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10 August 2023 — Happy 70th Birthday, SS Badger!

We always make plans and hope for the best. We want those special occasions—graduations, birthdays anniversaries—to be absolutely perfect. But sometimes the weather is uncooperative, the transportation plan fails, or the venue has an emergency. The owners of the historic car ferry SS Badger are probably feeling a little of that frustration this summer; the last-of-her-kind coal-powered landmark is celebrating her 70^th year, but an equipment failure has put an early end to her 2023 season. On 21 July the counterweight structure on the port side of Badger’s ramp system failed, and soon it became clear that the damage would require extensive repairs. Mark W. Barker, president of Interlake Maritime Services, Badger's parent company, announced that ferry service aboard the historic ship would be suspended for the season, because the company was “fully committed to making the extensive repairs—and doing it the right way.”

It is indeed disappointing that Badger won’t be able to mark her anniversary year with a complete season carrying cars and passengers across Lake Michigan. But we would like to wish her a Happy Birthday, and to express how grateful we are that Interlake is looking after her, and that it will be “doing it the right way.”

SS Badger is the last coal-burning ferry on the Great Lakes. All photos: Lake Michigan Carferry.

Designed by naval architect Richard A. Stern, Badger was launched in Sturgeon Bay at the Christy Corporation shipyard on 6 September 1952, following the launch of her sister ship, Spartan, on 4 January. They were named for the mascots of the University of Wisconsin and Michigan State, as befits two vessels that would serve as a link between the two states across Lake Michigan. They were equipped with Skinner Unaflow engines, burning coal for power, because they were destined to work for the Chesapeake and Ohio (C & O) railroad line, hauling coal.

Badger was launched 6 September 1952; even though her sister ship has been launched eight months prior, the two were christened together. Badger's National Register of Historic Places documentation suggests that the railroads didn't consider the ferries a marine service, but rather “the companies tended to regard their carferries as a rather unusual and expensive section of track.”  

Badger and Spartan joined the fleet of the C & O railroad line based in Ludington, Michigan, transporting railcars, automobiles, and passengers across Lake Michigan to Manitowoc, Milwaukee and Kewaunee in Wisconsin. The ferries and their infrastructure changed with the time; as the demand grew for the ferries to accommodate more automobiles, a ramp was constructed at the port in Milwaukee and a second ramp was installed at Ludington to load cars onto upper deck space, and the development of “high-cube” railcars led the C & O to raise Badger’s car deck height by eighteen inches.

Passengers aboard Badger and Spartan could while away the four-hour trip in the cozy lounging area.

The second half of the  20^th century saw the demand for carferries as a link in rail traffic dwindle and fade, and Badger’s last run as a train ferry was on 16 November 1990. In 1983 Badger, Spartan (inactive since 1979), and the ferry City of Midland 41 were sold to the Michigan–Wisconsin Transportation Company (MWT), and subsequently they were sold again, to Ludington-based Lake Michigan Carferry Service. Badger was put into service carrying cars, trucks and passengers between Ludington and Manitowoc; City of Midland 41 was converted to serve as a barge and re-named Pere Marquette 41. Spartan has been used for parts for Badger.

Dignitaries pose for a photo op with Badger’s maiden-voyage cargo: a “Full Shipload of Paper.”

Shadow these passengers as they give you a tour of the Badger experience.

Fast-forward to Spring 2021, when Sea History readers read the following announcement in Ship Notes:

Interlake Holding Company announced at the end of December its purchase of the Pere Marquette Shipping Company and Lake Michigan car Ferry Company along with their assets SS Badger, SS Spartan, and the tug-barge Undaunted/Pere Marquette 41.

Since then, Badger has been carrying travelers and tourists by the carload for the four-hour journey across Lake Michigan each spring through fall, until this recent setback. But we look forward to seeing her back in service once the ramp structure has been rebuilt. Alert Sea History readers will note that the names of Barker and Interlake will sound awfully familiar; Mark W. Barker and his father, James R. Barker, are among our honorees at the NMHA Annual Awards Dinner this October. We’re recognizing their leadership in Great Lakes shipping and the maritime transportation community, and their commitment to “doing it the right way.” We salute Badger and her team in this, her 70th year, and offer a hearty thanks for preserving the opportunity to experience this remarkable veteran of Great Lakes shipping history.

Extra Credit

Badger’s National Register of Historic Places documentation

SS Badger YouTube Channel

Skinner Engine Company booklet, 1953

Sea History Today is written by Shelley Reid, NMHS senior staff writer. Past issues can be read online by clicking here.