Friends of the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum often tell us about their favorite part of our campus. Some visitors love to explore our numerous exhibits on maritime history while other guests enjoy checking out the work going on in the Conservation Lab, Boatshop, or the Blacksmith Arts Center. LCMM is also well-known for our working replica fleet, featuring the Revolutionary War Gunboat replica Philadelphia II and our 1862-class sailing canal schooner, Lois McClure. You may be surprised to learn then, that since 2000 LCMM has been home to the Maritime Research Institute. The MRI is composed of archeologists, conservators, historians, and researchers with a passion for protecting and sharing the underwater cultural heritage of Lake Champlain. We are also actively involved in archeological dives and projects throughout New England and Canada.

This past winter, LCMM/MRI staff members conducted an archeological survey of remaining Champlain Canal and Feeder Canal features in Fort Edward, NY. The area has been a site of strategic importance since the first British fort was erected there in 1709. The town played a role in the French & Indian War, the American Revolution, and the War of 1812. From 1822-23, the Champlain Canal was constructed in Fort Edward, and the New York State Barge Canal was completed between 1905-1913.

The MRI crew at a feature in the Fort Edward Survey

After months of careful planning, examining historical maps, and conducting archival research, MRI archeologists Adam Kane, Chris Sabick, Sarah Tichnouk, Paul Gates and Alex Lehning traveled to Fort Edward for several days of archeological fieldwork. The team spent days exploring the woods, hills, streets, and waterways of the town looking for any remaining examples of the canal systems. Each potential site was meticulously documented with photographs, GIS (geographic information system) information, written observations, and sketches.

Alex Lehning and Chris Sabick examine an abandoned barge in the canal

A number of features were discovered, including canal walls and channels, a stone arch and bridge, a series of locks, and even a shipwreck (though it was only an abandoned barge)! Overall, it was a very successful expedition, and the MRI plans to conduct further research on their Fort Edward findings throughout the winter and spring. The MRI is grateful for all the support and assistance we received during our stay, with special thanks to Paul McCarty of the Fort Edward Historical Association.

Alex Lehning
Alex  works as a Conservation Technician with the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum and in his free time volunteers as a Merit Badge Counselor with the Green Mountain Council/Boy Scouts of America.

The C.L. Churchill at Shelburne Shipyard

The now familiar post-tour transition to winter is almost complete. The Lois returned to her winter berth at King Street and the Churchill is back at her long familiar winter quarters at the Shelburne Shipyard. We are developing a list of maintenance chores for these two hard-working wooden boats and hoping that the success of this year’s program and the potential of the proposed program for 2012 will permit a robust infusion of boat repair and enhancements.

With the 2011 season officially concluded, it is with great pride and satisfaction that I report that despite epic floods and hurricanes, the 2011 program “Sailing for Healthy Land and Lake” was a huge success. We safely navigated through a challenging series of weather events and hosted over 10,000 visitors during an adapted schedule.

The Cabot samples were a hit at Crown Point

The weather and its impact caused us to re-schedule in mid-tour, but also allowed us to partner with our friends on the tugboat Urger which added value and dimension to our educational outreach program. Our final stop at Crown Point to anticipate the opening of the new bridge was the perfect culmination to the season. The good feelings, shared accomplishments and high crew and volunteer moral has provided a strong platform to begin to envision next seasons tour opportunities.

It gives me satisfaction to share with you our plans for 2012; an ambitious four-month travel program that would embrace the theme of “1812: Commemorating the War; Celebrating the Peace.”

The War of 1812 was a conflict that reached across the Atlantic Ocean and engulfed the fledgling United States and Great Britain in what many have likened to a second War for Independence. The conflict emerged out of an intense struggle between Napoleon’s France and Great Britain and the British need to maintain their navy. This strategic need led Great Britain to more aggressively use a desperate practice of taking sailors off American ships to supply the never-ending need for men to supply their indispensable navy. America’s declared neutrality was no insulation to these “impressments” of sailors and interference with American commerce. The practice strained already weak relationships and led to a series of widely reported conflicts between the Royal Navy and its American warships that fanned the flames of war. The American “Embargo Acts” of 1807 forbidding American trade with Great Britain crippled Champlain Valley trade with British Canada and was met with scorn by a large segment of the population on both sides of the border. The Embargo stimulated an intensive cross-border maritime smuggling effort. By June of 1812, a tragic series of political missteps and miscommunications led the United States to declare war on Great Britain.

