When Martin Gas & Oil's final run to the Upper Peninsula late last year was unable to make the return trip due to weather, everyone on Beaver Island knew what was in store: a potential shortage of gasoline as the winter wore on.

As that possibility turned to reality, drastic measures needed to be undertaken. Calls for assistance went out to the Coast Guard and they responded with not one, but two icebreakers to help remedy the situation.

The first ship was the Mobile Bay out of Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. A 140-foot icebreaker, it was able to work it's way from the frozen mouth of Paradise Bay all the way to the ferry dock.

The second ship, the Mackinaw, is the largest Coast Guard icebreaker in the Great Lakes. It was tasked with helping get Martin's tug the Shamrock and it's fuel barge the Petroqueen free of the ice outside of it's un-planned winter berth in Manistique, and around the south end of Beaver Island then back up to the harbor - a longer route than the normal path through the other Islands of the Beaver Archipelago, but with much less ice than in those more protected waters.

And that was just to get the tug and barge to the Island, which really proved to be the easy part.

Let the adventure begin.

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