Huletts lighted at night

["RRS" <workace@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

OUR HULETT SITE HAS BEEN UPDATED

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A ONCE IN A LIFETIME SHOT OF THE HULETTS

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We had divine intervention that night. It was a beautiful October 29th, 1999
"Indian Summer" night with no wind and the temperature around 72 degrees.

This image, slightly cropped and with a shortened story of our efforts, was
published in the "BUZZ" section of the "Northern Ohio Live Magazine"
December 1999 issue. They gave us a full page, with the image being about
60% of the page, and it was page 10.

Ray Saikus

P.S.-   If you are interested in the details of the adventure they are
below:

During one of the many discussions on how to highlight the merits of the
Hulett Ore Unloaders at the C&P Ore Dock (now Cleveland Bulk Terminal) on
Whiskey Island, the idea of lighting them up at night to complement the
bridges was entertained by a few members of the Committee to Save
Cleveland's Huletts.
    The initial thought was to do it for the evening of August 2, 1998, when
the Hulett Ore Unloaders were being designated a Historic Mechanical
Engineering Landmark by ASME International (American Society of Mechanical
Engineers). The Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority and Oglebay Norton
refused to grant the organizer, Ray Saikus, permission to hold the ceremony
on site and also to light them from the dock for that event. ASME held the
landmark ceremony aboard the Goodtime III, with 500 attendees, and the
lighting was not feasible at that time from the boat.
    The lighting thought lingered amongst the Hulett aficionados and then in
early October of this year while talking about sunken treasures to Vitas
Kijauskas of Discovery Dive Charters and Tours, Ray Saikus mentioned to
Vitas another North Coast treasure, the Huletts, and informed him that the
Port Authority was going to scrap and maybe save one for future resurrection
if conservationists got a site and raised enough money. As if reading Ray's
thoughts Vitas suggested lighting the Huletts to present their splendor to
the public, offered his boats, and the clandestine lighting mission was
born.
    Vitas and his new bride, Marlene, upon their return from a honeymoon,
were contacted by Ray about executing the lighting idea and a plan went into
action. There was less than a week before the boats would be pulled out of
the water and resources needed included many ready and willing crew members,
multiple generators, at least a dozen and a half high intensity lights and
mountings for them, as well as professional photographers. The first
scheduled attempt was thwarted by the weather and the original set of boats
had to be taken out of the water. Vitas forged ahead and convinced Dennis
Zukowski of Wildwood Marina to press into service the "Linda Mae", a rugged
40' steel construction charter fishing boat and on Monday October 25th the
operation was scheduled for  Friday October 29th. Under such short notice,
the volunteer response was overwhelming and preparatory tasks were executed
with precision: components for four 4'x4'x2' light boxes were made by Jim
Korecko to channel the lights on these unique subjects,  three generators
and  ten 400 watt high pressure sodium lights were provided by The
Illuminating Company through the efforts of Jim Quisenberry and
authorization by Dennis Newman (also constant supporters with equipment for
the many parades that we have participated in), a fourth generator was
provided by Bill Joy, 1000 watt theater lights were provided by Steve
Merkel, and the sodium lights were pre-mounted on skids custom built by Ray
Saikus (designed to allow adjustment of the beam as the light sets were
moved forward and backward within the light boxes). Also, Walkie-Talkies
were provided by Ray for ship to shore communication and to let
photographers have maximum control of the artistic creation.
    The capture of the final vision was planned to be accomplished from a
great vantage point found on the fishing pier at the public boat launch just
East of the Edgewater Marina. The execution of this artistic rendering was
delegated to Jerry Mann, with the assistance of Sally Hudak, and in concert
with Robert Walther, both Jerry and Robert are professional photographers.
Also joining the capture of this once in a lifetime event with her camera
was Carol Poh Miller, local historian and staunch advocate for the
preservation of the Hulett Ore Unloaders at their current site.
    October 29th arrived and greeted the planners and volunteers with one of
those special North Coast Indian Summer days, starting at 5:00 p.m. the
"Linda Mae" was loaded with the generators and sodium lights at Wildwood
Marina by Bob Kaczmarek (reliable provider of his pick-up truck for this
event and to haul the Hulett and Mather float at many of the parades), Jim
Quisenberry (our electric power resource), John Koch (a captain of one of
the Discovery Dive boats), Vitas and Marlene Kijauskas (owners of Discovery
Dive Charters and Tours) , Ray Saikus, and Dennis Zukowski (owner of the
