Maritime
Features
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. Read more
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 Read more
Rev. Edward J. Dowling
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. Read more
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. Read more
RICK FOWLER
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. Read more
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. Read more
Duluth Cargo Connect
Going Intermodal
A recent addition to the Duluth waterfront creates an international link via rail from the East, West and Gulf coasts. Read more
U.S. Coast Guard
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. Read more
Courtesy Ellora Martin
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. Read more
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! Read more
Courtesy Jim Dan Hill Library / University of Wisconsin-Superior
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. Read more
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. Read more
David Conklin
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. Read more
Alan Haraf / U.S. Coast Guard
54 Years After Tragic Explosion, Coast Guardsman Returns to Stannard Rock
Walter Scobie will always remember June 18, 1961, when his quiet morning was shattered by an explosion that ripped through Stannard Rock Lighthouse, where he was stationed. This summer, Walter returned for the first time. Read more
Bill Howe
How the Soo Locks Were Made
On June 18, 1855, the steamer Illinois locked through upbound and ushered in a new era in Great Lakes shipping. But the Soo Locks didn’t come easy. The planning and building of the locks were as fraught with obstacles as the waterway they traversed. Read more
How Underwater Detectives Found the Henry B. Smith: An Excerpt from “The Last Laker”
The Henry B. Smith was found on May 24, 2013, by a small team of shipwreck hunters. She had been missing almost a century, but through decades of effort, the team put it all together and solved one of the biggest mysteries of the Inland Seas. Read more
Felicia Schneiderhan
Lake Superior Journal: Iron Man
Fe, our family's little Iron Man, always wears a life jacket by the water. But on this day, when we stopped briefly at the boat before a hike, he was not. And on this day, our 2-year-old tumbled from the dock and fell in. Read more
Jim Marshall Collection
Lake Superior Journal: Paul Flynn, Hard Hat Diver
Still fully dressed in his diving suit, lacking only his brass helmet, Paul felt the barge capsizing beneath his feet. The storm had come out of nowhere, and now he was headed for the bottom loaded with weights and iron shoes, and no way to breathe. Read more
Diane Hilden
"Why Are the Boats Sitting Out There?" We Answer A Few Landlubber Questions
Want to show off your knowledge about the latest maritime activity and season around our Big Lake? This story will put you in the know. Read more
Elle Andra-Warner
Lighting the Northern Edge: Lake Superior's Ontario Lighthouses
On the Ontario shores of Lake Superior, there are more than 32 lighthouse sites, some abandoned, moved or destroyed, but others still active aids to navigation or year-round emergency lights. Read more
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