LL Escanaba to Chicago

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.

Random Ships *6

Off in the distance, I believe those lights are Greys Reef and Skillagalee . . . and the

ship is another 1000-footer named for an Indiana port.  Maybe it’s the time of day, but I think I see the iron ore dust on the white paint.

Getting back to my invented  TTT unit (twenty-ton trailer), she has the capacity of 3942.5 trucks off the road.

Algoway (1972) is another appropriate -sized laker, serving ports otherwise possibly inaccessible, and replacing 1200 trucks.

Here she passes through the Round Island Channel, eastbound.

Notice the hatch in the hull below the stack?

An engineer taking some fresh air?

American Spirit . . .  another 1000-footer . .. has a capacity equal to 3120 TTT.  Imagine having all those trucks on the highways between the mines and the steel mills 500+ to the south!

Anyone know how many tons of cargo these boats lug in a season?

Philip R. Clarke, 1265 TTTs.

I do love the paint scheme of USS Great Lakes fleet.

James R. Barker, 3165 TTT.

She’s been running for 41 years on the lakes.

 

And as James R. Barker disappears in the direction of the Soo and Lake Superior, Hon. James L. Oberstar (1550 TTT) heads for the steel mills.

Here’s a list of the 1000-footers on the Great Lakes

American Century

American Integrity

American Spirit

Burns Harbor

Edgar B. Speer

Edwin H. Gott

Indiana Harbor

James R. Barker

Mesabi Miner

Paul R. Tregurtha

Presque Isle ITB

Stewart J. Cort

Walter J, McCarthy Jr.

For an alphabetical listing of these Great Lakes-locked vessels, check out Dick Lund’s page.

All photos here by Will Van Dorp.

 

 

 

 

 

Random Ships *1

* here means  . . . in freshwater.  Actually there’ve been 50 posts under this title, but this is different.  And note the color of the water, brown in the case of Isolda below because it’s steaming out of the muddy, clay-suspended Maumee.

In the blue waters of the St. Clair River with Sarnia on the far side, it’s Lee A. Tregurtha.

Headed unbound not far from the same location, it’s Victoriaborg.

Down in an ocean port along the Indiana coast and shot from a speeding Amtrak, it’s James R. Barker.

Over in East China–East China Michigan, that is–it’s Lubie making her way to the ocean, well over a week away.

Upbound out of Detroit, it’s Hon James L. Oberstar, 

a downbound Algonova,

and to close it out today .  . Philip R. Clarke.

 

Clarke (Ohio) was launched 1951; Algonova (Turkey) in 2007; Oberstar (Ohio) , 1958; Lubie (China) 2011; Victoriaborg (Netherlands), 2001; Lee A. Tregutha (Maryland), 1942, as USS Chiwawa–and you need to click here to see her initial configuration!!; and finally Isolda (Japan) in 1999.

All photos by Will Van Dorp.

 

 

Go West 12

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.