Today's look back into the archives, begins in 2001, when Jon Hopper made a visit to Escanaba and snapped a shot of the Sand Point Lighthouse, which is in Ludington Park on the northeast shore of Lake Michigan. The Delta County Historical Society has done a wonderful job of restoring this historic light.

Still in Escanaba, we head to the CN ore dock with Rod Burdick, where the Paul R Tregurtha is making an historic voyage in 2015. The freighter was there in port getting ready to transport the Steamer, St. Mary's Challenger's Pilothouse to the National Museum of the Great Lakes, in Toledo, Ohio. If you look closely at the bow of the Tregurtha, you can see the pilothouse just peeking out over the top. It actually looks like it belongs there, similar to some of the older freighters that had the pilothouse on the bow, rather than the stern.

Traveling north to Lake Superior and the Marquette Harbor, we join Danielle Adams at the LS&I ore dock in the Harbor. This shot was taken on Monday, when the Kaye E Barker was there in port to take on a load, with ice floes still surrounding her hull. Note the Pilothouse of the Barker... it's one of the older boats with it built on the bow, as I mentioned in the previous paragraph.

An interesting find for today's video, we get to go on board the Paul R Tregurtha for a tour of the passenger guest quarters, looking in the staterooms, the galley and a sitting area/parlor. There's one scene looking out the window on the stern of the boat, with the water churning while underway. All Aboard!

That photo of the Kaye Barker is beautiful!

That video is a real treat and brings back some great memories. In the same year the Paul R Tregurtha was made (1979), I worked aboard a different brand new vessel, the Canadian Enterprise (now Algoma Enterprise). I was on board for several days in order to repair the elevator which was also brand new. It was having problems due to vibration from the engines. The elevator controls were right next to the engines. I asked the Captain what caused the most vibration and his response was full forward to full reverse.

We were doing figure 8 maneuvers in the middle of Lake Ontario while they tested the steering gear and from the very bottom of the hull, I hollered "OK" up some stairs and they relayed the message to bridge. Pretty soon the vibration was so bad my teeth hurt and all my test equipment bounced across the floor and fell over into a pit.

Anyway, the accommodations were just like this video and the food was excellent. We even went through all the locks in the Welland Canal into Lake Erie. What a treat. I'd love to do it again.

Love the pic of the Kaye E. Barker + the Canadian Enterprise.

Such great pictures. And I loved the video so much.
I've seen so many of these ships arriving in and
departing from Duluth. It just never gets old.
Thanks for this.

Freighters never get old for me either. Can't wait to see the Kaye E.
Barker and the Paul R. Tregurtha in Marquette this summer. I
looked for them when I was UP on March 25th, but nary a freighter
was spotted.