Correction: Corrected September 17, 2026: the water-level paragraph now reports the archived NOAA station observations and their limits. Unsupported navigation implications were withdrawn. NOAA measurement context.
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The schooner Highlander Sea has sunk at a dock in Brooklyn, New York. Built in 1924 and measuring 154 feet, the gaff-rigged vessel spent nearly a decade on the Great Lakes after Acheson Ventures of Port Huron acquired her in 2002 for the Desmond Landing waterfront project. From 2002 to 2011 she served as Port Huron's official flagship, appearing at maritime and tall ship events throughout the region and working as a floating classroom where young people learned sailing and seamanship.
That chapter closed more than a decade ago, and the Highlander Sea long since left these waters. But the port she represented is still on this lake, and anyone who watched her tie up at Port Huron in those years has reason to note the loss.
No cargo, no channel, no exclusion zone: just a wooden hull on the bottom of a Brooklyn slip, a long way from where she earned her name on the lakes.
The Onego Otra remains aground on the St. Lawrence River at Île Saint-Ours near Contrecoeur, Quebec. Refloating operations are under way. The Canadian Coast Guard reports no injuries and no pollution; the main shipping channel is open. A drone exclusion zone is in place around the vessel, with flights prohibited up to 2,000 feet, according to CCG.
Toledo drew a full Sunday roster: Stenheim came into George Gradel, Defiance/Ashtabula arrived at ADM/Mid America Salt, and John J. Boland reached Torco. Kaye E. Barker dropped anchor in Lake Erie with no stated destination in the report. Federal Hudson and Wilf Seymour/Alouette Spirit remain at Midwest Terminals.
At Monroe, Undaunted/Pere Marquette 41 arrived to load gypsum at the Port dock and then left for Alpena. At Marblehead, Herbert C. Jackson departed for Detroit as a separate movement; Manitoulin arrived at Amrize. Dorothy Ann/Pathfinder left Marblehead for Marysville. Algoma Bear is waiting to load at Sandusky.
Archived NOAA station observations: Lake Superior, Sault Ste. Marie (NOAA station 9076027): 1.85 feet relative to local Low Water Datum, observed 2026-07-11 23:54 local standard time. Lake Michigan, Chicago (NOAA station 9087031): 2.408 feet relative to local Low Water Datum, observed 2026-07-11 23:54 local standard time. Lake Huron, Harbor Beach, MI (NOAA station 9075002): 2.29 feet relative to local Low Water Datum, observed 2026-07-11 23:54 local standard time. Lake Erie, Cleveland (NOAA station 9063053): 3.186 feet relative to local Low Water Datum, observed 2026-07-11 23:54 local standard time. Lake Ontario, Rochester, NY (NOAA station 9052030): 3.753 feet relative to local Low Water Datum, observed 2026-07-11 23:54 local standard time. These are individual gauge readings, not lake-wide averages or channel depths. They do not establish vessel clearance, cargo limits or comparative navigability.
High pressure at 30.1 to 30.2 inches holds the lakes under a calm lid this Sunday. Superior is running 4-foot waves as the high begins tracking south; Michigan and Huron sit at 2 feet; Erie and Ontario are at 1 foot. The stillness on the lower lakes will not outlast Tuesday, when the high slides east into New England and a warm front sweeps the Ontario region. Deck-chair conditions on Erie today; something more active by midweek.
Captain Steve Hughes of Duluth grew up in Marquette watching ore boats work the docks, his NMU geography-professor father beside him on the waterfront. He could not have known he would spend three decades on the lakes himself. He is now pilot of the M/V Paul R. Tregurtha, the longest vessel operating on the Great Lakes at 1,013.5 feet, and retires in December. His own word on the distinction: more symbolic than operational. The docks in Marquette had the last word anyway.