The Great Lakes Car Ferries - Montevallo Historical Press

Photos and Illustrations from
The Great Lakes
Car Ferries
St. Ignace, from American Steam Vessels, by Samuel Ward Stanton
Photos and Illustrations from
The Great Lakes
Car Ferries
George W. Hilton
Montevallo Historical Press
Chapter One:
The River Car Ferries
13
The first of the river car ferries was the Buffalo & Huron’s International (I), built in 1857. Here she is shown at her slip at Black Rock,
Buffalo, in a water color by Mildred Green. (Buffalo & Erie County Historical Society.)
Chapter One: The River Ferries
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The Great Lakes Car Ferries
Facing Page: Sketches by Rev. Edward J. Dowling, S.J., of the University of Detroit, of Transit (I)
and Michigan (I) of the Great Western Railway on the basis of their only known delineations, a small
drawing in a panoramic view of the Detroit River in the 1870’s. Both ships had the enclosed car decks
characteristic of the early ferries.
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Chapter One: The River Ferries
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The Great Lakes Car Ferries
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Chapter One: The River Ferries
9
The Great Lakes Car Ferries
The Lansdowne, veteran of over 77 years on the Detroit River, is one of the greatest collections of
Victorian marine technology afloat. Below, left, are her horizontal low-pressure engines, inherited
from the Michigan (I) of 1873. Each cylinder has a nine-foot stroke. One of the ship's oddest features
is her steam steering engine, mounted in the base of her wheel. This arrangement gives her pilot house
involuntary steam heat, winter and summer alike. (Below, Gordon P. Bugbee)
Until about 1912, the Lansdowne carried pilot houses fore and aft (above, St. Clair collection) and
passengers on Wabash trains were allowed to stroll about her decks. At present she operates in freight
service only, painted in standard Canadian National Railways steamship colors. (Above, Edward J.
Dowling, S.J.)
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Chapter One: The River Ferries
11
The Great Lakes Car Ferries
The Grand Trunk's ferries between Point Edward and Port Huron were International (II) of 1872
(above, W. A. McDonald collection) and Huron of 1875 (left, Edward J. Dowling, S.J.). International (II)
became the Pere Marquette's first river ferry, but Huron remained in the hands of the Grand Trunk and
the successor Canadian National. At the left, with her high-pressure non-condensing engines exhausting
into the summer air, she approaches Brush Street, Detroit. Her ancient lines, barely changed since 1875,
contrast with the modernity of the New York Central baggage car she is carrying.
Below, a paddle ferry, the Canada Southern's Transfer (I) of 1873, loads at her slip in
Amherstburg in an old woodcut (Fort Malden Museum).
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Chapter One: The River Ferries
Lavoinne and Pontzen in their book, Les Chemins de Fer en Amerique (1882) chose the Transport, an
iron paddler of 1880, as their example of modern American car ferries. Their drawing below shows the
unusual cog-wheel gearing of the horizontal engines to the wheels characteristic of the Michigan Central
ferries (British Museum).
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The Great Lakes Car Ferries
The cut-away drawing (above, from Railway Gazette)
shows the odd combination of gear-driven paddle wheels
and an ice-breaking screw on the Transfer (II) of 1888.
Below, she is pushing through sheet ice in the Detroit
River during her later years on the Wabash (Marine
collection, Milwaukee Public Library). At the right is
one of the Michigan Central's ferry aprons, as drawn by
Lavoinne and Pontzen (British Museum).
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Chapter One: The River Ferries
The Detroit, last of the Michigan Central's ferries, is one of the few ships to operate at various times with
four, three, and two stacks. She ran for the Michigan Central with four, but was running for the Wabash
in the early 1930's with three (above, Capt. William Taylor), and subsequently was reduced to two.
The Detroit River car ferries are not equipped with the jacks and chains of the Lake Michigan
boats; cars are secured only with rail clamps. Here is the uncluttered car deck of the Michigan Central
(Dowling collection).
