The Long Ships Passing (1959)

[Music] what will you find ships like these nowhere but on the five great inland seas of America ships of unique design I bow and pilothouse forward then the long cargo space 300 400 500 feet then the afterdeck house long ships with honest working lines and a beauty all their own these are special ships designed for special cargos or for our nation steel mills coal for its boilers limestone for its blast furnaces oil for its gears and motors grain for the bread of its people [Music] these cargoes are the lifeblood of the nation and all through the season April through November the long ships carry them down from Duluth through whitefish bay up from Chicago and through the Sioux [Music] filing in an endless procession through the st. Clair flats all across Lake Erie to Buffalo these cargoes move and the story behind them like no other in the world is that of the long ships passing [Music] before you can understand the longships you must understand the lakes they sail on superior to the north the largest deepest coldest of the lakes an inland ocean rimmed with bleak headlands to the south lake michigan frame by great cities like chicago blue expansive urine and her quiet islands then Eastwood long rolling eerie the shallow lake quickest to rouse in a storm cold Ontario gateway to the sea and eastward from Ontario the st. Lawrence Seaway the broad highway to the Atlantic that makes the shoreline of the five Great Lakes a new American seacoast all this began in the early 1800s what a young nation was starting to grow its ability to grow however depending on how much steel could be poured into its bloodstream the resources were there iron ore and limestone to the north and west on the lower lakes coal fields and markets the resources were there but to make use of them to tie them together a gigantic blow cause transportation system was needed there were too great barriers to such a system to the north at Sioux sainte-marie a stretch of Rapids carried superiors overflow 22 feet down to the level of Lake Heron this was bypassed through construction of a lock today five great locks raise and lower ships between lakes here and in superior a second barrier was between Erie and Ontario the Falls of Niagara this was bypassed by the Welland Ship Canal with its eight locks a giant marine staircase enabling ships to climb and descend 327 feet from one Lake to the other the largest drop of any lock system in the world finally linking this Lake system to the shipping lanes of the world is the st. Lawrence Seaway and around these lakes the heartland of America the industrial strength of the nation is concentrated strength that flowed from its late born commerce sustained by a fleet of more than 700 ships some of which in the course of the season may sail the equivalent of three times around the world [Music] the story of the long ships passing begins each season when the first thaws of spring break the grip of water for months and ice locked harbors around the lakes the ships of hibernated in their winter moorings now as the days grow longer and the ice begins to break up advance parties of crewmen begin reporting aboard ship all up and down the legs fitting out time is here [Music] meanwhile of North on Michigan heron and superior weaknesses are appearing in the ice and the Coast Guard icebreaker Mackinac is finding him breaking her way through opening channels through the acres of ice built especially for this service the Mackinac is one of the world's most powerful icebreakers in the pride of the Coast Guard Lakes fleet [Music] slowly like a dragonfly her helicopter comes in with scouting reports covering hundreds of square miles of Lake channels in Mackinac pushes on [Music] further south on the lower lakes for much of the water is already open there are other signs of spring lighthouses are ready [Music] aids to navigation are set out in a kind of nautical spring planting [Music] in the mooring basins the ships are getting up steam in preparation for the word everyone is waiting for and then it happens one shift from one of the fleets becomes the first to lock through the zoo [Music] and the news like the clear call of a trumpet goes bringing out the lakes are open from Duluth the Buffalo the lakes are open and the freighters are moving out of slips and mooring basins down rivers out past break walls in a harbor lights and onto there up bound and down bound courses the season is on to the next 8 or 9 months shipping lanes and channels of the five Great Lakes will be alive with a never-ending stream of traffic now through the countryside long trains roll northward loaded with coal from the coal mines of Ohio Pennsylvania Kentucky in West Virginia when they reached their destination a long ship awaits them hungry for cargo after a long winters emptiness a loaded car one of hundreds in the yards move slowly toward the big coal dumper it is locked to the rails carried upward and the super elevator at the top the car is tipped in the coal flows smoothly into the gigantic funnel which lays it carefully in the hold [Music] the longship backs from its moorings under the cool dumper she rides low in the water 10,000 tons of coal in her belly becomes part of the vast pattern of movement all across the lakes the destination one of the great power plants of the Midwest where low-cost transportation is an important savings to the north and northwest stand a big grain elevators with the Golden Horde of America's prairies and his to is carried by the long ships ships on the scale of the prairies themselves capable of carrying a yield of thirty thousand acres in their holes or more than 