July 14, more Welland Canal Shipspotting

(these entries appear as the most recent first so for previous entries and the introduction you need to scroll down)

The morning of July 14, 2007 dawns bright and sunny at Port Colborne, Ontario at the Lake Erie entrance to the Welland Canal. We are by the water early in the morning. The LaFarge cement carrier English River, imo 5108342. built 1961, is docked receiving provisions/groceries. It then waits for the BBC Plata which is locking through Lock 8 upbound.

This is a great photo location with lift bridges and excellent angles and you can get so close to the ships you can literally touch them but I suspect the fences will be in before the year is out. We saw the BBC Plata, imo 9291975, two days ago at the Lower Barnharnois Locks, upbound with wind turbine blades.

After the two ships meet and go their respective ways we wait for the BBC Mississippi, imo 9347061, which is downbound. This is both a new ship for me and the third BBC ship seen in two days at the Welland Canal.

Lots of tugboats, work boats, law enforcement, etc docked at Port Colborne and their is a ship yard actively scrapping ships. At least the jobs are being kept in Canada.

My friend Michel shows up. We go looking for the Algontario, imo 5301980, upbound. Chase all over for it on back roads following Michel. We just miss it at one point. Michel heads to the lower canal and I go back to Port Colborne wait for it to arrrive at Lock 8. The Algontario is a self unloading bulk laker of the Algoma Central fleet and is a common ship in the Great Lakes.

The pilot boat, a brand new one, goes out for the downbound salty Carola, imo 9214173. It was built in 2000 and is one of the smaller general cargo ships so prevalent now. I prefer the old salt water vessels to these modern creations. Painted a light gray with maroon deck and hatch covers with 2 yellow booms, it is not a photographically attractive ship. It is, however, a new saltie for me. Photograph it coming under the lift bridge and into Lock 8.

I now move down to the lower end of the Welland Canal. Very dark clouds and rain roll in. Below Lock 2 I find the Voyageur Pioneer, imo 8119285, a large bulker comfortable in both salt water and the Great Lakes. Recently purchased by Lower Lakes Towing, the large bulker has a bright blue hull and white superstructure. Attractive even in the rain. This is my first sighting of this vessel.

Becomes even darker and rainier. St. Marys Cement II is waiting below Lock 3.

At Lock 2 we find the Montrealais, imo 5241142, one of our favorite ships and a "straightdecker" meaning it is a traditional laker with no self unloading equipment. Owed by the Upper Lakes Group. Get it again from the elevated visitors' gallery at Lock 3.

Photo the Carola again downbound at Lock 4 where it meets the Montrealais.

Back to Lock 2 where it looks like a large yacht is going to lock through upbound. It stays there for quite a while -- I guess it is doing the paperwork and paying the fees for the canal transit.
A brief glimpse of sun provides a nice photo op for the derelict and rather large ferry Nicdawayma which is enroute by tow upbound to Thunder Bay on Lake Superior supposedly to be cut down to a barge. It has had a varied life in both Canada and Europe.

Well after dark attempt to photo with some passable results the luxury yacht Katrion upbound. It is dark and wet and no sense in doing anything else - the canal is about empty of ships.

Head back to Port Colborne and the Seaway Motel.

July 13, 2007 Welland Canal shipspotting

After taking an hour or so to get by Toronto during the morning rush hour, made worse by the usual construction, we got on the Queen Elizabeth Expressway headed south to the Welland Canal and arrived there about 8:30am on Friday the 13th which was to prove quite lucky rather than bringing back luck!

For those not familiar with the Welland Canal it provides a navigable connection over the Niagara Escarpment (which creates the nearby Niagara Falls) connecting the great lakes of Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. There are a total of 7 locks and 3 of them are connected in a stair step fashion. There is excellent access to the ships transiting the canal although fences are rapidly being installed. A visitor's area is at Lock 3.

Having just missed the Federal Mantane, which I had not seen before, here are the ships I photographed. At this time I have just started this blog and am not posting photos yet - you can see them on www.shipspotting.com under the name of Magogman.

Pochard, imo 9262534, an upbound saltie chartered by the Canadian firm Canfornav (Canadian Forest Navigation). All of their ships are charters and almost all are named after ducks! This was my first siting of this ship!

Algorail, imo 6805531, a self unloading Great Lakes bulker owned by Algoma Central Corp.

