Scrap Tow AMERICAN FORTITUDE (Final Chapter)

In Nathan Attard's snap above, the high in the water and newest of new Great Lakes bulk carriers, CWB MARQUIS motors out of Port Colborne harbour and making her way that much closer to her next destination, Thunder Bay, Ontario. After picking up a load of Canadian prairie wheat there, she'll be motoring downbound all the way to a grain elevator near the mouth of the St. Lawrence River. When the grain that's destined to a European port by a deep sea bulker is fully discharged, the 740' MARQUIS will take on a load of iron ore which will be discharged at a Hamilton steel mill before making her way back up to Thunder Bay to start another downbound/upbound cycle that will only end when the shipping season ends for winter in late December. Then the whole process gets repeated time and time again during each Seaway and Great Lakes shipping season for many years to come for the fuel-effiecient and state-of-the-art CWB MARQUIS. Meanwhile, parked abeam of the upbound Algoma Central gearless bulk carrier, sits also high in the water Great Lakes classic, the 690' "straightdeck" self unloader AMERICAN FORTITUDE going nowhere fast at the International Marine Salvage dock. Though much smaller than current American ore carriers, the FORTITUDE may have continued to be useful hauling salt, stone or grain like the SAGINAW in Lower Lakes Towing's fleet of veteran boats (http://carlzboats.blogspot.ca/2012/09/self-unloader-saginaw.html), had one of her former owners re-powered the AMERICAN FORTITUDE from steam to diesel. Instead she waits to be broken apart by the welder's torch for everyone to see. It wasn't supposed to end this way. 

With her 8 year long-term layup in Toledo behind her, the AMERICAN FORTITUDE patiently sits along Port Colborne's downbound east wall in Nathan's snap to the right. Here, she was waiting for a Seaway inspection to be completed, and a pilot to be boarded on the lead tug, EVANS McKEIL so that the long passage could get underway to Quebec City where  the tow would be transferred to another tug to complete her journey along the Eastern Seaboard, the Straits of Florida and Gulf of Mexico to Brownsville, Texas. While every boat watcher east of Duluth presumed the worst, that the once gallant Great Lakes classic was doomed to the cutter's torch, rumours started floating around (no pun intended, really c);-b) suggesting that once arriving at Brownsville, only a few sections of the FORTITUDE and her discharging boom would be remove, leaving her massive holds be used for scrap storage. That could work!! Her life or usefulness could be extended for another 10, 15 or 20 years. Who knows? c):-) If the FORTITUDE could speak, she probably would have said, "ALRIGHT!!, so let's get this tow on the road or as the St. Lawrence Seaway people like to call it, "Highway H2O". c):-D  
     

As mentioned in my December 7th post about AMERICAN FORTITUDE's last Great Lakes "Not So Excellent Adventure" http://carlzboats.blogspot.ca/2014/12/scrap-tow-american-fortitude.html, things weren't looking so good. Just mile away from completing the delicate and slow going passage through the Seaway (as shown in my friend Shaun Judge's snap near Mallorytown on December 1st) and then on down to the deeper and open waters of the St. Lawrence River, the scrap tow came to a dead stop that lasted several days just above Côte Ste. Catherine Lock on December 4. Though initially reported that the extended delay was due to high winds further down below on the St. Lawrence River, the actual reason was because during another inspection, this time done by Transport Canada, a large quantity of bunker fuel remained in her tanks and it would need to be removed before the tow down to the lower river and Gulf of St. Lawrence could proceed. A worthy concern because when another classic straightdecker, the CANADIAN MINER which was being towed to Turkey for scrap, broke free of her tug during a storm in the Cabot Strait in September 2011, the MINER ran aground on Nova Scotia's Scatarie Island with over 3,000 litres of diesel fuel on board. Not GOOD c):-(   

With only a few weeks left before the Seaway would be closed for the winter, the FORTITUDE's tow to Texas looked even more hopeless when on the next day, first her lead tug EVANS MCKEIL left the tow and got underway "upbound" back to her home port on Hamilton which is located on the far end of Lake Ontario, and then the EILEEN MCALLISTER, the tug that was supposed to takeover the tow and deliver her Brownsville, Texas, departed her berth in Quebec City and appeared to be heading at full speed to her home port of New York City. However things started to look up again though when on December 18th, AMERICAN FORTITUDE got hooked up to another lead tug, this time Groupe Ocean's ROSS GAUDREAULT but instead of continuing east through the two remaining Seaway lock that would bring her closer to her new life and usefulness along  Texas' Gulf of Mexico coastline, the scrap tow started heading in the opposite direction upbound, presumably to the IMS scrapyard in Port Colborne. It wasn't supposed to end this way.      

