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Departing Escanaba, we cut through Little Bay de Noc and headed for the passage between Port des Morts/Northport and Washington followed by Plum Island. The white cliffs at the north point of Washington Island intrigue. Previously I had been similarly intrigued by Port des Morts; if you understand the French you’ll know why. Whether you do or not, check out this link and story. Northport after all is at the tip of the Door Peninsula.
Taking our stern and departing Green Bay is the oldest freighter working on the Lakes . . . Alpena of course, launched a mere 81 years ago.
Dilapidated buildings stand on Pilot Island Light, once referred to as
Death’s Door Light, as lurid as that sounds.
Morning brought this view of Chicago, our next port, the place where I’d step onto land for a long week.
Chicago Harbor Light welcomed us in; here we’ve passed in on the way to Navy Pier, and I looked back at sunrise, where distant Philip R. Clarke was northbound for more ore, no doubt, previously posted here on this blog.
James J. Versluis I’ve seen before.
Doing some breakwater work was David R. Shanock, an unfamiliar name until
I checked and realized she used to work in the sixth boro as Trevor!! Check the history here.
All photos, any errors, WVD, who will now catch up on sixth boro images before heading back for the Lakes late next week for LL2 posts.
From Capt Nemo, a few years ago, the 2000 Mary Gellatly high and dry and before she was Mackenzie Rose. Also, I see Tasman Sea, Dace, an unidentified Bouchard, and Yemitzis.
From KP, Dace getting her upper wheelhouse . . . over 10 years ago.
From a Great Lakes Mariner, the oldest working ship on the Lakes . . . Alpena, a survivor launched in 1942, as she backs out of a Wisconsin city.
From Tony Acabono, it’s Kodi, among the smallest, hard-workingest tugs of the sixth boro.
From Bob Stopper a few years back, when Grouper was facing another no-starter season.
Another one from Bob, it’s tug Syracuse with a comatose Governor Roosevelt alongside.
From back in March 2020, thanks to Jan Oosterboer, via Jan van der Doe, it’s the world’s largest vessel by displacement . . . Pioneering Spirit. Here are tech specs and lots of images from her operator, AllSeas.
Here she enters port without an assist. Jan writes: “Moves complete oil rigs, drilling platforms, can work as pipe layer.
Has a working crew of about 400 people including sailing crew.”
If I read this correctly, she has eight 20-cylinder engines that generate 127,000 hp and can cruise at 14 kts!
And finally one of my own from almost 15 years ago, it’s tug Hackensack. As I understand it she’s now in South America somewhere.
Thanks to Nemo, KP, Mariner, Acabono, Stopper, and the Jans . . . for use of these photos.
I hope to “see” you tomorrow for my Turnstile Tours on zoom doing “Exploring the Erie Canal.” Tomorrow’s tugster post will be up early so that you can get interesting info for the zoom meeting.
To repeat what I said yesterday, this was supposed to be a visit to get photos of tugs and ships in ice. The Cuyahoga may be quite cold, but no ice . . . .
This shot is taken from the Carter Road Bridge looking toward Collision Bend and the bug venues.
Under the Rte 2 Bridge, Alpena awaits her 76th season! She makes me feel young!
In resplendent light last summer late, I caught her heading northbound mid-Lake Huron.
Again, I imagined ice; two weeks earlier and I likely would have seen it.
The yellow of the water makes more vivid the yellow of her hull.
Some crew is maintaining boiler pressure.
And when the season begins, Alpena will back out of this dock on the old river, turn to port and head back to work for her 76th season.
All photos by Will Van Dorp, who looks forward to seeing her steaming on the Lakes again this summer.
Previous Cleveland posts on tugster include this and this with laker Buffalo, and this with–among other things–Iowa towing Sea Eagle II up the Cuyahoga. There are others also if you just use the search window.
To start, these are boats, I’m told, not ships. I first saw the type as a kid, reading a book that made an impression and crossing the St Lawrence on the way to the grandparents’ farm.
I’ve posted Great Lakes photos a fair number of times in the past few years, so I continue CYPHER series here with Manitowoc –a river-size self unloader–departing Cleveland for Milwaukee.
Alpena–1942–with the classic house-forward design transports cement. I was thrilled to pass her late this summer on a magnificent Lake Huron afternoon.
Although you might not guess it, Algoma Harvester was built here half a world away from the Lakes. To get to her trading waters, she crossed two oceans, and christened less than four years ago. The selling point is that she carries more cargo than typically carried within the size parameters of a laker (Seawaymax), requires fewer crew, and exhausts cleaner. I took the photo on the Welland.
Thunder Bay hails from the same river in China as Algoma Harvester and just a year earlier. The photo was taken near Montreal in the South Shore Canal.
Tim S. Dool was built on a Canadian saltwater port in 1967. I caught her here traversing the American Narrows on the St. Lawrence.
American Mariner was built in Wisconsin in 1979. In the photo below she heads unbound on Lake St. Louis. I’ve seen her several times recently, here at night and here upbound St. Clair River.
Baie St. Paul is a slightly older, nearly identical Chinese built sister to Thunder Bay.
Algolake, launched 1977, was among the boats built in the last decade of the Collingwood Shipyard.
Lee R. Tregurtha, here down bound in Port Huron, has to have among the most interesting history of any boat currently called a laker. She was launched near Baltimore in 1942 as a T-3 tanker, traveled the saltwater world for two decades, and then came to the lakes. I also caught her loading on Huron earlier this year here.
Mississagi is another classic, having worked nearly 3/4 of a century on the Lakes.
Buffalo, 1978 Wisconsin built, and I have crossed paths lots recently, earlier this month here. The photo below was taken near Mackinac; you can see part of the bridge off her stern. Tug Buffalo from 1923, the one going to the highest bidder in five days, now stands to go to the bidder with $2600 on the barrelhead.
I’ll close this installment out with lake #12 in this post . . . . Hon. James L. Oberstar, with steel mill structures in the background, has been transporting cargo on the lakes since the season of 1959. She is truly a classic following that steering pole. See Oberstar in her contexts here, here, and really up close, personal, and almost criminally so for the diligent photographer, here.
All photos by Will Van Dorp. More to come.
Alpena was my elusive ship, and then . . . just like that . . . on her voyage out from Alpena MI, there she was.
She’s the last of her class, working since 1942, lugging cement products around all five Great Lakes.
She’s a beauty.
Maybe if I study these photos long enough, I’ll learn to paint or draw.
Click here to see and hear her moving out of the McArthur Lock at the Soo. And here, she departs Cleveland, and footage of tug Iowa in the Cuyahoga is especially rewarding.
All photos by Will Van Dorp.
I saw Iglehart in Duluth. Is Crapo still in the Rouge? And of course, the Townsend has just arrived in Port Colborne’s MRC.
We had a long transit from Detroit to Mackinac, so here are a lot of photos, starting with Federal Kumano and Ambassador Bridge in the distance;
passing steel operations,
and the mailboat Westcott.
Near central Detroit a pilot boards Federal Kumano from Huron Maid.
Entering Lake St. Clair, we pass Philip R. Clarke,
followed by Lubie in China township,
Radcliffe R. Latimer,
Great Lakes Maritime Center,
lightship Huron,
and as we headed unbound into Lake Huron, we passed Arthur M. Anderson . . . the last vessel in contact with the Fitzgerald before she was taken by Superior.
This was sunrise nearing the end of this leg, and in the night and distractions, I missed Alpena.
This post closes with Buffalo, as she leaves the Mackinac Bridge behind her.
All photos by Will Van Dorp.
tugster: a waterblog 
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