- 2 days ago
This series explores some of the most fascinating and hard-core boat journeys on the planet. We undertake epic journeys by boats in some of the toughest environments on earth. During our journeys we look at how the technology of boat travel has been adapted to survive, trade with and connect isolated communities.
In this episode, Globe Trekker adventurer Holly Morris explores the waters that shaped America – the Great Lakes. Covering 94,000 square miles, the Great Lakes are the largest reservoir of fresh water on the planet and one of the world’s busiest waterways. For centuries these waters have been a critical trade artery, determining the history and economy of North America and the world.
Our episode starts in Detroit, where we learn about the river’s role during prohibition in the rum-running trade. We then head up the stunning coast of Lake Huron, exploring some of Michigan’s 3200 miles of lakeshore. In Oscoda we learn about the very first shipping industry – lumber, the history Michigan’s green gold and how boats were used to build America. On the way to the Northern Peninsular Holly gets a head for heights and climbs 550ft up Mackinac Bridge. The views are stunning across the Mackinac straits and the glassy surface of Lakes Michigan and Huron.
It’s not always plain sailing though and on the rugged shoreline of the Shipwreck Coast, Holly joins a team of Marine archaeologists in their search for sunken treasure. Scanning the murky depths of Lake Superior we discover a watery graveyard and the skeletons of unlucky ships, swallowed by the waves.
For the final part of our journey we board the toughest boat of them all, a 1014ft giant on her way to pick up 70,000 tonnes of Montana coal. Spending three days on board, Holly meets the crew of modern day mariners and finds out what life is like living on the lakes. We pass through the treacherous St Mary’s river, navigating and the Soo Locks, the busiest canal system in the world. After 3 days and 2 nights on board, powering across the largest lake in the world, we arrive in our final destination, the twin ports of Duluth and Superior. Its an epic adventure and a story of big industry, modern history and real lives.
In this episode, Globe Trekker adventurer Holly Morris explores the waters that shaped America – the Great Lakes. Covering 94,000 square miles, the Great Lakes are the largest reservoir of fresh water on the planet and one of the world’s busiest waterways. For centuries these waters have been a critical trade artery, determining the history and economy of North America and the world.
Our episode starts in Detroit, where we learn about the river’s role during prohibition in the rum-running trade. We then head up the stunning coast of Lake Huron, exploring some of Michigan’s 3200 miles of lakeshore. In Oscoda we learn about the very first shipping industry – lumber, the history Michigan’s green gold and how boats were used to build America. On the way to the Northern Peninsular Holly gets a head for heights and climbs 550ft up Mackinac Bridge. The views are stunning across the Mackinac straits and the glassy surface of Lakes Michigan and Huron.
It’s not always plain sailing though and on the rugged shoreline of the Shipwreck Coast, Holly joins a team of Marine archaeologists in their search for sunken treasure. Scanning the murky depths of Lake Superior we discover a watery graveyard and the skeletons of unlucky ships, swallowed by the waves.
For the final part of our journey we board the toughest boat of them all, a 1014ft giant on her way to pick up 70,000 tonnes of Montana coal. Spending three days on board, Holly meets the crew of modern day mariners and finds out what life is like living on the lakes. We pass through the treacherous St Mary’s river, navigating and the Soo Locks, the busiest canal system in the world. After 3 days and 2 nights on board, powering across the largest lake in the world, we arrive in our final destination, the twin ports of Duluth and Superior. Its an epic adventure and a story of big industry, modern history and real lives.
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00You might think I'm in the middle of the ocean, but I'm not.
00:08I'm on the Great Lakes, the largest reservoir of fresh water on the planet.
00:12I'm surrounded by six quadrillion gallons of water, and they cover almost 100,000 square miles.
00:19These lakes are huge.
00:23And they're not just beautiful.
00:25You are looking at one of the most important trade routes in the world,
00:28moving 160 million tons of cargo every year and keeping U.S. and world economies afloat.
00:37And boats don't get much tougher than this one.
00:42The Great Lakes of North America are a series of interconnected lakes bordering Canada in the north
00:47and the United States in the south.
00:49The lake basin is home to 34 million people and contains 21% of the world's fresh water.
00:56My journey starts on the Detroit River.
00:59From there, I head to Oscoda to learn about Michigan's lumber trade before traveling up the rugged coast of Lake Huron.
01:05After crossing Mackinac Bridge to the northern peninsula, I take a plunge into the murky depths of the shipwrecked coast.
01:13For the final part of my journey, I head to Detour Village, where I set off across Lake Superior to Duluth.
