"Fate of Cutter Mac to be decided soon".....our local newspaper front page story:

www.petoskeynews.com

Mary, is the $170,000 mentioned an old figure? I think I read on the boatnerd site that they were up to $400,000. Also I was told that the land next to the marina had been donated for the ship and eventual buildings which was originally included in the $700,000. So if you deduct the cost of the land (if possible), they are pretty close. Maybe the $400,000 included the land. I sure hope they raise the money. It would be a shame to see her leave her life-long home and end up who knows where. My next location would be Grand Haven. Just as long as it stays in Michigan where it belongs!!

Looks like it's Cheboygan vs. Mackinaw City. I'd like to know what those of you who live in the area think. Who should get Big Mac?

The beginning of the end.....

The new Mackinaw 30 has taken permanent residence at the Old Mac's berth. When the 'Ol Mac returns from her farewell tour she will be tied up at her temporary retirement home, the pier at the turning basin.

It's pretty much official now. The 9th Coast Guard has announced thet the Mackinaw 83 has finished it's LAST mission (farewell tour) and will remain in port permanently. All equipment that can be used in other ships is already being removed and transferred.

Also, for anyone that is planning on going. The date for the decommissioning has been changed from June 9 to Sat. June 10. And expect a large crowd.

We have two threads going about the Mac.
http://www.lighthousekeepers.com/forums/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=19;t=000695;p=1#000031

This story actually should be under this topic, so I will post it here.

The story below will run Monday May 1st in the Cheboygan Daily Tribune.

By MIKE FORNES
Tribune Staff Writer

CHEBOYGAN — Perhaps the most historic day in Cheboygan’s maritime history has had a change of date.

The U.S. Coast Guard has moved the day of commissioning the new icebreaker Mackinaw and decommissioning the 61 year-old original Mackinaw from a Friday to a Saturday, establishing the official time and place as 1 p.m. on June 10 at Cheboygan’s Millard D. Olds Memorial Moorings.

“The change will better accommodate everyone who wants to attend,” said Cmdr. Joe McGuiness of the ship to be retired. “Senators and representatives from all Great Lakes States have been invited to attend. They’ll be in session during the week, so the change to Saturday will allow for their travel and make the event more available to anyone who wants to be here.”

McGuiness said that Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert, whose wife Jean christened the new Mackinaw in 2005 as its sponsor, would attend as may Adm. Thad Allen, new commandant of the Coast Guard in Washington, D.C.

“The 9th District will also be fully represented, I’m sure,” McGuiness continued. “We’ve had a tremendous response. Think of all the families and school children who will now be able to be here because they won’t miss work or classes. This will be a better date.”

The festivities, expected to last approximately 90 minutes, will be accompanied by all the formalities and fanfare of a change-of-command ceremony, a ship’s commissioning and a subsequent decommissioning — all rolled into one grand event. The U.S. Coast Guard Band, from New London, Conn., will be here to play.

“There will be three tents set up to handle all the people,” McGuiness said. “The main one will between the two ships to host the actual ceremony. Others will accommodate guests and serve as staging areas.”

The ceremonial retirement of the old ship and official beginning of the new one will include a march of the officers and crew from the decks of the original Mackinaw to the ceremony site, where they will join the ship’s company of the new Mackinaw. The official party of officers will be attired in their full dress whites, while others will wear a summer version of the dress blues worn when the new Mackinaw arrived here Dec. 17, McGuiness said.

Preparations are underway to arrange for off-site parking at locations on Cheboygan’s east side, with school buses potentially transporting passengers to the Coast Guard Station. McGuiness planned to meet Friday with Cmdr. John Little, skipper of the new Mac, to coordinate details as passed down from Washington with local logistics.

“How do you hold a decommissioning ceremony and a commissioning ceremony together?” McGuiness pondered, repeating the question as asked of him. “It’ll be a first. None of us have ever been to one before. This is all being planned out as we speak.”

Pam's is a duplicate of your post in the original thread, I believe. Maybe Dave can fix it - or John.

It sounds like it will be a great ceremony! Members of WILD plan to be there. We really enjoyed the Mackinaw launch and this combined ceremony sounds like it will be fantastic too.

