Paul J. Martin Leads Five Boats Into Sunday's Soo

Five vessels were stacking upbound toward the Soo Locks in the early hours of Sunday morning, and RT Hon Paul J. Martin held the lead position.

Martin was last reported from 9 Mile Point at 4:07 a.m. with a 5:14 ETA at the locks, the tightest slot in the queue. Presque Isle followed at 6:15, also out of 9 Mile Point, last reported at 4:43. St. Marys Pilot carried a 6:02 ETA from the Detour corridor, last seen at 4:30. Lee A. Tregurtha held a 7:38 slot, reported between Detour and the Soo at 4:12. Fraserborg, the furthest back, last checked in at 4:32 from the same stretch with a 10:28 ETA.

Running the other direction: BBC Leer, a salty working downbound out of the Keweenaw corridor, last reported at 11:23 p.m. Saturday, carried a 9:09 ETA at the locks. She would be threading the St. Marys southbound while Tregurtha and Fraserborg were still working their way up.

Five boats upbound, one salty pressing down: a full Sunday morning on the river before the weather turns.

Paul R. Tregurtha was running downbound on Lake Huron, last reported off Harbor Beach at 4:52 a.m. with a 9:07 ETA at Port Huron. Harvest Spirit was pushing northbound through the Detroit corridor at 4:39 a.m., due at Port Huron by 9:47. The two will pass somewhere in the St. Clair River reach this morning, a 1,000-footer heading south meeting a grain boat heading north.

In Toledo, the cruise ship American Patriot arrived at the ARMS dock Sunday while Evans Spirit came into Midwest Terminals. Departing were Albert/Margaret for Calcite and Erieborg for Rotterdam.

Herbert C. Jackson loaded coal at Norfolk Southern in Sandusky and left for Detroit. At Marblehead, Dorothy Ann/Pathfinder arrived at Amrize for limestone after American Courage finished loading and departed for Fairport Harbor.

Archived NOAA station observations: Lake Superior, Sault Ste. Marie (NOAA station 9076027): 1.427 feet relative to local Low Water Datum, observed 2026-09-12 23:54 local standard time. Lake Michigan, Chicago (NOAA station 9087031): 1.991 feet relative to local Low Water Datum, observed 2026-09-12 23:54 local standard time. Lake Huron, Harbor Beach, MI (NOAA station 9075002): 1.847 feet relative to local Low Water Datum, observed 2026-09-12 23:54 local standard time. Lake Erie, Cleveland (NOAA station 9063053): 2.877 feet relative to local Low Water Datum, observed 2026-09-12 23:54 local standard time. Lake Ontario, Rochester, NY (NOAA station 9052030): 3.212 feet relative to local Low Water Datum, observed 2026-09-12 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 cold front is crossing Lakes Erie and Ontario today. Lake Michigan is carrying light to moderate northwest winds with occasional gusts to 25 knots this afternoon, easing tonight as high pressure moves across. The bigger concern is what follows: gale watches are posted for Lake Superior from late Monday night through Tuesday afternoon, and for Lake Michigan from Monday evening through Tuesday afternoon. Boats working the upper lakes have today and most of Monday before conditions change.

A life ring from the S.S. Milwaukee turned up at a rummage sale in Manistee, nearly a century after the railroad car ferry went down in Lake Michigan. The Milwaukee sank in 1929 with 52 people aboard and no survivors, lost on a crossing from Milwaukee to Grand Haven in a severe storm. The Society for the Preservation of the S.S. City of Milwaukee, whose museum ship is permanently docked in Manistee, recovered the ring. A piece of a lost boat outlasting nearly everyone who remembered her is the kind of story the lakes keep producing.