Circumnavigating: From Copper Harbor to Isle Royale on Lake Superior

Time to Move On...

2011-01-07T17:31:00.000-08:00

I haven't written in this blog for almost a year and a half. Inasmuch as I keep track of my reading list each year, son Capt. Ben Kilpela thought it might attract some comment or discussion if I posted the list on my blog. Moreover, it might get the juices flowing again. So here it is:

Books read in full or part in 2010

Read In Full (more or less in order of reading)
Title Author
Diaries and Letters, 1930-1939 (Diary) Harold Nicolson
The War Years, 1939-1945 (Diary) Harold Nicolson
The Later Years, 1945-1962 (Diary) Harold Nicolson
The Edwardians (Novel) Vita Sackville-West
The Family (Non-fiction) Jeff Sharlet
All Passion Spent (Novel) Vita Sackville-West
Portrait of a Marriage (Memoir) Nigel Nicolson
Family Man (Memoir) Calvin Trillin
About Alice (Memoir) Calvin Trillin
Essays (Essays) Wallace Shawn
Tipping the Velvet (Novel) Sarah Waters
Fatal Voyage (History) Dan Kurzman
Polio, a history (History) David Oshinsky
The Case For God (Non-fiction) Karen Armstrong
History of Williamsburg (Non-fiction) Williamsburg Society
1066 : Norman Conquest (History) Peter Rex
Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue (Non-fiction) John McWhorter
History of the 19th Century. Year by Year (History)
The Man Who Loved Books Too Much (N-F) Allison Hoover Bartlett
The Glamour of Grammar (N-F) Roy Peter Clark
His Excellency, George Washington (Biography) Ellis
The Bayeaux Tapestry (History) David MacKenzie
The Skunk Island Ferry (Novel) Capt. Bennett Kilpela
The Balfour Declaration (History) Jonathon Schneer
A Vast Conspiracy (History) Jeffrey Toobin

In Progress:
An Irish View of History (828 pgs) (Semi-fiction) Donald Akenson
Liebling, a collection of works (N-F essays)_ A. J. Liebling
Letters of the Century (718 pgs) (Non-fiction) Edited by Grunwald & Adler
In The Beginning: The Story of the Development
of the King James Bible. (History) Alister McGrath

Read in part but quit, probably for good (maybe a reference at times)
Paradigms Lost (Non-fiction) John Simon
Writers on Writing, (Essays) From the New York Times
Essays of E.B.White (Essays) E.B.White
Pursuit of Justice: Supreme Court decisions that shaped America

Unfortunately we didn't have our usual 3-month vacation in South Palm Beach so I missed getting to many of the books that I planned to get to. Oh well, there is always 2011 and I already have a good start.

My next blog will feature some pictures from our trans-ocean tour last April. Stay tuned.

Sunday Morning Shootout.

2009-08-09T09:40:00.000-07:00

Every year The island of Bonaire, where we brought our oil, featured the Bonaire International Sailing Regatta and Festival, a week of sailboat racing in the bay and around the island .

The sailboat racing was for the most part serious competition but accompanied by a festive air for partying and other fun activities associated in some small way with sailing. As in other events on the island, the festival was well attended not only by the locals but by people coming from other places. In short, it was an annual fun week.

Normally, the MacVie was not at Bonaire on weekends but occasionally, usually because of delays in off-loading product, she stayed until Monday. Such was the case during the Sailing regatta and festival in 1983. None of our family was on board during the stay, however, so our captain and crew were totally in charge, not an unusual situation inasmuch as the family regularly flew back and forth to Michigan.

The last day of the festival fell on a Sunday and all the sailing was finished.. In that sailing is not a spectator sport, no one minded that the MacVie was at the main dock at Kralendijk and for the most part blocking the view of the harbor. However, the last event of the festival on Sunday morning featured a motorized race in which anyone with a power boat—fishing boat, tug, speedboat, dinghy, anything driven by a motor—was eligible to enter. It was always a fun event with the various powerboats vying for position and roaring around Klein Bonaire, a little island in the bay. They raced a couple of times around the small island performing their crazy antics much to the delight of the spectators.

Unfortunately, the powerboat race started almost directly in front of the dock on which the MacVie was berthed thereby blocking the view of the race. Because of that, several people came up to the ship and asked if they could go aboard to watch the race from the MacVie's deck. Toney, who happened to be on deck watch, agreed to let a few aboard warning them that smoking was strictly forbidden on the ship.

Well, as many good intentions, it got a bit out of hand and soon there were about 125 men, women and children crammed on the ship's fo'c's'le, the forward most deck of the ship accessible from the weather deck only by a straight, 9-foot ladder.

(Left: the ladder to the fo'c's'le is pictured to the right and just forward of the propane tanks.)

To his credit, Toney joined them on the fo'c's'le not only to watch for smokers, but to watch the race. In the aftermath Toney assured me that no one was smoking, ever.

To get on with the story, there they were, all 125 people and Toney among them waiting for the race's noisy and boisterous start. When all were lined up, the starter's gun was fired and maybe as many as 50 boats roared into action. Toney said it was deafening.

Unfortunately, the noise woke up Captain Zack who was asleep in his cabin behind the wheelhouse. He stumbled to the bridge wing to look out at what caused the noise and as he did he spotted the people on the fo'c's'le and he was stunned. Later, he told me that everyone was smoking and tossing their cigarettes around, a typical Zack exaggeration to defend his action.

(Left: Captain Zack in his usual attire.)

Because he was about 100 feet away from the people, we had to yell at them. He yelled as loud as he could for people to get off the ship. Of course, in the din, he could not be heard distinctly so everyone just ignored him and continued watching the race. After a couple of more yells with no response, Zack went to his office and opened the safe and got the ship's loaded pistol. Back on the bridge wing, he tried yelling one more time but no real response. I suppose most thought that they had permission to be there and that was good enough for them. Besides, what was that man yelling? Bare-chested and hatless, the man certainly did not look like a captain so he was ignored.

Finally, Zack fired off a shot in the air. Even then, though he had their attention there wasn't much movement because they really didn’t know what he wanted or who he was. So basically there was interest but no response.

Now Zack lowered the pistol and let off a shot aimed a little over their heads. Whoa, that got some attention and a few people began to move about looking for a way to get off the ship with the only way being down a 9-foot straight ladder, not an easy egress by any stretch.

(Left: The fo'c's'le is well forward of the wheelhouse bridge.)

But they didn’t move fast enough for Zack so he lowered the pistol and aimed directly at the crowd. Now he had their full attention and away they went, scrambling down the ladder, jumping as well, and a few went over the side into the harbor. Toney said it was the fastest exodus of the ship that he could imagine.

Well, as one might expect, many of them went straight to the police station to report this assault and of course the police responded with a couple of officers and the chief to investigate.

They started to question Zack who, with his disdain for uniformed officials, simply brushed them off asking did they prefer to have the center city leveled by the explosion. With that, they quickly sided with Zack and agreed that he had done the right thing.

Nevertheless, when I heard the full account of the event, I was more determined than ever to give Zack his walking papers and I did a few weeks later when he was caught firing the pistol at a rat that jumped off the ship and was floundering in the water. It was an amicable parting and we have been in touch with Zack ever since and visited him once in his home in Victoria Island, B.V. and he once at our home in Copper Harbor.

Two years have passed, however, without a card or note so I suspect that he is either dead or totally infirm for all my attempts to locate him have gone unanswered.

(The next day we sailed back to Curacao as though nothing had happened.)

"You Turned My Ship Into Scrap"

2009-07-13T14:42:00.001-07:00

I was sitting in my cabin with the Lloyd's Inspector, Mr. Varmerdam, who, despite trying everything in his power to help us, had just informed me that I had to either replace the main engine crankshaft or bring in a crew of welders to repair the one in the engine. I was sweating profusely and wiping my forehead and arms with a rag. There was a tense silence in the cabin broken only when I uttered that phrase.

(The main propulsion engine, an 8-cylinder Werkspoor, made in Holland.
Chief Yarde kept the engine room and engines shiny and clean)

The day had started with a routine inspection of our main engine, the last inspection of our Continuous Machinery Survey (CMS). The CMS is an inspection that takes place over a 5-year period and requires that the vessel's propulsion engine be completely dismantled and inspected within the 5-year period and every 5-year period thereafter. To help vessel owners, the inspection is conducted a little at a time over the period. Inasmuch as nothing had been done on the MacVie for the past five years, her CMS was about to expire. Consequently, we were dismantling and inspecting the engine over a 4-week period, two cylinders at a time. We were now in the fourth week and dismantling the final two cylinders.

I had arrived back to Curacao from Hancock the night before. Knowing that the inspector was due, I was prepared for the worse as usual but then again the previous three weeks had passed without a fault so while wary, I was confident. However, when Captain Zack said that the inspector was to be Mr. Varmerdam instead of Verloop, I was so confident I didn’t bother to go to the ship for the inspection, something that would have been unthinkable has Verloop been the inspector. In fact, I would have been at the ship by 7 a.m. to make sure everything was ready for the scheduled 8 a.m. inspection.

So here it was about 10 a.m. and I was eating a leisurely breakfast—with Betty in Michigan, I was living alone in our house and I was very tired from my flight down the night before—after which I drove to the ship at the refinery. Arriving, I barely noticed the white Toyota parked nearby but went straight to my cabin to change into my work clothes and then aft to the officer's galley for a cup of coffee. As I sat there drinking my coffee, one of the crew walked by and I asked him whose car was parked out there.

His eyes widened and took with what can only be described as a fearful look. "The inspector is in the engine room," he said without smiling.

Surprised, I asked, "Did he just get here?" '

"No, he's been here all morning." A shock. This could only be bad news.

I jumped up and went to the door of the engine room. Though I was three levels above the engine room deck, I could see that a couple of men were on their hands and knees looking into the engine. Quickly I went down the accommodation ladder toward the engine room. Pausing at the second level and leaning over the rail to see who was down there, I saw that both men were kneeling with their heads inside the engine. One had one the traditional white coveralls of the Lloyds inspectors while the other was Chief Yarde in shorts and thongs. As I was looking, the chief drew back and looked up at me, a stricken look on his face. I knew immediately that there was serious trouble.

Because of the noise of the large generator flanking the engine, all of our communication had to be done by pantomime. Using gestures, I greeted Varmerdam warmly for he had always been fair to me and seemed to want to help us. I asked what was wrong. Varmerdam gestured for me to look into the engine at the crankshaft which, with the pistons removed, stood out clearly. As I looked, wondering what I should be seeing, Varmerdam sprayed the crankshaft with white foam, almost as thick as shaving cream. And then he waited a second and a tiny but distinct red line appeared on the foam. He wiped the shaft clean and again sprayed the foam and waited. The red line appeared again and he pointed it out to me. After he had done this experiment several times, I motioned that we should go out of the engine room to talk this over.

He followed me to my cabin where, sweating from the heat of the day and especially from the engine room, we sat wiping our heads and arms and hands.

"What was I seeing?" I asked.

"A crack," he said.

"Crack?"

"Yes, the shaft has a crack in it. I wish I didn’t see it but I did and I can't pass this inspection."

"What do you mean?" I asked. I was incredulous.

"It means that you will have to replace the shaft."

"What do you mean by replace?

"Just what I said. You'll have to replace the shaft before we can let you sail."

"But that's not possible," I said, "I could never afford that. You're looking at maybe a million dollars."

"He said, "well, there is another option. You could fly in welders and have the shaft welded and ground. There is a firm in Miami that specializes in that."

"Those are my two options?"

(A picture taken one day in the engine room. L to R: a guest, me, and Chief Yarde. The accommodation ladder in the stern goes up three stories to the officer’s deck.)

"I'm afraid so. I just wish I hadn't seen it." He was genuinely remorseful and believe it or not, I sort of felt sorry for him. Had it been Verloop, I might have lost it and God knows what I would have done.

After a long moment of silence with the drone of the generator sounding in my ears, I looked at Varmerdam and said, "You've turned my ship into scrap."

Things happened quickly after that and in the confusion of the moment and the whirring in my brain, I heard him suggest that we bring in the drydock people to see how deep the crack was. Why throw away money now, I thought, but I consented thinking I wasn't going to pay for it anyway so who cares. I shrugged and said it was up to him.

Varmerdam left the ship and almost immediately I left too. I don't remember what happened right then but I do know that I went home to get my briefcase and headed for the Bank of America in downtown Willemstad.