Besides a new date it looks like the Mackinaw will also have a new home. Cheboygen has failed to raise the necessary funds and a suitable location for the ship and are now out of the running. It now appears the Mac will be permanently located in Mackinaw City. All that is needed is permission from the MI DNR to use the old state dock which will be donated with no charge to the museum society. It also appears that Mackinaw City already has the needed funds required by the Coast Guard. The large tourist trade also had a lot to do with the decision. More info is available at boatnerd.com

News Release from the Ice Breaker Mackinaw Museum

Icebreaker Mackinaw Museum Plan to Locate in Mackinaw City

5/17 - Cheboygan – The Icebreaker Mackinaw Maritime Museum, Inc. has submitted a request to the DNR to lease a portion of the State Ferry Dock in Mackinaw City as the permanent home of the Icebreaker Mackinaw.

“This was a very difficult decision to make. We always wanted the ship to stay in its historic home port and continue contributing to the community. We worked really hard to keep it here,” Michelle Hill, spokesperson for the group explained. “Having the ship in Cheboygan would have been great for the city, but in the long run we began to see it might not be in the best interests of the ship.”

She explained that the only available land on the banks of the Cheboygan River, a parcel known as “The Point,” will require costly construction to install a permanent mooring, parking lot and restrooms. “When we added all the costs, we realized it was beyond our budget.”

Locating the Icebreaker at the State Ferry Dock in Mackinaw City will save the organization over $2 million and still keep it within Cheboygan County. Hill commented “This site already has parking, restrooms and a mooring site. We will still have to dredge and potentially replace some bollards on the dock, but this will be minor compared with the expense of purchasing the land and building everything from the ground up.”

The group also considered the existing tourist base in Mackinaw City. “We ran the numbers through our business plan comparing both sites considering our anticipated overhead and visitation,” Hill said. “It became pretty clear that locating the boat in Mackinaw City made the most sense.”

Captain of the Icebreaker Mackinaw, Commander Joseph McGuiness expressed his support of the group. “Cheboygan has been the Mackinaw’s homeport its whole life and we recognize that the decision may be difficult for some people to understand and it was a hard decision for the board to make. After looking over their numbers we understand how this decision was reached.”

Stephenie Jacobson, chair of the group’s fundraising committee said, "Individuals and businesses in the Cheboygan area have been crucial to our successes so far. We are grateful for their support and hope they will see that our new mooring site will help us to spend their money in the way that is most beneficial to the ship".

Hill went on to report that the group is currently waiting on final approval from the DNR for use of the dock site, preparing for the decommissioning and actively fundraising. “We are on our way, but we still need financial support to make the museum a reality,” Jacobson said. Donations can be sent to the group at PO Box 8, Cheboygan, Michigan 49721.

More information about the project can be found on the group’s website, www.icebreakermackinawmuseum.org

Thanks for the update, Digger. It's sad that Cheboygan couldn't hold onto Big Mac. However, Mackinaw City should be accessible to a lot more visitors in the area and, apparently, they have the better resources - as well as the funding. Still, it's sad to know that Big Mac won't remain in Cheboygan.

Thanks for the update! It's too bad that Mac can't be in Cheboygan, but I just checked it out in Streets and Trips (had it open), and it's a straight, 16 mile shot down 23 from Cheboygan to Mackinaw City. So it's not THAT far.

The BEST part is that the ship's SAVED! It's so great...a piece of history...SAVED! SAVED!

Wow, if I get this excited about the Mac, wonder what it'll be like when they have to decide what to do with QE2...

It really makes more sense in a tourism standpoint to have it in Mac City. Lot more exposure to those that don't know about it but would pay to tour it anyway once they "discovered" it.

Mike

Well the saga continues. The State of Michigan has turned down the plans to permanently or even temorarily base the Old Mac in Mackinaw City. Now the poor thing has no where to go. The State would like to keep her in Cheboygan but they have no money or a site to put her. The Coast Guard has given them till the end of June to find a place or then they would be forced to sail her to Baltimore to be scrapped. This is getting very interesting and only a week before her decomissioning.

Have they made the Welland Canal and locks big enough for the Mac to sail thru? Didn't use to be.