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The Great Lakes Car Ferries
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Chapter One: The River Ferries
The first of the modern Detroit River car ferries was Frank E. Kirby's Pere Marquette 14 (left, Elmer
Treloar) which went into service in 1904 (plan, below, American SB Co.). She had a career of 53 years, and
all later river car ferries were modelled after her. How little the design changed is evident in a comparison
with the last of the river ferries, Pere Marquette 10 of 1945 (above, Edward J. Dowling, S.J.).
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The Great Lakes Car Ferries
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Chapter One: The River Ferries
The most common propulsion for the Great Lakes car ferries was a pair of three-cylinder compound
engines. At left, a set sits on blocks at the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company's engine shop, awaiting
installation in Pere Marquette 12 in 1927 (Manitowoc SB, Inc.). Above, the Pere Marquette 12 pulls
out of her slip under the Ambassador Bridge in Detroit (W.A. McDonald).
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The Great Lakes Car Ferries
Above, the Canadian Pacific's big paddler, Ontario, sits marooned in the ice off Detroit about 1905
(David T. Glick collection). Her running mate, Michigan (II) was originally similar in appearance, but
like the Ontario, ended her days as a pulpwood barge (below, St. Clair collection).
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Chapter One: The River Ferries
The Transport operated in the Wabash fleet until 1933, but spent most of her last years idle (above, W. A.
McDonald). Below, the Detroit, empty save for a tank car of bunker oil, prepares to put into Detroit to
load. Her running mate, the Mantitowoc of 1926, has just pulled out for Windsor (Elmer Treloar).
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The Great Lakes Car Ferries
Finding beauty in Detroit River propellor ferries is an acquired taste, but the plan above (from Marine
Engineering) shows that Windsor is well proportioned. The Windsor of 1930, latest of the Wabash's
ferries, pushes through slush ice into her Windsor slip (below, Elmer Treloar).
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Chapter Two:
The Mackinac Transportation
Company
Captain L. R. Boynton (1833-1927) was the first master of the St. Ignace and the
commodore of the Mackinac Transportation Company until 1916. He was the most
prominent car ferry captain of his day, and the leading practical authority on ice-breaking
on the Great Lakes. Frequently, he acted as consultant to shipbuilders and car ferry
operators on ice-breaking problems. Here in 1903, at the peak of his fame, he sits for
his portrait. (Courtesy of O. C. Boynton.)
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The pioneer Mackinac ferry St. Ignace was the first American ship to carry propellers fore and aft. At left, she churns through the ice with her
bow propeller early in her career, probably around 1890. Her sides had not yet been enclosed, but her original sea gate, which opened like
a pair of doors, had been replaced by a more substantial model that opened vertically (John B. Muir photo, Mariners Museum collection).
The Great Lakes Car Ferries
24
Chapter Two: The Mackinac Transportation Company
When a full cut of iron ore on her port track caused St. Ignace to sink in her slip in 1902, a large crowd
of amateurs and professionals came to survey the damage (Elizabeth Wenzel collection).
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The Great Lakes Car Ferries
Second of the Mackinac car ferries was the Saint Marie (I). Her wooden hull, intended to be the strongest
on the Great Lakes, is shown on the stocks at Wyandotte. Below, the ferry called at Port Huron in June
1893, on her way to St. Ignace (both, Dowling collection).
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About the turn of the century, Sainte Marie (I) waits in the St. Ignace slip, as her running mate St. Ignace lies idle beside the pier (Dowling
collection).
Chapter Two: The Mackinac Transportation Company
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The Great Lakes Car Ferries
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Chapter Two: The Mackinac Transportation Company
Chief Wawatam has been the Mackinac Transportation Company's regular boat from 1911 to the present.
Frank E. Kirby's marine architecture is evident in every line of her design (above, Edwin Wilson).
Sainte Marie (II) spent her entire career as spare boat to the Chief Wawatam. Here she is shown,
characteristically, tied up at St. Ignace with her boilers cold (below, Edward J. Dowling, S.J.).
