Long Exposure-Live Composite Mode Fireworks by Charles Bonham
Please practice safe explosions for the Fourth of July weekend! Every year one or two Michiganders lose their lives & many more lose fingers or suffer injury.
Charles took this photo last year at the Bay City Fireworks using the Olympus Live Composite Mode that lets you shoot a series of images using the same exposure time, with each shot only recording new sources of light. Very cool!! See more in his Fireworks gallery on Flickr.
Grand Haven Traffic by Scott Ward Photography
mLive shares that a record 2.6 million people are expected to travel for the Fourth of July in Michigan, up 3% from 2024.
AAA projects nearly 2.4 million Michigan residents will take a road trip, up 2.5% from the same holiday period last year. Another 96,000 residents are expected to fly domestically, and more than 160,000 to travel by bus, train or cruise.
No word on how many will be traveling by personal watercraft, but probably a lot more than usual!! They say that the busiest days on the road will likely be Wednesday, July 2, and Sunday, July 6. with afternoon hours as the most congested.
See more in Scott’s Planes, Trains & Automobiles…Boats too gallery on Flickr. For sure view & purchase his work on his website and follow Scott Ward Photography on Facebook for his latest!
SS Ste Claire – Boblo Boat by Will Jensen
HistoricDetroit.org is one of my favorite follows on Facebook. They share that today is 115th anniversary of the launch of the the Boblo boat Ste. Claire from the Toledo Shipbuilding Co. at Toledo, Ohio, on May 7, 1910.
For generations, she and her older partner in fun times, the Columbia, would ferry Detroiters from downtown to the Boblo Island amusement park Downriver. The two Boblo boats made their final run to Boblo Island on Sept. 2, 1991, and smaller boats were used to transport families to the island until the park closed Sept. 30, 1993. In the meantime, the two steamers – among the last of their kind – were designated as National Historic Landmarks on July 6, 1992, signifying their rarity and importance to American history.
There have been many attempts to save both of the historic vessels over the ensuing decades, including one launched by Dr. Ron Kattoo when he bought the Ste. Claire in 2007. Sadly, on July 6, 2018, the Ste. Claire was completely destroyed by a fire that broke out on board during restoration efforts.
Here’s a shot of the Boblo Boat from back in the day along with another shot of the Ste Claire & the now vanished Joe Louis staircase by Will from his Detroit gallery on Flickr.
Much more about the Steamer Ste Claire and Boblo on Historic Detroit!
Eclipse – June 16, 2021 by Rod Burdick
If you thought (like me) that you could see the solar eclipse on Saturday in Michigan, I regret to inform you that no you can’t 🫤
Back in 2021, Rod also got a shot of the Canadian laker Rt. Hon. Paul J. Martin in subdued light of the eclipse. You can see a BUNCH more shots of ships on his Flickr! Lots more eclipses on Michigan in Pictures!
Canadian laker Rt. Hon. Paul J. Martin, passage in subdued light from a solar eclipse by Rod Burdick
Elsie Schuenemann at the wheel of the Christmas Tree Ship
As people head into the woods or to Christmas tree stands, I love to share the story of the Rouse Simmons aka the Christmas Tree Ship for a taste of what it was like back in the day. Way back in 2006, the National Archives shared that the saga of the Schuenemann family and the Rouse Simmons is a microcosm of Great Lakes maritime history:. Their excellent article says (in part):
The 1868 peak in sail-powered ships on Lake Michigan also marked the year the 123-foot Rouse Simmons was launched from Milwaukee’s shipyards. The ship was built by the firm of Allan, McClelland, and Company, one of Milwaukee’s preeminent shipbuilding firms …In the early 1870s, the Rouse Simmons joined the sizeable shipping fleet of wealthy lumber magnate and philanthropist Charles H. Hackley of Muskegon, hauling loads of lumber for Hackley’s fleet from company mills to the various markets around the lake for roughly 20 years.
By the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the popular German tradition of decorating an evergreen tree in the home was widely practiced, and it was not uncommon for a handful of lake schooners to make late-season runs from northern Michigan and Wisconsin loaded with thousands of Christmas trees for busy Chicago waterfront markets. Estimates of the number of Christmas schooners vary, but perhaps up to two dozen vessels in any season delivered evergreens to markets in Great Lakes states.
