Edward L. Ryerson

It is official now. The Ryerson has arrived in Duluth for layup. She passed up the St. Marys River on Saturday, May 16, and won't be seen again 'until things improve.'

The was in the Duluth News today.

Morning: James R. Barker departing with coal; Canadian Transport arriving to load coal

Afternoon: Canadian Transport departing with coal; Edward L. Ryerson arriving for layup

Shipping Industry

I had to be the bearer of such bad news about the shipping industry so I won't quote the statistics but simply give you a link for the latest data. Recession Hits Great Lakes Hard from the Journal of Commerce will fill you in on the current state of Great Lakes Shipping.

If you're not up to that news, the good news is that we are moving Up North on May 28th and then I will be posting reports on what I'm seeing on the St. Marys River.

I'm also going to try Twitter with SooBoatWatcher and do updates on boat sightings through there.

Edward L. Ryerson

Latest news coming through Facebook and the web is that the Edward L. Ryerson, the favorite boat of many boat watchers, is headed to lay-up.

I'll bring more news as soon as I have it.

Soo Locks Web Cam

As you may have noticed, the Soo Locks web cams are not operating. I asked my helpful sister-in-law at the Sault Visitors and Convention Bureau what was going on. This is what she said,

"Now the Soo Locks webcam has had a upgrade and when they do that they have to wait until the government gives them permission and we know how long it takes the government to do anything all I can say is I keep calling Detroit Army Corp and get the same answer."

So that is the scoop there. It may be a while before we can watch shipping. But once I get to the Soo on May 29 I will begin twittering the ships as well as posting on my blogs. Can't wait.

Fuel Spill in St. Marys River

The latest news coming out of the St. Marys River tells that there was a 50 gallon diesel fuel spill that the Coast Guard is monitoring. Have any of you seen any evidence of this or have any more news?

COAST GUARD INVESTIGATING POSSIBLE FUEL SPILL IN UPPER PENINSULA RIVER
The U.S. Coast Guard is still waiting on lab results to find out what was
floating down an Upper Peninsula river, but they think it could be diesel
fuel.  The possible fuel spill happened in Sault Ste. Marie and floated
down the St. Mary's River and Power Canal.  They believe it could be about
50 gallons of diesel fuel.  Right now, the spill is not a major threat.
Guardsmen say the source of the leak has been contained near a ferry
docked in Sault Ste. Marie Ontario.  If you see any sheen in the water,
stay away from it and let the Coast Guard know.

Today at the Locks-Burns Harbor

This is the Burns Harbor at the Locks today.



My sister-in-law Linda sent me these pics today that she took at the Locks on her phone. It is just to make me excited to get up there in a few short weeks.

Victoria

The boatnerd web site reported today the Victoria, a German-owned cargo ship, was hijacked by pirates in the Gulf of Aden. There is no report at this time on the condition of the Victoria's crew. You can read a detailed report at Sea-Jacking of German-owned Victoria.

The Victoria has sailed on the Great Lakes as late as June 2008. I checked my boat sighting record and the last time I saw the Victoria in the St. Marys River was June of 2007. Finally, I found a use for my boat sighting log!

This brings another thought to my mind. Do any of you keep detailed records of the ships you see? If you do, how to you maintain them? It has been a great source of discussion in our family. We live on the St. Marys River for several months every year. We see many ships pass daily and I keep a log of every ship that passes and whether it was upbound or downbound and any interesting information about the sighting. There is no real reason to do that but I just enjoy it so I have continued it for the past 10 years.

At first, I kept the records in a notebook but in 2007 I began keeping a spreadsheet on the computer. This made it very easy to find the Victoria by just entering her name in Find and it immediately took me to June 2007. I didn't have to pore over pages of boat lists.

I would love to hear about your compulsions (as my family calls it) or hobbies and interests (that I call it) that you keep records for. I feel like I come from a long line of record keepers. I remember my grandfather writing down the weather data every day when it was aired on WSOO radio at noon. We had to be very quiet so he could get the data.

Last year when my grandmother moved to a nursing home, I found diaries in her house for the past 40 years. Everyday she wrote about the weather-just a short note as well as interesting things about what she did that day. All winter it was usually snow and the temperature which was often below zero.


This photo was taken while the grandkids were visiting (note the cartoons) but shows my computer ready and waiting for a boat sighting.