Waking Up to the Sykes

 Last Saturday night, I saw a friend post a picture of the Blue Water Bridge from the Sykes.  So that prompted me to look up the Sykes on Marine Traffic.  Sure enough, she had just passed the Blue Water Bridge.  It was around midnight, so I figured it would be around 7:00 A.M. for her to enter the mouth of the Rouge River.

I set my alarm early because I had hoped to catch her.  I didn't sleep well and I figured I had a little more time to catch her so I slept a little longer.

I checked a couple more times and then I decided to go out.  

It's not often that I get to see the Sykes and after seeing my pictures, I'm glad I went out.

I think she was coming over from Burns Harbor with a load of coke.

Coke is what they use in the blast furnaces and it comes from the processing of coal.

After she delivered the coke, she ended up loading iron fines for her return trip to Burns Harbor.

Like I said, the Sykes is not a normal visit on this side of the state.

But the company that owned her was bought by Cleveland Cliffs.  They also bought the steel mill, so she might be over this way more often.

Since I didn't get over early enough to use my drone at Fort Street.  I decided to use it here.  I love te shadows in this picture.

I was trying to get an angle where I wasn't looking into the sun as much.

I like this shot.

I ended up shifting the drone around.

She didn't have a tug this time, so it was a little slow going for her.

But it gave me a chance for different angles.

Which meant different lighting.

I switched back to my other camera for a bit.

If only I'd gotten a train in this one.  If you look up in the sky, you can see a Spirit Airlines airplane.  You can also see the moon.

I love the reflections.

She slowly backs into the slip.

Like I said, it was a little slower this time.

One more shot with my regular camera.  But I like it.

And then I switched back to my drone.  I was trying from a lower angle than normal.

Catching her as she backs in.  I love this spot for pictures because of the background.

The water is a nice blue.

A bow shot.

But I think I like this angle more.

Another shot.

Another bow shot as she gets into her slip.

I love the industrial setting.

She's lined up.

And she starts to back up a little faster.

I didn't stay after this shot.  I had other things to go to.  I wasn't able to catch her as she left though.

Waking Up to the Joseph L. Block

As I was tracking AIS on the way up to the Soo on Thursday,  I saw that the Joseph L. Block was heading to Cedarville.  So I basically dismissed her because I thought she would load there and head to somewhere on Lake Michigan.

 So in the morning I decided to check AIS to get a good idea of what ships would be in the Locks and when.  It turns out that the Joseph L. Block was making her way up the St. Marys River and would arrive at the Locks at roughly the same time they would open for Engineer's Day.

 It was kind of cool that it was the Joseph L. Block.  She's a ship that I don't see often enough.  She almost exclusively sticks to Lake Michigan and Lake Superior.  Although, she has made a couple of trips to Cleveland this year.

 Give that she is painted like her fleetmates and I love this scheme, I think she's a pretty neat looking boat.

 She passes by Mission Point.

 A shot of her pilot house.  I didn't stick around to get the stern shot because I wanted to make sure that I caught her in the locks.

 After getting through the line to get into the Locks, I made it in just enough time as she prepared to enter the Poe Lock.

 And this is what Engineer's Day is about.  It allows you an opportunity to get up closer to the ships than normal.

 There were quite a few people here.

 The captain peeking out of the pilot house.

 And there aren't too many places where you can get an angle like this.

 And a few as she is in the Locks.

 And she prepares to leave.

And she clears the Lock.  I'm not quite sure where she was headed.  I'm going to guess that it was either Duluth or Superior though.

The Edward Ryerson

This is another ship I've never seen before mainly because she was put into long term layup before I started to watch ships in earnest.  She is a favorite to many boatnerds because she is a fairly beautiful boat.  She is one of the last straight deckers that is American Flagged (a straight decker does not have the self unloading boom).  I am hoping that there is enough backlog in cargo that she might come out for an appearance but that is probably unlikely.

 The Ryerson was built in 1959 by the Manitiwoc Shipbuilding Company in Wisconsin.  She was one of the first 730 footers built for an American Company.  She would share the title of Queen of the Lakes with thirteen other ships until 1962 when the title would pass to the slightly larger Frankcliffe Hall.  She would carry cargo for Inland Steel.

She is considered by many to be one of the most beautiful ships on the Lakes.  If you look at the first picture you can see why.  Her antenna mast is streamlined and is reminiscent of the car wings of the era.  She would be difficult to convert to a self unloader though.  This probably seals her fate...but you never know.