Mariner Accelerating to Full Power Out of the Canal and Putting On a Nighttime Show

American Mariner making a very showy overnight departure from Duluth for just a rather small crowd on the north pier and maybe two people, including myself, on the the South. Despite that she left with an incredibly loud salute that in person made the bridge response feel downright quiet (that part didn’t translate to video as well), spotlights ablaze, into the wind and some decent sized waves with engines roaring. Someone on board didn’t want anyone to sleep! She made her initial turn under the bridge slow and tight against the back wall, then after just after the salute she punched the engines, quickly accelerating out of the canal at full power. Quite unusual for a ship to do that inside the Canal itself, you sometimes hear them spooling up after they pass the lighthouses but this was a cool treat! You can also see the smoke start pouring from her stack as she begins to accelerate. At anchor on the lake was the saltie (ocean ship) Thea G, waiting on a grain dock. She was departing with grain (the only US laker to regularly carry that), bound for Buffalo, NY.
Built in 1980 and measuring 730ft x 78ft, the American Mariner, along with her near twin sister Joseph L Block, are the largest US vessels capable of sailing the Welland and St Lawrence Seaways. Early in her career she would use the seaway frequently, but in recent years those trips have decreased, usually staying in the upper lakes with the rest of the US fleet. She was originally intended to be named Chicago, but the name was changed before launch to American Mariner to honor the crews sailing on US vessels around the world. She would be the first of the “American” named vessels sailing for ASC, breaking the longtime name code of the day. She is one of four vessels built to almost the same design but with different lengths, the others being the slightly shorter John J Boland and H Lee White, as well as the above mentioned Joseph L Block (which is identical in design to Mariner except for a guest room on her pilothouse and a slightly different bow flare). The Mariner is nearly identical in dimensions to the Edmund Fitzgerald, granted a very different design and appearance. She is known in Duluth as being a crowd pleaser, often giving multiple salutes, sometimes with different horns, and cheerful crew. Despite this, she strangely does not have the name recognition and fan following that many other lakers do.
The ship has had a few incidents in her career, including one of the worst ones in modern Great Lakes history. In April of 2000 she lost steering as she was entering the St Clair River from Lake Huron, sending her into a navigation light and ripping a 30ft long by 10ft wide gash just above her waterline, and a second 25ft long by 6 inch gash just below the waterline. The ship quickly flooded and sank, fortunately just a few feet to the river bottom. A nearby fleetmate, Adam E Cornelius (now Algoma Compass) arrived, swapped some pumping equipment and the Mariner emptied her cargo into her and made temporary repairs, eventually refloating the ship with her forward cargo hold sealed off but still flooded, and was able to sail with assistance to a shipyard. In the meantime shipping traffic down the critical St Clair River between Lake Huron and Detroit/ Lake Erie was all but shut down, with ships backed up for many miles. Other incidents include a fire in her cargo holds during the 1995 winter layup, resulting in damage to her self unloading systems but fortunately did not spread into the pilothouse in the manner that destroyed her fleetmate St Clair in 2017. Then in March of this year on her first trip of the 2024 season she suffered a (as of yet unreleased to the public) problem which sent her into another navigational beacon and the banks of the St Mary’s River south of the Soo locks. After blocking the shipping channel to and from Lake Superior for over a day, she was pulled free with a number of smaller holes in her hull, requiring around a month of repairs.
Despite being a fairly common visitor, I actually don’t have many videos posted of this ship at all, so I hope everyone enjoys!

[@royharris7299]

Every once in a while, I have to watch a Duluth shipping video that does not have any commentary- just the ambient sounds of the environment. This is one of those videos. Well done sir!

[@jonathanellsworth21]

@@royharris7299 Glad you enjoyed it!

[@carolyndavis7476]

One of the best night time videos i have ever viewed. Dont know what kind of camera you were using but hope you do this again. The lighting and ambient sounds were excellent. Thank you for this exceptional view.

[@jonathanellsworth21]

Same camera as usual! Just screwed around with some settings, very happy with how it ended up! Definitely doing more!

[@gregmctevia5087]

That was a really beautiful piece. Loved the beams from the spot lights shooting out into the night. Looked like lasers. Great sound too. And last but not least it’s a night video so…..

[@jonathanellsworth21]

😁 The spotlights are always cool to see! Figured you’d like this one 😂

[@JenniferWaite63]

I visited Duluth back in 2001, on my way to Canada. This was amazing to watch, especially at night! So cool! Thank you!

[@jonathanellsworth21]

@@JenniferWaite63 hopefully brings back good memories! Glad you enjoyed! It never gets old 😃

[@bettycurry6752]

Originally from the Great Lakes region I really appreciate these laker videos and many thanks…..👍💝

[@jonathanellsworth21]

@@bettycurry6752 no problem!

