Ohio Folklore
Ohio Folklore
Cincinnati's Ghost Ship
Hello and welcome to Ohio folklore. I'm your host Melissa Davies. Today we're exploring a decade's old forgotten quest of one man from Cincinnati. His name was Butch Miller, the object of his desires a historic treasure that was nearly lost to the ages until Halloween day 2009 When a group of kayakers happened upon his abandoned vessel stuck in the mud of a tributary off the Ohio River. One of those kayakers and Mr. Henry Dorfman spoke with me about that memorable day. And we were paddling the Ohio River. My group has said take paddlers where I will go growth, but we have about 2200 members. And the Ohio River is one place we like to go. Aside from just going up and down the river, we like to poke up the various creeks and coves and that type of thing. And that's how we came across it. So you were just kind of enjoying the day and exploring the bank and the tributaries? That's correct. I know it's been about 10 years. But can you set the scene for me and what what you remember seeing as you were going down Taylor Creek? Sure. We were paddling along the Ohio River, close to the i 275. Bridge, the one on the west side of town, and so a creek opening and tattled into it and very quickly, maybe 100 yards in, we saw this large ship grounded, more or less in the middle of the creek a little bit to the left side. And it was big. And so of course, we proceeded to paddle up to it, to see what it was about. Now, approaching it from the stern. It looks odd. I mean, first of all, you don't see a boat, or ship that large on the Ohio River except for tow boats. This obviously wasn't a tow boat. It had something some device cobble on the stern, it just looked very odd. And then as we grew alongside, it became quite apparent to me that it wasn't a river, pipe craft, but more of an ocean going type ship. So we took a lot of photos. We didn't climb on it, because you could see that the decks were putting much rusted through and that would be very foolish to get on and bizben You're looking at a drop of 10 to 12 feet onto some steel machine or exactly. Have seen YouTube videos and many folks so that are doing that very thing. Right. To their peril. I think, exactly. It's not a smart thing to know. Right. So right, right from the start, though you could tell you know, this was out of place, it wasn't something you would normally see on the river, and it stayed or disrepair, which was pretty clear. Yes. And so you took some pictures and were you able to see any identifying information at that time like any? Well, the only thing you could really miss out on the bowel and most of the paint was flaked off, but you could see the Circle Line logo. And having grown up on the East Coast, I was somewhat familiar with it. We our group always publishes photos online for the enjoyment of the members, but also let other paddlers know what you know places to go things to say. And a couple months after pressing online, I was contacted by a guy named Mike Danna wax, and he sent me an email saying that he and a friend have a website dedicated to maritime history of deep sea fishing along the Atlantic coast. I believe they were located in New Jersey, and their website was called Mel's place. It's under a different name now. I think it's called Mike's maritime memorabilia. And anyway, somehow he recognized the ship for what it was and the common knowledge or the common belief was that has been taken out of service by the Circle Line in 1984 and scrapped and He sees a picture of it. So he asked for all the information and photos I had. And then he posted on his website. Okay. And that's the start up how it got more out into the public at that point. Yeah. And plus a lot of local people or reasonable people saw our photos and wanted to know how to see it and so on. I see. Okay, so it just kind of naturally took on. I guess they call it going viral today. Yeah. That was the the word ideas. Yes. Okay. And did you remember telling, you know, friends and family about it, and what their thoughts were? Oh, mostly people in the paddling or boating community. And, you know, the reaction was curiosity. They wanted to say it sounds so we, we've had over there a couple times a year, our clubs 25, ours has an annual Halloween paddle to the on it, you know, chef to go ship, quote, unquote. And it's just a fun thing. And we don't leave our kayaks and get on the ship, or the land. I have secondhand information that the owner of the land is very concerned about why ability, you know, people being whose property is harming on the ship getting hurt and taking legal action against them. And we respect that. So we don't live our kayaks or the water. And he has his Fanfan no problem with that. That's nice, that he's accommodating and understanding of why people would be so curious. And I can understand also, you know, his concern about people getting hurt, correct? Yeah. And it's hard to know what would have happened, you know, had you not turned down that creek that day? Well, I you know, honestly, I can't imagine somebody that know about it before us, like, we just never