By James Heinz

Most modern Great Lakes freighters live uneventful lives.  With the exception of the EDMUND FITZGERALD, most of them are built, serve, and are scrapped without much incident. They serve out their lives in quiet anonymity. But one modern freighter was unlike all the rest. She died the way she was born.

In fire.

WMHS files show that the freighter ROGER BLOUGH came into being in a most unusual way. Instead of being built in one piece, she was built in two separate pieces.

Work on the 437 foot long bow section designated as hull #900 began in August 1967 in one of the existing drydocks of the American Shipbuilding Company shipyard in Lorain OH.  She was built for the United States Steel Great Lakes Fleet and was named for former US Steel chairman Roger Blough.

Roger Blough the man was the subject of a famous remark by President Kennedy.  After Blough refused to accede to a 1962 request from Kennedy not to raise steel prices and went ahead and raised them anyway, John Kennedy remarked: “My father always told me that all businessmen were sons-of-bitches but I never believed it till now.”

The bow section was floated out of the drydock on December 21, 1968, and floated to a dock where the deckhouse and pilothouse were added.  A temporary bulkhead was installed at the aft end of the bow section to keep it afloat.  The bow section was 63 feet wide but that was increased to 105 feet wide when side ballast tanks were installed.

A new 1,000 foot long/125 foot wide drydock had been built for the 421 foot long stern section, which was laid down on December 29, 1968.  When the stern was completed, the dock was flooded and the bow section was floated into it on July 25, 1970, and joined to the stern section.

This created a ship that was 858 feet long, 105 feet wide, and 22,041 gross tons. She was powered by two SEMT Pielstick, 16PC2V-400 four stroke, single acting V-16, 7,100 bhp (5,300 kW) diesel engines. (built by Fairbanks Morse & Co., Beloit, WI) driving a 21 foot controllable pitch propeller that moved her at 17 m.p.h.  ROGER BLOUGH also had a bow thruster and her total cost was about $20 million.

She was 128 feet longer and 30 feet wider than any other vessel on the Great Lakes at that time. Her larger size was made possible by the opening of the Poe Lock at Sault St. Marie in 1968.

The BLOUGH was the largest traditional-styled lake boat constructed entirely on the Great Lakes. The STEWART J. CORT, launched in 1972, and the PRESQUE ISLE, launched in 1973, were assembled on the Great Lakes from sections built outside the Lakes. BLOUGH also remained the largest lakes-built vessel until the launch of the 1,004 foot JAMES R. BARKER in 1976

The BLOUGH could carry 45,000 tons of bulk cargo in five holds, each with 4 hatches. The next largest Lakes bulk carrier could carry only 27,000 tons.  Not only was her method of construction unique, but so was her method of unloading those 45,000 tons.

BOATNERD.COM tells us: “Roger Blough’s self-unloading system was designed specifically for unloading taconite ore pellets into compatible hopper systems on shore. Most freighters on the Great Lakes have a self-unloading arm, usually about 250 feet long, sitting on their deck. When unloading cargo, the arm is swung over the side and conveyor belts carry the cargo up from the boat’s cargo holds, out the arm and onto the ground, or a waiting receptacle. “

“ROGER BLOUGH’S telescoping shuttle-type transverse self-unloading boom is located below the boat deck in the stern of the vessel behind the engine room. This boom can be extended 54 feet to port or starboard and unload at a rate of up to 10,000 tons per hour.”

Another source described the system as “Five cargo compartments unloaded through 136 air controlled gates on top of two conveyor belts which run in a tunnel before the full length of the cargo hold and up to the spar deck aft.” The BLOUGH could only carry ore to Gary, Indiana, and Conneaut, Ohio, where there were facilities that could interface with her unique unloader.

In an ominous foreshadowing of what was to come, at the christening of the BLOUGH on June 5, 1971, the champagne bottle refused to break.  Maritime superstition counts that as a bad omen. Nineteen days later the prophecy was fulfilled.

