Duluth-Superior’s last ocean vessel of 2006-2007, the Federal Margaree, departed December 16 from Superior’s Cenex Harvest States with about 19,600 metric tons of durum wheat for Tunisia.

The Port’s last outbound cargo vessel of the season was Interlake Steamship Company’s Mesabi Miner, which left January 16 from Superior’s Midwest Energy Resources (MERC) with about 58,000 tons of coal destined for Presque Isle, Mich. She returned to the Port on January 19 for winter berthing at MERC, marking the Port of Duluth-Superior’s last vessel movement of the season. A total of 11 vessels are wintering in the Port.

The last vessel traffic for the Montreal/Lake Ontario and Welland Canal sections of the St. Lawrence Seaway occurred December 30. The locks at Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., closed to vessel traffic at midnight on January 15, and will open again on March 25.

Although Ray Skelton came “up the hawse pipe” as a Great Lakes merchant mariner, some future captains and mates will earn their stripes with the help of a college scholarship carrying his name.

The Lake Superior Marine Museum Association and others are working with the Great Lakes Maritime Academy at Traverse City, Mich., to create a Captain Ray Skelton Scholarship Endowment that would sustain annual scholarships for aspiring senior-year deck officers.

Skelton, who rose from the ranks of ordinary seaman to acquire a master’s license before spending the final 16 years of his career as the Duluth Seaway Port Authority’s security, government and environmental affairs director, died Oct. 13, 2006, at the age of 63.

Details of the endowment and scholarship programs are incomplete, but organizers — including the LSMMA board of directors — say they selected the Great Lakes Maritime Academy because, as part of Northwestern Michigan College, it has an excellent reputation. They also cite a shortage of licensed personnel in the maritime industry and note that the GLMA is the nation’s only fully accredited maritime college specializing in Great Lakes service.

Northwestern Michigan requires a minimum investment of $15,000 to create an endowment that would generate adequate earnings for a scholarship. Past LSMMA President Davis Helberg said plans call for the goal to be met, at least in part, by an LSMMA-sponsored matching funds program for contributors.

More information will soon be made available to LSMMA members and the general public, but persons or organizations may make contributions now by sending checks to:

Northwestern Michigan College
1701 E Front St
Traverse City MI 49686

Checks should be payable to “NMC Foundation” and include a memo saying “Ray Skelton Endowment.”

As presently envisioned, the scholarship would be awarded to an academy student intending to become a licensed deck officer and entering his or her senior year — the year when students go to sea. The student would need at least a 2.0 grade point average, but preference would be made for those with grades of 3.0 or higher in courses related to navigation, seamanship and shiphandling. A student with commercial maritime experience on deck before becoming a senior also would have preference.