heard of it. But although it might be the case, because you wouldn't be just tromping through somebody lands and come across that way. You wouldn't see it from the river from a powerboat. So, you know, maybe we did discover it because, you know, we poke up these little creeps. So it's possible, but, I mean, the thing is here. It does surprise me that. I hadn't heard about it before we run into it. Right. And you know, even though it is huge, it's not visible from the river. No, no, you have pecan walk about 100 yards and there's kind of a little bend there. So it is visible from the river through the trees and everything. Okay. So certainly, it's reasonable to expect other people had seen it before, but you're the one that happened to forward it to Mike Danna was through then posted it to his page and then that's where it started to gain traction, right. Henry and his fellow kayakers had spotted a once glorious 186 foot yacht built in 1902. The rusted over steamer now lists to our starboard side. rich soil litters her deck from countless years of flooding. Weeds of all kinds sprout from her covering the vessel and an earthly blanket of vegetation. Locals have come to know her as Cincinnati's go ship. Although the name is somewhat misleading. There are no ghostly or paranormal tales associated with the ship. The term ghost reflects the haunting decay, the echo of what was once a magnificent vessel that sailed through some of our nation's most epic eras. So step with me aboard the USS sejam will sail through prominent periods of our nation's history, like the roaring wealth of the 1920s both World Wars, The Great Depression and more, all from the deck of one decaying yet marooned up the southern bank of the Ohio River. So just how did such a remarkable ship end up stuck in the mud and Taylor Creek, the small tributary where it's remained for 32 years. It began when one man a Mr. Butch Miller, found what he'd been searching for. It was 1986 and for the past eight years he had fantasize to owning a steam powered yet the kind of which hadn't been made for decades. It would be the crown jewel in his collection of smaller boats. This vice president of a Cincinnati machine tool manufacturing company, nearly gave up on his dream. When he spotted an ad in boats and harbors magazine. It listed a disabled steel hauled steam powered yet, the engine had long seized up. It had been abandoned and a Weehawken New Jersey shipyard. The owner was selling the property and had to dispose of the rotting vessel and fast. The price was a steal at $7,500 which promised to have it moved out in a week. When he arrived in New Jersey, he did indeed find the vessel in great disrepair. It had long been stripped of its former glory, the mahogany trimmings, the brass fixtures. What he found was flooded engine room, parts broken or missing, and rust and mud everywhere. But he wouldn't be deterred. He found a steamer and he was going to bring our home to Cincinnati. Over the course of 10 days, he would successfully drag the Bogd vessel from the sludge of the Hudson River. She was then patched up enough to make her sea worthy. Only then could the Sagem an old name Butch had rechristened her journey home toward Cincinnati to bring her there, which installed a General Motors bulldozer engine on the stern. Once leaving the scrap yard and making about eight miles down the Hudson River, he stopped at a dock in Bayonne for repairs. Unexpectedly, a limousine pulled up to the dock ship and a representative of the popstar Madonna stepped out. They were filming a music video for her hit song Papa don't preach and wanted to use the sacrum as a backdrop. Butch was delighted to oblige and refuse steady payment. You can still see brief glimpses of the vessel and the music video today, which can easily be found on YouTube. Madonna and her male counterpart are seeing dancing on the deck but just efforts were receiving media interest, he given interviews to newspaper reporters about his ultimate plans, but his wife Deborah and their son Rory would make Cincinnati to St. James home port. But as he had told reporters, quote, she's going around the world once, twice, maybe 20 times. He believed it could get the ship fully restored in time to sail it down the Ohio River for Cincinnati's bicentennial celebration in 1988. The fun and good fortune at the start of the station's journey would last however, vandals and thieves would attack the ship, robbing her of what little valuable she had left, including our 2000 pound anchor. Chronic engine problems made the voyage arduous and delayed, leaving the sage and vulnerable. All the more determined however, but Jerry read the solution. He tied a broomstick to the propulsion unit controls and sat a lawn chair on the upper deck now a makeshift Helm. With this setup, the station could reach a speed of eight knots, two knots going against the current. He made it out of New York Harbor before running the ship aground in the fog. She had to be towed back into the harbor and moored for another year. Many of us at this point would have thrown in the towel. We would have taken all the