Overnight sailings of the SS Badger return for 2025
The SS Badger’s 2025 sailing season will include regular overnight crossings from June 20 to Sept. 1. The regular season of Lake Michigan’s largest cross lake ferry is May 16 to Oct. 12. The daytime schedule is seven days a week, departing Ludington, Michigan at 9 a.m. (ET) and arriving in Manitowoc, Wisconsin at noon…
Why is the SS Badger’s Ludington berth called Slip No. 2?
Modern view of the carferry docks In the early 1930s, the Ludington cross lake car ferry fleet consisted of nine ships that operated 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year, transporting mostly rail freight from Ludington, Michigan to the Wisconsin ports of Manitowoc, Milwaukee and Kewaunee. For that fleet of…
Jr. Capt. Gabriel’s SS Badger ferry adventure
SS Badger Entertainer Todd Hansen with Jr. Capt. Gabriel Mary Svacina has had a tradition of taking each of her grandsons on a Round Trip Mini Cruise on the SS Badger ever since they each turned 5 years old. Last summer, she took her youngest grandson, Gabriel. Svacina, 71, lives in Grimms, Wis., located in Manitowoc County, about 15 miles…
S.S. Badger 2025 season offers new food and beverage choices
The S.S. Badger cross lake ferry features some of the best food and drinks on Lake Michigan. The 2025 sailing season features enhanced culinary and beverage choices. “We have listened to our passengers and are providing some new options to make their cruise an even more enjoyable experience,” said Wesley Paggeot, Lake Michigan Carferry director…
1950s ferry waiter rides Badger cross lake ferry 68 years later
In the summer of 2024, Bill Bussell of Round Rock, Texas, along with his daughter and son-in-law, took a special trip on board the S.S. Badger cross lake ferry. Bill worked for the C&O Railroad’s Ludington car ferries during the summers of 1958 and 1959 while attending Michigan State University. Born in Capac, Michigan, Bill’s…
The Chadburn Engine Order Telegraphs
Technology on board the S.S. Badger spans nearly 200 years. One of the oldest forms of technology is the engine order telegraph (EOT), which is used to communicate between the pilot houses and the engine room. The EOT was created by an engineer and medical doctor named Charles Grafton Page (1812-1868) in the 1850s. The…
The Badger is more than a job, it’s a family
Lake Michigan Carferry Office Manager Shari Vandervest knows a thing or two about the car ferry operation. She has worked for LMC for three decades. “I was hired as a temporary worker with Manpower in 1994. I was only supposed to be here for six months,” Vandervest said. “Thirty-one years later, I’m still here and…