Next June will mark the 200^th anniversary of the American declaration which began the War of 1812 and, like all anniversaries, it provides an opportunity to remember and reflect on the event. For the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum and her Lois McClure outreach crew, it provides an ideal opportunity to re-examine the War of 1812 in the Champlain Valley and explore how the war was played out in our part of the world. It allows us to examine our cultural connection with Canada, a shared heritage we first explored during our 2008 visit to Quebec to commemorate Samuel de Champlain’s travels.

A map of the proposed tour for 2012

1812, Commemorating the War: Celebrating the Peace, would provide an opportunity to return to Canada and explore the origins of the War of 1812 and its impact on communities on both sides of the border. We plan a 4-month journey that would bring us north into the Richelieu River and St. Lawrence corridors to Montreal before heading to Ottawa, the Rideau Canal and Kingston, the British Naval base on Lake Ontario during the war. Crossing Lake Ontario, we will visit Sacket’s Harbor, the American naval base before entering the New York canal system at Oswego for our return leg home. We plan to stop at many places that figured prominently in the War and present results of recent shipwreck studies on War of 1812 vessels from the lakes. We also plan to attend the Waterford Tugboat Roundup, canceled this year because of Hurricane Irene and scheduled for September 7-9, 2012.

Over the winter I hope to provide an occasional blog to bring the planning up to date. I am also pleased to share with you that a long effort to convert previous season logs and blogs to a new publication about “The Travels of the Canal Schooner Lois McClure” is in the final stages of preparation and we hope for a summer 2012 release.

Lastly, on behalf of the crew of the Lois McClure I want to thanks all of our volunteers, sponsors, community supporters and well wishers who went above and beyond the call of duty to make 2011 such a successful year and put us on the road to future mission-meeting adventures.

Art Cohn

Captain Erick Tichonuk was kind enough to invite my wife, Kathleen, and me, two retired crew members of the Lois McClure, to join the vessel as volunteers for the last trip of the season, from North Harbor to Crown Point, and back to Burlington. We accepted really fast. The short voyage was planned so that the schooner would be the centerpiece for the celebration of the opening of the new Champlain Bridge, but building a bridge across Lake Champlain is apparently no more predictable than sailing a Lake Champlain canal schooner, so the celebration turned out to be a test run for the real thing next spring.

Crown Point Bridge

When we went on board on October 13th (Thursday, not Friday), North Harbor looked, well, under water. Certainly the concrete pier that normally provides access to the floating dock system was nowhere to be seen. But the web of lines that had to be cast off before the schooner could move looked familiar.

And so were the happy faces of the great crew of the Lois McClure. Erick was there, of course, ready to execute his plan for letting go the lines in an order that would allow us to move the schooner, under control, out to her mooring, where Art Cohn could bring the C.  L. Churchill onto the starboard hip for towing. The rig was down, so no sailing today, but the sails would have hung lifeless anyway, for it was as calm as a clock. Art was comfortably ensconced in his wheelhouse, maneuvering his vessel with serene certainty. He looked as relaxed as a clam at high tide (even on the Lake, it seemed like high tide). Len Ruth, the Boatswain, said he’d had a good summer with the vessel, but that now he was looking forward to living on board  in the quiet of winter, when he’d have time to take apart, refurbish, and reassemble the schooner’s thirty-five blocks, the wood-encased wheels that form the keys to the block-and-tackle machines which enable us weak humans to hoist and trim those big, heavy sails. Kerry Batdorf, the Carpenter, had been busy working on the vessel since spring. Among many other completed jobs, he showed me spots in the deck where he’d removed rotten wood and replaced it with new, including a patch over Kathleen’s and my old bunk. “You mean it doesn’t leak anymore?” “Nope.” “What about your side?” “I did that too!” I’m surprised that there hasn’t been more rot in that vulnerable, pine deck, but the Lois McClure was well-built and has been well cared for. Tom Larsen, Able Seaman, greeted us. It’s always good to have Tom on board. There is no grey in his beard, he’s as strong as an ox, will tackle anything, and is wicked smart. And Samantha Williams had somehow convinced Museum authority that she deserved to be sprung loose from her duties as an Educator for a day out on the water. It was our gain as well as hers; her laugh is infectious. As Kerry said, “We’ve got a crew!”