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Chapter Three:
The Ann Arbor Railroad
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The Great Lakes Car Ferries
Ann Arbor No. 1 had three distinct profiles in her history. She appeared with widely spaced stacks fore
and aft in 1892 (previous page, top, McDonald collection). With her spar deck cut back to improve
clearances on her car deck, she is shown around 1895, working hard to free Ann Arbor No. 2 from the
ice (previous page, bottom, Dowling collection). Finally (above, St. Clair collection), she operated with a
single tall stack aft. She sits marooned in a windrow which her bow propellor, removed in 1896, might
have helped to break.
Ann Arbor No. 2 appeared on the Toledo Ann Arbor & North Michigan's early passes (passes
from the author's collection).
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Chapter Three: The Ann Arbor Railroad
Ann Arbor No. 1 perished in this spectacular blaze at the Chicago & North Western slip in Manitowoc
in 1910 (Dowling collection).
Marine Engineering in its first volume (1897) illustrated the Ann Arbor's initial method of
securing cars. Here the jack at the left is braced against the jacking rail of the adjacent track.
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The Great Lakes Car Ferries
Ann Arbor No. 3 arrived in Frankfort in 1898 with this unimpressive appearance. Her two stacks abreast
were shortly replaced by a single funnel. A sea gate, aft pilot house, an addition to her length and a new
superstructure were to change her almost beyond recognition by the 1930's (Dowling collection). Upon
going into service, she replaced Ann Arbor No. 2 on the railroad's passes.
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Chapter Three: The Ann Arbor Railroad
In 1909, when a switching crew put eight cars of iron ore on the port tracks of Ann Arbor No. 4, she
capsized in her slip at Manistique. Her starboard plates were removed and the wrecking tug Favorite
took out her hopper cars through the open sides. With her stack gone and her starboard side open, she
was towed off for repairs (both, Marine Collection, Milwaukee Public Library).
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The Great Lakes Car Ferries
Frank E. Kirby's steel car ferry for the Ann Arbor is a noble boat. Above, Ann Arbor No. 5 in January
1911 cuts through solid sheet ice in the St. Clair River on her way to Frankfort to begin service (Marine
Historical Society of Detroit). This was her first taste of of the winter conditions she was to battle for
more than 50 years. Below, her lines were impressive even in the slip (St. Clair collection).
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Chapter Three: The Ann Arbor Railroad
Ann Arbor No. 4 ended her worst disaster sunk by the south pierhead at Frankfort in 1923 (Dowling
collection). Once again, she was repaired, and emerged, below, with a new superstructure (McDonald
collection).
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The Great Lakes Car Ferries
Ann Arbor No. 7 was the Ann Arbor's version of the standard Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company car
ferry of the 1920's. Above, she steams out of Frankfort in the 1930's (Kenneth E. Smith collection).
Below, she waits for a switcher in the North Western slip in Manitowoc shortly after coming out. This
slip is now used by the C&O ferries, and the Ann Arbor loads at a new slip at the right of the small
peninsula (Glander studio, Manitowoc).
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Chapter Three: The Ann Arbor Railroad
The Wabash's raised forecastle gives her a unique profile among the car ferries. Her plan (above, Marine
Engineering) shows the Ann Arbor's characteristic cut-away bow, designed to facilitate rising on sheet
ice. Below, she inches out of her slip in Kewaunee, making a right-angle turn into the channel (W. A.
McDonald). Car ferries berth by putting their own deck hands ashore to make fast. Wherever possible,
cleats or dolphins are designed so that the lines come free automatically when the ferry moves out of
the slip.
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The Great Lakes Car Ferries
40
Chapter Three: The Ann Arbor Railroad
In 1958, Manitowoc Shipbuilding took the Ann Arbor No. 6 (above), cut her apart forward of the
stacks for lengthening (above, left), and re-equipped her with non-reversing Diesels and variable pitch
propellers (lower left). The finished product, barely recognizable, was renamed Arthur K. Atkinson
(below; all photos Manitowoc SB, Inc.)
