Whatzit 3 Follow-up

Below was the lead photo in Whatzit 3, January 10,  2009.  Bowsprite took the photo from her cliff in late October of that year, and several months later asked me if I knew what it showed.  I had no clue.

Eventually we figured it out, and only recently it occurred to my “slowness” that the tow must have come through the Erie Canal. Now thanks to “group sourcing,” we know that this unusual tow did enter the NYS Canals in Oswego on October 19, 2008.  Kudos to Isaac Pennock for locating this page, credited to Jon Vermilye, whose site can be found here.

Above and below, M. R.  Kane arrived with the ex-future HMS Detroit and put it in push mode to enter lock O-8, entry point from the Great Lakes to the interconnected waterways to salt water.  For War of 1812 history fans, here‘s basic background on the construction and fate of the original HMS Detroit.

Notice the upper helm on the tug  . . . allowing the captain to see over the “tow”.

Here the tow departs lock O-6.

 

Many thanks to Jon, Isaac, and bowsprite for these photos. Is it possible that someone along the other 27 locks between Oswego O-6 and the sixth boro might have gotten photos of this unusual tow?  Maybe someone got photos of the tow at its final destination, which I think was somewhere in Narragansett Bay?  I checked with the owner of the tug here and they had none, they said.

Maybe one of these years, SSV Oliver Hazard Perry will make its way back to Oswego, via the Saint Lawrence, of course.

Isaac works on a Great Lakes freighter and has created this invaluable database.