Barker Runs Sandusky Coal Twice as Monday's Low Deepens on Erie

The Kaye E. Barker made two coal runs out of Sandusky on Monday. She loaded at Norfolk Southern, ran the load to Zug Island, returned to Norfolk Southern, and loaded again. The Monday dispatches confirm both calls; the precise hours are not in the record, but the round trip and the reload are. A boat working the same coal dock twice in one day is the kind of entry that does not appear often, and it is the sharpest single fact in today's harbor log.

She does her work while a deepening low bears down on Erie. Pressure stood at 29.70 inches over the northern Great Lakes this morning and is forecast to drop to 29.50 inches as the system drags a cold front southeast across the lake today. Waves are running two feet at Cleveland. A watcher at the Sandusky breakwall this afternoon should expect that water to build as the front passes.

Harbor Notes

The John J. Boland departed Lorain on Monday for Marquette after unloading limestone for Carmeuse on Sunday. That is a clean outbound Erie-to-Lakes leg, and it leaves the Lorain limestone dock quiet for the moment.

In Toledo, the Dirk S. VanEnkevort moved to CSX to load coal on Monday, a new berth from the Ironville arrival this column tracked Sunday. One sentence is what that move earns.

The Blair McKeil arrived at Midwest Terminals in Toledo on Monday. Among departures, the Caroline McKee/Commander pointed for Charlevoix and the Defiance/Ashtabula for Alpena.

Dense fog is blanketing portions of central to northern Lake Michigan today, with severe thunderstorms possible this afternoon and evening. Vessels working the Straits corridor are contending with fog on one quarter and storm cells on the other.

The Levels Ledger

Lake Erie reads 3.09 feet above Low Water Datum at Cleveland, the highest number on the upper four lakes and enough headroom for laden coal and ore carriers at Erie's shallower approach channels. Lake Superior sits at 1.82 feet, the tightest reading on the board. The Boland is inbound to Marquette; masters loading ore pellets there will want that Superior number in front of them when they plan their draft.

Weather on the Water

The deepening Erie low is the day's primary weather story. Behind it, Lake Huron gets its own turn Tuesday, with northerly gusts of 25 to 30 knots forecast on the south half by evening. Lake Superior is the calmest water on the board right now; the clipper low that grazed the western end this morning is already clearing east. Waves run one foot on Superior and Ontario, two on Huron and Erie, three on Michigan where the fog is thickest.

Looking Astern

Captain Steve Hughes of Duluth retires in December, closing three decades on the lakes from the pilot house of the Paul R. Tregurtha, the longest vessel working the Great Lakes. Hughes grew up in Marquette, where his father walked him to the docks to watch ore boats load. With five months left on his calendar, the pellet holds at Marquette are still filling the same way they did when he was a boy on the shore watching, before he knew he would end up on the bridge.

Tomorrow's Watch If the Erie cold front passes on schedule tonight, watch for northerly gusts building to 25 to 30 knots on the south half of Lake Huron by Tuesday evening.

Vessel Spotlight: The *Kaye E. Barker* departed Sandusky with coal for Zug Island on Monday, then returned to Norfolk Southern and loaded again, all within the same day's dispatches. It is the kind of double entry that makes the coal ledger sit up straight.