James L Oberstar arriving full to the brim with limestone, low enough in the water that her deck crews were fully in view as they popped her hatches open in preparation for unloading. Usually a clean ship, she was coated in dust from the loader, and calm seas with no wind meant she didn’t have it blown or washed off on the trip up here! She unloaded her limestone at Greymont Dock in Superior, then reloaded at the Duluth iron ore dock before departing about two days later. While traversing the harbor her boom started lifting up, something I’ve never seen a ship do while sailing!
Built in 1959, the Oberstar was one of three sister ships built to her design along with George M Humphrey and John Sherwin. The Humphrey was scrapped in 1986 while John Sherwin was put into long term layup in 1981, and amazingly still remains there today, 43 years later. The Oberstar herself started life as the 714ft Shenango II, one of the largest freighters of the day, just 14ft shorter than the largest, Edmund Fitzgerald, which had been built the year before. She was originally bright green in color. In 1967 she was purchased by Interlake Steamship and renamed Charles M Beeghly, and she would sail under that name for nearly 45 years. In 1972 she was lengthened to 806ft in response to the construction of the Stewart J Cort, at that point in time a competitor’s vessel, pushing her well past her longtime rival the Fitzgerald’s capacity. In 1981 she and her sister John Sherwin were both slated to become self unloaders, but ultimately only the Beeghly got the upgrade to allow her to continue sailing. In 1978 she hit the Duluth Canal South Pier (where this video was taken) in heavy fog, doing damage to the vessel’s port bow. In 2008 her steam engines were replaced by modern diesels, and in 2016 she had a scrubber mounted in her stack, producing the distinctive plume. In 2007 the vessel was renamed Hon James L Oberstar to commend the Minnesota Federal Representative of the same name. Congressman Oberstar declined the honor, saying he didn’t want the name to change until after he passed away, so she was renamed back to Charles M Beehgly. 4 years later in 2011 he died, and Interlake brought the ship out of winter layup early to sail her to his home city here in Duluth for the renaming ceremony at the Convention Center dock. She is the largest vessel ever to use that dock, and upon pulling away, did serious damage to the seawall. It was repaired and is now undergoing a complete reconstruction to accommodate larger vessels for event and cruise ship purposes. Since then she has had a relatively incident free career and is sailing as perhaps one of the best maintained Lakers from the 1950s era. On a more personal note, it was the Oberstar last October that really launched this channel after she departed in gale force winds.
Hope everyone enjoys!
