The Victory and her Barge the Maumee

 As I was getting ready to leave, I saw that there was one more vessel coming up.

I was almost going to pass because I saw that it was a tug/barge.

But I figured, I was here and she was here and it was another ship, sort of.

The tug is the Victory and the barge is the Maumee.  She used to be the Lewis J. Kuber.

I think they changed the name in keeping with how they name their ships after rivers.

The Maumee is one of the rivers they visit.

She was coming up from Detroit but again, I'm not sure if that was the last port she visited or her port of origin.

She was heading up to Sault Ste Marie, Ontario.

I'm not sure what she was going to pick up though.

The beam shot, sort of.

A picture of her tug.

I think her tug looks kind of cool.

One more before moving along.

The Victory and Maumee Leave Mistersky

 As I was waiting for my ship to pass, I was able to catch this one.

I took a picture of the Victory and Maumee as they were refueling at Mistersky.  I didn't think I would catch them leaving.

It wasn't much longer before they started to pull out of the dock.

I think they were heading up to the Soo because I saw them passing Mission Point yesterday.

Based on where they went, I would guess that they were loaded with something.

And I would also conclude that from how low in the water she is.

I kind of like this shot.

The three quarters shot, even if it is a tug/barge.

She starts to pass the Gordie Howe Tower.

So then I switched to my drone.

Lately, I've been trying to get lower shots.

The quarter angle.

One more shot.

The Tug Victory and her Barge the Maumee

I was not expecting to catch the next one.

 the Tug Victory was pushing her barge the Maumee.

 I think they may have in fact been coming up from Toledo.

 In which case, it would have been nice to catch them on their namesake river.

 she passes by.

 An almost beamshot.

 She gets closer.

 And almost passes under the Ambassador Bridge.

 I think she is actually under the bridge here.

And she continues on her way.  I think she was heading up to one of the stone docks.

The Victory/Maumee On Their Way Past Belle Isle

This isn't the other ship I was looking for but it was between the ship that I wanted and the one that I was going to get.

 So first up was the tug/barge combo the Victory/Maumee.  I think they were heading down from Marquette but I don't remember where they were heading to.  I want to say that they were heading down to Toledo but I could be wrong.

 I think tug/barges are used elsewhere but typically it is a purpose built tug and barge.  It seems like the Great Lakes have found a use for old hulls that are almost intact.  As I've said before, the Great Lakes are fairly friendly on ships because of the fresh water but stuff still wears out.

 Typically it is things in the engine room that wear out.  In some cases, the engines are old technologies but the deck can't support the newer engines.  It is much easier to notch out the old hull and replace stuff with a tug than to build new stuff to support the engine.

 While I don't particularly like, they don't look too bad.

 Unfortunately, the sun was starting to affect my shots here.

And as a result, I couldn't get much of a stern shot but it's not too bad.

Catching a Tug/Barge

The next vessel was kind of a surprise for me.

 As I looked down the river, I saw this one coming up.  For some reason, the ships on the St Marys River were spotty in getting picked up by Marine Traffic.

 In this case, she is the barge Pathfinder getting pushed by the tug Dorothy Ann.

 I'm not sure where they were heading from but I'm pretty sure they were heading to Marquette.

 I'm guessing they were heading there to pick up iron but I'm not sure.

 She may have been going to deliver rocks from either Calcite or Port Dolomite.

 Even though she's a tug/barge, it was still neat to see.

 

Her tug.

And she continues up the river.

Catching the Victory and Maumee

I've caught this ship in the past but she was wearing a different name.

 I think while she was laid up, they changed the name of her barge to Maumee.  This is in keeping with the Lower Lakes naming convention.  Their ships are typically named after rivers.

 Unfortunately, as I was taking these pictures, it was starting to rain harder.  It was starting to obscure my lens pretty bad.

One more shot before moving on.