the largest village in the U.S. I used to sit on the sea wall and watch the steamers sailing back and fortn, what a sight.
That is pretty cool.....he seemed like a simple, hardworking, humble man.....more young people should watch this and learn what it is like to have a real job where people depend on you.
Neat video, thanks for sharing. All the men on it seemed like good guys.
Great video, thank you. Saw so many sights again from my youth. Let me tell you, Went to Lake Superior in July. 5 minutes, waist deep was enough for me. Know the Soo locks and was on one of those tour boats. Worked at Mackinac Island and loved seeing these great ships pass through the Straits of Mackinac. Thank you again.
Thank You great trip
People that live up there go right in! Crazy! Water is what, 50 degrees, if you're lucky! LOL
JohnBango - Only took the plunge once - that was enough! Superior is ice cold all the time.
When I was a kid visiting my friends in East Tawas, Mi, we used to run down the hill/sand dune and into Lake Huron and dive in. But we would immediately have to get back out because the water was so cold (in the summer!). This was Lake Huron; I can imagine how cold Lake Superior is (all year).
My dad was a Merchant Marine seaman before WWII, and when WWII broke out he enlisted in the Navy and got sub duty. It IS a life that young men might enjoy, but not everyone is cut out for the solitude - especially on a sub. But this is wonderful and gives me more of an idea of what he did "pre-Navy", before WWII.
I suspect those GM diesels are the same used in some of EMD's locomotives.
At 13:20, I was trying to make out the lock names, as it sounded like he was saying the "Polock", which was unfamiliar until I saw it spelled out as "Poe Lock".
Absolutely fascinating calm solid people who live on the water great video thank you very much for making this film available 😊
Totally agree. Great people all around.
Amazing video seen it several times love it! Thanks for sharing
Glad you like great people.
Love this ship videos been a Michigander all my life and enjoy watching these mastedons every year.next time I hear people whining bout being confined for weeks I'll tell em these guys are confined MONTHS at a time EVERY YEAR!
Awesome documentary.
if it was not for you people working these ships, we would NOT have cars, sky scrapers, building,s convenient stores, shopping malls or even a grocery store, let alone the truck that delivers our goods. all made from taconite ore shipped by ore freighters like the big Fitz and so on thank you for your service! live on!!
Or, you could call the Fitz an ore boat or even a ship. Ore freighter will work also; a hybrid of ore boat and freighter.
I made a delivery via truck working for JW Westcott mail boat to the St Clair docked in Toledo. Crew Insisted I sit down and eat lunch with them aboard.
Must Always take your hat off however, no matter what.
Fantastic!! thanks
I grew up a Central Wisconsin farmer only dreamed of that huge body of water north of Ashland. Smelting finally lured me up
Interesting thanks for sharing
Thank 😊 you so much for this video!
I agree. They were down to earth real hard working people.
hi larry. i worked a few times for chief baker of asc. really liked him.
any relation?
Why don't they make the boat engines work on coal and not deisil? They have alot of it.
This was interesting to watch
Great video!!
Thank you great people.
Thank You !! If it wasn't for these hard working people the Country would shut down !! This is how we get our food supplies and other life needed materials !! This is an excellent documentary, and I like the fact that it's a older documentation, now I'm hoping things are good for these worker's and the families are thriving !! Great job !!!
Just stumbled onto this; amazing video and personal story. Captain was a regular good man in my opinion. Simply awesome documentary. And how did the Captain's life end?
The St. Clair was badly damaged by fire during layup in Feb 2019. No one was injured but it's still trying to be determined if it will return to service. The superstructure was completely gutted
She has been completely scrapped in summer 2022. Sad ending to a hard working ship
Nicely done. Beauty of a ride, eh?
Yes it was a great ride with wonderful people. Thanks
My Dad sailed on the David P Thomson before coming a shore to work for the port of stone port.👍 sadly he is gone now.
I saw the St. Claire in Erie Pa. in july 2018
Sad to see her catch fire this past winter during lay up.. Hopefully they can re built the pilot house and save her from scrap.
It was scraped that was a major fire thay couldn't rebuild. Sucky deal
@@hilljoseph6764 How do you know? I haven't found anything other than about the fire. They could just rebuit the pilot house as the rest of the ship was fine
@@SportDogg2008 I am security at the coal dock for midwest energy it was a total loss
@@hilljoseph6764 Wonder how it happen was hoping to see her but oh well I am working on getting the paperwork to work on the PRT someday!
@@SportDogg2008 yea a lot of us don't know but rumor is it was start by someone an thay got away with it cuz no security or cameras
Thought that was George Bush at the beginning,lovely video of beautiful ship.
This video needs a different title, it's very hard to find with the current one. A better title would get a lot more viewers
I agree. It's a wonderful production and would have many more views if the title was more descriptive.
Sadly this lake ship is no longer working. She caught fire 2019 while docked in Toledo and was cut up for scrap this summer in 2022.
ST Clair, sad she’s gone
know those engines well, was engineer on a tug running two, noisy thirsty but reliable
Great Video, I agree, If it had a better title it would see more views, I'm sure a lot of others would cheese to see this. The William Clay Ford video is a favorite of mine. This one, however, provides a lot more technical info about the engines, but alas, is only half as long and the ship is 50 years newer! The St. Clair remained on course in the film, but the captain's bridge mounted lazy-boy was a little out of control.
all of the pilot houses i saw on the Lakes had a lazy boy. good deal.
lol the lazy boy is a fixture at asc or was when i was working there. great idea and sets the tone that hey. lets relax and get the job done.
