Sault’s “Uber boatnerd” Mason Harris turned six years old on Thursday
Know Your Ships? “Well, you should,” birthday boy Mason Charles Harris said, holding a toy freighter with his name written all over it in gold letters.
Mason’s birthday wish is to become a boat captain one day.
Interlake Steamship Company coined Mason, “one of the biggest & littlest fans of Great Lakes shipping” when he was just four years old. Today, he turns six and enjoys a James R. Barker vanilla birthday cake.
“James R. Barker is my favorite freighter,” he said. “It gives me master salutes.”
Mason even knows all about its captain, Capt. Brad Newland, whom he called a friend.
“It is 1004 feet, and Captain Brad always waves,” Mason said. “Mom follows him on Facebook.”
Mason only hopes for more Great Lakes freighter toys and books on his sixth birthday, such as those from his favorite series, Know Your Ships, written by local author Roger LeLievre.
“He is an uber Boatnerd,” LeLeivre said about one of the littlest, biggest freighter fans he knows in the Sault.
Mason also wants an iPad, since his fell into the water while shooting pictures of ships.
“His whole day revolves around boats,” Mason’s mother, Lori Mason, added. “We always go up on the Soo Locks Visitor’s Deck. He likes going into the Soo Locks Visitor’s Center to play. We go to Valley Camp, and up on the Tower of History (Sault Historic Sites). He watches the boats from the top of the tower. We have to go catch freighters every day. He has friends at Rotary Park: Jordan, Carson, and Mr. Don. They take pictures of the freighters. We even go out there in the winter, March, when the Soo Locks open. I have pictures of him waving in snow and ice.”
The other day, he spent the night at Grandma JoAnn Mason’s house.
“Mason woke her up at 4 a.m. to go see the Mark W. Barker,” Lori said, giggling. “He has the MarineTraffic app, and saw it coming.”
Mason was named after his grandfather, Vietnam Veteran Charles Mason, who worked for the U.S. Corps of Engineers as a Soo Lock and dam operator for approximately 30 years. He retired in 2009 and passed away on Sept. 23, 2016.
Mason also has two cousins aboard the Mesabi Miner, Sissy and Gary Payment.
“I love my cousins,” he said. “Sissy cooks and Gary works on the unloading boom.”
But Mason said his love for ships on the Great Lakes was inspired by early memories aboard Famous Soo Locks Boat Tours aka “The yellow ones.”
“He was either two or three at the time,” Lori said.
Mason is also a big fan of Original Soo Locks Boat Tours aka “The white ones” because its fleet was recently acquired by Interlake Maritime Services.
Both yellow and white tour boats carry out narrated cruises along the St. Marys River through the Soo Locks.
But Mason mainly wanted to talk about the James R. Barker, referencing a fire that occurred in its engine room in 1987.
Eventually, he moved into conversation about the 858-foot Roger Blough, built in 1972 by American Ship Building Company in Lorain, Ohio. The ship is owned by Great Lakes Fleet.
During winter layup on February 1, 2021, a fire broke out at Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding in Sturgeon Bay, WI. More than one year later, the Blough was towed to Conneaut, OH. Mason was unsure as to whether or not it had been scrapped yet.
Lori pulled a credit card out of her purse. The card had a freighter printed on the front of it.
“That is the Hon. Paul J. Martin,” he said at a glance, wanting to talk about Paul R. Tregurtha instead. “The Paul R. Tregurtha is the largest freighter on the lakes at 1,013 feet, 6 inches.”
“How does he know this?” Lori asked, rhetorically. “He can name all of them. He is so smart. In preschool, they had a boat week just for him. They made a big cardboard boat toward the end of the year.”
Ms. Amie Lawson was his Sault Tribe Head Start teacher that year.
Mason just finished up kindergarten, and is excited to start first grade. This school year, he just hopes to meet like-minded friends, whose lives also revolve around the ships of the Great Lakes.
Happy sixth birthday, Mason Charles Harris!
Four new methanol-ready vessels to be built to ABS class for Algoma
Algoma Central Corporation (Algoma) has ordered two, methanol-ready, 37,000-DWT, ice class product tanker vessels to be built to ABS Class. This CAN$127m investment followed an order for two, new, 72,250-DWT, methanol-ready, Kamsarmax-based ocean belt self-unloading vessels that will also be built to ABS Class from Algoma.
The new product tankers will be entered on long-term time charters under Canadian flag, trading primarily from Saint John, New Brunswick, with deliveries to ports in Atlantic Canada and the U.S. East Coast.
The methanol-ready Kamsarmax vessels will support Algoma’s decarbonization efforts with the new ships designed to exceed EEDI Level III requirements and to include Tier 3 engines. The vessels are expected to be 40 percent more efficient than the ships they will replace, owing to a combination of fuel efficiency and optimized cargo lift.
“ABS is proud to help Algoma modernize their fleets and support their sustainability strategy. Methanol is a promising fuel source to reduce shipping emissions, and these vessels will be ready to adopt this as bunkering infrastructure matures,” said John McDonald, ABS President and Chief Operating Officer.
“These vessels have been designed with safety and optimization at the top of mind and will be a model for the next generation of vessels. ABS has worked with Algoma for over 25 years providing technical expertise and services to help us achieve quality vessel performance, and we look forward to continuing to work together to maximize safety and accelerate efficiency,” said Gregg Ruhl, President and CEO of Algoma.
Source: ABS
Boat crew responsible for saving man after Ambassador Bridge fall saves another man over the weekend
DETROIT (WXYZ) — A crew of boaters typically known for helping to deliver mail to mariners on the Detroit River is being hailed as heroes once again after helping to save a fisherman over the weekend.
The J.W. Westcott has been delivering mail and other items to mariners crossing the Detroit River since 1874.
Because a boat captain and deckhand are on the boat for 24 hours per day, seven days a week for around 250 days each year, they say they often are the first to see when boaters or swimmers get into trouble on the water.
On July 12, the crew on board the vessel helped to save a worker who fell off the Ambassador Bridge. Surveillance video captured bystanders banging on the office door of J.W. Westcott to alert the crew that someone had fallen 150 feet into the river. The crew immediately jumped into action, getting to the critically injured worker within two minutes and pulling him to safety.
“Usually, it’s something that happens spur of the moment. We usually train with man overboard drills,” Capt. James Hogan of the rescue said.
Hogan says while it’s not a part of their job description, many people may be surprised to learn how often the crew helps pull straggling swimmers or boaters to safety on the river.
The crew says tools that are meant to be used in case of an emergency with one of their crew members like life jackets, life preservers and a tool called “Jacob’s Cradle” come in handy when disaster strikes for others on the river.
“Every now and then, you’ll get dogs in the water, bodies that just kind of float up, sadly, and, you know, other people that have had unfortunate accidents happen,” Hogan said.
Hogan says last Tuesday, the crew was able to help the Detroit Fire Department pull a floating body from the water. Then this past weekend, the crew pulled a fisherman to safety after he went overboard.
The crew says although they’re not expected to take the place of first responders, they’re happy to lend a helping hand.
“You just start to notice things in the water and you’re like that’s not normal. You go to check it out because sometimes it isn’t. Just like the head of a person that’s trying to keep afloat,” Hogan said. “We do what we can with what we got.”
