Working the Lakes: Undaunted/PM41; the crew

This Great Lakes Boat Blog is a presentation of Filer Credit Union, with offices in Manistee, Ludington and Bear Lake, www.filercu.com and the Mason County Historical Society’s Port of Ludington Maritime Museum, ludingtonmaritimemuseum.org, located at 217 S. Lakeshore Dr., Ludington.

Read Part 1: Chuck Leonard here.

Story Mark Varenhorst, MCP Contributor; photos by Rob Alway, Editor-in-Chief

LUDINGTON — July 23 found me down at the Interlake Logistics Solutions dock to meet up with General Manager Chuck Leonard again. The tug Undaunted and its barge, Pere Marquette 41, was in Ludington, actually, and was unloading at the Reith Riley Ludington dock, leased from Interlake Maritime Services, parent company of Interlake Logistics and Lake Michigan Carferry.

Undaunted/PM 41 inbound in Ludington channel.

I got down there promptly at 8:20 a.m. to meet Leonard.  After talking a few moments we made our way through the fence up to the dock and to the Undaunted/PM41 as crew members were in the process of unloading aggregate. We stood on the dock and watched the large boom that towered over our heads unloading onto a nearby pile.

After watching the operation for a bit I was then introduced to David Jacobson, Undaunted’s first mated.  He was near one of the piles and was directing the operation from the ground.  Leonard introduced us and went about his business leaving me to talk to and follow Jacobson about.

I have never been on board a tug boat before much less a barge but I intended to make the most of the experience hopefully falling short of being a pest. This was an experience. Watching the belt conveyor system which was being fed by a loader and crane on board was a site to see.  Pretty much fluid motion.  The two operators kept the conveyor fed and Jacobson just directed where it would keep unloading, keeping a path for trucks along the outside.

First Mate David Jacobson

Jacobson mentioned that the conveyor system was one of a kind and had been there since the beginning of the operation. Both the other pieces of equipment had been replaced in recent years. We watched for a while and then he asked if I wanted to go on board. I would have gone up the ladder fast ahead of him as I was eager to see the operation, but I slowed myself down to be polite. We went up the ladder as one of the crewmen above held it steady for us. Jacobson then took me on a tour of the barge and getting as far as I could go without more safety gear on.

David Jacobson is from Mesick. He has been with Interlake Logistics since 2011, working his way up from able bodied seaman (AB) all the way now to first mate. He has been married to his wife Rhonda for 15 years and they have two kids, Austin and Amber, and three grandchildren.

As we walked about, I mentioned that I had been through Mesick many times, some of them when I had gone up to visit my daughter and son-in-law and family in the Thompsonville vicinity. Also, when I accompanied my cousin Randy Saxton on trips north to tractor pulls and parts swap meets and the like.

Dan Meeuwenberg, heavy equipment operator

Jacobson is in charge of the deckhands and loading and unloading. He also shares in navigation when underway with the captain and second mate. Their schedule is four hours on and eight hours off. As we made our way about and I took pictures of the Undaunted and the 41 Jacobson remarked, “the way 41 and tug are set up will go on forever like this.” This is something Leonard had remarked quite similarly a month ago in his office when I was speaking with him: The Undaunted/41 were perfectly paired, symbiotic.

As we went onto the Pere Marquette 41 (barge), I found everything running smooth as they proceeded with the unloading. It is interesting standing there and remembering that this barge is the old City of Midland 41 car ferry, which began service in 1941 for the Pere Marquette Railway.

Instead of the scrappers she found new life and further service in 1998 . Depends on ones’ perspective for sure, but for me, better to see her still performing a job and sailing the lakes then scrapped and gone forever.

As we came close to the one piece of equipment an operator came near so I grabbed his attention. He actually looked as if he wanted to bolt away and not talk to me.  Too late.

Dan Meeuwenberg is a head operator of the heavy equipment on the PM41. He has been with Interlake Logistics and the Undaunted for about 14 years now. Meeuwenberg is from Fremont. When I was asking the guys about communications and TV and such on board, Jacobson noted they have Starlink so they are able to make phone calls and stay in touch with family reasonably well. For television they rely on satellite. As I noted in the previous article on the Undaunted, the crew rotates on and off for time away, but it is rotated in such a way as to maintain continuity. Not everyone goes at once.

My editor Rob Alway (serving as photographer) and I were to meet the Undaunted in Holland on the 26th of this month but listening to them discuss the weather and holding in Ludington until after midnight I understood schedules slip according to things that happen along the way. Nature have a vote on schedules also. Seemed highly unlikely they would make it to Holland on that day, but you can only watch Marine Traffic or another app and watch their progress, if it updates rapidly enough.

Chuck Leonard talks about the Undaunted’s engines.

After looking about the barge we made our way back onto the tug.  I found myself somewhat amazed as from the ground it all looks much smaller.

We made our way up the narrow ladder to the bridge and I caught the red lights in the stairway and up to the bridge.  Ships use red lights so that crew can maintain night vision better. That way as you are walking through an area and then into a dark area your night vision returns faster than it would with bright light.

We spent a while on the bridge looking down at the operation below. From that high up you have quite a view of the entire barge area.  What you do not have a good view of is what it in front of the barge. Jacobson mentioned “when we are entering or leaving port we usually put someone on the bow to see better what is right in front of us.” That thought brought me right back to the Mason County Sheriff’s Office Marine Unit and riding with them. They would explain that the S.S. Badger coming and going and lower lakers or tug/barges have limited steering and sight and that boaters in the channel or Pere Marquette Lake or the harbor just do not seem to understand these ships cannot steer around them and have to keep moving to be able to steer. I remember Deputy Mike Fort mentioning that several times that they just need to keep small craft out of the way or aware of what is coming.

