Routine Miracle

On the Great Lakes it was almost two weeks past the traditional closing day, and almost a month beyond the date when insurance rates skyrocket because of the unpredictable 'Lakes weather. With the temperature a bitter 4DEG to 21DEG below zero, with snow from three to eight feet deep and a 50-60 m.p.h. gale, all that happened was this:

>The fishing tug Gotham went down near Saugatuck, Mich., with five aboard.

>The Canadian grain ship Sarnian went aground near Point Isabelle, Mich, (the Coast Guard rescued its crew).

>Salzburg Transportation Co.'s Bay ton was locked in Sault River ice for 24 hours.

> House-high waves blew the freighter Utica aground in Lake Nicolet, Mich.

Such disasters were routine for the last week of Lakes shipping. What was unusual was the uneventful trip of the last ore boat to come down the Lakes. F. John Bernard Martin, 51, tall, businesslike skipper of the Benson Ford (carrying cargo for U.S. Steel because the Ford fleet has excess capacity) reported "ideal" weather on his trip from Duluth through the Soo Locks to Conneaut, Ohio, and though the Sault River buoys had already been taken in, bright moonlight made it easy for him to pick his way at night.

But what Lakes men will talk about for years is the miraculous freight movement that took place in 1943 before ice made the miracle impossible. The Lakes shipping got off to a bad start, opening a month late last spring (TIME, May 3). Then the spring fogs lasted all summer, right into August, when the autumn fogs began. Shipping went through the then-universal shortage of manpower; and Government rush orders, especially for iron ore, made it necessary for ships to make quick return trips empty, instead of waiting for coal or grain. Later on, there were similar rush orders for grain and coal. But despite all this, Lakes shippers delivered this year:

> Over 45,000,000 tons of coal--less than 5% under last year, when the weather was nearly perfect.

>Some 84,400,000 tons of ore--well under WPB's original goal of 95,000,000, but, as it turned out, enough to satisfy Pittsburgh steel mills' winter production. December shipments were almost 20% above the same month last year, despite the difficult work, since early November, of steaming the frozen ore loose from freight cars before loading it.

> 184,000,000 bu. of precious feed grain, more than 60% above last year's shipments.

OWI announced, as well it might, that ODT was "especially pleased . . . with a Very successful' Great Lakes shipping season."

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