Duluth Shipping News is 20 years old

Congratulations to Ken Newhams who's Duluth Shipping News has reached 20 years old.
Ken has provided a tremendous service for all the nautical fans around Duluth-Superior. On top of that, he's a great guy.

Apostle Island Ice Caves 2015

Yesterday I made it over to the Apostle Island Ice Caves on a sunny February afternoon.
The beauty of the caves never ceases to amaze me. God has crafted the Apostles in an incredible way and it is indeed humbling to visit the caves in winter or summer.
****You can visit my online gallery of the 2015 caves by clicking HERE. 
****You can take a 360 degree view of the inside by clicking HERE

I hope you enjoy the scenery as much as I did!

Lake Superior Diamonds!

Every morning on Lake Superior brings a fresh view and this mornings ice shards at Brighton Beach in Duluth were exceptionally beautiful.

Night Flight

The Duluth Shipping Canal looks a bit different from 100ft and although the little photocopter doesn't have a very good camera for night photography, it's useful to get a different perspective on things.

Essayons - A once great Tug!!

I took a walk out to the old Essayons this afternoon to see what it looked like close up. 

Essayons Ruins

Essayon pilot house, roof, stack and navigation mast

Essayons Smoke Stack

Much like going to a graveyard, the once great tug sits on the bottom of the bay, unnoticed nearly buried in the February snow drifts.

The pride of the fleet, the Essayons was the historic retired Army Corps of Engineers tugboat that had been a Twin Ports fixture since 1908. The tug's engine is on display at the Marine Museum in Canal Park.

The tug's owner was hoping to turn the boat into a floating bed and breakfast. However, vandal damage postponed the plan in 2004 and the tug was than docked near the Duluth Timber Company.

In 2009, shifting harbor ice pushed by a strong northeast wind, punctured the hull and the boat sank the the bottom, where it still rests today.

Perhaps someday it will be raised, but, for now, it quietly rests in peace, out of sight, and unnoticed.

"ESSAYONS" means - "Let Us Try" and is the branch song of the Army Corps of Engineers.


THE U.S. ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS BRANCH SONG "ESSAYONS"

Essayons, sound out the battle cry 

Essayons, we'll win or we'll die 

Essayons, there's nothing we won't try 

We're the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 

Pin the castle on my collar 

I've done my training for the team 

You can call me an engineer soldier 

The warrior spirit has been my dream 

We are builders, we are fighters 

We are destroyers just as well 

There've been doubters who met with the sappers 

1 - We know our sappers will never fail 

OR 

2 - And then we blew them all straight to hell 

Our brothers fighting on the battlefield 

Look to us to point the way 

We get there first and then we take the risks 

To build the roads and the air strips 

And bridge the mighty river streams 

We don't care who gets the glory 

We're sure of one thing, this we know 

Somewhere out there an engineer soldier 

Designed the plan for the whole darn show 

Essayons whether in war or peace 

We will bear our red and our white 

Essayons we serve America 

And the U.S. Army Corps of engineers 

Essayons! Essayons!

Summer Day's

Just a reminder that summer is right around the corner!

Snowflake

Just another "Duluth" snowflake that I photographed last Friday.

Lake Superior Ice Cover

A Tough Sled

Ice fishermen struggle to get their sleds through the chunks of shore ice at Duluth's Brighton Beach.

Polar Plunge

temperatures hovering between 10 and 15F didn't stop hundreds of Northlanders from jumping into Lake Superior to benefit Special Olympics Saturday afternoon.