[@danielmorris3687]

Lol. You can hear those diesels winding up and getting ready to hammer down outta the canal.

[@jonathanellsworth21]

Yep!

[@tomuchfunwithgas846]

Thank you very much.

[@jonathanellsworth21]

@@tomuchfunwithgas846 no problem!

[@petervandam3924]

We saw her enter Duluth a few years back, still one of my favourite ships

[@NoewerrATall]

Lovely video! What a treat, listening to those big marine diesels spool up. The video was sharp enough to cut myself on. Thank you!

[@jonathanellsworth21]

@@NoewerrATall Glad you enjoyed!!

[@dans542]

That’s a lot of boat 😊

[@jamesnelson6980]

You could see her powering up early in the video as the stern was sagging slightly to port. She straightened right up when the Cap called for full ahead.

[@michaeltaylor8835]

Superb video very atmospheric

[@jonathanellsworth21]

Thank you!

[@MarcFutoran]

Beautiful to see those big ships.

[@bdwillis8284]

Very fun, thanks!

[@jonathanellsworth21]

@@bdwillis8284 no problem!

[@michaeltaylor8835]

Thank you for braving rhe weather

[@jonathanellsworth21]

Wasn’t too bad by Duluth standards, little windy!

[@michaeltaylor8835]

May god protect all sailors

[@jonathanellsworth21]

🙏

[@phe9238]

I love the mood and scenery, following since years! Thank you for sharing! 🙏 pity I will probably never see this live.. Regards from Germany

[@jimp.7286]

Same here. 😕 Cheers.

[@tomedgar4375]

No comments, no music, wonderful

[@jonathanellsworth21]

@@tomedgar4375 those things are very overrated lol, natural sound is better and I can explain everything going on with note detail in writing and not interrupt the scene or talk people’s ears off lol. Granted I know people who prefer it, but it’s not me

[@SOU6900]

So I just now learned the horns are also wired up to lights, which makes sense now that I think about it.

[@jonathanellsworth21]

@@SOU6900 yep! Visual and Auditory!

[@SOU6900]

@jonathanellsworth21 I really feel kinda stupid since in hindsight it's really common sense.😅🙃

[@jonathanellsworth21]

@@SOU6900 Nah, it surprises a lot of people when they visit in person for the first time! It shows up very clear in this video but in a lot of footage it just blends in or isn’t shown. Not all the ships have that light either, but most do

[@geoffreywallace9432]

Damn the torpedoes full speed ahead!

[@jonathanellsworth21]

@@geoffreywallace9432 😃 Damn the Lighthouses as well! 😂

[@tomtrenter3208]

I hear mostly engine turbo chargers because she had the screen door that opens through the side to the engine room. I do hear some exhaust noise from the stacks. If you had a hydrophone at the end of the channel wall you would have heard everything including her bow thruster and then her props cavitating just before she gets to you. She has a controllable pitch prop which would make hard to get her speed by counting her shaft RPM.

[@jonathanellsworth21]

@@tomtrenter3208 a hydrophone might be interesting, I know Paul tried that a couple years ago, not sure it worked as well as he wanted it to because he hasn’t done it in a while!

[@gwennienelson6907]

EXHILARATING! I’m from Duluth ~ I call it home even though I don’t live there. I’d ride my bike down to the pier every chance I had to watch the boats!!! Thank you

[@jonathanellsworth21]

Should do what I did and move to town then 😃😂 Glad you enjoy it!

[@tucobenedicto109]

Sounded like Gm EMD's! Nice.

[@jonathanellsworth21]

@@tucobenedicto109 that is correct! She has two 3,500 hp GM EMD engines. Very impressive you can tell that by ear!

[@tucobenedicto109]

@@jonathanellsworth21 I did smiley 🙂 for that video.

[@barryhome8910]

Wow!!!! Very dramatic!!! I'm in Florida, but I felt I was right there...could even feel the spray! Well done!!!

[@jonathanellsworth21]

@@barryhome8910 Thank you! That’s always the goal so that’s awesome to hear! Glad you enjoyed it! 😃

[@rickchapman9232]

Did you see the light come on when the horn was blew?

[@jonathanellsworth21]

@@rickchapman9232 yep! A lot of ships and the bridge have that at night!

[@alexgoldstein7997]

You really did capture something here.

[@jimp.7286]

Wow! Very cool. I like going down to the water front and marina on the west coast late at night but we don't have anything like that. Just barking seals, water and the creaking of floating docks and pilings. The bridge is awesome as well. Again - very cool. Thanks. 👍

[@richardbause2453]

Capnin,Capnin 16.1 knots is all she's got, she's not a bloody speed boat on these Great lakes 😮😂

[@jonathanellsworth21]

@@richardbause2453 16.1 would actually be really fast! I don’t think I’ve seen her go more than 13 lol. Fastest laker I can recall was Michipicoten with 14.7, although rumor has it the Edward L Ryerson can push well beyond that if she ever sails again. Definitely not speed boats 😂😂

[@Doctorj63]

I thought the bow was going to come up out of the water on the acceleration.

