James R. Barker - A Fast Turn and a Fantastic Salute!

Here is the James R. Barker departing Duluth, Minnesota on the evening of September 1, 2021. She had just loaded taconite (iron ore) pellets at the Canadian National dock in West Duluth. The taconite was scheduled to be delivered to Toledo, Ohio. The video starts with a view of the Barker as she makes her way through the St. Louis River Bay, passing the SMET, General Mills, and Cenex docks in Superior before passing under the John A. Blatnik bridge at Rice's Point. We then catch up with her again from the vantage point at Canal Park in Duluth, watching as the Barker moves across the harbor, makes the sharp right-hand turn, and then passes under the Aerial Lift Bridge on her way out onto Lake Superior. (Note the 1000-footer Edgar B. Speer is at the Husky fueling dock as the Barker makes her way across the harbor.)

Having watched many lake carriers make the turn before the Aerial Lift Bridge, I couldn't help but notice just how quickly the Barker made the turn. Looking at her from the front, she seems to almost pivot in place without any forward motion. Of course, this is an optical illusion... as she is moving forward the whole time... but it's still impressive to see, especially when done so quickly. Equally impressive are the Barker's dual horns, which sounded out a master salute consisting of three long and two short blasts. This was a particularly nice salute... sounding very loud and clear from my vantage point. (Note: The Aerial Lift Bridge did respond with a master salute in return, but I have edited it out because it was overly distorted. If you'd like to hear a salute from the Aerial Lift Bridge, it can be heard in many other videos on this channel.)

The James R. Barker is 1004 feet in length and was built in 1976 by the American Ship Building Company of Lorain, Ohio. According to the Boatnerd website, she is powered by "two 8,000 bhp V-16 cylinder, four stroke cycle, single acting, turbocharged Colt-Pielstick PC2V diesel engines, built by Fairbanks Morse Engine Division of Colt Industries, Beloit, WI driving through a Falk reversing gear box to two Bird-Johnson controllable pitch, stainless steel, four bladed propellers seventeen feet, six inches in diameter." She has a cargo capacity of 63,300 tons. She has the distinction of being the first self-contained 1000-footer to be built with the entire superstructure at the aft end of the vessel. This design would be the model the remaining 1000-footers to be built for Great Lakes service.

One other thing to note is the number of sailboats in the harbor at the time of the Barker's departure. Wednesday nights during the summer months are when a large number of sailboats head out onto the lake for their races. Several had returned to the harbor at the time the Barker was making her exit but seeing that number of sailboats had to give the Barker's crew a little bit of heartburn. Sailboats tend to be disliked by lake carrier captains, in particular, because they have the tendency to get in the way and are slow to move. And while sailboats often have the right-of-way, it's foolish for any sailboat captain to get in the way of a 1000-foot laker that is loaded down with 60,000+ tons of cargo! Thankfully, it appeared most (if not all) sailboats stayed out of the shipping channel during for this departure.

Видео James R. Barker - A Fast Turn and a Fantastic Salute! канала 1 Long 2 Short