North Bound 7

Note:  All these photos were taken on September 8–four days ago–after we had reached the northernmost stop on the journey and were returning to Montreal, where I stepped off for a spell.

Six years ago I did two posts ( here and here) about Canadian newsprint transporters that arrived in the sixth boro’s Hackensack River via the Lake Champlain and the associated canals.  A huge paper mill once stood here at the riverside where this spanking new amphitheater aka Amphithéâtre Cogeco–now stands.

Dawn comes sometimes and there’s no sun, only mist and rain like this.   But that light lends itself to looking at other things like water flow around a bow like the one of  Algoma Guardian,  now north bound on Lake Huron.

Floretgracht‘s very different bow attacks the flow differently.  Floretgracht is now in Hamilton.

Sichem Dubai was at the Trois Rivieres dock, but now is Louisiana bound. That dock is part of an existing paper mill.

Not sure what I’m looking at here.

Then the rain came on harder.

Garganey is the same vessel as in the photo here (scroll) escorted into a Quebec City dock by two Ocean tugs.   She’s now in Toronto.

 

The last leg on this trip will be the focus tomorrow.

All photos by Will Van Dorp.

American Narrows

American Narrows is not a political statement;  it’s a geographical location in the St. Lawrence River between mainland Jefferson county and Wellesley Island, which is divided between the US and Canada. The River is narrow but deep, with fast currents and hard rock.   The Thousand Islands Bridge,  in most of these shots, spans the Narrows.

Check out Nordana Emma‘s port history, headed here from Ontario to Tunisia.

The international boundary goes through here just to the right of that boat house in photo center, Flat Huckleberry Island (US) to the left and Gig Island (Canada) to the right.

To digress, we are a few miles from the Narrows, but the islands are so beautiful, although some of the names seem intended to terrify.  Below is Deathdealer Island.  Other nearby islands with inhospitable names include Bloodletter and Axeman.  In spite of the name, over 1000 of the islands are inhabited, and two with stunning construction are Dark Island and  Heart Island.  But I’ll just stop the digression here.

For an itinerary as ambitious as Nordana Emma‘s, check Federal Danube‘s port history.

Note Rock Island Light on the horizon lower left.

Below, Federal Danube crosses Nordana Sarah right off Clayton NY.  Again, notice the port history of Nordana Sarah.

Unlike the vessels above, Algoma Guardian is now confirmed to the Great Lakes watershed ports, although she was built in Croatia.

Tug Wilf Seymour and barge Alouette Spirit have appeared on this blog before, always together.  Wilf Seymour was launched in 1961 as M. Moran in Port Arthur, TX.

 

All photos taken last week by Will Van Dorp, who’s grateful to Jake Van Reenen of Seaway Marine Group for conveyance.