My Board

Were can I find more information about the various Sound signal combinations the Great Lakes Ships make. I am looking for descriptions and history.

I am familiar with the usual USCG Navigation Rules s for vessels underway and in restricted visibility.

I was fortunate to hear the James R Barker do a Master Salute while passing Detour Harbor Marina. It was an awesome two tone series of blasts.

Here is a link to a thread on the old Boatnerd forum with basic information about ship horns on the Great Lakes. I will include some of my own commentary below.

Steam-powered Great Lakes ships built before and during the early 1900s were equipped with steam whistles. As user Pete in Holland MI explains in the link I posted above, a whistle is a "flute-like instrument" that, in this case, was operated on steam.

Just before the mid-1900s, another device called the steam horn became a fixture on Great Lakes newbuilds. Again quoting Pete, "A horn has a diaphragm in it, and operates like the horns on a semi-truck." Even though these and later horns are different than a true steam whistle, they are still referred to as "whistles" in Lake lingo. Leslie Co. was the primary manufacturer of steam horns.

During the mid- to late 1900s, air horns manufactured by companies like Airchime, Kahlenberg, and Leslie Co. began to replace the classic steam horn. These models were similar to the steam horn in design, with the difference being that they were powered by compressed air rather than steam. As many ships on the Great Lakes were now being built as or converted to diesels, there was no longer a steam plant to power the old steam horns and whistles. It is my understanding that the new air horns were also much easier to maintain. Some steamships that were converted to diesel retained their old steam horns but operated them on air instead. It should also be noted that electric horns made an appearance on the Great Lakes during this era as well. These models use electric motors to generate a given frequency and are manufactured by the same companies listed earlier.

Today, most ships on the Great Lakes are equipped with air horns and electric horns. No active ships use steam whistles, with the Alpena and Badger being the only two vessels currently operating with steam horns. For instance, the fantastic two-tone sound you heard from the James R. Barker was produced by two Leslie Co. air horns.

Of note, the horns and whistles on many older boats were mounted within the stack with the bell protruding. Newer ships tend to have their models mounted on the pilothouse and/or foremast.

I hope this helps!

Hello Habes,

Thank you for the information. Good Stuff.

What I really curious about is the origin of the Salutes since they are not a USCG recognized sound signal. And is there a reference stating the combinations of these signals or is this practice just handed down through the years.

The only thing I have seen is a board at the Valley Kemp ship Museum in Sault Ste. Marie, MI

See attached.

Brian 

You're welcome! I'm always happy to talk Great Lakes ship horns.

Some whistle signals are established and recognized by national and international shipping organizations (including the U.S. Coast Guard), while others have been developed for specific use on the Great Lakes. I attached a few links below which explain this in detail.

To me, it looks like the board on the Valley Camp shows a combination of standard and Great Lakes-specific whistle signals. There is a similar chart in the annual Know Your Ships publication.

I hope this helps!

For some reason, the system wasn't letting me attach the links all in one post. I'll try sending them individually.

Link: BoatU.S. Foundation navigation sounds

Link: U.S. Coast Guard navigation rules

Link: Excerpt from Toronto Marine Historical Society's Scanner publication

CSL passsenger ships on the lower St.Lawrence also had a steam siren which they used after the customary 3-2 salutes. Did they have similar sirens on the Lakes? It's hard to replicate the siren sound in words but it was a vey quick "whoop" like sound.

Youtube "steam siren".  There are a couple dozen videos of them in operation.  I have a 6" on my steam tractor.  Will scare the heck out of ya if not prepared for it  : )