On the other side of the Beauharnois Locks, another McKeil tug, the 120' SALVOR took over the lead tug roll and then further upriver, EVANS MCKNEIL regained the top spot. For the FORTITUDE it didn't matter which one was the lead tug, as she had no choice but to follow along wherever they were taking her with fortitude. 

Wintering at Oswego - January 31, 2015. Photo by Mike Kaminski

Soon after noon on Christmas Day, EVANS MCKEIL and JARRET M were on there way at full speed to Hamilton and hoping their crews made it home in time to enjoy many yuletide festivities. Meanwhile, tied off for winter, the AMERICAN FORTITUDE was parked facing the lake at Oswego, New York, and positioned perfectly to be towed out of the Lake Ontario port in the spring to where: Brownsville, Texas or the IMS scrapyard in Port Colborne?

At Oswego, AMERICAN FORTITUDE is positioned lake-ward for her to go somewhere in the spring. The warm climes of the Gulf of Mexico or a burning end at IMS in Port Colborne? - January 31, 2015.  Photo by Mike Kaminski

With the contract to dock the FORTITUDE in Oswego ending on April 15, 2015, her new Texas owners had to find a way over the winter to get the bunker fuel removed so the tow to Brownsville could be resumed. Due to ice conditions in Oswego harbour, the owner had almost an extra month to sort things out but once everyone who was tracking her departure on May 12th via MarineTraffic's AIS, it didn't take long for us to figure out that she was not going to end her career along the shoreline of the "Lone Star" state, when AMERICAN FORTITUDE's lead tug, now the 98' MOLLY M1 turned hard to port and upbound towards Port Weller, the northern entrance to the Welland Canal. MOLLY M1 was very capable to take the lead position. When launched in 1962 at the Davie Shipyard in Levi, Quebec, for Foundation Maritime of Halifax her name was FOUNDATION VIGOUR. She became POINT VIGOUR in 1973 and after 47 years of operating mostly alongs Canada's east coast, the harbour tug began working on the Great Lakes in 2009 when purchased by McKeil Marine of Hamilton. Ever since, her name has been MOLLY M1 and she currently wears the Nadro Marine of Port Dover colours, as subsidary of McKeil.

Just like she did to and from Côte Ste. Catherine Lock last winter as shown in another snap by Shaun, the 98' JARRET M continued to maintain the stern position when the AMERICAN FORTITUDE was delivered to IMS scrap dock in Port Colborne on May 14th.

For 56 years this huge boat made of strong and lasting American steel sailed under three different names of honour, while plying the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River resupplying the steel mills with raw iron ore or coal to keep the furnaces burning. When launched in 1952 her name was ERNEST T. WEIR. She became the flagship of the fleet replacing the famous ore carrier EDMUND FITZGERALD which sank on November 10, 1975, when the WEIR was sold to Columbia Transportation in 1978. She continued to steam on with prestige even after her name was changed to COURTNEY BURTON soon after the purchase and became substantially more useful when the BURTON was converted into a self unloader in 1981. Over the next 25 years, when the self unloader wasn't busy hauling many different trades throughout the Great Lakes, she was laid up due to lack of cargoes. To make matters worse, two years after being sold to American Steamship Company, the newly named AMERICAN FORTITUDE commenced long-term layup in Toledo, Ohio.
I know no ship can last forever and recycling the scrapped steel of a ship and her fluids in an environmentally safe manner makes a lot of sense, but in AMERICAN FORTITUDE's case, It simply wasn't supposed to end this way.      

While International Marine Salvage workers continued to cut up the former Captain John's Toronto waterfront restaurant boat JADRAN, in their main slip, dismantling had already begun with the removal  of AMERICAN FORTITUDE's self unloading boom when I snapped these photos of her during my visit to Port Colborne on November 19, 2015.

Not much  was left of the classic AMERICAN FORTITUDE when the former Algoma tanker ALGOSAR arrived to take her place for dismantling in late May 2016.

