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SS Milwaukee Clipper
The SS Milwaukee Clipper, also known as the SS Clipper , and formerly the SS Juniata, is a retired passenger ship and automobile ferry that sailed under two configurations and traveled on all of the Great Lakes except Lake Ontario. The vessel is now docked as a museum in Muskegon, Michigan.
The Juniata was launched on December 17, 1904, in Cleveland, Ohio, at the shipyards of the American Shipbuilding Company. Christened Juniata when she was launched, she was built for the Erie and Western Transportation Company, also known as the Anchor Line. This was the Great Lakes passenger and shipping division of the Pennsylvania Railroad. Her sister ships were the SS Tionesta of 1902 and SS Octorara of 1910.
The ship is 361 feet (110 m) in length, and 45 feet (14 m) in beam, with a gross tonnage of 4333 tons. In her original configuration, she carried 350 passengers in staterooms at a cruising speed of 13.5 knots. As originally built, she had a riveted steel hull and a wooden superstructure. For the Pennsylvania Railroad, she carried passengers and package freight between Buffalo, New York and Duluth, Minnesota until 1915.
That year, the anti-monopoly Panama Canal Act, which forbade railroads from owning steamships, went into effect. Forced to divest from its marine divisions, the Pennsylvania Railroad sold its Anchor Line along with four other railroad-owned company fleets, to the newly formed Great Lakes Transit Corporation. Under this flag, she carried passengers along her old routes for another 20 seasons. For the duration of the 1933 season, Juniata carried passengers to and from Chicago for the Chicago World's Fair. Juniata was laid up in 1936 due to poor economic conditions as well as new regulations on wooden passenger ships following the Morro Castle disaster.
Juniata was moored in Buffalo until being sold in 1940 to Wisconsin & Michigan Steamship Company, a subsidiary of the McKee family-owned Sand Products Corporation of Detroit, MI. She was rebuilt and used as a passenger ship on Lake Michigan. Juniata was extensively modernized at the yard of the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company. Her boilers were converted to burn fuel oil instead of coal, and the old cabins and wooden superstructure were removed and replaced with steel to meet the new maritime fire safety standards created after the SS Morro Castle fire off Asbury Park, New Jersey in 1934. The streamlined forward stack is false and does not ventilate engine exhaust. It is a signature of naval architect George Sharp, whose ideas regarding fireproof ships were first incorporated into Juniata. This stack became standard on many new ships that were to come. Sharp is credited with three historic vessels, Milwaukee Clipper, SS Lane Victory, and NS Savannah.
The modernized ship now featured air conditioned staterooms, a children's playroom, a movie theater, a dance floor with a live band, a soda fountain, bar, cafeteria, lounges and sports deck, and capacity to carry 120 automobiles. She was christened Milwaukee Clipper on June 2, 1941, by Patricia McKee, daughter of Max B. McKee, principal of Sand Products Corporation, owner of the vessel. She made her maiden voyage from Milwaukee to Muskegon the following day. As Milwaukee Clipper, she steamed between Muskegon and Milwaukee, as well as excursions throughout Lake Michigan visiting various other ports, for 29 seasons. She was also called the "Queen of the Great Lakes" and carried around 900 passengers and 120 automobiles in the summer. The amount of oil used varied per round trip, but was approximately 5,500 US gallons (21,000 L; 4,600 imp gal). On week days she made two round trips that took 7 hours each way, using three of the four boilers. On weekends, she made three, six-hour round trips on all four boilers. The crew lists were between 105 and 109, with around 55 of them in the steward's department alone to take care of the around 900 passengers on board. The cost per person in the 1950s was $3.33 and $8.00 extra for an automobile, with an extra 75 cents charged to travel in the forward Club Lounge and to use the forward deck.[clarification needed]
During her inaugural season, a space on the Sports Deck was leased to a Chicago based entertainment firm. The firm placed ten slot machines onboard, covering them when the ship was in port. Once the ship was three miles from shore, the covers were removed. The slot machines soon came to the attention of the Muskegon County Prosecuting Attorney, who took a trip on the ship to witness the slot machines in use.
On July 25, 1941, Sgt. Earl Secrist of the Grand Haven State Police and another officer boarded the ship and attempted to serve a search warrant to Captain Allen K. Hoxie. Hoxie left the wheelhouse and put on civilian clothes while remaining on the ship. The first officer was given orders to pull away from the dock, so the ship departed. Once mid-lake, the officers were informed that they no longer had jurisdiction over the vessel. Secrist used the revolutionary "ship-to-shore" telephone onboard and informed the authorities in Milwaukee of the machines. When the vessel docked in Milwaukee, the slot machines were seized. Eventually, the charges against Captain Hoxie and the owners of the vessel were dropped.
