NINETY-SIX YEAR OLD MODEL BUILDER STILL AT HIS WORK

Harry Carle's love of ships on the St. Clair River began at the age of 10. A native of Stevens Point, Wisconsin, his move to Marysville, Michigan, in 1920, nurtured his fascination with the passenger vessels and freighters that plied the river. He worked at Morton Salt Company in the 1930s, and later as a draftsman at Mueller Brass, a trade that helped perfect his mastery at building ship models.

His recent completion of the U. S. Coast Guard Buoy Tender Hollyhock model, made for the Coast Guard Appreciation Weekend, was his most recent masterpiece. This feat of precise detail took six months and 500 hours to build. He was given a special tour of the Hollyhock to gather photographs of ship details and meet the crew. With these photographs, he created his own blueprints of the vessel, which he used for the meticulous and intricate task of making a perfect model.

In the past 76 years Carle has built 114 models - 25 models for the Marysville Museum and 10 for the Port Huron Museum. He related that his most popular models were of the White Star excursion ship Tashmoo that ran between Detroit and Port Huron from 1901 to 1936. Some of his models can be seen at Cap'n Jim's Gallery in downtown Port Huron.

For additional information contact Harry Carle at 810-364-9259 or Jim Clary at 810-987-0767.