I drove through Harbor Springs this summer and it has been a while since I was there. Right away I noticed a strange looking dark blue boat on display in the park. I had to stop and check it out.

The boat was named the “Aha” and built by inventor Ephraim Shay. He lived in Harbor Springs and his house stands across the road from the park. The boat was designed by Shay and built at his machine shop. It’s long an narrow hull made it one of the fastest boats at the time.

While being towed to storage in the 1930s the empty hull of the Aha took on water and was beached near Sucker Creek in the present day Wilderness State Park. The old boat sat there for decades slowly rusting and being used for target practice by hunters.

In 2003, the hull was brought back to Harbor Springs were it sat in storage. In 2019, it was trucked to Onaway and restored by the students at the Industrial Arts Institute. After restoring and repainting the hull the Aha was put on display at the park on the town were it was built.

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The lighthouse keeper’s log at 40 Mile Point for October 20, 1905 simply reads: “At 8:30 p.m. last night the steamer, J. S. Fay, came ashore here in a sinking condition. She soon broke up. Most of the crew came ashore on the Pilot House. Three men swam ashore, the mate was drowned.” The entry for December 4, 1905 reads: “The assistant found a dead man on the beach about 1 mile up. We think it is the mate of the Fay.”

The Joseph S. Fay was a wooden steamer built in 1871 and was one of the first Great Lake freighters built for the iron ore trade. On October 19, 1905 in heavy seas, the Fay with the Rhodes in tow, departed from Escanaba, Michigan and was downbound on Lake Huron The captain hugged the coast seeking some protection from the violent wind and savage waves. The wind shifted violently straining the towline tightened, pulling it taut until the Rhodes broke free taking a portion of the Fay’s stern with her.

Water rushed into the hull and the crew crowded into the forward cabin. The captain struggled to bring the Fay around and head to shore toward 40 Mile Point Light Station. Her bow struck a sandbar and the entire forward cabin was torn off. The wheelhouse, deck, mate’s and captain’s rooms were ripped from the deck. Incredibly, huge waves lifted the structure and carried it to shore where it washed up on the sandy beach near the light station. The captain and 10 crewmen were safe inside. In fact, one of the crewmen was reported to be asleep and didn’t even wake up.

First Mate David Syze of Port Huron and two other crewmen weren’t so fortunate. Clinging to the beached hull, the struggling men ripped off a spar and used it to paddle to shore. The first mate attempted to swim, but was overcome by the cold and was lost.

if you visit 40 Mile Point Light Station Near Rogers City and stroll up the beach about 200 yards, you can see some 150 feet of her huge wooden side, metal rods and spikes holding her steady, resting in the sand.

CLICK HERE to read my post about the 490 Mile Point Light Station

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The worlds largest weathervane is in the town of Montague. It is north of Muskegon near Lake Michigan. constructed from aluminum, it stands 48 feet tall with a 26-foot wind arrow which is decorated with a sailing schooner.

The ship on top of the weathervane represents the Ella Ellenwood, a Great Lakes lumber schooner whose home port was Montague. In October of 1901, the Ellenwood ran aground eight miles north of Milwaukee. The crew abandoned ship, and the wind and waves pummeled the wooden ship to pieces. The next spring, a portion of the ship’s nameplate, bearing the word “Ellenwood,” was found in the White Lake channel. It had drifted back across the lake to it’s home port.

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As we remember the most infamous day in history, when the Japanese woke the sleeping giant, I think this is a good day to remember the U.S.S. Saginaw Bay CVE-82.

Her first mission in 1944 was to transport pilots and planes to Pearl Harbor, and bring back damaged planes to the mainland. She provided support to the fleet en route to Iwo Jima, and air support for the landing of the troops on the Island. The ship also participated in the Pre-invasion strikes against Okinawa, and provided air cover for the invasion of ground troops.

She was an escort carrier that was built in 1943 at the Kaiser Shipbuilding Co in Vancouver Washington. After building Liberty Ships with great efficiency the company convinced the Navy they could build aircraft carriers and they built 50 ships in two years, with many of the ships named after bays in the United States. The USS Saginaw Bay was the 27th Casablanca class carrier to be built, the crews to refer to the ships as “ Jeep Carriers” because of their relatively small size and mass-production, and the Kaiser Co. who built the ship, also built jeeps.

