Maritime

Rescuing the Rescue Boat

This rescue begins with a dream. Three friends, all sailors, had visions of creating a shipwreck museum in Eagle Harbor, Michigan. Mark Rowe is a shipwreck diver, Dave Thomas, a retired U.S. Coast Guard master chief, and the late George Hite was

Maritime, The Day Lake Superior Gave Up Her Dead

“The Lake, it is said, never gives up her dead …” – “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” by Gordon Lightfoot The Jones family of Cornucopia, Wisconsin, was well known as both boatbuilders and commercial fishermen on Lake Superior. Thomas Senior and

UW-Superior Professor Emeritus Receives National Maritime Medal

Maritime Day 2023 Celebration

Special event includes national honoring of local UWS professor emeritsu

Honoring a Hero, Remembering the Losses

A Tragic Date - April 30, 1967

Adieu Alder

After 16 years, the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Alder will leave Duluth for eventual posting in San Francisco.

Standing with Stannard Rock

Finding Creative Ways to Use & Aid a Historic Sentinel

USS Duluth Flag Raising

Crewmembers of the USS Duluth raised the "battle ensign" flag as part of a visit to their ship's namesake city.

Looking Back: USCG Cmdr. Erin Williams considers her time in Duluth

When U.S. Coast Guard Cmdr. Erin Williams took over to head the Marine Safety Unit Duluth in 2016, her most recent assignments had taken her to Alaska and to Europe, but she’d always had Duluth in mind as a work destination. In June, she will wrap up

Ils Sont Disparu! They Are Gone: The Baffling Fate of Inkerman & Cerisoles

An air of mystery drifts around all shipwrecks. The very word “shipwreck” evokes powerful images of crashing seas, screaming winds and desperate crews.

The Port’s Leading Authority, Davis Helberg

Forty years ago next spring, the Twin Ports of Duluth, Minnesota, and Superior, Wisconsin, opened their arms to the world when they welcomed the British ship Ramon de Larrinaga.

Lake Superior Journal: On a Mission, When Ice Pushes, the Coast Guard Pushes Back

This excerpt from an old Navy manual came to mind as I sought “permission to come aboard” across the gangplank of the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Mackinaw, docked just above the locks at Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, on a brisk mid-March day.

Freezing Degree Days

This shipping season, the Lake Superior region was expected to reach its “500 Freezing Degree Days” mark by Dec. 31, 2017, fully two weeks ahead of the usual Jan. 8 date.

Going Intermodal

A recent addition to the Duluth waterfront creates an international link via rail from the East, West and Gulf coasts.

Remembering Coast Guard Hero Edgar Culbertson

In the afternoon on April 30 every year, you will find me with four flowers on the North Pier of the Duluth Ship Canal. Three of the flowers are for teenage brothers and one is for my friend, a U.S. Coast Guardsman who tried to save them.

Is a Maritime Career Waiting for You?

It may soon be one of our industries most in need of new recruits. We tell you how to embark on the career of a lifetime in the maritime industry, whether it's aboard a ship or in port.

Three-Fingered Reilly

Veteran surfmen on Lake Superior's Shipwreck Coast always made it a point to teach the new men the gory details of the ghost of Three-Fingered Reilly. They wanted them to know that when they walked the lonely night patrols, they were not alone!

Great Lakes Fleet’s Ties to Duluth Stretch Back to 1901 and One Man’s Refusal to Leave the Big Lake

In early 1901, Augustus B. Wolvin told executives at the newly formed U.S. Steel Corporation that if they wanted him to manage the “Steel Trust” fleet, he’d only do it from his adopted hometown – Duluth.

Looking for the America: The Life, Death and Afterlife of a Storied Vessel

In the early part of the 20th century, the America was an elegant, 182-foot package freighter that served fishing families, businessmen and tourists. All of that came to an abrupt halt June 7, 1928, when the steamer sank off Isle Royale.

A Night to Remember: A Newsman and a Sailor Recall When the Fitz Went Down

Remembrances of the night the Edmund Fitzgerald sank from former TV anchor Dennis Anderson, who broke the story, and from retired sailor Lon Calloway, who that day rode out his first Great Lakes gale just 15 hours ahead of the ill-fated Fitz.