01:22I'll be hitching a ride on board the largest cargo ship on the lakes, a 1,014-foot monster, the Paul R. Tragertha.
01:32For over 12,000 years, people have traveled on the Great Lakes in everything from Native American dugout canoes
01:51to wooden sailing vessels and now steel freighters.
01:54Thousands of ships have made millions of voyages.
01:57The last 150 years have been particularly explosive, and the lakes are among the world's busiest waterways.
02:03Now, Detroit might not be the first place that comes to mind when you think about the Great Lakes,
02:09but it was founded here on the river for a reason, because of its proximity to a very important larger water system,
02:15a system that was as important 300 years ago as it is today.
02:21Founded in 1701 by a French fur trader, Detroit had access to lumber, iron ore, and cheap shipping routes,
02:28and quickly became an industrial hub.
02:30Detroit was booming in the 19-teens and 20s.
02:33There was a lot of money around, and people wanted to spend it,
02:36so they were none too happy when a series of changes were made to the Michigan Constitution.
02:41It declared that the consumption, distribution, and production of alcohol was all illegal.
02:47This ushered in prohibition. By 1917, it was in full force,
02:51and it created what would become Detroit's second biggest industry, bootlegging.
02:57I'm off to meet Bailey Sisoy-Escrow to find out more about this underground,
03:01and sometimes underwater, rum-running trade.
03:05Why prohibition?
03:06Prohibition really came about, led by a lot of women's groups,
03:09the biggest proponents for prohibition were actually women.
03:12The Cold Water Army, which was the group of women who had the protesting signs of
03:16lips that touch liquor shall never touch mine.
03:19They were really fun at parties.
03:21These women started thinking alcohol was the double drink.
03:24So eventually, through a long line of protest,
03:27they were able to make alcohol illegal in the United States.
03:31So we're on the Detroit River right now between Canada, and on this side, the city of Detroit.
03:36And this was a hotbed for illegal smuggling of alcohol during the prohibition years.
03:40Why?
03:41The fact that the river is an international border.
03:43We sometimes, with Detroit, forget that Canada is another country,
03:47and as such it has separate laws.
03:49So when prohibition took effect in Detroit, the booze was still running fairly freely over in Canada.
03:55And the Detroit River, it's less than a mile wide at certain points,
03:59so it was actually a very easy way to bring alcohol in.
04:02How much are we talking about?
04:04Tons upon tons upon tons.
04:06A lot of booze.
04:07When they opened the Detroit Tunnel, it was nicknamed the Detroit Funnel,
04:11so much illegal alcohol came through it.
04:13By some estimates, 75% of all illegal alcohol coming into the entire United States
04:18during the years of prohibition came through Detroit.
04:20Really?
04:21And it was across this waterway.
04:22So was it like rafts in the dark of night, like Tom Sawyer?
04:26It was a little bit of everything.
04:28You'd have women taking pleasure kayak and canoe rides across the river
04:32and sneaking back four or five bottles.
04:34Okay.
04:35All the ladies weren't these temperance ladies.
04:37No.
04:38Some of the ladies were the kind you want at your parties.
04:39You had major gangs, like the Purple Gang.
04:42We're talking the mob.
04:43Okay.
04:44They were backed by Capone, and they were bringing liquor in by the voteful.
04:48Thousands of men across the country, and here in Detroit dozens of men,
04:52were being killed, and the government finally said,
04:55we can't allow this to go on anymore.
04:57So when prohibition was repealed, across the country there were parties,
05:01but there really wasn't that much more liquor than before.
05:05Bootleggers might have been plying these waters, but for the last 150 years there's been another sort of delivery going on in the stretch of the Detroit River.
05:18Mail delivery.
05:20The J.W. Westcott Company is the world's only floating zip code, delivering mail to passing ships.
05:26Let's get you suited up here.
05:31Okay.
05:32It's go time.
05:34Not a bad day at the office.
05:36Not bad, eh?
05:37This has been happening for, what, about 150 years?
05:40John Ward Westcott started this company out back in 1874, doing what we're doing today, actually with a rowboat at the time.
05:47But basically the same concept is done today just like it was back then.
05:52But they're not stopping for you.
05:55Oh no, oh no.
05:56We basically have to match their speeds before we go alongside.
06:00And then you just haul it up.
06:03Time to line up.
06:04A little shot put.
06:05That's it.
06:06Away you go.
06:07This is the only way that ships like this can receive any mail.
06:14That's it.
06:18For the next stretch I'm sticking to dry land.
06:29Going 350 miles up the east coast of the southern peninsula.
06:33Route 23 is supposed to be gorgeous.
