Boatnerd Discussion Forum

Hobieone wrote: November 8, 2025, 4:05 pm I have some old classmates from MTU that SWEAR the Fitz transited the Portage Waterway thru the Keweenaw Peninsula on her last upbound leg.
According to the timeline here, if she locked thru at 0700, that would have put her thru the Portage that evening sometime.
I think they're crazy as boats in the +700' range almost never use that canal.
They stand by their story.
Anyone have data to support either point of view ?

The log for their trip from Ashtabula to Superior, with loading for Detroit would have been mailed to the Oglebay-Norton's office in Cleveland had the Fitzgerald not sank. Notice on the the trip log for trip 38 (Silver Bay to Ashtabula) that the office received it on November 11, 1975.

I have some old classmates from MTU that SWEAR the Fitz transited the Portage Waterway thru the Keweenaw Peninsula on her last upbound leg.
According to the timeline here, if she locked thru at 0700, that would have put her thru the Portage that evening sometime.
I think they're crazy as boats in the +700' range almost never use that canal.
They stand by their story.
Anyone have data to support either point of view ?

Guest wrote: November 6, 2025, 10:30 pm Re the 235 minute delay in Ashtabula - Was that sort of dockside delay to begin unloading common in that era? Seems like 3 1/2 hours is a long time to keep a boat idle waiting on railcars late in the season when every hour counts getting as many loads in as possible.

I posted a reply to your comment and mentioned that I would upload the photo from the article of the entry in the logbook from the Ashtabula Wave article on the A&B ore dock members when I found it

A minute later I found the picture! Looking at the photo, the longest railroad delay was 665 minutes for the John Sherwin.

Guest wrote: November 6, 2025, 10:30 pm Re the 235 minute delay in Ashtabula - Was that sort of dockside delay to begin unloading common in that era? Seems like 3 1/2 hours is a long time to keep a boat idle waiting on railcars late in the season when every hour counts getting as many loads in as possible.

A wait of 4 hours or more was common in that era, especially the Lake Erie ports. The year 1975 was in a very severe recession (New York City went bankrupt), and in fact Interlake Steamship laidup the majority of their fleet in the Summer of 1975 due to poor demand for iron ore. It was also a time when the Northeastern railroads were in bankruptcy, including those that served the Lake Erie ports, such as Toledo, Ashtabula, etc.

I'm looking in my harddrives for the photo of the log the article from Ashtabula Wave had shown in their article, but the archive website failed to do.

There weren't that many ships unloading at the A&B ore dock, at least in 1975. So there was no lineup for ships to unload, in fact days would go by before another ship would be unloaded at that dock.

When I find the photo, I will post it to this thread.

Re the 235 minute delay in Ashtabula - Was that sort of dockside delay to begin unloading common in that era? Seems like 3 1/2 hours is a long time to keep a boat idle waiting on railcars late in the season when every hour counts getting as many loads in as possible.

Guest wrote: November 4, 2025, 4:30 pm Bit and pieces I've found online to supplement what Denny said:

They passed down through the Soo Thursday, Oct 30, at 00:30 EDT.

They were in Toledo Friday, Oct 31, unloading pellets from Silver Bay at the C&O dock.

They passed upbound through the Soo Saturday, Nov 1, at 23:40 EDT.

They passed downbound through the Soo Tuesday, Nov 4, at 01:30 EDT.

They passed upbound through the Soo Saturday, Nov 8, at 07:45 EDT for Superior.

My mistake; these times were Standard Time, not Daylight Saving Time. DST ended October 26th that year.

The Fitzgerald finished loading at the Reserve Mining ore dock on November 3rd.

The Fitzgerald arrived at Ashtabula, at the A&B Dock and waited 235 minutes for railcars to arrive.

Here is a link to an article in Ashtabula Wave newspaper called "The dockmen of A&B".
https://web.archive.org/web/20180611230 ... men-of-ab/

A dock foreman from 1975 kept a logbook of all the ships that arrived at A&B and he mentions that the Fitzgerald arrived at the dock on November 5, 1975 and waited 235 minutes for railcars to arrive before she could commence unloading.

Bit and pieces I've found online to supplement what Denny said:

They passed down through the Soo Thursday, Oct 30, at 00:30 EDT.

They were in Toledo Friday, Oct 31, unloading pellets from Silver Bay at the C&O dock.

They passed upbound through the Soo Saturday, Nov 1, at 23:40 EDT.

They passed downbound through the Soo Tuesday, Nov 4, at 01:30 EDT.

They passed upbound through the Soo Saturday, Nov 8, at 07:45 EDT for Superior.

Excellent Denny, thanks much. I knew of the 10/31 Toledo but noting till the 8th. The gap didn't make sense to me till until you mentioned the other ports.

You’re trading my mind Clark as I was trying to recall the same events like you as well from her last week before she sank. This is what I can do for you. On October 31, 1975 she was in Toledo and hit her last ever USCG Spar Deck inspection from them. They found I believe cracks in either the hull or on deck or with some of the hatches. The CG allowed and permitted the Fitz to sail out the 1975 season under the conditions that repairs be made prior to and before the start of the 1976 season. From there, they went up and loaded I think at Silver Bay around November 3 or so and arrived in Ashtabula to unload about November 6 or or 7. They would’ve unloaded and cleared Ashtabula probably November 6 or so, upbound n both the Detroit and St. Clair Rivers on November 7 I would assume. They locked through the Soo for the last & final time on the morning of November 8 and arrived up in Superior to load at BNSF Allouez Dock #1 in the morning hours of November 9 and departed the dock af 2:15 pm ET or 1:15 pm CT with 26,116 tons of ore pellets bound for Zug Island in Detroit. I’m sure someone may have a more detailed schedule than I do but, hopefully I have most of the information you are looking for correct and hope that this helps as far as what you’re looking for. Glad I could help you out Clark.

As we approach the 50th anniversary of the sinking of the Fitzgerld I thought it would be interesting to know the complete timeline of the last full week of the boat before the sinking. Starting from the last port of call, to clearing the Soo, to arriving in Duluth. All dates and times beyond that are certainly well known.

It is not surprising that can’t find quality information on the internet anymore.

I figured that if anyone had this correct information it would be this board.

Any help is appreciated and thank you for your time!

Clark