Second Mate Charlie Arnott stands watch on the stern providing docking directions for Capt. Ed Wiltse.
MCP Great Lakes Boat Blog
Photos and story by Rob Alway, Editor-in-Chief
LAKE MICHIGAN — On Monday, Sept. 29, MCP contributing writer Mark Varenhorst and myself spent the day on the S.S. Badger. Our purpose for the trip was to feature some of the many people who keep the 72-year-old vessel operating.
Our day was spent talking to a variety of crew members, including members of the engine department, the deck department and the galley.
For some, working for Lake Michigan Carferry is a part time summer job. For others, it’s a good paying full time job. But, that’s it. It’s a job. It seems, though, however, that the vast majority work on the Badger because it’s more than just a job. It’s a lifestyle. It’s being part of a 150-year-old Ludington tradition. Even among that group, there are those who have great pride in working on a legendary ship and then there are those who take it to a whole other level. They know every inch of the boat, its history, its predecessors’ histories, and, likely, much of the history of most of the ships that operate on the Great Lakes.
As a Mason County-based journalist, I have covered the stories of the carferries since 1989. But, my love for the boats began as a kid in the ’70s. Sadly, I grew up in a time when the great tradition of multiple carferries in Ludington was coming to an end. I have fond memories of riding at least one of the boats to Wisconsin. Our childhood memories are often foggy, especially from the days when family vacation photographs were taken with film and therefore not as liberally documented as they are nowadays. I do remember taking a trip to Milwaukee on the Spartan and then visiting the Milwaukee Zoo. It’s funny because what I remember the most of my trip on the Spartan is discovering that I didn’t like relish on my hot dogs.
Docking maneuvers in the engine room. Senior Chief Engineer Andrew VerVelde, of Hart, left, operates the port side engines; Oiler Wade Studnick of Ludington, center, monitors the gauges; First Engineer Gary Hanson of Manton, right, operates the starboard engines. The captain gives orders from the aft pilot house several floors above.
I also remember my grandmother talking about how she and her friends would “ride the boats” over to Milwaukee and back, spending the day playing cards. Their trips were likely on either the Badger or the Spartan, which typically ran the regular Ludington-Milwaukee route. I would imagine that nearly anyone whose family has lived in Mason County for more than a generation can relate some story about themselves or a family member on the carferries.
I became more in tune with the importance of the carferries when I began my newspaper career my freshman year of college. At that time the last remaining boats (Badger 43, Spartan 42 and City of Midland 41) were owned by local entrepreneurs Glen Bowden and George Towns, who operated Michigan-Wisconsin Transportation. They purchased the boats from the C&O Railroad in 1983. The railroad had spent the last 15-plus years dismantling cross-lake service, a result of better efficiency in rail yard traffic through Chicago.
The M-WT business model was to keep transporting rail freight across Lake Michigan, with the City of Midland 41 traveling to Kewaunee, Wis. and, seasonally, the Badger traveling to Milwaukee. Due to engine issues, the 41 was eventually side-lined and the Badger became the primary boat. The summer Milwaukee route did not have much success.
I remember the despair of our community when, on Nov. 16, 1990, the Badger made her final trip to Kewaunee. It seemed that it was the end of a 115-year industry. Then, in July 1991, Charles Conrad purchased the boats. Conrad was born in Ludington. His father, James Burton Conrad, was an engineer on the ferries when they were owned by the Pere Marquette Railway. Charles himself worked on the boats as a teen. He became a successful businessman in Holland, Mich., developing a refrigeration system that was utilized by NASA.
Members of the crew unload coal when the boat is docked in Manitowoc.
As a staff photographer/writer for the newspaper, along with my colleague Todd Reed, we covered the M-WT bankruptcy hearings in Grand Rapids. I was in court the day that the bankruptcies were finalized and the newly formed Lake Michigan Carferry was granted the go-ahead to operate the carferries.
Charles Conrad’s vision for the carferries was different than the previous century’s business plan. He, along with his partners Jim Andersen and Don Clingan, developed a new cross-lake experience. Using the Badger, they developed a passenger-oriented experience that transported non-rail vehicles to Manitowoc, Wis. The carferry service hadn’t been in Manitowoc for nearly two decades. But, the City of Manitowoc advocated strongly to become the port-of-call on the Wisconsin side.
Because of the vision of Charles Conrad, the Badger continues to sail today. Under the leadership of his son-in-law, Robert Manglitz, along with Andersen and Clingan, the company made the difficult choice to re-purpose the City of Midland 41 into a barge, forming a new division, which creating an additional revenue stream for the business. The Spartan continued and continues to be sidelined. However, because it is nearly identical to the Badger, the Spartan has helped provide spare parts to the Badger for the past three decades. Therefore, the Badger’s sisters, the 41 and the Spartan, have helped keep the Badger alive.
Wheelsman Corey Ottgen of Ludington steers the ship, following orders from Capt. Ed Wiltse of Traverse City.
In 2020, Lake Michigan Carferry was purchased by Interlake Maritime Services, the largest shipping company on the Great Lakes. The Barker family, the predominant owners of Interlake, have deep roots in the maritime industry. The company immediately dry-docked the Badger and gave her a new paint job and began making other needed-repairs (which continue today). In 2023, one of the 90-year-old counter-weights at Ludington Slip No. 2 (the Badger’s berth) collapsed. While this cut the season short, it also resulted in the complete replacement of not only the weights, but the docks. A sure-sign of the commitment Interlake has for seeing the continued operation of the Badger for years to come.
Through this series, we want to highlight these Big Lake heroes, our local mariners. I want to share their stories and, possibly, encourage others to consider a career working on the lakes.
Over the next week, or so, Mark and I will tell the stories of these crew members. We will also continue to tell the stories of the members of the Undaunted/Pere Marquette 41, the tug/barge operation that continues, and is equally as important as the Badger’s operation.
Coal Passer Ma’at Jaiborn of Traverse City operates the coal conveyor.
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