| It’s back to work for a revitalized piece of
maritime history On May 24, 1998, an old boat and an even older maritime practice both came back to life. Here’s what happened, as de-scribed by Franz VonRiedel: "After 12 years of lying idle, the bumboat Marine Trader pulled up along-side the 650-foot self-unloader Algoway at the Cutler-Magner salt dock in Duluth. Up went the ladders, and the crew members of the Algoway scrambled down to do a little shopping … "
Franz VonRiedel wrote those words as part of an article for a recent edition of the Nor’easter, the journal of the Lake Superior Marine Museum Association. Mr. VonRiedel knows bumboats, and he really knows the Marine Trader. He and his father, Bruce VonRiedel, own the Trader and three other small craft that make up their business, Acme Marine Services.
Both VonRiedels live in Knife River, a small lakefront community just up the Shore from Duluth. Both have other jobs. Bruce works for Builders Commonwealth in Duluth. Franz, though only 20, is a conductor for the Duluth, Missabe and Iron Range Railway Company. Both also have a passion for the Lakes, for old steel boats that otherwise are prime candidates for the waterfront boneyard and, clearly, for knuckle-busting, paint-chipping, deck-swabbing, down-and-dirty hard labor that is its own reward.
And now, thanks to their efforts, the Marine Trader is back at work, and once again the Port of Duluth-Superior is served by a bumboat. "The Marine Trader could have been sold for scrap. One potential buyer was interested in it so he could convert it into a pleasure boat for use somewhere down South," said Bruce VonRiedel. "But it was built to be a bumboat, and it’s going to be a bumboat. Added his son, "It’s a classical boat, built right here. It’s also a floating maritime museum. We’ve got a piece of living history here." They’ve also got a floating general store. That has been the essence of the bumboat since the idea was first conceived, Minnesota’s World Port Winter 1998-99 9 though no one seems to know just when that conception took place, nor why the term bumboat was first applied to the humble craft. The Marine Trader was built in Superior in 1939 by the Kaner brothers, a family that had been steeped in harbor trade since its start in the business in 1918. The Trader originally was 55 feet long with a 15-foot beam and a draft of 7.5 feet. By the 1940s, the number of ships in Port had reached unprecedented numbers and the bum-boat business was at its peak. In 1952 the Trader was made 10 feet longer, and was expected to serve ship-bound sailors for decades to come. That noble mission was cut short as the industry swiftly and profoundly changed. Ships became larger and fewer and needed smaller crews to sail them. The St. Lawrence Seaway opened, bringing vessels from afar but with crews who either could not engage in trade because of customs restrictions or simply didn’t have the cash to be good customers. The business languished, and in 1985, the Trader — then still owned by a Kaner, "Honest Al, the Sailors’ Pal" — was retired. An interim owner, Tony Gozanski, himself a bumboat operator at one time, began a refurbishing, but it was left to its current owners, the VonRiedels, to complete the job. "We initially bought it just to keep it here," said Bruce VonRiedel. Later the father- son team realized that there was some hope that they could put the boat back to work. And so it was, on its first call to the Algoway last spring, that the Marine Trader became the only bumboat operating today on the Great Lakes. In its 77 visits to sailors aboard lakes carriers last year, the Trader sold pop, candy, snacks, magazines, books, work clothes, tobacco products and games, and more. The VonRiedels had surveyed sailors over previous seasons to get a feel for the needs and wants of sailors in search of commerce, and they were prepared. This season they hope to extend their trade to the crews of salt water vessels. And, as they did last year, they’ll dock the Trader behind the museum ship William A. Irvin at Duluth’s Lake Avenue slip, in the heart of Duluth’s tourist district, where the boat will be open to the public — and, hint, hint: paying customers. Said Franz VonRiedel, "We were looking for a way to pay for a hobby. Now it’s turning into a business." Said Bruce VonRiedel, "It’s some-thing to do on the water, which is where I want to be. It’s pretty fulfilling."
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