A ferry crossing in front of the new Champlain Bridge (photo: Art Cohn)

The uneventful tow up the Lake was punctuated with an exclamation point, at least for Kathleen and me, for this was our first sight of the new bridge, apparently needing only its final accoutrements to be ready for traffic. We pronounced it wonderful, resembling the old, beloved bridge just enough, but definitely looking like 2011. And Erick let me make the landing at the dock. We had the whole face of it to ourselves, but were to leave space for the later arrival of the tugboat, Urger. I saw that as an advantage, because it would prevent option paralysis, which I find sometimes sets in when the landing space is too big. It went fine, and it felt really good to be back conning the schooner-tug-Oocher combination.

The Lois and Urger at the dock in Crown Point, with a view of the new bridge

Public day at Crown Point

We were back on Saturday the 15th as interpreters. There was rain, and the bridge event wouldn’t be until next day, so things were quiet on board. That was all right with us; it gave us a chance to re-enter slowly the role of explaining a replica canal schooner to visitors, with time to think. Let’s see, what did these vessels carry? Oh yes, everything. What are the rocks for? Even I will never forget their dual purpose. By Sunday, when there was a steady stream of citizens fascinated with the Lois McClure, whether on their first or fourth visit, Kathleen and I were a bit better prepared. Once again, we were rewarded by nods of understanding and broad smiles.

Rainbow after the rain Saturday

Erick decided not to take the schooner back down the Lake on Monday; the forecast was for plenty of wind out of the southwest, a favoring wind for the tow, but why tow on a rough Lake when the weatherman said that on Tuesday the breeze would be merely moderate? Actually, it was less than moderate on Tuesday, at least until we approached Burlington. Then, of course, it breezed on some, what I call a “mooring breeze,” the one that comes up just when you don’t want it to. I was remembering some times coming in to tie up at Burlington’s Perkins Pier when it was blowing hard out of the southwest, and how tricky it was to get the schooner’s bow into the slot between the pier and the pilings placed just a bit more than the vessel’s beam out from its face. I was thinking how glad I was that I had passed on the responsibility for getting her in there in one piece to Captain Tichonuk. Then Erick asked if I wanted to take her in. And explained that he had found that in these conditions, the “sling-shot” method would probably work better than the poke-her-nose-in-the-slot method. With the “sling-shot,” you came in to leeward of the off-the-pier pilings and put the bow up against the far side of the inner one. Then get lines ashore and with them and the Oocher pivot the vessel around the piling and work her into the berth, bow-out. Well, of course, I couldn’t resist. And was relieved to find that I could slip back into the maneuvering rhythm with these great boats.

Oh my, but it was good for Kathleen and me to be back. Thanks, Erick and Art, for the reprise.

—Roger C. Taylor

I had been looking forward to our scheduled visit to the Vermont State Park at Kingsland Bay not just because it has great history and we had not brought the schooner there before, but because it is located in Ferrisburgh, my hometown. Well, Hurricane Irene hit the region just before our scheduled August visit and so as we rescheduled the post Irene portion of the tour we arranged to visit on October 8. On reflection, while Irene was devastating to so many, it was only inconvenient to us, as we were able to safely ride the storm out on the Otter Creek at Vergennes. We even found a bit of a silver lining in being able to join forces with the crew of New York Canal Corporation’s historic tugboat Urger and arrange for more stops for school groups in the reconfigured schedule. It also put us in a position to visit Kingsland Bay during perhaps the nicest weather of the season and dedicate our visit to support the Vermont Farm Disaster Relief Fund.

The Vermont Community Foundation helped organize the fund raising for the Farm Relief event (photo: Kerry Batdorf)

So many farmers were devastated by the hurricane and with our “Farm, Forest and Fishery” mission, we at the museum wanted to help. We talked over the idea with Vermont Parks Commissioner Craig Whipple, who was totally supportive of the idea, and he and his staff did all they could to support the idea. Saturday turned out to be one of the nicest days of the year and with warm sun and light winds the community gathered to hear music, sample Lake Champlain Chocolate, Green Mountain Coffee and Cabot Cheese and talk history aboard the Lois McClure. It proved to be a very special day for all who participated.

