The Paul R. Tregurtha departed Duluth on Monday morning, December 26, 2011 after loading 64,000 tons of coal for her usual destination, the Detroit Edison power plant at St. Clair Michigan. A little over an hour later, the Lee A. Tregurtha (right) came in to get fuel and then load iron ore pellets at the CN dock in West Duluth. An hour before, the Alder was out in the harbor but there was not much ice to break. (Click each image for larger version)
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The Coast Guard cutter Mackinaw has been in the Twin Ports for a couple weeks for bow thruster repairs at the Fraser Shipyards. She is currently (Friday, December 16, 2011) moored at the DECC (above) but is expected to depart in the next couple days to begin another season of ice breaking on the Great Lake.
The US Coast Guard cutter Thunder Bay departed their home port in Rockland, Maine to come to the Great Lakes to assist in any ice breaking operations that may be needed. Bringing an east coast ship into the Great Lakes has been a Coast Guard tradition for some years, and provides them with an additional opportunity to cross train the crews and put the ship into a different environment, although the Thunder Bay is an ice breaking tug and is very good at that job. The 140-foot icebreaking tug was built to break ice; they use a low-pressure-air hull lubrication or bubbler system that forces air and water between the hull and ice. This system improves icebreaking capabilities by reducing resistance against the hull.
They arrived in Cleveland on December 12, 2011. Although currently based in Maine, she is named for the town of Thunder Bay, Michigan, on Lake Huron near Alpena.
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That is the Coast Guard cutter Biscayne Bay docked behind the DECC. Coincidently (??), the first ice of the season is just in front of her. I am entertaining captions for the picture. She has been here many times to help us fight the ice. Go to the Biscayne Bay page to see more pictures of her life and times while in Duluth Superior and a video from some years back.
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I know the weather is a little bad today but I wasn’t expecting to see the best ice breaker on the Great Lakes in town today (Saturday, November 26, 2011). The Canadian flagged Samuel Risley, usually here only when the ice is very bad, came to get a buoy that the Alder picked up for them. They are now docked behind the DECC, at least until Sunday and perhaps longer if the weather on the lake acts up, as is expected.
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