Introduction - Sept. 16, 2007

Inspired by my friend Marie-Anne's blog on her shipspotting expeditions (http://shipsantwerp.blogspot.com), I will attempt to do the same although my shipspotting trips will be far fewer than hers since I live in a landlocked location and have to drive 120 miles to Lake Erie and 4 hours to Port Huron, Michigan, an excellent location to watch and photo the ships passing between the two North American Great Lakes, Lake Huron and Lake Erie. Also, it is 620 miles to Norfolk, Virginia and the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, my favorite spot on the east coast of North American to photo ships.

The Old Grouch in his favored position at the bow of a Great Lakes Excursion Vessel

I consider the Saint Lawrence Seaway and the St. Lawrence River an extension of the Great Lakes and often am able to photograph on those bodies of water during the summer months since I have inherited the family summer cottage on Lake Memphremagog (hence the name Magogman) in northern Vermont quite literally 100 yards from the Canadian border.

I seldom get to my summer cottage on Lake Memphremagog in the fall but when I do it is spectacular. All of the mountain across the lake is in Canada,

Newport is at the south end of the lake; Magog, Quebec is on the north end of the lake; Interstate 91 crosses the Canadian border about 7 miles east of there. I am originally from that area, and spent every summer of my childhood on the lake and most of the summers of my adult life. It is "home".

Magogman and Friend at in Magogman's preferred habitat, Port Huron, Michigan with a ship, Federal Rideau, from one of Magogman's preferred fleets

Because of that connection I follow the St. Lawrence River and Seaway closely and feel that the several photographers who photograph on that river system on shipspotting.com kindred spirits. After all, Lake Memphremagog drains into the St. Lawrence via the Magog and St. Francis Rivers.

Magogman loves containers regardless of mode of transportation or location!

I have posted about 1,200 photos of ships at www.shipspotting.com under the name of Magogman and refer any ship lover to that site which has hundreds of thousands of ship photos.

Magogman loves HO scale model containers!

I love the site and if I can I will spend a few hours a day looking at photos and downloading photos into a variety of private files.

Sunset on Chesapeake Bay

However, I have serious disagreements with this site as over 100 of my photos have been deleted after I posted them as they do not fit the preordained criteria of acceptance, namely detail photos which show great detail but not the whole ship, and creative, aesthetic type photos -- they are really missing the boat here!!!!!!!!

I love to take "detail" shots!

I follow bulkers and especially container shipping closely and especially like the containers themselves as they are often quite colorful. While I enjoy most shipping companies I especially like Fednav and Canfornav of Canada as I see their ships frequently in the Great Lakes during the navigation season. It also stands to reason that I like and follow the Great Lakes bulkers called "lakers" although most have been retired and scrapped and there are just a handful operating now, and most have rather unaesthetic self unloading booms installed.

I love the vintage "lakers" on the Great Lakes

Every year we lose one or two or more lakers -- most are cut down to barges and operate with a tugboat, a rather poor substitute for photography.

I enjoy photographing the crews whether or not they are working!

I also enjoy photographing "work boats", especially on the Great Lakes. These are tugboats, fish boats, anything that "works". There are many neat and obscure boats in this categories.

Sun setting into Lake Erie from Lorain, Ohio

Of the container lines, MSC, CSCL, Evergreen, Hamburg Sud, Maersk and so on are the lines I like to follow.

Sandusky, Ohio is always worth a stop!

I also enjoy the "fallen flags" such as Canadian Pacific, Cunard, United States Lines and so on. I was fortunate to see at least a few of the grand old liners in New York City as when on summer trips before Interstate highways my mother would drive right along the piers in New York City on the elevated highways that went right along the piers. Many many memories there that are very precious to me.

I also enjoy the World War II years of the U.S. Navy. All types of ships. The New Jersey class battleships are favorites as the day Japan signed the surrender treaty on September 2, 1945 was the day I was born. Also love the WWII carriers not to mention cruisers and destroyers.

Dawn Patrol: Return to Norfolk at sunrise

As an aside on the U.S. Navy, in late May at the CBBT (Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel) in Virginia Beach I saw three aircraft carriers in 3 days come or go to Norfolk, the Enterprise, Harry S. Truman, and Dwight D. Eisnhower. That must be a really rare occurrence.

There is no bigger moment for a member of the Armed Forces than when they return home from war

I also like lighthouses but do not pursue them they way I do ships. One lighthouse organization on the Great Lakes often sponsors boat excursions which are a good way of seeing Great Lakes shipping.

I enjoy both ships and lighthouses

While not related to shipping my military experience is most important to me. Commissioned a Second Lieutenant upon graduation from the University of Colorado in 1968, I spent two years on active duty in Germany (Stuttgart area). I had extended a year beyond my two year obligation to get a tour in Germany as I did not want to go to Viet Nam as a 2Lt. as they are very dangerous and I did not want to spend any time at Army bases in the United States. Given that the Viet Nam war was raging I could not avoid a tour there and in late August/early September, 1970 rotated to Viet Nam as a Captain and was assigned to the 101st Airborne Division, the famed "Screaming Eagles".

The "Screaming Eagles", 101st Airborne Division

We were stationed in the northern part of Viet Nam, generally west of the city of Hue, and up into the mountains to the Laos border and north almost to the DMZ and south towards DaNang. It was "Indian Country" and we were engaged with the uniformed North Vietnamese Army -- never saw the Viet Cong the entire year. It was quite an experience, one that I remember virtually every day. That war was a total waste of lives and resources but I shall never forget the commaradarie I experienced, as well as running a maintenance company and the numerous days spent in the field on firebases. At least I returned alive, more or less in one piece, and with a bronze star on my chest among other awards. I stayed in the Reserves for several years to help fund graduate school and to supplement my meager professor's salary and finally left as a major when both the Army and the Reserves started to become a major hassle. Glad I got out --I want nothing to do with the current debacle in Iraq and indeed predicted exactly what was going to happen.

Wars are started by old politicians and invariably fought mostly by young people. Regardless of politics and politicians our young people who sail in harm's way deserve our wholehearted support for their sacrifice. If they are sent to war, our troops deserve to be able to kick ass and take names without one arm tied around their back.

Enough said.

I love the Great Northern Railway and model it in HO scale. This is a model of an iron ore unloading dock in Duluth, Minnesota

This is my blog.

Some of my HO scale Great Northern steam locomotives with one of the 3 Great Northern books I have authored in the background

I hope you enjoy it!