It isn’t unusual to see the occasional lake freighter around here, especially once the weather warms up. They used to be headed for the steel mill. Nowadays their destination is usually the stone dock.
What is unusual is to see one of these ships docked north of the bridge and sitting like this:
Lake freighters are not supposed to look like they are popping a wheelie.
(pix from May 2011)
Stern depth
Midship depth
Of course, this situation demanded further investigation. So I went back home, got the camera, and went back down to the pier. (Yeah, now I don’t leave home without the camera. I’ve learned!) I took full advantage of the opportunity to get right alongside this vessel. You can see the west tower of the Bascule Bridge in the background.
We couldn’t do stuff like this when I was a kid. There was no way we were allowed to even think about being this close to the water without a life jacket. (I eventually sit down on the pier, Mom. Honest. New fear of heights, old fear of falling in without a life jacket.) There used to be huge ugly iron ore piles covering the pier, which meant there was no public access to this area for a very long time.
The numbers stop marking the bow depth at 10 feet.
The reason for the “wheelie”?
They were working on the bow thruster.
Make sure to check out the other participants:
MargaREEtaville
Surreal Georgia
JayAhrs Blog
Lisa, these are awesome pics with an awesome story. Thank you therefore, I have learned a lot about ships. I never could take such a close look at them, although I raised in the town with the biggest inland port of the world. But the port area wasn’t allowed for normal people. This is an excellent article! I love water (when I can stay on the land) and I would enjoy being at the shore or port if I were in Lorain.
Thanks Georgia, I’m glad you enjoyed it. I got so wrapped up in the storytelling that both of my posts were late for the 16th. I hope to be able to bring more and better shots of these ships to the blog as the shipping season approaches.
What GREAT pictures!!! Now THAT is going out to play with your camera!!!
You hit gold with this photo op. Nice job!!
There was a little girl who grew up following these ships with her grandpa and dad who was beyond excited to be able to get this close to one of them. The only thing that would have made this adventure better is if they could have been there with her and if she could have shared this experience with her son. I’m sure all of them were there in their own special ways.
Yes they were! Count on it! Just remember the Life Jacket next time, you aren’t supposed to leave the driveway without it on and buckled!!!LOL!!
Good advice!!!
Truely awesome ….and worth posting to boatnerd. Something we don’t see too often and very few folk take the time to document. Nice weather and an open lake and lake effect into March, plenty of time for great scenes to develop.
Dennis
Thanks Dennis! I’m hoping the changes that are coming to the steel mill will bring an increase in the ship traffic & photo ops.