Autos Across Mackinac: Ferries Face Several Unfortunate Incidents
Part 24: CRASHES AND CLASHES
By Les Bagley

This early St. Ignace view shows the old Ore Dock about the center of the photo. It was later cut down to a coal dock and was used as the ferries' service pier. Over the winter of 1938-39, it was made into an end-loading slip for the former railroad ferries purchased by the state.

On January 2, 1939, Grand Ledge farmer Frank Fitzgerald was again sworn in as Governor of Michigan. In a modestly simple ceremony, devoid of pomp at Fitzgerald's request, he led an all- Republican cabinet into office in Lansing. The lone exception was Democratic State Highway Commissioner Murray D. Van Wagoner, who still had two years remaining on his four-year term. Van Wagoner hired Louis M. Nims, former Michigan Director of the WPA, to be deputy highway commissioner, replacing Varnum B. Steinbaugh, who resigned owing to ill health. Steinbaugh did agree to stay on part time as a consulting engineer. With the changes, the new administration plunged ahead into operation of the state.

The next day, January 3, the Chief Wawatam plunged headlong onto North Graham Shoal in a blowing wind and blinding blizzard. The ferry had left Mackinaw City with a full load of railcars, but had been unable to find her St. Ignace dock in the storm. Trying to stay out of harm's way, Captain Charles "Paddy" Brown sailed back into the Straits until he could get his bearings. Later in the day, he was able to hear the dock siren, but in steering toward it, his ship crossed the shallow water north of the shoal and ran firmly aground. There she sat for nearly 145 hours, as dropping lake levels and dwindling coal supplies hampered efforts to free her.

Workers cut beams and huge planks to surface the new end-loading slip, formerly the ferries' coal dock in St. Ignace. This is the site that would come to be known as "Dock 2." In the background, just to the left of the white gravel pile, is the Nicolet Hotel, a popular watering hole for ferry workers and much of the city, as it had one of the few bars licensed to reopen at the end of Prohibition.

It took the combined efforts of the wrecking tug Favorite, summoned from the Soo, the John Roen, brought in from Green Bay, the Saint Marie (II), and the Coast Guard icebreaker Escanaba, all pulling with the Chief's own engines, to free her. The rescue only happened when the water level rose a foot overnight on January 9. In the interim, coal was passed by the bucketful to refuel the big ferry, and food supplies were carried out to her from shore. Once freed, the Chief at last unloaded her cargo of rail cars and then tied up at the Merchandise Dock for a complete inspection. Divers found she'd broken all the buckets off her forward screw and damaged several hull plates, an after screw, and bent a shaft. She was immediately sent to Manitowoc for repairs. The Saint Marie (II) was left to handle both the railroad and auto ferrying runs.

This aerial view shows the City of Munising still side loading at Dock 1, while one of the smaller ferries lays over in the new end loading slip at Dock 2, across the parking lot from the Nicolet Hotel. The new slip apparently hasn't been put into service yet, as there are no tire tracks visible on the pier or in the gravel parking area.

State Ferry Superintendent Ed H. Doner had been in Detroit attending Captain William L. McDougall's funeral when the Chief went aground. In his absence, his assistant, Captain George F. Loughlin, was asked for comment, and noted that in this case, only the Chief's crew, their families, and a few shippers had been inconvenienced. The accident could just as well have happened to a State Ferry carrying hundreds of passengers and their autos through the fog, and, therefore, could have been much worse. He pointed out that the accident could have been avoided had the much needed light and fog alarms been installed on the shoal, as had been authorized the year before.

Damage to the City of Cheboygan was minimal. There was a puncture where a beam pushed through the steel above the bow, and some scuffs and scrapes, but the larger ferry resumed her run later the same day, and repairs were made quickly with no loss of time in the shipyard.

Not wanting to experience the embarrassment of having such a grounding inconvenience State Ferry passengers, Commissioner Van Wagoner had a representative of the Bludworth Direction Finder Company flown in to survey each of the state boats for installation of newer, upgraded radio direction equipment. This was to be installed as soon as the spring navigation season opened and the radios could be properly calibrated.