Surprisingly, many of the visitors who came aboard the schooner mentioned they had never been to Kingsland Bay State Park. This opportunity to share this gem of a park with new people was very satisfying, especially when the we reflect on the early settlement of the bay. I had the opportunity to study Kingsland Bay some years ago when we designed a small exhibition for the historic Stone House on the property and what I learned then was an exceptional illustration of a place that has touched on many of the important chapters of the Lake Champlain story the museum is devoted to preserving and sharing.

Historic map showing Hawley Bay (click to enlarge)

The stone building which dominates the site was erected circa 1790 by a man named Gideon Hawley and for many decades the bay was known as “Hawley Bay”. Gideon Hawley, like many early settlers from our region, migrated to Vermont from Connecticut, but Gideon was very familiar with Lake Champlain and to us because Gideon Hawley had fought here during the Revolutionary War. In fact, Hawley had been the Captain of the Royal Savage, Benedict Arnold’s flagship at the Battle of Valcour Island. After the war, Gideon purchased the bay from his father Aaron and permanently moved to Ferrisburgh too farm, raise a family and operate an inn for the people crossing on the ferry that terminated here and at Grog Harbor on the New York shore. During the War of 1812, militia were stationed on the Hawley farm to protect American shipbuilding taking place at Vergennes and when the pivotal Battle of Plattsburg was about to unfold, a patriotic Gideon Hawley, his three sons and the local militia embarked from this bay to join the fight. Family records report that Gideon, who had fought at nearby Valcour Island some 40-years earlier, received wounds that in the months ahead would prove fatal. As I contemplate the upcoming Bicentennial of the War of 1812, it is the story of Gideon Hawley and so many other forgotten participants that will bring the story to life.

The Hawley House at Kingsland Bay State Park

Being moored at the dock in front of Gideon’s magnificent stone house, we were able to share his story with our visitors. Our Farm Relief event was planned in short notice and could not have happened without the support and encouragement from Vermont State Parks and of a number of people and institutions. The Vermont Community Foundation enthusiastically organized the fundraising details, and Addison County musicians donated their time and talent to entertain and show their support for their neighbors. A special thanks to our own Elisa Nelson for her organization of the event and to Matt Witten, Lake Champlain Troubadour, who arranged for the musicians.

Our special thanks to event sponsors All Earth Renewables, DR Power Equipment and Yandow Sales and Service for their support, and to our musicians, the Swing Peepers, Josh Brooks, Rick Ceballos and Matt Witten, Frost and Fire and the Ridge Runners Brass Band for their great music and contribution.

Art Cohn

View across the lake from Westport Marina at sunset

We returned to Westport this year for the third time.  It’s a great place to stop, due to the always warm hospitality and wonderful scenery.  Our hosts, the Carroll family who owns and operates Westport Marina, couldn’t have been more gracious.  Despite this spring of record high water leaving a large part of their establishment under the lake, they were back up and running, with smiles on their faces and open arms to visitors.  The docking situation was a little different than usual due to the high water level leaving the dock only barely sticking out from the lake.  We used all of our dock lines to keep the Lois securely in place, and procured some tires to make sure we didn’t collide with the dock, as our usual fenders kept floating on the top of the water instead of protecting the hull.

Sal Larsen shows a group of students the ins and outs of the windlass

Once we were all secured, the weather rewarded us with a wonderfully clear day for public and school groups.  Though the wind did live up to the predicted forecast, it only did so during the gap between the school program for the 4th and 5th grade of Westport Central School in the morning and the public hours in the evening.  Thus, despite the middle of the day resulting in a more sickening boat roll than the crew was used to, we were able to still welcome eager students and public aboard.  It was a real change to feel the massively stable Lois shifting about underfoot.

Sunlight shining on the sparkling rocker arms of the Urger's Atlas Imperial diesel engine

It was at Wesport that I got to really explore the Urger for the first time.  Despite having met them in various ports over the last few years and now traveling with them, I had never really explored it.  I was really impressed.  The boat is exceedingly well maintained and still in wonderful shape.  What really blew my mind was the fact that it was only a 50 year gap between boats such as the Urger and the Lois.  There were times when a tow of  boats only slightly bigger than the Lois would have been moved by a tugboat very similar to the Urger.  What a sight that must have been!