06:36Michigan has 3,200 miles of spectacular lakeshore.
06:44Easy to explore by boat or by land.
06:47Leaving Detroit, my first stop will be Oscoda, the heart of one of Michigan's largest industries, lumber.
06:54Hugging the beautiful Sunrise Coast, Route 23 then takes me all the way to Mackinac Bridge and the Northern Peninsula.
07:02It's been like this for hours.
07:10Like you're on one side and these endless green forests on the other.
07:14And there is a ton of it.
07:16There's actually 30,000 square miles of forest in Michigan.
07:19That's half the state.
07:24These majestic forests have been logged for centuries.
07:27It was in the 1800s however that the lumber industry really boomed.
07:30By 1880 Michigan was producing as much lumber as the next three states combined.
07:36I'm off to meet local historian Rob Berg to find out more about Michigan's timber.
07:44It seems like Oscoda is the kind of mecca for the lumber industry.
07:48Well, this was one of the real important areas located right on Lake Huron.
07:53And with the river coming down to it, it became kind of the perfect location for cutting logs and sending them to the sawmills.
08:00So who are these guys?
08:01This showcases three of the important jobs.
08:04Who's the guy in the middle?
08:06He looks like he's got an iPhone.
08:08It's a compass he has.
08:10He's the land looker, the timber cruiser.
08:12And he's the man that went out and looked for the trees that they were going to cut.
08:17The man that's on the right, the sawyer, he was what we would call the lumberjack today.
08:22And they would be cutting the trees down from sunup to sundown.
08:26And then the man on the left side is the river driver, sometimes nicknamed the river hog or the river rat.
08:33And they're the ones who sent the logs, floated them down the rivers to the sawmills.
08:37Those men were the ones that became the mythical lumbermen because it was based on skill and, in their case, danger.
08:47When the logs would be floating down the rivers, sometimes they would get caught up on each other.
08:52And the river drivers had to fix these or had to get these logs unjammed.
08:58And they would take a tool like this one right here, what's called a PV pole,
09:02and it would be used to kind of push the logs around with the point or with the hook.
09:07But did it really get this bad? I mean, this is like nightmarish pick-up sticks game here.
09:13Yeah.
09:14This could kill you.
09:15You have to worry that you don't hit the wrong log at the wrong time and have it coming right down on top of you.
09:20And if you fall in between them, they can close above you, right?
09:23Yes. They came down on you.
09:25You probably had very little chance.
09:27You'd have broken ribs and crushed lungs.
09:29And they would hang your river boots as a marker of where your body is,
09:34and then they'd recover it later for burial.
09:36By 1897, 160 billion board feet had been logged from Michigan's forests, creating more money and more millionaires than the California gold rush.
09:48This is quite a spot. It's beautiful.
09:50So the Great Lakes were the engine of all this. How'd they get the logs down to the water?
09:55In the springtime, when all the snow and ice had melted, all the rivers are running fast and deep, that's when you float the logs down to the sawmill.
10:02Where was this wood going?
10:04A lot of it, even here on this side of Michigan, went to Chicago.
10:08Chicago burned down in the fire in 1871.
10:11It was Michigan lumber that rebuilt Chicago.
10:13And Chicago was also the shipping point for lumber to go to the prairie states.
10:18So it was huge business back then.
10:21It was our largest business, $110 billion in today's money, $4 billion in the 1800s,
10:27far more than anything else that was coming out of Michigan and one of the lucrative industries in the United States.
10:35By the turn of the 20th century, Michigan was almost entirely deforested.
10:39The lush forest that once dominated the state disappeared, leaving a scarred and wounded landscape.
10:48Recognizing the desperate need for conservation, Michigan established a forestry commission to protect, preserve and restore its forests.
10:55And today, there are more than 19 million acres and 14 billion trees.
11:09Just coming up on Mackinac Bridge, an amazing engineering feat from last century.
11:14It's a five-mile-long suspension bridge.
11:16And at the time, it was built the longest in the world.
11:19Now, driving across it is supposed to be pretty intimidating.
11:22So I'm going to meet someone who's going to give me some tips.
11:31Todd?
11:32Hey.
11:33I'm Holly.
11:34Hi, Holly.
11:35Nice to meet you.
11:36Nice meeting you.
11:37Todd, what do you do for the bridge here?
11:38My job title is steeplejack.
11:39So you're climbing up and down the bridge, fixing it, maintaining it?
11:42Yeah.
11:43Yeah.
11:44Now, I hear people approach the bridge and kind of freak out and need help crossing it.
11:49Is that true?
11:50Yeah.
