Film, Motion Picture
The Long Ships Passing
Color 16mm reel containing the film "The Long Ships Passing," about freighters on the great lakes, produced by the Cinecraft Productions of Ohio for the Lake Carriers Association. The film features a variety of shots of different freighters, although the bulk of the footage shot on-board a freighter appears to come from a trip on the Shenago Furnace Company's SHENAGO II.
The reel is missing the opening and begins abruptly with an upside down segment of film showing a view along a freighter's deck before proceeding into a countdown. Once the countdown ends, the film--apparently missing its initial seconds--begins. This surviving portion of the film begins as the narrator discusses the form of bulk freighters over a long aerial shot of the Buckeye Steamship Company bulk freighter HENRY LaLIBERTÉ passing. As the narrator continues to discuss the roles and cargos of bulk freighters, a sequence of shots follow featuring the Midland Steamship Company's BAIRD TEWKSBURY, iron ore flowing from a chute into a freighter, the Wilson Marine Transit Company's JOSEPH S. WOOD at a coal dock, an unidentified freighter beside a pile of limestone, hoses pumping oil to another unidentified freighter, a compartment full of grain, and the Republic Steel Corporation's TOM M. GIRDLER. As the narrator discusses the general routes of these freighters, shots rolls including several wide shots of unidentified freighters, a freighter passing through the St. Clair Flats as viewed from the shore, and a long shot of the Bethlehem Transportation Company's DANIEL J. MORRELL. The title and opening credit sequence follows over close-ups of navigational charts.
The film then turns to the subject of the Great Lakes. The narrator briefly characterizes each lake over shots of Chicago, an island in Lake Huron, a sailor working on deck in wet weather, and the St. Lawrence Seaway. Next, the film uses an illustrated map of natural resources in the Great Lakes region, as well as illustrations demonstrating the need for the Soo Locks and Welland Locks. Shots of freighter traffic follow, including a shot of a Wyandotte Chemicals freighter passing with Detroit's skyline in the background.
The film then begins the cycle of navigation season with shots of freighters docked amid ice, and of workers surveying the frozen decks. A montage then shows workers fit-out out a ship ahead of the start of navigation season. The United States Coast Guard icebreaker MACKNIAW is shown in action in a series of shots including several directly above its bow. A light house keeper and a buoy tender are also shown preparing for navigation season. A Wilson Marine Company freighter is shown at dock in the winter. The U.S. Steel Corporation's ARTHUR M. ANDERSON is featured as the first freighter of the season to pass through the Soo Locks in a series of shots. To represent the early season traffic, additional shots follow of the Cleveland-Cliffs Steamship Company's JOLIET passing beneath a pair of bridges, and the Waterways Navigation Company's RALPH S. CAULKINS.
The next set of sequences in the film focus on the cargos of the freighters. First, a sequence shows the operation of an Industrial Brownhoist coal dumper, which deposits the contents of a Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad coal hopper train car into the Reiss Steamship Company's RICHARD J. REISS. A freighter is then shown unloading coal into a pile beside coal-fired power plant. Next, grain is the focus, with shots of grain elevators and the Kinsman Marine Transit Company's C.S. ROBINSON filled with grain. This is followed by several brief shots which demonstrate a freighter outfitted with a self-unloading mechanism depositing limestone into a pile on shore.
As the narrator discusses the volume of traffic and types of ships on the Great Lakes, several more clips are shown of vessels on the water, including the Hansand Steamship Company's JOSEPH H. THOMPSON, a self-unloader with Cleveland's skyline in the background, the Columbia Transportation Company's crane ship W.C. RICHARDSON, an oil tanker passing below one of Cleveland's lift bridges, the automobile carrier T.J. McCARTHY, a Huron Cement Company ship, the ocean-going ALEXANDER T. WOOD, Browning Line's package freighter NORMAN W. FOY, the Boblo Island excursion boat COLUMBIA, and U.S. Coast Guard tug KAW (W-61) at dock.
Communications between freighters is the focus of the next section of the film. It is supported by footage of a Shenago Furnace Company freighter's stack and whistle, and several scenes highlighting equipment in a freighter from the same line's pilot house--radio, the radio direction finder, and radar.
Next, the film turns toward the topic of the maintenance of the waterways, with footage of U.S. Army Corps of Engineers dredges at work.
Following a montage of evening and night time footage of freighters, the film then transitions to the topics of iron ore, and of the voyage of an ore-carrier. Excavators and trucks working in an open-pit mine are shown. The Shenango Furnace Company's WILLIAM P. SNYDER, JR. is also shown in a scene filmed from shore. A sequences shot on the Detroit River features the United States Postal Service boat the J.W. WESTCOTT II delivering mail to the Columbia Transportation Company's EDMUND FITZGERALD. Next, from the deck of a freighter, the camera captures the Wind Mill Point Lighthouse and the mouth of Lake St. Clair. The next featured point on the journey is the Soo Locks. Animated diagrams explain the function of the locks, before a series of shots captures the Interlake Steamship Company freighter PATHFINDER as it passes through the Poe Lock. The narrative and visuals jump to a train carrying iron ore in open hopper carts toward the ore dock. In Duluth, the Cleveland-Cliffs Steamship Company's EDWARD B. GREEN is shown loading at the ore docks. From on deck of a Shenago Furnace Company freighter, the camera rolls as the boat docks, and begins taking on ore. The film then contrasts the cargo of this ore carrier with that of the Bethlehem Steel Corporation's SPARROWS POINT, which is shown being loaded with taconite pellets. Back onboard the Shenago Furnace Company freighter, the crew is shown preparing to disembark with their new cargo. When the time comes, the camera highlights the use of chadburns in the pilot house and engine rooms, the propeller shaft, and assistance from a tug boat and the ship leaves dock. Once underway, more on-board activity is highlighted, including the use of charts, the captain's report of the departure of the SHENAGO II from Duluth, the wheelsman at the helm, and the first mate making an entry in the log book. The routines of the sailors are featured next, including meal preparation in the galley and dining, work and leisure time activities, and accommodations.
The freighter's return journey is then covered, including a return trip through the Soo Locks, one of the St. Mary's River U.S. Coast Guard lookout stations, the DeTour Reef Light, the Mackinac Bridge, and finally to a dock where a set of huletts unload the ore--presumably the U.S. Steel dock in Gary, Indiana.
As the narrator begins the film's conclusion the T.J. McCarthy Steamship Company's SWEDEN is shown taking on grain from a set of silos, the Huron Cement Company's S.T. CRAPO is shown at cement dock, the Inland Steel Company's WILFRED SYKES is show beside an ore dock, the BAIRD TEWKSBURY beside the coal dumper at Cleveland's Dock 24, a snow-covered Republic Steel Corporation freighter, the Wilson Marine Transit Company's NORWAY in winter, workers boarding up a pilothouse's windows for winter, and finally the hull of the HERBERT C. JACKSON getting side-launched at Great Lakes Engineering Works.
