Catching the Blacky

The next ship is making her debut on this blog.

The Blacky is owned by Navarone SA Marine Enterprises out of Limasol, Cyprus.

The blacky is a type of duck.

All of the ships owned by this company are named after ducks.

She is under charter to Canadian Forest Navigation.

I think she is heading down from Thunder Bay and she is heading to Montreal.

Which I believe means she is carrying grain.

She was built in 2008.  She can carry 30,000 tons of cargo.

She is 608 feet long and 77 feet wide.

Despite the rust, I think she is a cool looking ship.

The Mandarin on the Maumee River

I decided to head down to Fostoria today because the river was a bit on the sparse side and it was a nice enough day for train watching.  As I was approaching the I-280 Bridge, I noticed that there was a ship in the River, so I pulled off.  I've wanted to catch a ship on the Maumee River for a while and this was my chance.

 The ship in question was the Mandarin which is one of a number of salties that operate on the Great Lakes.  This particular saltie is owned by the Navarone SA Marine Enterprises but is run by the Canadian Forest Navigation Company.

 Here she is passing by the stern of the Colonel James M. Schoonmaker.

 The Mandarin was not alone, as she was being assisted by tugs from the Great Lakes Towing Company.  This particular tug is known as the Nebraska and she was built in 1929.

 Having been born in 2003, the Mandarin is considerably newer that the tugs assisting her.

 She was also being assisted by the Mississippi which was built in 1916.

 Here is a closer shot of that tug.  These tugs pack a punch for their size and I like the looks of them.

 The Mandarin being pulled out of her spot.

 I think the tug in back was pushing her stern one way to get her to turn better.

 A shot of the tug at the stern.

 The trio passes the Schoonmaker.

 Another shot of the Mandarin.

 The Mississippi.

 The trio starts to pass through the bridge.

 I kind of liked the shot of the tug through the Bridge.

 One more shot of the Mandarin.

I really liked the framing on this one.