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.

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.

A Fateful November Evening

Thirty eight years ago on this day, the Edmund Fitzgerald sank near Whitefish Point.  All 29 members of her crew perished.  This is probably one of the more famous maritime disasters on the Great Lakes, mainly because it is one of the more recent major disasters.  Also because there is a song written by Gordon Lightfoot about it.

 This is a diorama depicting the William Clay Ford attempting to search for survivors.  The Captain of the William Clay Ford at the time was Don Erickson.  He joined the Arthur M. Anderson in a search for her despite the dangers to his ship and crew.  I kind of wish the stories of these two ships were just as famous as the Edmund Fitzgerald because that was an amazing display of bravery to do that.

 The Edmund Fitzgerald was launched in 1958 and at the time, she was considered as the Queen of the Lakes because she was the first ship built to the new Seaway dimensions (although she was only 729 feet long).  She held that title until 1959, when the SS Murray Bay was launched with her length of 730 feet long.  She could carry a little over 26,000 tons of cargo.  She would hold a number of cargo records (probably until the introduction of the 1000 footers).

 This model is the closest I'll probably ever get to photographing her.  I really wish I could have seen her in person.

 The Edmund Fitzgerald left Superior, Wisconsin at 14:15 on November 9th, 1975.  She was under the command of Captain Ernest McSorley.  At the time, the National Weather Service predicted nasty weather that would hit south of Lake Superior, so Captain McSorley took her on her normal route (rather than hugging the Canadian side of Lake Superior to get some shelter from nasty weather).  The Fitzgerald was delivering taconite to Zug Island in Detroit.  At 17:00, she joined the Arthur M. Anderson which was under the command of Captain Jesse B. "Bernie" Cooper.  At 19:00, the NWS issued gale warnings for all of Lake Superior.  Both ships altered their course to seek shelter in the northern part of Lake Superior.

At 15:30 of November 10, Captain McSorley radioed the Anderson that his ship was taking in water and was starting to develop a list.  Shortly after 16:10, he radioed the Anderson to report that he lost his radar and would like assistance from the Anderson to guide him to Whitefish Bay.   The Anderson was able to guide her through the storm.  The last communication from the Fitzgerald came at 17:10 on November 10, when Captain Cooper asked the Fitzgerald how she was doing.  The Fitzgerald replied, "We are holding our own."  It is believed that she sank shortly after this.

I've posted about the Anderson's story before.  I don't really know much about the Ford though but I do know that both of those ships deserve some credit for their brave acts that night.

You may ask about the anchor here?  Well, it was the bow anchor of the Edmund Fitzgerald and was lost in the Detroit River shortly before she went down.  It's a pretty impressive sight.

But out of the tragedy of the Fitzgerald came a number of improvements.  There were some changes in Great Lakes shipping regulations that mandated improved survival suits, depth finders, positioning systems, increased freeboard and more frequent inspections of ships.  I'm not sure what good the survival suits would have been though because I don't know how quickly the Fitzgerald went down but every little bit helps I suppose.

So take a moment to remember the lost crew of the Fitzgerald and also take a moment to remember the two brave Captains that went out to search for her.

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.