Posted on February 19, 2014:
WIN A SOLID BRASS
PORTHOLE FROM THE S/S SOUTH AMERICAN
!
The
Great Lakes Maritime Institute is
raffling off a forty-pound solid brass
porthole from one of the premier
cruise ships on the Great Lakes.
The S. S. SOUTH AMERICAN was
constructed in 1914 at the Great Lakes
Engineering Works in Ecorse/River
Rouge, Michigan and sailed to numerous
ports on the Inland Seas until
1967. The
porthole is unique as it
pivots in the center and
was recovered during the
scrapping of the vessel in
1992. A
profile of this passenger vessel has
been etched in the glass by the
maritime artist Jerry Krist, denoting
that it was part of the famous
Georgian Bay Lines Fleet.
The
drawing will be held on October 12,
2014 at St. Clair Shores, Michigan.
Tickets
are $10.00 Each; or 3 for
$25.00.
To
order tickets, call 313-441-1155 or use our
mail-in
form.
(Visa, Master Card, or
Discover accepted).
Posted on January 29, 2014:
Obituary of William
Allen “Bill” Moss, 1943 -2014 – The ‘Artist of
Detroit’
Bill Moss was born on
Detroit, Michigan’s east side November 20, 1943
the youngest child of the late Joseph Allen Moss
and Helen Dyer Moss. His daily commute to
Detroit’s Cass Technical High School heightened
his interest in the history and architecture of
his home town. He graduated from Cass Technical
in 1962 and continued his education at Wayne
State University, receiving a Bachelor of Fine
Arts Degree in 1966. Bill’s family moved to the
farm near Silver Point, Tennessee while he
worked as an architectural renderer in Detroit.
He also bought and sold architectural antiques
obtained from the various mansions that were
being demolished along Grosse Pointe’s Lake
Shore Drive. He later relocated to Nashville,
Tennessee and passed away at age 70 on Saturday,
January 11, 2014 at his home in Silver Point,
Tennessee. He is survived by his sister Jo Ann
Moss of Silver Point; his sister-in-law, Mary
Moss of Louisiana; and 10 nieces and nephews. He
was preceded in death by a brother, Ledric “Lee”
Moss of Norco, LA.
Bill developed an interest in drawing Great
Lakes vessels, for he sketched the cross river
railroad car ferries, the freighters, the Bob-Lo
Boats, the Georgian Bay passenger liners, and
his first love the magnificent Detroit &
Cleveland Navigation Company over night boats.
When the Dossin Great Lakes Museum opened in
1960, he used the original blueprints to
construct a four foot model of the steamboat
City of Detroit III for the museum’s collection.
This highly detailed model, with interior
lighting, still graces the entry of the Dossin
Museum on Belle Isle. Bill produced a number of
detailed acrylic paintings of Great Lakes
vessels and hosted a one man show at the Dossin
Museum in 1981.
As the lake vessels he loved
were taken out of service Bill’s interest turned
to capturing Detroit’s past in a number of
original paintings, and earned the title “Artist
of Detroit”. These memories were released as a
series signed and numbered limited edition
prints. One could see his passion for Detroit’s
history as he captured the skyline of
Detroit the with the Bob-lo Steamer Columbia in
the foreground, while his ‘Detroit’s Traditions’
depicted the foot of Woodward Avenue. He
produced portraits of the Old City Hall, the
Hudson’s Building with Santa arriving, Music
Hall, and a number of stadium views.
Briggs Stadium was the
stadium portrait that evoked memories of the
excitement that happened at the corner of
Michigan & Trumbull. His 1992 view of
Tiger Stadium was released at Tiger Stadium and
autographed by Ernie Harwell and Paul Carey.
This was followed by a 1984 World Series view of
Tiger Stadium that was autographed by Alan
Trammell and Kirk Gibson.
He captured the glory of the ‘old red barn’
Olympia Stadium and each limited edition print
was personally autographed by ‘Mr. Hockey’
Gordie Howe. His view of Joe Louis Arena
even shows a freighter passing by on the Detroit
River. A limited number of the prints were
autographed by the Red Wing’s team captain Steve
Yzerman. Bill added a special remarque, a pencil
sketch, showing the Captain holding the Stanley
Cup over his head, the only time Yzerman won the
trophy in Joe Louis Arena.
In 1992 his view of the
freighter Edmund Fitzgerald was used by
the Great Lakes Maritime Institute and the
Dossin Great Lakes Museum in a project called ‘A
Link in the Chain’. The anchor from the Edmund
Fitzgerald was recovered from the bottom
of the Detroit River in a live underwater
special on WDIV Channel 4. The resulting sale of
specially marked prints funded the raising of
the 10,000 pound anchor and it’s installation as
the main feature in the Dossin Museum’s side
court yard on Belle Isle.
In 1995 he was commissioned
to produce a painting of the Kern’s clock as it
was suspended above Woodward Avenue of the WTVS
Channel 56 production of ‘DETROIT Remember
When’. The artwork was used on the cover of the
VHS tape that was produced, and the later
versions that graced the jacket of the DVD
production. Bill and his artworks were also
featured in the program’s production, and the
production is still being aired on Channel 56.
