Atlantic Huron’s Bad Week: Holes and Groundings скачать в хорошем качестве

Atlantic Huron’s Bad Week: Holes and Groundings

Atlantic Huron had quite the visit. She arrived in Superior to load iron ore from Superior’s BNSF ore dock, usually a routine procedure. While docking at the pier, the ship came in a little too fast and hit the pier hard just under her name plate on the port bow, badly denting the side of the ship. After loading started however, she started taking on some water through the damaged section of the bow, and loading was canceled. She left Superior, sailed over to Duluth and pulled into the Port Terminal. Because the hole was above water she did not require dry docking, and over the next several days a relatively small patch was installed just below and behind the anchor. Inspections were completed and the vessel was deemed seaworthy again, so they departed (shown here) after the dissipation of some heavy seas through a flooded canal park and sailed over to Superior via the Lake. After topping off their iron ore load they departed the dock and immediately hit the bottom of the harbor, grounding themselves. The tug Missouri was dispatched to assist them and with rising water due to an east wind seiche effect, along with emptying water from ballast the ship recovered fairly quickly and without too much incident. The ship again sailed to the Duluth side but stayed at anchor on the lake. An inspection boat was sent out with divers, which inspected her hull, and 12 hours later after finding no issues, the Atlantic Huron finally departed the city bound for Nanticoke. Somebody’s probably going to get in a bit of trouble for this… This is FAR from the ships’s first incident. Built in 1983 as the straight decker Prairie Harvest, the ship has had a rather colorful career. One of 6 “Caribbean Class” Laker/Saltie hybrid ships, along with Atlantic Superior, Atlantic Erie, Salarium, Captain Henry Jackman (the first one) and John B Aird. None of these other vessels survive today. She is also the last modern style laker with a pointed bow still in service. Or at least it would be pointed if she didn’t keep hitting things with it…. She sailed as a straight decker until 1989 when her self unloading boom was added. After operating as a laker for a decade, during the early 1990s she switched to ocean duty and received special equipment, loading slurry from off-shore rigs and hauling it back to Canada. During this time she survived an intense storm now known as the “Century Storm” which sank several similar vessels in the area. In 1997 she returned to Lake duty. In 2000 she was widened by 5 feet, and shortly after she rammed the Coast Guard Cutter Griffon, damaging her bow and nearly sinking the smaller ship, injuring 4 crew members. Both ships were repaired. In 2009 it was widely reported she would be sold for scrap, but ultimately she was refitted and continued sailing. In 2020 she suffered a propeller malfunction while entering the Soo Locks and the ship rammed the pier, causing over $2 million dollars in damages to the ship and pier. In 2022 her last sister ship, Salarium, went to the scrapyards. In early 2023 the ship suffered an unknown issue in Superior Wisconsin, and sailed up to Thunder Bay and remained there for several months. In August 2023 she rammed a tanker in Quebec City, denting in her bow for the second time (which still hasn’t been fixed and can clearly be seen in this video). And now she’s done it again. What will ultimately happen with this ship is unknown, there are no known replacement vessels scheduled to be built for CSL in the future, so it’s possible she’ll continue to sail for awhile longer. While some lakers can sail for over 70-80 years, her saltwater service and salt carrying runs significantly reduce the hybrid laker/saltie lifespan to less than half that, meaning she’s a very old ship for her type. Time will tell! In the meantime, we’ll continue to enjoy seeing her, and hope she doesn’t ram the canal wall. Lol Thank you Paul Sinocca for filling in some missing details for this!