A Classic Laker You’ve Probably Never Seen Before (Plus a few other ships)
For years now I’ve been wanting to get out onto the harbor and take a closeup look at the old J.A.W. Iglehart. I thought I’d found a way to so earlier this year, wait for the harbor to freeze over then walk over to check her out. But as it turned out the harbor never froze solid enough in the center to where I felt safe trying to cross it. Considered renting out a canoe and going for a paddle, but hadn’t quite gotten around to that yet when I received an invitation from Mike (from the @vibewithmike channel) to take a boat ride. Thank you Mike! That was awesome! :) Along with seeing the Iglehart, we also cruised along the port terminal and saw the harbor tugs along with the Maumee/Victory which was refueling while waiting for the Superior Ore Dock to open up, and the Paul R Tregurtha which was having some quick maintenance being done. Then we went down to the Canal and onto the lake, but that’s a separate video, otherwise it would be nearly a half hour long.
Built in 1936, the 501ft long J.A.W. Iglehart could by some definitions be the oldest active laker. Originally constructed as a deep ocean tanker named Pan Amoco, she featured a midship pilothouse and a 15,000 ton carrying capacity, a truly massive freighter for the day (cargo ships were typically very small in that era, while passenger ships were far larger). She remained a civilian vessel during World War 2, but did come under attack by a U-Boat in March of 1943, which she survived undamaged. In 1960 the ship was sold for scrap, but because scrapyards were overbooked due to the disposal of most of the excess WW2 naval fleets, she was towed to Montreal and ultimately into the Lakes to Sturgeon Bay to wait. This proved to be her salvation. She caught the eye of the Huron-Portland Cement Company, who bought her off the scrapyard and towed her to Chicago for conversion into what was at the time the largest self unloading cement ship in the world. Her pilothouse was removed and replaced with a new, bow mounted one and her oil tanks were replaced by cement holds. Work was completed in 1965 and she received the name J.A.W. Iglehart after Joseph Iglehart, a World War 1 vet and major business man of the day. Coincidentally the ship is currently the same age as her namesake when he died. Her arrival marked the end of an era: the last “new” American steamship to enter service on the Great Lakes, every vessel afterwards would be diesel. After a long, 41 year incident free career on the lakes, her ancient steam engines increasingly became an issue in the early 2000s, with the ship taking fewer runs and spending more time laid up, the company started looking into potential replacement vessels. In 2005 the barge Innovation was constructed and the tug Samuel De Champlain (a vessel with a rather colorful history itself) was purchased and rebuilt to power her. With the Iglehart taking fewer and fewer runs, she sailed for the last time in October 2006. When she arrived in Superior however, she did not go into a standard retirement layup or scrapyard. Instead her cargo hold and unloading system have remained active, serving as a ship to shore cement transfer station. Therefore the vessel is more or less kept up and in use, active by some definitions. As fun as it is to imagine, it is incredibly, incredibly unlikely the vessel will ever sail again however. One can always dream though.
As for the other vessels seem in the video, I’ve covered Maumee and Tregurtha’s stories a few times so won’t spend too much time on them other than saying that Maumee is a 1952 AAA class laker (same as the Arthur M Anderson and others) but lost her engines after her company went out of business and ended up being converted to a barge to keep her in service. The Paul R Tregurtha is the largest freshwater vessel in the world and a near weekly visitor to the Twin Ports.
Hope everyone enjoys!
Пікірлер: 30
Hi there. I'm so glad you got an opportunity to see the ship up close. Good things happen to good people. I really enjoyed watching this video. Sure is nice to see this classic still being used....at least for storage!
Iglehart is such a gem, her lines immediately gave her away as having been derived from a 1930s-1940s era tanker (especially the stern). I love the old tanker conversions, both on the lakes and open ocean!
@jerrywestermann4435
7 күн бұрын
The first two damn near look like battleships.
@jonathanellsworth21
7 күн бұрын
They do have a really good look to them! Holds up surprisingly well even with modern tankers. Manitoulin is considered by many people to be the best looking of the new 21st Century lakers, and she was converted from a tanker
Who said 30 mins is too long? Let the kids play. You two nerds are great, always love an up close view of the Iglehart, never gets old. Thanks for bringing us along.
@jonathanellsworth21
7 күн бұрын
No problem! Just personal preference I guess, although the method I use to transfer my videos from the video editor I use to piece the individual segments together to KZread really doesn’t seem to like videos over 20 minutes. It starts to bug out sometimes lol
What a beautiful video of the Duluth/Superior harbor and an interesting collection of residents and visitors. I took a harbor cruise, back in '08, and the only vessel present was a saltie taking on grain. It's hard to describe how much I enjoyed the result of your "joy" ride. Thank you so much.
