Last Boats In

The Duluth shipping season came to a end on January 16th when the Coast Guard Cutter Alder assisted two of the largest boats working on Lake Superior into port. The Edwin H. Gott and the Edgar B. Speer, both 1000 ft+ lakers came through the Duluth Ship Canal for winter layup. Both boats where delayed by heavy ice on the eastern end of the lake and struggled through thick ice in the Duluth Harbor.






Extreme winter weather had an icy grip on the lake for the past six weeks and with schools closed for the past two days due to -22F below temperatures and -50F wind chills, there was no arguing that it was time to lay up the boats for a few months.








While I went through three camera batteries in the cold and the tip of my nose got frostbit by holding it against the back of my frozen camera while taking pictures, there was no denying the beauty of a winter day on the lake.

View a slideshow of the arrival