The Nautical Nerd, PO Box 1129, Sault Ste. Marie, MI (2026)

Join me as I discuss what I see, adventures I go on, learn about Great Lakes Shipping & hear from guests who talk about being out on the Lakes or how they are involved in the industry

04/23/2025

Well it's been a minute since I last posted here so I thought I would share some info from a post I did on my "regular" page lol... I was talking about how much cargo the large thousand footers can carry... In case you missed that post on my other page I'll share what I said here:

For those of you who don't know, the Edgar B Speer is 1004' in length, 105' wide and can carry upwards of 70,000 tons of cargo in one trip... As the Interlake Steamship Company shared in a post yesterday for Earth Day, that one trip means in order to ship the same amount of cargo any other way, you would need 2500 semi trucks or 700 rail cars... I will add to that, the fact that you have to remember you would also be adding a great deal of wear and tear on the infrastructure of the railways and highways needed to transport that cargo... These vessels make somewhere in the neighborhood of FIFTY trips per season so somewhere close to 70,000 tons per trip times the 13 ships that can carry that much times 50 trips a season... Just the footers alone carry a huge amount of cargo... Smaller ships will carry anywhere from 25,000 tons per trip up to 40,000ish tons and they are doing more than 50 trips a season because they are often doing shorter trade routes to varying ports and they are also capable of changing cargoes whereas the footers were built to carry coal or ore. The Great Lakes Shipping Industry is quite simply the most efficient and fastest way to get bulk commodities to ports all across the United States and Canada and we benefit from overseas ships coming here with cargoes and then picking up cargoes as well. So the next time you look around your house or around your community, think about how much of it was affected by the raw materials that our favorite ships carry to then make what it is we are seeing... You will probably surprise yourself at how much you are surrounded by that involves shipping one way or another.

This was a straight on bow shot of her that I got yesterday when she was passing through town on her way to Two Harbors to load ore... The lighting could not have been better so I took full advantage and grabbed this and a bunch of other shots while I had the drone out :)

I know I haven't started the podcast thing yet but I promise I will... Funds are lean right now and I need to still pay for a few things before I can start so hopefully I can get to it soon! I'm really excited about doing this and seeing what you all think... In the meantime I will continue to post here and hopefully very soon I'll be posting saying I'm about to record my first show!

Hope you like this shot of the Edgar B Speer! :)

04/01/2025

Just a reminder because I know it doesn't look like it or even feel like it right now, but Spring is actually here and with it brings our ships back!! This was the St Mary's River a week or more ago down at Johnson's Point... I'm going to have to head down again very soon to see what it's like now and catch some more ships!

Spring sailing will be a topic during one of my podcasts for sure! The challenges Mariners face, how things vary from season to season, why the shipping season starts when it does, and of course why we as "Nautical Nerds" love Spring with the ships no matter what the weather!

I'm still working on things to get myself set to start... it's costly and I have other expenses I have to deal with right now so we will have to see if I can spend more dough right away to get myself going or if it might have to wait a wee bit... I'll be starting as soon as I can though you can be sure! And I'll definitely keep you all posted here as often as I can about the status of things and when the actual date for the first podcast will happen

Thanks so much to all of you for being here with me while I sort through everything and make it right! I can't wait to record the first episode!

03/30/2025

Well here's how things are looking so far... the mics, headphones (although I have to find an adapter for them or else buy a pair that will be compatible with my MacBookPro laptop), and the filter screens for the mics... page done, Website done (with tweaks I still have to do like linking things to sign up pages etc), swag products designed and loaded on the shop on my website, and next is apparently signing on to a platform that records the podcasts and then distributes them to various places for folks to listen to?? I am just winging it here so hopefully I am doing everything as I should!! Little by little I'm getting closer to the first podcast which I HOPE to do later this week! If I have to change the date I will let you all know... As you know my life is a veritable gong show and things can change on a dime at any moment... Sort of like the ships and their trade routes!!

Thank you all again for your support of this venture... It's cost m more money than I expected and it's already taking more time than I expected but it's something I'm excited about and I think it will be fun! I have topic lists a mile long now thanks to your suggestions and my ideas combined and as new ideas come to my head I'll jot them down too so there's always new ideas for shows coming!

One thing I'm hoping to be able to keep track of is where ya'll are tuning in from when you watch/listen... I THINK the analytics that will come with the site where I record to, will let me know that info but it's always great to hear it from you personally as well.. I will be very interested to see how far the reach will be! Hopefully we'll go beyond North America like we did on my main page DRE Designs - Great Lakes Marine Products where we have folks following from all around the world!

