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This MCP Great Lakes Boat Blog is a presentation of House of Flavors Restaurant of Ludington and the Mason County Historical Society’s Port of Ludington Maritime Museum. Please be sure to visit our companion site, www.greatlakesboatblog.com for more photographs.
By Rob Alway, Editor-in-Chief
Friday, June 20, 2025
MUSKEGON — My focus the last few days has been centered around the Aquastar, a vessel that’s quite a bit smaller than many of my previous featured boats. Its size, though, makes it no less of a Great Lakes legend than the “big boats” featured in this blog.
The 61-foot-long Aquastar is owned by Aquastar Lake Cruises, a division of Sand Products Corporation, one of the oldest family-operated marine companies on the Great Lakes.
This blog actually begins on Thursday, June 19. My daughter Avoca and I traveled to Muskegon from Scottville to capture some photos with the drone of the Aquastar’s evening cruise, knowing we would be returning the following day for a family cruise.
There is so much maritime nostalgia and history connected to the Aquastar and Sand Products, I plan on writing more features on the various components of the company. The boat is docked at the historical Mart Dock, 560 Mart St., near downtown Muskegon. The dock’s roots date back to the late 1800s when it was owned by the Goodrich Transportation Co.
The Aquastar’s ticket office is the same ticket office used by the Milwaukee Clipper passenger and auto ferry, which is now a museum ship located further to the west at the old Grand Trunk Railroad ferry docks in the Lakeside District.
The Aquastar sits between two US Navy veteran ships: The LST 393 museum ship and the Marine Angle (named the McKee Sons and converted to a tug/barge in 1953) — each of those ships will be the topics of future Boat Blogs.
Until Sept. 28, the Aquastar offers an afternoon cruise and sunset cruise Wednesdays through Sundays. From Oct. 3 to Oct. 18, it offers a sunset cruise on Fridays, and an afternoon cruise and sunset cruise Saturdays and Sundays. Many of the evening cruises feature live music and special themes.
We took the afternoon cruise, which left at 2 p.m. (it leaves at 3 p.m. later in the season). The summer sunset cruises leave at 8 p.m. Some departure times change during the season, so be sure to check the website, www.aquastarcruises.com.
Light snacks and a selection of non-alcoholic and alcoholic beverages are sold on the boat. The boat offers an open top deck and a lower enclosed passenger deck. It holds up to 123 passengers.
The cruise travels west along the south shore of Muskegon Lake toward the Muskegon channel.
Capt. Ken Haines at the helm.
The re-development of Muskegon Lake over the last several decades is a testament to the determination of a community set to reinvent itself from a 20th century industrial giant to a tourist destination. The cruise features great views for history buffs: The captain made sure to slow down and get close to the Muskegon Clipper museum ship (another future Boat Blog); the empty space that once was the home of Sappi Paper; and of course, the channel which is home to the USS Silversides Museum (again, another future Boat Blog). The captain stopped short of going into the Big Lake and turned around at the pier heads, then we made our way back. The cruise took about 1 hour, 45 minutes. The sunset cruise I watched the previous night went into Lake Michigan for a few minutes.
Passing the Milwaukee Clipper
Our cruise was skippered by Capt. Ken Haines, who has 48 years experience on the lakes, 45 as a captain. Capt. Haines spent most of his career operating tug/barge vessels on the Great Lakes. He has worked out of Muskegon since 1986. Kaines was assisted by his first mate Ruby Rose, his trusty 2 1/2-year-old dog.
Aquastar Lake Cruises offers public and private cruises. The boat often provides cruises for charitable causes.
Visit www.aquastarcruises.com for more information about booking.
Aquastar passes its slip-mate, the McKee Brothers tug/barge.
Now, for the boat nerds:
The Aquastar was built in 1966 at Blount Marine Corp. in Warren RI. From 1966 to 1987 it operated as the Island Queen for Arnold Transit Company, transporting passengers from Mackinac Island to Mackinaw City and St. Ignace. In 1987, it was purchased by Sylvia and Ralph Precious who renamed it the Port City Princess and operated it from the Mart Dock, offering cruises on Muskegon Lake. In 2018, after Ralph passed away, Slylvia decided to sell it. As part of the dock lease, Sand Products had been granted a first right of refusal to purchase the boat.
Sand Products Corp. Vice President Patrick McKee said many people in Muskegon were upset that the Port City Princess was going to leave.
“Our company hadn’t been in the passenger business since 1970, so there had been a little hiatus for us,” McKee said with a laugh. “But, we decided let’s do it.”
The company purchased the boat and held a contest on a local radio station to rename it.
“We had some great name suggestions but the two that stood out were Aquarama and Marine Star, which were two ships that our company once owned. We decided to declare a tie and pay tribute to both vessels by renaming the boat the Aquastar.”
