I’ve re-edited the next two photos I took on May 7, showing RV Substantial as they headed north in the Upper Bay toward Albany.

I initially misrepresented who they were;  Substantial is one of the research vessels operated by NV5.  THSOA is a not-for-profit, but NV5 is commercial. 

I tried unsuccessfully to photograph them west of lock E9 on May 15, but could find no info about their location.

Many thanks to Cori Willson, who caught them at lock E21 yesterday.  If you’re on Facebook, check out Cori’s group Historic Erie Canal. 

Where have the years gone since I was last on the Erie Canal??!

As of last evening, I learned they were already in the Oswego River.  So I contacted a source Jim F. Coop to check if they might be along the wall in Oswego at daybreak today.  

Sunnanvik was there discharging cement, but according to a fisherman, Substantial had passed there last night and continued right out into the Lake Ontario, sans an AIS signal, making it a difficult boat to track.  If I had to bet, I’d say that by tomorrow morning, she might be in the Welland Canal, although that’s a guess.

Coop also saw Maple Grove (ex-LCM 8168, 1954, Higgins) in Oswego, tied up although she’d been barging around.  More on barging around can be found here. 

Many thanks to Cori, Coop, and the cigar-smoking fisherman for their assistance. 

Substantial is only the latest example of a commercial vessel passing almost unseen through the NYS Canal system, which opened for navigation yesterday.   Substantial may have transited the canal last year as well.   This blog has featured many dozens of posts showing traffic on the NYS Canals.   Ditto . . . lots of posts featuring the US port of Oswego.