Gypsum Bulker 2

or stuffed canard a vapeur in winter.  I never imagined shovels on a self-unloading bulk carrier, one that loaded 18,000 tons in the three hours at the flood side of a smaller bay off Fundy. But here’s the crew, shifting “overload” gypsum into the corners so that the hatches can shut. When a commodity gets loaded at 6,000 tons an hour, shovels hardly come to mind. So how do we use gypsum besides in drywall?

Then across the wintry bay, through the tidal bore, into the ocean, some water freezing over the deck,

Ice that needs to be chipped away before the hatches can open on this cold duck.

So besides shovels, on board there must be ice picks, sledge hammers, and rock salt. Snow blowers? Scroll through these fotos from the Canadian Coast Guard.

Thanks again to coyote des neiges (snow coyote) and her site, le canard a vapeur (steam duck).  Here are more vintage shots of the Gypsum Baron.

Chip off the ice:  we need the gypsum for tofu and beer making, chalk, cement, and fertilizer.

About the bore, bore surfing has caught on in some places, of course not with bulk carriers.