THUNDER BAY, Ont. – Divers found a 13-foot crack in the steel skin of the giant ore-carrier Michipicoten, which suddenly had taken on water 50 miles out in Lake Superior on Saturday. The crack was one-half inch to one inch wide below the water line in the bow area. After the hull cracked, the Michipicoten made it 50 miles to the Keefer Terminal in Thunder Bay, where divers went down to inspect damage. A U.S. Coast Guard spokesperson, Joe Snyder, said it appeared there had a stress fracture in the hull of the 82-year-old carrier. A ballast tank flooded and so to did empty space between the hatch floor and the hull, Snyder said. Further inspections will take place before repairs begin. Snyder dismissed early speculation that the boat hit a submerged subject. The Michipicoten was built in 1952 as the coal-fired steamer Elton Hoyt II. A new iwner converted the vessek to diesel propulsion in 1953 and changed the name,
Seaworthy? The Michipicoten’s scarred and stained hull suggests less than stellar maintenance The carrier, built in 1952, is owned by a subsidiary of Rand Logistics, which operates 10 U.S.-flagged and six Canadian-flag vessels on the Great Lakes.