Georgian Bay Line

The "Georgian Bay Line" is the popular name of the "Chicago, Duluth and Georgian Bay Transit Company". From 1913 until 1967, the Georgian Bay Line (GBL) provided transit service and cruise voyages to passengers on North America's Great Lakes.

History

The Georgian Bay Line went into operation in 1913 with the "SS North American" and her sister ship, the "SS South American". Built of steel, these two substantial vessels were both 280 feet (85 m) long. They carried passengers between Chicago, Mackinac Island, Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, Duluth, Georgian Bay, Detroit, Cleveland, and Buffalo, and sometimes intermediate ports. In the 1940s the two ships were briefly joined by a third vessel, "SS Alabama", a refugee from the bankrupt Goodrich Transit Company. The three ships tied up at the foot of 16th Street in Holland, Michigan, for each winter and until they were permanently assigned elsewhere.

Up until World War II vessels like those operated by the Georgian Bay Line were an essential part of the transportation infrastructure of the Great Lakes. The line sold large quantities of point-to-point tickets to revenue passengers who paid publicly tariffed rates to be moved from one port to another. After the war, with increasingly inexpensive motor fuel and reliable, paved roads, point-to-point passenger volume declined and the Georgian Bay Line shifted its emphasis to the cruise ship trade.

Both vessels advertised weeklong cruises through the upper Great Lakes, with the "South American" traditionally visiting Lake Superior and the "North American" taking the Lake Michigan run. Mackinac Island, in the Straits of Mackinac, was the division point where the Y-shaped arms of the Georgian Bay Line's service territory came together.

The Georgian Bay Line's long-term viability was compromised by the seasonal nature of Great Lakes cruise trade. The boats were traditionally fitted out each spring in May and mothballed each fall in late September. After the invention of the passenger jet airplane in the 1950s, North American tourists found themselves able to fly to ports in locations, such as the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean, where twelve-month cruising was possible. In addition, cruise ships operating in international waters could hire crews from the Third World and did not have to obey U.S. or Canadian labor laws.

The Georgian Bay Line lost money in the 1960s. In 1963, after the GBL retired the "North American", the "South American" and the Greene Line's "Delta Queen" were the last two long-distance cruise ships sailing under the U.S. flag. Neither vessel could meet modern fire-safety standards. In 1966, citing the danger to passengers of a catastrophic fire, Congress passed a law ordering both passenger vessels to tie up to the docks permanently. An exception was carved out for the "Delta Queen", but not for the "South American". In 1967, the final Georgian Bay Line boat made its last trip.

The "North American" sank while under tow to what would have been a new life as part of a merchant marine academy, and the "South American" was scrapped in 1992. The "Alabama" was cut down to a barge in 1946 and was still afloat as of 2005.

References

Mary A. Dempsey, "Remembering the Georgian Bay Line", "Michigan History Magazine" Jan/Feb 1997, pages 28-37.