The Great Lakes’ Largest Car Ferry Fleet: Ship Numbering
Photo: Pere Marquette carferries 15, 17, 18, and 19 in Ludington, 1913
By Rob Alway
The tradition of numbering the Ludington ferries began in 1883 when the Flint & Pere Marquette Railway debuted its first two break-bulk freighters, F&PM Nos. 1 and 2. Its first car ferry, the Pere Marquette, which began service in 1897, did not initially have a number. When the Pere Marquette Railway was formed in 1900, it began the process of renaming the fleet, which also included ferries that served the Detroit River. The railroad adopted a system, similar to the numbering of locomotives, in which the Lake Michigan car ferries were to be numbered from 15 upward, the Detroit River ferries from 14 downward, and the break-bulk steamers from 1 upward. This system remained in place until 1952 upon the launching of the Spartan and Badger, which did not have official numbers (though they were referred to as the “42” and the “43”, in sequence with the City of Midland 41).
Pere Marquette 10 train ferry operating on the Detroit River
Information and photographs from the Mason County Historical Society Rose Hawley Archives.