I'll keep you all posted as things continue to develop! :D

03/30/2025

The Stewart J Cort is a fan favorite vessel on the Great Lakes and for good reason... She is the first thousand footer ever built and the only one with a classic design Pilothouse forward configuration... Every other "Footer" as they are called, is navigated from the stern where there is a gigantic Superstructure that houses the Navigational Pilothouse as well as the Galley and all the crew accommodations with Engineering directly below deck... The Cort is interesting in that the Navigational Pilothouse or "Bridge" is up forward (You can tell from the long row of windows you can see in my photo from yesterday on the left). along with some crew accommodations (Mates and the Chief Engineer are typically who would stay toward the forward end of the ship with other Engineers and deckhands at the stern) but what's also there that isn't on any other Classic vessel, is the Galley... On every other classic ship where you "Drive" from the front, you only have the Pilothouse and some crew accommodations... the Galley is always back aft with everything else... Not the Cort! To my knowledge she's the only vessel sailing with the Galley up forward like that

As you can see from the other photo here, there is another thing that makes this vessel unique... She was built in a very different manner with her forward and aft sections being built in one location and welded together and then sailed as one short unit up the Welland Canal and on to Erie, PA where they were separated, the long hull inserted and then welded back together again... The Cort has many nicknames... "Stewie, " #1 and "Stubby"... Now you know why "Stubby" became one of those names

There is a wonderful and extensive history of the ship online at the Shipwatcher News website so I'm including the link here for you to head over and have a read and look at some great historical and more current photos of her... The information was compiled and presented by Brendan Falkowski with contributions from various Photographers providing relevant photos so you'll enjoy going through it all I'm sure... https://greatlakesships.wordpress.com/stewart-j-cort/

Then you'll need to check out this terrific video done by Photographer and Drone Pilot Kevin O'Donnell... He resides in the Sturgeon Bay area and this off-season the Cort was there for her 5 year Inspection so he put together a great piece on her arrival... Check it out and give him a follow while you're there!

https://youtu.be/K2EaG2jK-jA?si=GuRK3GiVbnC8Jjgu

As if she hasn't had enough firsts, She has been the First Ship of the season here numerous times in past years, and this season she is the first footer from the Interlake Steamship Company fleet out of the gates... The Mesabi Miner, James R Barker and Paul R Tregurtha will head out sometime in the early part of April as of right now unless things change but in the meantime the Cort and Captain Parsons are off and running!

My shot on the left was taken yesterday as she was in the harbor heading for the Poe Lock... She is well on her way now to Silver bay, MN to load ore so we'll see her back here in a few days! It's always a treat to see her so we'll be watching for that return trip here in Sault Ste Marie!

03/29/2025

Well I think you can definitely say that the name of this page definitely describes me... I am most certainly a "Nautical Nerd" and if we're getting specific a "Great Lakes Nautical Nerd" lol While I'm not a "lifer" like many photographers who have been following the ships for decades, I feel like I love the ships and Great Lakes vessels of other types just as much as those who have been following since before I was born. It's an incredible industry full of fascinating things and people and the learning that can be done is always there. I have been doing this for 10 years now and I am absolutely still learning and I'm quite certain I always will be until I'm no longer of this world...

That's a lot of what this page is about... My podcasts will hopefully always bring you something you didn't know before, feed your brain with information where you say to yourself afterward "Wow I had no idea..." and then you look at the ships and other vessels on the Lakes differently because you know more about them than you did before...

Sometime the information I provide might just be a little tidbit and other times it might be a whole lot of information... depends on the day... There's something someone said to me once about the Great Lakes Shipping industry and that was to always "expect the unexpected" and that's a lot of what you'll find here too... Always expect the unexpected because you never know what I'm going to pull out of my bag of tricks to share with you on any given day ;-)

That brings me to this photo... It's the CCGS Amundsen, member of the Canadian Coast Guard and one of Canada's most powerful ice breakers. She is the only one with state of the art research facilities onboard ready to support national and international multidisciplinary research programs. She is a BEAST coming in at 322 feet in length which may seem small since we are used to the ships but that is rather large for an Icebreaker here... She is equipped with her own helicopter which is tucked away in the white garage structure you see at the stern of the ship and of course that means the fantail doubles as a Helicopter landing pad as well... She is quite the site when you see her in person and I had never seen her before so needless to say I was thrilled that she was coming to assist breaking out Whitefish Bay

I'll be sharing more photos of her over on my main page, DRE Designs - Great Lakes Marine Products so be sure to come and check them out!

Here is a website dedicated to the CCGS Amundsen and the science projects they do... Go check it out!! https://amundsenscience.com/

03/27/2025

Hello everyone and welcome to my NEW page "The Nautical Nerd" which will be dedicated solely to my upcoming Podcast show that I am hoping to start in a week or so!

I'm still going through things little by little... I have a lot to learn but am trying my best to get things up and running... My website is LIVE if you'd like to check it out... In the "Episodes" section I have put in there what I am hoping to be the first three topics of discussion and the tentative dates I plan to air them. I'm still trying to ensure I understand fully how to link an account to actually set up the podcast and then share the links here and on my DRE Designs - Great Lakes Marine Products page so you can all follow along even if you've never listened to a Podcast before lol

I have put an email address here but don't use it yet.. it's not hooked up... working on that... I do have a "Shop" set up on my website and apparently it's fully operational so check out the swag I have with my logo on it but I need to incorporate the shipping costs still and I'm not sure how to add that so for now just message me until I figure out the shipping aspect of things... I will also be adding more items, I just put up some things I thought would be popular for now

I'm hoping to bring you all some fun topics of discussion and answer questions you've wanted answered, learn about this fabulous industry and the people involved in it. Here's hoping it becomes something you are looking forward to when I announce an episode coming up! I'm looking forward to getting started!

Thank you for joining me on this new venture!

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PO Box 1129
Sault Ste. Marie, MI
49783

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+17059714076

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http://www.thenauticalnerd.com/

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