Wilfred Sykes - Sounding a Master Salute at Blue Twilight

Here is the steamship Wilfred Sykes making her second visit of the 2022 shipping season to the Twin Ports of Duluth and Superior. Her arrival came during the early morning twilight of October 4, 2022. She was hauling in a load of limestone to discharge at the Graymont dock on the Superior side of the harbor. A decent-sized crowd (for a little after 6am) was on hand to welcome her back. And the Wilfred Sykes was happy to announce her arrival with a loud master salute... which the Aerial Lift Bridge answered in return. With it being a very still morning, with a glassy surface on the water, the echoes of each salute carried far across the harbor.

After watching the Wilfred Sykes arrive through the shipping canal, I then made my way to Graymont Superior to watch her dock. I've covered this scene in previous arrival videos for the Sykes, but it's always fun to watch her pull up and see crew ride the bosun's chair down to the dock... so they can assist with tying up the ship. During the docking, we received two photo bombs (video bombs?) from other ships in the background. The first was the tugboat John R. Asher, pushing a barge. The second was the 1000-footer Walter J. McCarthy who was making her way from the Lakehead Pipeline dock (where she took a delay) over to the Canadian National dock, where she was scheduled to load taconite.

Unfortunately, we didn't get to see the unloading boom discharge limestone onto the pile for this arrival. Instead, the boom was lowered to the side of the Sykes, over a hopper and conveyor system which carries the limestone to a part of the Graymont site not visible from my vantage point. If you'd like to see her unload onto the pile, this previous video covers that activity: https://youtu.be/GCYD74MZCyw

Hopefully we'll get another visit or two from the Sykes before the 2022 season is over. It's always a pleasure when she comes to town!

The 678-foot Wilfred Sykes was built in 1949 by the American Shipbuilding Company of Lorain, Ohio. She was the first American lake carrier built after World War II and was in many ways she signaled a new age in Great Lakes shipping. Her two steam turbine engines produce a combined 7,700 horsepower, burning "bunker C" heavy fuel oil instead of coal, making her the first laker to do so. (Several lakers would later be retrofitted to burn fuel oil, but the Sykes was the first laker designed to do so from her conception.) She has 18 hatch covers that access six cargo holds capable of holding 21,500 tons of cargo. The Sykes was converted to a self-unloader in 1975 and given a 250-foot self-unloading boom. She is one of five steam-powered lake carriers still in service, with the others being the Alpena, Arthur M. Anderson, Cason J. Callaway, and Philip R. Clarke. (The Callaway was laid up in 2021, however, with an uncertain future.) All five have been documented on this channel, so check through my videos to see them in action!

Видео Wilfred Sykes - Sounding a Master Salute at Blue Twilight канала 1 Long 2 Short