Propeller installed on Mark W. Barker
The controllable pitch propeller has been installed on our 639-foot Great Lakes freighter being built at Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding. The massive four-blade propeller has a diameter of 18 feet and can make 120 revolutions per minute (RPM). Made of nickel, aluminum and bronze, the propeller weighs 13.4 tons.
Interlake Steamship Co
Scrap tow nears for veteran Mississagi
Sarnia, ON – The tug Pride was employed Tuesday to paint yellow towing stripes on the bow of Mississagi, laid up at Sarnia, ON. A tow to Sault Ste. Marie, ON, and the Purvis Marine scrapyard could happen as early as this weekend. The stripes allow the tug crew to see if the tow is taking on water or developing a list.
Mike Cunningham
Lake Superior below the seasonal long-term average first time since April 2014
Thunder Bay, ON – Lake Superior and Lake Michigan-Huron have both continued their seasonal declines in September. As a result of the drier than average conditions, water levels on Lake Superior have gone below the seasonal long-term average for the first time since April 2014. Lake Michigan-Huron water levels have declined significantly from the record-high levels observed in recent years, but water levels remain above the seasonal long-term average. Lake Superior outflows continue to be set in consideration of water levels upstream and downstream.
The Board expects the total outflow to be 2,030 m3/s (74.5 tcfs) in October, which is as prescribed by Lake Superior Regulation Plan 2012. The gate setting at the Compensating Works will be maintained at the setting equivalent to one-half gate open (Gates #7 through #10 partially open 20 cm). There will be no change to the setting of Gate #1, which supplies a flow of about 15 m3/s to the channel north of the Fishery Remedial Dike.
Lake Superior News
Great Lakes museum donations top $200K at gala
Toledo, OH – Despite sluggish early ticket sales for its primary fund-raising raffle, the National Museum of the Great Lakes raised over $200,000 for a second straight year during its annual H2Oh! gala and related events.
A museum statement announcing the fund drive’s outcome didn’t say how many tickets ended up being sold for its Luck of the Lakes raffle, for which two grand prizes were offered: an 11-day Great Ljakes cruise or admission to next year’s scheduled christening of a new lake freighter as a guest of the Interlake Steamship Co.
But the last two years’ fund-raising proceeds both exceeded the pre-pandemic results of $170,000 in 2019 and $167,000 the year before. Besides the raffle, admissions to the Sept. 25 gala dinner held in the atrium at ProMedica’s Steam Plant headquarters benefitted the museum, as did a silent auction that raised $20,000.
The holder of the first winning Luck of the Lakes ticket chose the cruise, while the ship-christening event and related tours was awarded as second prize. A third-prize winner received a day trip visit to the J.W. Westcott mailboat in Detroit.
Toledo Blade