HEY, Wake UP!! What a yawner, eh c):-O but if you haven't had your fill in tugboats and scrap tows, may I suggest you read the Farley Mowat's non-fiction book, 'The Grey Seas Under' about the "Hero" Atlantic salvage tug, FOUNDATION FRANKLIN, and it's many daring rescues during the Great Depression and World War II while based out of Halifax, NS. Launched as HMS FRISKY, you can appreciate why her name was so appropriate throughout the books by clicking on to this Wikipedia link or NOT: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Grey_Seas_Under.
My dad passed on his copy of the book many years ago before he died. I read it, so has my son, and he will pass it on to his young son at the right time. c):-D
Thanks again for your excellent photos Nathan and Shaun. I really appreciate it c);-b

Specialty Vessels CCGS CARIBOU ISLE & CCGS COVE ISLE

Anyone living here in the Great White North has their own tell-tale sign that "Spring is 'Really' here". No, I'm not talking about simple little things like that foot and a half of snow melting off the roof or lawn because that generally happens at least once during our normal winter (except this year of course). For many it's the first sighting of a robin red-breast or hearing its pleasant song in the neighbourhood, or perhaps it's the opening of your bulbed flowers like tulips, hyacinths and daffodils in your garden or randomly appearing in the middle of the yard due to unplanned re-planting activities done by neighbourhood squirrels in the fall. People who let their dogs do their business out back know exactly when spring has arrived. That's a fun annual event, right? c):-() Regardless, for me when those purple buds start popping out of the ground in my asparagus patch, I know right then "Spring is here". Like the snap above, asparagus spears cut into inch or so morsels, boiled or steamed for a few minutes, lathered in melted butter then seasoned with freshly ground pepper. Oh YAAA!! Is there a better freshly grown spring time vegetable treat out there? I don't think so!!! c)8-D

Meanwhile, back to the boat blog, yes I know many self-confessed boatnerds or shipwatchers might suggest "Spring is here" when the Seaway commences its new shipping season and all kinds of salties and lakers make an appearance for the first time since late December. I agree it's a fun time but you still have to bundle up to stay warm due to all that ice that's still bobbing about and the wind is COLD!! It's still so winter-like that you may just as well have stayed in Florida or Arizona, eh? c):-o However, a true tell-tale assurance that "Spring is 'Really' here" for boat or shipwatchers is when a Canadian Coast Guard small buoy tender like the CARIBOU ISLE or COVE ISLE motors by because they can only venture away from their home base to repair or place small navigation aids when all channels and port entrances are completely free of ice. So many other coast guard buoy tenders that we see all season long like the GRIFFON, and SAMUEL RISLEY remain active throughout the winter as icebreakers on the upper Great Lakes, but CCGShips CARIBOU ISLE and COVE ISLE are laid up all winter long because their bows are not ice strengthened, so they cannot become operational until "SPRING".

It was still technically "Spring" on June 7, 2014 when from behind the tall spruce trees west of the Iroquois Lock, out popped this cute little boat, the 75.5' CARIBOU ISLE. Cool c):-D At the time I was actually waiting for the downbound Algoma tanker, ALGOCANADA (http://carlzboats.blogspot.ca/2014/06/oilchemical-tanker-algocanada.html which was listed as the next downbound on the Seaway's 'Order of Turn' website for Iroquois Lock. However since 9/11, Seaway passage information for all Canadian and American navy ships, and coast guard vessels have been restricted to the public due to security reasons. Meanwhile, anyone can check their whereabout on MarineTraffic's AIS site, so what's with that, h'uh? c):-l

Regardless of what you can or cannot know about, it sure was neat to see the 75.5'x19.7'x5.5' CARIBOU ISLE motor through the 766'x80' Iroquois Lock with the same grace and confidence of any of her substantially larger fleetmates like the helicopter carrying high endurance bouy tender CCGS MARTHA L. BLACK (http://carlzboats.blogspot.ca/2015/03/light-icebreaker-ccgs-martha-l-black.html).