The Sainte Ignace came out the worst in a fog-shrouded crash with the City of Cheboygan. While the damage looks bad, it could have been much worse. Passenger injuries included broken bones, but none were life-threatening. The sponsons, included when the ferry was widened in 1924-25, absorbed much of the damage, which, fortunately, was all above the waterline.

Captain Donor got back from Detroit just in time to welcome a duo of inspectors from the American Bureau of Shipping, up from Detroit, themselves. C. H. Lincoln and L. D. Weston conducted a thorough inspection of all the state ferries' hulls, mechanical and safety equipment, general seaworthiness, and overall conditions. Donor said the state would comply with any and all of their recommendations so as to provide the traveling public with the bestequipped steamers in the country. Michigan had by now invested nearly $2 million in auto ferry service at the Straits. A tally of costs showed that in the first 16 years the Highway Department had run the service, the State had spent about $1 million on the five boats in service, another $942,178 on docks and facilities, and nearly $3 million more to run it all. Commissioner Van Wagoner said that since the service started, it had cost a total of $4,913,077 to the start of 1939. Receipts over the same period were $4,257,778. The balance was made up from advances from regular state highway funds.

There were those who wanted the Highway Department to spend more. In late January, Victor A. Knox, the State Representative from Sault Ste. Marie, introduced a bill in Lansing to require the state boats to land at least twice a day at Mackinac Island, providing free service to walk-on passengers destined there. Editors of papers around the Straits quickly condemned the proposal, noting that while free rides to the Island would increase tourism there greatly, it would be to the detriment of motorists and tourists trying to travel between Michigan's peninsulas. The writers noted Mackinac Island was already well served by an entire fleet of private passenger ferries.

"Providing adequate service between Mackinaw City and St. Ignace is already a perennial problem," The Cheboygan Tribune wrote. "Until that problem is solved, it would be well for the state to let the present splendid fleet of private boats take care of the Mackinac Island business."

The winter of 1939 proved to make it difficult for anyone to take care of cross-Straits ferry business. On February 10, Captain Emil Potvin left St. Ignace with 30 autos and 125 passengers aboard the Saint Marie (II), attempting to maintain the service. The ship sailed about 6:15 Friday night, but didn't reach Mackinaw City until after 4 on Saturday morning. Trying to return with 23 cars, 90 passengers, and an express railroad car with mail, the ferry was stuck another 14 hours.

That night, both Mackinaw City and St. Ignace became festive locations as stranded tourists joined locals in celebrating "no special occasion" long into the night. A number of visitors joined impromptu card games, dances, and social gatherings at restaurants, lounges, and hotels all across the towns. The exception was a busload of 11 convicts bound for the State Prison in Jackson from the penal facility in Marquette. The two "lifers" and 9 "short-termers" were put up for the night in the Mackinac County Jail.

State Ferry officials warned everyone in St. Ignace to be aboard the St. Marie (II) by 7 a.m. Sunday, when she would try to make another crossing. With the tourists, convicts, and an ambulance making a southbound emergency run, the ferry pulled away from the pier about 7:10 a.m. and reached Mackinaw City only after several hours of battling the ice.

Meanwhile, her sister ship, the Chief Wawatam, encountered pack ice at Lansing Shoals in the early Sunday morning hours while returning from the shipyard, and waited until daylight to enter the Straits. Some of the ice she crushed in the next 41 miles was more than 50 feet thick. That held her fast, and the Saint Marie (II) had to come out to break her free on her trip back to St. Ignace. The Chief didn't reach her slip until after 2 p.m. At the time, she was operating on only five of her boilers, having blown a tube in the sixth. It was repaired once she reached port and Straits traffic resumed with both railroad boats sailing from each side, trying to keep the channel open

On Monday, the wind changed and drove ice back into the ferry slips. Both railway boats were held in port, and ferry travel across the Straits was again suspended indefinitely. With no boats sailing, a private pilot, Ralph Berry of Saginaw, used his plane to ferry a few travelers across, including the owner of the St. Ignace Theater, who flew to Mackinaw City and back to retrieve that night's feature film from the railway depot.

