"Queen City" any info?

[GOAT]

If it is the same boat on Ouellette, it sank at the foot of Ouellette and remained for almost 2 years before the city took the owner to court to remove it. The same owner has now decided to buy an beautiful old house in the downtown area to make it a rooming house...council obliged.
Windsor Rises!!

[1KielsonDrive]

If it is the same boat on Ouellette, it sank at the foot of Ouellette and remained for almost 2 years before the city took the owner to court to remove it. The same owner has now decided to buy an beautiful old house in the downtown area to make it a rooming house...council obliged.
Windsor Rises!!

Thanks for the reminder, GOAT. I'm pretty sure I remember her sinking and the ensuing problems.

[Magnatomicflux]

If it is the same boat on Ouellette, it sank at the foot of Ouellette and remained for almost 2 years before the city took the owner to court to remove it. The same owner has now decided to buy an beautiful old house in the downtown area to make it a rooming house...council obliged.
Windsor Rises!!

thanks for the info GOAT.
got any idea which home this is? I have to wonder if it's the old place at something like 126 Elliot. The Binsnet Inn....I think it was called, and it IS for sale. That would be great as opposed to being torn down. It's next door to a real beauty, well, pretty normal for you lucky Detroiters, but in Windsor it's rare.

[kathy2trips]

I hope she can be saved before it's too late. I love Detroit's maritime history! Not every city has one, you know. Thank you to all who shared your knowledge.

[Lightfoot]

The Queen City was purchased by Joe Sheppard about 8 yrs ago long after it had ceased being used as a restaurant. Joe hired the Gaelic Tug Boat company to tow it from Lasalle to Jefferson Beach marina where Joe planned to refurbish it during the winter. Gaelic towed the Queen up the shipping channel into Lk St Clair to about the area of the St Clair Light, where the smaller John Michael tugboat owned by Jack Olsen was to take over and finish the tow into Jefferson Beach. Michigan Marine Salvage was the 3rd company involved on that cold November day, to orchestrate and lead the way. The smaller tug was needed for the final leg of the trip due to it's shallower draft necessary to enter JBM. What wasn't known at the time, was the draft of the Queen! Needless to say, the Queen ran aground [[while under tow) about 1/2 mile out from JBM at 9 mile rd in St Clair Shores. It took till mid-afternoon to unground the Queen, and the question now became, where to take her. A decision was made to head back out to the deeper shipping channel and continue up toward the Harsens Island area, where a deep water dockage could be found. [[by this time, we'd figured out the Queen needed a whopping 13 feet of water just to float). By the time we were 1/2 way across the lake, the captain of the John Michael realized his night time towing lights didn't work, and he was afraid of being reported by passing freighter captains to the US Coast Guard. As the afternoon progressed, the temp dropped and the sun began to set, another quick decision resulted in a hard left turn with the idea to head to the Clinton River, & home base of Michigan Marine Salvage. We made it as far as Metro Beach area when the Queen, once again ran aground in the middle of the lake. Marine Salvage made a call to their home base, and a monstrous anchor was ferried out so secure the Queen for the night, about a mile out from Metro Beach, since all other options had been exhausted. It took Joe almost a week to come up with "Plan B", while the USCG kept a watchful eye on the "Ghost Ship" anchored in the middle of Lk St Clair. Joe finally found deep water dockage at the so-called "Goat Yard" just downstream from the Edison plant on the Detroit River. He re-hired Gaelic Tugboat, to come back out and bring the Queen back to the river. Joe never admitted how much all this towing cost, but many of us estimate it could have easily been more than he paid to purchase the Queen. Joe's the guy who owns the largest [[privately owned) fresh water island in the great lakes, being about 55 acres on the Middle Channel across from Browns restaurant on Harsens Island. His idea was to refit the Queen as a floating cottage and permanently moor it at his island in the St Clair flats. The problem was that the Fisher Channel leading off the Middle Channel to Joe's island was only 6 ft deep at the time, and he now realized the Queen needed a minimum of 13 feet to get her in. Dredging, even if the Army corp of engineers would have permitted it, would have cost well over a hundred thousand dollars, just to dig a path to be used one time... Enter "Plan C". During it's life as a restaurant, the Queen had it's engines removed to make room for a commercial kitchen. The engines were so heavy, many tons of stone ballast were added to the bowels of the ship to provide the stability needed to keep it from tipping over while restaurant guests populated it's upper decks. Joe planned to remove the stone ballast in hopes of reducing the ship's draft enough to get it into his island's channel. During the next 2 years at the Goat Yard, many days [[& nights) were spent partying, removing stone, partying, painting, partying, welding, partying, cutting, partying and generally getting nowhere but maybe reducing her draft by maybe a foot. Still 6 more feet to go, and all the while, spending $1000 per month for dockage to Steve at the Goat Yard, with no real end in sight. It was truly a labor of love on Joes part, but the Queen would not cooperate with his plans. Also, Steve began to fall in love with the Queen. He had a place to keep her, he had the means and friends to make it worthwhile, and eventually purchased [[or traded) her for back rent due from Joe. Sorry to resurrect such an old thread, but I just ran across a question about the Queen in another forum and found this via Google. I've known Joe a long time and have threatened to write a book about his adventures. He's a colorful enough guy that I'm sure the stories would appeal to many. If you want to know more, reply to this post & I'll happily oblige.

[John]

The Queen City sank this morning, March 14, 2021 at Bayview Yacht Club. I don't have any other details at this time.

[MikeM]

Was that the one being used as a temporary clubhouse?

[ndavies]

Was that the one being used as a temporary clubhouse?

Yes

[Kathleen]

Whoa! I had dinner with friends there in February 2020 just before shutdown. I remember them saying that the vessel was over 100 years old!!

[MikeM]

That's a shame. I assume if it were ice damage, it would have sunk sooner, like as soon as the ice retreated.

[Hamtragedy]

Finally after seeing an image of it [[none of the other older ones wanted to load), would this be the same ship that was better known as the "Strip-Ship" that was docked in Windsor around 1990?

One of my first jobs out of college was to shuttle auto-related personnel [[mostly from Japan) back and forth to the "ballets" over in Windsor. The strip ship was one of them and looks vaguely familiar in the sinking image above. I do remember feeling sea-sick on that particular vessel [[the size seems about right, me and larger boats don't particularly get along without massive waves) and having to ditch my "fares" and stand outside getting some air while they partied inside with the dancers. Our next stop at the Million Dollar was much more successful.

[Zacha341]

Did someone loosen the bilge plug? Goodness this is so sad.