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The Great Lakes Car Ferries
Above, Frankfort harbor in 1960. Below, Ann Arbor No. 3 leaves port near the end of her 62 years of
service (Kenneth E. Smith).
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Chapter Three: The Ann Arbor Railroad
Above, Alco switcher number 7 has just put 24 loads and three empties aboard the Arthur K. Atkinson
at Frankfort. The deck hands are uncoupling the idler from a Seaboard box car, and within half an hour
the ferry will be off for Kewaunee (Jim Boyd, courtesy of Trains magazine).
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Chapter Four:
Pere Marquette District—Chesapeake &
Ohio Railway
Opposite top: F & P. M. No. 1 was the first of the break-bulk freighters of the Flint & Pere Marquette.
The arrangement of cargo on the main deck and passengers on the spar deck was carried over into the car
ferries. Opposite bottom: Pere Marquette 5, largest of the line's break-bulk steamers, is shown leaving
Chicago after her sale to the Barry line in 1906. (Both, St. Clair collection.)
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Chapter Four: Chesapeake & Ohio Railway
45
The Great Lakes Car Ferries
Robert Logan's original Pere Marquette of 1896 (above) was hailed as a titan of size and power, but
Logan's later ferries were more successful (W. A. McDonald collection.) The infamous Pere Marquette
16 (right, bottom) did not spend her time entirely in disasters; here she sails peacefully out of Ludington
harbor in the early years of the century (Mason County Historical Society).
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Chapter Four: Chesapeake & Ohio Railway
47
The Great Lakes Car Ferries
48
Chapter Four: Chesapeake & Ohio Railway
Pere Marquette 19 was one of the railroad's pair of freight-only ferries. Above, she sails out of Milwaukee
in her later years (Edwin Wilson). Below, she is drydocked in Manitowoc for some work on her port
screw (Glander Studio). the Goodrich liners Carolina, Florida, and Christopher Columbus (foreground),
are in winter lay-up, but the Pere Marquette 19 has steam up and will shortly be battling the ice once
more.
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The Great Lakes Car Ferries
Wheelsman Simon Burke, Mate Walter Brown, Captain Peter Kilty, and Mate Joseph Berniski pose on
the bridge of the Pere Marquette 18 (I) on March 15, 1910 (right, Madison County Historical Society).
When the ship (above, Mariners Museum) foundered in September, all except Burke drowned.
Pere Marquette 17 (below, St. Clair collection) had a long life, avoiding the shipbreakers until 1961.
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Chapter Four: Chesapeake & Ohio Railway
51
The Great Lakes Car Ferries
Pere Marquette 18 (II) was rushed to completion in 1911, but she made a leisurely trip to the scrapyard.
She is shown in 1955 during her lengthy lay-up in Ludington (Kenneth E. Smith). Below, Pere Marquette
21, after the addition of her cabins in 1957, calls at Kewaunee (W.A. McDonald). Her original profile
was virtually identical to the plan on page 53. Pere Marquette 21 and 22 may be distinguished by the
four windows below the pilot house; on the 22 the four windows are equally spaced, but on the 21 the
center pair are side-by-side.
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Chapter Four: Chesapeake & Ohio Railway
53
The Great Lakes Car Ferries
The car ferries do not use tugs for berthing in mormal operation, but here the City of Saginaw 31 is towed
out of the shipyard at Manitowoc upon completion in 1929 (above, Glander Studio). Her plan (left,
Marine Engineering) shows the placing of her turbo-electric machinery. Below, her sister, City of Flint
32, is launched on November 27, 1929—just in time for the Great Depression (Manitowoc SB, Inc.).
