The Herbert C. Jackson on the Rouge River

I have a four day this weekened and I was hoping to get out each of the days.  I got up kind of late on Friday and the weather didn't look like it wanted to cooperate with me.  I ended up working on a model yesterday, so I didn't get out.  I decided that I would get out today come hell or high water.

The Herbert C. Jackson was making her way down from Marquette to deliver taconite to the steel mill in Dearborn.

It was both a nice day today and I like the look of ships on the Rouge River, so I ended up heading down there.

Sadly, I fiddled around for too long, so I didn't have a chance to get drone pictures.  But that was just as well, it was pretty windy today.

But the sun was shining and it sort of made for decent reflections.

Like I said, the Jackson was coming down from Marquette.

She was delivering taconite pellets which are refined iron pellets.

Most of the pure iron ore has been mined but there is enough of the less pure iron ore to mine and process.

The fact they come in pellets, makes loading and unloading easier.

I thought I read they were shutting down this plant for a while but I guess that's not the case.

Her lifeboats.

Her boat.

Old Glory flying proudly in the breeze.

Her stack.

She starts to make the turn for her slip.

I love this shot.

But this is probably my favorite.

Almost Catching the Herbert C. Jackson

 I looked at Marine Traffic and saw that it was going to be a fairly busy day.  Two of the ships I ended up catching stayed overnight in Detroit as Lake Huron was pretty nasty last night.  I got a late start but I didn't think it was a late as it ended up being.

As I was heading into the parking lot, I saw that the Herbert C. Jackson was leaving the Port Huron area.  She was one of the ships I was hoping to catch, but she was the first of the group, so I wasn't terribly disappointed.

I am not normally a fan of stern shots, but I do like this one.  The US flag nearly straight out.  For that reason, I didn't have my drone with me.  But it was a nice sunny day but a little on the cold side.

The Herbert C. Jackson on the Rouge River

I saw that a ship would be heading up the Rouge.  It's been a while since I've caught a ship going up the Rouge, so I headed over there to get pictures.

I even took my drone with me because the drone works really well in this spot.

The Herbert C. Jackson was coming down from Marquette with a load of taconite.

Here she is passing the Fort Street Bridge.

She would be heading to the Rouge River steel mill.

This is a run she's done many times.

It's also a run that is roughly three days round trip.

I like catching ships here because you can get fairly close to them.

And they look pretty cool on the river.

Sadly, it was cloudy and a little windy.

She approaches the Dix Avenue Bridge.

And comes out on the other side.

Her launch.

She starts to make the turn for the steel mill slip.

The steel mill in the back ground.

I love this shot.

The stern shot sporting the name of a port she will never visit but that's where she is registered.

One more shot before moving on.

The Herbert C. Jackson In Ferrysburg

 As I was looking at Marine Traffic this morning, I saw that the Anderson was sitting off of Muskegon, the Jackson was heading to Grand Haven and the Tregurtha was also heading to Muskegon.  I saw that i had a few hours to get over there, so I dilly dallied a little bit.

Unfortunately, I dilly dallied a little too much as I missed the Tregurtha coming into Muskegon.  Pretty much once they pass the channel there is not really a good spot to catch them until they come back out.  Well, I decided to wait to catch the Anderson coming out because I thought it would be soon.  Well, my light was starting to wane.

I looked at AIS, and I thought the Jackson was starting to back out, so I headed over to Grand Haven to catch her.  As I passed over the bridge where I could see her, I saw that wasn't the case.  So I went to the park where I could get pictures.  They aren't the greatest.

A shot of her deckhouse and crane as she unloads.  It looked like she had a while yet.

Her pilothouse.

I went to another spot, I kind of like this shot but it is still not the greatest.

One more shot of her pilothouse.

As I got somewhere where I could look at my phone.  It looks like the Anderson left about an hour after we left.  The Jackson left after that.   Either way, I wouldn't have had enough light to get either.  I wish I would have taken my drone with me.  I could have gotten some better shots of the Jackson at least.  Oh well.  Maybe tomorrow will bring some shots.

The Happy Herb Makes an Appearance

 On Sunday, I decided that it would be a good day to head down to Riverside again.  Looking at AIS yielded at least three ships I would be interested in catching.

First up was the Herbert C. Jackson.  She was coming down from Calcite.

That means that she was carrying a load of stone.

Based on the lines on the side of the hull, she's been carrying stone quite a bit this year.  She gets a visit from the M.S. Westcott.

She is one of my favorites to catching, mainly because she is one of the few remaining classing lakers on the Great Lakes.

She was heading to Fairport which is near Cleveland.

One of these days, I would like to go there because I think it might be a pretty nice view for catching a ship.

She starts to pass by.

Approaching the Ambassador Bridge.

Almost under the bridge.

A beam shot.

I like this view.

She is almost clear of the bridge.

She continues down the river.

The Gordie Howe Bridge in the background.

A fisherman in the foreground.

A shot of the river.