In Chicago, most vessels, including the Rouse Simmons, sold the trees directly from their berths along the Chicago River’s Clark Street docks. Electric lights were strung from the schooner’s bow to stern, and customers were invited to board the ship to choose their trees. In addition to selling Christmas trees, many boat operators, including Schuenemann, made and sold wreaths, garlands, and other holiday decorations. Barbara Schuenemann and her three daughters (Elsie is pictured above) helped make and sell these items as part of the family’s holiday trade.
You can read on for much more about Herman Schuenemann’s long career as “Captain Santa” which tragically came to an end on Friday, November 22, 1912 when the Rouse Simmons, heavily laden with 3,000–5,000 Christmas trees filling its hold & deck, left the dock at Thompson, Michigan looking “like a floating forest.” Sadly, the Rouse Simmons sailed into a powerful winter storm on the lake that sent her and several other ships including the South Shore, Three Sisters, and Two Brothers to the bottom of Lake Michigan.
On November 23, 1912, Back in 2007 Rich Evenhouse shared this video of a dive to the wreck of the Rouse Simmons. The shipwreck lies upright in 165 ft. at the bottom of Lake Michigan & I’ve heard that every year divers place a Christmas tree on the bow.
“Does anyone know where the love of God goes when the waves turn the minutes to hours?”
It’s November 10th again, which means that for the 48th year straight year I have Gordon Lightfoot’s legendary ballad to the Witch of November on repeat. My absolute favorite version of the song (as many of you know probably all too wdell) is this version that Joseph Fulton created way back in 2009. Given YouTube’s ruthlessness on music copyright, I have to assume that Lightfoot blessed this because from the moment Harry Reasoner begins speaking, who wouldn’t?
You can join the 49th annual Great Lakes Memorial Service, a remembrance of the crew of the Edmund Fitzgerald in person at Mariners’ Church in downtown Detroit or on their YouTube livestream at 11am today. On November 11, 1975 they rang their church bell 29 times in honor of all the sailors that lost their lives due to the wreck of the S.S. Edmund FItzgerald. They do it every year, and the beloved service also commemorates all sailors who have lost their lives on the Great Lakes.
Here are a couple of photos I took recently of the beautiful stained glass and the historical marker at Mariners’ Church which is between Hart Plaza and the Renaissance Center on the riverfront in downtown Detroit. Lots more about the Edmund Fitzgerald on Michigan in Pictures!
Mackinac Bridge in Fog by Joe Lieghio
Joe got these great shots on October 31st of the Mackinac Bridge and a freighter & shared them saying “Mackinaw City has a ghost ship for Halloween!” You can see more of his pics & those of others in the Mackinaw City, Michigan group that he manages on Facebook.
Freighter in the Straits of Mackinac in Fog by Joe Lieghio
Over Tahquamenon Falls by Gary Ennis
9 years ago I shared some photos of kayaking legend Marcelo Galizio plunging over Tahquamenon Falls. I was surprised to learn he had done it previously & even more surprised that he’d done it 19 times since 2012! The Newberry News shares in part:
Believe it or not, it’s legal. Water is in the public domain, and Galizio has a right to be there. What he does is highly unrecommended, however, even by Galizio.
Galizio is a professional kayaker, and he takes on these adventures for a living. He only performs a drop if the conditions prove themselves to be right, and only after his team is in place to assist. That includes a safety person waiting in a kayak downstream from the falls, a drone operator, and a camera person.
“I usually come back to the surface upside down,” he said. When that happens, he rights himself quickly, and no water gets inside his kayak.
…Eric Johnson, lead ranger for the park, has been with the park for 18 years and has concerns about activities like these. “I have the fear that it might get a copy cat attempt by somebody that’s not a professional waterfalls kayaker,” Johnson said.
Gary witnessed the team in action & wrote “Trust and team work! The work between these 2 is unreal… It was awesome to see how well – just amazing!” Click for more pics from the drop (use the right arrow to advance), and see more photos from Gary on his Facebook.