45 square miles of wheat land in another port so unloader discharges their cargo limestone these are unusual chips able to unload themselves wherever they can navigate docks aren't essential if a ship can pull to within 40 or 50 feet of shore she can swing out or boom to unload you will never mistake this type of ship for another outward bound with her long boom secured on deck her profile is distinctive now that the season is open all up and down the lakes the ships are moving stand on almost any shore and you'll see one on an average of every 17 minutes in the summer months look in almost any direction out on the lakes and you will see them [Music] or carriers self unloaders oil tankers Auto carriers cement carriers vessels for both lakes and ocean [Music] fishy back carriers were packaged freight and passenger vessels and standing by to render aid wherever and however necessary the trimline vessels of the Coast Guard maintaining vigilance along 4,000 miles of Great Lakes shoreline here is vigilance of another type whistle tone the sound on the lakes old is steamboating itself a language of 450 different signals that runs the gamut from hello - SOS inside the pilothouse a more modern language is spoken out of radio telephone talk between ships in foucha to shore there is the accurate language of the radio direction finder [Music] sure voiceless language of radar all of them together spelling out the most important language of all safety a language that makes these five Great Lakes the safest shipping lanes in the world maintaining them are the dredges operated under the direction of the US Corps of Engineers channels must not only be kept open they must be deepened for deeper channels mean bigger cargoes and more economical transportation the addition of a single inch of water to the Great Lakes channels increases the annual tonnage the ship's can carry by a million and a half tons so it is that the season passes spring through summer through fall and the ships pass to all day and through the night taking dawns and their stride pushing on past sunsets arriving in ports at all hours around the clock unloading one cargo taking on another and of all the cargoes carried on these five Great Lakes the greatest is this iron or iron ore for the steel mills of America almost half of the lakes trade is in this raw material alone as much as ninety-five million tons of it eight thousand ship loads have been carried in a single year compared with the next largest product coal it's 60 million tons iron ore is the mother of the Great Lakes fleets without it the long ships might never have been born so the ore carrier is the true symbol of the five Great Lakes if you would go behind the Great Lakes scene you would begin with a long ship leaving some lower lakes port a bound and empty your destination head of the lakes and one of the big iron ore ports of Lake Superior if she's up bound from Lake Erie then a very important event occurs in the Detroit River meeting the mail boat this mail boat along with the post office at SU st. Marie serves all the vessels on the lakes leaving the Detroit River a ship moves into Lake st. Clair through the st. Clair River into Lake Heron then 300 miles north to the Sioux sooo sainte-marie once an indian post on the Sioux Rapids today the home of 5 great lakhs Lake Superior lies 22 feet above Lake Heron therefore these locks act as elevators raising and lowering ship from one level to the other let's watch now as an up bound ship approaches the lock the water is let out to the lower level the lower gates open the ship enters the lock the gate closes behind it and the ship is sealed in a chamber filled with water a valve is then opened and the water flows in until its level reaches that of the water and Superior then the upper gate opens and the ship proceeds on upstream now let's actually go through the lock we are approaching is being emptied when it reaches our level the ship moves into it it takes from 8 to 10 minutes to empty a lock 10 or 13 minutes to fill it an average of 90 ships pass through these locks daily although the record has gone to a hundred and seventy-six as for annual tonnage that passing through the zoo and the limited season equals the combined 12-month tonnage of the Panama and Suez Canal we're through the locks now beyond lies Lake Superior meanwhile as the ship moves north and westward a long line of freight cars loaded with or moved down from the mines toward the loading docks and even as the ore arrives the long ship approaches Duluth Superior Harbor and a loading dock where other vessels are taking on cargo she noses slowly up to the dock the first cars of war roll out to meet her time now to begin loading up on the dock the shoots are lower [Music] or the equivalent of more than 220 carloads plunges down into the hungry hole [Music] when you multiply this one ship by a constantly moving parade of ships throughout a season the result is a system so efficient that it can haul a ton of ore from head of lakes to Cleveland or about the price of a carton of cigarettes at the same time to the Northeast another ship is arriving to take on a new type of cargo pellets from taconite or concentrated to high-grade feed for blast furnaces one of the new products of modern beneficiation taconite pellets have become an important supplement to our iron ore supply back at Duluth Superior the ore carrier is loaded only a few hours from the time she pulled in under the or loading rigs and while she's in cargo of another nature is taken aboard on deck the crew goes about its work of securing hatches and cleaning up there's little time to lose as soon as the