The H. Lee White Makes an Appearance

When I do a post that says either "Catching up with ..." or "The ... makes an appearance".  It refers to a ship I haven't seen in a while (or perceived to haven't seen in a while).  In this case, the H. Lee White.

It has been over a year since I've seen the H. Lee White.  She was about on the same path.

I didn't catch where she was coming from but she was heading to Toledo.

That means that she would likely be carrying iron or stone.

I didn't catch where she ended up in Toledo though.

Anyway, I will use this picture as a reminder for you to get your tetanus booster.

She is one of the River class ships built in the 1980s when the shipping companies realized they needed smaller ships for some of the rivers that are on the Great Lakes.

Granted the Maumee is not one of those rivers (or at least at the mouth of the Maumee) as some thousand footers will layup at the CSX docks there.

Despite the rust, she's not a bad looking ship.

She approaches the Ambassador Bridge.

One of the towers.

I like this shot with the Westcott at her side.

The tower at the middle.

She continues past the Bridge.

The Westcott pulls away.

She continues down the river.  I wish I would have taken a picture with the Gordie Howe Bridge more in the backdrop.  When I last saw her, the Bridge was barely started.  Now it is almost complete.  Makes for a nice contrast.

Catching Up With the H. Lee White

 So I decided to go boatwatching again yesterday.  This time I decided to catch the ships in Detroit because that gave me a little more messing around time.

First up was the H. Lee White.

She used to belong to American Steamship but in a recent shake up, she was transferred to Lower Lakes.

She is a part of the River class which is a group of ships designed to navigate some of the windy rivers on the Great Lakes.

In particular, the Cuyahoga.

She is being greeted by the M.S. Westcott.

The M.S. Westcott was delivering mail.

And that's one of the reasons why I like coming down to Detroit.

She passes the Ambassador Bridge.

The M.S. Westcott casts off.

And comes back to her dock.

The White continues onto Conneaut, Ohio.

The Last Ship of the Day

 I had one more ship to catch.

I'm not sure where she was coming up from.

I think she was heading up to Calcite, which is one of the stone docks.

I wasn't in a great spot for different angles though.

But it wasn't too bad.

And then I went to my drone.

I love the blue of the water around here.

I love the wake.

The beam shot.

And then she passes by.

I started to take my drone higher.

And higher.

I like this angle.

I think I like this angle better.

And Then There Was the H. Lee White

 Again, it wasn't long for the next ship to pass.

The H. Lee White was heading up to Marquette.  I forget where she was coming from.

This is another ship that I haven't seen in a while.

Recently American Steamship was acquired by the company that owns Lower Lakes.  They have been in the process of repainting the stacks of the river ships.

I think these ships are going to be operated by the folks that run the American side of Lower Lakes.

I'm not sure about all the details but it is pretty contentious on the boards.  They think they are trying to break the union.

They also think they may get into a bidding war to drive down shipping prices and that might have an impact on some of the other companies.

I guess we'll see.

As you can see, her stack is now gray.

She continues on her way up.

One more shot.

And the H. Lee White

The next ship was about 15 minutes behind the Tecumseh.  It's not often when I see three ships in a row like that.

 Next up was the H. Lee White.

 She was on her way to Quebec.  That much I remember.

 I'm going to guess she was carrying stone.

 A shot of the flags flying from her forecastle.

And her pilothouse.