@jonathanellsworth21
7 күн бұрын
Glad you enjoyed it! I’m hoping to do a Vista Cruise video but I don’t think they’ll let me do that lol. I did ask, nobody’s gotten back to me yet :/
Victory/Maumee is what started me on my lakers journey!!! Special place in my heart!!
@jonathanellsworth21
6 күн бұрын
That would be Barker for me! Always an unforgettable sight, your first big ship!
Thanks for this video. I now know what the Iglehart looks like and I especially like her stern.
@jonathanellsworth21
5 күн бұрын
She’s a very different ship!
That was very nice, Jonathan. Nice to see what all is back there largely out of view from the canal. I’m one of Mike’s Boat Friends so if you see him give him my best. He’s posted some really great vids from his floating platform. Now that the weather is improving maybe he’ll get out on the lake and send his devoted Boat Friends a few more videos. Nice of him to help you out with this. You sure made the most of it.
@jonathanellsworth21
6 күн бұрын
Will do! It was a fun little trip 😃
I love the Iglehart, affectionately called "Jaws" by some. These old conversions had a style all their own. I'm so glad she is still around! I will always miss the old Cliffs Victory.
@jonathanellsworth21
7 күн бұрын
Yeah, I’d love to see her sailing but I highly doubt that’ll happen lol. But it’s fun having her there and get to see her every day, if only way off in the distance
Fantastic Video Thanks For Posting😊
@jonathanellsworth21
7 күн бұрын
Glad you enjoyed it!
Really cool views from the water- I also loved seeing the tugs all lined up like that! I just have to correct your description: the Iglehart might have been the last American steamship, but the last new steamship to enter service on the lakes was actually the Canadian ship Feux Follets (known later as Canadian Leader)! She was launched in 1967.
@jonathanellsworth21
7 күн бұрын
Ah ok, the article I was reading didn’t specify that lol. Thanks!
@RitzBitz96
7 күн бұрын
@@jonathanellsworth21 A lot of boat sources always forget about Canadian ships!
Great video! I'm curious about the Maumee and ships like her that have those little lookout booths at the bow. I wonder if there's a way to access them without braving the storm and having to walk the length of the ship during bad weather to take up watch.
@jonathanellsworth21
7 күн бұрын
A lot of vessels have a “tunnel” below the deck that goes the length of the ship inside the cargo hold. I believe every vessel since the Wilfred Sykes has one and a few of the older ships were retrofitted with one. I’d say most lakers have a watch house up there, some are just particularly noticeable. PRT’s for example blends in a bit more just because the ship is so big lol
I never knew there was actually a lake freighter with the name of Iglehart. Very interesting to know.
@jonathanellsworth21
7 күн бұрын
Yeah, because she’s retired and been sitting in Superior the last 18 years, a lot people don’t know she exists. There’s been no real reason to talk about her I guess. Plus she’s tucked away in a spot where it’s extremely difficult to get a good look at her if you’re not on the water. Even I’m guilty of forgetting about her quite often. Definitely a cool ship though!
Hiya just found yr channel! About the oldest laker in 1996: wasn't the St Mary's Challenger (at the time the Medusa Challenger) the oldest laker? Built 1906 and in service under her own power till 2013, with a brief stay in the boneyard 1962-66. 2014 repowered via tug Prentiss Brown & still in service, of a sort.
@jonathanellsworth21
7 күн бұрын
That’s a good point, and I knew that one but just blanked on it lol. That isn’t the first error people have found in that source lol. Probably won’t use them again but there is surprisingly little information out there on the Iglehart. My usual places that I look for information all either had nothing or extremely little on her, I really had to dig. I will correct that, thank you
I was wondering if you were on the Boat Friends boat!! Mike is an awesome dood and that was great of him to take you over there to check out that old ship. I've always loved the Igleheart ever since I watched a certain channels short about it. Though there isn't much on the internet about it, this was awesome as you got up close and personal. Thanx. And it always amazes me to see how straight those 'footers are over such a long length. Seeing the PRT from straight on in the water was neat.
@jonathanellsworth21
4 күн бұрын
Yeah there is shockingly little information out there about her! Really had to dig to find enough information to do a proper description on her and even then some of the information ended up being incorrect. But yeah the boat ride was awesome! Hopefully can do it again, maybe catch some ships in the ore docks
@Robbie1075
4 күн бұрын
@@jonathanellsworth21 that would be really cool if you could catch a ship at the ore docks being loaded/unloaded.