Research vessel Arcticus takes refuge in Ludington as Lake Michigan gale builds

This MCP Boat Blog is presented by the Port of Ludington Maritime Museum, www.masoncountymihistory.org.

By Rob Alway, Editor-in-Chief

LUDINGTON — The U.S. Geological Survey research vessel Arcticus entered Ludington harbor Monday evening as a powerful Lake Michigan gale began building across the lake.

While the reason for the port call has not been confirmed by the vessel’s operators, Arcticus’ arrival came as mariners were being warned of increasingly hazardous conditions on the open lake. The National Weather Service forecast Monday called for south winds increasing to gales of 40 knots Monday night and Tuesday, with waves building to 12 to 16 feet and occasionally reaching 21 feet on portions of Lake Michigan extending from the eastern shore to mid-lake. The National Weather Service advised mariners to remain in port, seek safe harbor or alter course to avoid the conditions.

The forecast was severe enough that Lake Michigan Carferry cancelled both of Tuesday’s scheduled crossings of the SS Badger between Ludington and Manitowoc, Wis. Lake Michigan Carferry cited predicted gale-force winds and waves of 12 to 16 feet, with occasional waves reaching 21 feet, in announcing the cancellation Monday. The Badger was scheduled to depart Ludington at 9 a.m. Tuesday and Manitowoc at 2 p.m. Central Time.

By Tuesday morning, the National Weather Service forecast for Lake Michigan from Pentwater to Manistee, extending five nautical miles offshore to mid-lake, was calling for waves of 10 to 14 feet, occasionally reaching 18 feet, before gradually subsiding later in the day.

Arcticus is a 77.5-foot steel-hulled research vessel owned and operated by the U.S. Geological Survey’s Great Lakes Science Center. Based at the USGS Cheboygan Vessel Base, it works primarily on lakes Michigan and Huron as one of five large research vessels operated by the center on the Great Lakes.

The vessel was built in 2014 by Burger Boat Company in Manitowoc, making Monday’s Ludington port call particularly fitting for a vessel constructed directly across Lake Michigan. Arcticus was designed by JMS Naval Architects of Mystic, Conn. USGS took delivery of the vessel on Oct. 17, 2014. Design and construction cost about $5.6 million.

Arcticus measures 77 feet, 5 inches long and 26 feet wide, with a draft of about 8.9 feet. It has a cruising speed of approximately 9.5 knots and a maximum speed of just over 10 knots. Propulsion is provided by two Caterpillar C12 diesel engines producing 454 horsepower each. A bow thruster gives the vessel additional maneuverability and allows it to maintain position while scientists conduct research operations.

Rather than carrying cargo, Arcticus carries scientists and an assortment of specialized equipment used to study the Great Lakes ecosystem. Its primary mission is fisheries research, particularly annual assessments of prey fish populations in lakes Michigan and Huron. Those surveys continue a USGS research program dating to the 1970s and provide fisheries managers with information about long-term changes in the fish community. The data are used when evaluating management decisions including predator stocking and harvest quotas.

Arcticus is essentially a floating laboratory. Scientists aboard the vessel conduct bottom-trawl surveys, hydroacoustic surveys using sound to locate and estimate fish populations, gill-net surveys, plankton sampling and benthic-invertebrate sampling. Researchers also collect environmental information including water temperature, dissolved oxygen and water transparency.

The vessel includes wet and dry laboratories, retractable scientific transducers and a large working deck equipped for deploying nets and other research equipment. Arcticus was designed to accommodate a three-person vessel crew along with scientists during research trips. USGS lists sleeping accommodations for eight people, a full galley and two heads with showers, and says the vessel can remain at sea for up to 30 days.

Arcticus replaced the research vessel Grayling, which had served as a principal USGS research platform on lakes Michigan and Huron since 1977. Its name preserves a connection to that vessel: Arcticus comes from the scientific name of the Arctic grayling, Thymallus arcticus, a cold-water fish once native to Michigan.

The vessel normally ranges widely throughout Lake Michigan during its research season, making ports such as Ludington useful stopping points during lake-wide survey work. Monday’s arrival, however, coincided with one of the rougher Lake Michigan forecasts of the season — conditions significant enough to keep even the 410-foot SS Badger tied to the dock Tuesday.

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