Tom Larsen
Crew

The Urger tucked behind the Lois in Port Henry

Port Henry, former home of blast furnaces, dock wallopers, and most recently, of the Champlain Bridge’s new arch. Port Henry’s massive concrete jetty makes an easy target for docking, and sheltered both the Lois and our companion, the historic New York State Tugboat Urger, from the north waves.

The town dock is only about 200 yards from the Flatiron Company’s site for assembling the Champlain Bridge’s graceful metal arch. Only weeks ago the massive structure was sent south on barges to be raised into the waiting arms of the New York and Vermont bridge approaches that are supported by concrete abutments. Though the arch has departed, the activity at Flatiron’s site has not yet ceased. An immense crane lowers its cable down to wrench out metal sheet pilings that had been pounded in place to create a solid staging platform for the massive construction project. There is a large hammer winch hanging on the end of the cable that pulls out each piling. It intermittently stutters out its harsh metallic sound.

We had a large number of students visit the boat during our stay here. The first day it was Crown Point Central School and then the second day we had school groups from Moriah Central and St. Mary’s of Ticonderoga, ranging from third grade to seventh grade.

A group of students finding out first hand why mechanical advantage is a good thing when hauling an anchor up (photo: Kerry Batdorf)

The third-graders were wonderfully curious. Using the windlass to haul up the anchor and turning the ship’s wheel were clearly big thrills for them. The rain held off, but north the wind bit into the kids. To keep them warm on deck, every once in a while we did rapid make-believe exercises including turning a wheel, hauling on a line, and pushing on a boat. It got the blood moving.

Some of these kids returned with their families after school. We always encourage this and let them know that they can guide their families when they come. They take this very seriously. The pride, knowledge and ownership on their beaming faces when they come back to the boats is a joy to behold!  Ahead of their pack, they yank themselves up the gangway as if they are seasoned mariners and excitedly show their parents every nook and cranny of the schooner. One 9-year-old girl’s father said with a wry grin, “When I got home she wouldn’t let me out of my truck.  We had to come right down here.”

What could be more satisfying to a group of interpreters than that? A close second was having the perk of being within striking distance of Erick and Sarah Tichonuk’s house. It is just a mile or two up the hill, so they became hosts to a stream of crew members, both from the Lois and from the Urger. They were very welcoming and accommodating!

Matt Witten

Erick Tichonuk gives a tour to the Friends of Hudson Crossing Park

It was the best of times.  In looking back on our time in Schuylerville, docked at the Hudson Crossing Park, I think we had a great experience.  The community really embraced us; from the welcome BBQ on Monday night, to the constant deliveries of ice, food (especially the apple cider donuts!) and well wishes.  We truly felt welcomed.

Sculpture of a dragonfly in Hudson Crossing Park

The school children and other visitors to the Lois McClure and Urger seemed to enjoy the experience of seeing two so unique boats together at the same time. The weather was kindly to us and gave us unseasonably warm weather.  Even the tiny insects (the dreaded “m” word) go into the act and welcomed us with much gusto.  Take two days, add over 200 students and visitors, a dose of good weather and a great community, and you end up with a pretty great visit.

Steve Pfanenstiel
A friend of the Lois from Syracuse, Steve returns for his second year volunteering aboard.

I truly love volunteering on the schooner, so I was delighted to get a chance to return. I was waiting at the dock in Whitehall when Lois and the crew arrived in the late afternoon on September 29th, and so was able to help with the usual flurry of chores that always happen when she docks. It is not just a matter of tying up – there are ramps to be put out, banners to hoist, power lines to be connected. Kerry, Len and Tom make it all look easy, but I can say from first hand experience that it is far from simple, requiring both brains and muscle.

One of the things I was looking forward to in Whitehall was being able to do school groups. I was lucky enough to be able to shadow experienced crew members during a previous school presentation, so I was prepared to jump right in.

The students’ visit is a highly choreographed affair. Because we were working in partnership with the Urger crew, the introduction was given on shore, then the students were divided in half, and while one group toured the historic tug, the rest came on board Lois. Here they were further divided into four smaller groups, and each of us got to take our new friends to our station. Two of us were below deck, one beginning in the hold, and the other interpreting in the cabin. The other two groups started on deck, one at the wheel, and the other manning the windlass to raise the anchor. After ten minutes or so, the ship’s bell would ring, and the groups would move on to the next station.