The interruption was a good example for investigators who had arrived in town to probe the Chief's earlier grounding on N. Graham Shoal. It gave them a chance to see Straits conditions for themselves, and it allowed them to interview crewmembers and others who otherwise would have been engaged in battling the ice at the time. Officers testified that the problem had been caused by lack of lights and sound devices in both St. Ignace and on the shoal, allowing the ferry to become lost in the blizzard then blowing through the region. The investigators forwarded their findings to Washington, to await any type of decision.

Yet another series of blizzards descended on the Straits. The Chief and Sainte Marie (II) struggled valiantly to maintain service, but in the height of the battle, the smaller boat lost a piston in her forward engine, sidelining her until a replacement could be manufactured and sent from the shipyard in Manitowoc. With only one boat to maintain the channel, and shifting winds and blowing snow conspiring to obscure it, the Chief was at a loss to handle autos and passengers in the daytime, freight at night, and still maintain a schedule. She spent almost as much time stuck in the ice over the next 11 days as she did sailing. Finally, toward the end of February, the weather changed, the Saint Marie (II)'s new piston arrived, and things began to get back to normal. In an emergency measure, the Post Office requested and received permission to contract for emergency airmail service across the Straits, in the meantime. Of course, with blizzard weather prevailing most of the time, the planes were at a loss to deliver the mail as well.

The weather-related tie-ups only served to pique bridge interest again, and in late February, a private company made a tentative offer to the governments of Michigan and Ontario to build not only a bridge across the St. Marys River at the Soo but to construct a privately operated Straits bridge. Their idea was that both bridges might be more easily built with a single bond issue. The promoters proposed to charge the same as the State Ferries for the Straits crossing, but slightly higher than the ferries at the Soo charged for the bridge there. They noted that a cross-Canada highway would soon be completely paved, that the around-Lake-Superior route was just about finished, and that bridges at the Straits and at the Soo would see greatly increased traffic within just a few years.

On March 9, the Chief Wawatam suffered another accident. Backing out of her Mackinaw City slip for the 8 a.m. trip, she struck an iceberg with her left stern propeller, breaking off 26 inches of one blade. Lund's shipyard sent engineers to cut off a corresponding portion of the opposite blade to balance the propeller and allow her to operate until her next scheduled drydocking. By March 10, continued ice fields, and bergs 30 feet deep in the Straits, led the state to extend the charter on the Sainte Marie (II) through April 30. The smaller railroad ferry sailed up to the State Coal Dock on the 11th and tried to break out The Straits of Mackinac, which was tied there, but officials said the state boat was still stuck fast and probably could not take over the run until at least April 20. Cold weather and ice held up the start of shipping all over the lakes.

Rogers City Congressman Fred Bradley took the ice conditions as reason to introduce another bill in congress. This one called for construction of a Coast Guard icebreaker to be stationed at St. Ignace to keep the Straits open for rail and auto ferry traffic, fishing tugs, and other forms of marine commerce throughout the year. Prentiss Brown introduced a companion bill in the Senate six weeks later. Bradley also pressed the Interstate Commerce Committee of the House to hold a hearing on his bill approving construction of a Straits bridge. He said he expected the hearings to be held in April. Across the capitol, Senator Brown forecast favorable action by the Senate on the companion bridge bill he sponsored.

In March, Bradley asked the Army Engineers to expedite a report they were making on the proposed bridge. The House committee needed it to decide whether the United States should give the go-ahead for the project. That approval was seen as the last hurdle before the search for financing could begin in earnest.

Almost simultaneously, the Mackinac Bridge Authority released it's own report on the need for a bridge. Chairman G. Donald Kennedy said, "Despite every modern aid to safe navigation and despite added facilities, the dangers and delays at the Straits persist. … There can be no question of the need for some physical link between the two peninsulas; there remains only the question of what type of link will be built and when." Bridge backers were heartened when, despite the rigors of the winter, the triangulation station built on pilings atop N. Graham Shoal was still standing that spring, relatively unscathed. It was, they said, a sign that modern engineering could design bridge foundations that could withstand the worst a Straits winter had to offer. Winter was one thing, but war was quite another. As stunned Americans watched from afar, the German Third Reich swept across Northern Europe in a blitzkrieg that brought the swastika to more and more of the continent. As the invasions captured more headlines, the Straits bridge seemed to become more remote by the day.

