The James R. Barker at the Soo

One of the things that amaze people that are not from the Great Lakes area is that there are 1000 foot long ships that travel the Great Lakes.  I guess when people hear lake, they think of the body of water where you take your boat for the weekend and maybe catch a few perch or bluegills.  The don't think of bodies of water that would be considered as seas if they had salt.

Well I for one am glad that they don't have salt.  I'm also glad that I get to see these magnificent vessels.

 I think the only place I get to see her is at the Soo or so it would seem.  I'm pretty sure I've seen her on AIS around Detroit but it wasn't at a time where I could see her.  Oh well.

 At 1004 feet, she would be the world's 15th tallest building if you stood her on end.  She would dwarf the Ren Cen.

 It is truly amazing some of the things you see on ships.  In this case, they have a basketball hoop.  I guess once you are on the Lakes themselves, there is little to do.

 A shot of her pilothouse.

 I'm not sure of the exact weight of one of her anchors but I suspect if it were to fall on my Neon, the Neon would have a bad day.

 If she were taken out of service, it would require 3000 semis to replace her load of cargo.  I'm not sure how many trains it would take.

 The coal carried in her hold would provide approximately 7 days worth of power for an average power plant.

 A shot of her stack.

 And her bow.

 A shot of her full 1004 feet.

 I think of the thousand footers, I like this style the best.

 Her pilothouse and self-unloading crane.

 A shot of her as she heads down the St. Mary's River.

 And it was back to Four Mile Beach to catch her there.  You can see the water starting to recede.

 An almost straight on shot.  Unfortunately, I don't have a small enough lens to catch her full view.

 A shot of her bow.

And one more shot as she heads off somewhere.