I was excited and more than a little nervous as my group followed me to the cargo hold. I felt as if had had a real opportunity to make a difference, and I wanted to be sure I did it right. The kids from Whitehall live in a place that is incredibly rich in history, and I wanted to help them to make connections, to see the importance of the place they live, and to help them recognize that the waterways are still a vital part of their lives. Maybe that seems like a large message to be presented in a short field trip, but it happens naturally on board the schooner. The past comes alive as the stories of the canalers are told, and the interconnectedness of commerce, land and water becomes quickly apparent.

Seeing the cabin really drives home what life in the 1860s was like, and raising the anchor gives the students an inkling of how hard people worked. I was impressed at how many insightful questions were asked, and was particularly moved when a young woman, on hearing that the supplies for building the railroad were carried on canal boats, said, “But that’s so sad! They carried the stuff that put them out of business!”

So thank you, Whitehall students. You’ve reinforced my faith in the future. Kids that are that thoughtful and empathetic make me confident that we’ll all continue to work together to find solutions to the issues facing the waterways today.

Sal Larsen

We left Mechanicville and headed north to Fort Edward now confident in our ability to combine the Urger and Lois school programs. Fort Edward is one of those important junction points where the cliché about “location, location, location” is well illustrated. Its position on the upper Hudson River and to waterways leading to Lake’s Champlain and George have endowed  this historic “carrying place” with a legacy of  military and commercial history. Today, the river around Fort Edward is a beehive of activity as one of the largest dredging projects ever undertaken is working to restore the Hudson River’s water quality. In conjunction with that project, our LCMM Maritime Research team has spent significant time in the area and we are presently conserving several timbers from the original Fort Edward and have helped identify and document an early version of a Lake Champlain sailing canal boat.

Fort Edward was a natural crossroads on the busy waterways that provided the area their first transportation corridors. The site was well traveled by Native Peoples and a trading post/fort was the first European establishment here.

Greg Betit, Terry Glasier, and Dale Henry take the dory Growler past the Lois to the Roger's Island encampment

During the Colonial wars, Great Britain built the fort that gives Fort Edward its name and association with Robert Roger’s and his Rangers, the unfortunate Jane McCrea and thousands of rank and file troops provide Fort Edward a strong connection to the national story. The annual 18^th Century reenactment weekend took place during the weekend of our visit at the Roger Island Visitors Center and provided a living link to those earlier times and several of our museum crew took part in that event.

During Lois McClure’s travels through the Champlain Canal, it has become my habit to always read and re-read the journals of Captain Theodore Bartley, the memoir’s of Tonawanda canal boatman Richard Garrity and the recollections of Captain Fred Godfrey’s “The Champlain Canal: Mules to Tugboats”. Having these extraordinary written accounts has helped me travel back in time and better visualize what the canal and its villages were like during the days when mules towed Lois McClure-type canal boats through the countryside. The Champlain Canal we see today is actually the third evolution of the engineered waterway from Lake Champlain to the Hudson River and Fort Edward is a wonderful place to examine previous canal episodes. Just a short walk from the current Yacht Basin and you can see the intact masonry locks from the “Enlarged” canal (1862) and the stone arches of an aqueduct that once carried Little Wood Creek over the original Champlain Canal. The Hutchinson 1830 Survey Map, courtesy of New York State Archives, shows the layout of the original canal through Fort Edward, including the aqueduct.  I am pleased to report that LCMM has recently been tasked with creating an inventory of the remaining structural features of the previous canals.

Fort Edward, 1830

Art Cohn explaining the workings of the windlass

But our current four-day visit to Fort Edward was not to document the canal but to share its story with all the students from Fort Edward’s 4^th, 5^th and 6^th grades on Thursday-Friday and the public on Saturday-Sunday. Now working with our friends from the Urger, we eagerly anticipated the opportunity and it did not disappoint. The students were enthusiastic and well behaved and they circulated from station to station aboard the Lois and on the shore with the Urger crew.

Model of the canal locks

The Urger drew too much water to join us at the wall, so the Canal folks made the effort to bring their exceptional working lock model to the site. Watching the student’s faces as the Urger crew demonstrated the locks workings while moving model boats from one level to another suggested that what we were doing was significant. When more than 20 of the participating students returned to the Lois over the weekend and guided their families through the boat I was convinced.

