Duluth Ship Watching at its Best! 4 For 1 (+) Ships and Loads of History

I hear you guys like ships lol. Found some! Probably one of the best evenings for ship watching I’ve ever had! Video’s a bit lengthy, and if need be I can put out a shorter version, but as it stands I’m taking the risk because it’s too good not to share!

Four featured ships through the Canal: Baie Comeau, Alpena, Sundew and Walter J McCarthy Jr. In the background anchor are Algoma Sault, American Century, and Mesabi Miner. Vista Star made her way across the lake during all this as well. In the harbor (seen briefly a few times) is the BBC Challenger and seen further out departing Superior was Stewart J Cort. Plus some sailboats and smaller traffic.

The 10 notable vessels listed above seen in this video have a combined length of 6,745ft (a mile is 5,280), and a combined age of 421 years old. The 1000ft Burns Harbor was also tucked away in the harbor but is not shown here. You can also sort of see Michipicoten and Edward L Ryerson in Fraser Shipyards as I pan from Alpena to McCarthy late in the video, but they’re only partially visible in a blur for less than 2 seconds so won’t count them.

A bit about the main ships featured!

Baie Comeau: 740ft long, built in 2013 in China, she’s one of the newer lakers. She hauled in salt and left with iron ore pellets, bound for Quebec City. She overwintered here in Duluth this year, the first 21st Century laker ever to do so. Her name translates to “Como Bay” and is named after a bay and port on the St Lawrence Seaway in Quebec.

Alpena: 519ft long, built in 1942, the world’s oldest in-operation steam powered freighter making a surprise visit just 2 weeks after her last appearance! Usually it’s a year or more between visits, and this is her third in total this season. She arrived from Alpena MI hauling cement. She was originally built as an iron ore ship but was cut apart, shortened by 120ft to her current size and refitted to a self unloading cement hauler in 1989.


Sundew: While smaller than the others, this one has a lot of stories! The 180ft, 80 year old retired Coast Guard Cutter turned Museum ship, turned Private Yacht making an unscheduled and completely unanticipated appearance! Had no clue she was even sailing until she just randomly appeared along the lake shore, paralleling McCarthy. The ship has a long and storied past, including service in WW2, 60 years of Coast Guard service and rescuing the only two crew members to survive the sinking of the laker Carl D Bradley in 1958. Because her movements are extremely unpredictable this was only my third time seeing her in the Canal, just a short time after seeing her the second time, so I feel pretty lucky!

Last but not least the Walter J McCarthy Jr: The 1,000ft super laker built in 1977 arriving empty to load iron ore. While she wasn’t the longest when built (by only 4ft), she had and still has the highest carrying capacity on the Lakes (a title shared now with her 4 sisters). Fully loaded the vessel weights over 220 million pounds. The ship made headlines in 2008 after she punched a large hole in her hull and ‘sank’ here in Duluth Harbor. Fortunately the harbor wasn’t deep enough for her to fully sink under water but she sat on the bottom for quite some time before she was salvaged and repaired.

Also added to the scene was a bit of a mystery: the Algoma Sault, seen in the distance here, was loading in Two Harbors 30 miles up the shore, stopped for unknown reasons, sailed to Duluth, sat at anchor for about a day and a half, then went back to Two Harbors to keep loading. Nobody knows exactly why that I’ve talked to!

As for the rest of the ships, sadly I’m running out of room to type but they all have interesting stories and histories as well. Not the mention the very long history of the lift bridge itself. Almost too much action in this one! Hope you all enjoy!!

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