obstacles as signs that the quest had been foolhardy. And it was time to cut the losses, not Butch. It was July 1986. The torch held by the Statue of Liberty was about to be re lit. A rededication of the monument by President Reagan, which would take the vessel out for one last cruise. He filled it with friends and family and they joined the countless other vessels in Hudson Bay, enjoying the fireworks but just resolved to bring the sejam home remained. The following year, he would lay a course for the Hudson River, down the Erie Canal onto the Great Lakes and then pass Chicago where he would eventually connect with the Great Mississippi and finally, the Ohio River and the Queen City. There were a few other mishaps along the way like when he was detained by Canadian authorities after slipping into Canadian waters while in Lake Huron. And then there was the issue in Chicago where a butcher and his crew had to cut the stack in order to get the sacrum to fit under low bridges. But they finally connected to the Mississippi and then the Ohio. It was then in the winter of 1988. After 40 days of sailing, that bush navigated down Taylor Creek. This heavily wooded tributary flowed into his plot of land near Petersburg, Kentucky. A dense woods hides her final resting place, about 25 miles downstream of downtown Cincinnati. Which plan to build a mooring platform to more easily complete the critical repairs. The problem was the shortage of funds, which had been depleted from the long and costly journey home. The sejam would remain there on the muddy bank for over 30 years, successive floods would take an additional toll on the already feeble vessel. She sank deep into the riverbed listing to our starboard side. The true cost of repairing or even moving the vessel proved overwhelming. So she remained there, forgotten by the masses, until her discovery by another Cincinnati man, Mr. Henry Dorfman and his colleagues. As remarkable as this story has been thus far, we haven't even gotten to the good stuff yet. What I'm about to tell you about this storied vessel is factual and backed up by the historical record. It's hard to overemphasize the wide significance this rotting ship has had in American history. A luxurious steam yacht called the CELT was first built in 1902 by the PUC and Jones company of Wilmington, Delaware. The 24 foot wide vessel contain two deck houses that had a total of nine state rooms, all lined in solid mahogany. They included adjoining bathrooms tiled in rich mosaics. She was adorned by teak sills and brass handrails. The ship was outfitted with modern plumbing and electricity, a rarity in that age. Every state room had its own icebox. This was luxury at its best. The engine was a four cylinder steamer and she launched on April 12 1902. Her first owner had been a wealthy Manhattan entrepreneur by the name of Jay Rogers Maxwell. The purchase price at the time was a hefty$250,000 7 million in today's dollars. It became his summer home. He toured it around New York Bay and the Long Island Sound. On his death in 1910, the vessel would be sold to one mantain Bradley Metcalf, an executive in the textile industry in Rhode Island. The CELT remains a pleasure craft until July 3 1917, when she was pressed into naval service in support of the US efforts in World War One. Her masks were removed, her part holes sealed with steel. Her sides were built up to make the vessel ocean worthy, and military grade navigation equipment was added. For time she was used to patrol the harbor. She was armed with depth charges and a defensive armament. Ever since the sinking of the Lusitania in 1915. Off the coast of Ireland, civilian ships were leery of German U boats lurking beneath the waves. The USS sejam SP 192, as the Navy had dubbed her, became a foot soldier and keeping America shore safe. The name Satan is associated with multiple Native American tribes, a term meaning chief or later, the SP referred to Section patrol. She was one of many civilian ships pressed into patrol service along the coast. The St. John's route ran along the eastern seaboard from the New York Harbor as far south as the Florida Keys and US territories in the Caribbean. Her most famous mission involved her role as a testing laboratory for Thomas Edison. Yes, I mean that Thomas Edison, the one and only in the spring of 1917, the Navy granted Edison's wish for a floating laboratory on which you could develop new military devices. The USS hm SP 192 was granted for his use, and outfitted to suit his and his staffs needs. The inventor would live on the vessel for several months testing and developing more than 30 military devices in support of the war effort. The ship allowed him to test his inventions under real world conditions. The Wizard of Menlo Park, as he was known, was developing 5g bombs to camouflage US ships. He was building underwater sonar search lights and ship to ship radar communication devices. When the war ended in 1918, the sejam hadn't seen any active combat, but it's hard to calculate just how much her patrol and research efforts contributed to the Allies success. In 1919, the sacrum was released