Saying Good Bye to An Old Friend

 Anyone who has followed this blog for any length of time knows what my favorite ship is.   She has been a long time subject of this blog.

I first caught her in 2011 while this was a fairly young blog.  At the time, I didn't think ships would be a major subject but they have become that.

And this ship has been a major part of that.  I just love her looks.  For the most part, she reminded me of a snapping turtle and I would go out of my way to catch her if I could.

Well, in February of 2021, she had a fire that went uncontrolled for close to 12 hours.

It is said that fire caused at least 100 million dollars worth of damage to her.  For the last year, her fate was uncertain.

Well, it seems that her fate is less uncertain.  She is being towed to Conneaut, Ohio.  They needed to free up space at the shipyard she was at and the company that owns her also owns dock space in Conneaut.

Nothing has been officially announced but at a minimum she is going there for long term layup.

That long term layup will likely end up with her scrapping.  Conneaut is not too far from the scrapyard in Port Colborne where she will eventually end up.

As you can see from this picture, she has been stripped of all of her electronics and she is basically a dead ship.

The Meredith Ashton was the lead tug.  Typically there are two tugs on a tow like this.  One is provided propulsion, the other is helping with steering.

In what I hoped was a common thing, I finally got some drone shots of her.  It's a shame that it was under these conditions.  The thing with ships is that you get used to them and it's sad to see them go.

It especially sad because you can tell they are not loaded.

Well at least I can pretend she is under her own power in this picture.

She's been a huge part of this blog.  Like I said, she is one that I would go chase.  I went to the Mackinac Bridge to get a picture of her there.

She was the only ship I saw at Engineer's Day and she was a crowd pleaser as her crew tossed treats to the gathered throng.

I went up to the Soo for my birthday.  She gave a salute to the gathered crowd but I could at least pretend it was for me.

Many people liked her.

And a few of them where here catching what could be her final passage.

I could have caught her earlier in the day but it is somehow fitting that I caught her at sunset.

She heads off into the sunset.

As I said, nothing is official yet but it seems like the writing is on the wall.

There are about three or four ships ahead of her at Port Colborne and the steel market is down right now, so it's possible it will be a couple years.

You can see part of the damage here.  I think the fire  took out her conveyor system.  I saw plans for a new conveyor system but I have a feeling her current company doesn't want to spend the money.

It's possible that she will get a new lease on life but for now, I will say good bye.

And the Meredith Ashton

I don't see tugboats often enough, so I was happy to see this one.

 I'm not sure where she was coming from or where she was heading to but based on pictures that I've seen of her, I think she was heading up to Sturgeon Bay.

 Sturgeon Bay is in the little finger (if you want to call it that) of Wisconsin.  There are quite a few ships that layup there.   I think there is also a shipyard there.

If I didn't flip the name of the tugboat in my mind, I would have found her or I though so.  She is owned by Ashton Marine of Muskegon, MI.

She is on her way from Massachusetts for her first appearance on the Great Lakes.

 The Detroit River always has a nice shade of blue to it.

 The flag on the back is for her country of registration which is the United States.  The Canadian flag flying is what they call a courtesy flag.  Since the ships straddle the border of the two countries, they typically fly both flags.

 anyway, she is a pretty nice looking tug.

 Based on the sign on her back, she is based out of Muskegon, so I imagine she spends most of her time on Lake Michigan.

One more shot.