M A R L I N    B R E E

 

In the wheelhouse, sitting 40-some feet above the water, Capt. McSorley felt secure as he headed his 729-foot oreboat northward. It was warm here, with only occasional bits of Superior spray on the forward windows, and the boat -- despite its "wiggling thing" that they had been living with for years -- was humming  Read More 

It was foggy and stormy out on the Big Lake as I sat in the tiny cockpit of Persistence. We were securely tied up to a barge in Two Harbors, Minnesota, near the old steam tugboat, the Edna G. Out there, just past the breakwaters not far away, Superior was kicking up big waves  Read More 

When the Fitzgerald was well out to sea, about an hour and a half after leaving the Superior entryway of the Duluth - Superior Harbor, the Weather Service broadcast gale warnings. The weather was worsening, with winds gusting from 34 to 38 knots. Capt. McSorley heard the crackle of a radio message. It was the 767-foot  Read More 

The tugboat captain and I were seated in his pilothouse observing a wall of steel sliding past us and out the Superior entryway. It was near midnight and a giant oreboat was going out of the harbor. It was also through this entryway, one of two into the Duluth - Superior Harbor, that the  Read More