River of Ice

by Gales Of November

Title

River of Ice

Artist

Gales Of November

Medium

Photograph - Photography

Description

Named after the Le Griffin, the first ship to vanish on the Great Lakes in 1676, the Canadian Coast Guard ship Griffin was launched in 1970. She is classified as a High Endurance Multi-Tasked vessel and works as a light icebreaker. With a crew of 25, she has a length of 234 feet and a beam of 49 feet.

Perhaps one of the most recognizable boats on the Great Lakes, Hull number 868 was launched in 1952 and christened Arthur M. Anderson after the director of United States Steel Corp. The second of the AAA Class, the Arthur M Anderson has retained her name throughout her service, as have her sister ships the Cason J Callaway and the Phillip R Clarke.

In her first full season of sailing, she made 46 trips and carried 866,855 tons of cargo.

IN 1966 a bow thruster was added and in the spring of 1975 she was lengthened from 647 feet to 767 feet. This increased her capacity from 21,000 tons to 26,525 tons.

In the 1970s, the U.S. Coast Guard experimented with extending the season to twelve months. The Arthur M Anderson took part in this, as did her fleet mates. On the last day of January, 1979 the Anderson collided with the Westwind, an icebreaker in Lake Erie. A hole was punched in her bow and there was damage to her main deck.

During the 1982-83 layup, she was converted to a self unloader. This conversion reduced her capacity to 25,300 tons, but was capable of unloading 6,000 tons an hour. She received a thruster in 1989 and in the mid 1990’s her self-unloading boom was lengthened by twelve feet to 262 feet.

In 2001, U.S. Steel got out of transportation and sold the Anders and her fleet mates to USS Great Lakes Fleet, Inc.

She ran aground in 1961 in the Saint Marys River and again in 1999 while inbound to Calcite, Michigan. In 2001 she grounded near Port Inland, Michigan. In 2003 she collided with a sheet pile bulkhead in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The ship was undamaged, but caused $75,000 in damage to the bulkhead. She was struck by the Herbert C Jackson in the port quarter while moored on the Rouge River. Damage was minimal and no repairs were necessary.

The Arthur M Anderson in best known for being the last ship in contact with the Edmund Fitzgerald when she sank in 1975. During a gale on Lake Superior, the Anderson trailed the Fitzgerald. The Fitzgerald lost her radars in the storm and was relying on the Anderson for navigation assistance. The Fitzgerald reported damage and a list shortly after passing Michipicoten and Caribou Islands. Shortly after 7pm on November 10th, 1975 the Edmund Fitzgerald entered a squall and disappeared. When the squall cleared, there was no sign of the ship. No distress call was ever made.

The Anderson conducted a brief search for the Fitzgerald before heading for the shelter of Whitefish Bay. After reaching the safety of Whitefish Bay, at the request of the U.S. Coast Guard, Captain Jesse Cooper turned his ship back into the gale to search for the Fitzgerald, which was presumed lost. Other ships joined the search, but there was no sign of the Fitz. She was later found in 530 of water 15 nautical miles from Whitefish Bay.

Note: I have listened to tapes of the radio communications between the Coast Guard and the Anderson. It is clear that Captain Cooper was worried about being on the lake, but returned in hopes of finding the Fitzgerald, or at least survivors.

Here, the Canadian Coast Guard Ship Griffin clears a path for the Arthur M. Anderson at Algonac State Park on the Saint Clair River.

Uploaded

February 2nd, 2015

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