Badger experienced some explosive Independence Days under Capt. Carl Ohman

September 7, 2026

Capt. Carl Ohman on board the Badger. Photo from Mason County Historical Society Rose Hawley Archives.

This Great Lakes History Log is presented by Filer Credit Union, the Port of Ludington Maritime Museum and Sable Points Media.

Masters of the PM Steamers

By Rob Alway, Editor-in-Chief

At 9:45 p.m. on July 4, 1963, the first of about 1,000 fireworks shells rose from the decks of the Badger off Milwaukee’s lakefront. Mortars near the bow and stern sent their charges into the night while sparks and smoke drifted across the carferry. Capt. Carl Ohman’s job was to keep the 410-foot vessel’s port side facing the shoreline while the display was underway.

The fireworks concluded “A Day in Old Milwaukee,” an Independence Day celebration sponsored by the Jos. Schlitz Brewing Company and its employees. The day’s main attraction was a parade of historic circus wagons from the Circus World Museum at Baraboo, Wisconsin. Organizers wanted a fireworks show from the water so larger aerial pieces could be used away from spectators and shoreline property. When no sufficiently large barge was available, the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway offered the Badger.

SS Badger in the 1950s. Photo from the Mason County Historical Society Rose Hawley Archives Ernest Beimer Photograph Collection

Ohman had been sailing Lake Michigan for 28 years by then. Advance publicity for the event described the assignment as one of the most unusual of his career, which had taken him from deckhand to captain. Holding a loaded carferry in position in Milwaukee Harbor while fireworks were fired from its decks required the same kind of seamanship he had used throughout his career, just under much different circumstances.

Preparations began at 5 p.m. when the Badger docked at Jones Island to discharge freight and take aboard a 15-man crew from the Star Fireworks Manufacturing Company of Danville, Illinois. At 6:45 p.m., the ferry moved into deeper water and anchored about a mile offshore opposite Milwaukee’s Memorial Center. The Milwaukee fireboat Deluge anchored off the Badger’s port bow at 8:10 p.m.

Strict no-smoking rules were enforced around the fireworks. At 9:40 p.m., the engine-room blowers were shut down to prevent sparks from being drawn into the ship. The temperature below climbed to nearly 100 degrees.

Capt. Carl Ohman. Photo from Mason County Historical Society Rose Hawley Archives.

Milwaukee Journal reporter David N. Mitchell watched from aboard the ferry as the fireworks crew reloaded 20 mortars and crew members stamped out sparks or used extinguishers when embers landed on deck. The display lasted about 45 minutes. When it ended, charred debris covered portions of the deck. The Badger sounded a series of whistle blasts and then headed back to port for another load of freight.

Ohman’s career on the Ludington carferries had begun nearly three decades earlier and followed a family tradition. Carl Phillip Ohman was born April 17, 1912, at Kewadin in Antrim County, the son of Philip Ohman, 1885-1952, and Beatrice Larsen Ohman, 1893-1971. He grew up in Elk Rapids.

Philip Ohman spent 28 years aboard the railroad carferries and served as first mate on Pere Marquette 21 and Pere Marquette 22. He and Beatrice later lived on a farm in Victory Township, northeast of Ludington.

Carl moved to Ludington in 1935 and began working for the Pere Marquette carferries. He remained with the operation after it came under Chesapeake & Ohio ownership. He married Helen Tressa Elizabeth Chvala, 1915-1990, on May 4, 1940. The couple later divorced. On June 6, 1952, he married Anne D. Romanosky, 1923-2000, in Ludington. His family included daughters Sheila and Diana, and stepsons Joseph and Robert Kuncaitis.

Carl followed his father aboard Pere Marquette 21 and Pere Marquette 22, serving as master aboard both vessels in 1954. He also served as first mate of the Spartan and worked as a relief captain throughout the C&O’s Lake Michigan carferry fleet. His assignments included the Badger, whose regular captain, Bernard “Bunny” Robertson, 1906-1992, commanded the ship from 1953 until 1969.

One of Ohman’s Badger assignments is documented in a Nov. 20, 1957, marine casualty report. At about 1:25 a.m., he was bringing the ferry into No. 3 slip at Ludington after waiting for a berth at the “Island.” A 35 mph wind pushed the ship’s starboard side against the slip’s outer pilings. The pilings were damaged, but an inspection found no apparent damage to the ferry. Ohman reported the incident to the railroad’s marine office and the Coast Guard.

A July 1958 Ludington Daily News item described Ohman as a first mate and relief captain on the C&O trainferries. His obituary later stated that he had been a captain since May 1959.

SS Spartan. Photo from Mason County Historical Society Rose Hawley Archives Ernest Beimer Photo Collection.

The Spartan also figured prominently in his career. The vessel received a C&O safety award at Huntington, West Virginia, on May 7, 1963, and Ohman kept photographs and material from the presentation. That summer’s Milwaukee publicity also credited him with directing ferries through Lake Michigan ice packs and twice maneuvering a C&O ferry to rescue people from small boats in distress.

The Badger returned to Milwaukee for another Fourth of July fireworks assignment in 1964, again with Ohman in command. This time, the planned display called for 3,000 aerial bursts in 55 minutes, including 1,400 imported Japanese pieces.

