PM 21 capstan on display at the entrance of Loomis Street Boat Launch.
By Rob Alway, Editor-in-Chief
This Maritime History Blog is a presentation of the Mason County Historical Society’s Port of Ludington Maritime Museum, ludingtonmaritimemuseum.org, located at 217 S. Lakeshore Dr., Ludington.
LUDINGTON — Two historic car ferry capstans are on display in the City of Ludington. They belonged to sister car ferries Pere Marquette 21 and Pere Marquette 22, each built in 1924 by Manitowoc Shipbuilding Co. of Manitowoc, Wis.
PM 22 capstan on display at Port of Ludington Maritime Museum.
The capstan for the PM 21 can be found at the entrance to the Loomis Street Boat Launch. The capstan for the PM 22 is on display at the Port of Ludington Maritime Museum, just around the corner at the south end of Lakeshore Drive.
A capstan was a revolving cylinder with a vertical axis used for winding a line called a hawser. The earliest capstans were operated manually. The crew inserted levers into the holes an pushed against them to make revolve. The capstans of the PM 21 and 22 were operated by a motor to secure mooring lines, but could be used manually if the motor failed.
Several other car ferry artifacts can be found at the maritime museum and around the city, including a mooring post in front of the 1940 Armistice Day Storm Michigan historical marker in Stearns Park, a lifeboat for the SS City of Flint 32 at the Ludington Municipal Marina, along with two ferry propellers at Loomis Street Boat Launch, including one that has been made into a sculpture. In addition to the Armistice Day Storm historical marker, another marker is on the south end of Stearns Park commemorating the sinking of the Pere Marquette 18 in 1910.
The Mason County Historical Society is a non-profit charitable organization that was founded in 1937 that does not receive any governmental funding. It owns and operates the Port of Ludington Maritime Museum in Ludington, Historic White Pine Village in Pere Marquette Township, and The Rose Hawley Archives and the Mason County Emporium and Sweet Shop in downtown Ludington.
The Port of Ludington Maritime Museum, located at 217 S. Lakeshore Dr., Ludington, is currently open Thursday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. until Tuesday, May 27 when it will be open Tuesday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Wednesdays through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
For more information about donating to and/or joining the Mason County Historical Society, visit masoncountymihistory.org.
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