On June 24, 1971, a week away from her scheduled launching, the BLOUGH caught fire.

WMHS files show that the cause of the fire was never determined. Workers had reported that the ship had suffered some fuel leaks, and it was speculated that diesel fuel had dripped onto a high intensity light bulb from a faulty gasket in an engine room fuel line. Workers reported that the fire was fed by wooden scaffolding, mahogany paneling, carpets, and furniture. The smoke was so dense inside the ship that flashlights were useless.

Many workers evacuated the ship but some then went back in an effort to rescue four workers who had been working on an air tank below the engine room. Those four workers died and 18 others were injured in the blaze. The fire started at 9:30 am and by 3:30 pm it reached one of the ship’s four 10,000 gallon fuel tanks, which exploded, sending a geyser of black smoke into the sky and stunning firefighters

WMHS file show that the summer heat combined with the heat from the blaze to fell many of the firefighters, who had to be taken to the hospital. In an eerie foreshadowing of her ultimate fate, the ship’s steel construction made fighting the fire almost impossible.  The steel hull could not be opened to ventilate or quench the fire, and steel absorbed, radiated, and conducted the heat to other parts of the ship. The fire was ultimately extinguished by filling the affected area with foam.  The hull had to be left to cool.

In those 19 hours of crisis, with smoke and flame shooting out of the ship, 22 men dead or injured, a steady stream of firefighters being carried to the hospital, and with all of Lorain standing outside the perimeter fence watching the great ship burn, what calm, reassuring authority figure did an anguished community turn to in its hour of crisis?

George Steinbrenner.

Yes, that George Steinbrenner, the man who, for most people, is best remembered as the colorful owner of the New York Yankees baseball team who was mercilessly lampooned as the boss of George Costanza in episodes of the classic sitcom “Seinfeld”.

It is less well known that Steinbrenner made the money he used to buy the Yankees in the Great Lakes shipping industry.  His great grandfather had founded Kinsman Marine Transit Company in 1901.  George got his start in business by selling eggs and chickens, door to door, at age nine. By 1957 he had joined Kinsman and revitalized it and then bought it from his family a few years later. In the 1960s Kinsman and American Shipbuilding had merged, and in 1967 Steinbrenner had become chairman of the board of American Shipbuilding.

And according to WMHS files, George Steinbrenner was at the Lorain yard that terrible day in 1971, answering the same questions over and over again from reporters and anxious family members. Steinbrenner, who once described his Seinfeld portrayal as “unflattering but essentially accurate”, apparently behaved in a different manner that day than he usually did.

After $13 million of repairs, the ROGER BLOUGH was launched on June 5, 1972, The BLOUGH sailed on her maiden voyage June 15, 1972, sailing empty to Two Harbors, Minnesota, where she loaded 41,608 tons of taconite ore pellets.  But disaster continued to stalk the BLOUGH.

WMHS files show that the bow of the BLOUGH struck the stern of the PHILLIP R. CLARKE on January 11, 1973, while both were working in ice in the Straits of Mackinac. The BLOUGH suffered a hole in her bow and was repaired at Lorain during the 1972/73 winter layup.

The ROGER BLOUGH helped in the search for the EDMUND FITGERALD. On November 11, 1975, the morning after the sinking, BLOUGH recovered an empty 25-person lifeboat from the FITZ. The lifeboat is now on display at the museum ship VALLEY CAMP in Sault St. Marie, Michigan.

In February 1979, the BLOUGH got stuck in the ice in Lake Erie near Conneaut, Ohio, for eight days.

The BLOUGH was laid up at Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, from September 12, 1981, through September 25, 1987. This was partially due to economic conditions but also due to the BLOUGH’s unusual self-unloader.  Unlike other Great Lakes freighters with the deck mounted swinging boom design described above, the BLOUGH’s telescoping stern mounted unloader could not be adapted to unload anything other than the iron ore for which it was designed. In addition, it could not compete with newer, larger ships.

