The Inland Mariners: Special / Middletown
In
a year filled with economic uncertainty the venerable steamer Middletown
is still plying the lakes with stone and taconite cargoes. The Middletown
recently arrived at Silver Bay under the command of Captain Ted
Olm to load pellets destined for the lakefront dock at Cleveland. |
 Captain Ted Olm |
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The Middletown is visually distinctive, its highly raked bow forward and its tall, thin funnel aft make it easily recognized from a distance. The 2003 season marks the 60th year of operation for the vessel, that is, at least for most of the vessel. The Middletown is like the proverbial cat with nine lives and is not quite the same ship today that it was when it first set sail in 1943. |
The
Middletown was launched in 1942 as the Neshanic; a 448 foot long
tanker. The Neshanic entered service the following year and was
assigned to the Pacific war theater as a fueling vessel. On June
18, 1944 the Neshanic was struck by a 100 pound bomb dropped from
a Japanese warplane, killing 3 crew members. The Neshanic was fortunate
to receive only minor damage and following the war the vessel was
sold to the Gulf Oil Company and renamed the Gulfoil. |
 Str. Middletown loading at Silver Bay, Minnesota |
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The Gulfoil worked the east coast tanker trade for eleven uneventful years, which is a good thing for a tanker, before again courting disaster. In August 1958, underway in a heavy fog, the Gulfoil collided with another tanker. The accident proved deadly for a large number of the vessel’s crew, and the Gulfoil was declared a total loss. |
 1st Mate Edward Tamborski |
Somehow, the vessel was resurrected from the scrapheap and given a new chance when the Pioneer Steamship Company of Cleveland purchased the remains of the Gulfoil. A new midbody was built and the vessel was adapted for use on the Great Lakes, arriving in 1961 as the Pioneer Challenger. The new life didn’t change its old luck, and after only two weeks the vessel struck a submerged object on Lake Erie, severely damaging the bottom plating on the hull, sending the Pioneer Challenger to the shipyard at Superior.* * The Pioneer Challenger became the first vessel to use the newly expanded Dry Dock No. 2 at Fraser Shipyard in 1961. |
 Michael Waz (oiler) Dave Nelson (3rd Assistant) |
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A year later the vessel was sold to Oglebay Norton and renamed the Middletown. Over the past forty years of operation on the Great Lakes the vessel has undergone several major upgrades to its engine room and cargo handling capability, yet the Middletown still continues to be dogged by its disastrous past. In 1986 two engineers were fatally injured in a fire aboard the vessel, making one wonder if the ship will ever shake its reputation. In spite of its past the present crew of the Middletown find it to be a wonderful old ship to live and work aboard and are proud of its long history. |
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