The state of Michigan continues to display complete ignorance. One of the big reasons the proposed Great Lakes Museum didn't come to be was the State DNR (I believe it was the DNR) who wouldn't let them use the building on the state pier as had been planned. Now they don't want to moor Big Mac at the pier? They use it for nothing else, this would have provided a clean up and productive use. Too bad the state is so shortsighted.

I think it is fair to say that with the powers that are working to keep the Big Mac in the area, a place will be found.

I'll bet this is where Digger read about the state's short sightedness.

Since the last construction it looks like the Mac would have no problem getting through the Welland canal. The locks are 80' wide (Mac-74') and allow ships up to 740' long (Mac-290'). Usually height is the main obstacle (116' max) but many ships overcome this by temporarily removing masts, cabins, etc. until they are through. If you remember, the 1000' Stewart Cort made the transit by fastening the bow to the stern and then adding the cargo holds after she got to the lakes. The newer 1000 footers of today are too wide to ever make this journey and thus serve their entire career on the Great Lakes.

Port Huron has a sugar daddy and a riverfront development to hold the Mac. Maybe they will jump in here.

She'd look good along side the USCG Cutter Bramble and downriver from the Lightship HURON.

And Port Huron/Desmond Landing is already World HQ of Boatnerd.com!!

John, I think politics are more to blame here. Mackinaw City had ample funds and plenty of dock space also. It appeared that the museum org. was more excited about her being at Mackinaw City than her current home and all was fine. Port Huron would have to get in line and wait just like the others. I think next in line was Grand Haven AKA "Coast Guard City" followed by Duluth who both had the money and a location. It appears someone of high authority feels that if Cheboygan can't have her, then noone can.

Whatever happens, I hope Big Mac stays in Michigan where she belongs. The Scrap yards would be a terrible ending to such a grand ship but alas, many historical ships have met the same fate and the Govt. seems to care less. The Coast Guard has made that obvious with their "buy it by June or else" remarks even after everything she has done for the Guard and the history of the Great Lakes.

I think a fair amount of this may be posturing. The one thing that no one has yet figured out is physically where to park the Mackinaw in Cheboygan. The city is located on a river. The CG had to dig out a turning basin so the Big Mac could turn around. The only open area is at the mouth of the river, on what apparently must be fairly undesirable land since no one has yet developed it. For the museum group to do so would cost millions. Since the CG won't allow the Big Mac to stay put at its present moorings, the next most logical place to park it is in Mackinaw.

In Mackinaw the museum would have many, many more "walk in" visitors since it would be easily seen and accessed in a community with a very large influx of tourists during the nicer months. Probably only a dedicated small group would make the 20 mile trip to Cheboygan for the express purpose of visiting the ice breaker.

Though some don't appear willing to admit it, the Mackinaw City location does make sense when you step back and look at the big picture and what is in the best interests of preserving the ship and sharing its history. More people visiting = more potential revenue. More revenue = better chance of keeping the ship in good repair.

Personally, if it doesn't stay in Cheboygan or go up the road to Mackinaw City, I think Grand Haven would be the appropriate location. Bottom line is, do you really think the CG would want to suffer the grief that would flow their way if they actually sailed it out of the Great Lakes to make razor blades out of it? Don't you suppose a Member of Congress in one of the assorted affected areas would introduce private legislation to force the CG to give it to a Great Lakes group to preserve?

3 CHEERS.....
SHEPLER'S COMES THROUGH!!!

MACKINAW CITY - The U.S. Coast Guard cutter Mackinaw, to be decommissioned Saturday, June 10, after 61 years of service on the Straits, will have a new home as a museum at the old Chief Wawatam dock in Mackinaw City, thanks to ferry line owner Bill Shepler.

Shepler said he plans to sign a letter of understanding today with the Icebreaker Mackinaw Maritime Museum (IMMM), a Cheboygan-based nonprofit group founded in 2004, to berth the icebreaker at the old railroad dock for use as a museum.

He said the Mackinaw will make its final voyage to the Mackinaw City dock on June 21, leaving its historic home port of Cheboygan for a two-hour trip through the Straits to its new berth with up to 500 people aboard, who will be asked for a donation for the privilege of being part of history.

“The Mackinaw saved the war for us,” Shepler said of World War II, when the icebreaker kept the shipping lanes open to move vital iron ore from Minnesota and the Upper Peninsula to steel plants in Ohio, Indiana and Illinois.

