FIELD GUIDE Exploring Michigan: Tips, trends, and tidbits
SONGBIRD THRIVES: Michigan’s popular Kirtland’s warbler population continues to flourish since its removal in 2019 from the federal list of endangered species, according to surveys conducted last summer by government agencies. Its global population was estimated at 2,245 pairs, which is more than double the 1,000-pair recovery goal for the species — which has been exceeded each of the past 20 years. The small birds build nests on the ground in young, dense stands of jack pine in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Ontario. Their nesting habitat is created by harvesting mature jack pines and planting seedlings in logged areas. kwconservation.org TRAIL HONORS: Trenton was recently recognized as a Pure Michigan Trail Town by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Travel Michigan. For years, the city has been enhancing its four-season trail system, hiking and biking networks, access to the Detroit River American Heritage River Trail, and its connection to the Downriver Linked Greenways, part of the statewide Iron Belle Trail. trentonmi.org A FRESH LOOK: The updated HuronClinton Metroparks website offers a better user experience complete with new maps, photos, calendars, park activities, accessibility plug-ins, and more content. The 13-park system, which spans southeast Michigan, includes more than 25,000 acres of woods, water, and recreational facilities mainly along the Huron and Clinton rivers. metroparks.com – Compiled by Ron Garbinski Have news that pertains to Michigan travel and exploration? Send a note to MSwoyer@Hour-Media.com. 10
Saving a Lifeboat Hessel’s E.J. Mertaugh Boat Works restores a Coast Guard beauty
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By Chuck Warren
n the movie based on real events, The Finest Hours, 32 men rescued from the stricken tanker S.S. Pendleton sit crowded on a small boat while the sea continues to rage around them. Although the rescue boat’s compass was washed overboard on the harrowing trip out to sea, Coast Guard Boatswain’s Mate First Class Bernie Webber states calmly, “She’s a good boat. She’ll get us home.” The boat, a U.S. Coast Guard Type T motor lifeboat, played an integral part in the success of what is considered the most daring and heroic small-boat rescue in Coast Guard history — and countless others — during its nearly 50 years in service. In the early 1930s, U.S. Coast Guard lifesaving stations in the Great Lakes were equipped with the first five of these newly designed Type T motor lifeboats. Measuring 36 feet in length with a 10.5-foot beam, Type T lifeboats were powered by a six-cylinder gas engine capable of pushing the boats up to 9 mph over a 280-mile range. The Type T, which evolved into the Type TR and TRS, replaced the aging and failing oar-powered vessels that had been used for decades. Weighing more than 19,000 pounds, Type T model lifeboats waited on cradles in a station’s lifeboat house until rescue operations were necessary. At that time, the boats were launched by rolling the cradle and boat down rails into the water. In 2016, the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum acquired a Type TR lifeboat for display in the Whitefish Point facility, originally a Coast Guard station on Lake Superior near Sault Ste. Marie. Identified by its serial number, CG36381, this motor lifeboat is only 10 numbers away from one of the original
vessels stationed at Whitefish Point. It was discovered on the New Jersey shore, where it sat outside for nearly a decade, slowly deteriorating until it was scheduled to be burned to easily recover any metal hardware. Now housed at E.J. Mertaugh Boat Works in Hessel, the lifeboat’s own rescue is underway. Home of the annual Classic and Antique Wooden Boat Show and Festival of the Arts, Mertaugh has been working with wooden boats since 1925, so the staff was excited to undertake the extensive restoration work needed on CG36381. “It’s pretty cool; it’s definitely different,” says Shipwreck Museum Executive Director Bruce Lynn. “It’s almost like an ugly duck sitting between all of those streamlined classics.” The boat was a hardy, reliable workhorse. Designed to be self-righting and self-bailing, it could roll itself right-sideup, and any water that washed onto the deck in rough seas would drain completely away in about 20 seconds. The first phase of the restoration project was to clean out all the junk that had accumulated over the many years the vessel sat outside. Leaves, branches, trash, and old parts had to be cleared away before any restoration work could begin. Although the hull needed little more than sanding and painting, the Mertaugh crew replaced the decking and rooftops on each of the housing structures before turning their attention to other jobs, such as rebuilding the rub rails that allow the vessel to bump against things without damage. The restoration crew decided to sandblast the Type TR’s hardware, which revealed an unexpected treasure: Beneath years of paint were bronze components
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