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Chapter Four: Chesapeake & Ohio Railway
Pere Marquette 20 and Pere Marquette 17 went to the Michigan State Ferries as City of Munising
and City of Petoskey. Above (Edwin Wilson), the City of Munising is towed out of Manitowoc by the
shipbuilder's tug Manshipco after the conversion in 1928. Both ferries were later modified to load from
the bow (below, John R. Williams).
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The Great Lakes Car Ferries
The Pere Marquette's first boat built after the Depression,
City of Midland 41 (right, Edwin Wilson), was the first car
ferry to have two decks of passenger accomodations. She was
also the first to have Unaflow engines. Below, a workman at
the Skinner plant poses at the controls of one of the engines.
At the left is the enclosed cylinder housing of the engine,
installed in the ferry. Below, right, is the control station, with
separate telegraphs and controls for the port an starboard
engines (Skinner Engine Company).
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Chapter Four: Chesapeake & Ohio Railway
57
The Great Lakes Car Ferries
This is a cross-section of the Unaflow engines of the City of Midland 41. Steam is admitted through
the ports at the top right and top bottom of the cylinder. The poppet valves at the ports are actuated by
rotary cams in the housing at the right of the piston. Steam exhausts through the port in the cylinder
wall at the left of the piston upon completion of the stroke. In the ordinary (or counterflow) steam
engine, the exhaust ports are at the ends of the cylinder; thus, there is a back pressure as the piston
forces the expanded steam out of the cylinder. Absence of back pressure has one great general advantage:
it prevents condensation in the cylinder almost entirely. Beyond this, absence of back pressure makes
Unaflow engines respond very quickly to the controls (center, right) for reversal of direction. Unaflows
had proved themselves on the Virginia Ferry Corporation's Princess Anne (1932) and Del-Mar-Va (1933)
and on the Erie Railroad's New York harbor ferry Meadville (1936), all of which had much the same
need for flexibility in reversing as the car ferries (Skinner Engine Compeny).
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Chapter Four: Chesapeake & Ohio Railway
59
The Great Lakes Car Ferries
The C&O's current flagship is the Badger of 1953 (above, right, Edwin Wilson). Her sister, Spartan
(below, left) waits to be loaded at Kewaunee. At the right, a pair of Kewaunee Green Bay & Western
hood units work cars into the Badger (both, Willard V. Anderson, Trains Magazine).
Above, Pere Marquette 21, after her lengthening and re-engining, waits to be loaded at Jones
Island, Milwaukee (Edward J. Dowling, S.J.).
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Chapter Four: Chesapeake & Ohio Railway
61
The Great Lakes Car Ferries
Like much else on the car ferries, passenger
accomodations are a mixture of rail and marine
technology. At left is a standard passenger cabin on
the Spartan with a roomette-style bed lowered. The
couch at left also opens into a bed. At the right is
the Spartan's main lounge and restaurant.
All of the C&O car ferries are normally
fired by automatic stokers, but the engine room
crew fires up a cold boiler manually. Here a coal
passer fires up the Badger for her maiden voyage
(all, the Christy Corporation).
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Chapter Four: Chesapeake & Ohio Railway
63
The Great Lakes Car Ferries
64
Chapter Four: Chesapeake & Ohio Railway
At left, a solitary hopper of bunker coal is spotted on the port center track of the Spartan. Lying between
the jacking rails is a collection of gear for securing the cars: screw jacks, rail clamps, and chains (Christy
Corporation). The gangway at the right connects with the passenger accomodations on the spar deck.
Below, left, a deck hand tightens the butterfly nut on a rail clamp—sometimes known as a "dog"—as
the first step in making a car fast (C&O). Compare this photograph with the diagram on page 71.
Below, deck hands prepare to make the Badger fast to the apron on her first call at Kewaunee.
The last 20 feet of the car deck is paved with asphalt to faciliate loading automobiles (Willard V. Anderson,
Trains magazine).
65
Chapter Five:
The Grand Trunk Milwaukee
Car Ferry Company And Other
Lake Michigan Services
The Grand Haven rides high in the water, empty in her slip. Slush ice in the river indicates a spring
thaw (Glander Studio).
