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 Unsupported navigation implications were withdrawn.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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At 05:24 Sunday morning, two vessels were simultaneously logged on the St. Clair River at almost the same breath of time. Manitowoc, running downbound from Harbor Beach, carried an ETA of 10:49 at Port Huron. Rt. Hon. Paul J. Martin, working north near Crib Light, was due at the same vantage point by 09:27. Each was on its own side of the river in the dark, stacks moving in opposite directions through the same corridor the Viking Octantis threaded earlier this week.
For a shore-side watcher at Fort Gratiot, the picture this morning was two vessels drawing apart in the current: Manitowoc continuing south toward the lake, Paul Martin pressing north toward Huron. No shared dock, no shared cargo, no shared destination. Just the St. Clair doing what it does on a Sunday at first light, moving boats both ways at once.
Burns Harbor was off Bark Point, Wisconsin, at 04:56 Sunday, AIS placing her at Duluth by 08:06. She is the freshest freighter on the western end of Superior this morning.
Algoma Bear was running upbound from Detour toward the Soo Locks at 02:55 Sunday, ETA 06:24. Spruceglen was also upbound from Detour, ETA 05:47. John G. Munson came downbound from Point Iroquois with an ETA of 05:54, threading the gate from the other direction in the same morning hour.
Victory II arrived at Dock 28W at the Port of Cleveland, per Sunday's port report. Clyde S. VanEnkevort and consort Erie Trader arrived at Monroe with coal for DTE; the pair had loaded at Norfolk Southern in Sandusky before departing for Monroe, per the same report.
Archived NOAA station observations: Lake Superior, Sault Ste. Marie (NOAA station 9076027): 1.755 feet relative to local Low Water Datum, observed 2026-08-08 23:54 local standard time. Lake Michigan, Chicago (NOAA station 9087031): 2.037 feet relative to local Low Water Datum, observed 2026-08-08 23:54 local standard time. Lake Huron, Harbor Beach, MI (NOAA station 9075002): 2.188 feet relative to local Low Water Datum, observed 2026-08-08 23:54 local standard time. Lake Erie, Cleveland (NOAA station 9063053): 3.133 feet relative to local Low Water Datum, observed 2026-08-08 23:54 local standard time. Lake Ontario, Rochester, NY (NOAA station 9052030): 3.72 feet relative to local Low Water Datum, observed 2026-08-08 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.
Waves are holding at two feet on Superior, Michigan, Huron, and Ontario; one foot on Erie under a ridge building today. That calm on Erie is brief: three weak low-pressure systems will push through Sunday night into Wednesday. A trough is already approaching Lake Michigan from the Minnesota Arrowhead, and NWS flags an unsettled pattern across the Upper Great Lakes through the week. Southerly winds return to Huron by Sunday evening.
Captain Steve Hughes of Marquette, Michigan will retire in December after three decades on the lakes, the final years as pilot of the Paul R. Tregurtha, the longest vessel operating on the Great Lakes. His father, a 97-year-old former NMU geography professor, first took him to watch ore boats dock at Marquette. Hughes has said the distinction of commanding the longest boat is more symbolic than operational, but the group of shore-side watchers who follow the Tregurtha would likely disagree.