Boatnerd Discussion Forum

Thank you for the information and the links!

The Soo Locks transit information I provided was from the Marine Board of Investigation: Sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald records that BGSU has scanned and archived and published online for the public to view. It is a very valuable resource, whether you're a ship enthusiast, historian, student or a meteorologist looking for weather observations/charts for that event.

Scroll down to page 742 of the pdf document, and here you will find the Soo Control radio logs and the upbound and downbound logs for the vessels from November 9-11, 1975: https://lib.bgsu.edu/finding_aids/files/original/96aff4d47d8e8620c6fbd9a5c40311bc.pdf

https://lib.bgsu.edu/findingaids/repositories/4/resources/177 (Scroll all the way to the bottom of the page. There you will find a section called "External Documents - Digitized Reels from 1 to 5, which are pdf documents. There are literally thousands of pages in the repository.)

[quote=Guest post_id=274717 time=1772388115]
I was the one that posted the two screen grabs from the BGSU website. In regards to the Johnstown, she did indeed have a destination of Hamilton. In fact, on November 9, 1975 the Sparrows Point was downbound in the Welland Canal with a load of iron ore for Dofasco. Normally Bethlehem Steel ships would be upbound with iron ore pellets from Picton, Ontario for Lackawanna.

The march/April 1976 issue of Telescope has a byline for November 9 in their news section: https://images.maritimehistoryofthegreatlakes.ca/122712/page/20?n=
[/quote]

Thanks for posting this information! Never knew that the BGSU had Soo Locks transit information online. At least, I have never found any there!

I was the one that posted the two screen grabs from the BGSU website. In regards to the Johnstown, she did indeed have a destination of Hamilton. In fact, on November 9, 1975 the Sparrows Point was downbound in the Welland Canal with a load of iron ore for Dofasco. Normally Bethlehem Steel ships would be upbound with iron ore pellets from Picton, Ontario for Lackawanna.

The march/April 1976 issue of Telescope has a byline for November 9 in their news section: https://images.maritimehistoryofthegreatlakes.ca/122712/page/20?n=

[quote=Guest post_id=274704 time=1772210511]
John Sherwin during the morning of November 10, 1975 was northwest of Whitefish Point, and locked through at around 12:20pm. The Sherwin was bound for Indiana Harbor.
[/quote]

Thanks for posting that downbound log at the Soo for November 10, 1975. What an interesting piece of history of what would have been just another ordinary day until later that evening.

Just one question, I can't really make out the destination for the Johnstown on this passage. It appears to be Hamilton, but that would seem strange for a Bethlehem Steel ship.

Thanks again for posting this! I often pull out old copies of Soo Locks transits from the 1970s and 1980s that were posted in Port Huron's Times Herald paper back then. I feel, these are simple, but very interesting tidbits of history.

John Sherwin during the morning of November 10, 1975 was northwest of Whitefish Point, and locked through at around 12:20pm. The Sherwin was bound for Indiana Harbor.

Sherwin passed through the Soo Locks downbound for Lake Michigan at 1:50 PM on November 10th.

Does someone know, or is there a site that can tell me, Where was Interlake's Sherwin the night the Fitzgerald sandk ?
I have a friend that had family on her crew and has heard some conflicting stories.
TIA