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Chapter Five: The Grand Trunk And Others
The Grand Trunk's Milwaukee, which began life as the Manistique Marquette and Northern I, ended
her days by foundering with all hands in 1929. It was the worst disaster in car ferry history. Above, she
is turning in Milwaukee harbor (Edwin Wilson).
It was 15º below zero on Christmas day in 1933 when the Madison put into Milwaukee after a
hard passage. A Milwaukee Journal photographer, seeking a symbol of a hard winter, produced a superb
picture of the rigors of winter on the car ferries (marine collection, Milwaukee Public Library).
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The Great Lakes Car Ferries
The Grand Trunk's flagship, City of Milwaukee, newly painted in Canadian National Railway colors,
steams out of Milwaukee and sets her course for Muskegon. Photographed in the 1950's (Edward J.
Dowling, S.J.), she is barely changed from her plan of 1931 (above, Marine Engineering).
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Chapter Five: The Grand Trunk And Others
Steam locomotives were already a rarity around the ferry slips when the Grand Trunk's 8307 loaded
the City of Milwaukee at Muskegon in 1954. (Above, and next page.) Diesels occasionally go onto the
apron, but steam engines, with their great weight on drivers, were kept well back. The 8307 uses three
idlers as she pushes the last cut of cars aboard (both, Jim Scribbins).
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The Great Lakes Car Ferries
70
Chapter Five: The Grand Trunk And Others
The Grand Rapids (above, Edwin Wilson), like the other car ferries, was designed with twin screws for
maneuverability in berthing. Watching the vacuum gauges at the port and starboard engine controls
are relief engineer Michael Wagner (left) and chief engineer Thomas Nello. Oiler Harold Brehrenwald
stands at the telegraph. This scene, enacted when the captain rings "Stand by," occurs thousands of times
each year as the car ferries prepare to leave port (Canadian National Railways).
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The Great Lakes Car Ferries
The harbor tug Andy has just put a line aboard the No. 4 as the S.M. Fischer tows the big barge into
Benton Harbor in 1897 (Dowling collection). The Lake Michigan Car Ferry Transportation Company
bravely towed railroad cars on open barges at right angles to the prevailing wind on a route more than
half the length of Lake Michigan. Not surprisingly, the company lost three of its four barges in storms
including No. 2 (below, McDonald collection) which capsized in Chicago harbor in 1906.
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Chapter Five: The Grand Trunk And Others
The harbor tug Arctic works the barge No. 4 of the Lake Michigan Car Ferry Transportation Company
into the Wisconsin Central slip in 1897. This is the most difficult slip for berthing on the Lakes, but
the standard car ferries berth here unaided. The unwieldy barges of the LMCFTCo required local tugs
at all their terminals. Note the crew members directing operations from the tops of boxcars (St. Clair
collection). Below, in a rare photograph of the 1890's the S. M. Fischer (center) and three of the barges
line up behind the harbor tug Violet H. Raber (left) in Peshtigo Harbor (Dowling collection).
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The Great Lakes Car Ferries
Standing out among the miseries of the Lake Michigan Car Ferry Transportation Company was the
excellence of its tugs. Both were handsome, powerful, and well-suited for the line's needs. The J.C.
Ames was a fine Victorian, complete with window shutters. The S.M. Fischer was a modern steel tug
with an attractive sheer. Both served for other owners after the end of the LMCFTCo. The J.C. Ames
(above, marine collection, Milwaukee Public Library) towed for the Nau Tug Line. The S.M. Fischer
(below, Dowling collection) is shown towing the forward portion of the Matoa for the Reid Towing &
Wrecking Company.
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Chapter Five: The Grand Trunk And Others
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The Great Lakes Car Ferries
76
Chapter Six
The Lake Erie Car Ferries
The Erie Railroad towed its Chicago harbor car floats with the sister tugs Alice Stafford (above, marine
collection, Milwaukee Public Library) and Frederick U. Robbins.
