MV Maumee backs in to load salt.
First 20 seconds have bad sun flare, then it clears.
Note the bow thruster working.
Built as the SS Calcite II in 1929, thus 79 or 80 years old, and still productive. She is a near twin of the Calumet, ex Myron C. Taylor, also built in 1929, which went to scrap at the end of the 2007 season.
Originally steam powered, she still has steam deck + anchor winches, and old-style telescoping hatch covers, the same style as those on the museum boat William G. Mather.
The rusty scrapes are common to most Great Lakes freighters, since they transit canal locks and tie up to rough dock facings on a regular basis. The hull steel is so thick that the scrapes don't normally matter, other than appearance.
How many saltie skippers are willing to back their ship upriver with no tug assistance? These guys do it on a daily basis, often in a stiff crosswind with a sea running at the harbor entrance.
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