First Time Seeing the Laker Manitowoc, Plus Mackinaw Ferries on a Rough Day on the Straits

Going back a bit to vacation in mid August and visiting the Mackinac area! 4-5ft waves and 15-20mph winds, on paper it doesn’t sound like much, hardly worth noting if I was watching at the Canal and indeed the lakers don’t care about it all. But put yourself in a small boat and then it’s a whole different story! Those waves feel absolutely huge, and we were in for a 20 minute rollercoaster ride out to Mackinac Island, same dropping sensation and even some parts you flew out of your chair a bit! Just goes to show just how large and stable the lakers are that we wouldn’t even be giving this a whole lot of thought on Superior. My finger accidentally triggered the camera during the trip, actually ended up including part of that accidental footage because it shows how bumpy it was compared to when I was deliberately holding the camera steady. That said I had tons of fun on the journey! Other people? Well… maybe not. Lots of stuff I can cover in this video so we’ll see what I can fit in.

To start the day though we caught the laker Manitowoc traversing the Mackinaw Bridge. Maybe not the closest view, but it’s a ship I’ve never seen before, one highly unlikely to visit Duluth so catching her in this location was a treat!
She was leaving out of Muskegon, arriving there the day after we left for Traverse City which was a bit disappointing, but glad we were able to catch her anyways even if it wasn’t close up! Built in 1973 as the Paul Thayer, Manitowoc measures 630ft long with a carrying capacity of 19,600 tons. She was one of the first stern pilothouse lakers in the US fleet, and features the sharp prow of a classic laker. She and her two twin sisters Calumet and Robert S Pierson are River type lakers, designed specifically for maneuverability in extraordinarily tight spaces. A fourth sister, Algoma Compass was built to the general same design but 50ft longer and 10ft wider. As for her history, she originally operated for a small company called Kinsman Marine, specifically for Cuyahoga River shuttles. That only lasted three years before being sold to Oglebay Norton. In 1978 at just 5 years old her cargo holds needed to be entirely rebuilt due to a design flaw, taking out of commission for most of that year. In 1995 she was renamed Earl W Oglebay. In 2004 Oglebay Norton fell into Bankruptcy and their fleet was laid up. In 2006 she ship and her two sisters were purchased at auction by an intermediary company for Grand River Navigation, and temporarily operated under the name Earl W as the deal was being finalized. Once it finally went through in 2008 she was formally transferred to the Grand River fleet and renamed Manitowoc for the river and city in Wisconsin. Today she almost exclusively operates in the limestone trade in Lakes Michigan, Huron and Erie. She has no documented major incidents.

Then we have the Mackinaw Bridge. Starting construction in 1953, it measures in at 5 miles long, a 190ft clearance height and 550ft tall towers, the bridge is the largest single structure in the Great Lakes region and the largest suspension bridge entirely within the US- larger than the Golden Gate. It is the only bridge connecting the two halves of Michigan and the dividing border between Lake Huron and Lake Michigan.

As for the ferry, she was the 65ft high speed ferry Felicity, one of over a dozen such ferries she was built in 1972 by the Shepler Fleet specifically for this task, traveling between Mackinac Island the two mainlands in around 15-25 minutes on average in up to 10ft waves, carrying up to 150 passengers each trip. Compared to other vessels we took this trip she’s a no-frills workhorse, designed only for the trip to the island and back. We departed from St Ignace on the northern side of the Strait and returned on the same vessel in the evening, which will be another video!

Hope you all enjoy!