Bridge or not, work on the conversion of the Coal Dock for the end-loading ferry fleet continued during the winter, when not held up by the weather. Workers set fender pilings along the side of the pier, and a local worker, William Suksi, stood atop a 10 foot scaffold drilling holes into the piles so bolts could attach them. Suddenly, the drill hit something solid, twisting around and throwing Suksi to the ice below the dock. As the plank on the scaffold collapsed, a fellow worker jumped, landing on his feet on the ice without injury. But Suksi wasn't so lucky. He fractured his left femur, the bone between the hip and the knee, jamming it into the hip socket. He was rushed to a local doctor's home and was then transferred by ambulance to the hospital at the Soo. There he was expected to stay for at least two months recovery.

It took several days for the region to recover from another blizzard that hit in mid-March. Snowdrifts between five and 10 feet deep snarled rail and highway traffic. With lines clogged to the north, the Chief Wawatam left the morning passenger train in Mackinaw City, as there was no place for it to go. The Saint Marie (II) continued on the auto ferry run until noon, Tuesday, March 14, when, with no cars arriving at the docks, she, too, tied up for the duration of the storm.

The blizzard lasted nearly 36 hours, with both boats lying in their docks at opposite sides of the Straits from Wednesday evening until late Friday morning. Then they both attempted a crossing, each making it nearly halfway, where they encountered a thick field of fast-moving ice. It took the ships nearly five hours to break through the barrier, allowing cross- Straits travel to resume. Everyone agreed, it was one of the worst winters on record for delays in Mackinaw City - St. Ignace travel.

It turned out to be a bad winter in Lansing, as well. Governor Frank Fitzgerald, who had only been in office since January, caught the flu in early March and by the middle of the month was incapacitated by a severe case of influenza. That led to heart problems, and on the evening of March 16, he passed away at the Governor's Mansion, the victim of a flu-induced heart attack. The first Michigan Governor to die in office was succeeded by Lieutenant Governor Luren D. Dickinson, who took the oath of office on March 17, only about a month shy of his 80th birthday. Dickinson said being governor would do little to change his normal daily routine. He insisted he would decline any weekend social invitations, as those would interfere with teaching his Sunday school class.

Ten days later, on March 27, about 50 men arrived at St. Ignace to prepare the Michigan State Ferry fleet for the 1939 season. Fire Chief John Moore and men from the St. Ignace fire department brought out the pumper truck to fill the boilers on the Mackinaw City, Sainte Ignace, and The Straits of Mackinac. Within a week, more than 125 men were preparing the boats for the season, projected to start on April 16, ice and weather permitting. The early spring schedule called for two of the three boats to make crossings every 90 minutes though June 1, when the larger boats would be added. Ferry officials noted that, should traffic build more quickly, service could be expanded to hourly any time before June 1. The ferries were now ready to go, but ice kept them at the dock.

On Saturday, April 15, an unexpected change took place at Michigan State Ferries. Highway Commissioner Murray D. Van Wagoner announced the immediate and indefinite suspension of Captain Ed. Donor from his position as Ferry Superintendent, "for the good of the service." Other than noting that Donor had been with the ferries for six years, and that perhaps he would take a job somewhere to the east, perhaps in Boston, no further information was released, particularly as to why Donor was dismissed. But, as in the death of Jerry Stufflebeam, there was speculation alcohol was involved.

Since the end of prohibition, drinking was an increasing problem, not only at the Straits but all across America. Sailors, with their solitary lifestyles, long hours, independent thinking, and spirit of camaraderie had been, since time began, candidates for the overindulgence in many vices. Smoking, drinking, and shore-side shenanigans all seemed to fit the sailor's profile, and some of the ferry crewmembers were no exception. Adding to the problem, in late 1938, none other than former ferry captain Fred Cronan had successfully challenged the St. Ignace Council's ruling that had previously allowed only seven liquor licenses in the city. Politically active as ever, and still living in St. Ignace between assignments elsewhere, Cronan now served as Commander of the local American Legion Post. Seeing that posts in other communities were able to enlarge their incomes through lounges and club liquor sales, he lobbied for additional licenses, and a number were granted, including one to his organization.