for military service and returned to our former owner Matt Metcalf. He in turn sold it to Roland Taylor, a banker and philanthropist. Taylor would use the yacht for both racing and pleasure purposes until the economic catastrophe of the Great Depression. It would necessitate his selling the vessel and at a price drastically under its true value. The buyer, a charter fisherman of Brooklyn named Jacob Martin would turn the vessel from a luxury item into a money making machine. He would renovate the yacht into a fishing vessel, placing platforms at both the bow and the stern. For those who liked casting reels over the edge. He placed comfortable seating all over the deck and constructed a tackle room. In addition, a refrigeration system was installed to keep the catch fresh, and a fully functioning galley was below deck. At a time when so many were desperate to meet their basic needs. Captain Martin sailed the shores of Sheepshead Bay each summer. For the price of $2. Anyone could join a days long fishing expedition, they could bring home as much fish as they could catch. To add a bit of drama for his passengers. Captain Martin was known to shoot sharks from the deck with a rifle. While this brought extra excitement to be sure his passengers mainly had hopes of being able to feed their family perhaps for weeks if the haul was a good one. When the trip was especially Bountiful, his customers as many as 250 per expedition carried home enough fish to feed an entire neighborhood. Sometimes families that were down on their luck would pull their money together and send one healthy young man to bring back as many fish as he could carry. Captain Martin's Business was booming, in our country's worst period of economic devastation. By 1936, the ship's long serving steam engine was due to be replaced. The faster more efficient diesel engine was just more practical, not to mention cheaper to operate. A 20 ton 805 horsepower seven cylinder Fairbanks Morse 37 D 14 engine is the only of its kind remaining in the world today. It still sits inside the flooded engine room in the hall of the abandoned Sagem off the bank of the Ohio River. Captain Martin would maintain ownership and operation of the sacrum until 1941 when her country would need her service yacht again. The attack on Pearl Harbor happened on December 7 of that year. The US Navy once again requisitioned private yachts for the war effort, including the sejam. The transition to the Navy's ownership was complete by February 1942. And she was renamed this time the USS Bennett kite. She was upgraded with new military technology and devices. This included armor plating and heavy artillery, like anti air machine guns. She would once again patrol the eastern seaboard watching for threats against the homeland. Following the Pearl Harbor attack on US soil, it's easy to forget the fears Americans faced about another attack. One treacherous day while out on patrol on the stormy Atlantic, the fan of kite and her 40 men had to ride out gigantic waves brought on by a storm. The converted yet was not truly meant for transoceanic travel, and she began listing at 62 degrees. The seasick crew had no choice but to ride out the storm. With some of her compartments filling up with water. She almost sank. Her captain was later quoted as saying one more drop of water and we would have been gone forever. All but one of the ship's crew survived the storm and enlisted sailor and fell overboard when a huge wave crashed over the deck. A couple men claimed to have witnessed his body being eaten by sharks afterward. In 1943, the USS Bennett kite was often ordered to help escort large convoys as they made their way home on the US side of the Atlantic. These escort units known as wolf packs included a variety of vessels such as destroyers and sub chasers one particular day June 12 1943, a navy submarine ar 12 s s 89 suffered a breach in a torpedo tube and took only 16 seconds to sink off the coast of Florida. The Fennec eight was nearby and started searching for survivors non wherever found all 42 men aboard the submarine lost their lives. About a month later on July 19 1943, the crew of the Fennec kite were told of a suspected U boat in the Key West sector. It had shut down the US Navy blimp and the two officers inside it, who had first spotted it. The Fennec eight and 12 other Navy ships raced to the site. However, the U boat had already fled underseas. Ownership of the vessel would transfer back to Jacob Martin in December 1945, he changed her name back to the sejam. By that time, she was showing her age of 43 years. After completing active patrols with the Navy she'd been harbored and neglected. When the captain realized he didn't have funds to make her see worthy again, he had to put her up for sale. This would open the door for the station's next exciting chapter, a sightseeing tour boat. If you Google circle line out of New York, you'll land on a website that touts the sightseeing company as America's favorite boat ride. Circle Line cruises have now carried over 60 million passengers gasping at the iconic New York City skyline. The company