When built in 1985 at Breton Industries in Port Hawkesbury, Nova Scotia, the CARIBOU ISLE was one of four vessels in her class of small buoy tenders that were primarily intended for use in restricted and shallow waters. Manned with a crew of 5, the controllable pitch twin screw CARIBOU ISLE has a top speed of 11 knots and is powered with a 475 horsepower diesel engine. To haul buoys in and out of the water, CARIBOU ISLE comes also with a hydraulically-powered articulated crane which has a maximum lift of 2.5 tons. When not motoring about along the St. Lawrence River, Seaway, or Lake Ontario, CARIBOU ISLE's home base is the Prescott Coast Guard Station located about 24 kms west of Iroquois Lock..

While touring the Canadian Sault Ste. Marie Canal in September 2013, I came across another small buoy tender, the CCGS COVE ISLE tied off along the lock's upbound east wall. Based at the Parry Sound Coast Guard on Lake Huron, the COVE ISLE was built in 1980 at Canadian Dredge & Docks in Kingston, Ontario and has the same specifications as CARIBOU ISLE except the COVE is ten feet shorter and is powered by a slightly smaller 380 horsepower diesel engine.  

If you didn't know it already, the Canadian Coast Guard is mandated to provide aid to navigation in Canadian waters. Winter ice conditions may require the removal of some buoys at the closing of the navigation season and in less severe ice conditions, unlighted summer buoys maybe left in place or lighted buoys maybe replaced with unlighted winter buoys. Got That? c):-o OK, I'll try to lighten the rest up, or NOT. However with winter ice melted, ship's crews on all coast guard buoy tenders are currently busy throughout the Great Lakes and Seaway replacing winter to summer buoys and/or positioning those that may not be in the advertised location due to storms and shifting ice.

Though one might be slightly older and 10' shorter that the other, did you notice that both ISLES have a pair of marker buoys on the fo'c'sle deck near their starboard bow. The green one with the flat top is a "Port Hand Buoy". It marks the port or left side of a channel or location of danger and must be kept on the vessel's port or left side when proceeding in an upstream direction. The red one with pointed cone top is a "Starboard Hand Buoy". It marks the starboard or right side of a channel or location of danger and it must be kept on the vessel's starboard or right side when proceeding in an upstream direction. If the "Starboard Hand Buoy" is located on the port side when heading in an upstream direction, the name of your ship may be the 623' Polesteam bulk carrier JUNO and the reason why your ship appears to be dead in the water, is because she's run hard aground beneath the Thousand Island International Bridge. Embarrassing but it actually happened almost a month ago? c):-((

Besides aids to navigation work, these versatile little boats could also be used for marine and fishery research, conservation and protection patrols, search & rescue support and even fire fighting with their water cannon mounted high and amidships. That's why the Canadian Coast Guard prefers to call CARIBOU ISLE & COVE ISLE "Specialty Vessels". They're pretty much "Jack of all trades and masters of them all" and prime examples of the Guard's motto' "Safety First, Service Always". c):-D

Still awake? Hey, want to read more exciting information about lighted or unlighted markers and buoys? Then check out this colourful link or NOT c);-b : http://www.ccg-gcc.gc.ca/folios/00020/docs/CanadianAidsNavigationSystem2011-eng.pdf 

Deck Barge NIAGARA SPIRIT (& Pushboat JOHN SPENCE)

"Da Barge", pronounced in a similar fashion as to the SNL skit about Chicago's beloved football team, "Da Bearss" or basketball team, "Da Bullss" only in this case unfortunately "Da Barge" may not be considered beloved even though in many regions, costs would soar in more ways than one if "Da Barge" was "Nada". c):-o

"Da Barge" is one versatile vessel but just like what the late Rodney Dangerfield use to say when joking about himself, they "don't get no respect". Let's face it, "Da Barge" gets pushed or pulled in one direction or the other and must only go wherever that big lug of a tug in front or behind decides to get underway because "Da Barge" has no engine. They are the first to feel the effects of a choppy lake or bay, and the first to touch bottom when the tug's GPS goes out of sorts or she " suddenly lost steering". Ya Right c):-(). Unlike other cargo ships, "Da Barge" seldom is given a name and those that do, like "Da Barge" WICOMICO (below) that was snapped by my friend Jim in Salisbury, Maryland, the name may barely be visible due to rust or being scrapped off when "Da Barge" is rubbed along a dock wall or jetty. No respect but enough with the "Da", da?   

