Features

Capt. Bahle was first master of PM 22, City of Flint

August 11, 2026

This Great Lakes History Log is presented by Filer Credit Union, the Port of Ludington Maritime Museum and Sable Points Media.  By Rob Alway, Editor-in-Chief Capt. Esten Bahle spent more than four decades on the Great Lakes, guiding vessels through one of the most significant periods of change in maritime history. Beginning his career aboard sailing schooners and ending it on some of the…

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Civil War veteran Charles Wolf Sr. served in two branches, then homesteaded in Amber Township

August 10, 2026

This Great Lakes History Log is presented by Filer Credit Union and the Mason County Historical Society. On Thursday, Aug. 13, the Mason County Historical Society will present a walking tour of Brookside Cemetery featuring some of the pioneers of Scottville and Amber Township. Among the many pioneers who founded those two communities was Charles Wolf Sr. Tickets are still…

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Family research reshapes one of Lake Michigan’s best-known maritime legends

July 24, 2026

This Great Lakes History Log is presented by Filer Credit Union, the Port of Ludington Maritime Museum and Sable Points Media.  By Rob Alway, Editor-in-Chief AMBER TOWNSHIP — For nearly a century, Andrew Petterson’s account of the three-masted schooner Mary Ellen Cook riding a giant wave over Chicago’s breakwater has been accepted as one of Mason County’s most remarkable maritime stories. First published in…

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From Beaver Island fisherman to captain of a Great Lakes legend

July 17, 2026

Masters of the PM Steamers This Great Lakes History Log is presented by Filer Credit Union, the Port of Ludington Maritime Museum and Sable Points Media.  By Rob Alway, Editor-in-Chief Every September, the sinking of Pere Marquette 18 is remembered as one of the greatest maritime disasters in the history of Lake Michigan. The Sept. 9, 1910 tragedy claimed 30…

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Gile and Stearns: Ludington’s world-renowned marine engine builders

July 11, 2026

This Great Lakes History Log is presented by Filer Credit Union and the Port of Ludington Maritime Museum. By Rob Alway, Editor-in-Chief The present-day Ludington Municipal Marina occupies the site of what was once one of Michigan’s most innovative marine engine factories. From 1909 until the early years of the Great Depression, the Gile Boat and Engine Company and its…

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