A request of Captain Metz - Weather

[wheelman]

always look forward to your posts and love to read them.i worked repairing the Beechglen when she broke her back.In prescott also i palyed hockey when i was a kid on the deck of the carryore ships that lay up in prescott.

[gerard lawson]

In 1975, the chief engineer on the Sykes quit after the sinking of the Fitz. His wife was with him on the boat that night and when they got to the Inland Steel plant, she told him that he was done and he packed his bag and the two of them walked up the dock.

[Guest]

What I do remember about the Beechglen one day we opened a hatch on one of the side tanks and I crawled down inside the tank and she was rusted throughout, all the beams had rust coming off the sheets. I guess they had some welding to do but the steel had very little " Meat" to weld on. I took my video camera with me and took video of all the rust and water was leaking in all over the place. When I got top side a office personal ask me why I took video and told him this ship should be scrapped. The Beech was a fine looking ship from the out side but inside her tanks she was ripe. That is the only ship that I use to walk along side the dock before we sailed looking for cracks in her hull. I was the last skipper to sail her and I am glad she went to scrap

[John Dunlap]

Thanks Captain Metz- regarding the crack you thought Beechglen's hull might have sustained- it's interesting to wonder that if the hull really did crack- then might that crack have contributed to her break when she was unloading the corn cargo at Port Cardinal?

[Rob]

One time my father got caught in a storm on Lake Mich on the Howard F Andrews, had no where to hide, 3 guys quit when they got to Port Colborne. They said he was nuts haha, he said i just got caught, no much he could do

[Guest]

That you for the kind words. No, I never heard for any crew members quitting because they were afraid of sailing with a " "Heavy Weather" Captain

[Guest]

Very interesting Capt. Metz, I love your writing. You seem to give us the real story with no embellishment.

A question for you. Were there some captains that seemed so reckless that crew members would decline to sail on a boat that they captained?

[Guest]

Years ago when I first started sailing, captains would put their ships out in any kind of weather and I learned a lot from the old timers. I learned never to intentionally put my ship out into a bad storm and I never did. I always checked the weather repots very carefully. I have only been caught in one storm and that was when our engine broke down and you can read the story in an earlier posting.
I remember one storm when I was a wheelsman on a Ford boat when gale warnings were up on Lake Superior as we passed Whitefish Point heading for Marquette. I noticed many ship's were at anchor behind Whitefish Point and I made mention to the captain "Looks like a little city over there with all the ship's at anchor." The captain replied we were not going to anchor we will make Christians out of the crew tonight. I really did not care for that remark as I finished my watch. Eight hours later a gale hit us full force and again I was on the wheel. The ship was really rolling side to side and the captain said "Keep her on course"! I replied "I have to take her off the iron mike and put her on hand steering to keep her on course." My legs were spread as far apart as I could spread them in order to stay standing upright. I was steering by hand now and really hanging on to the wheel to stay upright. We rolled like this for some time and I asked the captain how big the waves were and he said about 25 to 30 ft high. I thought my god is he ever going to change course so we could ride better. Just then the 3rd Mate lost it; he could stand it no more and shouted to the captain "You're nuts! Are you trying to kill us all?" Finally the captain said in a very quiet voice "Dick put her head into the wind," which I did immediately. When she started to ride better the captain left the bridge and never said another word.
Another time I was third mate on the Beechglen and SW gale was blowing on Lake Huron as we were coming out of Georgian Bay heading for the Soo. You have two choice, one is to go to anchor behind Cove Is. and the other is to alter course to the SW until lee of the land of the east coast of MI then turn and go up the lake with the sea on your stern which makes for a good ride. Nope the skipper turned the ship as soon as he got into Lake Huron for the Soo and she rolled so bad that another ship heading up bound said that he could see our keel come out of the water. We had thousands of dollars worth of damage to the ship.
Another time on the Beechglen although I was not on her at the time but the Beech was down bound on Lake Superior from Thunder Bay when she was caught in a NW gale. The Beech traveled with the gale wind heading toward eastern Lake Superior hoping the gale would be over by the time they reached the Canadian shoreline. The gale was still blowing hard so the captain had to turn the ship around and head back into the lake. While the Beech was trying to turn she got caught in the trough and was almost lost to the waves. I'm not sure but I think she suffered a small crack in her plating.

[Alex]

Captain, the stories you share here are of the most interest. I do have one request sir, what is some of the worst weather that you have sailed through? Thank you in advance!