Not Strictly Cruising, but information regarding the Aquarama needed

[DocF]

On several of the boards dealing with Great Lakes matters, it has been rumored that the old overnight boat Aquarama has been sold for scrapping in Alang. If anyone has any facts regarding this, I would be most appreciative.

 

As information, the Aquarama was converted to a passenger vessel from a C-4 troop ship around 1950. She was initially assigned to Detroit-Cleveland and Detroit-Buffalo services. She was built to replace the Milwaukee Clipper (ex Juniata) in Muskegon-Milwaukee service, but drew too much water for the ports at that time.

 

There were major design issues with the conversion in addition to the excess draft. The major one was the failure of the design to properly submerge the entire propeller which made for a very unpleasant wake and a very inefficient ship. She has been out of service for many years and was last seen decaying in Buffalo.

 

Thanks,

Doc

[dougnewmanatsea]

I've heard the same thing but have no concrete information either.

 

Strictly speaking she was decaying in the Buffalo suburb of Lackawanna, where I saw her in... Er, I think it was 2003. A very sad sight.

[DocF]

From http://boatnerd.com/

 

The Buffalo News reports that the current owners of the Marine Star (nee Aquarama) are not selling the hulk. They claim they will still rebuild it and cruise the Great Lakes. The papers says this is never going to happen.

 

Doc

[DocF]

http://boatnerd.com informs us that tugs have arrived in Buffalo and moved the Marine Star (Aquarama) from the Buffalo harbor where it has lain derelict for many years. It is evidently being towed to the shipbreakers. The link will give one the full story which is ongoing with updates from boatnerds along the Welland Canal of the progress of the tow.

 

Doc:(

[DocF]

As an added thought regarding what appears to be the scrap tow of the Aquarama, also look at the information search page on the Boatnerd site as there will be many posts about this topic.

 

Doc

[DocF]

Professor William Lafferty, a well-known marine historian speculates as follows.

 

"Does anyone else think it odd that the *Marine Star* had her documentation certificate renewed eleven days ago? If she's a dead ship being towed to Alang or Gadani Beach, there is no point in having her remain in documentation, which wasn't to expire until 31 July 2007, anyway. Why would Empire Cruise renew her certificate (unless maybe she isn't to be scrapped, but sold within the registry)?"

 

There may be more to this than we know at this time.

 

Doc

[DocF]

Kent Malo from Candiac, Quebec reported tonight on http://boatnerd.com/ this update:

 

The tug Aetos Z and the Ocean Group tug Avantage with Marine Star [nee Aquarama] in tow,departed Trois Rivieres at 0600 today and is presently parallel with Ile D'Orleans, Quebec, the entorage must be bucking the tide as their overall speed is 3.6 knots, Bruno Boissonneault reported that the tug Hellas is due in Trois Rivieres Aug 12, to tow the Canadian Mariner."

 

This is an eye-witness report.

 

Doc

[jaydetroit]

A lad of 12 when my family and I took the roundtrip from Detroit to Cleveland, I never have forgotten the S.S. Aquarama. I'm as sentimental about her as anybody. That doesn't diminish what the numbers add up to.

 

NOBODY with the actual money to invest is going to put 40 to 50 million USD into a 60 year-old hull that has to be completely refitted, redesigned and modified. Why not? Because all over the globe there are tied up far younger ships that do not need such work and can be purchased or long term-leased for far less investment capital. Far less.

 

Doc, the existing hull needs to be dry docked and sandblasted. You would need to open the decks for access to remove all the machinery by crane, to include the turbines, boilers and gear box. All of that. A modern diesel electric plant would be required. Add full air conditioning, which is absent. Add modern desalinization and, very important, a modern sewage treatment plant. Then, do cut-outs in the bow that may compromise the existing ballast compartments. The cut-outs are necessary to install a bow thruster. Right there you've possibly got $35 million.

 

There are idle, premium yachts thus equipped already and ready to rock 'n roll on 90 days notice, available to anyone with pockets deep enough to be serious.

 

Yes it brings a tear to my eyes, but it's true: the Marine Star is scrap right now. As they say in real estate, that's her highest and best use. As a practical matter, she is scrap that just hasn't been cut up as yet.

 

Jaydetroit ...an Aquarama watcher

[DocF]

Jay you are absolutely right. In addition, the conversion was botched by the Naval Architects and the prop is not totally submerged which is a major contributor to the horrid wake she had and is extremely inefficient. The C4 conversion freighters are all gone, victims of high operating costs. The Aquarama, will have to join them.

 

More news: Today, on the Boatnerd.com information page, Simon from Lachine, Quebec reports:

“I was just in Tadoussac QC (at the mouth of the Saguenay River) and on Sunday morning (Aug. 5) I'm sure I saw the Aquarama being towed downriver. She was several miles offshore, so even with binoculars I couldn't make out details. I thought one of the tugs (the one pushing) resembled the Commodore Straits, but the extreme range makes that highly questionable. Confirmation and further information would be welcome.”

