By Rob Alway
The sinking of Pere Marquette 18 in September 1910 left a major gap in the Pere Marquette Railway’s Lake Michigan fleet. The railroad responded quickly, ordering another carferry and giving the replacement the same name and number as the lost vessel.
The second Pere Marquette 18 was built at South Chicago and entered service in January 1911. Later accounts stated that the vessel was completed in roughly 90 days, reflecting the urgency with which the railroad sought to restore fleet capacity.
The replacement followed the established Pere Marquette carferry design rather than introducing an entirely new class. A 1953 history described her as the last vessel in the fleet to follow essentially the same basic construction concept and dimensions as the original Pere Marquette of 1897.
The second No. 18 avoided the tragic fate of her predecessor and instead became one of the longest-lived vessels of the early fleet. By the 1940s, she was described as the oldest Pere Marquette carferry still in active service.
Her career spanned two world wars and several generations of newer vessels. During World War II, Ludington’s carferries continued hauling essential freight while also providing training opportunities for Coast Guard and Navy personnel. The second No. 18 remained part of that larger wartime operation.
The Pere Marquette Railway was absorbed by the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway in 1947. No. 18 continued under C&O ownership for several more years as the railroad prepared to modernize its fleet.
By the early 1950s, the arrival of newer ships and the rebuilding of Nos. 21 and 22 made the old carferry unnecessary. She was retired from active service and spent roughly the final six years of her existence as a storage vessel or warehouse behind the C&O slips at Ludington.
The vessel was sold in 1957 and taken to Hamilton, Ontario, for scrapping. Unlike the first No. 18, whose life ended suddenly in deep water, the replacement completed more than four decades of service and quietly disappeared from the fleet.
Her retirement also marked the end of the original generation of Pere Marquette carferry design. The ships that followed would be larger, faster and increasingly oriented toward passengers and automobiles as well as railroad freight.
Coming in Part 14: Pere Marquette 21 and Pere Marquette 22 - a new generation.