[@jonathanellsworth21]

Nah, I don’t think any amount of acceleration from those engines are going to lift 730ft of hull and over a hundred million pounds of cargo! They’d need to be going incredibly fast

[@rosieone5670]

Lightspeed.

[@chuckyc6912]

Awsome

[@michaeltaylor8835]

One of the sharpest videos of Duluth ive seen

[@jonathanellsworth21]

Thank you! Been working on that lol

[@MsMsmak]

Superb video!

[@BillWendell-y5c]

Raise your hand if you were a Prairie Home Companion fan and know what Duluth is a code word for.

[@RayTuttle-of5qd]

I’m giving her all she’s got captain

[@Matt-mo8sl]

Watching from Maine. One day, I gotta get out there and see that place for myself. Great clip!!!

[@jonathanellsworth21]

@@Matt-mo8sl You should! It’s definitely an experience 😃 Lots of stuff to do around the area as well!

[@JCLampee-t3f]

very majestic, God's speed

[@jonathanellsworth21]

She certainly has a presence around her!

[@markr4563]

So nice!

[@jonathanellsworth21]

Thanks!

[@tbc27Z]

Very Nice. 👍

[@SteveBull-tg8mi]

Very dramatic and impressive video.

[@jonathanellsworth21]

@@SteveBull-tg8mi thanks!

[@skycvg]

Definitely, sound effects added to the departure.

[@jonathanellsworth21]

@@skycvg definitely, she put on a show!

[@tokugawa12able]

@@jonathanellsworth21I trust your correspondent didn’t mean “added in” as there were plenty of natural and captain induced effects to keep any audience satisfied.

[@jonathanellsworth21]

@@tokugawa12able nope! No sounds added. I just go out and film, nothing added

[@tokugawa12able]

@jonathanellsworth21 oh, I know, believe me ...and we respect you for it.

[@jonathanellsworth21]

@@tokugawa12able thanks!

[@PaulGibson-f7x]

Watching from the uk

[@jonathanellsworth21]

@@PaulGibson-f7x glad to have you here! Hope you enjoyed!

[@douglasskaalrud6865]

No doubt the idea of Mariner’s departure came from the shotgun blast departure of the Enterprise A from Earth’s orbiting space station. Only James Tiberius Kirk would be allowed such a violation of Starfleet ship handling regulations. Oh, and if the revving up of the 710 is dubbed in-it was an awesome addition!

[@jonathanellsworth21]

@@douglasskaalrud6865 lol 😂 I don’t remember the Enterprise A doing that, I do remember some other shenanigans with the original though 😁

[@sandysmithvideos228]

645E3-20x2

[@rustymshakelford7058]

Listen to those Jimmys scream!!

[@aneziavieiraleiteoficialam9141]

muito linda imagens ❤ obrigado

[@jonathanellsworth21]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@coldspring624]

October 1st closing in fast

[@jonathanellsworth21]

@@coldspring624 lol yeah the month is going by fast and yet slow at the same time! Time is weird

[@ericswain4177]

Looks like standard Port Speed to me. Spotlights were on as it is a narrow inlet. Most ports are fairly strict about exceeding the max you, and you get fined otherwise and using shipboard spotlights is nothing special.

[@jonathanellsworth21]

@@ericswain4177 Have to listen and watch after they salute! Yes they’re within the speed limit, they start out slow then hit it at full power as soon as they clear the lift bridge. The speed gain is obviously not instant but they’re definitely accelerating full power. Plus didn’t say that the spotlights are unusual, only that they’re cool

[@Joeybagofdonutts]

Well, there’s seven minutes and forty-three seconds of my life i’ll never get back.

[@jonathanellsworth21]

Lol what exactly were you expecting then 😂😂

[@Joeybagofdonutts]

@@jonathanellsworth21 the title says “full power out of the canal and putting on a nighttime show”… I was expecting something more than what I saw 😂

[@jonathanellsworth21]

@@Joeybagofdonutts it’s a 150 million pound, 730ft long ship, this is very quick acceleration at the scale we’re talking about. You’re looking at 7,000 horsepower applying at full thrust but it’s not going to send it skipping across the water like a speed boat lol

[@minerran]

that bridge horn is so annoying, like fingernails on a chalkboard. I have to mute it. cant imaging living there and being woke up to this in the middle of the night.

[@jonathanellsworth21]

@@minerran Microphones catch the lower, more grating tones better than your ears do, so it’s a way better and cleaner sound in person. Usually. Sometimes extreme cold can affect it and it sounds more like the recordings lol. On rare occasion there will be a video that catches the actual sound better and I always try and point it out!