Badger has arrived from Ludington, unloaded, and we're ready to board

A massive structural item on a multi-wheel trailer is backed onto the ship

... and safely parked before the cars are driven on

A view up the river as we depart Manitowoc

Bye, bye Wisconsin. Some of the old rail trackage still remains on the Badger's vehicle deck.

In a few weeks I'll be looking at this coast differently as we voyage down the lake toward Chicago

We drop the port anchor (noisily) and commence the about-turn for docking at Ludington

Turning... slowly. The other vessel is the old sister-ship, S.S. Spartan, laid up.

Passengers disembark to collect their vehicles from the carpark

Two 5-metre diameter screws push us along at around 16 knots (18 mph)

Starting the stern-in manoeuvre. Note engines in reverse sucking the water forward

First Mate on vehicle deck guides the vessel to the docking locks, The shaped fender rack helps.

Sep 23: Manitowoc, WI, to Ludington, MI

September 24 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C

A day 'at sea'... bravely crossing the Lake Michigan ocean. Unlike other vehicle ferries we might be used to, one does not load their own vehicles onto the Badger... the crew take over and do this (except for heavy trucks and semi-trailers).

Many passengers have the 'ocean cruise' feeling as they wave excitedly to anyone wandering around ashore or walking their dog along the mole. They'll be doing the same in 4 hrs time as we nose into Ludington harbour, safe from storms and German U Boats.

The acclaimed S.S. Badger is the last large coal-burning steamship in the United States and the last such vessel in service on the Great Lakes. This wonderful old vessel is powered by two complex (to me) mechanisms called Skinner (after the manufacturer) Compound Unaflow 4-cylinder reciprocating marine steam engines, each producing 3,500 hp. The steam is created in four coal-fired marine boilers. Unlike the marine steamers that I'm a little bit used to and familiar with, these engines are not compound expansion engines where the steam is used successively in a series of single-acting cylinders. For my tech-head followers, I've included a couple of diagrams. The Skinner Unaflow (sometimes seen written as 'Uni-flow') engines are more enclosed and look like massive internal combustion engines.

Anyways, they work well because we arrived in Ludington on the advertised and, having retrieved my car from the 'drive-off' crew, I repaired to the Holiday Inn. Tomorrow, I head north and will probably make it back to Traverse City. I'm ahead of time, but that's OK.Read more