Entering the bank, I signaled to the manager and he came up to see me. I told him that I was closing our account and wished to have all my remaining money in US dollars. He complied with my desire and delivered some thirty thousand dollars which I stuffed into my briefcase, shook his hand and thanked him for all the kindnesses he had shown me over the years, left the bank and headed back home.

Back at the house, I took all my belongings out of the drawers and laid my clothes on the bed in preparation for packing later. I was going home. I decided to end everything right there and then. I would get a flight out that evening and just leave the rented car at the airport and go home. It was over. I felt light-headed. Over, I thought, done.

I took a cool shower, dressed into my traveling clothes, and decided to go for lunch at the MacDonalds that was not too far away. As I sat there eating a cheeseburger and fries, my radio went off and I realized that Zack was trying to call me.

To get better reception, I went outside and called Zack.

He said that all the inspectors and workmen were at the ship and maybe I better come down. I said I would after I was through with lunch and I did.

Arriving at the ship, I saw the various cars and trucks parked at the ship and noticed that several men were departing the ship and going to their cars. The last one on the gangway was Varmerdam who, upon spotting me, put his arms out like he wanted to hug me and as I approached he did just that.

"It was a heat crack," he said with a broad smile.

"What do you mean," I asked.

He said it was a tiny heat crack and that the chief had emery-clothed it out and there was no more crack, that everything was okay, and we passed the inspection.

I think I muttered something about not knowing that was an option but before I could say much more, he and everyone else were gone.

I went aboard and thanked the chief for his work and saw that they were already putting the cylinders back into the engine and the tanks were being loaded for our next trip to Bonaire. In short, everything appeared normal.

I went home, got my briefcase and headed back to the Bank of America. Again I beckoned to the manager and said that I wanted to re-open my account. Without so much as a question, he did just that after which I walked down to the waterfront and had a cup of coffee in the outdoor café on the esplanade.

As I have written often, at best it is a shock business.

(And here we go, off to Bonaire, with a couple of the crew up on the fo’c’s’le
enjoying the ride through the center of Willemstad, Curacao.)

The Tabloid Press and the Murder of Ethan Toney.

2009-07-06T08:39:00.000-07:00

After Toney's murder, the tabloid press, Ultima Noticia Bonaire featured the murder on the front page, a story complete with a picture of Toney being taken off the ship in a stretcher and another of the knife used in the slaying. Unfortunately, the local tabloids are written in Papiamentu, a Spanish Creole language with a mixture of Portuguese and Dutch and spoken only on the islands of Aruba, Curacao, and Bonaire and I was never able to find someone who could translate it for me.

Nevertheless, I kept a copy of the newspaper in my files for many years. On a Caribbean cruise a few years ago, we stopped in Bonaire and I met a gentleman who remembered the MacVie and when I told him about the newspaper story, he offered to translate it for me. So when I got home, I faxed the story to him and shortly after he faxed back the translation.

Here is a copy of the actual front page of the tabloid.

The translation:

Caption under the picture on the left.

Ethan Toney being carried off the ship enroute to the hospital.

Caption under the picture on the right

This is the killer. His name is Ciro Glenn Cannegieter who covered his face after noticing us taking his picture. He is shown with Detective Goeloe and Assistant Prosecutor Davelaar.

Kralendijk – Sunday morning at about quarter past six the police were notified that a sailor from the "Macvie" had been dangerously injured with a knife by a fellow sailor. When the patrol unit arrived at the ship in question they found 30-year-old Ethan Toney from St. Vincent on the deck with a knife next to him. He had a knife wound in his abdomen and was urgently transported by ambulance to the hospital. [note: he was taken in the back of a pickup truck.]

At his arrival at the hospital, his condition was assessed as critical and he needed to be transported to Curaçao. But moments later his condition got even worse and the staff feared for his life.

It was considered unnecessary to transport him to Curaçao as he would not arrive in time to save his life. Dr. Kouwe tried everything in his powers but moments later had to declare him deceased.

Quickly the police and detectives, together with the Assistant Prosecutor Davelaar started their investigation. They overheard that a fellow sailor, 23-year-old Ciro Glenn Cannegieter from Curaçao had struck the victim with a knife and then run away.

As it turned out, the murderer ran into the direction of the police station but it is locked between midnight and 8.00 a.m. and one had to press the bell for the officer on duty to open up. The murdered did not know this so he waited under the garage behind the police station. It wasn't until 7.45 a.m. when after an extensive search the police that they returned to the police station and found him sitting there. [Note: How or when Ciro escaped and hid in the countryside for six days is not described but I doubt they ever actually found Ciro until he gave himself up six days later.]

A witness, also a sailor aboard the ship, told us that the whole problem started early in the morning hours when the Victim Ethan Toney cut another Curaçao sailor. He himself bandaged the would which wasn't very deep.

But the problem got worse when in the morning hours Ciro Glenn Cannegieter, a Curaçao native, got into an argument with the victim who hit him (Ciro) vary hard in the face. The eye-witness told us then that Ciro came to him and told him that Ethan had just hit him without any cause. The witness would have spoken to Ciro and told him not to worry and to tell the captain.

But after that Ciro waited for Ethan to go to bed. When Ethan was asleep Ciro would have cut him with the knife in his abdomen. After Ciro ran away the eye-witness who is also from Curaçao went to call the police. [Note: First, Ciro Glenn went on duty in the engine room for his 4-hour shift starting at 2 a.m. During his watch, he must have fumed over the slap which happened about 1.30 a.m. and as soon as his shift was over at 6 a.m. he went up and got the filet knife and did his act.]

As we understood it for quite some time the three Curaçao natives had to undergo all kinds of abuse from the rest of the crew who were from the English-speaking islands. When they would report this to the captain he would tell them that if there were problems on board not to fight on board, but on land.

He also overheard some claims by the murderer that he had to undergo all sorts of abuse because he was the smallest on the ship. For example, he told the police that some time ago one of the sailors on board lost his wallet and accused Ciro of stealing it. He hit him and he fell and broke his knee. It was that particular morning that he got fed up because he had no problem with Ethan and the latter had hit him without cause.

He (Ciro) looked to us like a peaceful person and this was confirmed by the other Curaçao sailors who did not want to stay on board anymore as they too were often targeted by the other English-speaking crew who disliked or hated them. It was not easy to get Ciro to become angry at the other sailors as he was such a peace-loving person.

This witness was also accused of stealing the wallet and consequently threatened.

Our deepest sympathy goes to the family of the victim.

July 18, 1983

It is interesting to me to see how the reporter turned the murder into a Curaçao vs the English-speaking islands and by the end of the story had Ciro, the murderer, a peace-loving person and Toney an abuser.

The "eye-witness" was our former cook, Sha Sha, who I had encountered later that day and he was afraid for his life though that evening until he had to go to the airport for a flight to Curaçao he attended a Raggae concert featuring the widow of Bob Marley, a concert attended by about 5,000 people (the island population was only 9,000). And, worse, he carried a knife under his pant leg and sheathed in his sock.

At best it was a frightful affair. Ciro spent a total of nine years in prison though with the sympathy expressed in this article probably got off early for good, "peaceful" behavior.

An Affair With Gypsies

2009-06-29T13:26:00.000-07:00

(The MacVie anchor windlass and chain. "Gypsies" are the lugs that grab the links of chain as the drum (wildcat) revolves.)

After receiving our charter and making several once-a-week round trips to Bonaire, our first serious problem arose. It occurred suddenly one fine morning after an evening during which Betty, daughter Susanne and her husband Jack, and I were at our rented house and clowning around celebrating the receipt of our charter money which we had in a bundle of US dollars. I remember laughing and singing the song from the musical, Evita," "When the Money Comes Rolling In…" and at one point throwing the wad of money up against the ceiling and watching in merriment as it floated down around up. Betty never approved of such antics but it was a way to relieve the pressure of the business, something we needed at times.

Well, as I was saying, the morning dawned hot and sunny as usual and, after a leisurely breakfast, I went to the MacVie where I knew that Lloyd's inspection F.J. Verloop was due to make another one of his interminable inspections. Unfortunately, he beat me there and had made his inspection and put a "NO SAIL" tag on the ship. Apparently, he had determined that one of the gypsies on the anchor windlass was worn down a bit too much. Gypsies are the lugs that grab the links of the chain as the windlass drum revolves when weighing the anchor. Each gypsy is about 3 inches wide, 1 inch thick, and sticks up about 2-3 inches and the windlass drum (wildcat) has about ten of them.

(The "gypsies" are located aroung the wildcat pictured here.)

Verloop, who was still on the ship when I arrived, said I had two options: 1) replace the drum of the windlass, or 2) repair the gypsies by adding weld to them and grinding them to the correct size and shape. The first option was completely out of the question so I was left with the second: reluctantly I agreed to have the gypsies welded.

That simple decision led to many complex and expensive actions:

1. First, we had to wash all ten tanks, tanks that held over a quarter of a million gallons of oil, and certify them "gas free." This process involved hiring a crew of four men with masks and air tanks as well as hoses, washing equipment, and tank trucks with pumps to take out the wastewater. All told, it took two complete days around the clock. When we thought they were they were "clean," we called in the chemist who went into each tank with his Gas Detection Meter to test. He pronounced the MacVie, "Gas Free."

2. Inasmuch as we were now officially off-hire, all expenses in moving the ship accrued to us. A pilot was hired to move the ship to a "gas free" dock where the welding could be done. Upon arriving at the repair dock, Verloop came to inspect the operation and said that since the ship was now gas free, we would have to make some other repairs requiring welding. There was a long list but suffice to say the added repairs took longer than the original gypsy repair.

(The "gas-free" repair dock and welding equipment.)

3. Meanwhile the island of Bonaire, because of limited storage capacity and our inability to service them, ran short of gasoline and had to institute gas rationing. Moreover, they were desperate for propane and diesel fuel to fire their water desalinization plant.

5. After seven days, Verloop certified that the repairs were acceptable and we re-hired a pilot to bring the ship back to the refinery where she was loaded with fuel, a process that took a full 24-hour day. We were now 8 days off hire.

7. Finally, fully loaded, we sailed to Bonaire and arrived at about 10 p.m. on the 9th day off-hire. A workman from the local bakery immediately jumped on board to grab two 200-gallon propane tanks so that they can make bread in the morning. Meantime, we connected our discharge hoses to the manifolds of the gasoline station and begin all-night pumping.

Our load was not large enough to supply the pent-up demand however so we had to make an immediate trip back to Curaçao for more gasoline and diesel fuel after which the lines at the gas station ended and everything returned to normal.

But "normal" in Bonaire is a rarity. Within hours, the governor of the island thought, "what if this happens again?" His solution: he instructed his secretary to get a large barrel and have it filled with gasoline and stored in his garage for emergencies. The secretary subsequently decided that the governor knew something she didn't so she spread the word and then got some storage for herself and her family and soon the word was out like wildfire. Back came the lines of people with their containers of every size and shape and soon Bonaire was out of gas again. Away we went back to the refinery and another round trip.

Finally, things returned to normal and everyone was happy. What a great business

(sailing back to Bonaire with a load of fuel and some propane tanks)

I was never able to unearth the reason Verloop was so down on us and going out of his way to find fault with everything. Moreover, it did no good to complain to the managing director of the Lloyds' office in Curaçao, Mr. Sleuter, because he was even worse. We would just have to find a way to live with it.

I had expressed my frustration to our agent and he suggested a subtle bribe, an expensive lunch perhaps or a small gift to Sleuter who, he said, was not averse to receiving a gift or two. In fact, he said that his office had delivered and "old, used" refrigerator to Sleuters's house one day, a gift of the Holland America Line, except (wink, wink) the "old" refrigerator was in a brand new crate. I did arrange to take Sleuter to lunch at the best restaurant in Curaçao but nothing came of it. I simply didn’t know the fine art of bribery.`

Just Another Ho-Hum Day in Paradise

2009-03-02T19:26:00.000-08:00

Ethan Toney, a deckhand, was originally from St. Vincent but when I owned the ship his mother lived in Curacao in a tiny cottage on the outskirts of Willemstad. Several relatives also lived nearby or boarded in the house; I was never sure.

Toney, as we all called him, had a winning smile and a mellifluous voice with a nice Caribbean lilt. He also had a mean streak.

He was the closest to our family and took many pictures of us to put on the wall of his bedroom, a practice unbeknownst to me until I had to visit Toney's family home after he was murdered.

