Ship Hunting on the Detroit River

On my fly-out this past Sunday, I had the good fortune to spot several ships in the Detroit River.

Here at the Windsor docks is the Mississagi, Built in 1943 for US Steel, she sailed the Great Lakes for almost 60 years as the George A. Sloan.

She was sold to the Canadian firm, Lower Lakes Towing in 2001 and re-christened and repainted. Paint job kinda looks like hell now, though.

But she's still plying the lakes, one of the few remaining steamships left out of a fleet that once numbered in the hundreds. Long may she sail.

Next, we have this Interlakes steamship downbound.

It's the Herbert C Jackson, another one of the endangered steamships. Built in 1959, she's 690 feet long, making her Interlakes' smallest bulk carrier.

Still a sweetie though, ain't she?

And we've seen her before. This is the Laker that we flew over on Thursday when she was up-bound north of Drummond Island.

Here's two more on the Canadian side of the river.

This is the Canadian-flagged Salarium, formerly the Nanticoke. She's a 730-foot self-unloading bulk carrier. Built in 1980, she's diesel powered.

And this one is the Federal EMS, a 600-foot bulk carrier out of Limassol, Cyprus.

She's empty, based on the amount of exposed hull. Ballast has apparently been pumped overboard as well and she's riding high. But she appears to be ready to take on a load of something as she approaches the dock with her rear hatch covers opening.

I do love the old lake steamships. Once there were hundreds. Now there's just a couple dozen of the old steamers left, and a couple dozen more that have been converted to diesels. Their day is almost past. But a few of us still appreciate them and we'll miss them when they're gone.