Great Lakes Ships and Shipping Industry
Postcard from a Giant Freighter in Duluth Ship Canal
At the top of the postcard pile today is an undated image from Gallagher’s Studio of Photography. The caption on the back reads: “Giant Freighter entering Canal of Duluth Superior Harbor, Westerly Terminus of the St. Lawrence Seaway.”
Sleeping Giants 2026
The Soo Locks, gateway to Lake Superior, are scheduled to reopen for the 2026 shipping season on March 25. This aerial video offers views of the winter layups in Wisconsin as the “Sleeping Giants” prepare to wake.
The video begins at Fraser Shipyards in Superior, where several vessels sit quietly in winter layup. Also in Superior are a pair of 1000-footers — Indiana Harbor at the Lakehead Pipeline dock and Burns Harbor at Elevator M. The video closes with scenes from Bay Shipbuilding in Sturgeon Bay.
The S.S. Meteor Placemat
Found at a thrift store in Webster: a packet of 50 paper placemats promoting tours of the SS Meteor in Superior.
Great Lakes Shipping 2025 Highlight Reel
The drama. The action. The suspense. Yes, it’s a Great Lakes shipping highlight reel, featuring 2025 scenes from Duluth, Superior, Two Harbors, Silver Bay and Marquette.
Music Making History: The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald
One of Gordon Lightfoot’s most important works was “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.” Written shortly after the shipwreck of the same name, the song comforted many, became a chart-topping success at the time, and nearly 50 years later it has found a place in popular culture and social media. The song also served as the inspiration for former Split Rock Lighthouse keeper Lee Radzak to start the annual beacon lighting to honor the crew.
This episode of the Minnesota Historical Society’s series Music Making History reflects on Lightfoot’s work, the way he responded to the families of the crew, and how the song has centered community gatherings honoring those lost at sea.
Video: Great Republic arriving in Duluth, unloading in Superior
The 634-foot Great Republic thundered out a salute as it passed under the Aerial Lift Bridge on Aug. 12. This aerial video follows the self-unloading bulk carrier to Graymont Dock in Superior, where it unloads limestone via a 250-foot boom.
Postcard from a Giant Freighter Entering Duluth-Superior Harbor
This postcard was mailed 70 years ago today — Aug. 20, 1955. The caption on the card refers to the image as a “picture,” which likely means the illustration is based on a photograph. (more…)
Duluth to Liverpool in One Bottom
On June 19, 1920 — 105 years ago today — Scientific American published an article by Robert G. Skerrett editorializing in favor of the “Great Lakes being opened to the sea so that ocean-going craft can steam from Duluth to the Atlantic and thence along our neighboring seaboard or afar to the markets of Europe.” (more…)
Beautiful day for a bike ride on a 1000 footer
What’s the best way to get around on the 1000-foot Stewart J. Cort? Bicycle, of course. This video was shot in Silver Bay on March 31.
Sleeping Steel Giants
The Soo Locks, gateway to Lake Superior, opened March 21. The St. Lawrence Seaway’s 67th navigation season officially began March 25. The start of the Great Lakes shipping season is also the end of the period when cargo vessels are docked for maintenance and repairs. This aerial video offers views of the winter layups in Sturgeon Bay, Superior and Duluth.
Postcard from the Barney B. Barstow
There isn’t a lot of information online about the Barney B. Barstow of Duluth, featured in this undated postcard published by Gallagher’s Studio of Photography. But there are a few tidbits that suggest the vessel gets its name from a Superior attorney who, according to the June 1969 issue of Maritime Reporter Magazine, was one of eight directors at Fraser Shipyards, serving as secretary. (more…)
Postcard from Tugs Breaking Ice for Steamer Ireland
This undated postcard, circa 1903 to 1913, shows a tugboat next to the Steamer R. L. Ireland, which the caption indicates is “going to winter quarters, Duluth, Minn.” The Great Lakes bulk freighter was built and launched in 1903. According to the website Great Lakes Vessel History, it was twice renamed — Sirius in 1913 and Ontadoc in 1926 — and sold for scrap in 1970.
