The Walter J. McCarthy Passes Marine City

 I wasn't sure if I would be able to catch this ship.  She was about an hour behind the Oberstar and I thought it might be dark when she passed based on the time and the cloudy sky.

But that wasn't the case.

The Walter J. McCarthy was heading to Conneaut, Ohio.

I think that means that she would have been loaded with taconite.

I'm not sure if this is her last load either but it is getting pretty close to that time.

It might be if she is laying up in Erie.

Anyway, it was nice to see her as I haven't seen her in a while.

She passes by.

And it was snowing pretty hard now.

One more shot before moving on.

Catching Up With the McCarthy

 The next ship wasn't too far behind the Oberstar.  In fact, I was almost expecting them to pass but I think this ship might have slowed up a little bit.

The Walter J. McCarthy was heading down to Conneaut, Ohio.

She is heading from Two Harbor, Minnesota.

That means she is loaded with taconite.

She left about two days before this picture.

She has roughly another day of sailing after this picture.

I'm not sure if this is her last trip of the year.

If I remember correctly, she typically winters in Toledo.  So she may very well be headed to Toledo after this trip.

It has been over a year since I caught her last.

She used to come this way fairly often.  I'm not sure if I am missing her because she passes when I can't catch her.

Anyway, it was nice catching her.

I think the thousand footers look cool.

She pours on the engines as she makes the turn for the channel.

She cuts a nice angle.

Framed by the Blue Water Bridge.

She continues on.

I kind of like this shot because it shows how long she is.

Her pilothouse.

What would normally be a beam shot, but she's too long.

And she continues down the river.

The Walter J. McCarthy Passes Windmill Point

As I said in the last post, the Walter J. McCarthy was leaving the fuel docks as I was taking pictures of the Anderson.  That was good for me because it meant I had a pretty good chance of getting pictures of her.

The Walter J. McCarthy is one of several ships that supplies coal to the electric plant in St. Clair.  She also supplies coal to the electric plant in Monroe.

Usually when the ships deliver to Monroe, they do a split load with a partial load for St. Clair and a partial load for Monroe.

I'm not sure why they do it that way but the reason that comes to mind is that Monroe can't handle a full load at once.  The shipping companies probably figure split loads is better than hauling a half load.

Anyway, if she didn't stop for fuel, I would have had to catch her on the St. Clair River or something.

But I kind of like this spot for upbound ships.  Especially if the sun is behind the clouds.

It gives me a decent headshot if my timing is right.

It was pretty windy on Sunday, so I got some nice bow wave action.

It wasn't quite as windy as it was today though.

Anyway, I think it is pretty cool to get crashing waves.

She almost passes in front of me.

Another crashing way.

The almost beam shot.

The pilothouse straight out from me.

I think she was heading back to the coal dock in Superior.   I think the power plants are trying to stock up as much as they can.
 

And the Walter J. McCarthy

 So after catching the Saginaw, I saw that the Walter J. McCarthy was heading down.  I didn't to wait the half hour or so to catch her at Del Ray, so I decided to catch her at Milliken.

It was still pretty windy, so I didn't even bother with my drone.  I wasn't sure if I could use it from Milliken anyway.

The Walter J. McCarthy was heading down from the Duluth area with what I assume was a load of taconite.

She was heading down to Conneaut, Ohio.  That is probably another 17 hours from this point.

I saw that there were a few ships that were anchoring in Lake Erie.  I'm not sure if that means the Walter J. McCarthy will anchor.

Looking at Marine Traffic, that is not the case.

She continues past me.

Almost getting the beam shot.

A better beam shot.

And she passes me.  Unfortunately, I was shooting into the sun for this picture.