The increased competition forced several existing licensees to reevaluate their own liquor sales. One, the owner of the Nicolet Hotel where Captain Donor and his wife wintered, remodeled his cocktail lounge, located directly across the street from the St. Ignace ferry terminal. It's not beyond the realm of possibility that Captain Donor enjoyed meals there more often, and may well have occasionally extended his meal breaks. The lounge also became a convenient and popular watering hole for other ferry workers.*

*(The story is told of a lifeboat drill conducted aboard one of the boats while resting at the dock. The lifeboat was lowered from the ferry's davits with a crew onboard. Normally, once the boat was released, the men would row around a bit and then reattach the boat to be hoisted back aboard. On this occasion, however, once the boat was launched, they just rowed off toward shore. "Where are they going?" asked the perplexed master from his vantage point in the pilothouse. "It looks like they're headed off to the bar," replied the mate. Both men checked their watches, and only then realized the drill had taken the crew past quitting time. Sure enough, the lifeboat was hauled up on the beach and the men all went for an after-work stopover in the Nicolet lounge before heading home for the evening. Captains began more closely watching the times they scheduled lifeboat drills, after that incident.)

In any event, just as the season was about to begin, Captain Donor was replaced by his assistant, Captain George F. Loughlin, who was named Acting Superintendent.* Loughlin had joined the ferries to replace Fred Cronan on The Straits, on the same day Donor had started. Also a native of St. Clair, he had extensive experience prior to joining the state fleet. His first marine employment had been aboard the ferries of the New York Central Hudson River fleet in 1893. Earning his captain's license in 1899 brought him command of the Philip B. Armour of the Pittsburgh and Erie Coal Company. Subsequently, he served as master of the freighters Bradford, Sultana, and Wisconsin. In 1917 he was appointed general superintendent on the United States Shipping Board, Michigan Division, with offices in Detroit. In 1920, he was transferred to take charge of the Army Supply House at Pier 98 in Philadelphia, a position he held for two years. He then entered a decade ashore, managing several major corporations, before spending nearly a decade in the Detroit real estate business. After joining the ferries in 1933, he'd been appointed Assistant Superintendent in 1935, while still sailing The Straits of Mackinac.

*(Captain Ed H. Donor was not the only Ed Donor to work for Michigan State Ferries, which at first caused this researcher some confusion. In at least one year, 1940, Edward C. Donor, a third ward St. Ignace volunteer fireman, also worked on the boats, apparently as a deckhand. During his employment at the ferries, Ed C. fell and broke his leg, laying him up for several months and, apparently, also ending his ferry service career. E. C. was primarily a lumberman and carpenter. To further confuse the two, E. C. worked at least one winter as a watchman at the Nicolet Hotel, where E. H. spent winters while Ferry Superintendent. E. C. made a failed bid for Third Ward constable as a Republican in 1940. While no records have been found to confirm it, in all likelihood, E. H. was a Democrat, as he was appointed Ferry Superintendent by a Democratic highway commissioner. Born in Charlevoix in 1895, Ed. C Donor died of a heart attack in 1942 at age 57.)

Shortly after his promotion to Acting Superintendent in April, Loughlin named officers for the rest of the 1939 fleet. Captain M. D. Ramage of Detroit would take over as master on The Straits of Mackinac. Mike Madden would remain on The Straits as Chief Engineer. St. Ignace's Ben Houle was named master of the Mackinaw City with Leo Foglesonger as Chief. Escanaba's Louis Strahan was named Master, with Luke Manion of Marine City as Chief on the Sainte Ignace. The remaining captains and chiefs were: Andrew S. Coleman of Flint and S. Lowery as Chief on the City of Cheboygan, and Capt. John S. Martino and Chief Ivo Coveyou on the City of Munising.

Once named, everyone still had to wait. It took until Sunday, April 23, for the ice to clear enough so that the Mackinaw City and The Straits of Mackinac could join the Saint Marie (II) on the auto run. The railroad boat stayed in service a few extra days, just in case conditions changed and she would still be needed. The Saint Ignace was just about ready to go into commission as well, should traffic increase faster than expected. As the boats went into service, Acting Supt. Loughlin drove to Lansing for final instructions. The Straits also had her radio direction finder calibrated by representatives of the Bludsworth Company, which had installed the upgraded equipment.