1999 was a busy year for Bill as Erik Smith of
WXYZ Channel 7, interviewed Bill about his love
of ‘Old Detroit’ in a production of “From the
Heart”. The Detroit Historical Society and the
R. L. Polk Company used Bill’s artwork in their
annual calendar. This historical calendar
featured the street views, riverfront, hockey
and baseball stadiums, and churches of his home
town.
Bill moved to Tennessee after the passing of his
parents to live on the family farm where he
worked as an architectural consultant creating
detailed renderings of proposed churches and
buildings across the country. He continued to
produce a number of limited edition prints and
could be found at local summer artist markets,
and his work was on exhibit in multiple
galleries. One feature that Bill tried to place
in his artwork was a view of a vintage corvette,
a reminder of his love of antique automobiles.
Even though his health was
failing, he was always looking to promote the
maritime heritage of Detroit. His last project
was the use of his view of the ‘Steamer Greater
Detroit passing under the Ambassador
Bridge’ by the Great Lakes Maritime Institute.
The Maritime Institute’s volunteer dive team
discovered the anchor of the Steamer Greater
Detroit in the Detroit River. The dive
team worked to clear the 6,000 pound anchor, and
negotiations were opened with the Wayne
County/Detroit Port Authority to have the
artifact rest near their building on the Detroit
riverfront.
A fund raiser has been
started by the Great Lakes Maritime Institute
and hopefully the project to donate the anchor
of the S.S. Greater Detroit to the Port
Authority will be completed in the summer of
2014. The overnight vessel was put in commission
running passengers and freight between Buffalo,
New York and Detroit, Michigan in 1924. The
vessel was burned as a spectacle on Lake Ste.
Claire in 1956. Ninety years later the anchor of
the S.S. Greater Detroit may rise from
the bottom of the Detroit River to be a visible
icon of Detroit’s maritime heritage on Detroit’s
riverfront.
William Moss’s remaining limited edition artwork
can be viewed at www.captainofthefleet.com
or by contacting artistofdetroit@aol.com.
Posted on September 17, 2013:
‘Storm of 1913’
Centennial Dinner to be hosted by GLMI
Regina underway
by Robert McGreevy
The Great Lakes Maritime
Institute Annual Dinner commemorates the tragic
‘Storm of 1913’, bringing together four elements
to commemorate the 100th anniversary of this
event. The storm enveloped the Great Lakes
region from November 8 to 11, 1913 and was the
most destructive in recorded commercial
navigation history.
The GLMI Centennial Dinner is
on Sunday October 27, 2013 at 2:00 p.m.
at the Blossom Health Inn, 24800 Jefferson
Avenue in St. Clair Shores. Blossom Heath
is the perfect setting for the full course
dinner since it was constructed in 1911 on the
shores of Lake St. Clair. The venue is
appropriate since the windows afforded a view of
the passing traffic in the freighter channel on
Lake St. Clair a century ago. The full
course dinner will be served at the cost of
$40.00 per person. Tickets can be obtained using
the Pay-Pal button below, or at Gifts Afloat,
24601 Jefferson Avenue, St. Clair Shores, or by
calling 586-777-8300. In order to
accommodate patrons, an October 20 dinner
reservation deadline is necessary.
Maritime artist Robert
McGreevy will recount the tragic voyage of the
steamer Howard M. Hanna Jr. from Lorain,
Ohio loaded with coal. The hatch covers were
battened down, covered with tarpaulins and
secured with hatch bars, and the vessel passed
into Lake Huron on November 9. As the wind
and waves increased the vessel was thrown on the
reef near the Port Austin light. Mr. McGreevy
will also have a new piece of artwork that
depicts the Steamer Howard M. Hanna Jr.
on the Great Lakes.
Commercial diver Wayne
Brusate has a most unusual presentation
chronicling the last voyage of the Canadian
steamer Regina which passed from Sarnia,
Ontario out into Lake Huron. The vessel was
carrying mixed merchandise and after battling
the storm her crew abandoned ship near Port
Sanilac. It was Wayne Brusate who reported
the discovery of the Regina on July 1, 1986, and
worked with a Michigan Department of Natural
resources permit to recover a number of
artifacts from the wreck site.
A number of Regina
artifacts were donated to the Great Lakes
Maritime Institute, including full bottles of
Whyte & McKay scotch and champagne. A
special silent auction of Regina artifacts
will be held providing the dinner guests an
opportunity to own a part of Great Lakes
maritime history from the ‘Storm of
1913’. Prior to the dinner, there
will be a small exhibit of the silent auction
artifacts from the steamer Regina on
display at Gifts Afloat, on the Nautical Mile
between Nine and Ten Mile Roads in St. Clair
Shores, Michigan. Please note that
in order to bid on the silent auction of Steamer
Regina artifacts a dinner reservation is
necessary.
