The United States Coast Guard Cutter Mackinaw WAGB-83 is known as the “Queen of the Great Lakes” – as well as “The Largest Icebreaker on the Great Lakes.” She was built as part of WWII’s war effort to help ensure that war materials could continue to be transported throughout the Great Lakes during winter months. Congress passed a bill 10 days after Pearl Harbor to authorize the construction of a heavyweight icebreaker for the Great Lakes. The keel was laid in March, 1943, the hull was launched in March, 1944, and the Mackinaw arrived at her home port of Cheboygan, Michigan on December 30, 1944. She was decommissioned in 2006 and now resides at her namesake home of Mackinaw City - which is where we were able to tour her.
During her 62-year career, in addition to keeping the Great Lakes waterways clear for freighters (earning the reputation “We move ships when no one else can”), she served as a goodwill ambassador with a variety of activities: delivering Christmas trees to Chicago, search and rescue operations, accompanying sailing races between Detroit or Chicago and Mackinac Island, visiting the Traverse City Cherry Festival and more.
The tour of the boat took us through the engine room, past the kitchen, into the Captain’s quarters and much more. Thanks to the volunteers along the tour we were privy to many an anecdote about the ship. (For example, because the ship was built during the war when most men were away fighting the war, the ship was built primarily by women. One of the volunteers said they had an earlier visitor, a 98 year old woman, who came on board to see the ship – because she had helped build it!)
The engines "Jake" and Elwood" - which made the Mackinaw a force to be reckoned with:
The Mackinaw had six 10 cylinder opposed-piston Fairbanks-Morse diesel engines which drove generators that produced electricity to power motors providing 10,000 shaft horsepower to turn two 14’ stern propellers. These stern propellers – each weighing 10.7 tons – drove the Mackinaw to a top speed of 19 knots (22 miles per hours) in open water or pushed her through three feet of solid ice at four knots or 20 or more feet of windrow ice. Speaking of propellers, they would draw water from under the ice, causing it to weaken and sag under its own weight then, when crushed by the weight of the ship, it would stream along the sides of the ship reducing friction. But! If the Mackinaw got stuck in the ice, it had a heeling system which would shift 112,000 gallons (467 tons) of ballast water from one side of the ship to the other in 90 seconds – making a rocking action that would help the Mackinaw free itself from the ice!
They didn't let women on as ship's crew for decades, but women sure knew how to build ships!
Moving from one level to another involved way steep steps, referred to as "ladders" on board ships. Kendall and I seemed to find two different methods for descending these ladders.
An example of Mackinaw's goodwill ambassador services: Christmas trees to Chicago!
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’Twas a very
worthwhile tour of a very worthy ship.
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