Jay from Buffalo responded with this speculative information:

“Aquarama is on the move again. Ateos Z is the tug in the lead. I not sure who is trailing but I have a webcam image of her leaving Quebec and I concur the trailing Tug appears to be Commodore. Current speculation is that she is headed for Greece though I myself can not confirm that, I have heard reports for others of radio transmissions indicating it.”

 

Doc:(

[DocF]

http://boatnerd.com reports this tonight from the Buffalo News.

 

/10 - Buffalo - The Marine Star, the rusting passenger ferry that spent more than a decade sitting on the Buffalo waterfront, is on its way to Turkey. But it is still not known whether the once-proud ship is headed to the scrap yard or new life as a floating casino. The 62-year-old military ship turned- luxury Great Lakes ferry departed South End Marina on Buffalo’s Outer Harbor on July 15, towed by a tug boat through the Welland Canal and up the St. Lawrence Seaway to Trois Rivieres, Quebec. After a two-week layover in Trois Rivieres, the Marine Star resumed her journey Saturday morning under tow by a Greek-owned tug, the Aetos Z.

James Everatt, an Ontario businessman with ownership ties to the vessel, did not return phone calls regarding the Marine Star, but sources in Quebec confirmed this week that the final destination is Turkey. TradeWinds, an international shipping publication, reports the 62-year-old ship in bound for Aliaga, Turkey, on the Aegean coast. The maritime journal described its trip as a “one-way voyage to oblivion.”

There are indications it will be towed to Leyal Ship Dismantling, Turkey’s largest ship recycling center. “The impending scrapping . . . is generally regarded as a major blow to those who appreciate maritime history. The Marine Star is one of the final vessels afloat designed by the late George Sharp, who some regard as the best-ever naval architect,” TradeWinds reported in its Aug. 2 edition.

But according to the port authority in Trois Rivieres, there was still talk of the 520-foot vessel being redone as a luxury gaming ship when it was moored there. “We were told it is going to become a casino, not scrap. Who can know for sure?” said a port representative who asked not to be identified. Because the Marine Star is categorized as a “dead ship” and is not traveling under its own power, its owners are not required to file official documents with the Canadian government detailing the purpose of its travels and its destination.

When the ship was hauled out of Buffalo after sitting on the waterfront for a dozen years, several marine sources said it was headed to a ship scrap yard in Alang, India. Others insisted it was being taken to Europe for refurbishing.

As recently as June, Everatt said he and his partners had not abandoned their dream of a $40 million conversion to a high-end Great Lakes cruise liner. The owners previously had floated plans to turn it into a gambling boat, but that plan was shelved due to legal issues. Everatt has not commented publicly on the Marine Star’s future since it left Buffalo.

Built in 1945 as a military troop transport ship, it underwent an $8 million transformation to a luxury passenger ferry, renamed the S.S. Aquarama, at the end of World War II. At one time it was the largest ferry on the Great Lakes, with room for 2,500 passengers and 160 vehicles.

It also set the bar on ferry amenities, with four restaurants, two dance floors, a children’s playroom and baby-sitting services. But within a decade, its glamour was overshadowed by its operating expenses, and it has been docked since the mid-1960s.

From the Buffalo News

 

At least we now have some idea of where she is going.

 

 

 

Doc

[jaydetroit]

Here are some details about the S.S. Aquarama that may be of interest to readers. Also, they could be helpful to editors and writers who continue to cover the ship and it's future.

 

The Marine Star's conversion to a passenger ferry was not based on an "overnight boat" design. She was to be a "day ferry". And this became a significant limitation in her operation.

 

From the get-go, the S.S. Aquarama was intended to replace the ageing and very successful Milwaukee Clipper in the Muskegon-Milwaukee service run. And she would have been ideal. Aquarama could have gotten into dock relatively easily on both ends of that trip. And she could have run "full ahead", racing across Lake Michigan at close to 20 MPH.

 

As some have reported, this plan collapsed. The McKee family of Sand Products Corporation, Detroit, which owned the Aquarama, did not feel they should completely pay for the required deeping of the Milwaukee's harbor for Aquarama's access to Milwaukee Municipal Pier. Historians will decide whether the McKees made the right decision.

 

The Detroit-Cleveland run was the McKee's last resort plan to use the ship. The absolute worst thing about this revised plan was not the size of the ship. The McKee's hired the best "pilot" on the great lakes, one Morgan Howell, for this service. One of Captain Howell's first actions was to ask the McKee's to have the ship's rudder lengthened to afford him better control in tight spaces. Howell told me in an interview years ago that after the rudder modification, "...she behaved like a perfect lady, obedient to my every request and command. She was a beautiful ship to command."