We had owned the ship for a year and a half and were thinking seriously about how to extract ourselves from the business when one Saturday night upon returning to the ship after a late dinner I heard a good deal of partying in the crews quarters. The porthole of Toney's cabin was at my eye level as I walked past the ship and someone inside spotted me. Toney stuck his head out of the open porthole and asked me to come in a have a drink. No way, I said, and warned them about making so much noise lest they wake up the Chief who would go nuts. The last thing I said was. "pack in it you guys and get some sleep."

I was asleep on Sunday morning when I awoke with a start. It was an unrecognizable yell from outside my forward porthole. I got up and looked out and I could see Toney leaning against the rail and waving his fist at someone. I went to the side porthole to see who he was waving at and saw one of my crew half running down the pier toward the town. Returning the he other porthole I looked again and Toney was gone. I remember thinking that they most likely were chasing an intruder off the ship. So I went back to sleep; but for a moment only. Something made me get up again and look out the porthole. Still no Toney. I then craned my neck and looked straight down from the porthole and there lying akimbo on the deck with a knife in his hand was Toney.

In a daze -- more like shock -- I pulled on a pair of shorts and my flip flops and ran up a flight to the navigation room behind the wheelhouse where the first aid station was located. Unfortunately, everything in the cabinet was in Dutch so I had to rip open box after box after box to find a compress.

Sweating profusely, confused, terrified I guess, a practically jumped down the three flights of stairs to the weather deck where Toney was lying with some white stuff oozing out of a small wound in his stomach. There was no blood. I pressed the compress on the wound and as I wondered what to do next, pumpman Jim came out on deck. I ordered him to hold the compress on the wound while I went to get an ambulance. Away I ran down the pier toward the police station a few blocks away. Arriving, I discovered that the doors were locked and nobody around. My mind was racing. A hospital! I remembered a large building that looked like a hospital on the other side of the city several blocks away. Irritated with myself, I thought, why hadn't I been more observant.

I ran through alleys and streets in my shorts and flip flops and got lost in the maze of alleys until finally reached the street where I had seen the building and there it was, very institutional looking. I ran inside, panic on my face I suppose, and saw several people milling around in the halls. "Doctor!" I shouted. "Where is the doctor?" One woman uttered a benign "Bon Dia," and another one just looked at me blankly and smiled. Most just ignored me. Suddenly it hit me: this was an old folks home; these people were senile. I was near collapse with heat and panic when I saw in the distance a woman in a white outfit outside in the back courtyard. I ran out there and asked her for the doctor and she indicated that there was a clinic in a small building in the rear. I ran to the clinic arriving just as the doctor was getting up and stretching and also just as a pickup truck roared up to the emergency entrance with several people on board and Toney on a stretcher.

We grabbed the stretcher and quickly got him into the operating room and shut the door and I went to the waiting room. I could see Zach standing outside next to the truck talking to reporters from the local press who were arriving quickly and I remember wondering what he would be telling them. I wished at that time that I had gotten rid of him sooner. What next? I thought

What was next was the doctor coming out to the waiting room and in a matter of fact voice announcing that Toney was done for. I suggested that we could fly him to Curacao if needed to be operated on there but the doctor said he was dead, finished, that he bled to death internally.

I was stunned. What should I do? The doctor assured me there was nothing I could do. And after a moment's hesitation, he returned to the operating room and I was left alone in the waiting room. So I left and as I walked past Zach and the reporters, I told him that I wanted walk back to the ship by myself to clear my head and I left the clinic. It was not yet 8 a.m. on a beautiful Sunday morning. Cars were starting to fill the streets. People were walking past dressed in their Sunday clothes heading for Mass. I had just had a murder on the ship.
Sitting on a park bench I realized that I had to gather up what was left of my strength and to do my best to deal with this ugly mess.

The rest of the day was lost in a fog: there was the police search of the ship; the cars and trucks full of police and militia tearing around town looking for the killer there rifles on the ready (doubtful they had ammunition in them) and waving to people they knew as though it was a festival parade. Meanwhile, back at the ship I had the rest of my crew to deal with.

(Bonaire police depart after searching the ship for Glen)

At one point, Sha Sha, our former cook, came to me and said he was frightened and that they were out to get him too. He said that he had given one of the oilers, who was going home on holiday in Dominica, his handkerchief and his picture and that the oiler showed it to a shaman and the Shaman said that he, Sha Sha, did not steal any money. Now understand that Sha Sha was a Catholic so I said , "Sha Sha, surely you don't believe in shamans do you?" His response surprised me: "Yeah mon, they know." But what worried Sha Sha on this day was that Peter had left the ship for good and could not testify as to his innocence to the rest of the crew. And he asked me to get him back home to Curacao and to protect him.

So that was it. Stolen money. Apparently, during the party, it got a little ugly with accusations floating around the cabin when in a rage, Toney slapped one of the oilers and accidentally scratched him on the chest. The oiler was due to go on watch so he left and went down to the engine room where he sat, half drunk, and probably seething with anger. At about 7 a.m. as soon as he was relieved from watch he went to the galley and took a filet knife and then went to Toney's cabin where he found him fast asleep on his bunk. He plunged the knife into Toney's stomach and that was that. If Toney had not pulled the knife out, he might have been saved.

In any case, Sha Sha asked for protection and to be returned to Curacao where his family lived so I brought him to the police station and asked the guard if he could stay there until the plane departed at 10 p.m. that evening. They agreed and I bid Sha Sha good bye and went to my agent's office to make arrangements to get him home. Then, to clear my head, I went for a long walk into the countryside along the coast.

The aftermath: The murderer, from Curacao, was Glen, an oiler on the ship. It took six days in desert-like conditions (Bonaire is semi-arid) amid the cactus and sand without water before he stumbled into town and gave himself up. For his sentence, he received six years in prison. Unfortunately for him he escaped again after the sentencing and this time spent only three days in the wild before giving up, an act that got him three more years in prison.

We paid for Toney's magnificent funeral in Curacao and everything resumed as normal. Easy.

(Left to right) Toney, deckhand Elvis Jack, daughter Susanne, Sha Sha, and son Don displaying a Marlin they caught on the way to Bonaire one day)

Part XI: The Crew of the MacVie (continued)

2009-02-28T06:16:00.000-08:00

Jim, from Antigua, was our pump man. In that capacity, he supervised the on- and off-loading of gasoline and gas oil of which we carried a total of about 4,500 Canadian barrels or 180,000 gallons. Typically, to protect his own value to the company, he would not share his skills with other crew and quite frankly I didn't know how to operate the pumping system either and was, therefore, at his mercy. Being a deckhand as well, when he wasn't pumping, he chipped and painted as the rest of the deckhands, a chore I knew only too well.

(Here's Jim smiling and posing for a picture.)

Capt. Zach said that Jim had several wives scattered around the Caribbean (probably a Zach overstatement) but I do know that he would send parts of his pay to difference destinations and as the Chief, he always sent cash.

When he was off duty, he worked out in a makeshift gym under the fo'c's'le, which is at the forward end of the ship near the bow and he had the body to prove it.

(Jim with son Capt. Don Jr.)

Though diffident most of the time, when provoked, he could throw a withering look that kept his adversaries at bay. As on many ships like this, the gulf of friendship between the deckhands and oilers was very tenuous: arguments and fights, usually very short, could break out at any point for a myriad of reasons but most centered around perceived insults. Moreover, since there were no locks on their cabins and the door always open, thievery was always suspected which led to many an altercation. Moreover, there was a natural dislike between oilers (engine room crew) and deckhands.

(Pumpman Jim at the offloading manifold in Bonaire.)

Before taking over the ship, I had stopped in Barbados to sign some insurance papers. I was already a little apprehensive about the crew situation, i.e. would I be able to cross the cultural divide between us to effectively manage them. Having completed my business, we had dinner with Capt. Vieweger, the former owner, and his wife, Madalyn. Vieweger was an inveterate story teller and spent the evening reminiscing about his ownership of the MacVie. We were starting to get pretty tired and a little sleepy when he told a story about the ship that woke me up and gave me pause to think what we were about take over. Let me try to recall the exact story as told to us by Capt. Vieweger: "We were sailing down the Pacific from Vancouver to the Panama Canal and bringing the ship over to Curacao, eh? [Viewegere was a Canadian, eh] Well, one night they knocked on my cabin door screaming that two crewmen were at each other with knives. Well, I grabbed a piece of green heart lumber four feet long and an inch on the sides -- you know it's the densest wood there is. It doesn't float." He went on, "Well, I keep that stick in my cabin for just this sort of thing. I took that stick down to the galley where they was facing each other down, eh, and I slammed that stick on the table with a WHAP and I said, 'DROP THOSE KNIVES!,' and they damn well did too? You know," he paused for effect, "they can smell fear." After that story I couldn't wait to get on that ship.

Next, Ethan Toney, the deckhand who was murdered on the ship.

Part XI: The Crew of the M/T MacVie

2009-02-21T13:22:00.000-08:00

A period of over 15 months have passed since my previous post about the MacVie. One of the last things I wrote was that I would recall some vignettes about the crew and their antics. For some reason, I exhausted my motivation; perhaps it was my weariness or the memory of the episodes that got me down. Well, we are back in Florida for three months so I thought I would do my best to continue the epic.

The next few posts will introduce the crew of the MacVie; today's will focus on the captain and chief engineer

The men pictured are Jack Eberhard (at the time, Jack was my son-in-law who with his wife, Susanne, my daughter, spent significant time in Curacao assisting us in the daily operations and representing the MacVie in business matters) and my captain, Chris "Zach" Zahariaczewich, a former Polish citizen but now a Canadian naturalized citizen who carried enormous emotional baggage which he acquired during his youth in Poland.

Zach was born in the city of Auschwitz, Poland, in approximately 1930. His father was murdered by the Russians in the early stages of WWII as one of a mass murder of Poles who were fighting against the Russian army. After the murder, the men were bulldozed into a huge, common pit. When the Nazis drove the Russians out of Poland in 1939, they uncovered the grave site and, according to Zach, with great publicity the Nazis showed the international world how heartless and barbaric the Russians were. Soon after, Zach said the Nazis "rounded up my mother and me and we were put in a labor camp where we were abused and kept for the rest of the war." Baggage indeed.

Freed in 1945 but now under oppressive Russian rule, Zach worked diligently to get his seaman's license and after receiving it, got a job on a Polish steamship where he bided his time until the opportunity to escape Poland arose. It was on a trip to Amsterdam that the chance presented itself and he jumped ship and sought political asylum from the Dutch authorities. While awaiting adjudication of his case, the handsome young man spent his nights locked up in jail and his days in the "care" of the prison warden's beautiful wife ostensibly doing her errands.

In time, Zach's asylum was granted and thereafter he applied for and received a work permit as a seaman in the Canadian Coast Guard. He went to Victoria, Canada, to live and work and in time got his Canadian Merchant Marine Mate's Certificate.

Later, during the Vietnam War, Zach signed on as a First Mate on a U.S.- owned mercenary helicopter carrier that operated in the Gulf of Tonkin. One stipulation of the deal was that if he stayed aboard for two years he would receive American Citzenship as a reward. After 23 months, Zach decided he had enough and quit. The captain of the carrier tried to convince Zach to stay one more month for the citizenship but Zach was done and he signed off and returned to Victoria, Canada.

When he told me about this one day, I expressed amazement that he didn't want to wait another month for the citizenship but he just looked at me quizically and laughed: inscrutable and typical.

Eventually, back in Victoria, he was hired by Capt. Vieweger, the owner of the MacVie, as its captain and to operate her in the Eastern Caribbean under charter to Texaco Refinery out of Trinidad. He worked for Capt. Vieweger and our company until he retired. I remember the first time I met Zach.

Upon arriving at the MacVie for the first time to inspect her before buying her, Capt. Vieweger and I were met by Zach in the captain's quarters behind the pilot house. He was standing there in the gloom--we were experiencing a torential downpour which was uncharacteristic for Curacao--with nothing on but shorts and sandals and he was combing his chest hair. The first thing he said to me was, "You look like Richard Widmark."

After some chit chat, Vieweger instructed Zach to take me around to see the ship and meet the crew that were aboard. We started out in the engine room where we found the Chief Engineer, Edison Yarde, a Barbadian national, working on an engine. Speaking loudly over the noise of the generator, Zach introducted me to the chief as "Richard Widmark." The chief didn't smile and warily shook my hand and after a brief but awkward pause during which I tried unsuccessfuly to explain that the Richard Widmark thing was Zach's joke we left. I was to lean later that Zach and the Chief were never not on speaking terms unless it involved serious business matters.

