My Last Ship of the Year

Well it turns out that my last ship of the year would be the American Courage.  It seems like just yesterday I was taking pictures of the Peter Cresswell as she laid up in Sarnia on New Year's Day.  Again, I'll have to say that time flies when you're having fun.

 I can think of worse ships to catch for the last of the year.  The American Courage has appeared on this blog in the past, so I will spare you the boring details.

 Like I said in my last post, I was going to let the Speer be my last ship of the year but I saw the American Courage as she was heading into Lake St. Clair, so I decided to chase her up the St. Clair River.  I finally caught her at St. Clair.  The light was just about perfect and made for nice reflections in the water.

 But I didn't have much time to catch her, so I watched as she moved out of view.

 But I couldn't pass up on one more shot from St. Clair.

 Next I caught her in Marysville.  This time I decided to use my longer telephoto to get some closeup shots of her.

 You can see a man on her bow.  I presume he is looking for nasty spots.

 Given that the temperature was in the low twenties and there was already a wind, I can't imagine what 10 knots of added wind would feel like.  Now this is a display of courage.

 Back to her pilothouse.  I'm not normally a fan of the rear mounted pilothouses but I don't think this one looks too bad.

 You can see some of the crew in there and it gives you an idea of her size.

 Another shot of the pilothouse.

 And her stacks.  Each shipping company has a unique design on their stacks.  It helps in identification.

 The Stars and Stripes flying proudly.

 And she moves out of view again.

 Then I headed into Port Huron proper and stopped at my usual spot there.  I kind of like the views here.  The back is relatively unobstructed.

 The water wasn't quite as smoothe here though, so I didn't get much of a reflection.

 And then I headed up to the Blue Water Bridge.  I was catching some of the wind off Lake Huron, so it felt much colder here.  It also didn't help that the sun was going down.

 But that didn't stop me from getting pictures.

 She works her way past the lightship.

 And makes her turn to leave the channel.  This is probably one of the better places to get a headshot.

 Although I like the slightly off center shot a little better.

 A picture of her with the Blue Water Bridge.

 A little bluish tint to give you an idea of just how cold it was.

 Another shot under the Bridge.

And she heads off into the New Year.  And with that, I would like to wish all of my readers a Happy New Year.  May your 2014 be better than your 2013.