The Saginaw On Her Namesake River

When I saw on AIS that the Saginaw was heading to Bay City and that I had time to catch her, my decision was pretty easy.

 Typically the boats of Lower Lakes Towing are named after one of the rivers that feeds into the Great Lakes.   They typically deliver on many of these rivers.  Occasionally, they will end up on their namesake Rivers.

 Lower Lakes does a fair amount of business on the Saginaw River but usually it is with another ship but I figured the Saginaw would be on her namesake river one of these days.

 She was and it was a nice day to boot.

 Her AIS said "Detroit" but based on where I saw her earlier in the morning, I knew that her destination had to be either Bay City or Saginaw.

 I like catching ships on the Saginaw River because it is a nice setting.  There are many places where I don't get distractions from the background.

 I'm not sure where she picked up her cargo but it turns out that she was delivering to the Bay Aggregates dock.  At least I picked the right park to catch her.

 She starts to make the turn for the dock.

 And she presents a nice head shot.

 It's pretty amazing watching the ships maneuver in these situations.  I guess with the bow thrusters, it makes it easier for them.

 But I know they have all kinds of considerations.  River current.  Wind.  The right wind at the wrong time can lead to a mistake, hence some of the wharf rashes on her hull.

 She continues to make the turn.

 And she starts heading into the dock.

 This was about as close to a beam shot as I would get, but I kind of like the angle. 

 She starts to pass the entrance.

 One of the problems with this particular spot, she gets obscured pretty quickly.

One more shot before moving on.

And the Tug Kathy Lynn

Across the river from where I was waiting was another tugboat.

 The Kathy Lynn is owned by Ryba Marine.  Again, I'm not sure why she was in Bay City but I think she may have been part of the river dredging.  I think she was bringing a barge full of stuff pulled up from the bottom of the river.

She was originally built in 1944 as an Army tug.  In 1979, she was sold to a company and was known as the Sea Islander.  In 1991, she made her way to the lakes where she got her current name.

The Tug Manitou

So last Monday I went up to Bay City in order to catch a ship.  While I was waiting, I took these pictures.

 I'm not sure why the Manitou was in Bay City.  Usually she hangs out in Port Huron but she's a nice looking tug.

I was just trying to shift the position in the camera a little bit.

The Mackinac Bridge at Dusk

So I had to get one more set of pictures before continuing home.

 I stopped at the park to get a couple of dusk shots.  The lights were starting to turn on and I wanted those.

The sky looked pretty cool but it looked cooler as I was heading back.

And the Callaway

The next ship was about an hour away but it has been a while since I've caught her, so I decided to stick around to catch her.

 I think she was actually loaded and that seems to be unusual for ships.  I think her cargo would be stone.

 I think she was heading up to Duluth where she would drop off her cargo of stone and then pick up a cargo of iron.

 Anyway, there was still a bit of sunlight and it was lighting the ship perfectly.

 I kind of like this shot.

 The color of the water makes it look like she is moving through cement.

 You can see the navigation aid to the right.

 I like the look of the classics.

 I like this shot.

 As she got closer, the water looked more like water and you can kind of see her reflection in it.

 I just wish the water were smoother.

 A shot of her pilothouse.

 the clouds looked pretty cool too.

 I kind of like this shot.

 A shot of her pilothouse.

 Her deckhouse.

 I was trying to get some shots of her plimsoll lines so I had my bigger lens on.  unfortunately, those didn't turn out.

 Another shot of her stack.

 She continues on to the locks.  While I'm not a fan of stern shots, I like this one.

 Old Glory flying proudly.

And one more shot before moving on.

The Carmina Burana...err, Fortunagracht

The next ship wasn't too far behind the Cort, so I decided to stick around for her.  I almost wasn't going to stick around because there were a bunch of people there and almost none of them were wearing a mask.  Fortunately, it is still pretty easy to keep distance.

 Anyway, the next ship is one of many salties that ply the Great Lakes. 

 I think this one may have been carrying windmill blades at one point.  It kind of looks like one of those ships.

 She belongs to a company call Spliethoff which operates out of the Netherlands.  This particular ship calls Amsterdam as her home.  Usually it seems like the Dutch ships come from Delfzul.

 She was built in 2012.  She is 447 feet long and 62 feet wide.

 She can carry 12,178 tons of cargo.  She is registered in the Netherlands.

 Their bows are designed for Class 1 ice which I have no idea what that means but it sounds good.

 The cranes can all handled 80 metric tons of cargo.

 Like I said above, the bows are designed to break ice if necessary.  They have a bulbous bow which helps with fuel efficiency.

 The draft marks are in meters.

 She is registered by Lloyds Registry.

 A shot of her pilothouse.

 Another shot.

I think she was heading up to Duluth.  I'm not sure what cargo she was going to pick up there.  As I type this, she is on her way to Matane, Quebec which is near the mouth of the St. Lawrence River.  It is about three days travel from here.