St Lawrence seaway opened up in the 1960's. Thats where the invasive species problems started happening in the great lakes . Sea Lamprey, Zebra Mussel, Asian Gobi, etc...
White perch, rusty crayfish, who knows what the next big invader will be. Hopefully they keep those asian carp at bay over by shitcago
Not so much worried about the Asian carb them zebra mussels will kill Lake Michigan long before them carp get in there and if the government would have took care of them Asian carp 40 years ago when they knew they had a problem we wouldn't have that problem today
They were not connected to the Atlantic until this was completed.
@ arent you the prick , asshole.
I was asked about referring to these as BOATS on the great lakes these are called boats not ships on the Great Lakes.
They are called Lakers.
All three terms are correct. "Boats" come from the term "ore boats" for the vessels that carry iron ore on the Great Lakes. "Lakers" - for obvious reasons, are called that because they sail on the Great Lakes. "Boats" or "ore boats" and "lakers" can still correctly be referred to as "ships". Another anomaly on the Great Lakes - ships can have a man's name (i.e. "James R. Barker" or "Arthur M. Anderson") and are stilled referred to "she".
@@charlespaul5160 There there.
@@charlespaul5160 Thank You @ Charles Paul !! I was chided for calling them " ships" thank you for letting me know that I wasn't wrong, I will call them what I damn will please !! This is America, isn't it ??
Unfortunately in February 2019 the ship suffered a major fire. The conveyor belt system somehow caught fire while the ship was wintered over. Firefighters tried but unable to put the rubber fire and finally decided to let it burn itself out. It pretty much gutted the fore and aft deck houses, engineroom, bridge, etc.
I heard it was damaged but it is sad ow bad it was damadged.
Oh that is depressing.
I totally agree great people.
Why on Great Lakes ships are the bridges so far forward
I've learned over the years, that the term 'Accident' is not only overused...it's really stigmatized, to the point that people don't take ownership of their screwups, so consequently, they never really learn, that more than 95% of all accidents, are truly preventable.
St. Clair is no more. Headed for the cutters torch
Sorry to hear that. I know it had caught fire. A historic boat it will continue to sail on TH-cam.
Is there concern with cleaning the hull? Does DNR inspect for mobile invasive species?
www.postcrescent.com/story/news/2019/08/30/invasive-species-great-lakes-freighters-may-treat-ballast-water/2154860001/
Ive got an 11 year old daughter full time on my own or else Id do whatever it takes to get on one of them.
I'm a carpenter and a plumber by trade. I live in Cleveland. How does one get into this?
I had an older friend who was a radio man in an ore boat but that's about all I know
Cool story! LOL very very detailed. Lots of good info!!!
she recently caught on fire...
A sad note, this ship caught fire last year when it was in Toledo for repair.
That's a job for me.
I'm trying to find any visuals of the back of Fitz on the inside. I heard some of the men were alive in there after it sunk
Now that she's burned, will she ever sail again?
Probably but there is a decent chance she'll go to the graveyard
I'm sure she will sail again
No , she got scrapped.
5:33 for you young people watching this, the machine he is using is called a "typewriter."
It is what we used before computers. Some were easier to use than others. Some were electric. Some were manual (non-electric).
Maybe one day you can see one in a museum and an old fart, like myself, could tell you how they were used.
St Clair ship scrapped in 2022 due to a fire.
To bad she is no longer here.
great vid but whats with the title lol
Is that GONZO on the wheel (10:15)???? Patrick Bensman, is that you?
jeeez how old is this video..the capt using a typewriter?
Early 1990 but the footage got lost for some year's and was only put together in 2010.
После кадров о том как моют посуду !!! Сколько бы им не платили вся романтика дохнет Жрать из тарелки вымазанной в химии это так по гандийски) Впрочем командиру наверное химию с тарелок смывают...
is this from 1985????
Kurt Bennett at the beginning, it said on screen March 1991
Larry Baker they are built at shipyards I worked at Bay Shipbuilding we called them Lakers or freighters
Thank You great Ships built by great people and run by great crews
In Port Colborne on the Welland canal we call them Lake Freighters. The fellows who sail them call them boats.
See my reply above. Yeah, they are also called freighters if they carry freight. If they carry liquid cargo (i.e. oil or chemicals) that are called tankers. I don't think there are many, if any, U.S. flag tankers operating on the Great Lakes. Maybe tank barges (i.e. ITB's). I know Canada has them.
@@bakertv1945 See, you called them "ships".
Sadly she's been reduced razor blades all due to a fire suffered in Toledo back in 2019
ore boat? You cant use ores to row that boat silly it nees an engine
like the name ST.CLAIR...
Was the captain late for tee time?
Which year
Late 1980s early 1990s
This, I think, is uniquely American. Maybe American Canadian.
Captain Elson ended hjs sailing career on a very,very sour note.........ASC SUX!
To the Elson family,i worked under Capt.Mike several times on different ships.He always treated me right and i in return showed respect for him.
I'm #1. Sorry, I fell asleep
I WANA worn on one
Thank you great people.