A Pair of Boats

So I made it to Muskegon.  I arrived there a little later than I had hoped but then again, I started a little later than I had hoped.

 The W.G. Jackson is a vessle that is used by Grand Valley State University for water research.  She was built in 1996 through funds raised by the Making Waves in Muskegon.  She is powered by twin diesel engines.  She also does tours around Lake Michigan.

 Normally, I don't call ships boats and vice versa but with the other boat, I decided to call this a boat for this post.  The Paul H. Townsed was born in 1945 in Wilmington, CA as the Hickory Coll for the US Maritime Service but as with many other ships in that situation, her name didn't stay that way for long.  In September of that year, she was renamed the Coastal Delegate and was chartered to the Southern Steamship Company of Philadelphia.

 In 1952, she was acquired by the Huron Transportation Company and converted to a self-unloading cement carrier.  In 1957, she was lengthened to her current length of 447 feet.  She can carry almost 8,000 tons of cargo.  She was later acquired by National Gypsum as they bought Huron Cement.

Current she is in long term layup as most of her duties are handled by her fleetmate the Alpena.  Occasionally, she serves as a storage barge.  I would love to see her in action though as she is a pretty cool looking ship.