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SS Milwaukee Clipper
The SS Milwaukee Clipper, also known as the SS Clipper , and formerly the SS Juniata, is a retired passenger ship and automobile ferry that sailed under two configurations and traveled on all of the Great Lakes except Lake Ontario. The vessel is now docked as a museum in Muskegon, Michigan.
The Juniata was launched on December 17, 1904, in Cleveland, Ohio, at the shipyards of the American Shipbuilding Company. Christened Juniata when she was launched, she was built for the Erie and Western Transportation Company, also known as the Anchor Line. This was the Great Lakes passenger and shipping division of the Pennsylvania Railroad. Her sister ships were the SS Tionesta of 1902 and SS Octorara of 1910.
The ship is 361 feet (110 m) in length, and 45 feet (14 m) in beam, with a gross tonnage of 4333 tons. In her original configuration, she carried 350 passengers in staterooms at a cruising speed of 13.5 knots. As originally built, she had a riveted steel hull and a wooden superstructure. For the Pennsylvania Railroad, she carried passengers and package freight between Buffalo, New York and Duluth, Minnesota until 1915.
That year, the anti-monopoly Panama Canal Act, which forbade railroads from owning steamships, went into effect. Forced to divest from its marine divisions, the Pennsylvania Railroad sold its Anchor Line along with four other railroad-owned company fleets, to the newly formed Great Lakes Transit Corporation. Under this flag, she carried passengers along her old routes for another 20 seasons. For the duration of the 1933 season, Juniata carried passengers to and from Chicago for the Chicago World's Fair. Juniata was laid up in 1936 due to poor economic conditions as well as new regulations on wooden passenger ships following the Morro Castle disaster.
Juniata was moored in Buffalo until being sold in 1940 to Wisconsin & Michigan Steamship Company, a subsidiary of the McKee family-owned Sand Products Corporation of Detroit, MI. She was rebuilt and used as a passenger ship on Lake Michigan. Juniata was extensively modernized at the yard of the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company. Her boilers were converted to burn fuel oil instead of coal, and the old cabins and wooden superstructure were removed and replaced with steel to meet the new maritime fire safety standards created after the SS Morro Castle fire off Asbury Park, New Jersey in 1934. The streamlined forward stack is false and does not ventilate engine exhaust. It is a signature of naval architect George Sharp, whose ideas regarding fireproof ships were first incorporated into Juniata. This stack became standard on many new ships that were to come. Sharp is credited with three historic vessels, Milwaukee Clipper, SS Lane Victory, and NS Savannah.
The modernized ship now featured air conditioned staterooms, a children's playroom, a movie theater, a dance floor with a live band, a soda fountain, bar, cafeteria, lounges and sports deck, and capacity to carry 120 automobiles. She was christened Milwaukee Clipper on June 2, 1941, by Patricia McKee, daughter of Max B. McKee, principal of Sand Products Corporation, owner of the vessel. She made her maiden voyage from Milwaukee to Muskegon the following day. As Milwaukee Clipper, she steamed between Muskegon and Milwaukee, as well as excursions throughout Lake Michigan visiting various other ports, for 29 seasons. She was also called the "Queen of the Great Lakes" and carried around 900 passengers and 120 automobiles in the summer. The amount of oil used varied per round trip, but was approximately 5,500 US gallons (21,000 L; 4,600 imp gal). On week days she made two round trips that took 7 hours each way, using three of the four boilers. On weekends, she made three, six-hour round trips on all four boilers. The crew lists were between 105 and 109, with around 55 of them in the steward's department alone to take care of the around 900 passengers on board. The cost per person in the 1950s was $3.33 and $8.00 extra for an automobile, with an extra 75 cents charged to travel in the forward Club Lounge and to use the forward deck.[clarification needed]
During her inaugural season, a space on the Sports Deck was leased to a Chicago based entertainment firm. The firm placed ten slot machines onboard, covering them when the ship was in port. Once the ship was three miles from shore, the covers were removed. The slot machines soon came to the attention of the Muskegon County Prosecuting Attorney, who took a trip on the ship to witness the slot machines in use.
On July 25, 1941, Sgt. Earl Secrist of the Grand Haven State Police and another officer boarded the ship and attempted to serve a search warrant to Captain Allen K. Hoxie. Hoxie left the wheelhouse and put on civilian clothes while remaining on the ship. The first officer was given orders to pull away from the dock, so the ship departed. Once mid-lake, the officers were informed that they no longer had jurisdiction over the vessel. Secrist used the revolutionary "ship-to-shore" telephone onboard and informed the authorities in Milwaukee of the machines. When the vessel docked in Milwaukee, the slot machines were seized. Eventually, the charges against Captain Hoxie and the owners of the vessel were dropped.