LUDINGTON — After being gone since March 22, 2025, the Undaunted tug and Pere Marquette 41 barge came home early on the morning on Saturday, April 19, 2025 to unload its cargo at the Rieth-Riley dock. The tug boat/barge arrived from Burns Harbor, Indiana.
The 406-foot Pere Marquette 41 is the former City of Midland 41 carferry, which was built for the Pere Marquette Railway in 1941, the last carferry built by Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company of Manitowoc, Wis. It became property of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad in 1947 when the C&O acquired the PMRR.
It ended its service as a carferry in 1988, under the ownership of Ludington-based Michigan-Wisconsin Transportation, which was formed in 1983. In 1991 the 41, and its sister ships, the SS Spartan 42 and SS Badger 43, were sold to Ludington native Charles Conrad of Holland, Mich., who formed Lake Michigan Carferry.
The 41 was converted to a self-loading barge in 1997 by Lake Michigan Carferry, which formed Pere Marquette Shipping.
The 143-foot long Undaunted was built in 1943 by Gulfport Bolder to & Welding Works in Port Arthur, Texas as ATA-199 for the U.S. Navy auxiliary fleet. It was given the designation ATA-199 Undaunted. It operated with two Cummins K38_M engines.
In 1963 it was transferred to Kings Point Merchant Marine Academy and renamed Kings Pointer for use as a training vessel. Basic Marine purchased it in 1993 and renamed it Krystal K. The company kept the tug laid-up at its Escanaba yard. In 1998, Pere Marquette Shipping purchased it and renamed it Undaunted. That year, Basic Marine rebuilt the tub, widening it, and also adding a new, raised pilothouse along with a hydraconn coupler system.
In 2020, the tug/barge operation was sold to Interlake Maritime Services of Middleburg Heights, Ohio. IMS also owns Lake Michigan Carferry, which includes the SS Badger and SS Spartan.
– RSA