The Ghost Ship Hudson by Absolute Michigan/Andrew McFarlane
Back in the day there was a great site of spooky stories by someone who went by the name of “Amber Rose Bierce”. She doesn’t seem to be online anymore, but one of my favorite of the spooky stories she shared is that of the Lake Superior ghost ship Hudson:
Perhaps the eeriest tale of a ghost ship is the story of the lost steamer Hudson. This took place right on the Keeweenaw Peninsula, which I have visited several times…the last and loneliest outpost of Upper Michigan before land gives way to the rolling waves of Lake Superior. I can picture this story unfolding in the area I have visited…it doesn’t take much imagination to envisage a ghost ship off Keeweenaw.
The tale was first told in the 1940’s and has all the elements of a bone-freezing beauty of a folk tale. But many sailors take it as the gospel truth.
A refitted tugboat now used for fishing was sailing past the tip of the Keeweenaw Peninsula. A thick, clinging fog was impeding visibility but the boat was making good time when the cloying mist became dangerously dense. There was barely five feet of visibility in front of the vessel when the captain saw in shock that his ship was closing in on a much larger vessel. In a panic, the tug just barely avoided hitting the ship.
The crusty old skipper of the tug was furious at the other boat for not signalling its position in some way. He pulled up alongside the vessel and noticed that it was very old and in poor condition. He could hear no motors…the vessel was floating dead in the water without engines. The skipper was determined to board the strange boat and confront its crew.
This ship was a wreck that barely looked like it should be on the water. A steamer, one of its twin smokestacks was broken in half. Boarding the ship, the captain saw most of the vessel was covered in either rust or what looked like slimy mud. An uneasy chill fell upon the skipper. The ship looked almost abandoned…but then he spied a silent figure wearing the long oilskin coat of a lake sailor standing a little ways up the deck.
“What’s the matter with you?” yelled the skipper. “You almost cut my ship in two!”
There was no spoken reply, but the silent figure pointed further up the deck, where the decrepit boathouse was located. The skipper stomped towards the boathouse, ready to curse out the big steamer’s captain. At this point, anger won out over fear, even though the skipper knew something was terribly wrong.
When he opened the door of the boathouse, he froze. Two emaciated figures manned the boathouse, staring straight ahead with dead black eyes, their skin the color of a fish’s belly. They seemed locked in position, with one manning the wheel as if he were the captain.
“Your ship is a wreck, I don’t know what’s keeping her afloat.” stammered the captain. “You almost slammed into my tug! What the hell’s the matter? What can I do?”
“Nothing,” came a cold, hollow voice from the man at the wheel. The tug’s skipper felt his guts go ice cold at that voice. “There is no help for us. We are the wreck of the Hudson and we’ve been at the bottom since the ship sank in 1901. 24 of us have stayed with the ship on bottom but for us, there is no rest. The devil has cursed us to rise each year on the anniversary of our sinking, until the end of time. Leave…leave quickly, we must soon return to the bottom and any who are with us must remain. Pray for us, shipmate! Pray for us!”
With a scream of terror, the skipper…a man who feared no earthly fate…ran from the boathouse and virtually threw himself back into his own ship. His crew saw immediately that he had suffered a horrible fright. Word was that he never again sailed on the Lakes…that he shuddered to even see the vast watery expanse he once spent all his waking hours on.
A good ghost story for a chilly night? Almost certainly. But the Hudson was indeed a real ship, which sank with all hands on September 16, 1901!
Here’s another shot of the Hudson, and if you want to support Michigan in Pictures, please feel welcome sending a couple bucks through Patreon or liking these photos when I post them on the Michigan in Pictures Facebook!
Sinkhole Research Cruise by NOAA GLERL
I read an interesting story about scientists exploring a sinkhole in Lake Michigan a couple of weeks ago that detailed how a team of scientists confirmed there are more than 40 sinkholes on the lakebed of Lake Michigan in the Wisconsin Shipwreck Coast National Marine Sanctuary.
What really piqued my interest was learning that that this isn’t the first time sinkholes have been found in the Great Lakes! In 2001, scientists found sinkholes at the bottom of Lake Huron in Michigan’s Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary, and I was able to find an award winning Great Lakes Now segment with Steve Ruberg, an observing systems researcher with NOAA’s Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory exploring the Lake Huron sinkholes in this very vessel!!
The National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration’s Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory (NOAA GLERL) is dedicated to scientific research on the Great Lakes and coastal ecosystems. They share a lot of amazing photos of their work on Flickr & you can see more from this trip in their Buildings & Vessels gallery on Flickr.
Michigan in Pictures 