Tom Wenstadt our Door County correspondent reports that the M/V HERBERT C. JACKSON departed the Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding dock midday Wednesday, July 10th. The vessel backed out of Sturgeon Bay, then pivoted 180 degrees out in Green Bay, then traveled up Green Bay, then through Rock Island Passage toward the Straits of Mackinaw.
The bulk carrier came in for propeller repair May 28th, 2024. Initially, the repair was attempted by ballasting the stern up and the bow down. However, it was decided that drydocking the vessel was necessary to complete the repair.
The JACKSON was built as a straight decker in 1959 by Great Lakes Engineering Works River Rouge, Mich., for Interlake Steamship Co. The vessel’s name came from the late Herbert Cooper Jackson, an executive vice president and director of Pickands Mather & Company, Interlake’s former parent organization. She has carried her name through-out her life. In a major upgrade, the vessel was converted to a self-unloader and from coal to oil fired boilers at DeFoe Shipbuilding of Bay City, Mich., in 1975. A bow thruster was installed in 1988 and a stern thruster was installed in 1998, both at the Fraser Shipyard of Superior, Wis. The original General Electric compound steam turbine engine was replaced in 2016 also at the Fraser Shipyard. The vessel had a number of minor collisions and groundings but continues to operate successfully today for her owners.
Specifications:
Length 690 feet
Beam (width) 75 feet
Depth 37 feet
Capacity 24,800 tons
Power 2 3125 hp MaK diesel engines turning one controllable pitch propeller bow and stern thrusters
Self-Unloading rate 6,000 tons per hour
Look for a forward pilot house, an aft self-unloading boom with an iron ore red hull and boom and white and gray upper paint.
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Tom Wenstadt, who lives in Sturgeon Bay, is a retired marine engineer, having worked in the Great Lakes area for thirty-seven years. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering from Michigan Technological University and is the author of Freighters of Manitowoc. He is a member of the Wisconsin Marine Historical Society and the Door County Maritime Museum & Lighthouse Preservation Society. He is a volunteer archival assistant and docent for the JOHN PURVES.
Photo by Craig Olson, dated April 24, 2008.
This story was originally posted on July 12, 2024.
