The M.S. Westcott Makes an Appearance

 The other ship was going to be passing Riverside Park.  That gave me the opportunity to catch one of the Westcott boats.

It was the M.S. Westcott which also functions as a pilot boat.

Not sure what they were delivering, but it was pretty cool.

Catching the M.S. Westcott

 Since I was right next to the Westcott Building, I was able to get some different shots of the Westcott.

It was the M.S. Westcott though.

She was delivering something to the Great Republic.

It was kind of cool to see.

They have a wreath on it.

Catching the M.S. Westcott

 One of the things that I like about Riverside Park is that it gives me an opportunity to catch the Westcott in action.  It is pretty neat to watch as they deliver mail or people.  They were delivering mail today.

I had my big lens on, so I couldn't catch her as she went out, but I was able to catch her flag.

As she was returning to the dock.  I have to believe it was pretty cold for them.

One more shot before moving on.

The M.S. Westcott

 One of the things I like about photographing from Riverside Park is that I get a chance to see the Westcotts in action.

Today, they were using the M.S. Westcott as they were mostly doing pilot changes.

But she is still pretty cool to see.

I especially like it since they've painted her in similar colors to the J.W. Westcott.

She is returning from one of her trips.

And she is going out for a trip.  The Whitefish Bay is behind her.

The M.S. Westcott Returns to her Dock

One of the things I like about going down to Riverside is that I get a chance to catch the Westcott.

It seems like they have been using the M.S. Westcott lately.

But that is fine, she's a pretty nice looking boat.

The M.S. Westcott in Action

One of the things I like about watching ships at Riverside is the fact that I get to see the Westcott in action.

In this case, that happens to be the M.S. Westcott which is thier pilot boat.

It is newer that the other boat.  I think the other boat can be used as a pilot boat as well.

Something tells me that that this one might be a little more stable.

The M.S. Westcott in Action

 As I was taking pictures of other stuff, I noticed a boat coming up.

It was the M.S. Westcott.

Which is the other Westcott boat.

They mostly use it for pilot transfers.

But I think they will deliver mail with it too.

Passing the Iver Bright.

Passing the Federal Kushiro.

Heading back to the dock.

Catching the M.S. Westcott

One of the reasons that I like Riverside Park is because I get a chance to get pictures of the Westcott.

I caught a glimpse of the M.S. Westcott as she was returning to the dock.

The Westcott people have been selling tours on both of their boats.  I'm not sure how many they sell or how much it cost per tour.

Anyway, they cover about the same ground as the other tours.

It is cool this is painted in the same scheme as the J.W. Westcott.

The M.S. Westcott Makes an Appearance

 One of my favorite things about boatwatching from Riverside is the fact that I get to see either the J.W. or M.S. Westcott in action.

The M.S. Westcott is named after the wife of the Westcott Company's founder.  It was recently repainted and looks really nice.

It mostly serves as a pilot boat but it can also serve as the mail boat and has been as the J.W. Westcott just got out of her drydock.

She had just swapped pilots for the Federal Asahi, as Detroit is one of the pilot swap points.  Downbound ships will use this pilot until they reach the Welland Canal.  Upbound ships until Port Huron.

The M.S. Westcott

 Since the Westcott was paying a visit to the Gott, I had a chance to get a couple of pictures of her.

The M.S. Westcott is named after the wife of J.W. Westcott.  It is mostly a pilot boat, but they will use it to deliver stuff to other ships.

It is kind of cool looking.

Finally Gott a Ship for the New Season

 The shipping season officially opened with the opening of both locks on March 22nd.  I was hoping that I would catch some ships that weekend but the weather was kind of wonky and the ships were even wonkier.  I had the day off yesterday but I had a Doctor's appointment in the morning but I saw that I could catch a ship later in they.

So my first ship of the new season is the Edwin H. Gott.

She is one of the thousand footers on the Great Lakes.

She was heading down from Two Harbors which is roughly an hour northeast of Duluth along the Lake Superior shore.

As such, I'm pretty sure that she had a load of iron ore (that weighed way more than 26,000 tons or more).

She was heading to Conneaut, Ohio with that load of iron ore.  

From Conneaut, that load will head over to Pittsburgh where it will become steel.

Here she is being visited by the M.S. Westcott.  I'm not sure why they aren't using the other one, I think they may still have her in layup.

The lighting was pretty good for this one.

I like the look of the clouds too.

She passes Windsor.

And apporoaches the Bridge.

The Ambassador Bridge comes into view.

Lining the tower with the front of the ship.

The tower amidships.

She's about to pass the Bridge.

The bridge passed.

She continues on her way to Conneaut.