The Wreck of the Adella Shores
On April 29, 1909, the Adella Shores was bound for Duluth with a cargo of 9,200 barrels of salt. The ship never arrived. Disappearing in a gale off Whitefish Point, Michigan, the location of the 195-foot wreck remained one of the lake’s unsolved mysteries. But the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum has found it. (more…)
DuluthiLeaks: Duluth Foghorn Facts
It’s been 100 years since Duluth’s original diaphone fog siren was installed at the Duluth Shipping Canal. That siren was decommissioned by the Coast Guard in 1968 and replaced by an electric whistle. In 1983 another old diaphone foghorn was acquired and installed. It was used on a ceremonial basis until 1995, then returned to regular service as a maritime aid to navigation. Community members immediately complained it was too loud. The controversy raged on until the horn was dismantled in 2006.
For the sixth edition of DuluthiLeaks — Perfect Duluth Day’s series in which public documents are presented as if they contain secret information leaked from an anonymous whistle blower — we present “Duluth Foghorn Facts,” a document and collection of images compiled by Jeffrey L. Laser of Bellville, Ohio. At some point after 1996, Laser put together the information below, delving into the nitty gritty of the diaphone foghorn that was housed in the Duluth South Breakwater Outer Light from 1983 to 2006. (more…)
Postcard from Three Ore Carriers at DM&IR Docks
This undated postcard from Gallagher’s Studio of Photography shows the ore carriers Wm. B. Schilier, Peter A. B. Widener and Henry Phipps at the Duluth, Missabe and Iron Range docks in West Duluth.
All three vessels were built for the Pittsburgh Steamship Company. The Schilier was sold for scrapping in 1978 in Duluth. The Widener was sold for scrapping in 1986 and towed to Lisbon, Portugal in 1987. The Phipps was sold for scrapping in 1976 in Duluth.
Postcard from a Great Lakes Packet Freighter
This undated postcard, published by Zenith Interstate News Company, shows a Great Lakes packet freighter passing through the Duluth Shipping Canal under the Aerial Lift Bridge. (more…)
Postcards from the Launching of a 600-foot Freighter
Although the postcard caption above reads “Launching of a 600 ft Freighter, Duluth, Minn.,” the vessel in the image appears to be the SS Edward Y. Townsend, which was built in Superior. (more…)
Postcard from Tugboats Record and Sinclair
Icebreaking in the Duluth Harbor is expected to start this week, with the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Spar clearing the way for the start of another shipping season.
The postcard above is from the early 1900s and shows the tugboats Record and Sinclair breaking ice in the Duluth Harbor. (more…)
Steamships from Buffalo to Duluth, 1901
This advert from Life magazine promotes trips from Buffalo through Chicago and Milwaukee to Duluth. I found it on the Internet Archive. (more…)
OMG, that’s a lot of smoke in this video
I’m plunking about in the Archive.org site, and this video shows the Duluth harbor as a dystopian nightmare of smoke at about 2:30.
What an amazing transformation how we fuel our ships and how we imagine our port.
Postcard from Unloading Coal in 1912
This postcard was mailed 110 years ago today — Sept. 20, 1912. The recipient was Mr. Guss Ferdettel [or Ferdellet?] of Bentley, Mich. (more…)
SS Meteor: The Last of the Whalebacks
Built in 1896, the SS Meteor is the last surviving above-water whaleback ship in the world. It operated until 1969 and is now a museum ship on Barker’s Island in Superior. The documentary embedded above was created by Duluth Film Company, a division of GOV Productions. (more…)
Minnesota Historia: Superior Shipwrecks
Everybody knows the story of the Edmund Fitzgerald, the most famous shipwreck on Lake Superior. But what are the next five most fascinating shipwreck stories on the big lake called Gitchi Gumee? And is the #2 shipwreck story the scariest thing you’ll ever hear?
Minnesota Historia is a six-part WDSE-TV web series dedicated to Minnesota’s quirky past. It is hosted by Hailey Eidenschink and produced/edited/written by Mike Scholtz.
Postcard from the Opening of Navigation Season
This undated postcard shows a freighter entering the Duluth Shipping Canal at some point in the early 1900s. (more…)