Not surprising, conditions were pretty much the norm for 340' deck barge NIAGARA SPIRIT which was being pushed at a good clip past Mariatown and then continued her formidable advance passed us by cutting through a harsh west wind during upbound passage to Iroquois Lock. So many other times when I've snapped boats at the road side Loyalist Park which is about midway between Morrisburg and Iroquois, the Seaway channel would be flat as board offering hardly any resistance for the passing ship. It was a much different situation for the low in water NIAGARA SPIRIT as her tug JOHN SPENCE relentlessly push her through a constant roll of white caps and an imminent summer storm ahead.

When built in 1984 in Portland, Oregon, her name was ALASKA TRADER and unlike the WICOMICO which as a hopper barge carries dry bulk cargo in her hold, the ALASKA TRADER was a deck barge which meant that all of her cargo would be transported on her reinforced flat deck. When sold to Marcon International of Coupeville, Washington in 1999, she became a log carrier and her name was changed to TIMBERJACK.

In 2008, her name was changed to  NIAGARA SPIRIT when she was sold to McKeil Marine of Hamilton, ON and soon after her long haul journey to her new Great Lakes homeport via the Panama Canal, 12' high steel corrugated bin walls where added along with a fitted cover to protect special cargoes. Also unlike the WICOMICO with its angled rake bow, NIAGARA SPIRIT's bow is spoon-shaped which offers less resistance when pushed through choppy seas and wave spray is lessen with the steel breakwater structure that you can see in both above snaps at her forward section.

It hasn't been an easy time either for NIAGARA SPIRIT's pushboat, the 171' tug JOHN SPENCE. When launched in 1972 at the Fraser Shipyards in North Westminster, British Columbia, her name was MARY B. VI and instead of being built to haul or push barges from here to there, MARY B. VI was designed as an offshore supply ship. One of the first of these unique ships to be built in Canada, the MARY B. VI would battle snow, ice and heavy seas for many years while supporting oil rigs and exploration off Nova Scotia and the Arctic's Beaufort Sea.

She also had many name changes including the ARCTIC TUKTU when McKeil Marine purchased her in 1994. Soon after an elevated wheelhouse was installed above her superstructure, the once glorious and hard working offshore support ship commenced her new career as a tugboat with a new name, JOHN SPENCE.

Though able to carry just about anything that can be lashed to her massive reinforced steel deck like containers, or rolls of steel, NIAGARA SPIRIT's primary cargo is aluminum ingots that's transported to market from Sept Isle, Quebec through the St. Lawrence River and Seaway system. Though their appearance may not be as pretty as so many lakers and salties that get snapped by us boatnerds everyday, tug and barge combos like the JOHN SPENCE & NIAGARA SPIRIT deserve a second look and calm waters every now and then too, don't you think? c):-D    

Port Colborne Winter Layup

Back in March 1974 when I snapped my 1970 Chevy Malibu sitting in front of the self unloader and laid up for winter E.B. BARBER by the Rochester & Pittsburgh coal dock in Port Colborne, no one would have known anything about "global-warming" let alone suggesting it had anything to do with the mild spring-like temperatures and ice-less harbour conditions back then. I even recall my dad who was still working as a lockmaster on the Welland Canal, telling me that the then Seaway Authority was strongly considering keeping the canal open year-round. It never happened but perhaps it may have been worthwhile 18 years later, when my bil (brother-in-law) Mark, snapped the panoramic view below of another ice-less Port Colborne harbour on a mild St. Patrick's Day in 2012.

A normal ice-packed harbour returned in 2013....l

...and 2014 along with a nearly frozen solid Lake Erie due to the "Polar Vortex from Hell"!! Say What? c):-o Yup, you heard it right. Also known as a "polar cyclone", it hung over Eastern Ontario and the Great Lakes region for far TOO LONG!! c):-()
Feel free to read the whole bone chilling story about in this Carlz Boats post: http://carlzboats.blogspot.ca/2014/02/ice-breakers-uscgc-mackinaw-wagb-83.html, or NOT c);-b

Nathanz Boats

Nathanz Boats

As for 2015, well I believe these snaps taken by my man in Port Colborne, Nathan Attard, says it all. While I was on a beach in Cuba during the first week of January, Ontario and America's Great Lakes region got whacked with snow, freezing rain, then a deep-freeze drop in temperatures to -32 celsius in the wind. (Hehehee c);-D). I've since learned my lesson and now knows the true meaning of the saying, "He who laughs last, laughs last" because not only did it take me 45 minutes to chip the ice off my windshield at the Ottawa airport when we arrived back from our winter vacation in the SUN, but the snow and frigid cold blasts from Siberia continued until mid-March when our first thaw of the winter arrived a month late.

