Crowd waiting to watch launching of City of Midland 41

Photographer

Glander Art Studio

Date

• September 18, 1940

Summary

• Some of the 15,000 people who watched the launching of the “City of Midland 41” in Manitowoc, Wisconsin on September 18, 1940 are seen in this picture, which was probably taken from the launching platform on berth B at the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company. The “City of Midland 41,” built by the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company for the Pere Marquette Railroad, was the largest carferry in the world at that time, and her launching was termed “a testimonial to civic pride” in Manitowoc. A newspaper account of the launching reported that “both banks of the river and all available space along the docks of the Manitowoc Ship Building company were crammed with humanity…It was a thrilling sight.” Many of the well dressed men and women in the foreground facing the camera are probably shipyard and railroad executives and family members. From the center of this group a young boy wearing a white cap aims his own camera toward the platform, while several shipyard workers wearing overalls and caps can be seen near the back. Seven men view the proceedings from a small boat in the middle of the Manitowoc River, and more people crowd the far riverbank. This scene foreshadowed the launchings of submarines and other Navy vessels that would be built in Manitowoc in the next few years during World War II. During the war, the $2 million “City of Midland 41” and other Lake Michigan carferries maintained their regular runs but also hosted onboard classroom instruction and hands-on nautical training for officers and men of the Navy, Coast Guard, and British Navy. Training on the “City of Midland 41” focused on operation and maintenance of the carferry’s Skinner “unaflow” engine, which was also used on naval vessels.