We contnued the tour and whenever we came across a crewman, Zach invariably introduced me as Richard Widmark; he was enjoying his joke and the crew sensed that they were being fooled somehow and I was totally embarrassed. To say the least, Zach had a perverse and strange sense of humor. In time, I was to alternatively enjoy or be driven to madness by that humor. Unfortunately, if I bought the ship I would inherit the captain as well.

Zach worked for us for 24 months at which time we had to ask him to retired from the MacVie and he did. Since then, we have visited him in Victoria where his behaviors again drove me to distraction and reminded me of his previous antics and in Copper Harbor where he drove to see us and stayed in town for a day before heading back to Victoria. We exchanged cards every Easter (from him) and Christmas (from me) but nothing has passed between us for a couple of years now so I have been wondering if he is still alive. Someday I will try to locate his whereabouts.

The last time I saw him was in Florida where we were staying for the winter. He was was on his way with his girlfriend to take a cruise out of Ft. Lauderdale. We had a pleasant visit during which I asked him if, as a youth, he knew about the death camp on the outskirts of Auchswitz. Shrugging his shoulders, he said, "Of course. You could smell the burning bodies."

(a picture taken of the Chief Engineer, Edison Yarde, in the engine room of the Macvie. The chief is on the right facing my friend and me on the left.)

Chief Yarde, as long as he worked on the ship, never left her to go anywhere except on the dock or quay to which it was berthed and once a month to the post office to send his pay home. He was a meticulous man who spoke so fast that the words tumbled out of his mouth one on top the other and that coupled with his Barbadian accent and a slight stutter made him almost incoherent. Invariably I had to ask "What?" every time he said something to me and that tended to slow him down. Though I often tried to start one, we never had a real conversation. In fact, I was so worried that he might quit the ship that I tended to coddle him and do his bidding which he soon realized would get him almost anything he needed. Without the chief, I soon realized that I was doomed.

As with all the crew, the chief was paid once a month in US dollars, cash, which he promptly mailed home to his wife in Barbados. Once I expressed concern about mailing cash through the antiquated Caribbean Basin postal system and suggested it might be better if I gave him a paycheck. Absolutely not, he said, adding that he had no faith in paper checks. As far as I know, he never lost a dime.

The chief kept to himself either in his engine room or his quarters and only occasionally came on deck and usually only then to inspect a repair of some equipment. When he was in the engine room, he always carried a wiping rag in his hand to clean up a spot or a drip. It was the engine room, spotless and organized, that sold me on the ship. Mistakenly, I thought the whole ship was in the same condition.

When we left the ship two years later, the chief was still aboard and preparing to work for the new owners.

Next post: Jim our pump man and Ethan Toney a deckhand.

The MacVie Story, Part X. Victory???

2007-09-18T11:16:00.000-07:00

(The M/T MacVie, fully loaded, sails under the high bridge (Queen Juliana Bridge) on her way to Bonaire.)

(For a larger view of any picture, double click on the thumbnail photo.)

The is the last part of the MacVie narrative which was covered in ten parts from finding her to getting chartered. Starting with the next post, I want to share some vignettes featuring both humorous and serious events over the two years we ran the charter. For example, the murder of our crewman, Ethan Toney.

This part of the narrative, has a question mark behind "Victory???" because there was trouble yet to come, the outcome of which we were uncertain in November, 1981.

In mid November, 1981, the Shell Refinery Marketing Department agreed to hire the M/T MacVie to run the Bonaire as needed, which turned out to be about once a week. By Mid December, however, I began to realize that the $900 per day rate was inadequate to retire our loan and repairs. It was the 1980s and interest rates were soaring. Our loan was with Heller & Company of Chicago at an interest rate of 24.3%. Something had to be done or we would surely fail. But what?

While we ran the trips to Bonaire as planned, I kept pondering what could be done to get them to increase our charter. My chance came on January 8, 1982, when Shell handed me the completed Time Charter document supposedly containing all the terms which had been negotiated. In the approximately two months since we started sailing. I had learned something about shipping and charters and that was to read and study your charter carefully and thoroughly and hold your charterer to the provisions in them because they will hold those same provisions against you. When I got the actual charter, I did just that and discovered that all the restrictions that were agreed to regarding where and how they could use the MacVie were ignored. Whether this was by design or mistake it mattered not; I took the charter at face value and decided to take action.

After a day or so, I wrote an extensive letter to Mr. Schoonbrood of Shell in which I pointed out the lack of restrictions. I concluded the letter by saying that as far as our company was concerned, the charter was null and void and had to be re-negotiated. Period. I delivered the letter by hand and the next morning I was called to Schoonbrood's office for a discussion.

As forcefully as I could, I pointed out the provisions in the charter which dealt with voiding the charter. He listened intently but said nothing. After a few moments of silence I said that he knew the charter and shipping business better than I and that he knew that the rate negotiated was inadequate. Further, I pointed out again that neither he nor I were part of the negotiation so we had no emotional ties to the terms. Then I asked for $300 more per day for a total of $1,200. Though reserved, he was friendly and said he would take it to his board to get their response.

(Here we are underway heading for Bonaire. With the deck almost at the waterline, the seas wash over it as though it was a immovable dock. Sailing back and forth was always a pleasant experience. Porpoises and flying fish were regular visitors and once a baby surfaced near the ship.)

Within a few days, Schoonbrood called to tell me that he would like to see me. Dressed in a suit and tie as most Dutch businessmen, I arrived full of anticipation tinged with dread. What would I do if he said "no?"

I had brought a briefcase with me and I opened it and spread out my papers on the table. He got right to the point: his board understood the situation and agreed that 1) the rate was too low, 2) that they would raise it to $1,200 as requested effective immediately, and 3) all the restrictions previously negotiated would be spelled out. I thanked him and but said I wanted the pay to be retroactive to when we started sailing, almost 60 days earlier, a total of $18,000.

Absolutely not, he said.

Now this is one of those decisive moments when a businessman has to take the ultimate risk: all, compromise, or nothing. I chose "all" because in reality I had no other option.

I slowly picked up my papers, swept them into my briefcase, snapped it shut, and said, "Well, Mr. Schoonbrood, I 'm afraid I will have to pick up my chips and go home," and with that I got up, shook his hand, and walked across the office toward the door. As I walked, I started to panic. Was this foolish? What the Hell was I doing? One is amazed how many thoughts can go through one's head as he is making this dramatic a move.

When I got to the door, in an irritated voice, he said, "Come back here!"

(One of the local pilots which we were required to use when entering the Ports of Bonaire and Curacao. Pilots have specialized knowledge of local conditions.)

(Berthed at Bonaire's desalinization plant where sea water is converted to fresh water. The equipment needed a weekly ration of gas oil. We stayed at this location only as long as it took to off-load the oil after which we would be taken by pilot to the main pier in Kralendijk, the largest city in Bonaire and the seat of the local government.

(Approaching our berth in downtown Kralendijk, the main city in Bonaire. From this pier we off-loaded gasoline and propane tanks. Typically, we would remain in Bonaire for a couple of days just relaxing before heading back to the refinery.)

(At our berth in the center of Kralendijk. The vessel to the far right is the bow of the condemned tanker "Debbie" which we replaced.)

Relieved, I went back to the table and opened my briefcase resolving as I did that I might have to accept defeat or compromise after all. But it was neither: he agreed to the retroactive pay and ordered his secretary to cut a check. Less friendly now, he handed me the check and said simply, "Good luck." I thanked him and mumbled something about having a good working relationship , etc. and then departed as quickly as possible.

I drove immediately to the Bank of America where I had my account. Standing on the front steps of the bank, I turned and with arms and check raised like Rocky Balboa, I had my son-in-law, Jack Eberhard, take my picture. Unfortunately, we can't find it for this blog.

So everything was signed, sealed and delivered and we were in business. Little did I know, however, that at the time I had planted the seeds for my eventual downfall. But thats another chapter for later. In the meantime, let's bask with a few vignettes.

(The M/T Macvie returning empty from Bonaire.)

Next: A portrait of the wonderfully vexing Captain Christopher "Zack" Zahariasyzwitz.

The MacVie Story, Part IX: Ready for My first trip.

2007-09-10T08:36:00.001-07:00

(A small part of the Shell Oil Company Refinery on Curaçao. Once one of the the world's largest refineries, it is now considered rather average.)

At 10:30 p.m. on the evening of November 25, 1981, I arrived at the Curaçao airport and after clearing customs was met by Capt. Zack who drove me to the ship. On the way, Zack said that she was fully loaded and ready to sail in the morning. It would be her 2nd trip to Bonaire and I was going to be aboard. I could hardly contain my glee at the thought of it. Also, it would also be my first sight of the MacVie at her berth in the Shell refinery. Zack had already got my pass so we entered the grounds of the refinery, a highly restricted area, without delay. Driving through a refinery at night, especially one of the world’s largest, is eerily disconcerting the first time. Danger lies everywhere: pipes emitting steam, methane vented and burned in great plumes of fire and smoke from tens of stacks throughout the grounds and everywhere what must be miles of pipes and hundreds of blue, red, and yellow lights, some blinking madly, others buried deep in the apparatus of the cracking plant and "DANGER" signs everywhere. Refinery odors are unique and almost overbearing. But as those who live downwind from a paper mill, one gets used to it.

After a winding long drive through the refinery we arrived at the ship. There she lay: the M/T MacVie, low in the water, filled with gasoline, diesel fuel and propane tanks, all ready to sail. I was awestruck. She looked glorius. When I boarded, I could feel the heaviness of the ship. Yet it was a feeling that she was alive, almost a springy spongy feeling. It was a feeling I grew to love.

After a short sleep, I awoke early. Unlike the dockyard where noise was constant and harsh, the refinery’s noises are hushed, humming, swishing, and the MacVie’s generators hummed and droned along with them. It was very soothing. The MacVie was berthed on her port (left) side and my stateroom was on the starboard side so when I looked out of my portlights, I saw only the harbor water shimmering from the lights of the refinery beyond the small bay we occupied. I looked out for a long time. It was also the windward side. Far in the distance was the high bridge which crossed the Sint Annabaai River which bisected the city of Willemstad. Soaring above the bridge at one end was Fort Nassau and the restaurant where a few week earlier I had stood in utter despair. Beyond that was the lights of Willemstad reflected into the sky against some low-lying clouds. And the wind! Prevailing easterly, it blew into my portlights constantly, a hot, dry wind. As I faced it, I had the sensation that I should feel cold; I didn’t and it was altogether pleasant. Into my berth I went and slept.

When I awoke, it was getting light and I could here noises about the ship, sounds that I couldn’t yet indentify. I dressed and walked back to the officer’s mess at the stern of the ship. A secured table surrounded by eight secured swivel chairs and a small refrigerator were in the room. The adjacent room was the galley where two crewmen were preparing breakfast for themselves. I asked them their names and position on the ship and was quickly told that they were not cooks. In fact, they said, we don’t have a cook at all and everyone just makes do for himself. After showing me where the coffee was, they departed to the crew’s mess which was on the other side of the deck. I poured myself a cup of coffee and walked out on the fantail to survey my surroundings. My whole body was electric; I couldn’t stand still and could barely drink my coffee.

Zack came down from the bridge deck where his stateroom was located and greeted me by telling me about several problems that we had faced when I was in Michigan, all of which took money to solve. But even that news couldn’t undo me. I just laughed it off. Told we were waiting for a pilot to guide us from the Harbor, I was taken aback. Simple as that, I thought, no ceremony; just get the pilot and leave. And then as if he deemed it, the pilot boat arrived and a young man dressed in a smart white shirt with captain’s bars and neatly pressed black trousers came aboard and headed directly to the bridge. I wanted a picture of the ship before we left and I asked if I had time to take a picture. With a long-suffering look at Capt. Zack, the pilot said okay and worked on his paperwork while I ran off the ship with my camera and looked for a vantage point. Being very low in the water, she didn’t look right taking the picture from the wharf so I ran around the end of the inlet and took a picture from across the way. Though hastily done, it turned out to be my favorite picture.

(November 26, 1981, the M/T MacVie fully loaded and ready to sail to Bonaire)

Next, Part X: Sailing to Bonaire.

