Walter J. McCarthy Jr. - Howling for Duluth Under a Full Moon

Here is the Walter J. McCarthy Jr. seen arriving in Duluth, Minnesota on the evening of January 6, 2023 shortly after sunset... and shortly after moonrise! The McCarthy had been anchored outside of Duluth, waiting her turn to load taconite at the Canadian National dock in West Duluth once the Mesabi Miner had finished loading. The McCarthy opted for an earlier arrival in port so she could take on fuel at the Husky Fuel dock near Port Terminal. Only after the Mesabi Miner departed in the wee early hours of January 7 did the McCarthy then make her way over to the CN dock.

The full moon shining over the calm waters of Lake Superior made for a very scenic view as the McCarthy moved from the anchorage area to line up with the shipping canal. As she made her arrival through the canal, with the full moon overhead, she howled out a captain's salute of one long and two short blasts. The Aerial Lift Bridge gave the customary salute in response with her slightly frozen horns struggling to achieve full volume. Note that as the McCarthy makes her way through the canal, it causes the water along the sides of her hull to move in the opposite direction. This is made much more visible by the movement of the ice in the canal.

The 1000-foot Walter J. McCarthy Jr. was launched in 1977 and originally named the Belle River. She was the first of the 1000-footers built as Bay Shipbuilding in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin and was the fifth of thirteen 1000-footers built for the Great Lakes. According to the Boatnerd website, the "McCarthy is powered by four V-20 3600 horsepower GM diesel engines. These engines are arranged in pairs, with each pair connected to a gear reduction box driving a four-blade 17.22-foot diameter controllable pitch propeller. This arrangement permits one engine of each pair to drive each propeller shaft for more economical cruising. She is equipped with 1,500 horsepower bow and stern thrusters. Her 37 hatches feed into seven holds, where she is capable of carrying 78,850 tons at her maximum mid-summer draft of 34 feet. Her self-unloading equipment consists of a loop belt conveyor feeding a stern-mounted 250-foot-long unloading boom that can be swung 92 degrees to port or starboard and can discharge at a rate of up to 6,000 short tons of coal per hour." The Belle River was renamed the Walter J. McCarthy Jr. on May 25, 1990 in honor of the retired chairman of Detroit Edison.

I still have many more videos to come that were shot at the end of the shipping season in Duluth and Superior, so stay tuned over the coming days and weeks!

Видео Walter J. McCarthy Jr. - Howling for Duluth Under a Full Moon канала 1 Long 2 Short