My blog post on Tues.-Wed. Aug. 16 & 17 included a piece on Trailer Sailers. It was recently highlighted on the AGLCA website as a blog entry worthy of note. What a nice surprise to find that it attracted that kind of response!
We have been hearing about a great car/passenger ferry based out of Ludington, Michigan. Entering service in 1953, The S.S. Badger is the only coal-fired cross-lake ship remaining on any of The Great Lakes today. She can carry 620 passengers and 180 cars. She cruises at 18mph, but can go as fast as 24 mph. In “the day”, a fleet of 13 ferries called Ludington their home port!
The S.S. Badger has gained even more notoriety for her unorthodox docking style. Imagine a 410-foot ship approaching her dock at a healthy clip. Suddenly her starboard anchor is deployed and she begins to spin in a clock-wise direction. By the time The S.S. Badger’s stern is where her bow used to be, she is being secured to the dock and is ready for passengers and vehicles to off-load. Amazing! We were treated to this display of ingenuity at 6:30 Thursday night and again at 6:30 Friday morning. (From our slip in the Luddington Municipal Marina, we could look out on her dock.) In the 12 hours that had past, she had crossed to Manitowac, Wisconsin and back again. What a grand old lady!
Created by Darcy O Campbell
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