SIDE BENEFITS

Although the life ring says U. S. Coast Guard, this small lifeboat,
according to Eric Bonow, came from the American Girl, which
is now displayed in the Gills Rock Maritime Museum.
(Eric Bonow photo)

Washington Island, Wisconsin -

When a topic presents itself, as did  Jim Anderson's stories of freighting with his close family members on the vessel American Girl, research and information can take unusual turns, and that's a fun side benefit to doing such projects.

I'm referring to the work done with Jim Anderson for his book, Memories of the American Girl - Stories of a Washington Island family freighting business.  Although the print run wasn't large, sales have been unexpectedly, pleasantly brisk in the past several weeks, encouraging me to reorder from Seaway, the Green Bay printer we worked with.

An interest I had in doing this book was to learn a bit more about the American Girl as a vessel, both before and after the Andersons owned and sailed her from Washington Island.  And, too, the Oil Queen, their tank barge built especially for hauling oil products from the Green Bay terminal to Sturgeon Bay and Washington Island.

I often go to Eric Bonow for answers to my questions, and even when he's out on the lakes in his capacity as a mate aboard one of the Great Lakes ore boats, he generally responds within a day or less, providing me with helpful direction, additional information, photos, maps or charts, and other connecting bits.   Such were the two photos he took of the old American Girl lifeboat, now on display at the Gills Rock Maritime Museum. I'm also looking at an old photo of the American Girl - on file with the Bowling Green University's Collection of the Great Lakes - when she was new, in Benton Harbor, Michigan.

American Girl as new vessel in 1922,
with lifeboat on after, upper deck.  Also, this
original profile matches closely the modifications of the
American Girl by Matt Fogg of Fogg Towing, and
St. James Marine, of Beaver Island.  (photo
from Great Lakes Historical Collection,
Bowling Green University.)

It appears to be the same lifeboat  boat that is shown on the top deck, judging by lines, length, and so on.

Later photos of when the Andersons sailed her depict a smaller, newer model tucked behind the pilot house of the American Girl, probably lighter, easier to handle, and less prone to leaking.  Here is one photo, from the mid-1960s, with Jim Anderson on the upper deck, with the newer lifeboat version secured in the background.

Jim Anderson on top deck of American Girl.
(Jim Anderson photo)

Trip to Ironton

In order to see the American Girl as she looks today, and to obtain a comparison photo or two for Jim's book, I rode the Badger car ferry with Tom Wilson on a wet day in mid-May.

I was fortunate to able to first connect with owner Matt Fogg by phone to set up a visit for Saturday morning.  On the previous day he had been working at North Fox Island and just returned to his docks at Ironton, Michigan.

Matt met us at his landing property a  few hundred yards west of the Ironton cable ferry.  This ferry provides a shortcut across an arm of Lake Charlevoix that leads to East Jordan, Michigan.  This location was, conveniently, a mere 20-minute drive from son Thor's home in Boyne City.

The exterior of the American Girl looked great, as did the wheel house and interior spaces above decks.

Much maintenance work was done by Matt and his crew to keep her useful and operational during his years of ownership.

Below decks, the former wooden bulkheads that separated the machinery space from the rest of the vessel have been mostly removed.  (Those bulkheads also served as vertical points to stack freight against to keep it from shifting when underway, according to Jim Anderson.)

Standing near the Caterpillar engine, one can look fore and aft to see both stem and stern.  It is one, long and open space.

Original, riveted shell plating clearly shows without any sort of inner liner to cover it up.  The general look reminded me of a gill net tug, only much larger.

The American Girl wasn't used much in recent years because Matt nicely refitted a former U. S. Army tugboat he acquired on the east coast a year or two ago.  This new tug has more power (a single, Cat 3508 engine), with more speed, a good towing winch, and spacious accommodations for himself and his crew when they engage in long tows or contract construction work where they're away from home for long periods of time.  The Fogg landing in Ironton provides room for staging and loading materials and large pieces of equipment, much of it destined for Beaver or nearby Michigan islands.   This is a niche business that also hauls up cargo that the Beaver Island ferry is unable to carry.

With owner, Capt. Matt Fogg, on the American Girl.
A part of the former bulkhead can still be seen at left.

The American Girl, should anyone be seriously interested, is for sale, according to Fogg.

Her hull is sound.  The pilot house appears to be well-appointed and ideally set up for long transits.

Matt is presently working on an overhaul of the engine, and several system components, such as the sewage holding tank, will be modified.  But, the basics are certainly there, and the vessel is in near-ready to sail status.

All of this is quite amazing, I find, for a vessel that has seen her share of hard work in all sorts of conditions, and has wintered in ice, most of her 94 years.

And, finally, thanks to Eric Bonow who stuck his camera lens through the Basic shipyard facility chainlink fence one day, on a pleasure walk from the Escanaba ore docks.  His photo shows the Oil Queen resting in a field.  As far as we know, this is still her home and it will likely remain so until she's cut up for scrap.   The deep hull was built for holding liquid product is not readily adaptable for other work, and with today's current requirements for double-skin tankers, it is obsolete and non-compliant as a product tanker.

American Girl, below decks, looking aft.

After a second career on Beaver Island under the ownership of the Gillespie
family members, Oil Queen was retired.  Today, a new tanker that meets
U. S. Coast Guard requirements hauls oil products to Beaver Island.
(Eric Bonow photo)

These are but a few of the side trips made to learn more about the vessels used in the Anderson freighting business.



-   Dick Purinton