11:51Yeah.
11:52About four to six people a day need driver's assistance.
11:54We have to drive their vehicles across the bridge.
11:56Yeah.
11:57Why are people afraid to cross the bridge?
11:59Probably because of the height, I would guess.
12:02How high is it?
12:03The road deck, about 210 feet.
12:05Do people ever just like get halfway across and freak out and stop?
12:09That happens.
12:10Yes.
12:11I had a lady that was, she was in, she ended up in the backseat of her car, just curled
12:16up in a fetal position with a jacket over her head and she was, it was not good.
12:21By and large, I'm not, I don't have a problem with crossing bridges, but you kind of got me
12:26going here and it's a super windy day.
12:28So you want to take me across?
12:30Absolutely.
12:31Okay.
12:32Wait a second.
12:33Hello.
12:35Thanks.
12:36Thanks, buddy.
12:37Somebody needs to be driven across right now to go south.
12:38Okay.
12:39Let's go help them out.
12:40All right, cool.
12:41We're coming.
12:42We're coming.
12:43Don't worry.
12:44We're on.
12:45This is where the suspension bridge is beginning, right?
12:46Yes.
12:47Not so bad yet.
12:48Can't feel the wind.
12:49You'll be able to do that.
12:50I don't know.
12:51I don't know.
12:52I don't know.
12:53I don't know.
12:54I don't know.
12:55I don't know.
12:56I don't know.
12:57I don't know.
12:58I don't know.
12:59I don't know.
13:00Not so bad yet.
13:01Can't feel the wind.
13:02You'll be able to feel it when we get out at center span.
13:04Yeah.
13:05Jafirophobia, fear of bridges, and acrophobia, fear of heights, are extremely common.
13:10For some people, the simple act of crossing a bridge can cause them to completely shut
13:15down.
13:16Each year, the driver's assist program at Mackinac Bridge escorts around 1,200 people, chauffeuring
13:21them safely across.
13:28Okay, where's our driver in need?
13:34Hello.
13:35Are you waiting to be driven across?
13:37Okay.
13:38Very good.
13:39Todd to the rescue.
13:42What's your dog's name, Dave?
13:47Harvard.
13:48Beautiful.
13:49And you signed a release.
13:50Yup.
13:51To give Todd permission to drive across.
13:52Basically, if we fall in, it's not our problem.
13:57So how come you didn't want to drive across the bridge?
14:00I just don't know why.
14:01I'm scared of heights for one thing.
14:04I think it's a little bit of a down.
14:05I'm not quite exactly sure what it is.
14:07I got nervous, and I figured I wouldn't want to hold up and cause any problems.
14:13I just don't care to go over heights like this, and I'm not good at about a six-foot ladder,
14:18and that's about it.
14:19I get a little nervous up here in the middle.
14:21Oh, yeah.
14:22Then these guys are up there working on this thing, walking around like it's nothing.
14:25I'm just going, oh, wow.
14:26Yeah.
14:27Todd hangs from the bottom of this bridge, painting it and fixing things.
14:32Oh, wow.
14:33Cool.
14:34Better him than me.
14:35All right, Dave.
14:36All right.
14:37Thank you, folks.
14:38Yep.
14:39Nice meeting everybody.
14:40Good luck on your travels.
14:43Yep.
14:44Drive safe.
14:45Mission accomplished.
14:46Dave and Harvard are back on the road.
14:48How tall is the tower?
14:49552 feet.
14:50Wow.
14:51Would you like to go up there?
14:52Yeah.
14:53Cool.
14:54Very windy up here.
14:55Absolutely.
14:56Okay.
14:57Holy mackerel.
14:58It wasn't so bad in the car.
14:59No.
15:00But up here, it's a little more, um, heighty, shall we say.
15:01Absolutely.
15:02That's a good way to put it.
15:03This is the elevator?
15:04So what do you think?
15:05Sure you want to go through with this?
15:06I think so.
15:07You go first, though.
15:08All right.
15:09All right.
15:10All right.
15:11All right.
15:12All right.
15:13All right.
15:14All right.
15:15All right.
15:16All right.
15:17All right.
15:18All right.
15:19All right.
15:20All right.
15:21All right.
15:22All right.
15:23So, you want to dunk your head under, like, put your leg in first?
15:31Okay.
15:32Okay.
15:40All right.
15:41Here we are.
15:42Talk about heights.
15:43You didn't...
15:44Glastrophobia.
15:45Jeez.
15:46Sorry.
15:47It's very intimate in here.
15:52Well, let's go up to the top, but you've got to be clear of the door, okay?