The operation required considerable coordination. C&O Superintendent of Steamships Theodore Winkel issued a special schedule for the Badger, known in company paperwork as Steamer 43. The ship was to leave Ludington at 11 a.m., 30 minutes ahead of its regular departure, unload at Jones Island and take aboard the fireworks equipment. After the display, the plan called for the ferry to return to Jones Island about 11:45 p.m. and be ready for a 3 a.m. departure from Milwaukee on July 5.

Great Lakes Towing Company also became involved. Capt. James Hallahan was concerned that a tug assigned to the Badger for the entire evening could be needed elsewhere. The plan was adjusted so the ferry could move out into Lake Michigan while the fireworks were arranged and return to the harbor shortly before the show. Wind direction would determine whether the vessel faced north or south, and Ohman worked with Milwaukee tug captains on the final handling arrangements.

Capt. Ohman. Photo from Mason County Historical Society Rose Hawley Archives.

The Coast Guard required the Badger’s fire main to remain pressurized, with hoses laid out forward and aft on the car deck and extinguishers positioned near the firing areas. Police, Coast Guard and fireboats were assigned to help keep small craft away from the ship. Passengers and guests were not allowed to remain aboard during the display.

A shipboard checklist called for six hose stations, each staffed by a crew member. Deadlights, windows and midship gangways were to be closed. Intake fans were shut down, the car-deck sprinkler system was placed in operation aft, and even the deck chairs were moved because of their plastic webbing.

The 1963 fireworks assignment remained memorable enough that in July 1968, W.A. “Bill” Hansen sent Ohman a copy of the old publicity material. In a handwritten note, Hansen wrote that he had been cleaning out old files and thought Ohman might want the material from 1963.

By 1969, Ohman was listed as captain of the Badger. The 1969 and 1970 Red Book both listed him in that position. His obituary also identified him as skipper of the Badger at the time of his death.

Grave of Capt. Carl and Anne Ohman at South Victory Cemetery.

Ohman died May 29, 1970, at University Hospital in Ann Arbor after several days as a patient. He was 58 and had spent about 35 years working aboard the Ludington carferries.

He is buried at South Victory Cemetery in Mason County’s Victory Township, northeast of Ludington, next to his second wife, Anne D. Romanosky Ohman, and near his parents, Philip and Beatrice Ohman.

Ohman’s career connected two generations of the same family with several eras of Ludington carferry service. His father had served as first mate aboard Pere Marquette 21 and Pere Marquette 22. Carl later served aboard those vessels, the Spartan and the Badger, rising from deckhand to captain. The Milwaukee fireworks displays were only two nights in a 35-year career, but they placed one of Ludington’s carferry captains and one of the fleet’s largest ships at the center of a major public celebration across the lake.

Masters of the PM Steamers series to date:

In search of information

Editor’s Note: I am seeking historical artifacts and stories from people whose family members worked as ship captains or in Ludington’s maritime industry. While this project focuses on the Ludington carferry fleet, I am also interested in items related to anyone from Mason County who worked on the Great Lakes or oceans.

This series has three goals:

To share Ludington’s rich maritime history with readers of the Mason County Press.
To publish a biographical book about the Ludington fleet captains.
To create an interactive kiosk exhibit at the Port of Ludington Maritime Museum for historical research.

I am looking for artifacts such as photographs, written documents, or digitized materials. Items will be placed in the Mason County Historical Society archives, and donors will receive documentation of their contribution.

If you have items or stories to share, please email editor@mediagroup31.com or call/text 231-757-3202.

Note: I am also interested in collections related to the Mason County railroad industry.

If you would like to financially contribute to the book project, please click here for more information.

_________________________________

Please Support Local News Coverage

For generations, local newspapers were supported by subscriptions. Today, while Mason County Press and Oceana County Press remain free to everyone, the cost of producing quality local journalism continues to rise.

If you value independent local news coverage, we invite you to help sustain it by subscribing to the MCP/OCP Daily Briefing for $12 a month — about 40 cents a day — or $120 a year.

Your subscription helps support the reporters, photographers and editors who cover local government, schools, community events, sports, breaking news and the stories that matter most to Mason and Oceana counties. In return, you’ll receive the MCP/OCP Daily Briefing each morning with the day’s headlines, along with occasional breaking news and special email editions.

Monthly subscriptions are available for $12 per month.
Click here to subscribe monthly.

Annual subscriptions are available for $120 per year.
Click here to subscribe annually.

If you prefer to pay by check, mail your $120 annual payment to:

Media Group 31, LLC
P.O. Box 21
Scottville, MI 49454

Please include your name, mailing address, email address and telephone number so we can activate your subscription.

Subscription payments must be received before service is activated.

Whether you choose to subscribe or continue enjoying our free content, thank you for reading Mason County Press and Oceana County Press. Your readership—and your support—helps ensure that independent local journalism remains available to everyone in our communities.

This story and original photography are copyrighted © 2026 by Media Group 31, LLC, P.O. Box 21, Scottville, MI 49454. All rights reserved. No portion of this story or its images may be reproduced in any form, including print, broadcast or electronic media, without the express written permission of Media Group 31, LLC.

As a news organization, Media Group 31 maintains published content as part of the public and historical record. Accordingly, stories are not removed after publication. At the editor’s discretion, stories may be updated or corrected as new information becomes available. Updates may be made by revising the original story or by publishing a follow-up story. Media Group 31, LLC reserves the right to modify this policy at any time. Please refer to our Use Policy for additional information.