 

Two factors forced the McKees to pull Aquarama out of service as the 1962 season concluded. First was the unbearably slow trip both up and down the Detroit River. To keep that awesome wake down, and to comply with Coast Guard rules and edicts, the ship needed to creep along. Wonderful for picture-taking and sight-seeing. But death for the schedule. This lengthened the round trip to over 12 hours. Waaaaaaaay too long for families with little kids in toe. Toddlers in tantrums, well-past bed time, could be seen everytime Aquarama returned to either Detroit or Cleveland after the round-trip.

 

What officially ended the Aquarama's Detroit-Cleveland saga was the decision by Cleveland City Council to NOT renew the dock space lease to Sand Products for berthing the Aquarama. Council's reasoning was that it was an economic imperative for the city to have installed in that space a behemoth ship-loading crane that would come to be known as the "Buckeye Booster". The Aquarama dockage lease was therefore not renewed. There was noplace else the McKees could reasonably or practically dock the Aquarama in Cleveland.

 

Now age 60, I vividly remember our family's Aquarama trip in the summer of 1960. In the 1970's, I was a television reporter in Cleveland and we did a feature piece on "Whatever Happend to the S.S. Aquarama?" We went to Muskegon and interviewed both Brad McKee and Morgan Howell for that feature. :)

[DocF]

Thanks Jay, that is good information, indeed. I too remember the hoopla regarding the Aquarama as the replacement for the Milwaukee Clipper. The Clipper was ripe for replacement as she was a rebuild of the Juniata, built in 1905. She was slow; a 12 mph boat, as I recall.

 

How ironic that the Milwaukee Clipper survives and her erstwhile replacement appears to be headed to the breakers.

 

Doc

[jaydetroit]

Doc---

 

As for the issue of Aquarama's draft and wake. There are some very interesting b&w photos coming on line that show the Marine Star in working trim prior to it's conversion. If you look closely at them, it is apparent how much lower she originally floated. It may have been 6 feet lower, possibly 8.

 

Woulda, coulda ...shoulda. I wonder if the famed architect, Mr. Sharp, ever was able to calculate the difference in draft. As built, this was a ship that carried tanks and other military armored vehicles. Here's another loose quote I recall from the late Brad McKee. "...compared to what she was designed to carry, 150 automobiles was like a load of empty pop cans."

 

One caveat after another. Had they somehow ballasted the ship to ride at it's design draft, she may have drawn too much water for the shipping channels and dockages she had to use in the Great Lakes.

 

Did anybody know that the ship's design range was 14,000 miles on a load of bunker C?

 

Does anyone out there know if there are good photos of the ship in drydock? She was probably drydocked in New Orleans, where I think her green colors were applied.

 

So many questions. Wish I had a few more answers.

 

JayDetroit

[hessianlion]

Re.: News re. Towage Aetos Z with Aquarama/Marine Star

 

Good Morning!

 

This is hessianlion from Frankfurt (Germany).

 

The Panamesian Salvage Tug "Aetos Z" (IMO 8728191) of greek owner Zouros Maritime Consortium of Thessaloniki with ex-greatlakes-liner "Aquarama" ex USS "Marine Star" (build 1945) in tow leaving Quebec on 4th August 2007 with final destination Piraeus (Greece) for possible refurbishing "Aquarama" has been located as follows:

 

Leaving Malta Roads in the Mediterranian Sea von September 13th, 2007, located by AIS.

 

The Tug Aetos Z has been located since yesterday in Piraeus by AIS (Automatic Identification System), but it is unknown wether with or without his "annex" Aquarama/Marine Star.

 

This Information correlates with a posting to boatnerds.com as follows:

 

Quote

 

From: Kent Malo

Location: Candiac Quebec

email:

Remote Name: 70.55.110.172

Date: 08.19.07

Time: 07:57:40 PM

Comments

aetos Z Towing ship IMO 8728191 1986 404 piraeus arriving Sunday, September 09, 2007 07:00 This the tug that is towing the Marine Star.

Unquote

 

There is hope, that the Aquarama arrived possibly in Piraeus. But we are on this side of the "great pond" not really sure and have to verify, whether Aetos Z, now located in Piraeus, arrived there with his "annex" Aquarama. Izmir with its breaking beaches of Aliaga is not very far away from Piraeus...

 

Please be so kind and communicate this message to your friends in USA and Canada. May be they can get a confirmation, that Aquarama arrived really at Piraues.

 

Still working.

Best regards

 

hessianlion

D-63667 Nidda (Hessen)

near Frankfurt (Germany)

[RomeosVixen]

http://punaro.com/2008/03/derek/aquarama-scrapping-in-hi-res/

 

This is a link to a discussion and a couple of pictures of the demise of this ship. I found this just today after going through my pictures of the day the unearthed the anchor in Buffalo a few days before she departed. Its very unfortunate.

:(