started in 1945 with a small fleet of ships, one of which happened to be the USS station. By 1946. The gun mounts were welded over. It was one of four sightseeing boats their flagship in fact, and it was dubbed the sightseer. A second deck was added to allow for a full capacity of 492. Paying tourists. To add to the ship's appeal, passengers were informed about the ship's long and remarkable history. The leisurely trips around Manhattan lasted about three hours and offered the best views of the city without having to walk ISTEP rain or shine. Cruises departed from Manhattan's West Side, sailing down the Hudson past piers and freighters on reaching the battery eager tourists could spot Wall Street, the Statue of Liberty and Staten Island, all from the deck of their sights here. Then she would turn to head up the East River to sail under the Brooklyn Bridge around the northern tip of Manhattan and under the George Washington Bridge before returning to our dock in the late 1950s. The Circle Line renamed the sightseer the circle, line five. Also during that time, the company divested a great number of their sightseeing ships, but not this one. The popular vessel would remain in service, as would her sister retired military vessels, the Circle Line 10 and 12. Circle Line still owns them. Although they haven't been used in service for many years. An attempt to put them up for sale in 2017 was unsuccessful, and they remain in storage. The fate of the Circle Line five however, was much different. After carrying almost 3 million tourists through New York Harbor. The company finally retired her in 1977. The cost of maintenance for the aged vessel proved too much. She was sold for scrap and abandoned at a pier in New Jersey. She was used for replacement parts and left to deteriorate. That is, until 1986, when a 35 year old business executive from Cincinnati came to retrieve her taking the sacrum on her final voyage to the Queen City. Through the years after her discovery went viral in 2013. Many have made efforts to restore the rotting vessel. The task would be daunting and some believe impossible. The state of absolute decay of many of her parts would make a restoration, more like a rebuild. With such an effort be worth it. How much could we spend to preserve a ship that fed countless during the Depression kept our shores safe in times of war, and gave so many their first glorious views of the New York City skyline. The USS hm has captured our imaginations and our devotion. She reminds us of eras gone by and the sacrifices made by previous generations of Americans. The current owner of the private property where the sacrum sits, understands the draw she has for so many. However, the liability the wreckage poses is tremendous. Many are known to show up unannounced and clamor up onto the rotting deck for a firsthand look. They risk serious injury if not death. Many holes in the deck are concealed by overgrown weeds. One fall of about 12 feet onto rusted out machinery could prove disabling, if not deadly. THE TRIBUTARY itself is a public space. So kayakers and canoeists can paddle on by the ship and wonder at her glorious decay from a safe vantage point. But for those who want to contribute something more to this remarkable piece of American history, consider taking part in this ancient project. The organization is a group of concerned citizens from Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana. Their ranks include former Circle line employees, retired Navy, maritime historians, descendants of former owners and other enthusiasts. Their website is the dash H M dash project.org. They're an organization devoted to the preservation of the ship and the history she holds. I'd like to take a moment to thank them. Their passion and devotion for this piece of cultural heritage is clear. First, their objective is to work to prevent further damage to the vessel, then they'd like to restore her for use as a floating Museum. As of September 2019, the group was working to form a nonprofit organization. Once that step is completed, they'll be able to collect donations, sign up volunteers, and promote wider media attention. Sometimes the ordinary world around us contains hidden treasures, we just need to take the time to turn down that next unremarkable tributary to see what might lie ahead. There might not be something as monumental as a rotting early 20th century got. But if you're careful, you might just find something even greater. You might capture that fleeting sensation of being part of something bigger than yourself. You might just sense your place in time, and its relation to the wider history we all share. This concludes this week's episode of Ohio folklore. Thanks for listening. If you've enjoyed it, please consider rating reviewing and subscribing to Ohio folklore on your chosen podcast platform. You can find historic photos of the USS hm on Ohio folklore.com and on Ohio folklores Facebook page. And as a final reminder, come see Ohio folklore and action during a special Halloween presentation at the Avon Lake Public Library on October 24 at 7pm. And as always, keep wandering