While vacationing in Saugatuck, we toured a passenger ship that was open to the public. This ship was constructed in Scotland in 1906 to be used to shuttle passengers on the Great Lakes until her retirement in the 1960s. It was a short cut from the east for those who wanted to travel west to the Rockies. It was mainly the Carnival Cruise ship of its day.

When this huge ship was being delivered, she steamed up the St. Lawrence seaway to the locks that would allow her to pass into the Great Lakes. They specifically built this ship narrow enough for it to fit through the locks. However, they discovered it was too long to fit in the lock! So they had to cut the ship in half and brought her through in two sections, then reassembled her. And the ship was delivered with several kegs of replacement rivets just in case that would be necessary.

Murphy’s Law says that if anything can go wrong, it will go wrong. What has gone wrong for you today and how did you fix it?

Tags: mistakes, preparation, ship