North Star Port

Western coal — shipped by rail under a 26-year contract with the Decker Coal Company in Montana to mine 150 million to 200 million tons — to the transshipment facility in Superior, the halfway point on a 1,700-mile journey to Detroit Edison's St. Clair plant. THE BIGGEST BAY SHIP COULD BUILD Construction of the structural por- tion of hull No. 714 concluded with a side-launching on July 24, 1975 — the largest vessel ever side-launched on the Great Lakes. Once in the water, the inte- rior electrical, plumbing, HVAC, navi- gation, crew quarters and engine room were fit out over the next year. Before the vessel was finished, plans were already in the works for a 1,000-foot ship that would soon eclipse it. Bay Shipbuilding was not the initial yard of choice for the St. Clair, recalled Joe Fischer, naval architect and designer. "AmShip is building the (James R.) Barker and the (Mesabi) Miner, and C.T. (C.T. Shen, chairman of the board and CEO of American Steamship) thinks that we should get into the 1,000-foot business, but Erie Marine Inc. is closed down. They had a fiasco with the (Stew- art J.) Cort and the Presque Isle, so they're closed down. AmShip is busy and C.T. has got a contract with Detroit Edison to haul umpteen million tons of coal a year. He comes to Bay Ship after the H. Lee White was built and says, 'What's the biggest you can build?' They say, 'Well, 790 by 90 or something.' So, the St. Clair was built. C.T. is already in charge of not naming his ships after people, so he names it after a port of call; it would be the St. Clair," Fischer recalled from his office in Sturgeon Bay. "They built the St. Clair over there and they side-launched it, and C.T. likes to buy and sell ships, so he sends a letter of intent to Manitowoc* to build five vessels at a 1,000-foot each because AmShip is filled up, but C.T. has no need for five vessels. He can use one for Detroit Edison. The other four, he's just gambling. So, he signs a contract with Manitowoc to build five vessels at a 1,000-foot each, and I said, 'We've got to have a graving dock because if they get injured, grounded, AmShip is full, I've got no place to repair them. I can't have our investment idle 'til we get a spot in AmShip's dock.' So, he gives Bay Ship $5 million, a million per hull, to build this graving dock. So, they build this graving dock, put all the fill over here and made a Little League baseball park, all on C.T.'s dime. He likes to wheel and deal." "So, he's got these five ships," Fischer continued. "He's got a contract for the first one from Edison, which is the Belle River, because the name of the port and the power plant is called Belle River. He sells the second hull to Bethlehem Steel. He has no use for it. It was the (Lewis Wilson) Foy. Then he sells the third ship to U.S. Steel. It's the (Edwin H.) Gott. He takes the fourth ship, the Indiana Harbor, and keeps that at ASC and gets a five-year contract from Inland Steel to haul to Indiana Harbor. Then he sells the next one to Bethlehem again (Burns Harbor), so C.T. is wheeling and dealing. He sells the birthright, the right to build the ship, so all those ships have the same hull but they have different arrange- ments, which each company wanted. And C.T. sold them at his price, which he was getting from paying Manitowoc, plus a million dollars to help pay for his dry dock. He gave away five and he's going to get three back. He was a very shrewd businessman," Fischer said with a chuckle. "He was something else." A BEAUTIFUL SHIP—AND A HANDFUL The St. Clair was christened at Bay Shipbuilding on April 22, 1976, by Mrs. John R. Hamann, wife of Detroit Edi- son's president, before industry leaders, shipyard workers and Wisconsin Gov. Patrick Lucey. Superior Port Director Peter Sauter and Harold Andresen of the Douglas County Board of Supervisors represented the local delegation. Because the Superior loading facility was not yet complete, the St. Clair sailed light on May SEASONS OF YORE 10 | NORTH STAR PORT | SUMMER 2026 D A R K D AY S A fire ignited on the St. Clair in 2019, causing an estimated $150 million in damage. The vessel was towed for scrapping in 2021.

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