My First Ship of the Year - The Peter R. Cresswell

I wasn't actually planning on going out shipwatching today mainly because when I checked AIS last night, I didn't see anything that would be in the area today.  Then I saw a posting from one of my facebook friends that said that the Peter R. Cresswell would be in Sarnia for layup at 2:00 today.  I was still waffling a bit but the Cresswell is a ship that I didn't have pictures of, so I decided to head up there (well to Port Huron anyway).

 The Peter R. Cresswell was born as the Algowest on April 26, 1982 at the Collingswood Shipyards.  She was born out of necessity from a wheat contract that was signed in 1980 and what was believed to be more grain coming out of western Canada.

 As built, she could carry 32,200 tons of cargo.

 She is powered by 2 4,730 horsepower diesel engines built by Krupp of Germany.  This gives her a rated speed of 13.8 knots.

 She is 730 feet long and this permits her to travel through the Welland Canal.  She is also equipped with a 1000 horsepower bow thruster.

 In 1988, she collided with a small coastal freighter.  The smaller freighter sank but the Algowest was allowed to continue on (assuming this means she suffered minimal damage).

 In 1997, she was modified to be a self unloader.  This reduced her cargo capacity slightly.

 In 2001, she was re-christened as the Peter R. Cresswell.  He was a President and CEO of Algoma Central and was retiring at this time.

 So as I said in the beginning, she was heading to Sarnia for layup.  I was kind of waffling on whether I wanted to stick around to watch her go into layup but I'm kind of glad I stayed for most of it.

 Despite all the dust from the cement she carries, she is a pretty attractive looking ship.

 A shot of her pilothouse.

 A closer shot of her pilothouse.

 A shot of her Algostack.

 She slowly makes her way just past the dock.

 This took some delicate maneuvering on the part of the Cresswell.  You can see the engines kicking up a little bit as she starts to make her turn.

 She's just past the dock.

 And she starts to back into the dock.

 You can see a little bit kicking up from her bow thruster in this shot.

 And she starts to pass the Algorail.

 Slowly she works her way into the dock.

 I kind of liked this shot.

 I moved up a little bit to get a better shot of the Algorail.

And one last shot before moving on.  The Cresswell has been going on since the beginning of shipping season.  She nearly had the chance to open the Welland Canal but missed it for a tug/barge.  But I guess such is life on the lakes.