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 Unsupported navigation implications were withdrawn.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 saltwater vessel Onego Otra has been on the riverbed near Île Saint-Ours in Contrecoeur, Quebec, since June 30, when a rudder problem put her down around 3 p.m. as she ran outbound from Montreal for New Orleans. Twenty days have passed. She is still there.
Lightering operations using the vessel's own cranes began after the grounding; Ocean Group tugs were deployed for ship lightening and barge transport. The Gazette notes that the Canadian Coast Guard's published record carries a lightering start date that precedes the June 30 grounding, which is plainly impossible, so no start date for the crane work is being printed here. What is documented: a first salvage attempt by four Ocean Group tugs on July 14 was aborted. No second attempt date appears in the record as of this writing.
The cargo is coming off barge by barge. Four tugs pulling together on July 14 were not enough to move her. The river keeps moving past her.
Joyce L. VanEnkevort/Great Lakes Trader arrived at Norfolk Southern's Sandusky coal dock today to load, coming down from Marblehead where she had been working Amrize. Coal loading at Sandusky has been active this stretch: Baie Comeau departed that same dock Sunday, so the berth turned over inside a day.
Olive L. Moore/Menominee unloaded limestone for the scrubbers at DTE in Monroe and then cleared for Calcite. New York/Double Skin 509A arrived at Monroe to unload liquid asphalt at Michigan Paving and Materials.
In Toledo, Evans Spirit Wicko departed for Thunder Bay. At Marblehead, Manitoulin arrived at Amrize. Dorothy Ann/Pathfinder is anchored in Lake Erie.
Archived NOAA station observations: Lake Superior, Sault Ste. Marie (NOAA station 9076027): 1.801 feet relative to local Low Water Datum, observed 2026-07-19 23:54 local standard time. Lake Michigan, Chicago (NOAA station 9087031): 2.211 feet relative to local Low Water Datum, observed 2026-07-19 23:54 local standard time. Lake Huron, Harbor Beach, MI (NOAA station 9075002): 2.224 feet relative to local Low Water Datum, observed 2026-07-19 23:54 local standard time. Lake Erie, Cleveland (NOAA station 9063053): 3.015 feet relative to local Low Water Datum, observed 2026-07-19 23:54 local standard time. Lake Ontario, Rochester, NY (NOAA station 9052030): 3.76 feet relative to local Low Water Datum, observed 2026-07-19 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.
A Gale Watch is posted for Lake Superior from Tuesday morning through late Tuesday night, with a low deepening to 29.4 inches tonight before tracking east. Vessels working Superior today have a clock running. Lake Michigan carries a Marine Dense Smoke Advisory through today; wildfire smoke pushing down from Minnesota and Canada has cut visibility to around 1 nautical mile at times. A cold front crosses Erie and Huron tonight into Tuesday, bringing showers and thunderstorms. Waves are low across all five lakes this morning. Superior will not look that way by Tuesday afternoon.
The story attached to today's date belongs to Captain Steve Hughes, a Marquette native whose 97-year-old father, a former Northern Michigan University geography professor, once walked him to the docks to watch ore boats load. Thirty years later Hughes pilots the longest vessel on the Great Lakes, the Paul R. Tregurtha, and plans to retire in December. He says the distinction is more symbolic than operational. The freighter watchers who line the Marquette shore when the Tregurtha comes in would probably disagree.