As the state boats went on the run, Senator Brown's bridge bill passed the U. S. Senate, although Congressman Bradley's House version still faced opposition from two of Michigan's own representatives, George A. Dondero and Carl E. Mapes. "The bridge isn't needed," one of them said, adding, "Construction would practically destroy the beauty of the Straits." The representatives noted, "You couldn't paint a bridge with the revenues they're getting now." Bradley was undaunted, and noted that financing was an issue that could be brought up once the bridge construction had been authorized.

The bridge proponents failed to note that, so far, ferry traffic had fallen off 9.1% from the previous year. Ferry officials blamed the decrease on the many days when crossing the Straits was impossible, and the delay in starting the "summer boats," held up by late thawing ice. Instead, the bridge backers concentrated on new survey work which started in May, putting 13 engineers to the task of making dry core borings of the strata underlying the proposed route. Captain Duncan McGregor was hired to operate a cabin cruiser to transfer the engineers from shore to a large scow positioned for the drilling.

Perhaps it was the bridge survey work, or perhaps it was the decline in traffic, but in mid-May, Commissioner Van Wagoner announced that, for the first time in three years, the State Ferry fleet would not be expanded in 1939.

"The fleet has reached the saturation point in the number of boats that can be run efficiently," he said. The commissioner noted that five boats were available for state service, plus two railroad boats could also be called upon when needed. He concluded by noting Michigan was the only state in the union to operate a state ferry service, and that Michigan's ferry investment had increased to over $1,080,000.

His saturation statement was incredibly prophetic. Just five weeks later, after a busy Memorial Day weekend in which the St. Ignace end-loading dock was used for the first time, and traffic climbed 6.2% over the year before, Michigan State ferries suffered the only major collision in the history of the service. Some said such an accident was inevitable, given that seven ships were traveling the same nine-mile route, some just minutes apart.

To understand the complexity of the situation, consider the ferry route across the Straits as a winding two-lane highway, intersected by several busy cross-streets. The auto and rail ferries traveled basically north and south, across the busy east-west shipping lanes between Lakes Michigan and Huron. Near the terminals, they also intersected the routes of passenger ferries to and from Mackinac Island, freighters bound for local terminals, and hundreds of pleasure craft. The main routes were denoted, not by painted centerlines and signposts, but solely by compass headings and running times. Since the earliest railroad boats had crossed the Straits, several compass degrees of separation had been used to try to keep opposing traffic apart. The newly installed radio direction finders helped, but they could only plot an approximate course. To avoid cross-traffic, captains relied on visual references, or foghorns when visibility was reduced. Under those conditions, navigation was particularly difficult. Winds and currents could easily move a boat hundreds of feet off course without the crew even knowing. And on the morning of June 8, 1939, a thick fog, which blanketed the water, especially reduced visibility.

In St. Ignace, Captain Louis F. Strahan watched as 22 cars and five trailers were loaded aboard the Sainte Ignace. Several of the cars and trailers belonged to members of the Garden Valley Carnival troupe, which had been performing in the area. The performers were among 45 passengers onboard. When the ship was loaded, Strahan gave to order to cast off, and set course around the Graham Shoals, headed toward Mackinaw City. A few minutes later, after loading 16 cars, one truck, and one trailer, along with 39 passengers, Captain Andrew S. Coleman cast off from Mackinaw City and pointed the City of Cheboygan toward St. Ignace.

Though the Straits was relatively calm, both boats soon found themselves traveling through a thickening fog, and lookouts were posted on their bows to watch ahead for any danger. But the situation was dangerous enough as it was. The difficulty of seeing another ship though the fog is compounded when the fog is white and so is the vessel approaching. Both white state ferries pressed ahead, sounding their whistles at intervals to denote their positions. Each captain heard the other's ship's signal, and both men knew their ships were getting close. But sounds vary depending on conditions, and neither man realized just how close the two vessels were.

