The South Riding RV Travels

306

19th June 2007 - Sault Ste Marie MI

As we travelled across Canada nearly two years ago we stopped at the locks on the Canadian side of Sault Ste Marie. Most of the commercial shipping now travels through the 4 sets of locks on the US side. The earlier locks were much smaller but even then were able to take two ships at once. This is a model in the Michigan side visitor centre of  the State locks which were begun in 1853 and completed in 1855. They were 350 ft long and 70 ft wide. They were owned by the State of Michigan until 1881 when they came under federal control. The model is based upon a photo taken in the 1870s.
The ships have increased in size until today the largest ships only just fit in the locks and cannot fit in the locks of the St Lawrence Seaway. This is a model of the E G Grace, a typical bulk freighter.
You can get boat tours through the locks. This is one of the tour boats. We could not see it when it came into the lock.
The upper lock gates open to allow a ship in. The locks have a drop of about 9 metres and it takes less than 20 minutes. for a ship to pass through. Part of the reason for this short timescale is that the amount of water to move is quite small because a laden ship virtually fills the lock. There is less than 5ft width to spare and 50ft in length.
This is the Algoisle creeping along the lock side as it approaches the lock. The ship rubs along the lock side to ensure it enters straight since it only has 5ft clearance. Above it is the international road bridge to Canada, and behind that is the railway bridge between the countries. This is a lifting bridge and you can see it coming back down in the next photo.
The ship approaches very slowly, at less than walking pace. The men walking alongside are holding ropes and in constant communication with the ship. There is also an officer at the front quarter ensuring that the ship just rubs along the lock side.
Now it is creeping into the lock proper. The Algoisle is Canadian registered, is 730ft long and 70ft wide, and has a draft of 26ft. It is fully loaded and weighs 18,000 tons and carries a cargo of 24,000 tons. Her usual cargo is grain but she can also carry coal and iron ore pellets (taconite).
Once inside the lock it needs to stop very quickly which is why it crawls in. There is less than 50ft clearance to the protective booms just in front of the gates. The Algoisle was built in 1962 in Cork, Ireland and was originally named the Silver Isle. It was the first 'laker' to be built with all the accommodation at the back. She joined the Algoma fleet in 1994. She has a single 19ft propeller driven by a 9000hp MAN diesel and a bow thruster and can travel at 19knots. She was laid up from 2000-03 as a result of a downturn in the grain market.
Her captain is Danish and his Danish wife was standing beside us as the ship went through the lock - she had crossed from Canada just to be able to see her husband as his ship passed through. The voyages take about 17 days. Several of the wives travel with the ship. She was through the lock in 20 minutes and on her way down through lake Huron.