After taking my pictures of the bridge and the instrumentation there we made our way back down the ladder and met Leonard at the dock. I asked for and got a ride back to my Jeep and thanked him for having Jacobson show me about and explain the operation.  As I left they were holding for weather and planned to stay at the dock until sometime between midnight and 4 a.m. Weather at the top of the lake was a bit rough.

On July 27 the Undaunted and her charge PM41 stopped in Ludington again. They were unloading aggregate at the Reith Riley dock, a stop the make often.

Ryan Hansberger

As my editor Rob Alway and I made contact with Chuck Leonard again we made our way to the dock. The Undaunted was just arriving dockside and was being maneuvered to the pier. Alway had used the drone to capture footage of the Undaunted passing the lighthouse and entering the channel but caught up with me at the dock.

Leonard has a new office now but I miss his old location. His old office sat 20 feet from the stern of the old S.S. Spartan 42. Kind of neat to come to see him and stand that close to her often, but I digress. Since he recently became general manager of Lake Michigan Carferry, in addition to Interlake Logistics, he has moved into the LMC offices.

Now we were on the dock watching the tug move the barge into position to unload. Once secured First Mate David Jacobson made his way to me.  I had talked to him just days earlier. I asked if he had more crew that would be willing to talk with me and that got a smile and he went to check. On his return he told me “you will be talking to Ryan Hansberger when he can get free.  I stood on the dock and watched them start the unloading process.  A pleasant spot to be really right at the side of the lake on a very muggy warm evening.  A little bit later I shook hands with Hansberger promising him to not pester him too much, (but I am going to anyways).

Hansberger is an AB or able bodied seaman. He worked his way up from ordinary seaman to the spot he holds now. He also has his certificate in marine welding and has been with Interstate Logistics for six years now.  Hansberger graduated Ludington High School with the class of 1994. He and his wife Jennifer have six children and live in the Ludington area. He is a local guy who basically stayed local.

As we talked I mentioned his name was so familiar. When he mentioned his dad was Lyle Hansberger and had worked the marine unit at the Mason County Sheriff’s Office, and had been with the United States Coast Guard (USCG) all of it came together in my head. That started a conversation that took turns I had not expected. Hansberger mentioned that he had worked at Harsco Rail before coming to Interlake Logistics. I mentioned my friend Jim Glover who had been head of maintenance there and his face lit up. He knew Glover. Then he said, “well I did not come right from Harsco to this job. I worked for a time at Ludington Welding. I just looked at him sort of stunned. I told him, my dad worked there when he retired from Dow. I used to go down and take them donuts sometimes and say hi. He asked my dad’s name and I told him, Vic Varenhorst. He looked stunned. He said he worked with my dad, and his partner Willie Nelson. That brought on a conversation where I told him whenever I smell welding fumes all I see is my dad instantly. We talked about that for quite some time and he mentioned names that I knew from dad working for Dow.

I asked Hansberger how he found his way to Interlake Logistics. He said “I would have to thank Mark Monton for that. He asked me to help him with a job on the Badger and that got me interested. Also, Chuck Leonard, he helped me a lot”.

Unloading stones in Ludington

As we watched the barge being unloaded Hansberger said, “you know I wish I knew in high school about a career on the lakes.”

I actually knew exactly what he meant.  It’s a lifestyle and career that few seem to know about. We watch the Badger as it runs its season, we see the tugs and barges as they come and go and we see the lower lakers going by north or south bound, but few seem to think of the people who are on those ships who get them from point A to point B with occasional stops at, your port or your city or town.  That is the focus of this series. Be it on the working boats or any of the other boats performing their jobs. When you see them on the lakes on marine watch or another app, remember there are crews on all of them. The boats all have names.  The crews are the souls.

I will catch the Undaunted/PM 41 at another point and more of the crew can talk to me when they like. Or some I have already met can catch up.

Entering Ludington harbor

About the Undaunted/PM 41:

The Pere Marquette 41 is the former City of Midland 41 carferry, which was built for the Pere Marquette Railway in 1941, the last carferry built by Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company of Manitowoc, Wis. It became property of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad in 1947 when the C&O acquired the PMRR.

It ended its service as a car ferry in 1988, under the ownership of Ludington-based Michigan-Wisconsin Transportation, which was formed in 1983. In 1991 the 41, and its sister ships, the SS Spartan 42 and SS Badger 43, were sold to Ludington native Charles Conrad of Holland, Mich., who formed Lake Michigan Carferry.

The 41 was converted to a self-loading barge in 1997 by Lake Michigan Carferry, which formed Pere Marquette Shipping.

The tug displays its World War II service ribbons.

The 143-foot long Undaunted was built in 1943 by Gulfport Bolder & Welding Works in Port Arthur, Texas as USS Undaunted (ATR-126, ATA-199) for the U.S. Navy auxiliary fleet. It operated with two Cummins K38_M engines.

In 1963 it was transferred to Kings Point Merchant Marine Academy and renamed Kings Pointer for use as a training vessel. Basic Marine purchased it in 1993 and renamed it Krystal K. The company kept the tug laid-up at its Escanaba yard. In 1998, Pere Marquette Shipping purchased it and renamed it Undaunted. That year, Basic Marine rebuilt the tub, widening it, and also adding a new, raised pilothouse along with a hydraconn coupler system.

In 2020, the tug/barge operation was sold to Interlake Maritime Services of Middleburg Heights, Ohio. IMS also owns Lake Michigan Carferry, which includes the SS Badger and SS Spartan.

PM 41: length, 403 feet; width, 58 feet; depth, 23 feet

Undaunted: length, 143 feet; width, 38 feet; depth, 18 feet

Paired: length, 494 feet

The recently renovated galley

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