15:56Because that's got to be able to close.
15:58Sorry, all right.
16:01And there we go.
16:02Okay.
16:04Ooh, is this ever getting stuck?
16:06No.
16:07No.
16:08Not on my watch.
16:09Okay, you can fix anything?
16:11Yep.
16:11Including this ascending coffin?
16:15Yep.
16:16How far are we going?
16:17The elevator goes up about 90% of the way.
16:22You getting there?
16:29Nope.
16:32Almost there?
16:34Is there a bathroom up here?
16:41Okay.
16:42One second.
16:44Okay, now we're good.
16:47All right.
16:52I feel like we're in the movie Alien, you know?
17:00There's all these, like, chilling echoes from the distance.
17:03How many levels do we, do we go up by ladder?
17:14Watch your head.
17:15Yeah.
17:16I had no idea what a labyrinth this was.
17:18Mm-hmm.
17:19Oh, dead birds.
17:21This is like, oh my God.
17:22Yeah.
17:23Oh, my gosh.
17:36This is incredible.
17:37There you are on top of the world.
17:40This is fantastic.
17:42I don't know if I really want to stand up, though.
17:43Look at this view.
17:50You can really see the five miles from here, huh?
17:52Sure.
17:53What are we looking at here?
17:54Lower Michigan.
17:56Lower Michigan?
17:57Upper Michigan.
17:58Upper Peninsula.
17:59Yep.
17:59And also the bridge divides two of the Great Lakes.
18:02We have Lake Michigan on the left-hand side and Lake Huron on the right-hand side.
18:05This is a stunning spot.
18:07You must just come hang out up here sometimes, huh?
18:11Yeah.
18:11Not me.
18:12Wow.
18:13When we were down, I didn't feel the magnitude of this up being up here.
18:19I like, I get it.
18:20The fear of the heights, a little kicked in.
18:22It's not so much fear of heights, but like, I don't trust myself not to like, what if I had the urge to jump, you know?
18:28I wouldn't let you.
18:29Quirk.
18:30There you go.
18:30That's why you're here with all those ropes.
18:31That wouldn't happen on my watch, right.
18:33We're about 552 feet above the water, right where we're standing.
18:36Yeah.
18:37Um, about 940 tons of steel.
18:40And how much of this cable, the actual thing that suspends the suspension bridge?
18:45About, there's about 22,000 miles.
18:47What do you do?
18:48I mean, what if it's like, oh, that cable's a little frayed there?
18:51Well, if there needed to be any kind of a repair, we have rigging and we have apparatus.
18:56You actually hang off these things.
18:58Yes.
18:59You're so nonchalant about it.
19:01Isn't that, isn't that a little scary?
19:03No.
19:04No.
19:05Exciting.
19:05So you're out there, you're all alone, you're swinging in the wind, doing a good hard day's work.
19:12What's going on in your heart pod?
19:14The best seat in the house.
19:15I got the best seat in the house to look at the bridge.
19:17Are you kidding?
19:18So that safety boat's always tooling around when you guys are working in precarious situations?
19:23Well, yeah, he'll try to keep an eye on us, depending on where we're at or what we're doing.
19:26Do you think we need to hop on, maybe?
19:28Yeah, sure.
19:29Okay.
19:29I'm going to go.
19:29I'm going to slip some vests here.
19:37It's like bull riding.
19:40You're like...
19:41There are 31 full-time sepal jacks working to maintain the bridge.
19:49It's seasonal work, though, as winter temperatures here can plunge to 30 below, and the entire
19:55lake can freeze over.
19:56I can't believe we were way up there.
19:59It's a whole different perspective on it from down here.
20:02There you go.
20:03How far do they go into the earth?
20:05To bedrock.
20:06To bedrock.
20:07So the height of the tower that you can see, that's approximately how far down the foundation
20:12or the caissons go, down below.
20:15Amazing.
20:19Todd, you've got to have one of the toughest but coolest jobs in the world.
20:23That's a good way to describe it.
20:24Thanks for showing me around.
20:25All right.
20:27Anytime.
20:40It's easy to forget that when the first settlers came to North America, everything traveled
20:44by boat.
20:45With no roads, trains, planes, or automobiles, these waters were the superhighways, and boats
20:51reigned supreme.
20:52The dominant industry here was fur trading, and Mackinac Island was the epicenter.
21:00This narrow body of water connected the fur-bearing regions with the rest of the world, and people
21:05would come from all over America to trade goods for Native American beaver furs.
21:11This strategic location was fought over by French, British, and American soldiers, and the island
21:16had a military presence for over 200 years.
