Category Archives: Great Lakes shipping

Port Huron and the Great Lakes Maritime Center, a great place for boat watching!

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A great place for ship watching!

Many people enjoy the pastime of watching freighters sailing in various parts of the Great Lakes and the St Lawrence Seaway. All have a favorite spot to watch and photograph from, but most have a spot that they dream of visiting someday. For many, that spot is Port Huron with its Great Lakes Maritime Center, home to the international headquarters of boatnerd.com.

The Blue Water Bridge with the Fort Gratiot Lighthouse’s green flash in the distance.

Salties and Lakers, Tankers and ‘Footers’ pass by the watchers at the Maritime Center on a regular basis. Following is a random gathering of ships that have sailed past Port Huron in the last year. Most were photographed from the Maritime Center, but some were captured at the Blue Water Bridge or the Fort Gratiot Lighthouse.

Lake Huron Lore Marine Society’s Marine Market in St Clair, June 9, 2012

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Everyone enjoyed the Marine Market!

Saturday was a beautiful day for the Marine Market in St Clair. Over 30 vendor’s were on hand with a great variety of goods for sale. There whistles and jackets, photographs and paintings, charts and maps, shirts and books and more! Everyone had a great time and all are looking forward.to next years gathering! Here are some pictures, names and phone numbers, so you can contact these vendor’s if there is something that interests you. Click on a photo to enlarge it. Enjoy!

Know Your Ships – Do You Have Your Copy Yet?

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Roger LeLievre

Roger LeLievre’s phenomenal book, Know Your Ships -2012 edition, is now available! This book is a must have for anyone with an interest in the ships and shipping on the Great Lakes.

It includes information on renamed ships, recently scrapped ships, and other changes that have occurred since the last issue. The pages are filled with information, spectacular photography, and more.

In the Port Huron area you can find a copy at The Great Lakes Maritime Center, the Thomas Edison Inn, the Lightship Huron, and the St Clair Pharmacy. Online, you can order your copy of Know Your Ships as well as other books, DVDs and apparel at http://www.knowyourships.com. Orders are taken by mail at: Know Your Ships, 317 S. Division St #8, Ann Arbor, MI 48104. Call (906)632-8417.

Thanks, Roger, for another great issue of Know Your Ships!!

Shipping Season is Officially Underway!

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The Munson, second ship to traverse the Soo Locks after the 2012 opening.

The Soo Locks opened at noon on Saturday, March 24, instead or 12:01 am Sunday morning, due to request made by the shipping industry. An unusually warm winter made for minimal to non-existent ice conditions which allows the ships to maneuver throughout the Great Lakes earlier than normal.

That means, all you boat lovers out there, that SHIPPING SEASON HAS OFFICIALLY BEGUN on the Great Lakes. We will begin to see those behemoth freighters gracing our horizons and, for some of us, our veritable front doorsteps. I know I am excited, so I am sure you are, too.

Winter lay-up across the water in Sarnia.

I have had a collection of freighters to view throughout the winter months, unfortunately, they have been the same ones, parked in the same spots, for the past several months. I am ready for new sights, freighters on the move, bow waves, and the sounds of those beloved salutes! Blessings on the men and women who sail these Great Lakes and may you have a safe and prosperous 2012 shipping season!

The 31st Annual Great Lakes Maritime Market will soon be here

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Kaye E. Barker heading downbound.

Saturday, June 9, from 9am to 3 pm is the 31st Annual Great Lakes Maritime Market at the Riverview Plaza in St Clair, MI; located just across the street from the scenic boardwalk  in downtown St Clair.

Sponsored by the Lake Huron Lore Marine Historical Society, this years event promises to be a gala affair.

Little boat sizing up the big boat

With more than 40 vendors offering various items that relate specifically to shipping and the shipping industry in this region, there is bound to something to please the boatnerd in anyone. From artifacts, books, and photographs to advertising memorabilia, shipwreck collectibles, and artwork this event covers a great expanse of Great Lakes Maritime history.

This market is held only once a

Big job for a little tug

year and is one of only a few of its kind held throughout the country. This is a rare opportunity to find that photo, artifact, or other collectible from the impressive Great Lakes shipping industry that you have been looking for.

CSL Assiniboine coated in ice

The sponsor, Lake Huron Lore, was organized in 1963 to further the collection and preservation of maritime history in our region for the benefit of future generations. It has numerous activities throughout the year for its members, as well as the public, to further their understanding and enjoyment of this subject. The Marine Gallery at the Port Huron Museum of Arts and History is the repository of its extensive artifact collection. Its

Miedwie downbound - Port of Registery - Nassau, Bahamas

newsletter and journal, The Lightship, is published six times a year.

For more information, or to reserve a table to display for sale your own collection, contact Lake Huron Lore at (586)725-6276 or by email at micheldr2005@yahoo.com.

Shipping Season has Officially Ended on the Great Lakes

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The Great Lakes in Winter, not a fit place for man or ship.

A few nights ago, on January 18, 2012, the 2011 Great Lakes shipping season officially came to a close with the closing of the Poe Lock in the Soo.  What does this really mean for the ship watchers and boatnerds of the Great Lakes?  It means there will be very few ships for the next 67 days. It does not mean there won’t be any ships at all.

The Soo Locks are an engineering masterpiece that require attention and maintenance to remain in good working order, and that is a very big, very cold, very dirty job. The US Army Corp of Engineers – Detroit District is responsible for the care and repair of the Locks, the channels, and the breakwaters of the St. Mary’s River, a vital part of the Great Lakes navigational system. This year the Saginaw was the last ship to clear the Locks before the midnight closing.

The Poe Lock is scheduled to reopen on March 25, 2012, weather permitting.  This will mark the beginning of the 2012 Great Lakes shipping season and the return of the regular traffic in our Great Lakes and their connecting waterways and tributaries. Is it March 25 yet?