Construction of the ship was authorized 10 days after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, and when it entered service in 1944 it was the largest, most powerful icebreaker of the time, he said.

Shepler said the ship was “over-designed, overpowered, over-everything and never broke down.”


“It could rip through 3 feet of blue ice at 4 knots. The crew, which worked around the clock, would attach 2-inch thick cables to stuck freighters and pull them out of the ice,” Shepler said.

“In 24 hours we've saved the Mackinaw, but we have tons of work ahead of us,” he said of the IMMM's effort to establish the cutter as a museum, adding that over years the dock will be rebuilt using funds generated by the tours, commercial sales and the historic last trip.

Joe McGuiness, commander of the Mackinaw, said he was “thrilled” with Shepler's offer and couldn't be happier for the museum group, which he said had fought valiantly to keep the ship in Cheboygan.

“They ran every angle, every possibility to do so into the ground,” he said. “In the end the properties weren't appropriate. One was a brownfield site, the other a wetland.”



IMMM President Michelle Hill said the decision for her group was a difficult one that would make many local people unhappy. But she said, McGuiness told her that when faced with difficult choices, his advice was, “Make the decision that's best for the ship.”

She said the group decided to follow McGuiness' advice.

“This was the way to save the Mackinaw,” she said.

A spokesman for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources said the IMMM had requested a permanent berth on the old state ferry dock at Mackinaw City, but the department could only agree to a 3 to 5 year lease.

“Bless them for coming forward,” McGuiness said of Shepler and Dick Moehl, president of the Great Lakes' Lighthouse Keepers Association based in Mackinaw City, both of whom will become part of the seven-member IMMM board.

“Shepler is a quality outfit and he will bring a lot of new blood and new ideas to the board,” he said.

Shepler said he hoped that the alumni of the ship's crew will become guides to lead tours of the ship, which will offer videos of its icebreaking activities and a retail shop.

Contact Marilyn McFarland, executive director of the Mackinaw Area Visitors Bureau, for more information at (231) 436-5664.

Hooray for Bill Shepler for remembering the grand history of Big Mac and for having the foresight to save it. I am sure that he and Dick worked hard and fast to bring about this wonderful ending to the saga of Big Mac. Would I like to be one of the 500! Thanks, Digger, for keeping us posted.

MORE GOOD NEWS!!!
(NIGERIA WILL HAVE TO FIND ANOTHER SHIP!)

CHARLEVOIX- The Coast Guard Cutter Acacia will make its new home at the Navy Pier in Chicago.

Commander Keith Bills said the ship will be acquired by the American Academy of Industry, an Illinois nonprofit group. The ship will be taken to its last resting spot at the Navy Pier, on June 30, said Matthew Schofield, a petty officer with the 9th district external affairs office in Cleveland.

“It's a fitting ending for the last (180 foot cutter) on the Great Lakes,” Bills said.

The ship may house an interactive maritime history display, Schofield said.

A vessel that was once alive with a bustle of missions and was a living quarters when the crew was “under way” will soon be a museum sharing Great Lakes maritime history

The Acacia is being decomissioned today, Wed. 6/7/06 and was rumored to be going to Nigeria or to be used as a man made breakwall or dive site. Thanks Chicago!

Give me another reason to head down to Navy Pier! (Only an hours trip for me)

Mike

"The privilege of being part of history"....

You are invited to board the US Coast Guard cutter Mackinaw for its final voyage from its historic home port in Cheboygan to its permanent berth at the old railroad dock in Mackinaw City on June 21.

Bill Shelper, who is giving the dock space to the non-profit group icebreaker Mackinaw Maritime Museum (IMMM) to berth the ship for use as a museum is inviting up to 500 members of the public to be part of the gala last voyage, complete with entertainment, food and drink.

Proceeds from the requested donation ($200.00 per person), to join the cruise will go to the IMMM to save the cutter as a museum.

SHEPLER said his ferries will take people to Cheboygan from Mackinaw City, where they will board the cutter for the trip.

Information from our local tv news, and newspaper.

www.petoskeynews.com

Story on the Acacia last days in Charlevoix, before departing to Chicago Navy Pier.

Nice story, and I'm glad they're finally adressing that septic storage tank in Bear Creek Township.