by William Lafferty » October 3, 2017, 9:46 pm
What timing. Just yesterday while cataloguing my photo collection I came across a photo of the Dan Hayes at Ludington on that trip. Lakeshore Contractors at Muskegon, run by John Bultema's son, I think, bought the tug and brought it (gingerly) to Muskegon. As I recall the Comanche was sold to owners at Kenosha to replace the rather under-powered Morelli there (back when salties were frequent at Kenosha loading and unloading for Chrysler's big plant there). On its delivery trip it caught fire at De Tour on 28 May 1982. It was towed back to the Soo by the Chippewa on 14 June 1982. Lakeshore bought it soon after with the intention of doing something with it but never did. James Roussin and Ron Walters of Ludington bought it in late 1985 to be resurrected as an icebreaking tug to help Walters's fish tug Judy Ann in and out of Pere Marquette Lake in the winter and for Roussin to use in marine construction the rest of the year. In tow of the Judy Ann the tug left Muskegon the morning of 11 December 1985 but encountered heavy seas near Little Point Sable. The Ludington CG's 44 took the tug in tow that night, but it sank the next morning around 7 AM off the Ludington Pumped Storage Plant. It was originally the Richard Caswell launched 9 July 1900 at Baltimore by the Columbian Iron Works for the U. S. Army Engineering Department.
What timing. Just yesterday while cataloguing my photo collection I came across a photo of the [i]Dan Hayes[/i] at Ludington on that trip. Lakeshore Contractors at Muskegon, run by John Bultema's son, I think, bought the tug and brought it (gingerly) to Muskegon. As I recall the [i]Comanche[/i] was sold to owners at Kenosha to replace the rather under-powered [i]Morelli[/i] there (back when salties were frequent at Kenosha loading and unloading for Chrysler's big plant there). On its delivery trip it caught fire at De Tour on 28 May 1982. It was towed back to the Soo by the [i]Chippewa[/i] on 14 June 1982. Lakeshore bought it soon after with the intention of doing something with it but never did. James Roussin and Ron Walters of Ludington bought it in late 1985 to be resurrected as an icebreaking tug to help Walters's fish tug [i]Judy Ann[/i] in and out of Pere Marquette Lake in the winter and for Roussin to use in marine construction the rest of the year. In tow of the [i]Judy Ann[/i] the tug left Muskegon the morning of 11 December 1985 but encountered heavy seas near Little Point Sable. The Ludington CG's 44 took the tug in tow that night, but it sank the next morning around 7 AM off the Ludington Pumped Storage Plant. It was originally the [i]Richard Caswell[/i] launched 9 July 1900 at Baltimore by the Columbian Iron Works for the U. S. Army Engineering Department.