Roger M. Kyes

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FWE
Posts: 76
Joined: November 7, 2019, 7:14 am

Re: Roger M. Kyes

Unread post by FWE »

In past years quite a few of the area ship repair outfits conducted “hinging” many of the spars, mainly on the Salties. The vessels would enter Toledo and usually tie up at the Overseas Terminal or the shipyard to get the refit, then proceed up river.
badger

Re: Roger M. Kyes

Unread post by badger »

on the ottercliffe hall we use to have to fill the forepeak with ballast to clear the foreward mast on the high level bridge in toledo
wlbblw
Posts: 975
Joined: April 22, 2010, 6:58 pm

Re: Roger M. Kyes

Unread post by wlbblw »

I've noticed here in Buffalo that the Manitoulin & NACC Argonaut both have hinged masts that lower down for passage under the bridges. They clear by a couple feet in the down position & if they had been up they'd be cleaned right off. The max allowable air draft under the bridges here (at LWD) is 100-feet. If the water gauge is up it's probably closer to 95-feet or a little less.

Re: Spruceglen, I wonder if those antennas are sprung so as to take the bending & pop right back up.
Guest

Re: Roger M. Kyes

Unread post by Guest »

On a related note, I was watching the Spruceglen arriving in Toledo last fall and two of her radio antennas hit the Hi-Level Bridge as she passed underneath, but not her actual mast. The antennas sprang back upright and seemed to be fine, but I doubt this is a common occurrence.
Guest

Re: Roger M. Kyes

Unread post by Guest »

The incident you mentioned occurred on July 24, 1983 at 2am when the Roger M. Kyes' radar mast struck the I-75 bridge over the Rouge River, bending the mast over at 40 deg. and destroying the radar antenna . At the time she was heading to the Detroit Lime Dock.

After she finished unloading at 6pm, she was towed stern first but when reaching the I-75 bridge it was discovered the mast wouldn't clear bridge. As a result she was towed back to the Detroit Lime Dock.

The next day, a crew from Nicholson's removed the mast and the Kyes was then able to leave the River Rouge.

- Brian
Guest

Roger M. Kyes

Unread post by Guest »

When the Roger M. Kyes (today Algoma Compass) was built in 1973 it had what appeared to be a really tall after mast. I recall this ship hitting the I-75 Bridge over the Rouge River near Detroit with this mast back in the early 1980s. Was there any particular reason why this ship was built with such a tall mast or was it really around the same standard height as other ships and just looked taller? It seems that the mast was lowered at some point during its career (presumably after the I-75 Bridge incident) as early pictures of the ship show the mast to extend quite a bit above the unloading boom cylinder while later pictures show the mast to be quite lower.
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