The BLOUGH had a personal connection to the WMHS.  The Spring 1992 issue of our newsletter SOUNDINGS carried a story about how members of the Society toured the BLOUGH in March 1992 when the ship was docked at Jones Island in Milwaukee.

On October 9, 1994, the BLOUGH had anchored in the Ojibway anchorage of the Detroit River just above Fighting Island.  She did so to avoid strong west winds but her efforts were futile since she dragged her anchors in the wind and went aground on a mud bank.  Part of her cargo had to be transferred to barges and on October 12, 1992, eight tugboats pulled her free without damage.

For a refreshing change of pace, on April 26, 1996, the BLOUGH was not in trouble. Her fleet mate GEORGE SLOAN suffered engine trouble off Isle Royale.  The BLOUGH came and secured the SLOAN to her starboard side and then towed the SLOAN 100 miles to Duluth where tugs maneuvered the SLOAN into the harbor.

The BLOUGH welcomed in the New Year on January 1, 2001, by striking the lock pier while upbound at the Soo locks.  She arrived in Duluth on January 2^nd with a five foot crack in her port bow from which water was pouring.  She spent the winter at Duluth where the crack was repaired.

WMHS files show that early on September 18, 2005, the BLOUGH and the WALTER J. MCCARTHY, JR. were both upbound in fog in the St. Mary’s River near DeTour when the BLOUGH tried to overtake the MCCARTHY.  The ships suffered a brush collision that left the MCCARTHY with paint transfer and the BLOUGH with a 60 foot crease in her hull above the waterline.

On August 5, 2006, the BLOUGH suffered yet another disaster.  She lost her rudder in Maud Bay near Lime Island in the St. Mary’s River.  WMHS files do not say exactly how this happened.

BOATNERD.COM says “Fleet mate Edgar B. Speer arrived on scene three days later and the Blough was lashed alongside the Speer for a tow to Gary IN, the Blough’s original destination, (in the same manner in which the BLOUGH had previously towed the SLOAN). “

“The tow departed on August 9 and arrived in Gary on August 11. The Speer left the Blough at anchor while the Speer unloaded, as both vessels use the same hopper to unload with their short unloading booms. The Blough was then towed to Sturgeon Bay for repairs.”

The 23 foot by 17 foot rudder was located using side scan sonar and recovered by a tug with a barge equipped with a heavy lift crane.  The rudder was delivered to the Soo on November 6, 2006.

And finally, the BLOUGH had one more major misadventure.  Around noon on May 27, 2016, the BLOUGH ran aground on Gros Cap Reef on Whitefish Bay on Lake Superior.  WMHS files show that the BLOUGH was downbound with 44,000 tons of taconite pellets when she tried to overtake the dead ship tow of the freighter TIM S. DOOL.

The BLOUGH tried to pass the DOOL on the port side and in doing so left the channel at cruising speed, running 2,000 feet over the reef and coming to a stop a short distance from the Gros Cap Reef light in 17 to 24 feet of water.  She stopped in such a way that her bow and stern were resting on the bottom but her unsupported stern was sagging in the middle, with five foot wide boulders jammed in her hull. Two side ballast tanks were opened to the lake, other tanks leaked, and there was flooding in the cargo hold and damage to the self-unloading system.

The Coast Guard surrounded the BLOUGH with 6,000 feet of pollution control booms. The PHILLIP R. CLARKE arrived on June 2^nd on the BLOUGH’s starboard side and part of the BLOUGH’s cargo was transferred to the CLARKE, a process known as “lightering”.  While the BLOUGH was stranded on the reef, the Soo Locks Boat Tours took tourists out to view her and the lightering operation.

