And the Paul R. Tregurtha

Next up is the big Paul R. Tregurtha.

She was coming down from St. Clair after a partial unload.  Prior to that, she would have loaded in Superior Wisconsin.

She was heading down to the Monroe Power Plant where she would unload the rest of her coal.

So as you can see, she's not as loaded as she would normally be.

Amazingly enough, this is the first time I've see her this shipping season.  Usually I would have seen her more by this time in the shipping season.

But I think she has mostly been going up to St. Clair and not at times where it is convenient to catch her.

This time, she was passing by Detroit and at a time when I could catch her, so I decided to catch her.

She is the largest ship on the Great Lakes and thus carries the title "Queen of the Lakes".

Many ships have carried that title (including the Edmund Fitzgerald) but she will likely carry that title until her retirement.

With the retirement of coal plants on the Great Lakes, I'm not sure it is likely that there will be another 1000 footer built.

I have a feeling that any new ships will be around 700 feet in size.  That enables them to go into ports that the 1000 footers can't.

She passes under the Ambassador Bridge.  At her size, she's not even dwarfed by it.

And a sailboat passes her.

A shot of her pilothouse.

A shot of her pilothouse with the Ambassador Bridge in the backgorund.

I kind of like the way the flag was blowing in the picture.

She continues down to Monroe.  I think she is about three hours to her destination at this point.

I really like how the flag was blowing in this picture.

I also like how the water looks in this picture.

And one more.