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The Great Lakes Car Ferries
78
Chapter Six: The Lake Erie Car Ferries
Shenango No. 1 churns pack ice with her propeller as she opens a path for Shenango No. 2 about
1896. Although owned by the subsidiary United States & Ontario Steam Navigation Company, the
ships carried the Maltese cross herald of the parent Pittsburgh Shenango & Lake Erie Railroad (above,
Dowling collection). Neither ship was a success. Shenango No. 1 burned on March 11, 1904 after nine
weeks frozen in the ice in Conneaut harbor. She was the only victim among the car ferries of the grim
winter of 1904 (left, both, Richard J. Wright collection). Shenango No. 2 went on to a career of continual
accidents on Lake Michigan.
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The Great Lakes Car Ferries
The collier Marquette and Bessemer No. 1 went
home to the Buffalo Dry Dock Company in
1917 for work on her hull (left, Capt. Frank
E. Hamilton collection). The odd vessel spent
her last years as the bulk freighter Carrollton
(below, Edwin Wilson), but to the end she
carried an angular stern designed to load
at ferry slips (above, marine collection,
Milwaukee Public Library).
80
Chapter Six: The Lake Erie Car Ferries
The two ships name Marquette and Bessemer No. 2 met very different ends. The first, shown loading
above in Conneaut, foundered with all hands in 1909 (marine collection, Milwaukee Public Library).
The second (below, Mariners Museum) spent her last years peacefully as a showboat.
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The Great Lakes Car Ferries
82
Chapter Six: The Lake Erie Car Ferries
The Ashtabula (above, Edwin Wilson) was the only ship the Pennsyvania-Ontario Line ever had. She
served the Ashtabula-Port Burwell route for 52 years before colliding with the bulk freighter Ben Moreell
(below, Edwin Wilson). The ferry was so badly damaged that she was not rebuilt (left, both, Duff G.
Brace).
83
The Great Lakes Car Ferries
The Toronto Hamilton & Buffalo's only car ferry, Maitland No. 1, spent only 16 years in service, and
then a decade in lay-up at Ashtabula (above, Mariners Museum), before being reduced to a pulpwood
barge (below, Edwin Wilson).
84
Chapter Six: The Lake Erie Car Ferries
The Michigan & Ohio Car Ferry Company's regular tug was the Champion, shown here in a catalog of
the Detroit Dry Dock Company (Hoey collection). Tangible evidence of the short-lived operation is very
meager, but a waybill of the obscure company survives as an exhibit in the M & O's complaint before the
ICC against the Michigan Central's charge of $5.00 per car for switching at Detroit (ICC Docket Room).
85
86
Chapter Seven:
The Ontario Car Ferry
Company and the Upper
St. Lawrence River Services
Ontario No. 1, shown here early in her career, operated without the benefit of a sea gate (Edward Levick
collection, Mariners Museum).
87
The Great Lakes Car Ferries
Ontario No. 2 had ample passenger accomodations and — as one might expect of a ship that was ordered
two years after the Titanic disaster — boats for all (John R. Williams collection).
88
Chapter Seven: The Ontario Car Ferry Company
The ungainly double-ender Charles Lyon began life as a set of plans lettered Ogdensburg (American
SBCo). By 1932 she was lying idle at Port Dalhousie awaiting reduction to a barge (Ivan S. Brooks). Her
replacement was the tug-and-barge combination, Prescotont and Ogdensburg (George Deno).
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The Great Lakes Car Ferries
90
Chapter Seven: The Ontario Car Ferry Company
The William Armstrong was a small but highly-regarded car ferry. At left, (Lawrence Bovard, Daniel C.
McCormick collection) she breaks ice at the mouth of the Oswegatchie River at Ogdensburg. She sank
off Morristown in 83 feet of water in 1889 in the Canadian Pacific Car & Passenger Transfer Company's
most serious accident. To say that she was a mess shen raised would be a gross understatement (above,
McCormick collection).
91