21:19My next stop is another of the lake's historical treasures, the famous shipwreck coast at Whitefish
21:36Point.
21:36After delving into its depths, I head to Detour Village, where I wait for the toughest boat
21:42on the lakes, the Paul R. Tregurtha.
21:44These waters are pretty placid today.
21:49I mean, it's gorgeous out, but that can change really fast.
21:53In fact, there's been an estimated 6,000 shipwrecks in the Great Lakes, claiming 30,000 lives.
21:58This stretch of Lake Superior, particularly deadly.
22:02They call it shipwreck coast.
22:07What do you do, Bruce?
22:08Well, I am the director here at the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum at Whitefish Point in Michigan's
22:12eastern Upper Peninsula, and we do a lot of things here, but I think probably the most exciting
22:17thing we do is go out on the lake and hunt for shipwrecks.
22:21The bottom of the Great Lakes are a watery graveyard, littered with the skeletons of sunken
22:29ships.
22:30Bruce's team has been surveying these mysterious depths since 1978, and each time they take
22:35the research vessel out, there's a real chance of finding something new.
22:40What we have out there is what's called a towfish.
22:43Our cable's attached to that, and what that towfish actually does, being a sonar, uses sound
22:48wave technology.
22:49So what it's doing is allowing us to see what's on the bottom of the lake.
22:53So we'll tow this in a grid pattern.
22:55We joke that it's like you're mowing the lawn.
22:58You're going back and forth and back and forth.
23:00It's not terribly exciting while you're doing this.
23:02For a great deal of time, we're not seeing anything, but with that towfish, there's something
23:07on the bottom of the lake.
23:09On the screens inside the pilehouse or the cabin here, we'll be able to see a shadow.
23:13Then we'll record the location, but often, at times, you can tell pretty clearly what you're
23:18seeing.
23:19How many undiscovered wrecks are there out here?
23:2150, 60, 70 shipwrecks in the area that are undiscovered.
23:25Every time you drop this, it's like pure potential.
23:28You could be discovering something new.
23:30Oh, absolutely.
23:30Any in particular we're looking for?
23:32Absolutely.
23:33There are two French World War I mine sweepers, French Navy, that are on the Great Lakes.
23:39They were making their maiden voyage across Lake Superior.
23:42There were three of them, and two of them were never seen again.
23:45Wow.
23:46You know they're down here, and you know they've never been found.
23:49Exactly.
23:50Nobody's found them.
23:51Some people have called them the holy grail of shipwrecks.
23:53They are very much shipwrecks we would like to find.
23:58There are many reasons why the lakes have proved so deadly to ships.
24:01They're difficult to navigate, filled with hidden shallows and rocky outcrops, and are at the
24:07mercy of some extremes of weather.
24:09The winters out here are brutal, and ships can face freezing fog, ice storms, hurricane
24:15winds, and waves up to 35 feet.
24:18The famous storm of November 1913 swallowed up 19 ships in one night, claiming 250 lives.
24:29Hey, she said you might have spotted something?
24:32Yeah, we got something right here.
24:33Yeah, yeah.
24:34What is it?
24:35Do you know what it is, or are you seeing it for the first time?
24:37Well, though, this is an 1892 shipwreck, the Vienna.
24:41And you can see the shadow, and that shows you how high off the bottom it comes.
24:46Oh, right.
24:47What's it like to come across something you don't know is there?
24:50Pretty cool.
24:51Yeah?
24:52In 2014, we found the schooner Nelson.
24:56It sank in 1899.
24:59This year, we found two steam-powered rail log loaders.
25:05We were looking for ships, and we came across them.
25:07Wow.
25:08You can really get a fairly good picture of it with the sonar.
25:11Yep.
25:11Here's the bow.
25:13This is the stern broke down a little bit, and there's the cargo holes.
25:16Okay, so now might you go back with a rover or something?
25:20Yeah.
25:20We'll go down with the ROV and take a look at it.
25:23The Vienna is located one mile off the shore of Whitefish Point, 150 feet down.
25:29This is the ROV?
25:31Right.
25:31Yep.
25:32This is our, it's a remotely operated vehicle.
25:34It's like a robot going under the water.
25:36It looks like a whole studio on the front of the ROV here.
25:40We have a high-definition camera.
25:42We've got a sonar that's on it as well.
25:44There's some very bright lighting because some of the depths that will take this tends
25:48to be very, very dark down there, very dark and cold.
25:51We've had it on shipwrecks a little over 500 feet.
25:54Basically, this enables for divers not to go.
25:57It's a good point.
25:57When you start going down to those greater depths, the chances of having an accident are
26:01much greater.
