Edwin H. Gott - The Strongest Laker Flexes Her Muscles

Here is the Edwin H. Gott departing Two Harbors, Minnesota on May 15, 2023 after completing a relatively fast 10-hour load. She had loaded taconite (iron ore) pellets which were to be delivered to the Stelco plant in Nanticoke, Ontario. Her arrival at midnight was previously covered with a video on this channel which can be seen here: https://youtu.be/Yef6EpgSeyc

The Edwin H. Gott has the distinction of being the most powerful of all super lakers, which include all ships in the 1000-foot family. Indeed, she is the most powerful ship on the Great Lakes, with no exception. Her two Mak 8M43C diesel engines produce a staggering combined 19,578 bhp (brake horsepower). This gives her a slight edge over her fleet mate, the Edgar B. Speer, which produces 19,260 bhp from her two Pielstick diesel engines. The best demonstration of the Gott's power is seen at 5:35 in this video, where she has already built up a good deal of speed just seconds after clearing the Two Harbors breakwater... all with 60k-70k tons of iron ore pellets on board!

The Gott is sporting a fresh coat of paint for the 2023 shipping season, which makes her glow a little more than usual under the sunshine at Two Harbors. Keen viewers may also notice a couple other ships in this video. Early on, we see the historic tugboat Edna G. in the background. Built in 1896, she was the last coal-fired steam-powered tugboat in service on the Great Lakes when she retired in 1981. She now sits as a museum ship. Later on in the video we get a glimpse of the CSL Tadoussac on the horizon. She had departed Superior with taconite a couple hours earlier. The refraction of light on the horizon has greatly distorted her appearance, however, making her look like the bow and stern have really tall structures.

One other boat I captured on this video was the clean-up boat used at Two Harbors to wash down the dock. With the American Century due in port to load within an hour of the Gott’s departure, the dock crew were quick to wash down any spillage that may have occurred during the loading of the Gott. Taconite pellets are shaped like marbles, so any loose pellets on the dock present a danger for workers. (Imagine trying to walk on marbles on concrete!) The clean-up boat washed down the length of the dock, ensuring that any stray pellets were pushed out of harm's way.

The 1004-foot Edwin H. Gott was launched in 1978 and was the eighth out of thirteen 1000-footers built for the Great Lakes. She has a cargo capacity of 74,100 tons. She was originally built with a short shuttle boom for self-unloading (like her sister the Speer), but that limited the number of ports where she could unload. At the end of the 1995 shipping season she was refitted with a traditional self-unloading boom. At 280 feet, her current boom is the longest on the Great Lakes, allowing her extra reach when unloading her cargo.
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