An Evening with the Roger Blough

I like lake freighters.  They come in many different shapes and sizes.  I really like the look of the classic lake freighter though.  The ones with the pilothouse to the front and the deckhouse to the back.  There is a nice tradition to that look.  However in my books, there is one freighter that stands above the others.

My favorite freighter is the Roger Blough.  I honestly don't know why.  She is certainly one of the more unique of the classic lake freighters though.  At any rate, before I left work tonight, I saw that she would be coming upbound on the Detroit River and would hit Detroit at about the same time I would if I left work at that time.  So I beat feet out of work and headed towards Detroit.  As I got on Jefferson, I monitored her progress and saw that Riverside Park was out as she was almost under the Ambassador Bridge.  So it was the race to Belle Isle...well not much of a race as I could make a little more speed on a freighter and I had a head start.  That didn't stop me from putting one of the songs from Das Boot on though.

 So I arrived at Belle Isle to see one of my favorite views.  The almost head on shot of the Blough.  For some reason, she reminds me of a snapping turtle creeping low in the water.

 As she was getting closer.

 I decided to put the bigger lens on so that I could get a larger shot of her pilothouse.  You can almost see the folks on her bridge.

 And then I went back to my other lens to get the straight on shot.  I think I would have caught her at the "golden hour" but it started to cloud over.  I do however like the pinks in the clouds.

 A closeup of her pilothouse.

 A shot of her with almost a clean background.

 After she passed by, I went a little further down the island.  This gave her a cleaner shot for her straight on shot.  But I don't like the sky as much.

 Even cleaner yet.

 So I went back to the big lens to give a shot of her unique self unloading system.  I think it is similar to the self unloader of the Stewart Cort.

 As she is passing by.

 A shot of her deckhouse.

 A more oblique angled shot.

As she is passing the pier on the other side of Belle Isle.

And there you have it, more shots of the Blough.