Vacationland Ferry
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The Vacationland was an automobile ferry that operated in Michigan's Straits of Mackinac between Mackinaw City and St. Ignace.
Vacationland was built in 1952 by Great Lakes Engineering Works in River Rouge, Michigan for the State of Michigan's Department of Highways at a cost of $4,745,000. She was designed by Prof. L. A. Baier of the University of Michigan's Marine Engineering Department, in conjunction with H. M. Varian, superintendent of Great Lakes Engineering Works. The vessel was powered by 4 Nordberg direct drive diesel engines, each connected to a propeller through a Westinghouse electro-magnetic coupling, generating a total of nearly 10,000 horsepower. Christened in 1951 by 14- year-old Barbara Ziegler, the daughter of Michigan's Highway Commissioner, Charles M. Ziegler, Vacationland was the last ship built for the Highway Department ferry operation, and was designed not only to carry 150 automoblies, relieving heavy traffic congestion at the Straits, but also to serve as an icebreaker during winter months to keep the route open all year.
Prior to Vacationland's arrival, the Highway Department had chartered the railroad ferry Sainte Marie (II) which had to land at separate docking facilities on both sides of the Straits.
A "double-ender" capable of operating equally well in either forward or reverse, Vacationland was 360' long, 75' wide, and had room for 600 passengers in observation lounges at either end of her spar deck, while their autos were carried below on a fully enclosed cardeck. She operated with a crew of 47 men, who worked three shifts throughout the year. Her Captain for most of her Michigan service was Frank U. Nelson.
The opening of the Mackinac Bridge in 1957 saw the Vacationland mothballed for 3 years before being sold. She made the last official Michigan State Ferry crossing of the Straits of Mackinac on November 1, 1957, with a VIP cruise as part of the bridge opening ceremonies. She also made the very last crossing for Michigan State Ferries on November 2, 1957, when a single "deadhead" run was made to take supplies from Mackinaw City to the state warehouse in St. Ignace. The last (deadhead) run was commmanded by her Second Mate, the late Gerald Cronan, of St. Ignace, as all her other officers had already left to take other employment.
In 1960 she was sold to the Detroit Atlantic Navigation Company of Detroit, and was renamed ((Jack Dalton)). That operation was short lived, and Michigan took her back for non-payment, reselling her to Canadian operators on the St. Lawrence River, where she operated from 1961 to 1966 as the Pere Nouvel. In 1967 she was sold again to BC Ferries, of Victoria, British Columbia, which sailed her through the Panama Canal and renamed her the Sunshine Coast Queen. Retired due to high operating costs in 1977 after the first Arab oil embargo, she was again laid up, and was to be converted to an oil drilling support ship on Alaska's North Slope as the Gulf Kanayak. The oil embargo ended however, and in 1987 she was sent to scrap in Nantong, China.
The ship did not make it. Instead the Gulf Kanayak was sunk while under tow of the Hoshin #8, in a Pacific Storm on December 3, 1987. Today the wreck lies in about 12,000 feet of water, in the Pacific Ocean, nearly 100 miles off the mouth of the Columbia River.
