I missed the ship at first, even though I was looking for it. Then its slow steady movement caught my attention. Behold the bunker carrier Buffalo in Cleveland
steaming upstream without tug assist, although it has thrusters. There’s 68′ beam of this self-unloading bulker winding her way upstream.
See the green-domed clock tower on the ridge? On the photo above it’s just to the left of the bow mast of Buffalo. That’s Westside Market.
See the West Side Market on the map below? And the red line in the river heading its way under the Detroit Avenue bridge? That was my location for these shots. Destination was somewhere near the red circle below. Imagine shoehorning a 634′ ship through here?
And whatever reputation the Cuyahoga had a half century ago, there’s river life stirred up here, as evidenced by the gulls. Anyone know what draws the gulls?
The folks in the apartments on the ridge (along W 25th Street) must have an enviable view of this traffic. Invite me to visit?
Again, what amazes me is the absence of tug assist. And learning to pilot this . . . I’m impressed. See this location in a time-lapse at 11 seconds in this short video. And the outbound leg is done stern wise, as seen at about the 6:00 mark in this video.
Cleveland . . . I’ll be back.
All photos by Will Van Dorp, who posted the first of this series here. See a bit more of Buffalo on the Cuyahoga here.
tugster: a waterblog 
4 comments
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November 17, 2017 at 1:52 pm
Daniel James Meeter
Excellent post.
November 20, 2017 at 7:22 am
Rembert
May be, because it is still monday and office slaves suffer from escapism. But I observe: Pictures 1,5 show a solid fence, pictures 2,6 not. Could it be that the photographer has gotten over it in the meantime? Or broken it down? Pardon, I´m not interested to learn more about your methods, of course unevitable to catch those countless wonderful pictures, but I just remembered, that the USA are the nation, which (until recently) didn´t hate anything more than barbed wire.
No answer is also an answer.
November 20, 2017 at 6:58 pm
tugster
Rembert– Thx for yr concern, but you might notice that in photos 1 and 6 there is a black car on the other side of the river. That’s who you might call the Polizei. I was well-behaved, I assure you. You would have been proud, maybe.
November 21, 2017 at 11:24 am
Rembert
Hm, I fear, I read too much german-made cowboy-and trapper-novels, not to be disappointed. The years, the illusions… But of course it is better to know, that you will be outside there and provide us with another load of colourful sights tomorrow!