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Adieu Alder

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

Jun 18, 2021 2:12 PM Maritime

Standing with Stannard Rock

Finding Creative Ways to Use & Aid a Historic Sentinel Read more

Jun 11, 2021 4:14 PM Konnie LeMay Maritime

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

Jun 14, 2019 9:53 AM Nik Wilson Maritime

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

May 16, 2019 4:25 PM Maritime

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

Nov 12, 2018 1:43 PM Frederick Stonehouse Maritime

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

Oct 12, 2018 9:33 AM Bill Beck Maritime

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

Feb 20, 2018 6:33 PM Rick Fowler Maritime

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

Dec 28, 2017 2:37 PM Maritime

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

Sep 22, 2017 2:19 PM Konnie LeMay Maritime

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

Apr 3, 2017 12:00 AM Cap't Tom Mackay Maritime

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

Feb 1, 2017 12:00 AM Phil Bencomo Maritime

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

Oct 13, 2016 10:44 AM Frederick Stonehouse Maritime

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

Jun 1, 2016 12:00 AM Phil Bencomo Maritime

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

Feb 1, 2016 12:00 AM Karen Sunderman Maritime

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

Oct 1, 2015 12:00 AM Dennis Anderson, Rick Fowler Maritime 7 Comments

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

Aug 19, 2015 4:18 PM Alan Haraf Maritime

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

Jul 27, 2015 3:18 PM Nancy Steinhaus, Bernie Arbic Maritime

Underwater Detectives: An Excerpt from “The Last Laker”

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

Jun 1, 2015 12:00 AM Frederick Stonehouse Maritime

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

Jun 1, 2015 12:00 AM Felicia Schneiderhan Maritime

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

Dec 1, 2014 12:00 AM Jim Marshall Maritime