Part VIII: The MacVie Story. We are chartered.

2007-09-08T09:41:00.000-07:00

(Curaçao Dockyard personnel starting the repairs to the MacVie)

The reader might be interested in a little background on what happened before we bought the MacVie. Prior to my owning the ship, three people had negotiated a Shell Time Charter for her if there was to be one. You see, Shell Oil owned a ship, the Debbie, which had for many years transported petroleum products to Bonaire. However, the Debbie was very old and in terrible shape and finally, Lloyds Register declassified it so it had to be scrapped and replaced.

Fortuitously, the owner of the M/T MacVie, Capt. Vieweger, happens to have a ship almost ready to sail and it is already in Curaçao and available for charter. As I mentioned earlier, there was an Aruban businessman, a personal friend of Joop deVries whose father had been Medical Director of Shell Oil, who knew of Shell's need. He had flown to Holland in search of a small tanker with which to make a bid on the charter. I was to learn later that he found a ship but that coincidentally while the US and Antillian dollar had remained stable (Curaçao having a large off-shore banking community pegs its Antillian Guilder to the US dollar) the Netherlands’ Guilder in Holland floated with the world market and suddenly the world money market collapsed about 15%. As a result, the ship that the Aruban had found in Holland now cost 15% more and he would not be able to take a $900 per day charter. He needed time to find another, less expensive ship.

Meantime, Shell Refinery, with a declassified vessel, was forced to negotiate with the owner of the MacVie, Capt. Vieweger, thinking that the MacVie was not only in class but had been chartered recently by Texaco Oil Company in Trinidad. So, they assumed, it must be okay.

Meantime, the Aruban businessman (I can’t find his name among my notes) called his friend, deVries (hearsay), to ask him to try to delay Shell from awarding of the charter until he found another ship. Months later, when I learned of this story, I wondered if deVries' inspection was designed to knock the MacVie out of contention. If it had been, he didn’t know the tenacity of those of Finnish heritage.

In any case, the strategy didn’t work. Lloyds declassified the Debbie and Shell had to have a ship; now. Three men were present for the negotiating session: Mr. Steen, Manager, Shell Refinery Marketing, J.K. vanden Berg, an agent from from Dammers and van der Heide (all ships must have an agent to take care of the ship when it is in port), and Capt. Vieweger of the MacVie. It was agreed that if there was to be a charter, it would be a Time Charter at the rate of US$900 per day. Furthermore, to compensate for this low rate, the Time Charter would have numerous restrictions as to what the Shell could do with the ship and where they could send it. Specifically, the MacVie would be chartered to run petroleum products from the refinery in Curacao to the island of Bonaire, one of the six Dutch Antilles islands—Aruba, Curaçao, Boinaire off the coast of Venezuela, and Saba, Sint Eustatius and Sint Maarten in the Windwards—as directed and no farther, a trip that would occur about once a week. Shell would supply all fuel and port costs to the MacVie and the MacVie's owner would be responsible for keeping the ship available whenever needed around the clock. The charter would be paid in advance on the first day of each month. It was agreed that the agent would receive 5% of the charter and that it would be taken out of our check. All that remained was for the ship to pass the Antillian and Lloyds inspections.

Suddenly, Capt. Vieweger sold the ship to us and when we arrived on the scene, we were contacted immediately by Shell Oil and asked if we would agree to the negotiated terms. It was apparent to us that we had no choice. We agreed to abide by the negotiated terms of the Time Charter. Good, they said, so all that remained was for the inspections to take place. And that, good friends, was the behind-the-scenes story leading up the arrival of Joop deVries to inspect our ship.

Incidentally, it is important to note that everyone who negotiated the original terms of the Time Charter was now gone from the scene. Mr. Schoonbrood replaced Mr. Steen as Manager, Shell Marketing, Mr. Jack Ponson (his first name was Joop but he loathed being called Joop because most Americans pronounced Joop rhyming with “hoop”) replaced Mr. vanden Berg, and we replaced Capt. Vieweger.

Now, back to the story: Joop deVries had his lunch with Mr. Schoonbrood, of Shell Oil Refinery Marketing, during which he said that he would give the MacVie his blessing when the needed repairs were completed to his satisfaction. Moreover, I was to learn that he gave Betty and me a rave review.

(Here's a picture of the venting system. These are designed to carry the fumes from the tanks below high up over the mast of the ship.)
With that good news and the list of 150 deficiencies in hand, I went to work raising the necessary money. Concurrently, the dockyard went to work repairing the most important item on the list, the entire venting system. For the next many days, I could see my vent pipes strewn about the dockyard as the men worked 24 hours a day rebuilding them to our specs. During daylight, the Chief Engineer and our crew attacked the deck problems which were on the list. It was a busy time with work going on all day and long into the night on the ship and all night in the dockyard sheds. Betty and I got busy too looking for a place to live in Curaçao and enrolling our youngest son, John, in the American School in Willemstad. Betty left for home to arrange for our youngest daughter, Lisa, to be home-studied in Curacao during part of her junior year. To our great relief, the Hancock Public Schools were helpful in deciding upon a suitable curriculum for her to follow.

(A deckhand cleaning up a venting valve.)

Somehow, somewhere, the money came to us in the form of loans and savings and we were able to complete as many repairs as necessary to be approved to sail and in mid November, 1981, a little over six months since learning of the MacVie for sale, I signed a Letter of Commitment for a Time Charter with Shell Oil Company at the rate of $900.00 per day. Our first check for $19,800.00 (pro-rated for November) was waiting for me at the Shell office the day after signing the letter. I took it downtown to the Bank Of Boston, introduced myself to the manager, and opened an account where I deposited the money. When I arrived at the ship to pay the crew I was to learn that they accepted no checks, that they would work only for cash and US dollars only. Back to the bank I went to get the ship’s payroll in cash, thankful that it wasn’t coming out of my own pocket. The moment was glorious and memorable.

(Betty and I celebrating our charter at a little outdoor cafe on the esplanade along the river that bisects Willemstad. It was and is our favorite location.)

The next day, personnel from Shell Oil Marketing and I flew to Bonaire to check on the piers and quays to which we would be berthed and to be introduced to local Bonairian officials. Despite that Curaçao was the seat of the entire Netherlands Antilles, protocol called for Shell Oil and us to pay respects to them.

Now deeper in debt than ever, I left for Hancock to prepare to bring the children to Curacao to run our new business, Caribbean Shipping Ltd., a Tortolan firm with a lawyer and mail drop in Roadtown, Tortola.

While we were gone, the ship was moved to the Shell Refinery wharf where she would be stationed. Within days the MacVie made her first trip to Bonaire. The ship was slowed because of the heavy algae growth on her hull and upon arrival back in Curaçao we had to pay to have her hull cleaned, or as they called it, “a shave and a haircut. “

There was one thing left undone, something that would create a great problem for both Shell Oil and us within two months: Since we had not actually read the Time Charter, an extensive document with many clauses buried therin, we were operating solely on their word that the document was “in the works.”

Part IX: My First Trip to Bonaire.

The MacVie Story, Part VII: Lloyds Inspection

2007-09-07T07:59:00.001-07:00

Disclaimer: the events I have and will describe in this series of blogs about the MacVie occurred almost 26 years ago and my notes written at that time are abbreviated somewhat. For example, the two inspections and the visit with deVries took place over four days, not the three implied in the blog. I know that Betty could not make it to Curacao from Hancock in one day but would require at least two days, one to Chicago and another to Curacao. However that may be, I am not inclined to go back and find the problem with days, etc., so will just move on.

(below, the ship as it looked when we bought it.)
Since so many of our problems relate to our ship register, Lloyds, I think it would be interesting to know a bit about them. Every country involved with major shipping has its own ship registry. Shippers and insurance companies rely on these registries to assure them that ships which they hire and insure are not only safe but structurally and mechanically sound. Without an approved classification by a registry (the ship's flag will usually determine the ship registry), a ship owner would not be able to insure his ship or its contents and no shipper in his right mind would ship cargo on an unclassified ship. For more information on this subject, Google, “ship registries” and check out the various websites. Some major ship registries are American Bureau of Shipping (USA), Lloyds Register of Ships (British Commonwealth), Det Norske (Norrway), Gewrmanischer Lloyd (Germany), Cypress Bureau of Shipping (Greek), and Nippon Kaijai (Japan).

The M/T MacVie flew a Tortola flag and because Tortola is part of the British Commonwealth, we were registered and inspected by Lloyds Register of Ships. When I closed the sale on the M/T MacVie she held a classification of 100-A1, Lloyds highest rating. Accordingly, she was insured by Lloyds of London (no operating relationship to Lloyds Register) who was the lead insurer. That night as Betty and I tried to sleep, I kept wondering what went wrong. What could we have done differently? It was a question that plagued me for the next two years.

The basic difference between the Antillian Ship Inspector and Lloyds Register was important: whereas Lloyds could de-classify a ship and make it uninsurable, they could not prevent it from sailing as a de-classified ship, the Antillian Ship Inspector could deny a ship from operating in Antillian waters. As a practical matter, therefore, they were both critical.

We arose early and left for the government building in downtown Willemstad. I remember being somewhat surprised that the Dutch Marine Guard standing outside let us pass with a question or glance, all the moreso because it was before normal office hours. We entered the building, went to the second floor and began the long walk down the darkened corridor leading to deVries office. Our footsteps echoed from the tile floor.

DeVries office window, which was opaque, revealed that the office was lit and occupied. With a final deep breath I knocked on the door and waited. I could see a shadow approaching the door—could my pounding heart be heard?—and then it opened. “Good Morning,” he said calmly. “Mr. DeVries, I would like you to meet my wife who just arrived from Michigan. We would like to talk about the MacVie.” After what seemed like a long pause, he opened the door wide and asked us to come in and have a seat at a round coffee table in the corner of his office. His next question was the most important and gratifying question I could have had” “May I get you some coffee?”

When I got the coffee, I determined to drink slowly for I was certain that he would not ask us to leave until I finished it. When, after a good hour, we finally left his office there was still a bit of cold coffee in that cup. It is strange to me now that so much importance rested on the speed which one drinks his coffee.

In essence, during our hour, we told deVries that we were good people, that we were duped by the previous owner, and most importantly that we would repair anything and everything that he determined to be faulty. As I said this, I was already wondering where we could get the funds. He was cordial and helpful throughout the meeting and at one point he excused himself to make a telephone call. He called his wife, Edith, and set up a dinner with the four of us at a Chinese restaurant. We did it!

When we left, we headed directly to the MacVie to await the Lloyds’ inspector, F.J. Verloop (rhymes with “hope”).

Just before Verloop arrived I looked over the Lloyds' Special Survey conducted a few months earlier in Trinidad and endorsed by him about a month ago. There were two minor problems relating to running lights and one other. When Verloop left the ship some three hours later, I was handed a list of 150 deficiencies, one of which I was to discover would cost about $40,000 to repair. My anger burst out in a tirade of yelling and stamping my feet and actually throwing the list to the deck. It was all too much.

(Above, Capt. Zack watches while they tear down the lifeboats to inspect its floatation and seaworthiness.)

Exhausted, I collapsed in my berth for an hour and then began to get estimates from the dockyard on the cost of the repairs. In the late afternoon, Betty and I drove downtown and sat in a small wharf-side café to drink coffee and watch the ships passing before us.

Later that evening we met Edith and Joop at the restaurant and spent a pleasant evening getting to know each other and our families, finding out in the process that they had two daughters one of which was the same age as our daughter, Lisa. No mention was made of the luncheon he was to have with Shell Oil Company the next day but I was confident I had allayed some of the criticism that he might have made had we not confronted him.

Having had two nights of little sleep, Betty and I snuggled on my berth, heads on opposite ends, and slept well. Good we did, for there were trying days ahead.

(Left, our stateroom)

Next: Part VIII, Shell makes known its decision as to whether or not the MacVie will be chartered.

Part VI: Aftermath

2007-08-23T08:01:00.000-07:00

(Two pictures from the "Punda," a downtown area of Willemstad, Curacao. The first is the waterfront esplanade with the colorful buildings and the second is the main street. The city is divided by the "river" which leads to the bay and refineries. The other side of the "river" is called the Outrabunda and is populated by more Antillians than tourists while the Punda is the main more or less upscale shopping area. Twenty years later, we found that this was to change drastically with the outrabunda becoming the main tourist center and the Punda falling in a bit of decay.)

