04/23/2006

Coast Guard cutter Mackinaw will make home port for last time

BY SHERI McWHIRTER

sherimcwhirter@hotmail.com

CHEBOYGAN — Thousands toured the U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker Mackinaw this week during the ship's farewell tour.

The ship premiered in 1944 as the most powerful and advanced icebreaking vessel in the Great Lakes. Decade after decade, "Old Mac" kept not only the Straits of Mackinac, but much of the North American inland sea system, free of ice from December through April for commercial shipping.

That mission now belongs to the new U.S. Coast Guard cutter Mackinaw, along with other law enforcement, security and navigational duties. The new ship will also take over the longtime mooring site on the Cheboygan River, off Lake Huron in Cheboygan.

The 62-year-old cutter will, for the last time, come back to home port in Cheboygan sometime this afternoon. There won't be any big fanfare, just a simple docking before the 81-person crew prepares the renowned ship for final decommission in June.

It's been a celebratory farewell tour, said Ensign Elizabeth Newton, from aboard the Mackinaw in Lake Huron.

"We've been getting a lot of calls from passing ships. They keep calling and telling us 'thank you' over the radio," she said.

Newton said the "Great Lakes salute" has been repeatedly sounded to them, from every captain they see. The salute is one prolonged and two short blasts from a ship's whistle, a greeting universally known on Great Lakes waters.

Construction began in 1943 in Toledo on the Mackinaw and the ship was launched into Lake Erie on March 4, 1944. The Mackinaw arrived for the first time in Cheboygan on Dec. 30, 1944.

Stephenie Jacobson, fundraiser for the Icebreaker Mackinaw Maritime Museum, said Cheboygan is the front-runner to take over the ship from the U.S. government. But the group is well-short of the $700,000 required for the transfer.

"We have $170,000 in donations and pledges," Jacobson said. The group has asked for more from companies involved with the historic ship and anyone else who can give.

Other proposed uses for the retiring ship include museum sites in other cities and states, as well as using it as a floating hotel. One group in Minnesota wants to sink the ship in Lake Superior to create an attraction for scuba divers.

Visit www.icebreakermackinawmuseum.org for more information.