Railroad Car Ferry Incan Superior at Dock in Superior, Wisconsin on October 12, 1984
The Incan Superior was designed to load and unload from the stern end of the vessel. On approach to her slip, the boat would turn in the harbor basin, then gently back into the loading dock. Once snug against the dock, the dock apron would be lowered to align the tracks on the ground with the tracks on the ship’s deck. The special pulleys and cables of this apron were part of a modernized version of the old Lidgerwood Company’s electric friction-drum winches. They were specially designed to handle the needs of car ferry operations. As the boat was loaded or unloaded the angle of the apron would tilt and shift. Wind, weather, and water levels could effect things too. The Lidgerwood winches would automatically tighten or loosen their grip on the apron—and vessel—to keep the tracks aligned to prevent derailments of the train cars as they moved on and off the boat.
When car ferry operations were curtailed here the tracks and loading apron were removed and the property became part of the Hallett Dock Company as their Dock 8 in Superior: www.hallettdock.com/dock8.php
Some years later the most exciting thing EVER to happen in this slip occurred on the night of January 14, 2008. According to a MPR News report the next day, something below the waterline in this general vicinity caused a large and apparently unforeseeable problem for the MV Walter J. McCarthy, Jr.
In part, here's what was reported by MPR...
"The [Great Lakes bulk carrier] McCarthy is like a skyscraper floating on its side. It is longer than the IDS Tower in Minneapolis is tall. The ship was coming into dock in Superior for the last time this winter Monday when something went wrong. Crew members report the ship striking something -- they do not know what -- and the water came gushing into the hull. Lieutenant Aaron Gross is the Coast Guard's Chief of Port Operations. The motor vessel Walter J. McCarthy struck an unknown submerged object, piercing the hull and subsequently flooding the vessel's engine room. The vessel's crew attempted to stop the flooding while at the moorings, but the efforts were unsuccessful. The crew shut down the engines, sealed the flooding engine room and everybody got off the ship. Gross says the Walter J. McCarthy then essentially sank in the shallow water next to the Hallett Company dock."
The Twin Cities Pioneer Press later reported, "The McCarthy’s engine room flooded Jan. 14, 2008, after a submerged object ripped a 7-by-4-foot hole in the ship’s bottom as it backed into a slip. The ship’s stern settled to the bottom in about 20 feet of water, with water covering the ship’s four 3,500-horsepower General Motors Electro-Motive Division diesel engines. American Steamship claims it cost nearly $4.2 million to repair the damage. In addition, the repairs cost 45 sailing days and at least five cargo hauls before the McCarthy was certified as ready to sail."
Fraser Shipyards in Superior refloated and repaired the vessel.
Railroad Car Ferry Incan Superior at Dock in Superior, Wisconsin on October 12, 1984
The Incan Superior was designed to load and unload from the stern end of the vessel. On approach to her slip, the boat would turn in the harbor basin, then gently back into the loading dock. Once snug against the dock, the dock apron would be lowered to align the tracks on the ground with the tracks on the ship’s deck. The special pulleys and cables of this apron were part of a modernized version of the old Lidgerwood Company’s electric friction-drum winches. They were specially designed to handle the needs of car ferry operations. As the boat was loaded or unloaded the angle of the apron would tilt and shift. Wind, weather, and water levels could effect things too. The Lidgerwood winches would automatically tighten or loosen their grip on the apron—and vessel—to keep the tracks aligned to prevent derailments of the train cars as they moved on and off the boat.
When car ferry operations were curtailed here the tracks and loading apron were removed and the property became part of the Hallett Dock Company as their Dock 8 in Superior: www.hallettdock.com/dock8.php
Some years later the most exciting thing EVER to happen in this slip occurred on the night of January 14, 2008. According to a MPR News report the next day, something below the waterline in this general vicinity caused a large and apparently unforeseeable problem for the MV Walter J. McCarthy, Jr.
In part, here's what was reported by MPR...
"The [Great Lakes bulk carrier] McCarthy is like a skyscraper floating on its side. It is longer than the IDS Tower in Minneapolis is tall. The ship was coming into dock in Superior for the last time this winter Monday when something went wrong. Crew members report the ship striking something -- they do not know what -- and the water came gushing into the hull. Lieutenant Aaron Gross is the Coast Guard's Chief of Port Operations. The motor vessel Walter J. McCarthy struck an unknown submerged object, piercing the hull and subsequently flooding the vessel's engine room. The vessel's crew attempted to stop the flooding while at the moorings, but the efforts were unsuccessful. The crew shut down the engines, sealed the flooding engine room and everybody got off the ship. Gross says the Walter J. McCarthy then essentially sank in the shallow water next to the Hallett Company dock."
The Twin Cities Pioneer Press later reported, "The McCarthy’s engine room flooded Jan. 14, 2008, after a submerged object ripped a 7-by-4-foot hole in the ship’s bottom as it backed into a slip. The ship’s stern settled to the bottom in about 20 feet of water, with water covering the ship’s four 3,500-horsepower General Motors Electro-Motive Division diesel engines. American Steamship claims it cost nearly $4.2 million to repair the damage. In addition, the repairs cost 45 sailing days and at least five cargo hauls before the McCarthy was certified as ready to sail."
Fraser Shipyards in Superior refloated and repaired the vessel.