The carrier was decommissioned in June of 1946 and entered the Navy’s Atlantic Reserve Fleet. Because the Casablanca class aircraft carriers had small engines, and were relatively slow ships, they were not desirable for service, and in 1959 the USS Saginaw Bay was sold for scrap. None of the “Jeep Carriers” survive today. 5 were sunk in the war and the rest were scrapped.

Thank You to all the men and women who proudly serve in our military then and now.

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Thank you to all of the men and women who serve or have served in the United States Military. Living in Saginaw far from any large military base I don’t see a lot of active military personnel in my daily life, but I do know they are out there doing their job serving this country. I thank you all for your commitment and sacrifices so that I may pursue my happiness.

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There are a lot of ferries in Michigan, from the ones that take you to Mackinac Island to the Badger that sails across Lake Michigan to Wisconson.  One of the oldest ferries in the Mitten State is in Ironton. Lake Charlevoix branches off in the small town, and that is where you can ride a small ferry to get across the lake, instead of driving all the way around the south branch of the lake.

The Ironton Ferry operates during the late spring, summer and early fall months across the South Arm of Lake Charlevoix. Generally, it is open from mid-April through mid-November. Operating hours are 6:30am to 10:30pm. It’s only $3 per car or 50 cents per pedestrian to ride one way across the Ironton Narrows on the ferry.

Ferry service has been operating at Ironton since 1883, and the current ferry has been operating since 1925, yes it’s almost a century old. It is operated and maintained by Charlevoix County.  I have driven down a lot of roads in Michigan, but I have to say the ride on the historic ferry in my little yellow Jeep was a memorable experience. Next time you are in the Charlevoix area, be sure to take a ride on the ferry, and by the way, it’s a beautiful trip around the lake. With towns like Boyne City and Horton Bay where you can stop for some shopping and get a bite to eat.

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Near downtown Muskegon, is an old naval warship. It’s a unique-looking ship with bow doors that open. they open because it is a tank landing ship and one of only two remaining out of a thousand that were constructed for WWII. LST 393 was laid down on 27 July 1942 at the Newport News Shipbuilding & Drydock Company and launched on 11 November 1942. LST 393 arrived in the Omaha Beach zone on the night of June 6, 1944. She made 30 round trips to Omaha Beach, bringing varied equipment and supplies to France and returning with wounded soldiers as well as thousands of German prisoners. Following the War, LST 393 returned to the United States, was decommissioned on 1 March 1946. The ship was sold to the Sand Products Corporation of Detroit, for conversion to merchant service and renamed Highway 16. She would be a waterborne extension of the former U.S. Highway 16 and sail as a car ferry from Muskegon to Milwaukee. Highway 16 was replaced by Interstate 96 and the old veteran of D-day was never put into service as a ferry. In the mid-2000s she was restored and now serves as a museum ship for visitors to explore. If you are visiting Muskegon stop by and tour LST 393 I thought it was fascinating and they have some excellent displays honoring military veterans.

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If you have lived in Michigan for a long time you have probably visited Mackinaw City, The Island, and the Fort along with other sites at the tip of the mitten many times. On my last trip to northern Michigan, I took a ride on the Yankee Sunshine. It is a glass-bottom boat operated by Nautical North Family Adventures in Cheboygan.

We went out of the Cheboygan River and saw the 14-foot shoal lighthouse and then went over to Duncan Bay and through the windows in the hull saw three shipwrecks. I have always been fascinated by shipwrecks and wanted to scuba dive on one. With my health and vision, I am not sure it is possible but the Yankee Sunshine was an amazing way to experience some historic shipwrecks without even getting wet. It was like looking back in time through the glass at the old timbers of ships built over a century ago. It is difficult to get a good photo through the glass but incredible to view in person.

They do offer the option to snorkel the wrecks if you want to get up close to them. The crew was fantastic and knowledgeable. They gave a lot of information and stories about the shipwrecks and the area. They were also a pleasure to hang out with for the hour and half the tour lasted. They say “what is better than owning a boat, is a friend with a boat” and that is what it felt like was hanging out with friends on a Pure Michigan afternoon adventure.

If you are up near the bridge and looking for something different to do, be sure to check out Nautical North Family Adventures. You can find their website HERE

Full disclosure, I paid for a ticket and was not given anything in return for this post. I usually don’t do review posts like this, but I was so impressed with my experience I wanted to share it with others that don’t know about the glass bottom boat tours in Cheboygan.

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