The Spartan Tug Passes By

This is another vessel that I saw on Marine Traffic.

But I wasn't going to stick around the bridge to catch her.  As I went to the spot where the Frontenac was docked, I saw her coming up, so I decided to take a picture of her.  She is heading to Ludington.  I'm not sure if she is delivering or picking up there.
 

The Tug Sharon M1 and her Barge the Huron Spirit

 I decided to head down to Riverside Park today.  There was a ship that I was hoping to catch.

As I was waiting for the ship I came over for to come down, I saw this vessel coming up.

The tug is the Sharon M I and the barge is the Huron Spirit.

The destination was listed on Marine Traffic as Windsor but it was pretty clear that she was leaving there.

As I type this, she is currently on Lake Huron.  I think that means she is heading up to Sault Ste. Marie.

I think while there, she will pick up coils of steel and bring them back.

She passes the Ambassador Bridge.

An almost stern shot.

And she continues on her way.

The Tug Stormont

 I think I've posted this one before.  In fact, I know I've posted it a couple of times.

This is the tug Stormont.  She is usually pushing a barge that is used to transport trucks over the Detroit River.  Those trucks are usually carrying hazardous materials because you can't transport those over the Ambassador Bridge.  I'm not what sure will happen to this after the Gordie Howe Bridge is built as you will be able to transport hazardous material over that.  I hope they keep it around because you never know.

The Welland Tug

 As I was watching the Algoma Conveyor, I saw that a tug was coming out to assist her.

The tug in question was the Welland.

It is a pretty neat looking tugboat.

Since I don't get to see many tugs, I was happy to see her.

She goes around the Algoma Conveyor.

She get's in position.

And starts to push the Algoma Conveyor in.

The Federal Beaufort Docked With the Tug New York

 There is usually a ship docked at the dock near Riverside.  Tonight was no different.

The vessel in front is the tug New York with her barge.  I'm not sure what they are carrying.  The ship in back is the Federal Beaufort.  I think she is loading steel coils but I'm not sure where she is heading.

Catching the Morro Bay

After I finished catching the train, I decided to take a look at Marine Traffic to see if there was anything stirring in the area.  Sure enough, there was, so I decided to head down to Detroit.

 I thought that I was going to catch the Samuel Risley but she was waiting at the head of Belle Isle for a ship that was heading outbound.  I was a little disappointed at that since that was the reason I went down.

 When I saw the Morro Bay heading out of her dock in Detroit, I was happy because I figured it was almost as good as catching the Risley.

 It didn't look like she was needed in this area but maybe there was some ice bunched up in other parts of the Detroit River.

 She gets out in the channel.

 And starts pouring on some smoke.

 I still don't think there was much ice here but she was definitely doing some work.

 I could hear chunks of ice hitting the hull.

 And she passes by.

One more shot before moving on.

The Morro Bay Breaking Ice on the Detroit River

So after I finished watching the halftime show yesterday, I decided to take a look at AIS because I saw that there might be a ship heading down.  And sure enough there was and if I left at that time, I would have enough time to catch it.

 The ship in question will be coming up but it was being escorted by the Samuel Risley and this tug, the Morro Bay.  As you can see from the picture, there was quite a bit of ice on the Detroit River which is unusual because it doesn't seem like the Detroit River freezes over.

 I'd imagine under normal circumstances that would be the case but we had sub-zero temperatures last week and they helped accelerate the freezing.  It was in the 40's yesterday though.

 The Risley didn't continue down but the Morro Bay did.  I don't think the ice was that thick.

 It was pretty neat watching this guy in action because you could hear the ice being broke.

 Plus these are pretty neat looking boats.

 But she was making light work of the ice.

 A little smoke as she pours on the engines.  She might have hit some thicker ice.

And she continued down the river.  I think the ship she was escorting wasn't going that far down the river because I saw her docked in Windsor on AIS.

The Tug Ohio and Col. James M. Schoonmaker

As I was waiting for the Toledo, I decided to get a couple pictures of the two museum vessels.

 The museum just acquired the tug Ohio from Great Lakes Towing.  They are currently giving before tours and will open her up sometime next year.  The Ohio was built in 1903 as a fireboat for the city of Milwaukee.  She was converted to a tug in 1953.  Since she is larger than many of the other Great Lakes tugs, she was used to tow ships for longer distances.  Sadly, she is getting too long in the tooth but will make a good museum piece.

And an attempt at a shot of the Schoonmaker.

Some Odd Things That you See on the River

Sometimes you run across some odd things as you take pictures on the river.

I posted this picture on Facebook jokingly as a jury rigged self unloader.  I think it is actually being used to dredge some of the marinas around the St. Clair River.  It's kind of neat.

The Biscayne Bay Heads Home

Last Saturday proved to be a busy day.  We were thinking about trying for Tahquamenon again but that wasn't going to happen with the degree of busyness.  I'm not sure how many ships I saw on AIS but there were quite a few.

 An unexpected visitor was the Biscayne Bay.  She was the tug that was available for tours at the Coast Guard station. 

 Normally it would be the Katmai Bay at the Soo and so they brought up the Biscayne Bay from St. Ignace in order to do the tours.

 With the tours only happening on Friday, she could go back home.

I think it is roughly 8 hours to St. Ignace from the Soo for a ship.

Catching the Biscayne Bay

I got to Grand Haven and could not believe how busy it was.  I thought that I was going to park at the State Park but that lot looked pretty full.  Also, I saw that the ship I was interested in catching was making her turns to enter the channel.  I ended up finding a parking spot at a place that I don't normally shoot from.

 As I got out of car, I could see that there was a Coast Guard Cutter docked at the Coast Guard station.

 She is the Biscayne Bay which is one of the 140 foot Bay Class Cutters.   She is named after Biscayne Bay which is near Miami, Florida.   She was the fourth in the class and built by the Tacoma Boatbuilding Company in Tacoma, Washington.

 After her construction, she sailed to her home port of St. Ignace, MI where she has been stationed ever since.

 Like the other ships in this class, she is used as a tug, icebreaker and with a special barge, she can become a buoy tender.

 Next to the Coast Guard Station, there is a park.  I will do more on that in a bit.

One more shot of her.

Next Up the Joseph H. Thompson

Next up is the tug Joseph H. Thompson Jr. and her barge the Joseph H. Thompson.

 The Joseph H. Thompson is unique in the tug/barge world in that the tug is made from parts of the ship that was was converted to a barge.

 I'm not quite sure where she was heading though.

 She is kind of a cool looking ship.

 A beam shot of her.

 A shot of her tug.

And she continues on down.  As I write this post, she is in Lake Erie.  It appears she may be heading to Cleveland.