For additional information
contact John Polacsek at artistofdetroit@aol.com.
Purchase your dinner tickets
now ($40.00 Per Person) using the Pay-Pal link
below:
Regina resting
on the lake bottom - Robert McGreevy
August 25, 2013:
Recovered artifacts from the
Str. REGINA are being prepared for auction at
the annual GLMI dinner, scheduled for October
27, 2013 at Blossom Heath in St. Clair
Shores. On August 20, volunteers from GLMI
and International Shipmasters Association met to
clean and prepare various artifacts. Click
Here for details and pictures of the
cleaning project.
May 21, 2013:
The Great Lakes Maritime
Institute’s fundraising project will focus on
the recovery and exhibition of the 6,000 pound
bow anchor of the S.S. GREATER DETROIT at the
Detroit/Wayne County Port Authority building.
The project calls for a tug boat, barge and
crane to be stationed out in the Detroit River,
and after the recovery of the anchor to be
cleaned and preserved, then mounted on a new
concrete base.
This project is similar to
the one that was carried out by the GLMI in July
1992 when the anchor of the S.S. EDMUND
FITZGERALD was recovered from the bottom of the
Detroit River. That anchor is currently resting
in the yard of the Dossin Great Lakes Museum on
Belle Isle.
By using the Detroit River webcam that is mounted
on the top of the William Clay Ford Pilothouse
you will be able to see the anchor from the S.S.
EDMUND FITZGERALD on Belle Isle.
The GLMI’s last anchor fundraiser also provided
the funds to send a recovery team to Baltimore,
Maryland where the S.S. SOUTH AMERICAN was being
scrapped in 1992. The group recovered a number
of artifacts from the vessel just before it was
dismantled. Our group was fortunate to have the
opportunity to recover a number of port holes
and document the condition of the vessel before
it was destroyed in a fire while it was being
scrapped.
The GLMI also helped pay for the installation of
the S.S. WILLIAM CLAY FORD pilothouse, a thirty
by thirty foot steel and glass addition to the
Dossin Great Lakes Museum. This artifact was
taken off the vessel intact before it was
scrapped. When one visits the Dossin Great Lakes
Museum you will be walking into an actual
working pilothouse from a Great Lakes freighter
that was built at the Great Lakes Engineering
Works at River Rough/Ecorse, Michigan.
The Detroit River webcam was
one of the projects that the GLMI was able to
help fund. It allows an individual to actually
control the camera that is mounted on the mast
of the S.S. WILLIAM CLAY FORD pilothouse.
The current GLMI Anchor
Fundraiser has two levels of donations:
Every donor of $1,000.00 or more will receive a
special Detroit Riverfront Grouping of limited
edition prints by the marine artist William
Moss. The grouping includes the 26 x 40 inch
signed and numbered print of ‘The City of the
Straits’ showing the Detroit skyline in
1949. The view shows the Bob-Lo Boat, the
S.S. Columbia in the foreground, on the left
background the S.S. CITY OF CLEVELAND III at the
D & C Dock, and in the right background is
the S.S. PUT-IN-Bay behind the Veterans Memorial
Building.
Just a note when the S.S.
CITY OF CLEVELAND III was taken out of service
the bell of the vessel was purchased by a local
man. Later his wife allowed the GLMI to auction
off this significant artifact to benefit the
GLMI’s maritime heritage projects. Click on the
link on the right for the story of the bell
auction.
The second limited edition print in the
Detroit Riverfront Grouping is a 24 by 30 inch
view of the Georgian Bay Lines Dock with the S.S.
SOUTH AMERICAN secured to the dock, entitled
‘Detroit Riverfront Memories’. This area is just
east of Woodward Avenue and shows the area where
the new Detroit/Wayne County Port Authority
building is currently sitting. The area beyond the
Georgian Bay Line building was the dock for the
Detroit Fireboat John Kendall and the beyond that
area was the Robin Hood Flour silos where the
RENCEN building was constructed in the 1970s.
The third print in the
Detroit Riverfront Grouping is the 20 by 26 inch
limited edition print of the ‘Steamer Greater
Detroit - Beneath the Ambassador Bridge’. In
1950 the oil burning Steamer GREATER DETROIT was
painted all white for the season and was placed
on the Detroit, Michigan to Buffalo, New York
route.
In addition to the three limited edition prints
the donor will receive an original Detroit &
Cleveland Navigation Company stock certificate
showing a side profile of the S.S. GREATER
DETROIT.
A donor of $250.00 will receive the limited
edition print of the ‘Greater Detroit – Beneath
of Ambassador Bridge’ and an original Detroit
& Cleveland Navigation Company stock
certificate showing a side profile of the S.S.
GREATER DETROIT.
The donors of $1,000.00 or more will receive
eight invitations to the anchor dedication
reception, and the Detroit River cruise.
The donors of $250.00 will
receive two invitations to the anchor dedication
reception, and the Detroit River cruise.
To
learn more about the history of the SS GREATER
DETROIT, Click Here
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