Nathanz Boats

Regardless of the temperatures outside or how brief the stay is, like CSL's self unloaders RT. HON. PAUL J. MARTIN and WHITEFISH BAY (which didn't arrive in Port [Colborne] until the last week of January), winter lay-up is the time for crews to make babies (or not) while others make the necessary repairs before the new shipping season commences. Most ship companies got an extra week to complete things, due to the St. Lawrence Seaways decision to delay the opening of their system until April 2 because of severe ice conditions throughout the Seaway and Great Lakes. The last time the Seaway delayed the opening of the season was in 1997.

Time is money and over the short but cold winter lay-up, CSL's Trillium-class self discharging bulk carrier BAIE COMEAU got a new coat of paint on her hull. Yes, she needed to look pretty because when the Welland Canal opened bright and early on April 2, her captain received the "Top Hat" Award for being the first downbound of the season at Lock 8. However soon after clearing the lock, the COMEAU turned herself around by the old Robin Hood flour mill and sat below the lock until a clear track could completed on an ice-laden Lake Erie by the Polar-class icebreaker, CCGS PIERRE RADISSON (http://carlzboats.blogspot.ca/2015/04/polar-icebreaker-ccgs-pierre-radisson.html).
Meanwhile, due to her boom collapsing while discharging salt at Thessalon, on Lake Huron's North Channel on November 28th, the ALGOWAY sat at the old R.E. LAW stone dock since December 6 while her boom was repaired.

Despite the delayed Seaway season opening and ice jammed Great Lakes and rivers, all of Port Colborne's 2014-15 winter lay-up have left the Lake Erie port and southern entrance to the Welland Canal. First to leave on April 1st was the 730' self unloader ALGOWOOD which picked up a load of salt at Goderich for Duluth and is now anchored and waiting to pick up a load of prairie grain at Thunder Bay. Last to leave with a new end-section "crazy-glued" to her discharging boom was the ALGOWAY on April 15th.

Though not actually a winter lay-up despite her late December arrival at Port Colborne,  one ship remains until she is no more, the 730' ALGOMA PROGRESS. Surrounded in a thick lakefront fog at the International Marine Salvage dock, the record breaking PROGRESS looked bashful or ashamed in Nathan Attard's photo above, laying naked for everyone to see without her infamous self unloading boom. Though I can't confirm it, I heard that the end section of ALGOMA PROGRESS's boom was attached to ailing fleetmate, ALGOWAY. Recycling her can be GOOD, right?  c):-))

Despite her bleak situation, wintering in Port Colborne has been a regular occurrence for the 47 year old ALGOMA PROGRESS and I've been able to snap her a couple of times locked in the ice along the harbour's east wall. There she is to the left in February 2013 and below with her original name when owned by Upper Lakes the CANADIAN PROGRESS in January 2003. Even my bil, Mark, snapped her above Bridge 21 in his wide angle photo way up near the top.

On one of her last trips in December, my Kanata friend Shaun was able to snap the proud ALGOMA PROGRESS (below) as she motored upbound on the St. Lawrence River. She was named after Canada's centennial slogan "A Century of Progress", and as the PROGRESS continues to be broken apart, piece by piece, her strong Canadian-made steel will be used to build other products, thereby allowing all kinds of Canadian companies to grow and PROGRESS. How's that for an ending? No pun intended, of course. c):-))

Still awake? Well then perhaps you'll want to check my original ALGOMA PROGRESS post http://carlzboats.blogspot.ca/2013/03/self-unloader-algoma-progress.html or maybe the ALGOWOOD's http://carlzboats.blogspot.ca/2012/09/self-unloader-algowood.html? Anyone for CSL's WHITEFISH BAY, http://carlzboats.blogspot.ca/2014/03/self-discharging-bulk-carrier-whitefish.html, RT. HON. PAUL J. MARTIN http://carlzboats.blogspot.ca/2013/06/self-unloader-rt-hon-paul-j-martin.html or BAIE COMEAU http://carlzboats.blogspot.ca/2014/01/self-discharging-bulk-carrier-baie.html? How about the ALGOWAY, http://carlzboats.blogspot.ca/2013/10/self-unloader-algoway.html eh, or NOT c);-b

