This article was originally published in the July 2022 edition of the Historian, the monthly newsletter of the Marine Historical Society of Detroit. It has been republished here for its significance to the Port of Monroe.
Charles F. Bielman was born in Detroit, Michigan, April 20, 1859. His first job was at the Marine City, Michigan, post office at age 14. In 1881 he became the clerk of the steamer EVENING STAR of the Detroit & Cleveland Steam Navigation Co., and was transferred to the CITY OF MACKINAC the following year. Bielman was selected to be the general manager of the consolidated White Star-Cole line in March 1886 at age 27. He later became the secretary and treasurer of the company. He became the secretary and traffic manager of the Red Star Line when the company was purchased in 1893. Red Star was absorbed into the White Star Line in 1896 with Bielman responsible for traffic management of the consolidated interests. After returning from a trip to New York in 1898, Bielman opted to model the White Star Line’s newest steamer after the steamers he observed on the Hudson River. The result was the glorious TASHMOO, which entered service in 1900.
Mr. Bielman was elected the third president of the Detroit Board of Commerce in 1906. He held memberships in the Detroit Club, the Detroit Athletic Club, the Harmonie Society and the Michigan Whist Association, and was also a member of the American Association of General Passenger & Ticket Agents, the International Water Lines Association, the Great Lakes & St. Lawrence River Association, and the Central Passenger Association.
Bielman also served as secretary and treasurer of the Stewart Transportation Co. starting in 1892. On June 17, 1895, he was awarded the first contract from the post office to operate the Detroit Marine Post Office. Mail service began in 1874 as an information exchange to passing freighters about destinations and docks as they passed by Detroit.
His first steamer was FLORENCE B, named after his firstborn child. The 51-foot wooden hull was captained by the famed J.W. Westcott and towed a rowboat astern into the shipping channel to meet the passing freighters.
In 1907, Bielman contracted the Johnston Brothers Shipyard of Ferrysburg, Michigan, to build a new mailboat. Hull number 28 was constructed at a cost of $15,000 and arrived in Detroit as the C.F. BIELMAN JR., the first purpose-built steel mailboat. C.F. BIELMAN JR. was designed by Detroit naval architect Carolton Wilby and named for Bielman’s son. It measured 75 feet long, 13 feet 9 inches wide, and had a depth of 11 feet 9 inches. It was equipped with a Taylor water-tube boiler and a Detroit River Iron Works engine. The entire deck and pilothouse was made of steel with the interior finish being oak.
The BIELMAN continued towing the rowboat astern, as the FLORENCE B. had done. However, the BIELMAN was remodeled in 1928 to carry more mail and transfer deliveries directly to passing ships instead of using the rowboat. That same year, the branch post office on the Detroit River, referred to as the Detroit River Station, was removed from land and placed on the BIELMAN. This changed the vessel’s designation from a mailboat to a floating post office.
The BIELMAN was relieved of its duties when the contract passed to Frank Becker with his new ship G. F. BECKER in 1932. That was the beginning of a new career for the former mailboat. It was acquired by the Nicholson Transit Co. in 1939. Renamed DOVE, it was used as a private yacht for the historic fleet for many years. After it sank at its dock, Nicholson sold the hull for the sum of $1 to Stanley Komendera, who brought the vessel to Toledo, Ohio, and rebuilt it for use as a fish tug.
In September 1962, it was hauled out of the water at the Lucas County Port Authority terminal in Toledo, presumably for repairs. The ship’s misfortunes did not end there. It sank twice while it was moored at the Harbor View Yacht Club in Toledo – the first was on account of vandalism as the ship’s seacocks were unplugged and it sank at its dock. The second sinking was unexplained. After salvaging the vessel again, the Komendera family decided they had spent enough time repairing the DOVE.
On November 28, 1973, ownership of the DOVE was transferred from Komendera to Sarkis Pashaian of Monroe, Michigan, for $5,300. Sarkis had acquired a parcel of land from the Port of Monroe in 1967 and erected an Environmental Research Center on the property. He founded Monroe Environmental in 1970. A slip was excavated on the River Raisin so that the DOVE could be moored near the office.
Pashaian intended to convert the DOVE to a motor sailboat. Over the next decade, the DOVE transformed again. The old ship had no keel, so that was resolved by pouring lead in the bottom of the boat to make it level. Sark and his team put a lot of work into the DOVE; a survey conducted in October 1981 valued the hull at $65,000.
Finding a mast tall enough to outfit the boat proved a challenge. In 1986, Pashaian learned of a 60-foot aluminum sailboat mast that had been donated to the Madeline Island Youth Sailing Club in LaPointe, Wisconsin. He was the highest bidder on the item and it was delivered to Monroe the following year.
Pashaian continued to work on the DOVE, with his work culminating in a 1993 voyage. The vessel left its slip briefly, although it was not under sail. Monroe Environmental moved its operations to its present address in Monroe in 1993. The DOVE was removed from the water for the last time in June 2001. It lay along the port’s turning basin until 2005 when it was taken inside a nearby hut and dismantled.
Ownership of the office building changed from Monroe Environmental to Monroe Recycling and was back under ownership of the Port in the 2000s.
The ship lived a long life, and many people dedicated many hours to make sure the venerable old mailboat continued floating. In the end, despite their hard work, the old C.F. BIELMAN JR. slipped away into Great Lakes history.
