Tom Wenstadt our Door County correspondent reports that the M/V HERBERT C. JACKSON arrived at the Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding dock in Sturgeon Bay, Wis., Tuesday night May 28th (2024) for propeller repair. The vessel came in through the bay of Green Bay, then up Sturgeon Bay to the FBS yard.
The JACKSON was built as a straight decker in 1959 by Great Lakes Engineering Works River Rouge, Mich., for Interlake Steamship Co. The vessel was named for an executive vice president and director of Pickands Mather & Co., a parent organization of Interlake. 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 in 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: HERBERT C. JACKSON dated April 19, 2008
This story was originally posted May 29, 2024.
