What fascinates me about history is what we learn, not only about the past, but who we are. On Saturday, I returned to Muskegon for the first time in two years to tend to some family business. What happened, instead, was a "swim"
down memory lane that was both emotional and insightful.
Ask anyone who has grown up around the Great Lakes and you’re bound to find a sailor, a lighthouse keeper, fisherman or dock worker in their family trees. I have two such people in my past, with my grandfather and great grandfather both serving on the S.S. Alabama, a beautiful steamship that plied the waters of Lake Michigan from Muskegon to Grand Haven and Chicago.
Years ago, my father tracked down the owners of the once elegant passenger ship and was able to take me on board what was left of the vessel. The wood superstructure, complete with ornate wood and glass fixtures, had been stripped and the rusting hull was being used to haul scrap. My dad did not crew on the Alabama, but he sailed many times with his dad through the years and he wanted me to be the fourth generation to walk the deck of the vessel, albeit the experience lacked the grandeur of the years the ship ferried passengers to and from Muskegon.
Still, that experience ignited a passion for maritime history in the Great Lakes. When a mysterious shipwreck washed ashore in the 1970s near the White River Light Station north of Muskegon, the lighthouse keeper called my parents who rushed to the scene with me in tow. Every now and then the remains of the vessel, the Woodruff or some other ship, appears and disappears with the ever shifting sands. I love returning every few years to see what remains.
On Saturday, my plans were simple. Visit Muskegon, check on my father’s memorial, enjoy some beer at Pigeon Hill Brewery and grab lunch in the increasingly vibrant downtown. I also hoped to pay a visit to the Milwaukee Clipper, a former steamship that started its life as the Juniata in 1904 and later was heralded as the Queen of the Great Lakes when it traversed Lake Michigan from Muskegon to Milwaukee from 1941-1970.
The Clipper means a lot to me, as I had not set foot on the vessel since 1970 when my dad took me on a cruise during its last season of operation. Fortunately, I had time on Saturday.
As with many small-town museums, the displays are a bit rough around the edges, lacking the sophistication of the museums in major metropolitan areas. Hand-drawn placards, photocopies of original documents and jumbled displays are often the norm. But these are minor inconveniences as many local museums offer a treasure trove of knowledge and experience through the docents and guides who actually lived the stories they share with visitors.
That was my experience on Saturday once I set foot on the Clipper. What was a desire to relive a long-ago experience, if one can relive an experience when they were 6, turned into a revelation of how so many of these historic vessels and crew were and remain connected to each other through the decades.
With Jim Plant, vice president of the S.S. Milwaukee Clipper Preservation, Inc., leading me on a tour of the passenger ship, I learned how his father once had to meet the S.S. Alabama, which was ice bound outside the entrance to the channel. His father needed to offload some radios from Chicago, so he trudged out to the ship and a crew member opened a door and handed him the cargo. I was stunned at first and told Jim about the photos of great grandfather, who was steward of the Alabama, standing on the ice with crew and others who came out to the ship.
Is it possible my great grandfather was the one who allowed Jim’s father to retrieve the cargo? I don’t know but it just reinforces the understanding that maritime history runs wide and deep in our families.
Upon learning of my family’s connection to the Alabama, Jim smiled and said he had a treat for me. Near the end of the tour, there is a room dedicated to the Alabama. A large model of the ship, along with various artifacts and photos are on display. In one corner, a deck chair is visible, something that would have been visible on the deck of the Alabama long before I had the chance to walk on board the dilapidated hulk.
My visit had lasted longer than I planned, but Jim was eager to share more stories about the various passenger and cargo ships that plied the waters of the Great Lakes. Famous ships like the Edmund Fitzgerald and Carl D. Bradley are represented by meticulous models in a room adjacent to the Alabama room.
As I readied to depart, Jim introduced me to the Clipper’s Captain, Robert Priefer, who is in his 90s and floats about the vessel, greeting visitors and volunteers with the same enthusiasm he displayed during his lengthy career that spanned from dishwasher to Captain from 1941 to 1967.
We spent quite a bit of time, seated in the Clipper’s original deck chairs, chatting. I learned a lot about Captain Priefer and, in a way, a lot about my great grandfather and grandfather, who I never had a chance to meet. I have little in the way of correspondence from my great grandfather, but what I can tell from photos of him on the Alabama, I see someone who loved his work and was smitten with ship and lake. It explains my dad’s efforts to teach me about maritime history and our family’s small role in it.
For so long, I have relied on books, yellowed newspaper clippings and, to a great extent, homespun displays in museums and maritime attractions. Saturday offered me a chance to experience the history with the people who lived it so many years ago. Now that is what makes going to a museum a lot of fun.
To learn more about the Milwaukee Clipper or plan a visit: https://www.milwaukeeclipper.com/
To learn more about the White River Light Station or plan a visit to it or other lighthouses operated by the Sable Points Lighthouse Keepers Association: www.splka.org
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