A Unique Looking Vessel

The first ship I saw was the John D. Leitch.  I've seen her before, so I'm not going to go into her details.

 One of the nice things about boatwatching on the Great Lakes is that there is a great variety of ships to see.  Since the ships on the Great Lakes stick around for a while, you can see a history of them.

 The John D. Leitch was built in 1967.  She was probably going to become a rear decker but instead she maintained the standard Laker configuration.

 The reason for the odd shaped pilothouse is that they wanted to maximize the cargo space, so they built it tall and narrow.

 Alot of people were calling her ugly.  I only reserve that term for the tug/barges.  I will call her unique.

 One of the neat things about Engineer's Day is that you get to see the ships from angles that you don't get to see them from.

 You also get to shoot pictures from the lock gates.

 So I had to take a couple pictures of this.

 And one lengthwise.

 And then she started to leave.

 A shot of her pilothouse.

 When she started, she was called the Canadian Century.  You can still see her old name.

 Looking up at her pilothouse.

 And then she started to pull out.

 Her hatch crane.

 One of her crew members making sure that she doesn't get too close to the walls.

 Another one of her crew members enjoying a cup of coffee.

 And she pulls out into the river.

 A pretty stern shot.

And she passes the Tregurtha.