The time was just after 11:15 a.m. The boats were heading in opposite directions, about 10 minutes out of Mackinaw City. Suddenly, through the mist, Captain Coleman's lookout spotted what at first looked like a different shade of fog. Coleman saw it almost at the same time, but in an instant, the shade took shape to become the Sainte Ignace directly below his bow. Captain Strahan spotted the larger Cheboygan towering over his ship almost simultaneously, and realizing the two ships were on a head-on course, ordered his helm to the right, to avoid the larger ferry. The smaller Sainte Ignace heeled into the turn, but the larger, heavier Cheboygan was slower to respond. With less than 100 yards between them, the actions the crews took were too little, too late.

At 11:16 a.m., the sharp bow of the City of Cheboygan plowed into the port side of the Sainte Ignace, striking about 1/3 down her length at a point just forward of her vehicle gangway. The collision ripped a 20-foot gash in the Sainte Ignace's side. Two deck beams snapped, and part of the Sainte Ignace's upper vehicle deck collapsed onto the autos and trailers parked below. Several vehicles were demolished and passengers who were riding in them were injured. One beam punched a six-inch hole high in the Cheboygan's bow and broke off there. Amid the creaks and groans of twisting metal, cars were tossed like toys, some moving 10 feet across the deck, though drivers had set their brakes. An off duty crewmember, asleep in his bunk below deck, woke up to find the Cheboygan's prow just inches from his head, protruding through the Sainte Ignace's hull.

Up to 25 passengers, including four members of the carnival troupe, were injured on the smaller ferry. Three people had broken bones; the others suffered scrapes and bruises. In the galley, second cook Arthur Hayward was scalded when a pot of hot soup was spilled on him. He also had a gash on his forehead. With passengers screaming, the uninjured crewmembers quickly passed out life vests and instructed the passengers how to put them on. That calmed the panic, and an atmosphere of serious concern prevailed.

The Cheboygan backed off, but remained to render assistance. Fortunately, while passengers on the larger ferry were alarmed, there were no apparent injuries. Damage to the Cheboygan consisted mostly of scratched paint and the six inch hole in the bow, well above the cardeck, pierced by the broken Sainte Ignace deck beam.

Damage to the Sainte Ignace looked much worse than it actually was. While her hull had been punctured, the damage was all at least two feet above the waterline. Most of the impact had been absorbed by the sponsons added when the ship was widened in her third year of ferry service. The rest of the damage was to the upper auto deck, the side plating, and the vehicles she carried onboard. Once it was apparent neither ship was in danger, they proceeded to their intended destinations to unload.

Seven of the Sainte Ignace's most seriously injured passengers were taken to the hospital in Cheboygan for treatment. The ship, herself, was declared unseaworthy by inspectors and sent to the J. B. Lund shipyard in Cheboygan for repairs. Damage to the Sainte Ignace was estimated at $10,000, but Captain Loughlin announced she would be repaired and ready for service in plenty of time for the busy 4th of July holiday, just three weeks away. The City of Cheboygan suffered an estimated $100 in damage. She was released for return to service the same afternoon, and repaired and repainted over the weekend.

As is usually the case, an accident investigation followed, with a marine safety board convened to hear testimony of witnesses and the ferry officers involved. The inquiry was held Friday, June 15, at the Mackinac County Courthouse. Five ship's captains, under the chairmanship of Supervisor of Inspection, Captain Chester W. Willett from Cleveland, listened and declared that, if anything, both ferry skippers and their crews had done almost everything possible to safeguard the lives of their passengers, before and after the collision. Their only fault was that they had failed to check speed when approaching each other in the fog, the slightest charge that could be leveled under the circumstances. It would be fall before the board reached a verdict on that charge.

Despite the collision, traffic on the boats was up 18% for the first part of June. Captain Loughlin cited the end of school for the increase in tourist travel. He noted the benefit of the new end-loading pier in St. Ignace: Autos were dispersed to two different locations, greatly reducing the perception of traffic jams and tie-ups in the community.

Next week: Traffic continues to build through the summer of 1939.

Copyright 2007 by Les Bagley. All rights reserved.

To celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the opening of the Mackinac Bridge, this year the St. Ignace News is serializing Les Bagley's history of the Michigan State Ferries, "Autos Across Mackinac." While state officials continued trying to finance a bridge in the days before WWII, ferry service kept growing, but not without unfortunate incidents.