Great Lakes Freighter Cargo Ships 1940s-50s & Red Book ?

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BigRiver
Posts: 1090
Joined: April 28, 2010, 6:37 pm

Re: Great Lakes Freighter Cargo Ships 1940s-50s & Red Book ?

Unread post by BigRiver »

FYI, Russ Plumb passed away about a year ago from cancer.
Kylle

Re: Great Lakes Freighter Cargo Ships 1940s-50s & Red Book ?

Unread post by Kylle »

Russ,
This is an older thread, but I myself am looking for information about my grandfather, who sailed on the William H. Wolf in 1945 at the age of 17. He would have served with the man Clifford Ogden mentioned below. He was a coal passer and then oiler, according to his USCG discharge book. Where are you getting this information from? What is Redbook? Is there a source where I could obtain Crew manifests, Ship logs, or information regarding where the ship operated when my grandfather was on board? His name was Edward P. Meyers.
guest

Re: Great Lakes Freighter Cargo Ships 1940s-50s & Red Book ?

Unread post by guest »

I sailed with Cliff Ogden with Gartland and do remember him as an third engineer, I'm thinking that he a was on the William H.Wolf at the time, and if my memory is correct it would have been 1960 or 1961.7m78kz
Russ

Re: Great Lakes Freighter Cargo Ships 1940s-50s & Red Book ?

Unread post by Russ »

To answer your question, Red Books only list the Captain and Chief Engineer assigned to a boat at the beginning of the year.

I do show the following assignments for a Clifford Ogden:
Oiler Grand Island Cleveland Cliffs 1949
Third Assistant Frank E. Taplin Gartland 1954
Third Assistant William H. Wolf Gartland 1955
Third Assistant William H. Wolf Gartland 1956

Each of those assignments came from Customs & Immigrations Crew Lists for that boat in that year.

Its difficult to get assignments for personnel below the rank of Captain or Chief Engineer. It is even more difficult to obtain crew assignments for the Gartland Fleet because, as I know, Gartland never issed a fleet newsletter.
Guest

Great Lakes Freighter Cargo Ships 1940s-50s & Red Book ?

Unread post by Guest »

Can anyone help?
My grandfather Clifford Nelson Ogden apparently worked on these vessels from, at least, 1944 - 1956 according to records found on Ancestry (genealogical site). Where can I find additional records, like License? Typically, he went from Ontario, Canada to NY, WI, MI, IL, IN and MN, but I've only found him living in Michigan and Wisconsin.

He was a Deckhand for a couple of years, then Oiler and 3rd Engineer. Here's an example of what I have found:

Arrived Jul 6 1944
Departed Ft. William, Ontario - Arrived Duluth, MN
Ship: Steamer Finland
Company: Great Lakes Steamship Company In, Cleveland, OH
Local Agent: DT Helm & Company

Other ships he was on:
SS Grand Island, Frank E Taplin, William H Wolf

Does anyone know about the Great Lakes Red Book? Would it provide any helpful info concerning the above?

Much thanks.
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