When deVries left the ship after his inspection, I was despondent. I had been told that a charter had been negotiated for me by Capt. Vieweger and that Shell and was waiting for the ship to be cleared the inspectors. In short, everything depended on the outcome of deVries' inspection.

The day slipping away. Betty was already in Chicago on her way and I didn't want to stand around and talk with Captain Zack (more on him in a later blog) so I left the ship ostensibly to do some shopping but in reality to go to deVries' office in the Government Building and ask for a private audience with him during which I would try to convince him that we were good people who had been wronged. Arriving at his reception area, I could see him in a glass-enclosed office a couple of rooms away. His secretary, a very friendly older Antillian woman, took my request to him and then returned to tell me he could not see me. What was I to do? It was one of those moments we have in our lives when all the alternatives seem hopeless. I couldn't leave; I couldn't stay. But I left the office and started down the hall, head down, defeated. I guess I looked pretty sad as I left the office because deVrties' secretary ran after me and stopped me. She said that Mr. DeVries gets to his office at 7 O’clock each morning and if I were to come down the hall and knock on his office door, which she pointed out to me, he would probably answer it and then it would be up to me. I thanked her profusely but wondered if any good could come out of such a bold strategy.

Later that evening, I went to a wonderful restaurant perched high about and overlooking Willemstad and the port. With a ice cold drink in my hand, I walked out on a perfectly safe catwalk to a viewing pod looking straight down to the reefs 200-feet below. I took one look down and I think I remember wondering if I could be suicidal and then decided not to test myself. Rather hastily I retreated to the safe environs inside the restaurant.

Betty arrived on the 11 p.m. flight and we both decided to confront deVries early the next morning. If we slept, it was fitfully.

Part VII: We confront Joop deVries in his office and later receive our Lloyd's inspection.

Part V: The MacVie Story

2007-08-22T07:53:00.001-07:00

Our first Inspection...

Let me be clear about the certificates which verified to us that the MacVie was in excellent shape. First, she had undergone a Lloyds Registry of Ships Special Survey which indicated that there were two minor deficiencies. A Lloyds’ Special Survey is an extensive inspection conducted once every four years and covers virtually everything on the ship including safety equipment, machinery, hull condition, and piping (of which there are hundreds of feet on an oil tanker). The survey had been completed three months earlier when the ship was in Trinidad and was signed by Mr. Lumsden, the Lloyds’ inspector there.

Second, we had a local Ship Surveyor conduct a private inspection which certified that everything was in fine working order. In short, when I was informed that the Antillian Ship Inspector stationed in Curacao would be inspecting the ship before authorizing it to operate out of Antillian waters, I was not concerned. I had owned the MacVie for a mere eight days, seven of which were spent away from the vessel, so I had little opportunity to check things out for myself. Instead I relied on Captain Zack to ready the ship for the inspection.

Joop (pronounced as in “hope”) deVries was the Antillian Ship Inspector and as such had ultimate authority over Antillian waters. On Monday afternoon, in the small lounge that the dockyard company provided each afternoon for the convenience of ship owners or their representatives, inspectors, and dockyard executives, I had been introduced to deVries and found him pleasant but formal. I slept well.
(A crewman opens a venting valve for the inspector)

The next morning, deVries arrived with his aide and quickly began his inspection. Pulling out a small copper alloy non-sparking hammer--one does not beat in a steel deck of an oil tanker with a steel hammer lest one wants to be blown up—with one end of the hammer head pointed like an awl, on his first try, he sank the awl completely through the nicely painted deck plating. And so it went: he tore long slits in the venting system, the pipes that vent gasoline fumes high up the mast away from the ship, he broke off rusted pieces of equipment, pieces that had been skillfully masked and painted as though new. Within minutes, I knew we had a serious problem and that we had been tricked by old Capt. Vieweger.
(Captain Zack stripping the lifeboats for inspection)

After about an hour or two (time was all but lost in my mental fog) deVries left saying that he would send me his written report in a day or two but meantime he would have to issue a “No Sail” decree on the ship. Compounding my problem was the fact that on Thursday, deVries was to meet with our potential charterer, Shell Oil Company, to give them his report on the condition of the vessel.

Immediately after deVries left, I telephoned Betty in Hancock and told her to catch the very next flights to Curacao. We had a serious problem with an inspection and I needed her as soon as possible.

Later that afternoon, I learned that the local Lloyds’ inspector had got wind of deVries findings and decided to make an inspection of his own the next day. Unfortunately, I was to learn, deVries and the Lloyds inspector Johan Verloop had a long history of animosity over other ships. I wondered if deVries was engaging in a little pay back and that perhaps the MacVie was his down payment. That night, with the noise of clanking and clunking and whistles and bells from the midnight shift of the dockyard wafting in my open portlight, I slept fitfully.

Next: Part VI: Another Day, Another Inspection.

Part IV : The MacVie Story

2007-06-03T09:39:00.001-07:00

(When I finally arrived at the ship at the Curacao Drydock Company, I found the crew working on her.)

A Series of Shocks:

The trip from Hancock to Curacao to pick up the ship was one during which I was to discover what would define my experience as the owner of a ship sailing from a foreign port under a foreign flag: a series of shocks.

The first shock I was to receive was at the airport in Barbados. I had stopped there on my way to Curacao both to wrap up any loose ends with Capt. Vieweger and to assure myself and our finance company, as well as a future charterer, that the ship was fully covered. Before I left Hancock, I had purchased a pistol to bring to our captain who would not sail unless he had a weapon in the safe. When I arrived in Barbados, I ran quickly to the customs to beat the crowd. "Do you have anything to declare?" the customs official asked politely. "Nothing," I said. "Please open your suitcase." he said. I did and there to my horror was the pistol, right on top in full view. I was arrested immediately or more politely, detained for questioning, for over an hour after which, with the airport deserted of passengers and my pistol and passport confiscated, I was released with orders to appear at the magistrate's offoce the next morning for a hearing. Apparently I had convinced them that I was not a terrorist for they let me go into the night. I was shaken.

(Here's a picture of the ship lying at berth next to the Curacao Drydock Company, a berth for which we paid US$600 per day to use.)

After three horrendous days in Barbados during which I was assured that Lloyd's of London would maintain coverage on the ship, during which I was fined a hundred dollars and the loss of my pistol for trying to smuggle it into the country, and during which I learned that the ship had lost its charter at the Texaco refinery in Trinidad, I departed for Curacao shaken but undaunted for Vieweger had assured me that there was a charter awaiting us in Curacao with Shell Oil Company of Curacao.

Arriving in Curacao, I took a taxi to the Hilton Hotel where I slept fitfully.

I awoke early, excited and expectant, ate a hasty breakfast and went to the Curacao Drydock Company where the ship was berthed. There, I was to receive my second shock.

The Shell charter was tenuous. There was a competing bid by a local man who, though he didn't own a ship at present, was in the Netherlands looking for one. Furthermore, he was the son of the former Medical Director at Shell and certainly had the fast track. Moreover, told by the dockyard that the ship would cost $600 per day to berth and that, coupled with the fact that the crew of seven were now my responsibility to pay and feed, I knew something had to give. Well, when things are going badly, one had best do something even if its wrong. I went to the dockyard open bar where i got a smattering of good news: the dockyard gave me 24-hour use of a car, a small office with a secretary if I needed one, and unlimited use of the open bar at the office which was open from 4-6 each afternoon. In addition, I got daily garbage pickup and free fresh water. Just think, a place to berth and all the extras for just $600 a day. Our electricity was supplied by our own diesel genertators which ran constantly, night and day. I slept on the ship the first night as owner but was awakened often by the noise of the dockyard which operated around the clock.

On the seventh day as owner without charter, I was beginning to get pretty nervous. As the day came to a close, I was told that Shell had ordered both the Antillian Ship Inspector and Lloyd's Registery of Ships (unaffiliated with Lloyd's Insurance Company) to conduct final inspections which could lead to a charter. Fantastic! I slept like a baby and only awoke when the shift change whistle was sounded.

Unfortunately, on the eighth day, I was to receive one of the biggest shocks. Though I had "gold-plated" certificates of inspection from Lloyd's and from a private surveyor, the ship was condemned, first by the Antillian inspector and later the Lloyd's inspector. I was given a list of 150 violations that would have to be satisfactorily repaired or replaced before I could be allowed to sail. One of those violations, the venting system, was to cost over $35,000 to repair. And to my horror, the Antillian Ship Inspector was going to meet with Shell management in two days to give them the grim news.

Next Installment: We visit the ship inspector.

The 27th Annual Black Fly Open Golf Tournament

2007-05-24T10:57:00.000-07:00

It seems like yesterday when Capt. Don Kilpela Jr. started his Black Fly Open Golf Tournament.

Held on the third Thursday in May each year, it is usually at the height of the infestation of black flies. For protection from the vicious gnats, golfers have worn duck tape around their ankles, head nets, full body nets, and doused themselves liberally with every imaginable bug spray only to find that the flies defy them and usually drive them nuts.

Golfers have tried putting a strip of "Bounce" hanging from the back of their caps, they've tried swallowing mega doses of vitamin B-12 or bathing with special "bug-repellant" soaps; some have tried not washing for several days before the tournament. Nothing really works. One simply endures.

The tournament is listed as a random draw (golfer's names are put into one of three boxes according to their level of skill), 18-hole scramble with a shotgun start. Just prior to the the start, names are drawn from the hat to make up 2-man teams. The catch is that a great golfer will get paired with a bad golfer, etc. In short, one would never get paired with someone of equal skill. In that manner, about 24 years ago I won the tournament having been paired with the late Professor Carmen DelaQuadri He had a bad right hip and I had a bad left leg; we won going away.

The opening ceremony usually features a piper leading the group to the first tee where Scotsman Don Keith, dressed in Keith Clan) dedicates the tounmant to the memory of St. Andrews Golf Course. This year he brought a bottle of Glen Keith scotch (distilled in Northern Scotland) with which to dab a bit behind each ear to keep the bugs away.

Following this, Capt Don has three golfers hit an opening demonstration drive: the oldest participant (this year, at 76 and 11 months, I was given the honor); the golfer who has been in the most tournaments; and usually one who will give everyone a good laugh when his drive flies in a gigantic slice over to the woods.

While the tournament is underway, Capt Don drives around the course filming everyone and usually harassing them enough to produce a prodigeous dub.

At the conclusion of the day, the golfers gather in the club house to accept the prize money and especially to see who gets the booby prizes (the main one traditionally a watermelon) for being the worst team of the day. Finally, Don plays the tape of the day on the VCR and a final good laugh is had by all.

I should mention that on the evening preceding the tournament, there is a 9-hole mini tournament whereby each hole is shortened to a 3-par distance. A number of golfers enjoy this as well and many stay the night at the Keweenaw Mountain Lodge.

Part III: The M/T MacVie is OURS

2007-05-06T12:14:00.000-07:00

She's Ours

After Betty and I decided to “go for it,” we had to "go for the money." Local banks were out of the question but the late Alex Sample of the Houghton National Bank set me up with an appointment at one of their correspondent banks, Chase Manhattan, New York City. So off to new York I flew.

Chase Manhattan, in downtown New York, was nestled among several skyscrapers It was early morning when I arrived and the boys at the bank ushered me into the walnut paneled conference room to listen to my proposal. They asked some pointed questions which, I realized years later, were evidence of the fact that I didn’t know what I was doing: in short, an oil boat operating in salt water is as far from a fresh water passenger boat as an airliner is from a Piper Cub. After the meeting, Smiling, encouraging, apologizing ("Sorry, Mr. Kilpela, but Chase isn't interested in single ship deals, but we think this sounds great."), the boys ushered me out of the walnut panelled conference room and into the elevator. I was out of the bank before the sun cleared the building and hit the street.

Chastened but not defeated I began an almost quixotic quest to find the money. After a futile search for about a month, the ship broker set me up with Heller Financial in Chicago and, wow, I got the loan…at 24.3% interest. Remember, this was the early eighties and the prime US rate was over 18%. We were in business.

The ship was registered in Tortola, British Virgin Islands, so we had to set up a corporation there, Caribbean Shipping Ltd., which would actually own her. Off to Tortola I went to close the deal and re-register the MacVie. By four o’clock that July day, we were proud owners of the Motor Tanker MacVie. I headed home to prepare to move to Curaçao where the ship lay at a wharf in the Curaçao Dockyard. Aboard, a captain and crew who were now our responsibility to feed.

