by Roger LeLievre | May 21, 2026 | Boatnerd News
DETROIT, MI – A new book, “The Great Lakes Ships of Frank E. Kirby” (Michigan State University Press, $29.95), explores the life of a prolific Midwestern naval architect whose vessels once carried passengers who are still alive today. Kirby was a naval architect in...
by Roger LeLievre | May 21, 2026 | Boatnerd News
CLEVELAND, OH – The numbers are in and U.S.-flag shipping on the Great Lakes lost a total of 1,953 hours or 82 ship days due to inadequate icebreaking. To put 82 days in perspective, it is about a third of the shipping season on the Great Lakes as the Soo Locks close...
by Roger LeLievre | May 19, 2026 | Noteworthy Passages
The passenger boat Island Queen V was upbound on the St. Marys River Saturday. Flying not one but two pirate flags, she stopped at the Bondar Dock in Sault Ste. Marie, ON, then she moved over to the MCM Marine yard in Sault Ste. Marie, MI, the following day. Transport...
by Roger LeLievre | May 19, 2026 | Boatnerd News
The U.S. Coast Guard has concluded all icebreaking operations in America’s Eastern and Great Lakes waterways following a severe winter season that continued well into spring in some regions. Operation Taconite, the Coast Guard’s final ongoing domestic icebreaking...
by Roger LeLievre | May 19, 2026 | Boatnerd News
NEEBISH ISLAND, MI – A change is coming to the Neebish Island Ferry schedule Monday, May 18, and residents on the island, along with the ferry crew, are very excited. This has been a story SooLeader has been following since October 2023 after ferry runs to and from...