Federal Polaris, imo 8321929, downbound, a saltie from Fednav, Federal Navigation of Montreal.

Frontenac, imo 6804848, a Great Lakes self unloading bulker from Canadian Steamship Lines, upbound. Spend a lot of time following this ship up the locks and got some excellent photos of it.

Also the tug Reliance with it barge PML 9000 -- Purvis Marine from Sault Ste Marie, Ontario.

Another Fednav ship, Federal Yoshino, 9218416, built 2001. It was downbound.

This has really turned into an excellent day for photographing ships!

Catherine Desgagnes, 5133979, from the Transport Desgagnes fleet of Quebec City, a neat operation with several smaller ships, including tankers, that operates in the St. Lawrence, Great Lakes, and especially resupplying towns in the Canadian arctic and subarctic on Canada's east coast. Almost all of their ships are named after femaile members of the Desgagnes fleet.

Late in the evening is the downbound BBC Australia,imo, 9331593, a typical blue-hulled small general cargo ship similar to most BBC ships. We see it about sunset above Lock 7 in the company of two shipspotting friends who are prolific contributors to www.shipspotting.com, Michel and Vedran. Both are outstanding photographers. I had met Michel the year before but not Vedran. We had an excellent time talking, telling stories, and especially venting about shipspotting.

One last ship: Liquid Blue, imo 9359600, recently sold and renamed from Brovig Ocean. A nice tanker, upbound. It is completely dark but I watch it lock up in Lock 3 from the visitors' gallery and take several photos, most of which are decent -- the fences came in handy as a place to lean the camera on when taking low speed exposures.

By this time it was dark and I needed to find a motel. Drove to Port Colborne, Ontario at the Lake Erie end of the Welland Canal and after a little searching found a reasonably cheap, by Canadian standards, motel at the edge of town. The Seaway Motel if I remember correctly. I was quite late by this time, I was really tired due to little sleep the night before, and I needed to get up early on Saturday so I unpacked what I needed from the car, downloaded the photos from the last two days onto my laptop and went to bed.

A great day of ship photography!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

July 12, 2007, Lower Barnharnois Lock, Quebec

I had been at my summer cottage for a very short visit and had to head back to Ohio as my wife was soon going to have the first of two knee replacement surgeries. Being of sound and devious mind, I had reserved a few days to travel back via Canada, the St. Lawrence Seaway and the famous Welland Canal, a shipwatcher's paradise.

View from my summer cottage on Lake Memphremagog

I got a very late start from my cottage as I essentially had to close it up for the winter in case I didn't get back during the summer, and the need to gas up and get some road food at Derby Line, Vermont, cross the border at Stanstead, Quebec and get some groceries at a grocery store just before the interstate. Then it was a rush towards Montreal, bypassing the city by following the St. Lawrence Seaway.

Canadian & U.S. Customs

I arrived at the Barnharnois Locks west of Montreal in very late afternoon with beautiful sun that I love so much. Off in the distance the BBC Plata (imo 9291975) was coming across the lake from the east with Montreal in the background. It was carrying wind turbine blades, etc and would be the first of several BBC ships I would see this summer. Watched the "saltie" lock up at the Lower Barnharnois Lock which is accessible although a high fence blocks a lot of good views.
The Upper Barnharnois Lock does not seem to be accessible to the public.

BBC Plata approaches Lower Barnharnois Lock

BBC Plata moves out of the lower lock

The second and last ship I saw was the downbound CSL Assiniboine (imo 7413218) a bulker owned by the Canadian Steamship Lines, one of the more prominent lines on the Great Lakes and one I enjoy following.

Bow of CSL Assiniboine below the lock

They also have a salt water fleet as well. The CSL Assiniboine left the lock downbound and towards Montreal during a beautiful sunset and we watched it for some time.

Here is the other end!

CSL Assiniboine heads to Montreal in the dusk

As it was now getting dark, we packed up the cameras and headed down the road eventually getting to route 401 and headed west into Ontario. We drove until 2am and pulled over at a rest area to get a few hours sleep and get around Toronto before rush hour. Normally we can only sleep in the car for two hours at a time but I was out for 4 hours and woke up at 6am. I got a cup of tea at the always present in Canada Tim Horton's and headed towards Toronto -- managed to get there just when rush hour started!

Sunset on the Seaway

Afterglow after the sunset

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!