"Linda Mae" and operator of Wildwood Marina). All were headed for Whiskey
Island Marina, the next stop of this adventure. Jim and Bob took their
pickup trucks and met the boat there.
    At Whiskey Island Marina, only marina open to the public, we were guests
of Ed Hauser and use of the facilities for staging the next part of the
preparation was extended to us by Christine Bucknell, the marina's manager.
Starting at 5:30 p.m. volunteers Dean Bredenbeck, Loren Gordon(also attorney
representing some of the committee members in legal battles to preserve our
heritage and the Hulett Ore Unloaders), Ed Hauser, Jim Korecko, Steve
Merkel, and Jim E. Quisenberry (son) assembled at the marina and helped
assemble the light boxes. Jim Quisenberry (father) and Bob Kaczmarek beat
the boat to Whiskey Island and were also waiting for their next assignment.
Jerry Mann was also there waiting with the colored gels to go in front of
the lights and he had his four quartz photographic lights.
    It was dark when the "Linda Mae" approached the marina and upon arrival
at the dock at 7:30 p.m., the boat was quickly loaded with the additional
items for the lighting production and the new crew also boarded. The
generators where quickly started and the voices were drowned out by their
noise. Electrical extension cords soon found themselves strung out
throughout the boat like spaghetti and one by one the lights started to come
on and light up the marina. Once the light boxes were situated and the
lights on the skids were inside of them, the colored gels were  attached. We
struggled with too much current draw by all of those lights and we had to
curtail the number of lights we used.  Meanwhile at the pier there were two
dedicated photographers, Robert Walther and Carol Poh Miller, armed with
35mm and medium format cameras and ready for a scene that called for tripods
and lengthy time exposures, also present was Sally Hudak, a faithful
follower and Jerry's significant other.  The trio had been waiting patiently
since 7:00 p.m. to be joined by Jerry and for the "Linda Mae" to deliver the
light production. A cheer was heard over the generator noise when the
announcement was made that we were ready to move the "Linda Mae" into
position by the Huletts.
   At 9:00 p.m. the darkened "Linda Mae" moved into position and the spirit
of the Huletts was awakened by the roar of the generator engines and the
glow of lights embracing their magnificence. Four Hulett preservationists, a
handful of boaters, and a fisherman on the pier who stumbled upon the scene,
maybe the only fortunate people to ever see the historic Huletts lighted as
this photograph presents.
The unnatural man made glow shed new light and new shadows, that the sun
never offered on its steady path.
    The voice of Jerry and Ray crackled from the Walkie-Talkies, as
instructions for positioning the boat and the lights were relayed. The peace
of the evening was disturbed for approximately two hours as creativity drove
the volunteer force to present the scene in an ever changing light.
    Tired and weary, the volunteers untangled and unloaded the mass of
equipment that had overtaken this sizeable boat. The patient Captain and his
seafaring crew showed a great sign of relief as they removed the lines from
the moorings at the dock. Dennis, Vitas, Marlene and John cast off into the
night and as the solemn Hulett bid them farewell, the rumble from the "Linda
Mae" disappeared into the night.
     The dock sides volunteers work was far from over, the light boxes had
to be dis-assembled, skids with lights had to be taken apart and the lights
placed back in their original boxes, the stroke midnight came and went. As
the convoy of vehicles started to depart the dock, Jerry's carriage, a 1965
Chevrolet stepside pickup truck with stencils of the Huletts emblazoned on
the doors (aka  the Hulettmobile), attempted to reverse into a Pumpkin by
spewing enough gasoline to place the whole volunteer army  on alert. Jerry's
two week fix came back to hunt him and his fellow volunteers. Jerry's hood
flew open and an interim fix of more muscle created a new challenge for a
group with limited tools to mold steel and copper. With the assistance of
the moonlight and enhanced by the headlights of Jim Quisenberry's pickup
truck the volunteers went to work. Finally with slightly used parts and
archaic blacksmith methods, the components were made to conform enough to
let Jerry limp home, without endangering himself, the environment and nearby
community. Needless to say, another cheer was evoked upon hearing the hum of
his engine and seeing his vehicle roll.
    For four of the volunteers, Jim Quisenberry and his son, Bob Kaczmarek
and Ray Saikus, the night was extended into the wee hours of the morning, as
the generators and lights from The Illuminating Company were returned to
their rightful place. An early breakfast at an all night Denny's topped the
event for the very hungry and tired last stragglers of this memorable
effort. It was 5:30 a.m. when Ray rolled into his driveway with his trusted
friend Bob, with still a load of boxes to unload.

    Ray Saikus
    November 10th, 1999