Medium Gulf/River Icebreaker CCGS PIERRE RADISSON

Guess who? c);-b

Unlike this year, when I grew up in Port Colborne, a typical winter mostly consisted of snow and lots of it. Located 20 miles west Buffalo, New York, whatever snow accumulation the Niagara Frontier city at the east end of Lake Erie got, we got it first. The white stuff usually started arriving near the end of November and stayed until the end of March, or longer. Whatever snow that didn't fall during a typical "dump" (a Canadian term for a 6 to 12" or 15-30 cm, snowfall), the rest was blown in off of a frozen solid Lake Erie. Walking to Snider Public School back then was always an adventure. Though most sidewalks would have been cleared off, it was a lot more fun to simply trudge through the knee-to-hip deep snow that was shovelled from neighbours' driveways into high mounds of snow. "I'm the king of the castle, and you're the dirty rascal" is what you'd call out if you were able to shove a schoolmate off a roadside mountain and into the snow, or vice versa.

Conquering the ice banks with sisters Cheryl and Nancy in late 60's

What was even more fun was when we'd drive to my grandparents farm which was located near the shores of the lake at Lowbanks almost every Sunday after church. The old homestead is still there at the corner of Lakeshore and Burkett roads. Soon after saying hello to everyone, my sisters and I would scurry out usually with our dad and head down to the snow-covered beach and climb the 15' to 20' high ice bank ridges that appeared to guard the shoreline like a breakwall for miles in each direction. Created by constantly crashing waves and snow blown ashore during our early winter's frigid cold days and nights, the pinnacle offered a great view of the frozen lake below and the slope was steep and fast when tobogganing or just sliding down on your butt. Those were the days. c):-D
Lake Erie is the shallowest of the Great Lakes and when the winds start to howl, watch out as waves 8'-10' high that are not able to crash into a shoreline, will simply lift the ice and stack the jagged clear slabs high on top of each other rising anywhere from 5 to 10 feet high causes ice ridges that would extend itself for miles.

ARTHUR M. ANDERSON locked in ice near Ashtabula, OH on February 19, 2015. Canadian Coast Guard photo

A crewman marks the distance from flight deck, as reversing CCGS GRIFFON 

cautiously approaches and clears ice around ARTHUR M. ANDERSON's stern.
- CCGS photo. 

It was conditions likes these that prevented the 767'  ARTHUR M. ANDERSON from entering Conneaut, Ohio in February to load cargo for Gary, Indiana. Escorted by the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter BRISTOL BAY the closest the American ore carrier came to her destination was four miles of shore. While her escort remained locked in the ice, the BRISTOL BAY attempted to pick up provisions and fuel in Ashtabula but the icebreaking cutter could not smash through the ice ridges outside the Ohio lakeport.

USCG cutter BRISTOL BAY encountering brash icefield

5-6' thick off Ashtabula. U.S. Coast Guard photo by 

Lt. Cmdr. John Henry  

The Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker GRIFFON which had been escorting Algoma tankers to and from Nanticoke, Ontario, came across Lake Erie to aid her U.S. icebreaking partner, ramming those the high ridges and remained with the BRISTOL BAY as she reached Cleveland instead for refuelling. As the BRISTOL BAY headed to Detroit for repairs, the GRIFFON pushed on back to ARTHUR M. ANDERSON and along with CCGS SAMUEL RISLEY, which left icebreaking duties on the St. Clair River, the two Canadian icebreakers freed the ANDERSON.

Freed ARTHUR M. ANDERSON heading to Detroit while
assisted by CCGS SAMUEL RISLEY.  CCGS Photo

Motoring behind the GRIFFON, the empty ore carrier got underway on the 14th day of a trip that should have only taken two and a half to complete, heading westward to Detroit with the RISLEY assisting while the GRIFFON returned to Nanticoke to assist the tankers ALGOCANADA and ALGOSEA to their destination.
After all vessels were refuelled, the GRIFFON and SAMUEL RISLEY returned to assist the ANDERSON along with USCGC NEAH BAY up the St. Clair River to the open waters of Lake Huron and eventually arriving at Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin for winter lay up on March 4th.