Like a fire dog hearing the fire bell, off I went to Barbados on my way to Curaçao to begin take over; a question I never asked was, did a make a wrong turn when I ran out of the firehouse?

Picture: with great care and exquisite handwriting, the ship registrar of Tortola signs the M/T MacVie over to Caribberan Shipping Ltd.

Back Home in Copper Harbor

2007-05-03T15:59:00.000-07:00

Here's two pictures of the Queen IV returning to Copper Harbor this evening. After a long winter frozen in the ice on the Portage Waterway, she's home and ready for her first voyage to the Isle Royale on May 14.

This will be our 37th summer running to the island, almost 3500 trips across the chilly, choppy waters of Lake Superior, the largest fresh water lake in the world. Exhilerating!

Part II: April Fool's Day, 1981

2007-04-26T12:22:00.000-07:00

On April 1, 1981, while exploring a boat business opportunity in Miami, Florida, I was shown a drawing of the M/T MacVie. At the time the ship was in drydock in Curaçao, Netherland Antilles, undergoing repairs to her propeller and shaft. Apparently she had run aground while off-loading gasoline in a small bay on the coast of Barbados . The broker, Fred Driver, took time to describe the ship’s itinerary: “She picks up oil at the refinery in Trinidad and then sails to several islands in the Lesser Antilles to off-load her cargo. Meantime, the owner, Captain Vieweger—a Canadian from B.C.—and his wife live in Barbados in a lovely home. Once a month Vieweger flies to the island where the ship in off-loading to make the payroll. Occasionally, rarely, he sails with the ship. “ Then Fred Driver, with the ease of someone who had spent languorous afternoons under fluttering tents while sipping tea and watching cricket marches being played on lush green lawns, described Barbados in stunning detail and concluded with, “Barbados is very very British, you know. Not at all like bloody Trinidad where nothing works.”

I was hooked. Pocketing the drawing, I went to lunch alone to study it. By the time I finished lunch that April Fool’s Day afternoon in downtown Miami, I was captive to my imagination. In an instant my life changed; I had fallen in love. I returned to my motel and called Betty. With extra emphasis on living in Barbados, I described the ship and the business. She listened patiently and said, finally, “Go for it.”

One month later, with a letter of introduction in hand, I flew to Curaçao to examine the ship while she was in drydock. The pictures were taken at that time. The first was taken overlooking the forward end of the ship with its discharge hoses lying on the catwalk over the tanks, and the second is of 75-year old Captain Vieweger posing in the pilot house. It looked like a scary proposition, but with those cricket matches and all floating around in my head, I decided to "go for it."

Part I: Introducing the M/T MacVie

2007-04-21T11:22:00.000-07:00

Welcome to a new series of blogs about the M/T (Motor Tanker) MacVie, a coastal oil tanker we owned and operated from November, 1981 through December, 1984. The MacVie was under time charter to the Shell Oil Refinery located on the island of Curaçao for the purpose of transporting gas oil (diesel fuel), gasoline, and 200-gallon propane tanks to the island of Bonaire, both in the Netherlands Antilles.

The MacVie was been built in 1959 by the Standard Oil Company of British Columbia and used there to move refined oil around the near coast and harbors. She was 170’ in length with a 33’ beam and had capacity for 211,232 Imperial gallons of cargo and 8000 of fresh water for drinking and bathing.

Accommodations: the top deck contained the captain’s quarters and office, a chart room, and the ship’s bridge. One deck down were the officer’s deck consisting of the chief engineer’s stateroom, five officer staterooms, a galley, the officer’s mess, and the crew’s mess. Down one more deck and we find the crew’s quarters, a cold storage room, and a small recreation room. The minimum number of men needed to operated the ship for an eight hour-hour shift was 6-7 including the captain, officers, oilers and deck hands. Finally, we go down to the engine room where the Werkspoor 825 hp, 8 cylinder diesel engine dominated; in addition there were two 250 hp diesel generators, one of which was running at all times.

During most of our ownership the ship's complement included:
Captain
Chief Engineer
Assistant Chief Engineer
2-3 Oilers
2-3 Deckhands who also acted as wheelsmen
Cook
Pump operator

None of the complement were US citizens; all, except my captain, a naturalized Canadian, were from the Caribbean basin countries.

It was an interesting time in the kilpela family, a time which we look back on with whimsy and sadness sprinkled liberally with nostalgia. But let me start at the beginning...

Home Again

2007-04-16T15:05:00.000-07:00

Awaiting us upon our return to the Copper Country from our vacation in Florida was a good covering of snow, the results of a blizzard that passed through a couple of weeks ago. Reported was a snowfall of 45-54 inches at Delaware, a defunct copper mining mining location 10 miles west of Copper Harbor and 67 inches in Painsdale, a small village about 12 miles south of Houghton. It is melting fast, however, and if we could get a good spring rain it would all but disappear.

Our friend Jim Junttila from Laurium, an outdoor writer for the Daily Mining Gazette and other publications was out on a photographic prowl on April 11 and captured the Isle Royale Queen IV frozen in a swirl of ice. With the Houghton-Hancock lift bridge in the backgfround, it makes for an interesting picture which we will add to our extensive collection. Jim can be contacted at jjunttila@chartermi.net.

The Queen lies at her winter wharf on what is called the Portage Canal (technically it is Portage Lake), a waterway the final mile of which was dredged long ago to create a passageway completely across the Keweenaw Peninsula. With minimal ice movement, the boat is quite safe and weathers the winters well. Every five years we have her put into drydock for a hull inspection and cleaning. Presently, our captains are getting her ready to sail to Isle Royale National Park on May 14, the opening voyage for the 2007 season.

A great number and variety of Isle Royale and Queen pictures and be seen at Captain Ben's blog: www.isleroyale.blogspot.com.

Heading North

2007-04-14T14:12:00.000-07:00

Hearing about the massive blizzard heading for Copper Harbor, we found every possible reason to delay our arrival. We visited friends in St. Petersburg, Tampa, and Bradenton which gave us a few more days of warm weather. Then, as is our wont, we stopped in Okemos, Michigan, to spend two nights with son Ben and his family. While there, we got a chance to go to his new office building which is attached to the West side of the football field and soars high into the air. We especially wanted to see the pictures that he had taken of MSU buildings and environs, pictures that MSU Development Office purchased from him and displayed them around the halls of the building and in the entrance.

The top picture was taken in the Cedar River Conference Room where four of his photos of the Cedar River are hung.

Next is a shot of one of the buildings on campus with Capt. Ben standing next to it.

The third picture is one of two one the wall of the reception desk at the Entry.

There were a total of 17 pictures on display for all donors and employees of MSU to see and enjoy. Needless to say, Elizabeth and I are extremely proud of this accomplishment.

Photography is Capt. Ben's avocation. Nine months of the year he is employed by the MSU Development Office as a writer and the other three months he is in Copper Harbor working, along with his two brothers on the Isle Royale Queen IV. In short, he has a varied and interesting life and you will be interested in seeing his Copper Harbor and Isle Royale blogs.

(Ben's blogs with their interesting pictures are at www.copperharbor.blogspot.com and www.isleroyale.blogspot.com. From these you can connect to his wedsite as well for some wonderful photography of Isle Royale National Park, etc.)

End of the Vacation

2007-04-14T09:59:00.000-07:00

I have been remiss in posting to this blog so I have a couple of additions to make in the next day or so. First, just before we left Florida, we visited our nephew Kevin Koski and his dad, Steve Szyszkowski, at Kevin's condo overlooking Collins Avenue in South Beach, Miami. That's my wife, Elizabeth, looking quite happy. The condo is a block off the ocean and about four blocks from the infamous Versace mansion. Nice neighborhood. I tell you it's a whole different world down there. Unfortunately, when we went for lunch and a walk on the beach....well, I should have brought my camera. As the kids say, it's unreal.

Kevin was home for 30 days from his job as a consultant at a Marathon refinery off the West coast of Africa, 30 on, 30 off. Steve was biding his time at the condo between trips to Lake Worth, where he just bought a condo, and Costa Rica and other points. He's a man on the move. I wish he would publish a blog featuring his own travels when he was a prospector and gold mine operator in Costa Rica.

Hot, windy, noisy, full of activity by youngsters on Spring break and oldsters in retirement, South Beach is a place everyone should visit at least once; and oh yeah, bring lots of cash.

2007-03-29T11:29:00.000-07:00

Well, our winter vacation is quickly drawing to a close. Next Sunday, April 1, we depart for Copper Harbor and the start of our 37th year owning and operating the Isle Royale Ferry Service from the Harbor to Isle Royale Narional Park.

I thought I would conclude my winter blog by posting the cover of the latest of three book I have read since arriving here in mid-February. The Closing of the Western Mind: The Rise of Faith and the Fall of Reason, is Charles Freeman's latest book on the founding and development of Christianity from Jesus to Thomas Aquinas with a fair amount of Greek philosopy (namely Plato and Aristotle) added. With a great deal of selectivity and not a little looseness, he adequately supports his premise as indicated in the sub-title of his book. Personally, I am wary of any writer on Christianity who glosses over the cataclysmic destruction of the Temple Mount in 70 ce and its impetus to Christianity and Freeman does just that. Moreover, in a patently untrue statement, he implies that all of Paul's letters were written before that event. This makes one suspect about the rest of the supporting evidence. Nonetheless, it is a good read and well worthwhile.

The other two books I read were Jerusalem: City of Three Faiths, (for the second time) by Karen Armstrong (another popularization of the history of that vital city), and Surpassing Wonder: The Invention of the Bible and the Talmuds (for the umteenth time), a book that stoked and continues to feed my interest in the history of religion (as opposed to the history of theology), by Donald K. Akenson.

Finally, I listened to the 14 lectures entitled, "Jerusalem: City of God, City of Fire," delivered by Professor F. E. Peters of New York Univerrsity, a series from the Portable Professor, whick is available at Amazon or B&N. It is a very interesting overview of the events that vexed people throughout its history and well into modern times.

In short, my free time between visiting friends, eating out a couple of times a day, walking about 3 miles per day, and shopping was spent doing what I love to do most: read.

As we start our season, I am on a critical path to retire on January 1, 2008 at the age of 77-1/2, just about the age my own father reached before he passed away and I guess that is the goal of most men: to live beyond their fathers. See you later.

Rosvopaisti at the Suomi Talo, Lake Worth, Florida

2007-03-20T10:25:00.000-07:00

Here are three pictures of the roasting of the Lamb during the Rosvopaisti at the Suomi Talo (Finland House) in Lake Worth, Florida. Rosvopaisti is an annual celebration honoring the veterans if the Winter War of 1939-40 against the Soviet Union.

We met the man in the fireman's outfit at our apartment. He was flown here from Helsinki for a week to do the actual roasting. They expected hundreds of Finns to show up for the lamb dinner. Betty and I heard the term 5 o'clock so promptly at five we showed up ready for dinner only to discover that they started the roasting at 5:00 a.m. and that dinner was served at noon.

The roasting consists of digging a deep hole and lining it with rocks. Coals are then piled on the rocks and fired. When the coals are fiully consumed, the rocks are covered with more dirt and a layer of steel mesh on which the lamb (wrapped in foil) are placed. Mor cover of dirt are laid on the lanb and a huge pile of charcoal is put on top of that and lit. When that pile is consumed, the whole thing is uncovered and the lamb is ready to be served. The gentleman who is the expert also prepares the Rosvopaisti in Finland at which they serve upward of a thousand people. He told me that the whole thing gets very hot and requires a good fireman's outfit including a mask and breather.

These pictures are from the celebration in 2006. If you are interested in the Winter War, check out the five-part serise on Youtube. Just type in "www.youtube.com/watch?v=-G59ilVg6ZE&mode=related&search="

St. Patrick's Day in Lake Worth, Florida

2007-03-17T15:32:00.000-07:00

A wonderful tradition here in Lake Worth, Florida, is combining St. Patrrick's Day with St. Baldrick's Day which honors St. Baldrick by having your head shorn for a donation of at least $100 (usually supplied by your friends). Men, women, children all participate with five barbers donating their time and talents to sheer the volunteers. The money raised goes to "Kids With Cancer." The young lady in the first picture starts to look quite different in the last picture.

