Greetings Family and Friends,
Toledo, Ohio is home to the National Museum of the Great Lakes. The museum has a fine collection of exhibits related to the Great Lakes and, of course, the major economic activity of shipping on the lakes. In addition, two museum ships are part of its exhibits – one rather big, the other quite little. The big lake freighter with the big name – SS Col. James M. Schoonmaker. And the little tugboat with the little name – Ohio. Plus, on the way out of town a magical stop in Sandusky, Ohio.
The SS Col. James M. Schoonmaker was launched in 1911. With a length of 617 ft, a beam of 64 ft, and a cargo capacity of 15,000 tons, she was for almost three years the largest ship on the Great Lakes and thus privileged to carry the title of “Queen of the Lakes”. Her namesake was a Civil War Medal of Honor recipient.
While onboard had the opportunity to converse with a docent by the name of Bill. I was familiar with how the freighter was loaded via ore cars from above – saw models of and the actual setup while in Duluth. He was able to speak to how originally the freighters were unloaded using clamshell hoists from above. A crane like structure dropped a clamshell claw into a hold to scoop up the contents for unloading. Unfortunately towards the end of the process, a considerable amount of shoveling by men in the hold was needed to get the contents into piles the clamshell hoist could work with. Eventually, if memory serves, the clamshell hoists were replaced in more modern ships by conveyance systems that basically pushed the contents out of the ships from below. Check out the photos in the gallery, especially for the luxurious staterooms for guests as well as the 360 degree observation room on the “Texas Deck”.
The tug Ohio was built in 1903 and comes in at 106 ft. Started out as a fire tug for the Milwaukee Fire Department. Later in 1952, became a lake class tugboat. Two thoughts struck me as I toured the tug. First that in cartoons, tugboats are always portrayed as small vessels with a huge wheel in the pilot house. And sure enough, that is exactly what I found on the tug Ohio. Second, I was struck by how much space was available for the crew. But then came to understand that the crew was not two or three (not sure why I assumed that), but twelve and that deployments were not simply during the day but could be days or weeks in duration. Just like the icebreaker in Mackinaw City was a first, this was my first time aboard a tugboat and well worth it. Also in the photos below are several from the exhibits in the museum.
In Sandusky, Ohio (about midway between Toledo and Cleveland) is the Merry-Go-Round Museum. Over 35 years ago, while visiting San Francisco with family, came across the Carousel Museum. Found the exhibits to be that delightful mixture of craftmanship and artistry. So when I discovered that the Merry-Go-Round Museum was on my path so to speak – a no brainer to make a stop and visit. The museum came into being in 1990 and is housed in the beautiful former Sandusky Post Office. In addition to the many carousel artifacts, there is an operating merry-go-round at the center of the museum. One’s entrance ticket also provides a complimentary ride.
Spoke with who I believe to be the museum curator and learned that sadly the Carousel Museum in San Francisco had closed many years ago due to earthquake damage. Turns out it was a private collection, and upon the owner’s death, the various pieces of the collection were gifted out. The Merry-Go-Round Museum received 15 of the pieces as well as a carousel museum in Bristol, Connecticut (which is now on the bucket list) receiving 15 pieces also. Check out the magic below in the photo gallery.
That’s it for now. As always, feel free to share this link with anyone who expresses an interest. Next stop is as you might have already guessed – Cleveland.
Until later,
Papi