When Donna MacIntosh heard a boat horn, she jumped on her computer and clicked on the Michigan Tech Webcams to see what boat could be sailing the Portage Canal. She quickly downloaded a few shots of the T/S State Of Michigan, a 224 foot Training Vessel used by the Great Lakes Maritime Academy in Traverse City, to train cadets to become Merchant Marine Officers. It operates as a floating classroom with accommodations for up to 50 students, giving them hands-on experience in navigation, engineering and ship operation. Donna captured scenes from the webcams as it sailed under the Portage Lake Lift Bridge and down the canal. In the second shot you can see a deckhand on the second level. Pretty cool!

The bottom two photos are Donna’s brother Mike’s grandkids... Little Macs. They were all dressed up for the 4th of July and just too cute not to share, especially the little guy eating the hot dog. Check out what his hat says... too funny!

Talk about perfect timing, to accompany Donna’s captures from the webcams, In The Keweenaw shares a video of the T/S State of Michigan Vessel sailing under the Portage Lake Lift Bridge. I wonder if he heard to boats horn, too and got his drone UP in the air in time to capture it?

That was cool to watch...I had to ask my niece what
ship it was, she monitors ships and planes..

Love the littles, that hat was just way too cute!

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Donna, nice capture of the T/S State of Michigan,
and interesting info about the ship! I check the
Marine Traffic link and get lucky now and then…there
will be a freighter in view of a webcam, so I can get
a look from hundreds of miles south. So cool to
catch one passing under the Mackinac Bridge!

Hi
I always enjoy seeing vessels (there, hopefully dodged
the boat vs ship discussion). I was wondering, though,
about what seems to be a stream of water coming out of
the ship's side. I see it in both the photos and the
video.

Boats take on water when sailing so they are
equipped with a bilge pump(s) to pump out the
excess water, Similar to a sump pump in houses ete,

Great idea to hop on your computer, Donna. Those
are great pictures. And your little nieces and
nephews are adorable.

Kathryn, when i was a kid and ships would go
through the canal, like the South American and
others, we'd be in the water and, if I remember
correctly, sometimes water would get sucked up and
then we'd get all kinds of junk on the beaches from
the boats. I never understood that and never
thought to ask anybody. People please correct me if
I'm wrong.

Hi
DebS, I don't know either how water being sucked up
would cause debris to get into the water. But I also
remember junk---gobs of black stuff (tar?), an orange
peel, a lightbulb---on the beach of Lake Huron when I
was a kid. But later it stopped, I think in the late
60's or early 70's.

Of course we know that invasive species have entered
the Great Lakes from ship discharges.

Those streams of water exiting both sides of the ship is water used for cooling mechanical systems like the engine, gear boxes and other hydraulic systems. Since 1972, Great Lakes ships are no longer allowed to pump out bilge or gray water into the lakes. Ocean going ships are exempt from these rules and can even dump black water, as long as they are greater than 3 miles out.

Hi
D.A., thanks for the explanation.