The BLOUGH was refloated on June 4^th and was assisted by tugs to an anchorage in Waiska Bay where she continued lightering her cargo into the CLARKE and the ARTHUR M. ANDERSON. A large boulder stuck in her forepeak was fastened in place with steel straps by divers so that the rock would not drop out in the Soo locks.  This problem was solved when the ship moved and the rock dropped to the bottom of the lake.

On June 7^th the BLOUGH was escorted by a tug to Bay Shipbuilding in Sturgeon Bay for repairs, which caused a problem since at that moment the only drydock large enough to handle the BLOUGH was occupied by a barge under construction.  Bay Shipbuilding worked feverishly to finish the barge before the BLOUGH arrived.  The BLOUGH had sustained $4.5 million in damages and repairs took two months.

BOATNERD.COM says: “The National Transportation Safety Board determined that the probable cause of the grounding was the second mate’s failure to use all navigational resources to determine the ship’s position as it approached shallow water near Gros Cap Reef.  Contributing to the accident was inadequate monitoring by Vessel Traffic Service (VTS) St. Marys River.”

And now, in the most eerie case of déjà vu all over again that I have ever seen, the BLOUGH caught fire again.  The National Transportation Safety Board report summarizes what happened:

“On February 1, 2021, about 0131 local time, a fire started in the engine room on the Roger Blough during the dry bulk carrier’s winter layup at the Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding facility on Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. The cargo-unloading conveyor belts subsequently ignited, causing extensive damage throughout the aft section of the vessel. The shipkeeper on board departed the vessel without injury. Firefighters extinguished the fire later that afternoon. No pollution was reported. Damage to the Roger Blough exceeded $100 million.”

“NTSB investigators determined the fire originated at the burner for the diesel oil-fired furnace, which had been installed in the engine room to heat the space during the winter.”

“NTSB determined that the probable cause of the engine room fire aboard the Roger Blough was likely the repeated removal and reinstallation of the furnace’s burner that led to the failure of its mounting coupling, resulting in the operating burner dropping to the bottom of its enclosure and fracturing the fuel supply line, which allowed diesel fuel to ignite.”

Just as in 1971, the fire was almost impossible for the Sturgeon Bay Fire Department to fight due to the steel construction of the ship and the ambient weather conditions, in this case winter cold rather than summer heat. The heat exceeded 1,200 degrees, causing firefighters’ boots to melt to the deck. It took 10 hours and one million gallons of water to extinguish the fire. Unlike 1971, no one was injured. And unlike 1971, the citizens of Sturgeon Bay were spared having to talk to George Steinbrenner.

Although the initial damage estimate was $20 million, the final damage estimate of $100 million was the same as the assessed total value of the ship.  The ship spent 18 months at Sturgeon Bay as investigators examined her and the owners and insurers argued.  As my bio attached to this story relates, I am a private pilot.  I flew over the BLOUGH three times during that period.  Even from an altitude of 1,000 feet or more, smoke stains were visible on the stern of the vessel.

On October 27, 2021, WMHS member Tom Wenstadt saw the BLOUGH being towed out of Sturgeon Bay by two tugs on her way to Conneaut, Ohio, for long term layup and possible scrapping.

Blue Water Healthy Living web site reports that on October 30, 2022, the BLOUGH was being towed down the St. Clair River on her way to Conneaut. One observer noticed that white paint was running down the red hull from the two anchor ports on either side of the bow.

“It looks like it’s crying”, the observer said.

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James Heinz is the Wisconsin Marine Historical Society’s acquisitions director. He became interested in maritime history as a kid watching Jacques Cousteau’s adventures on TV. He was a Great Lakes wreck diver until three episodes of the bends forced him to retire from diving. He was a University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee police officer for thirty years. He regularly flies either a Cessna 152 or 172.

Photo at the top of page: ROGER BLOUGH, January 10, 2019.  Photo by Bob Kuhn.

Other Photos:

Photo Credit:  Great Lakes Marine Collection of the Milwaukee Public Library and Wisconsin Marine Historical Society.