26:02So this is a safer way to go down on a wreck and document it.
26:08What we're going to do is we have a line that's on the shipwreck itself.
26:11Okay.
26:12And then Daryl, as the pilot of the ROV, is going to follow that line down.
26:17That wreck is at about 150 feet, approximately.
26:20A lot of focus just came over the crew.
26:22Absolutely.
26:23Yep, yep.
26:23They're going into their ROV launching mode.
26:26Right.
26:27Do you guys get nervous at this point?
26:29It's more when it's underwater and more when it's down there with everything else that
26:33could get it into trouble.
26:34There could still be a lot of the cables and ropes, lines, things like that that could tangle
26:40up a unit like this.
26:41It's a quarter of a million dollars.
26:43We're a non-profit, so we really want to get this thing back each time we take it down.
26:50So Sarah's communicating with Daryl right now.
26:52He's inside.
26:53He's inside the pilot house.
26:55That's right.
26:55He's watching that line as it goes down.
26:57There?
26:58Yep, exactly.
26:59Let's go take a look.
26:59Right inside the cabin there.
27:00Thanks, Sarah.
27:04That's amazing.
27:05What are we looking at there?
27:07So you're looking at the rudder of the Vienna.
27:10Look at that.
27:12It's so intact.
27:13Wow.
27:14You can still see the paint.
27:15But what year was this?
27:17This is an 1892 shipwreck.
27:19And you can still see the paint?
27:20Absolutely.
27:21That's amazing.
27:23Cold water really helps to preserve these wrecks.
27:25I mean, these wrecks are...
27:26Cold and fresh.
27:27Fresh water.
27:28Fresh water, not salt water.
27:30Yeah.
27:30Just going over the rail.
27:33There's the railing.
27:34Yeah.
27:35He's just approaching the boiler, which is still standing up.
27:38And there's a fish, it looks like, right there.
27:41It almost looks like an eel or something.
27:43It looks like he's asleep or something.
27:44Oh, no.
27:45I see.
27:46It's the back of the fish.
27:47Oh, what's that?
27:47So there's some equipment.
27:49What is that?
27:49It might be part of a winch that's lying on the deck.
27:52There's the lifeboat.
27:53Oh, cool.
27:55That is amazing.
27:56Isn't it?
27:57Sitting there like...
27:58It's just laying on the deck.
27:59It's 120 years ago.
28:01They clearly didn't use that lifeboat.
28:03How did she go down?
28:04A big part of it has to do with all the ship traffic passing in pretty close proximity to each other.
28:10Though the Vienna is downbound.
28:12There was another ship that was upbound called the Nipigon.
28:14There was a misinterpreted signal between the ships as they were passing each other.
28:19And the Nipigon veered in front and basically into the Vienna, smashing right into the hall.
28:25So they collided?
28:26They collided.
28:26You can see a crock right on the deck there, too.
28:29Like a crockery type of...
28:30Wow, it's just sitting there.
28:32Just resting on the deck.
28:34To see the crockery and the things that make up everyday life in 1892, that's really...
28:42It connects it to the people that were on it.
28:45And this was their home.
28:46It might come up too fast.
28:46As it was sailing.
28:48In the museum, we have a lot of artifacts that kind of represent that daily life.
28:51Right.
28:52As a sailor on the Great Lakes back in, say, 1892.
28:54Right.
28:56These wrecks are amazing.
28:58It's like looking into a time capsule.
29:01They illuminate an era of growth and prosperity.
29:03But they also show the risks that every mariner was taking just by being on the lakes.
29:08And the tragedies of when things go wrong.
29:11One of the best preserved and nationally significant collections of shipwrecks can be found in Lake
29:16Huron in Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary.
29:20Fire, ice, collisions, and storms have claimed over 200 vessels.
29:24And it's now home to some of the world's best wreck diving.
29:28From wooden steamers to steel freighters, the shipwrecks of Thunder Bay represent a microcosm of marine commerce and travel on the Great Lakes.
29:36The Great Lakes are a lot safer these days.
29:39Or at least I hope so.
29:41I'm about to meet up with a monster of a ship.
29:44It's the biggest ship in all the Great Lakes.
29:46Over a thousand feet long.
29:48That's more than three football fields.
29:50Now, they're on a very tight schedule and said they can't stop for me.
29:53So the idea is I catch them on the fly.
29:58Hey.
29:59Good to see you.
30:00Good to see you.
30:00This is like a floating city block.
30:09All right, now we're sidling right up next to her.
30:11And the idea is this ladder ramp thing comes down and we go.
