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The new Mackinaw Coast Guard cutter arrived in Cheboygan on Saturday, Dec. 17, to a full dock of onlookers. The new boat will replace the current Mackinaw after it is broken in this ice-breaking season. Together the ships will take on the ice of the Great Lakes this season, parting the seas of ice for shipping traffic.
The older Mackinaw was commissioned in 1944 and is well known as the "Guardian of the Great Lakes." At the present time a Cheboygan group is working to transform the ship into a museum once it is decommissioned in June. The cost of the project is estimated at $3.5 million.
The new ship is approximately shorter than the current one in use, but according to those in attendance, its size still puts people in awe. The size of the old Mackinaw prevented it from venturing out of the Great Lakes area.
The newer ship has been a hot item in the news recently, not only for the legacy it will leave, but an accident that occurred as it struck a break wall in the Grand River in Grand Haven while making its way to Cheboygan. The damage to the ship, categorized as minor, can be seen on the hull.
The new Mackinaw will also call Cheboygan its homeport.
