The Lee A. Tregurtha Makes an Appearance

Yesterday as I was checking out AIS, I saw that the Lee A. Tregurtha was downbound.  She is definately up there on the list of my favorite freighers, so I was hoping to catch a glimpse of her.

 Well with all the commotion over the Edson, that's all I caught, was a glimpse.

And a picture with my next post.

A Picture to Cool You Off

This picture is definately a repost but it was so hot, I needed a picture to remind me that not everyday is this hot.

The Lee A. Tregurtha heads up the Detroit River during a snow squall.  It's hard to believe that this was back in January.  It's even harder to believe that I was on Belle Isle during a snowstorm.  The pictures were worth it though.

So as the temperature climbs up...just think of this picture and maybe that will help a bit.

The Lee Tregurtha....Again....

The next ship is no stranger to this blog.  Nor is she an unwelcome visitor to this blog.  She has appeared repeatedly on this blog and I will not hesitate to take pictures of her when I see her.  The funny part is, I checked the ais site before heading down to the island but I didn't notice that she was coming up river, so this was a pleasant surprise.

 Here is the blog entry with her history.  She definately has one of the more unique histories on the lakes given that she didn't even start on the lakes.  Nor did she start in her current configuration.

 She is certainly one of the more unique looking ships but I like her all the same.

 From this angle, you can see hints of her former ocean going past.

 A closeup of her pilothouse.

 Even closer yet.

 One of my favorite angles for ships.

 She definately has a distinctive looking bow.

 Her deckhouse.

 She is heading upriver somewhere.

And one last parting shot before she heads around the bend.

The Lee Tregurtha on the Detroit River

It's been a while since I've been boatwatching on the Detroit River, so I've been itching to go down there.  Just before I left work, I checked the AIS site and saw that the Lee Tregurtha would be hitting Belle Isle around the time I would be down there.  I might possibly also see the Mesabi Miner.  As it turned out, I missed the Mesabi Miner by probably about 15-20 minutes.  However, Lee Tregurtha was rounding the tip of Belle Isle.  So I was a happy camper.

I'm not going to go into much detail about Lee Tregurtha as she has appeared on this blog several times in the past.  In fact, I even got to see her at the Soo Locks on Opening Day.  Given her history and unique look, I'd have to say that she is definately one of my favorites.

So my requisite almost straight on shot of her.  I was hoping that I could capture some of that golden light but it seemed to be proving elusive in this picture.

And when I said, I wouldn't provide many details...I kind of lied.  Here's an almost close up of her bow.

I kind of liked how the pile of logs set off against her in the background.

This time a detail of her anchor.

A little pulled back.

A View of the Pilothouse.

As she heads down the Detroit River.  For some reason, I think the Detroit River has a pretty unique blue to it.

Another pulling away shot.

For the first time, I decided to shoot from the fishing pier.  I'm not sure I like it as much as other parts of the island, but it provides a different view.

A little bit of the golden light.

This time catching some highlights.

I kind of like the oranges in the sky.

As I was watching her go down the river, I thought I might have a chance for an almost framed shot.  I kind of like it.

As she was waiting to dock in Dearborn.

The Herbert C. Jackson

The ship that I thought I would be seeing from Riverside Park was the Herbert C. Jackson.  She has made an appearance on this blog in the past so I'm not going to go in to her history.

 Unfortunately, this picture is a little on the blurry side but trust me, that is the Herbert C. Jackson (which is not the answer to the mystery question btw).  I think she was heading into the Rouge Steel Works or something.

This was about as close as she would get to me so I decided to pack it up.  I was about to leave Detroit when I remembered there was another ship on the way down.

The Paul Tregurtha Leaving the Locks

After the Lee Tregurtha, we decided to head back to the hotel room as it had been a long day at this point and I wasn't sure when the next ship would be making her appearance.  Fortunately, we got a room on the side of the hotel that was facing towards the Locks and it had a pretty impressive view of them.  So I was sort of dozing off and checking ais.boatnerd.com and saw that the Paul Tregurtha had passed through the locks.  So I waited.

