Manitowoc, WI and the Badger.

6-21-24

We departed Pentwater for our crossing of Lake Michigan. Seas were nearly flat, but the slight fog present in Pentwater intensified dramatically about 5 miles offshore. The remainder of our run across Lake Michigan was through dense fog. This was not a particular problem given GPS accuracy and our open array radar. We were most concerned about the steam-powered car ferry SS Badger, which makes several daily runs from Ludington Mi to Manitowoc Wi. Sure enough, about 9:30 in the morning, precisely when we would expect. we saw a large radar return off our starboard stern and the ghostly outline of the Badger appeared several minutes later approximately 2-3 miles away. She passed us quickly in the fog and disappeared toward Wisconsin. The rest of the trip was uneventful and the fog dissipated just outside Manitowoc. The harbor is quite scenic with a slightly tricky approach to the municipal marina. We passed the Badger dockside as well as the decommissioned World War II era submarine, USS Cobia, which is tied up alongside the Maritime Museum.

Manitowoc is a small town with a mostly gutted downtown, an appearance which has become quite familiar in the Rust Belt devastated by the loss of manufacturing centers. However, there were some nice places, including an old confectionery from the 1930s where we indulged in ice cream sundaes on several occasions. In addition, Manitowoc has one of the best maritime museums we've seen on this entire loop. We spent an entire day in the museum learning about the boat building history in this region. A great many passenger ferries, ore boats and most notably World War II submarines were constructed here. The museum displays about the mini Great Lakes shipwrecks was also spectacular.

One particular oddity about Manitowoc was the impact of a Russian Sputnik spaceship on a city street in September, 1962. Apparently, during an uncontrolled reentry, a portion of a Sputnik crashed onto one of the main streets of Manitowoc in the middle of the night, leaving a small crater in the middle of the street. No one was injured but this apparently left quite an impression on the citizens of Manitowoc. The locals have a immortalized this event with the museum, and historical marker where this occur and an annual sputnik festival.

Finally, a video of the Badger departing Manitowoc: