Freshwater Ice 2

I started this series yesterday to complement the Clyde S VanEnkvort article.  Without the crewman below, you might have difficulty identifying what this shows.

It’s the bow of Erie Trader after a night on Lake Superior.

The photo below shows the location from which I shot the photo above.  Note how calm the cold waters of Superior are.

Here’s a side view of that same crow’s nest, with wind-down icicles.

In addition to the reason I gave yesterday for clearing ice, there’s another;  hatch covers must be cleared to open when we get to the dock.

Sledge hammers and crowbars work, so do propane torches.

When we tied up at the dock, I went ashore to photograph ice buildup elsewhere on the ATB.

The reddish coating of everything on the dock is ore, taconite, semi-processed iron ore.

Seven hundred miles away and several days away we docked to Detroit to discharge about 35,000 tons of ore at the fiery steel plant.

 

Air temperature was in the single digits, and not far from the steel plant fires, ice floating past in the Detroit River

All photos by Will Van Dorp.

I’m still looking for someone who might get a photo of that exotic ship coming into the sixth boro early this month.  But I also still don’t have a firm ETA for that vessel, Decisive.  She’s still out at sea but never in this  voyage has she been laying cable; as I understand it, she’s a cable “de-layer.”