The boat’s logo and paint scheme are based on the old passengers ships that were once sailed out of the Mart Dock. The boat was re-christened Aquastar on Aug. 3, 2018 by Miss Michigan and Miss Shoreline.
The Aquastar is 61 feet long, 27 feet wide, with a depth of 5 feet.
Sand Products Corp. is likely one of the most diverse maritime businesses on the Great Lakes.
The company observed its centennial in 2024. It was founded near Port Austin, Michigan along Lake Huron as Port Crescent Sand & Fuel Co. by brothers Max and Mark McKee. The brothers were raised as farmers and, while growing up, lived in various places around the Midwest before settling in Michigan. They also were both lawyers but had worked in the insurance business as well. Port Crescent Sand & Fuel Co. mined sand to supply to Detroit foundries. In 1931, they built the Mart Dock near downtown on what had been the former site of the Blodgett and Byrne Lumber Mill, and was then used by legendary Goodrich Transportation Co. as a passenger and freight terminal. The purchase of the property resulted in the formation of Muskegon Dock & Fuel Co. and West Michigan Dock & Market Co.
The Mart Dock was a multi-use shipping terminal that included cold storage for agriculture, coal and pig iron storage, along with a variety of other goods. It also provided passenger service, conveniently located less than a block from the Muskegon train station.
The history of Sand Products Corp. was well documented by Brendan Falkowski in a 2024 Know Your Ships Great Lakes Feature Magazine. The company has owned multiple ships over the years, some that still sail the Great Lakes. Today, Max and Patrick McKee, grandsons of Max B. McKee, continue to be involved in the corporation. Max serves as chairman of the board and Patrick serves as vice president. Chuck Canstraight is president and Scott Musselman is chief operating officer.
In 1939, the McKee brothers purchased the idle wooden passenger ships Juniata and Octorana with the intention to update the ships for passenger and automobile ferry service out of Muskegon. The Juniata was built in 1904 and was rebuilt at Manitowoc Shipbuilding Co. in 1940 with a new fireproof superstructure. It was re-named the Milwaukee Clipper and re-entered service in 1941 operating between Muskegon and Milwaukee. The ship ended operations in 1970 and is now a museum ship in Muskegon. I’ll post a blog on the Clipper in the near future. Visit www.milwaukeeclipper.com for more information.
The fate of the Octorana was much different. Sister ship of the Juniata, it also was planned for passenger and auto ferry service. However, in 1942, the U.S. Navy requisitioned the ship for wartime service. It eventually ended up in San Francisco and the government would not re-sell it back to Sand Products. The McKees attempted to obtain its bell but an admiral wanted it instead, Patrick McKee said. Over time, though, the bell was donated to the Detroit Historical Society’s Dossin Great Lakes Museum. It is now the bell at the Mariner’s Church in Detroit. It is the bell referred to in Gordon Lightfoot’s 1976 hit song “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.”
Another famous vessel that continues to be owned by Sand Products is the USS LST 393. The 328-foot-long equipment transport ship (LST – landing, ship, tank), earned three battle stars during World War II and participated in D-Day, the Allied invasion of France on June 6, 1944.
The ship was purchased by Sand Products in 1948. Renamed the Highway 16, it carried automobiles from Detroit factories to Milwaukee and western markets. It also transported Nash automobiles, built in Milwaukee, to Muskegon and eastern markets. That ship ended service in 1973 and sat at the Mart Dock for years until in 2000 a group approached the McKees and proposed a museum ship. While those efforts were unsuccessful, in 2005, the USS LST 393 Preservation Association, a non-profit organization, was formed and began restoration. Today, the group operates the museum ship at the Mart Dock. See www.lst393.org for more information. In 2023, I wrote a feature story on the museum ship for Mason County Press. See that article here. I will be updating that in the near future and will post it on Great Lakes Boat Blog.
Sand Products Corp. has also owned some of the ships that continue to operate on the Great Lakes. Most notable are the ships now named Robert S. Pierson, Manitowoc, and Calumet.
The company also owns Port City Marine Service, which operates a fleet of tug/barges. As with the other ships discussed here, that service will be the subject of future blogs.
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For more maritime stories, please be sure to visit www.GreatLakesBoatBlog.com,
a service of Media Group 31, LLC, in partnership with Sable Points Media.
This MCP Great Lakes Boat Blog is a presentation of House of Flavors Restaurant of Ludington and the Mason County Historical Society’s Port of Ludington Maritime Museum, ludingtonmaritimemuseum.org, located at 217 S. Lakeshore Dr., Ludington. Please be sure to visit our companion site, www.greatlakesboatblog.com for more photographs.
House of Flavors Restaurant, 402 W. Ludington Ave., Ludington
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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