Brogues Irish Pub was the place to be in downtown Lake Worth today. Starting with a parade and ending sometime tomorrow morning, this place will be jumping. Though Betty and I have never observed what happens after about 10 p.m., we hear that things stay pretty calm (with the help of the Lake Worth PD of course).

Winter Hiatus

2007-03-02T05:26:00.000-08:00

We are comfortably ensconced in Lake Worth, Florida, for the next few weeks. It is a nice respite from the severe weather that the Copper Country has been experiencing lately.

Granddaughter Miranda, who lives and works in Copper Harbor, reports that reservations for the 2007 season of the Isle Royale Queen IV are coming in steadily. Of course this news makes us very relieved.

Since the Tigers were playing their spring training opening game on Tradition Field in Port St. Lucie, we decided to drive up there and take in the game. Here is the opening pitch by a youngster who wants to make the regular team. Unfortunately, with the arms they already have on the roster, there is very little chance for that.

For the record, the Tigers beat the mets 5-4. Most of the big-name Tiger players such as Pudge, Sheffield, and Ordonez were left back in Lakeland but those that did make the trip--Granderson, Perez, Casey, Thames, among others--played hard and well. For this 77 year old Tiger fan, that was good to see.

I have an interesting series of articles planned about our experiences from 1981-1983 when we owned a small coastal oil tanker, the M/T MacVie, in Curacao. We operated there under a time-charter from Shell Oil to deliver gasoil, gasoline, and propane fuel tanks from the Shell refinery in Curacao to the island of Bonaire, both being in the Netherlands Antilles.

But that will have to wait until we get home to Copper Harbor. Meantime, check out www.copperharbor.blogspot.com for a blog about Copper Harbor posted by one of my sons, Capt. Ben Kilpela.

Part VII: The Isle Royale Queen IV

2007-02-12T13:24:00.000-08:00

And so we come to the latest (last?) ferryboat to sail between Copper Harbor and Isle Royale National Park: the Isle Royale Queen IV.

She was purchased in Cape Canaveral, Florida, and sailed to the Harbor via the Tom Bigbee Waterway , Mississippi River, Illinois River, and Lake Michgan. She made her maiden voyage to Isle Royale on June 20, 2005.

Fabricated of aluminum and powered by three 12v71 Detroit Diesels, she makes the trip in 3 hours flat and at 100-feet by 20-feet she is roomy, warm, and comfortable. The picture was taken as she left on a sunset cruise, somnething we do every evening after returning from the island. Inasmuch as I am retired from sailing, we alternate the responsibility of captain among our three sons, Captains Don, Ben and John. This year, 2007, starts the 37th year since we bought the business. None of us ever looked back.

We like to remind everyone that, "more people visit Yellowstone Natonal park in one day than visit Isle Royale National Park in a whole summer. Come...be alone with us."

Part VI: The Isle Royale Queen III

2007-02-07T16:33:00.000-08:00

In 1989, the Isle Royale Queen II was returned to the Vinette Boat Company to be lengthened to 81-feet simply by adding 24 feet to the stern.
The design was done by Naval Architect Timothy Graul of Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. who also guided the Coast Guard testing and approval process. The vessel was re-christened the Isle Royale Queen III. The lengthening great improved the Queen's ability to take on high seas without diving and cork-screwing, a plunging motion which brough on a lot of seasickness resulkting in a variety of names: Barf Barge, Chuck Wagon, etc. The following year, the Queen III was repowered with twin Caterpillar engines.

The picture above shows her with a substantial "bone in her teeth." a phrase used by Great Lakes Captains to describe steamboats under full power. Like the Queen II before her, the Queen III was seaworthy; she handled everything Lake Superior dished up.

Part V: Isle Royale Queen II

2007-02-07T14:44:00.000-08:00

In 1955, after a successful career as a miner, commercial fisherman, and ferryboat owner and operator, Charlie Kauppi died. The Kauppi family sold the Copper Queen to the Sievertson family of Grand Portage, Minnesota, where she was re-christened Voyageur and put into service from Grand Portage to Isle Royale. The family also sold the Isle Royale Queen I to Capt. Ward Grosnick, a commercial fisherman out of Ripley, Michigan. Ward continued to sail the Queen I from Copper Harbor to Isle Royale from 1955 to 1959 when he had the T. D. Vinette Boat Company of Escanaba, Michigan, build the Isle Royale Queen II. The picture above is the Queen II being hauled down the main street of Escanaba on her way to the marina for launching. I am told by T.D. that the schoolchildren were excused so that they could watch her going by. When the Queen II was put into service, Ward sold the Queen I to a private party.

The Isle Royale Queen II was designed by Naval Architect Walter Haertel of Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. She was 57-feet in length with an 18-foot beam, fabricated of steel, and powered by three Gray Marine engines (later re-powered with twin Cummins). Marine Surveyor Capt. F. Manzzutti described her as follows: "...she was specially designed, staunch, graceful, open water long-voyage, heavy weather ferry...with a gracefully raked stem; streamline, contour, elliptical after-splay; tumble-home transom; rounded forefoot; slightly flared , raised bow; straight sides; vee bow merging to semi-modest vee bottom to midship thence to a near-flat bottom to the reinforced transom area."

Ward and his sons ran the Queen II until May, 1971, when he sold both the boat and business to the Donald Kilpela family of Livonia, Michigan. Pictured below is the Isle Royale Queen II taken in 1975 as she lay aside the Rock Harbor dock on Isle Royale National Park.

Part IV: Charlie's 2nd and 3rd Boat

2007-02-01T06:27:00.000-08:00

Pictured here are Kauppi's next two ferryboats, the Copper Queen and the Isle Royale Queen I.

After several years operating the Water Lily to Isle Royale, Kauppi determined that he needed to expand. Accordingly, in about 1936, he contracted with a local boat builder to fabricate the wooden hulled, 48-foot Copper Queen, a handsome yacht-like craft with a straight stem and a slightly rounded transom. Her fairing was exceptionally graceful from stem to stern. There is a nice picture of her in my first post. In the meantime, he sold the Water Lily to Ed Olson of Eagle Harbor (see my last post).

Unfortunately, the U.S.Coast Guard was beginning to enforce construction standards for ferryboats of the Great Lakes and Kauppi's beautiful new boat, because it lacked watertight bulkheads below the weatherdeck, was not certified to carry passengers for hire. Not to be stopped, Kauppi just continued carrying passengers as though they were on a private charter, with the "charter" consisting of the passengers who arrived each morning prior to sailing. The Copper Queen took 6-1/2 hours to sail the 56 statute miles to the island where he would stay overnight and return the next morning. In addition to Rock Harbor (see the NPS web site, www.nps.gov/isro), he would make stops at Belle Isle, where there was a lodge, and other coves and ports on the island. In addition, he would on occasion make a trip to Canada to what is now called Thunder Bay. The price for a round trip at that time was $5.00.

The increasing demand to go to the island convinced Charlie to add to his fleet. Within two years, he acquired the 52-foot, wooden hulled combination fishing and passenger boat and christened her the Isle Royale Queen I. This boat was certified by the USCG and Charlie could now legally operate a set schedule to the island and back. He ran both boats as well as his commercial fishing business until his death in 1955 at which time the Copper Queen was sold to the Grand Portage-Isle Royale Transportation Service and was re-christened the Voyageur where she served the island from Grand Portage, Minnesota. The Isle Royale Queen I was sold to Capt. Ward Grosnick of Copper Harbor who continued to run scheduled passenger service to the island.

Part III: The "Water Lily"

2007-01-31T14:26:00.000-08:00

Here is a picture of the Water Lily, Kauppi's first ferry boat sailing between Copper Harbor and Isle Royale. He began his charter service in 1930 and it proved to be successful. Of course before that there were several ways to get to the island: from Houghton on boats or seaplane; by one or more passenger vessels which sailed around Lake Superior and other Great Lakes; and from Grand Portage, Minnesota, and probably Port Arthur on Thunder Bay, Canada. In fact, I once saw an ad for a round trip from Buffalo, Ohio, to Isle Royale for $29.00.

The picture you see here was taken after Kauppi sold the vessel to Ed Olson (he is the one with a cap on leaning out of the window). The others in the picture are my Uncle Jack Kilpela and his two sons, Lawrence and Howard. There may have been other owners after Olson but I am aware of only one, John Fallon, of Hancock, Michigan. My youngest son, Capt. John, is betrothed to John Fallon's youngest daughter, Stefanie. Before he passed away in 2006, Fallon told me that he was the last owner and after that the boat was demolished probably by burning it. He kept the sidelights for a souvenir.

Ed Olson told me that for a few years he ran fishing charters to Isle Royale with the Water Lily out of Eagle Harbor, it being an attractive spot to embark for the island because it was the nearest Michigan port to the island, only 48 statute miles. I suspect the picture was taken at Olson's dock in Eagle Harbor.

Part II: Capt. Charlie Kauppi

2007-01-28T16:37:00.000-08:00

I mentioned Charlie Kauppi in the previous post. He was a Finnish Immigrant and commercial fisherman who fished and lived in the small community of Gay, Michigan. He also worked for a time in one of the copper mines in the area. In fact, Gay was a mill town and the remnants of that era, copper tailings, still fill what was once a magnificant, sweeping harbor; today it is a moonscape. In 1929, he took one of his fishing boats, the Water Lily, and converted it into a passenger boat and brought it to Copper Harbor to start running charters to Isle Royale which was about to be named a National park. Charlie was a short, stocky man (pictured here on the left) at the Rock Harbor dock on Isle Royale probably about 1940.

The first story I heard about Charlie, probably apocryphal, was that on a very stormy morning in about 1943 on Isle Royale with Lake Superior waves mounting between 14 and 18 feet, Charlie told his passengers that they would stay at the island until the lake subsided. Well, a Chicago man, who said he "had" to get back to Chicago, started begging Charlie to make the trip. Charlie was adamant. Finally, the Chicago man said, "Well, I didn't know that Finns had a yellow streak down their back."

That was enough for Charlie. "Okay," he said, "we go."

Two or three others decided that if Charlie would go they would too so the small bunch departed Rock Harbor in the Copper Queen. It was not long before the Chicago man got pretty frightened. The old Copper Queen was plunging and diving in the enormous waves. After about an hour out lake conditions were worsening as they started getting the full force of the waves. After all, the reach on a southwesterly is about 275 miles or all the way from Duluth.

Finally the Chicago man started pleading with Charlie to go back; "I'm sorry," he said. Several times he struggled forward to the small pilot house and begged Charlie to return. Charlie kept going.

Finally, the man asked, "Are we going to make it?"

Charlie answered, "We go as far as we can."

Part I: The Start

2007-01-26T13:06:00.000-08:00

In 1945, as a young boy of 15, I was taken to Isle Royale with my father aboard the Copper Queen, pictured above berthed in Rock Harbor, Isle Royale National Park. The Copper Queen was owned and operated by Charles Kauppi. a commercial fisherman who wanted to expand his business to include ferrying people to Isle Royale which was about to become a national park.

I was part of a family outing consisting of my two sisters, my uncles Jack and Bill, and one or two of Jack's kids. Upon arriving at the Kauppi dock in Copper Harbor, we discovered that the boat was already filled to capacity. Speaking in Finnish, Kauppi's native tongue, my Uncle Jack pleaded with him; they were well acquainted because Jack lived in Calumet, a few miles south of Copper Harbor: Uncle Jack used every argument he could think of including, "we go the the same church," though I was to learn later that Kauppi didn't really go to any church, and "my brother drve 600 miles for this trip," an argument which we have heard many times after we owned the boat. Finally Kauppi relented and stuffed us aboard. Since then, though I have made hundreds of circumnavigations between Copper Harbor and Isle Royale (a trip of 56 miles), that one still sticks out as one of the roughest: we were half under water most of the time. Uncle Bill sat me down in the galley which was forward and a few steps lower than the weather deck and had me eat sandwiches and crackers to keep from getting seasick. I didn't get sick and as I learned later I don't have a propensity for the malady because I have never been seasick.

Here's a picture of Charlie Kauppi looking out from the Copper Queen. He was a great man, fearless almost to the point of reckless, and as hard a working man as one could find. Before he began his service to Isle Royale in 1930, he was a fisherman on Lake Superior. As time goes by I will relate some of the stories about Charlie. They are gems.

After that overnight trip in 1945, I waited for 43 years to take my own family to Isle Royale which we did in 1968 and every year thereafter until we bought the ferry service in 1971, we, none of us, ever looked back.