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Know Your Ships
Once again this year, Know Your Ships is the best guide to watching vessels on the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway.
But Tom Manse, creator of the slender classic, would be amazed to see how his protege, Roger LeLievre, revises the book with desktop publishing and digital photography.
Tom never used a computer for the book. From 1959, the year he started [Know Your Ships] in his basement, until his death in 1994, Tom revised his masterwork on old-fashioned legal pads.
When Roger first met Tom, he had no idea he’d be taking over the legacy of the compact, highly respected volume. Roger was a 10-year-old from Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, who had always been fascinated by big boats and maritime activity. His interest was spurred by his grandfather, who worked on the docks and liked to watch boats sail by. That’s when he met Tom, the man who was always shooting photos of boats, and before long, Tom was teaching the boy photography skills, even how to develop pictures in a darkroom.
“He would take me with him around the Great Lakes selling books,” Roger recalls. Tom became Roger’s mentor and got him a job on a freighter when Roger was 18.
After Tom died, Roger and his mother, Audrey LeLievre, retired city clerk of Sault Ste. Marie, took over the guide. Roger edits, designs and markets it; he and Audrey both fill orders. Audrey handles the business side. A small paid crew and a handful of volunteers - “dedicated boat nuts, all of them” - help with the project.
The process of compiling the data about boats hasn’t changed all that much. Published reports, online databases and the shipping companies themselves remain among the key sources. What has changed is how it’s all put together - on a computer in Roger’s home.
Despite the effort it takes to do the book, Roger also works full time as entertainment writer for the Ann Arbor News.
“I really do enjoy it,” he says of publishing the guide. “I can’t make a living off it. It’s a niche market.”
Know Your Ships is essential whether you’re a novice big-boat lover, a longtime boatnerd or are working in the industry. At $16.95, it’s a steal with interesting features, ease of use and glossy color photos.
Inside are details on hundreds of Canadian-, U.S.- and international-flagged cargo ships, tugs, excursion boats and barges. You’ll find smokestack colors and fleet house flags. To be included, a vessel must be more than 30 feet long and must be commercially operated (not a yacht or a tug turned into a yacht).
The 2009 edition will mark the book’s 50th anniversary, and Roger plans to publish a special volume of images along with the annual [Know Your Ships.] A DVD of photos from 50 years is also in the works. Roger plans to write about how Great Lakes fleets have changed and to note the 50th anniversary of the opening of St. Lawrence Seaway (the same year the book
- Bob Berg
Facing North
Ely, Minnesota, population 3,724, is home (I’ll be honest) to many of my ancestors. Thus it was with skepticism and excitement that I turned these pages. Photographer Andrew Goldman and his wife, writer Ann Goldman, hail from Chicago … what could they say (or show) about a town at the edge of the wilderness?
The answer is in the faces.
The Goldmans didn’t just pass through one summer to snap a few shots of the quaint and quirky. They moved in and got to know Ely for what it is: a town with a lot of heart, quite a few characters and folks with fierce commitment to each other and their community. The outstanding photos share space with thoughtful comments that tell how images were taken and with insightful essays on history, heritage and hot-button topics.
The large-format, black-and-white photos create portraits with a “take it or leave it” attitude that can be heartwarming or unnerving. You look eye-to-eye with shop owners, moms, kids, a mayor, an historian and dozens of average people. This book could show any small town, if it were a town with sled dogs, canoe outfitters, Ojibway activists, a public sauna, an arctic explorer or two and a veterinarian who may - in the same day - treat a bear hit by a car and a poodle with arthritis. Even if you never “opened wide” for dentist Frank Udovich, dipped your toes in Burntside Lake or asked Pat about the hot bologna at Zup’s grocery, the book is a fine tribute to the many faces of a small, independent town.
– Siiri Branstrom
