A GREAT LAKES SAILOR
Part 6
by Janis Stein

Join me in the conclusion as our featured sailor returns again to the lakes until the close of the season in 1960.

The sailor returned to Michigan in the spring, resuming his job on the lakes. He was instructed to travel to Buffalo where the Norway was docked, and his parents, Cyril and Sarah, went along for the ride. The trio left a day early, allowing them enough time to visit Niagara Falls before the sailor had to report for duty. As his parents drove off in his latest car, a white, four-door, 1950 Ford, the sailor had the pleasure of meeting Victor Courchaine, the newest captain of the Norway.

For Victor Courchaine, the season would be an important one as it was the first time he captained a ship. The Norway was traveling in a narrow river in Buffalo with many twists and turns when it was time for the sailor to take the wheel. Once inside the wheelhouse, the captain looked the sailor over, inquiring if he had ever wheeled before. The sailor assured him he had a few years prior before entering the service, and on the very same ship as well.

Months later when the pair was better acquainted, the captain confided it was a real relief to have on board a sailor with the experience to know how the Norway handled. By the time his season of wheeling ended on November 5, the sailor had decided Victor Courchaine was the best of the best.

The steel strike in 1958 posed many a problem on the Great Lakes as one freighter after another was docked, many of the sailors sent home until the need would rise again for shipping orders to be filled. For other sailors, it meant playing "musical ships" as the sailors with greater seniority continued to bump their shipmates right out of a job.

At 28 years of age, the sailor began the 1958 sailing season working as a deckhand aboard the Lyman C. Smith under the watchful eye of Captain B. F. Davis. By mid-July, he was utilized as a deckwatch aboard the same freighter, though the boat was then under the guidance of Captain H. R. Fairfield. September rolled around, and with it brought another change. The seasoned sailor worked aboard the Horace S. Wilkinson for a little over a month as a watchman before switching over to wheel the A. E. Nettleton.

After traversing the lakes on three trips aboard the Nettleton, the fellow who had been on sick leave that the sailor replaced had now returned. As a result, the Huron County native was finally bumped right back home, completing his 1958 sailing season on November 14. Before making the trip back to the family farm, which had relocated to Sanilac County in '49, the sailor stopped off at the marine hospital in Detroit for a check-up. While he was there, the sailor learned the distressing news of the sinking of the Carl D. Bradley.

The sailor had the pleasure of working on many boats over the years, but the two he preferred the most were the Norway and the Wilkinson. Those freighters hauled their share of coal to a number of ports. In Milwaukee, it would take anywhere from 24 to 36 hours to unload the coal, and there was always plenty of time to take in a movie in Duluth. Many times the sailors would travel inland if their time allowed, and once when he was in Port Arthur, the sailor entered a nearby hotel bar. He was quite surprised to see the women were segregated, and had to drink their brew in a separate room!

As the 1959 sailing season rolled around, the sailor once again received his orders, instructing him to travel to the Frank R. Denton where he would continue his work as a wheelsman. In 1960, the sailor again found himself wheeling on the Denton, and of all the jobs he had experienced on the lake freighters, wheeling was his favorite. Equipped with a pair of leather gloves to protect his hands from getting burned on the steam valves, when the sailor arrived in port he controlled the forward winches, shifting the boat while loading or unloading. Wheeling was a fairly easy job, and the sailor traveled all the Great Lakes except for Ontario; the pay wasn't bad either. In 1949, he started at a deckhand's wage of 97 cents per hour; by 1960, he was earning $3.65 per hour as a wheelsman.

As the 1960 shipping season came to a close, so, too, did the desire to continue his work aboard the freighters. In '59, he had attracted the attention of a lovely young lady, and she even accepted his marriage proposal. He thought it was the Volkswagen bug that first attracted her, but she claimed not!

Instead of sailing in 1961, the sailor married instead, and accepted a job at Fred's TV in Sandusky where he specialized in antennae work and repairs. The sailor couldn't help but reflect how one thing in life sometimes leads to another. That old wringer washing machine the sailor had fixed while sailing aboard the Norway helped him realize he had mechanical abilities and a knack he could put to use fixing all sorts of small appliances, and he made the rest of his living over the years working at Donaghy TV & Appliance doing just that. The name of this Great Lakes sailor is Dennis J. Essenmacher.

I would like to thank Dennis J. Essenmacher for sharing his time and memories, providing all of us another view of life aboard the freighters. Dennis sailed from 1949 to 1960 with the exception of his time spent in the U.S. Army. Information presented in this article is as accurate as his memory would allow. All of the pictures printed in this article were provided by Dennis, unless otherwise specified, and I thank him for sharing his photo album and slide collection.

If you are currently, or have been, a Great Lakes sailor and are willing to share your experiences, please contact the writer at The Lakeshore Guardian, 9697 Purdy Road, Harbor Beach, MI 48441.

© 2006 Janis Stein