A Stop at the Dossin Museum

 Then I decided to take my dad to the Dossin Museum.  I didn't remember if I took him there before but even if I did, it's a pretty neat place.

They changed up the exhibits a bit.  Throughout the museum, they had a bunch of models.  This was a ship in a bottle.

A model of the Sykes before she had her self unloading boom.

This was a tour boat of some sort.  I think it was a steam powered one.

A cutaway model of the John G. Munson.  It was showing the self unloading system.  She was in the Bradley colors.

I'm not sure what ship this was but it was carrying a bunch of cars.  I would have loved to see this.

The S.T. Crapo.

An engine telegraph in the pilothouse of the William Clay Ford.

I think this was a radar scope.

Both of them together.

The controls of the ship.

I think this is a radio direction finder.

At one time, the Great Lakes were ringed with radio towers that would send out signal of their location.  You could use this device to get a fairly accurate fix of your position.  With the advent of GPS, this system is no longer needed (but I think it may still be around).

A ship called the Pewabic.

The Dossin Museum From the Air

I had some charge left in the batteries on my drone and I decided I wanted some other pictures.

I figured that since I was close enough, I would get some pictures of the pilothouse of the William Clay Ford.

The William Clay Ford was a steamship that belonged to the Ford Motor Company's line of ships.  She was launched from the Great Lakes Engineering Works in 1953.  She was one of the ships dedicated to getting ore from the mines in the Upper Peninsula and Minnesota to the steel mill in Dearborn.

She was the ship that left her safe anchorage to help look for the Edmund Fitzgerald with the Arthur M. Anderson.  In 1986, she was scrapped but her pilothouse was saved to the Dossin Museum.

Of all the times that I've been inside the museum, I've never gotten any pictures of the pilothouse from the outside.  I would love to see them add a bow, but I'd hate to think how much that would cost.

And then I scooted over to catch a picture of the Edmund Fitzgerald anchor.  This anchor was lost in the Detroit River before the ship sank.  They sent a team of divers to retrieve it from the bottom of the Detroit River.  It was restored and is now a monument.

A Ship's Telegraph

For the last ship of the day, I decided to stop at the Dossin Museum to catch her from the William Clay Ford pilothouse.  There were a bunch of people in there, so I didn't really want to get many pictures of the pilothouse.

I did decide to take a picture of a ship's telegraph.  This is used to communicate the desired speed to the engine room.  The person in the pilothouse would click the desired speed and a similar telegraph in the engine room would receive it.  The engineer would acknowledge the order and set the ship's speed to that.

View of the Pilothouse

After much waffling, I decided to head over to Belle Isle today.  I was hoping to catch a ship on her maiden voyage.  I also had a shot to catch another ship.

 Since I wasn't sure if I could catch her at the tip of the island, I decided to stop at the Dossin to catch her there.

 A Engine Telegraph.  This is what the captain uses to relay his desired speed to the engine room.

 A compass.

 The ship's clock.

 I'm not sure what this is.

The wheel.

A Brief Stop at the Dossin Museum

Like I said, I made a brief stop at the Dossin Museum.  I've been there a few times, so I didn't really have to wander through that much.  Mainly, I was looking for the pilothouse.

One of the main attractions of the Dossin is that there is the pilothouse from the William Clay Ford there.   The William Clay Ford is famous because she is one of the ships that went out to look for the Edmund Fitzgerald.  Unlike the Arthur M. Anderson, the William Clay Ford was already in a safe anchorage and she left that to assist a fallen mate.  Sadly, she met the same fate of so many other ships and was scrapped.  Fortunately, they were able to save her pilothouse.   This is a ship's compass.

 The helm.  Presumably, it has assisted steering, so it doesn't have the big wheel that so many other ships have.

 One of the many charts in the chart room.

 More of a full shot of her pilothouse.

This is from the ballroom of the SS. Detroit.  I can only imagine how impressive it would have looked on the real ship.

The Dossin Great Lakes Musuem Remodeled

Earlier this year, the Dossin Museum was closed for remodelling.  It was actually much needed because its age was starting to show.  I finally got a chance to see what they've done.

 The first room as you enter the museum was relatively unchanged.  It is a recreation of the smoking room of the SS City of Detroit III and sort of brings you back to the days of luxury steamships that sailed on the Great Lakes.

 The rest of the music was changed though.  There are more interactive exhibits and it isn't as crowded as it used to be.  I think they improved the lighting as well.  This is an example of copper.

 A ship's horn.  You can actually hear some of the sounds of the Lakes.

 

 A sextant.  This is a tool that used to be used in navigation.

I don't remember what this was called.  But it was a tool that was used in developing more accurate charts of the Great Lakes.

 An example of an old wireless telegraph.

 They've included some of the trophies that are awarded on some of the River Races.  I'm not about to name them all.

 But they look pretty neat.

 A painting depicting the battle of Lake Erie.

 A model of an old rail ferry.  This is the Pere Marquette 10.  If I remember correctly, she is now a barge.

 An old sail ship.

 This is sort of a simulator of a pilothouse.  I think it is supposed to be the William Clay Ford.

 One of the cannons from the Battle of Lake Erie.

Overall I was pretty impressed with the renovation of the Museum.  I don't think they had as much on display as they used to but it was laid out much better.  The exhibits are a little more interactive though.

The View From the Pilothouse

As I was leaving Detroit, I looked towards the River and saw the Edgar Speer upbound.  She was almost past Milliken, so I had to hurry up and turn around if I was going to catch her.

 I decided to make a brief stop at the Dossin Museum to catch her from the pilothouse of the William Clay Ford.  The William Clay Ford was a laker that served on the Great Lakes from 1953 until 1986.  In 1986, her pilothouse was removed and placed at the Dossin Museum.  For the most part, it looks like a fully functional pilothouse and isn't a bad place for boatwatching.

 The Speer is one of thirteen thousand footers that ply the Great Lakes.  She is currently owned by Great Lakes Fleet.

 Many people don't like the looks of these ships, but I do.  I think they look very impressive.

 She slowly works her way past the pilothouse.

 I decided to get a view that looked more obviously from a pilothouse.  Occasionally, they the radio on, so that you can hear river traffic.

 Then I decided to head a little further down the island to catch her without window reflections and what not.  I barely caught her.

 The almost full beam shot.  You don't really get a good idea of the size of one of these behemoths until you are standing right next to one of them.

 She works her way past the Coast Guard Station.

 A couple more shots.

One more shot.