• Monday-What'sUP April 14 - 04:43 am

With the winter storm we received at the end of last week, I'm hoping the freighters, like the Mesabi Miner, pictured here today by Rod Burdick, were safely docked or anchored in a safe bay somewhere. Rod took these shots at Marquette Harbor and believe it or not, the top photo and the bottom photo were taken only days apart. Quite a difference in the ice floating around the boat. You can still see a film of ice in the top photo, but the contrast goes to show you "the difference a day can make". The middle photo gives us a side view of the Mesabi, as she sits at the dock either waiting to unload her cargo or having already done so. It's good to see the big boats back on Lake Superior once again, ice or not.

Don't blink or the weather will change. That is so true. They were showing pictures of the ice breaker out in Duluth Harbor on the news today. Let's get on with spring and summer.

That does show spring is coming fast. So much of that storm has melted already.

Well, they say, "If you don't like the weather in Michigan, just wait a minute."

It's amazing how much ice that warm Lake Superior eroded from the rocky coast in that last storm. Must be all of a degree difference yet the ice slowly disappeared. Does the Mesabi Miner dock under only her power or does she need a tug to back in like that? How does one "practice" backing a thousand footer to parallel park it?

I don't think it matters when I see them, the boats remind me of home and childhood.

Richard, she has to back in on her own. No tug service in MQT

Wonderful pics of the "Miner"! Whenever I think of any of the Lake Superior regions, these lakers are my first thought!

As a boatnerd, the Mesabi Miner is my favorite of the footers. Did you know that back in the 70's Muriel Humphrey christened her? I prefer the classic lakers but I really like this one! Am looking forward to seeing her someday! Thanks for the pics!!!

Fair sailing to all and We are off to another boatwatching season..Sure hope the economy picks up some as the tonnage in 2007 was down slightly.

I should be parked at the "Hot Pond" watching her unload, eatting my Togo's sub and feeding the seagulls- Marquette, I'll be there one day again and movin in! My favorite City!

GO to:

((broken link))

to see a live view of Mesabi Miner.

pete kerr (Pcmak):

Well that link doesn't work.

But if you enter that link like this:
\newurl{http://www.ironbay.com/mqt-lighthouse.html, Marquette Lighthouse}

… then when you click on the [Post Message] button, it will become a clickable link,

… like this: Marquette Lighthouse

How long does it take for the 'Miner' to unload? She must carry many thousands of tons. Looks like she's unloading coal for the power plant there. You can see it falling into the conveyor hopper from the unloader boom. Notice the bottom pic, the bow is higher out of the water than the others.

A typical unload for a thousand footer is 8-10 hrs. but that can vary depending on what kind of cargo they are unloading and if they are unloading to a pile or a hopper which will take longer. Most 1000-footers are designed to carry 60 to 80 thousand tons but again it depends on the kind of cargo and where it's being delivered because of draft restrictions.

Awesome shots! I love these boats. Thanks for the pics Rod.

No kidding what a few days difference can make. The storm only dumped about 6 inches of snow here but the next day it was melting. I can imagine with the high winds the boats had to anchor out somewhere to take cover from the wind and waves.

The Mesabi Miner was also the last boat of the season in Marquette, but was scheduled to be the first this season but didn't make it. Glad to see that the boats are back! I love watching them.

I tried some time ago to post here; it didn't show up ... so, I'll do it again.
Seeing the picture of the ore boat brought up many memories and prompted me to dig into my old photos and post some information on the Wilfred Sykes on my AOL blog. You can see the information here:
http://journals.aol.com/lowis6535/UpperPeninsulaMIandbeyond/entries/2008/04/29/happy-birthday-...-son/1362