The Philip R. Clarke on a Foggy Evening

 I decided to go boatwatching tonight.  There was a ship I've wanted to catch for a bit.

I saw that the Philip R. Clarke was making her way down today.  I saw that I could catch her passing Detroit later in the day.

She was coming down from Calcite, which meant that she had a load of stone.

She was heading over to Buffalo which I think is a rare destination for her.

But she is a ship I like catching.  She's almost like catching the Anderson since she's of the same class.

I was thinking about not going since it's been raining all day.  I'm glad I resisted that urge because misty shots are pretty cool.

She passes a spot on the river where there normally isn't much of a background.  This time, the background was obscured by the fog.

She passes Windsor.

She is approached by the M.S. Westcott.  I kind of like this shot, especially with the wake from the Westcott making a leading line for me.

The Westcott starts to turn around.

The Westcott gets closer.

The Westcott at her side.

She approaches the Ambassador Bridge.

The tower just behind her pilothouse.

The tower in her middle.

The tower behind her deck house.

She continues down the river.

She starts to disappear into the fog.

Normally, this shot would have the Gordie Howe Bridge in the background, but she is obscured by the fog.

The Philip Clarke Getting Refueled

 So this is the ship I wanted to catch.

The Philip R. Clarke came down from Marquette to deliver taconite to Toledo.  

She is heading up to Two Harbors and I saw that I had a chance to catch her but I wasn't sure if she was going to fuel or not.

It turns out that she did stop for fueling.  I was hoping that I took enough time to catch the other ship, that she would be passing Belle Isle.

That was not the case, so I went to Riverside to catch her.  That almost didn't happen because Riverside was crazy.  It took me a couple of passes to get a parking spot.  That happened and I got my pictures.

Catching Up with the Philip R. Clarke

 And now to the main attraction.

I was hoping to catch the Clarke yesterday but she was passing Detroit too early in the morning.  She was heading to Cleveland with I presume a load of iron ore.  She carries 25,000 tons of it.

She left Cleveland late in the afternoon, so I thought she would be passing Detroit before dawn.  So I was pretty sure I wasn't going to catch her.

But she ended up stopping at Mistersky, which gave me a chance to catch her.

So I had lunch and headed up to Port Huron.

Unfortunately, she was moving slowly up the river and I thought I might end up missing her.

But that kind of worked to my advantage because I caught her in better light.

It was a little cooler here, so it wasn't quite so hazy.

A seagull passing in front of her.

The bow shot.

She makes a turn for the channel.

Love this angle.

Continuing.

Framed by the Blue Water Bridge.

A relatively clean background.

She passes the Bridge.

The sun peeked out for this shot.

She continues to Lake Huron.

Love the water here.

She is flying a pirate flag.

Her deck house.

She continues out to Lake Huron.

She is on her way to Marquette, where I guess she will be picking up iron pellets.

Catching the Philip R. Clarke in the City that Rocks

 I looked at AIS last night and I saw that the Philip R. Clarke was heading down to Cleveland.  I've never caught her there and it looked like a good day to go down there.

She ended up getting there a little faster than I had planned but I didn't miss too much.  I was hoping to catch her as she entered the breakwater but oh well.  She was turning around as I was heading to the park.

She was heading to the bulk terminal area.  I think she was coming down from Duluth and I think that means she was carrying a load of ore.

I know that ships will bring ore to the bulk terminal.  Other ships will take it from the bulk terminal to carry it to the steel mill on the Cuyahoga River.

I don't think the Clarke can make it down the Cuyahoga though.

Or maybe she can with a tugboat.  I would imagine it would be a pretty cool sight.

She gets a little closer to the dock.

Sadly I was shooting into the sun, so the pictures may look a little washed out.

Fortunately, I wasn't shooting directly into the sun.

I kind of liked this shot.  If you look closely, you will see that I got a 737 in it.  I just wish there was the normal train in it, then I could have had my trifecta.

I saw this as I was heading back to the car.  I liked the angle.  I also liked the fact that her boom was out.

One more shot before moving on.