 The Paul Tregurtha is a ship that I've been waiting to get a picture of for a long time.  It seems like she would pick inopportune times to go through the Detroit River so I never got a chance to get a picture.  Not this time.

 With a length of 1013 feet, she is the longest of the ships that travel the Great Lakes and holds the title of "Queen of the Lakes".  She has held that title longer than any other boat on the Lakes (the last holder of that title was the Carl D. Bradley that held it for 22 years).  She was the last of the 1000 footers to be constructed.

 She was constructed in two sections.  One in Toledo and the other in Lorain, Ohio.  The section built in Toledo was towed to Lorain to be mated with the section there.  Construction was completed in 1981 and she was christened the William J. De Lancey.  She is powered by two Colt-Pielstick diesel engines with a total rating of 17,120 h.p.  She can carry 68,000 tons of cargo.

 She was the last ship built in Lorain, Ohio.  Because of some of the amenities of her construction she was nicknamed "Fancy DeLancey".

In 1992, she was re-christened as the Paul Tregurtha.

The Lee Tregurtha in the Locks

Probably one of my favorite ships to travel the Great Lakes is the Lee Tregurtha.  She has a pretty unique history among the ships of the Lakes and is probably the only War Veteran of them.  She has appeared on this blog several times in the past, so I'm not going to go into her history too much.

 Here she is waiting for the Cort to pass through the Locks.  It was amazing how many ships were passing through the Locks within the first few hours of their opening.  It is no wonder they decided to open them 12 hours earlier than planned.  I think the Corps of Engineers said that 34 ships passed through within the first 48 hours of opening.

 I tried to get the Administration Building in the shot to give a sense of perspective.

 Still waiting patiently.

 With the Cort cleared from the locks and the water in the Poe Lock lowered, she could proceed into the Lock.  I think she has pretty graceful lines although the pilothouse looks a little odd.

 A closeup of the bow.  I think she retained her bow from World War II.

 I love the Tigers flag flying to the side.

 Here she is passing the Administration building.

 More of a closeup of her pilothouse.

 And even closer yet.  You can see her ribbons from World War II.  I believe she carries a battle star for participating in one of the battles of the Pacific.

 Another closeup of her pilothouse.

 A shot of her as she was in the Locks.

Rather than watching her go through the lock, we decided to wait at the head of the Locks for her.  Unfortunately, my little incident with my memory card destroyed the better pictures from this.  But I do like this one somewhat.

A Panoramic View of the Stewart Cort

One thousand feet is tough to fit into the frame of the camera.

For this image I took a few successive shots and used the Photo Stitch software that came with my camera.  I like this picture a little better than the shot I took of the Mesabi Miner using the same method.  One of the tricks is to make sure you are holding the camera at the same level throughout the shot.  Although some look better than others.

The Stewart Cort in the Locks

Next up was the Stewart J. Cort.  Since her route doesn't generally take her by Detroit, it is rare that I get to see her.  Although I have seen her before.  She has the distinction of being the first 1000 footer on the Lakes (although not the first one built on the Lakes).  Her runs are exclusively from Duluth to Burns Harbor.

 This is a shot as she was entering the Poe Lock.  Unfortunately it was from the Freighters Restaurant so it wasn't the greatest view.  She has an almost standard laker configuration but I think she is pretty ugly.  I prefer the other footers to her.  But I suppose that is a matter of opinion.

 Here she is in the process of growing the thirty feet required to enter Lake Superior.  Or least it seems like they are growing.

 A shot of her deck house.

 She is almost ready to pass out of the lock.

 She has a fairly unique unloading system, so she doesn't have the boom that is prevalant on many of the other self unloaders.

 Here she is heading out to Lake Superior.

And here she is in Lake Superior and heading on to Duluth.