Lookback: The story of the Jupiter, The Ghost Ship of the Great Lakes 11/13 - The Muskegon Chronicle Nov. 8, 1947 - Ghost Ship Wins Battle With Lake After 18 tense, drama packed hours of battling 30-foot high waves and 55 mph winds, the 28-man crew of the freighter Jupiter, out of Cleveland, was believed out of danger off Bortle’s landing, 3 miles north of Pentwater this afternoon. The Jupiter came into the news when she sailed the Great Lakes with a non-union crew, apparently not putting in at any port. The boat, owned by the Jupiter Steamship Co. of Cleveland, sailed from Detroit with a non-union crew after union crewmen walked off during the seaman’s strike. She became known as the “Ghost Ship” when she sailed for weeks without a word being heard from her. On Friday, she left Manistee loaded light with a gross tonnage of 3,179; a factor which the Coast Guard believes kept her from going aground off Pentwater. Trouble developed Friday evening in a pressure cylinder, slowing the ship’s progress and making steering impossible. With diminished wind and less dangerous waves today, the freighter awaited the arrival of the Coast Guard cutter Mackinaw which left Cheboygan Friday night, one of several ships which rushed to the rescue at the first call for help sent out at 7:25 p.m. Friday by the Jupiter’s captain: “We are 7 miles south of Little Point Sable. Our engine is broken and there is not much steerage. Request Coast Guard cutter assistance as soon as possible.” That was the signal that alerted Coast Guard stations all along the Lake Michigan shore as well as other lake boats. The Muskegon Coast Guard sent a crew of auxiliaries, under MMM1/c Ray Sweet, to Pentwater with a beach cart and a throwing gun. The captain and crew experienced a night of terror as they were tossed helplessly by the wind on the high sea. Unable to make steerage, they were too far out to make anchorage. As they drifted closer to shore about 8 a.m. the anchor was dropped and it held, eliminating much of the danger. With the wind still strong and the waves so high that the ship was hidden from shore observers much of the time, the captain sent a pitiful appeal at 7 p.m.: “I don’t think we can hang on 30 minutes. Please won’t you send some help!” The message might have been a routine call for help had not the captain’s voice expressed the terror that was in his heart and those of all the men in his crew of 28. It was an appeal which touched even veterans of the Coast Guard, men who had heard calls for assistance many times. “It was the way the captain said it and the touching appeal in his voice which made the message so pitiful,” said Chief George Piotrowski, of the Muskegon Coast Guard, who was on the ship-to-shore phone all night. The 185-foot Coast Guard cutter Sundew, which arrived shortly after 10 a.m., today, put a line aboard the Jupiter at noon and started to tow her away from shore. The Sundew, one of the smaller cutters on the lake, dashed to the side of the stricken freighter from St. Joseph, which she left last midnight. When the Mackinaw catches up, the tow to Chicago will start. The Captain of the Jupiter expressed a desire to await the arrival of the Mackinaw, a 300-foot cutter, more powerful and faster. He wished to have the faster boat tow him to Chicago where he was bound with a load of rock salt taken on at Manistee. The captain indicated the can stand the trip to Chicago before being taken to drydock at Manitowoc for repairs. When the captain phoned and said he desired to wait for the Mackinaw, his voice then was devoid of its quality of pity and “he seemed almost cheerful,” Piotrowski said. Standing by also were the Pere Marquette carferries, the No. 21 and the City of Saginaw, both out of Ludington. The Saginaw set out shortly before midnight and was able to come within 200 feet of the stricken freighter, but was unable to pass a line. The carferry was forced to return to port when Seaman Frank Polasch, one of her crew, sustained chest injuries as he and other crewmen made heroic attempts to get a line to the Jupiter. He was taken to the Paulina Stearns Hospital, at Ludington. Ship’s officers said the seaman was injured when he was hurled against an oil tank as he was attempting to lower the stern gate of the carferry, to get the line through. As he fell, a large can of oil hit him in the chest. Several other crewmen were slightly injured and they continued for three hours in their efforts to get a line to the Jupiter before turning back to take Polasch to the hospital. Coast Guards are reported aboard the No. 21 ready to assist should an emergency arise. With the vessel still awaiting towing to Chicago, assistance was still available, even though apparent danger was past. It was indicated the Coast Guard will be recalled as soon as the freighter resumes her trip to Chicago under tow. Days after the Jupiter’s ordeal, Capt. Floyd Dossett claimed “The ship never was in real danger of sinking.” The Chronicle begged to differ, “His appealing messages on the ship-to-shore phone as he sought assistance Friday night and Saturday morning indicated he didn’t feel that way during the storm.” His crew was certainly scared to death. Chief Mate Robert Portenien of Erie, Pa., said, “There wasn’t a man aboard who wasn’t thinking of the William B. Davock.” In 1940, seven years before almost to the day, the Davock had gone down with all hands in the same ship’s graveyard that nearly claimed the Jupiter. The Mackinaw towed the Jupiter to Milwaukee where the balky cylinder which started the whole mess was repaired. The Jupiter sailed for Chicago a few days later. John Polasch was not the only crewman aboard the City of Saginaw who was serious injured during the carferry’s heroic attempts to answer Dossett’s frantic calls for help. Keith Haley was also badly injured. Others hurt were First Mate Roy D. Thompson and William Rebeske. Built by the American Shipbuilding Co. for Gilchrist Transportation Co. and launched in 1901, the Jupiter was later sold to Cargo Carriers, Inc. (Cargill Grain Co.) before being scrapped in the late 1950s. MLive
Posted on: Wed, 13 Nov 2013 11:30:47 +0000
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