Due to anticipated ice condition issues, the St. Lawrence Seaway Authority delayed the opening of the new shipping season for the first time since 1997 until April 2 this year, one week later than normal. While the Seaway opened as usual last year on March 28th, after transiting the locks, ships ended up being laid up for at least week due to thick ice conditions from Lake Erie onwards. This year's opening delay allowed additional Canadian Coast Guard icebreakers the opportunity to clear up channels, harbours and create shipping tracks before commercial bulk carriers could enter the system and Great Lakes. The duties of the light icebreaker, CCGS MARTHA L. BLACK primarily focused on icebreaking activities in the Bay of Quinte, eastern Lake Ontario, and the Seaway to the Beauharnois locks, (you can see more about her in my last post http://carlzboats.blogspot.ca/2015/03/light-icebreaker-ccgs-martha-l-black.html), while the medium icebreaker CCGS PIERRE RADISSON photographed by my ship-watching friend Ron Beaupre off his "dock" in Mariatown, above and approaching Iroquois Lock, below on March 29th was also sent into the Great Lakes.

Built in North Vancouver, British Columbia in 1978, the 322' x 62' CCGS PIERRE RADISSON is a Medium River/Gulf icebreaker which works in the Gulf and St. Lawrence River area in the winter, the Great Lakes in the spring, if needed and in the Arctic during the summer months.. Her max speed is 16.7 knots or 31 km/hr and the RADISSON is also equipped with helicopter. After transiting Iroquois Lock, the big icebreaker made good speed breaking river ice, and pushing open water further up the St. Lawrence, across Lake Ontario and over the Niagara Escarpment via the Welland Canal to Port Colborne where my friend Nathan Attard snapped these shots below as PIERRE RADISSON exited Lock 8 on March 30th.

Weighing close to 6,000 tons, the unique bow on the RADISSON and other icebreakers allows her to rise above the ice in what's known as "beaching conditions" while her full weight bears down and breaks the ice. When approaching an ice ridge, icebreakers like the PIERRE RADISSON, will ram the ridge at full speed several times until she breaks through. While most Great Lakes like Erie received ice coverage similar to last year due to extreme cold temperatures from January to early March, the ice plates apparently are not as thick as last year.

While the CCGS PIERRE RADISSON had no problems tracking or breaking ice on Lake Erie, conditions were very different at the eastern end of Lake Superior. While initially some ore carriers were able to cross the lake without major issues within days of the opening of the Soo Locks on March 25th, conditions changed significantly within a week as 25-30" ice plates and stacked ice ridges 4-5' high were reported from the Soo Locks to 15 miles west of Whitefish Point bringing movement in both direction to a halt. To make matters worse, an unexplained water leak in the port azipod of the U.S. Coast Guard's heaviest Great Lakes icebreaker MACKINAW (http://carlzboats.blogspot.ca/2014/02/ice-breakers-uscgc-mackinaw-wagb-83.html) required her to limp back to the Soo for inspection.
Meanwhile, CCGS SAMUEL RISLEY already sent up to Lake Superior to assist where needed, took over MACKINAW's duties and the big medium icebreaker CCGS PIERRE RADISSON was then dispatched to make her way to Lake Superior.
CCGS GRIFFON was sent to take over ice breaking activities on the St. Lawrence River and Seaway, while MARTHA L. BLACK motored to Port Colborne to take over tracking and ice breaking duties on Lake Erie.
On April 8th, the RADISSON locked through the Soo and early the next day she crossed into Lake Superior with seven upbound lakers following behind her. Though reduced to the use of only the her starboard azipod, USCG cutter MACKINAW was able to assist with convoy escort duties. Meanwhile, the sleek Canadian icebreaker SAMUEL RISLEY, escorted six downbound lakers to the Soo Locks.
In recent days, those lakers that were trapped in the ice and freed by the RADISSON, have reached their destinations. Some have taken on loads and are already starting their downbound trip back. The first bulk carrier to arrive at Thunder Bay and two weeks earlier than last year, the TECUMSEH (http://carlzboats.blogspot.ca/2014/08/bulk-carrier-tecumseh.html) is loading her hull with another bumper crop of prairie grain.

The United States and Canadian Coast Guard icebreakers do what they have to do as a team keeping the shipping lanes and trades routes open regardless of the weather conditions. Isn't it amazing what can be completed when good neighbours and friends work together as one. Makes me proud. How about you? c):-D