Great Lakes Freighters

[Bonochick]

Curious...

Are there any other boat nerds out there??

I've been a boatwatcher since I was a baby. My family and I used to go camping at the Soo every year. As a kid, I used to be able to tick off the names of dozens of ships and know the years they were constructed and their lengths. I've gotten quite rusty though! Last year was the first year we didn't go to the Soo for at least take a daytrip there, and I miss it a lot! We get to see a few boats around here sometimes, but it most certainly isn't the same.

This one is my favorite...

 

[Bonochick]

I have a painting of that ship, and we also have a couple other paintings. We have one of the Kinsman Independent...

...and one of the James R. Barker (my mom's favorite ship...she bought the painting for me though)...

 

[Bonochick]

Dad's favorite...the Mesabi Miner:

My sister's favorite...the Paul R. Tregurtha (longest on the Lakes):

You can find lots of stuff at http://www.boatnerd.com

Please tell me somebody else out there ships like I do!

 

[Chizip]

i dont know about ships, but i heard u2popmofo likes seamen

 

[Bonochick]

Salties! My mom especially loves salties. They are so cool looking!!!

 

[Bonochick]

The Yankcanuck!!!

I have some really beautiful shots of this ship...we got to get right up close to where she was docked while we were on a boat tour. I have no clue where my pics are though!!

 

[YellowKite]

I have some very vivid childhood memories of frieghters. We had a 40 foot sailboat my dad used to run the Mackinac race each year out of Port Huron and the rest of us would drive up and we would unload the racing sails and load up all the stuff a family of 5 [8 of we were allowed to bring a friend] needed for a couple of weeks on the boat.

We would then sail up into Thunder Bay aand cruise around the islands and small coastal towns. Once we got to go through the locks at the Soo - that was really amazing. Especially being that close to the freighters in line.

My dad was always the first with the new technology [this was the late 70's and early 80's] so one year we had a automatic pilot for the wheel and my dad decided to take a quick trip down to the head and get something to eat in the middle of the night and he was down there long enough to have us head straight into a shipping lane by accident. All I can remember is this loud and long horn repeatedly blaring and my dad yelling at all uf us to get up and get our life jackets on and start getting ready to tack and pull sails on and yadda yadda. Man that was some way to wake up your family! I was probably 12 or 13 then.

We also had a cottage at 40 Mile Point and some friends lived in Alpena so we were always watching the freighters go by. They seemed to move so slowly over the horizon but up close they cruise.

I can also remember when we kids would have to take turns on the fog horn when the fog would roll over us so thick we couldn't move. We would sit in this eerie semilight and blow the fog horn at regular intervals and keep our ears on the cb for the shipping lane traffic. Looking back I think I was dense not to be scared but even after the near miss with the Lorraine C [the auto pilot] I was never scared - my dad was always right there on top of things.

Amazing too is that my mom didn't know how to swim so she wore her life vest and made sure we all knew how to swim so my dad could save her if something happened.

Thanks for jogging some happy times - those frieghters are a very powerful image for many a young Michigan kid.

 

[Bonochick]

Once we got to go through the locks at the Soo - that was really amazing. Especially being that close to the freighters in line.

That's the best part about going on the boat tours...I remember the first time I got to reach out and touch one of the Lock walls...so cool.