What Does 1000 Feet Look Like?

[mikoyan29]

Over the weekend, I went up to the Upper Peninsula.

http://michiganexposures.blogspot.co...-mackinaw.html

http://michiganexposures.blogspot.co...ake-huron.html

http://michiganexposures.blogspot.co...r-village.html

And a different 1000 footer
http://michiganexposures.blogspot.co...carthy-jr.html

Granted, not quite as long as our aircraft carriers...but pretty close.

[draggar]

.. and all these are on a LAKE. A frikken LAKE!!!

This never ceases to amaze me that we need such shipping infrastructure on the Great Lakes. You'd expect to see something like that going across the Pacific.

[lordlundar]

.. and all these are on a LAKE. A frikken LAKE!!!

This never ceases to amaze me that we need such shipping infrastructure on the Great Lakes. You'd expect to see something like that going across the Pacific.

Well, when you consider the only thing stopping them being classified as 'seas' is that they're all fresh water, it makes more sense.

(IIRC, Lake Erie is a sunken ship hunters dream with so many wrecks at the bottom)

[drunkenwildmage]

.. and all these are on a LAKE. A frikken LAKE!!!

This never ceases to amaze me that we need such shipping infrastructure on the Great Lakes. You'd expect to see something like that going across the Pacific.

From my understanding, the Great Lakes Bulk carriers used to be longer (But Narrower) then Ocean bulk Carriers, partly because they didn't need to handle the bigger waves you would find in the Ocean.. Pretty Sure it's not like that anymore tho.

[PepperElf]

what blows my mind is seeing the length of the ship and then realizing.... my last aircraft carrier was longer by ... 68.9 feet.

the ship just looks shorter in pictures because of the wider top and because most photos are at odd angles.


although i'm glad this wasn't what I thought it was going to be.... i was expecting a photo of 1000 pairs of feet and being glad i didn't have to smell them.

[draggar]

Well, when you consider the only thing stopping them being classified as 'seas' is that they're all fresh water, it makes more sense.

(IIRC, Lake Erie is a sunken ship hunters dream with so many wrecks at the bottom)

True but I guess I've never grasped the actual size of the GREAT Lakes. Usually when you think of lakes people usually go around them on roads but the Great Lakes are just a *huge* system of bodies of water. People would never imagine boats like those or the ports that would be able to support them on "lakes".

[dalesys]

although i'm glad this wasn't what I thought it was going to be...

Or a sausagefest at the nude beach.

[Treasure]

Well, when you consider the only thing stopping them being classified as 'seas' is that they're all fresh water, it makes more sense.

(IIRC, Lake Erie is a sunken ship hunters dream with so many wrecks at the bottom)

here ya go

[mikoyan29]

My grandpa was a merchant marine and many of them preferred the oceans to the lakes because the waves on the ocean were nice smooth (but big waves) and the waves on the Lakes are choppy (but still big in some cases).

And yes, the Lakes are big. There are points on the Lakes were you can't see across. Suprisingly, these 1000 footers just stick to the Lakes because they can't get through the Welland Canal.

And as for the other kind of lakes, we have lots of those too.


But sadly, my ship photography is going to be taking a hiatus as the Lakes also freeze over...

[PepperElf]

True but I guess I've never grasped the actual size of the GREAT Lakes. Usually when you think of lakes people usually go around them on roads but the Great Lakes are just a *huge* system of bodies of water. People would never imagine boats like those or the ports that would be able to support them on "lakes".

You can fit Navy ships in there. Hell our Recruit Training Command is in Great Lakes, IL.


There's one stretch of Lake Erie my sis's family goes to the beach on. It's relatively shallow near the shore but ... you can't see the other side of it.


But these lakes... this is why some of the bigger industries (i.e. detroit & cars) are located where they are. They can easily ship stuff in and out of the country from there, or to other parts of the US before they go to the highways.

[TawnyMyst]

The scary part is a ship that size will only have 25 - 35 crew members on her to run the whole show, be in port maybe 6 to 8 hours and back out again. It's awesome how they're run. I used to work on them.

[mikoyan29]

The scary part is a ship that size will only have 25 - 35 crew members on her to run the whole show, be in port maybe 6 to 8 hours and back out again. It's awesome how they're run. I used to work on them.

That is awesome. That is my goal one of these days is to spend a couple days on one of the lake freighters. My other goal is to take a ride on the J.W. Westcott.

PepperElf - The combination of resources in Minnesota and Canada and the lakes are one of the reasons why there is a steel industry in Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania. The auto industry came about because of separate reasons. And typically, cars are shipped from Michigan via the rails and not ships. Those trains are pretty neat and go on for miles (in good times).