Living in Eagle River, E. Neil Harri can just look out his window and catch a freighter going by, but that’s not enough for him, no, he gets out over Lake Superior in his plane to capture them sailing by. Look how calm Superior is in these shots. The only ripples are from the large boat making a wake behind it. This is the American Spirit and Neil said it was downbound loaded heavy with iron ore. In his second shot, you can really see how low in the water she is and is just pushing the water ahead of her. Cool shots!

We found a video of the same boat, on the St. Mary’s River near Neebish Island, from 2015. Watching the video, you’ll see the difference in how high she’s riding, compared to how low in the water she is in Neil’s photos.

Whoa, what a difference between Neil's photos and the video!

Too bad the American Spirit's
(click →) Wikipedia: Plimsoll line (a.k.a. water line) isn't visible, so we could really see how close she is to the legal load limit.

P.S.: I'm not sure I'd want to see her that fully loaded and riding that low in a good storm!

The St Mary's River is a wonderful place to watch Lakers. I caught the Paul Tregurtha there one very foggy day.

For the boat nerds: are they loading heavy because of the high water levels? Trying to remember if 2015 was a 'low water' year which could explain some of the difference. Whatever the case, i agree a big storm would be a big problem.

jbuck,

Indeed the higher water levels allow for greater cargo loading creating a greater draft. But the increased water levels also create other issues that are costly, especially for the lower Great Lakes and St Lawrence River. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is under great pressure to lower the water levels by opening up the outflow gates. The higher water level increases erosion and upsets recreational boaters and homeowners with waterfront property. In shipping lanes directly downstream from locks and dams this increase in water flow makes maneuvering dangerous for the large boats in the narrow areas. So much so that shipping can sometimes be halted for several days or weeks.

So in the areas like where your picture was taken in the St Mary's River the higher water levels actually make it more difficult? Have they stopped the shipping there so far this year?

With Superior so high i'm really concerned about a late Autumn storm damaging Crisp Point Lighthouse. The gales of November aren't that far off!

I don't think they are trying to or thinking about lowering the level of Superior. If anything they might be doing the opposite in order to help protect the lower lake levels. The real problems this year are in Erie and Ontario. While Superior is about 1 foot above average, Erie has been 2 feet high and Ontario almost 3 feet high. People think of Niagara Falls as the last big drop in lake levels between Erie and Ontario but Ontario is still about 240 feet above see level. There are 7 more sets of locks and dams on the St. Lawrence River. It is along these that water management has been focused. Accelerating the lowering of Lake Ontario does affect the Lake Superior area from the aspect that temporarily closing the shipping there does slow down the Saltys that need to get to Duluth.