Frontenac - Greetings From the Engine Room

Here is the Frontenac arriving in Superior, Wisconsin on September 17, 2021 to pick up iron ore from the Burlington Northern #5 dock. The Frontenac had been sitting at anchor outside of Superior while she waited for fellow Canadian lake carrier Michipicoten to finish loading. (The Michipicoten's exit from Superior can be seen in my previous video on this channel.) The video starts as theFrontenac leaves her anchorage area and rounds the Wisconsin Point lighthouse, lining up with the Superior entry. The sun came out nicely to illuminate the Frontenac's attractive red-and-white paint scheme. And while her paint does show some wear and tear, she is still looking sharper than many of her fleet mates... particularly the ones that regularly travel the Welland Canal and it's system of eight locks.

Sadly, salutes from the Frontenac are rarely heard in the Twin Ports... and this visit was no exception. I've only heard her salute once and that was during a visit to Two Harbors. It's a shame, as she has a nice dual-horn setup with an attractive sound. It's not uncommon for ships (especially Canadian ships) to remain silent when visiting Superior, as there is no lift bridge and there are often very few onlookers on hand. But I've found that the crews are still friendly and more-than-happy to wave hello to us boatnerds on shore. Watching this video closely, you'll see some deckhands on the bow (just behind the pilot house) who wave hello. And more obviously, we see a crew member from the engine room return a wave I gave him as he passed by. The guys working in the depths of the ships don't get much chance to be noticed by boatwatchers, so it's always nice when they can make an appearance and be seen! Without these crew members, the ships would be going nowhere.

The 729-foot Frontenac was launched in late 1967 and spent five years as a straight decker... meaning she had no self-unloading gear on her deck. Over the winter of 1972-1973, she obtained the self-unloading system we see here. She is powered by a 9,600 HP diesel engine and has a current cargo-carrying capacity of 26,800 tons. The Frontenac was the same length as the legendary Edmund Fitzgerald, which provides a good opportunity to visualize how big the Fitzgerald was. In the days after the Fitzgerald's sinking, the Frontenac was one of the ships that aided in search and recovery efforts. The Frontenac has no regularly-assigned cargo routes, so her trips across the lakes are often varied, visiting many different ports and carrying a range of cargoes that include iron ore, coal, coke, salt, grains, stone products, or cement clinker. At least five different ships have carried the name Frontenac on the Great Lakes over the years. I suspect she won't be the last either.

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