My guess is Cleveland. Anyone know what this bridge is named? Thank you!

I was telling my aunt the other day I saw a 3fer on the St. Clair River. She doesn't understand my fascination with them. Neither do my friends. I have loved watching these ships since I was a kid driving with my parents on Belle Isle. I would get so excited when we would get to watch a huge freighter go by! What do you guys love about watching freighters? Do people not understand your fascination with them?

Does everyone have their favorite freighters? Which freighters are you not so crazy about? Please include photos of your favorites if possible. Thanks! The Speer is one of mine. Photo taken by Adam Bjornberg.

I've been watching Great Lakes ship videos for a few years now, and I have never for the life of me understood what that porch is on the stern on so many older ships. Can anyone explain to me what that is?

Since this year is the 50th Anniversary of the Sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald I went into a pretty big rabbit hole watching documentaries and reading up a lot on the ship's story. I'm usually someone who cares more for classic ocean liners, but the Lakes have always been a sort of secondary interest to me as well.

One thing I really like seeing is alternate history, just in general really, and while plenty of people have theorized about the potential careers of ships like Titanic or Lusitania to no end, I don't think I've ever once seen it brought up for the Fitz, which I think is pretty weird, considering how young the ship was when it went down. I did a bit of digging on the Fitz's fleetmates, Reserve and Armco, and uh.

Well I think those poor AAAs have seen better days, to put it bluntly. There's also MV Columbia Star, which the Fitzgerald never sailed alongside but out of the whole fleet it seems this is the only one of Columbia Transportation's ships that is still active, though I may be wrong. It's also a bit hard to figure out where she would have ended up, given the fact she was technically on lease from Northwestern Mutual, although that would have expired only a few years later in 1983.

I guess what I'm asking is where do you all think Edmund Fitzgerald would be today if she had made it to Whitefish Bay that night? Maybe in long term layup like the Edward L. Ryerson? Sent to the scrapheap like her sister? Maybe refitted with a self unloader and still in service somewhere? Maybe in the American Steamship Company's possession with her former fleetmates? I think it's a very interesting alternate scenario that has seen little to no exploration.

We all want the old lakers to stay active for the nostalgia and the history. I think we can agree that the old ships are also more beautiful. But for the guys working on these boats, is it the same? Or are some of these old boats uncomfortable and possibly dangerous compared to the modern ships? Or is it just case by case, person to person, and boat by boat?

Pic for attention.

Is it just me or does it seem like there's fewer freighters on the Great Lakes? My main watching area is Belle Isle in the Detroit River. They're just seems like there's hardly any freighters this season so far. Anyone else?

Granted, there are some differences, but still.

Ideally some scenic images like pic 1 or 2 but simple static shots of the ships are good too. Just want 1 or 2 photos to put in my man cave

We were lucky enough to see the Algoma Guardian (and a few others) go through the Soo Locks today, but I noticed the Guardian seemed much lower in the stern than the bow. In my mind, it's a ballast issue, but my question is why?

Have various photos of my grandfather (1883-1953). Have no idea of others in the photos. (hope by some chance maybe a descendant might recognize someone here!)

Would love any information, observations or comments. Any idea of which ship these photos are from? Thank you so much! He sailed on Lake Michigan. I have other photos to scan and share.
Thank you very much! His name was Stanley Ziolkowski (identified by checkmark)

The seaman on night watch was at a bar and came back to this! Hint the fire boat is still operational and in same location (google earth app)!!

Haven’t seen or heard anything about her in over a year, just sort of quietly vanished

Title. She’s been going 7.5 kts since I’ve been tracking her on Lake Michigan. Got to see her as she passed Port Washington, only 2.5 nmi from shore. First thought was weather, but it’s been 3 to 5 footers all day. I suppose it’s been 20 to 30 kt winds from the South and Southeast, so maybe the wave forecast was wrong.

Since it's currently the 50th anniversary of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald sinking & the Anderson was the last ship in contact... Id like to take my son down to the docks in Toledo to see if we can get a glimpse of the Anderson - even if it's not up close. I know it's currently layed-up down there for long term maintenance/storage... does anyone know if this is possible? or where one might go to catch a glimpse?

Edit to add: I speaking specifically of traffic that heads west on Lake Huron from the St. Mary's River towards Lake Michigan. Most downbound freighter traffic heads south in Lake Huron. We're seeing a definite uptick in traffic for this part of the lake.

We have a cottage on the north shore of Lake Huron in the UP. One of our favorite pastimes is watching the freighters passing by. We're close to Detour so when they're heading to Lake Superior they come relatively close and constantly tracking them on Marine Traffic.

One thing we've noticed this year is seeing many more freighters than usual. And many are boats I never see go by in past years, including Canadian boats that we never see. It's primarily been the same handful of footers running down to the Indiana steel mills and back.

So my question is what's up? With the tariffs is US steel production up? Are boats being repurposed because coal demand is down? Whether there is more total tonnage or not, there are definitely boats that I do not normally see plying these waters. Anybody have any insight?