One highlight of the students visit was having the Elementary School principal come down to see the program. The principal turned out to be John Godfrey, whose family had worked the canal during the towpath and tugboat days and whose grandfather was the same Fred Godfrey who had left us such a rich written record of those times and whose book serves as one of the guides to our interpretation.

I would like to thank the Chamber of Commerce for taking the Lois and Urger crews to dinner at the wonderful Anvil Inn. I would also like to thank the citizens of Fort Edward for their hospitality, warmth and interest.

 Art Cohn

The Urger docked at Lock 5, in Schuylerville

Followers of our Ships’ Logs know one amazing benefit of traveling these waterways are the incredible people we meet.  When traversing the New York State Canal System we’re in constant contact with the folks from Canal Corporation.  They’ve made our sometimes arduous travels more enjoyable in countless ways.  We’ve come to know many of them well, from the directors to the lock keepers, and consider them the best of friends.

In 2009 we were exceedingly fortunate to have had the opportunity to travel with the ambassador of the New York State Canal Corporation, the tug Urger. As fellow canalers and lovers of canal history we naturally hit it off. The great camaraderie came with some playful banter including commentary on Churchill’s less than gleaming brass and the transformation of Urger into “Burger.”

We had planned on seeing our friends on Urger for but one stop this year at the Tugboat Roundup in Waterford, NY.  Hurricane Irene had huge impacts throughout our region with the Mohawk Valley being one of the hardest hit.  Waterford went underwater to unprecedented levels prompting the cancellation of one of our favorite events.  Sections of the Erie Canal were also devastated, trapping boats on both sides of the damaged locks and dams.  Amazingly, thanks to Herculean efforts, Canal Corp predicts the opening of the east end of the Erie Canal in time for boats to head south for the winter.

The Urger had planned to travel to the west end of the system for fall school programs but had to wait it out in the Waterford flight of locks where we had sat out another minor flood event last year.  As both Lois McClure and Urger sat idle, waiting for waters to recede, we made plans to join forces and increase our school programming along the Champlain Canal.  We reviewed both our programs and melded them into one comprehensive program.  Visiting area schools would have a chance to see two historic vessels representing both the 19^th and 20^th Century.

Captain Wendy Marble at the helm of Urger

Wendy Marble is Urger’s new Captain this year, but she’s certainly not new to boats.  Her love of boats started with her first job out of school crewing aboard another canal favorite the Emita II.  She’s worked aboard the HMS Rose and Pioneer at South Street Seaport.  For the past 9 years she’s been working for Canal Corp, most recently aboard tug Tender 6, supporting dredging operations in the Rochester area.

Rick Marcellus in the engine room

Urger’s Engineer is Rick Marcellus.  His career path is diverse with 30 years as a machinist and stints in off-shore lobstering and freighters.  He started as a deckhand on Urger in ’08 and enjoys learning something new every day he’s on board.  One of the incredible aspects of running Urger is she’s a bell boat.  This means the captain must signal (by bells) down to the engineer to have him start the engine in forward or reverse and control the speed.  Talk about trust!

Mike Byrnes, Bosun

Mike Byrnes serves as Bosun.  Mike got his start on boats in the Coast Guard where he served for eight years.  Boats run deep in Mike’s family blood; his dad operated tugs and his grandfather owned and operated canal boats!  Mike loves sharing his mastery of knots with visitors.

Gary Nelmes, Deckhand

Gary Nelmes loves boats and kids so he figured being a deckhand on Urger is the perfect job!  He too spent time in the Coast Guard and has owned and raced numerous sailboats.  He’s spent lots of time coaching youth sports and enjoys sharing the Urger with kids around the region.

As the tour winds down the last week finds us at the museum at Basin Harbor.  We’ll finish up with a grand weekend at Crown Point to celebrate the old Champlain Bridge and the nearly completed new one.  I invite you to come down and meet the crew of Urger and have them take you on a tour of their incredible 110 year old vessel.  I hear they like fresh baked home goodies almost as much as the crew of McClure…

Crew of the Urger, left to right: Wendy Marble, Rick Marcellus, Mike Byrnes, Gary Nelmes

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