last hatch cover is tight the ship will be on her way Afton below in the engine room the steam pressure is being checked up forward the officers gather in the pilot house a moment later the maid on watch calls in ready to shove off skipper the captain rings down the engine room slow astern the signal is received executed propeller shaft turns and the long ship backs slowly away from the dock [Music] now another signal slow ahead he sees below executed and in response the long ship moves slowly forward behind is the fading harbour line of Duluth Superior up ahead the famed aerial bridge and out beyond that spreading wide to the horizon Lake Superior and a town bound course eight hundred and twenty miles to the unloading docks in the chart room the mate lays out the first leg of the Don bomb course this is one of a network of prescribed courses covering all the lakes and observed by all captains these courses are a remarkable marine highway system designed for one purpose safety on the radio telephone the captain reports his departure this is the Chenango second WL 31 away [Music] yes dear 63 course 6-3 degrees the wheels Minh sets his wheel on automatic Gerald this device used on many ships will hold a ship on course out in the open lake the first mate takes over in the pilothouse into the log book or the routine entries time of departure tonnage carried course followed all the important facts that together make up the history of a vessel the big ship dinner 20,000 tons of war are underway the vast wash of Lake Superior rolling up behind life aboard ship is divided into watches for hours on eight hours off around the clock while these men keep things shipshape on deck aft in the engine room the men keep the mighty heart beating [Music] in the galley work of another kind is in progress how important well ask any sailor and he'll tell you that a good stewards Department goes a long way toward making a happy ship [Music] and the food here well that has a far-flung reputation buried well cooked plenty of it envied by sailors the world over during the four-hour you're on watch your healthy were on the ship but during your eight hours off you're your own boss life is as pleasant and relaxed as you want to live it [Music] whose orders are trained and comfortable mates and engineers combined office and cabin space recreation rooms are complete with television games a ship's library there is plenty of time for hobbies and if you want to study for promotion there are textbooks and winter classes sponsored by the lake carriers Association study or work may be interrupted by lifeboat drill but this is standard practice part of each vessel safety program meanwhile the ship moves on along its course down to the lake with the haunting landmark names the Apostle Islands Thunder Bay Keweenaw caribou island copper mine Point whitefish bay down at last into the st. Marys River [Music] picking up the white range markers on the river and then swingin endure the locks of the suit and some 30 minutes later the last gates open and beyond lies the lower st. Marys River the zoo is behind us now I had the broad curve of the river our ship becomes part of its pattern of traffic the banks of the river move past [Music] gradually the river begins widening as we pass a Coast Guard Station at last were approaching detour light and upper lake herein lies ahead if you're down bound to Lake Gary you steer left at this point if your destination is Lake Michigan and the wheels Minh bear's ride as you pass detour life and you head through the Straits of Mackinac under the soaring breathtaking span of the Straits Bridge until finally you swing south into the great long sea of Lake Michigan the end of the run is here under the massive Hewlett's of the unloading dock where the hungry monsters scoop up 20 tons of ore at a bite and so it goes April to November a train of long ships passing unloading and loading the cargoes that keep America alive until one day the run ends for each ship somewhere in some Harbor along the lakes the snow is blowing ice is making in the quiet bays along shorelines time now to lay up to put the faithful long ships to bed for the winter time for the crews to go home and be with their families through the winter months until another season begins and lakes are open again and when they are the longships will move once more across them others will join them the big new holes already in the shipyards getting ready for their first taste of water long ships rugged majestic these are ships with a proud tradition for through their low cost hauling of both materials they have helped to build a nation there are no ships like them anywhere in the world

Channel: Detroit Historical Society

Views: 355,642

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Id: C80jtA2nUyA

Length: 27min 57sec (1677 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 27 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/LarryFlyntstone]

Cool cameo of the fated Edmund Fitzgerald at 14:50. Also the ship showed towards the end (Shenango 2, now known as Hon. James L. Oberstar) that was leaving Duluth is still in service today and is currently sailing en route from Detroit to Marquette.

[u/ashkpa]

I've never heard of lakers referred to as long ships before.

Either way there certainly aren't any in LA.

[u/quincy_taylor]

I work on great lakes ships. It isn't quite as luxurious as this makes it out to be anymore. It is a good job, but the trend of less man power and more hours for the rest has hit the inland waters as well.

At 22 min in the video shows a number of cooks and stewards. Ships now only have 1 cook, lucky to have 2.