30:17Actually, we've never stopped.
30:19Both ships are still moving at this point.
30:22Ready?
30:23One, two, three.
30:30This ship is going to be my home for the next few days as I join her on her journey to collect 71,000 tons of coal.
30:55First part of our voyage involves winding our way through the St. Mary's River to the Sioux Locks.
31:01It's the toughest part to navigate in the whole Great Lakes system.
31:04From there, we hit the open waters of Lake Superior and sail to the westernmost point at Duluth.
31:11Bob?
31:12Good captain, yeah?
31:13Yes, how are you?
31:14Good, I'm Holly.
31:15What's happening?
31:16We're coming up on Johnson's Point area, which is one of the trickiest sections of the river.
31:21This is about a 150-foot channel, we're 105, and so what happens here, we'll stay close.
31:27We don't want to suck into the shoreline here, which the current is coming down.
31:30So we're going to try to make a real tight turn coming around here.
31:34Below us right now, we've got about 15 feet.
31:36That's nothing.
31:37Correct.
31:38Have any ships ever run aground?
31:40Over the years, people have run aground, yes.
31:43Yeah, I notice everybody started paying attention all at once.
31:46Oh, yeah.
31:46All the chit-chat.
31:47Yeah, everything kind of goes to, this gets to where all of a sudden now you're getting
31:50into a critical area of the river, which you don't have a lot of room for mistake.
31:55Okay, well, I'll let you focus then.
31:58Yeah.
31:58Let's go 30 left.
32:0030 left.
32:04I got 30 left on her.
32:0630 left, roger.
32:09Yeah, let's go 20.
32:1120 left.
32:12I got 20 on her.
32:15Okay.
32:16Okay.
32:16Let's go hard left.
32:17Hard left.
32:19Oh, my goodness.
32:24What is in this ship right now?
32:26We're in ballast.
32:27We're actually...
32:28Water?
32:28We have no cargo.
32:29Correct.
32:29Okay.
32:30Why do we need ballast?
32:31Ballast, in a light condition, is to keep the boat down so we can keep the props in the
32:36water for power.
32:37Does this ship carry anything besides coal?
32:39This boat is built for carrying coal and iron ore.
32:42About 90% of our cargoes is coal.
32:44Why is it all about the cargo ships here?
32:47I mean, what about the railroads or other means of transporting the coal?
32:50It's certainly a cheaper way to transporting the coal because of bulk.
32:54It would take more railroad cars logistically to try to get to our customers.
32:58How many people do you have working on this boat?
33:00There's 25.
33:0025 on board right now.
33:02What's unique about the Great Lakes is that a lot of the guys that have been here I've grown
33:06up with.
33:06I got one of the best crews in the fleet, so, which is good.
33:09I'm very blessed to have that.
33:13Great Lakes ships move over 160 million tons of cargo a year.
33:18From Duluth, where we're headed, they travel over 2,000 miles to get to the Atlantic Ocean.
33:23And from there, the world.
33:24Thanks for giving me the grand tour, Nick.
33:31Oh, absolutely.
33:32It's nice to be able to share this side of the industry with people.
33:36So not a lot of people get to see the inside of an actual, you know, merchant vessel.
33:41Right.
33:41So what are your shifts like?
33:43We work four hours on, eight hours off.
33:45So my normal routine would be midnight to 4 a.m. and then noon to 4 p.m.
33:51That's rough.
33:52Wait, wait, wait.
33:53I've always wanted to know what a poop deck is.
33:55It's an old sailing term.
33:57When the stern would come down into the water, it would call getting pooped.
34:02Hence the name poop deck.
34:03Okay, and it stuck.
34:05It did stick.
34:05And here's my stateroom on board.
34:09Nice.
34:10Yeah, when, you know, you spend eight months a year out here, it's kind of nice to have
34:13the comforts of home.
34:14Pictures of the kids.
34:15Right.
34:15Wife, you know, mini fridge.
34:18This is home.
34:18This is home.
34:20Time to check out where I'm sleeping.
34:25Okay, that's the captain's room.
34:27It's supposed to be quiet around there because he sleeps at funky hours.
34:30There's a giant red axe.
34:32I don't want to know what that's for.
34:34I think my room is supposed to be over here.
34:39Nice.
34:40I thought I'd be bunking three deep with a bunch of snoring sailors.
34:45In fact, I brought my earplugs.
34:46But this is great.
34:47It's like a, you know, four-star hotel room or something.
34:52And, oh, except for the fact that there's survival suits.
34:57Nice.
34:58Hope we won't be needing that.
34:59Life jackets, toilet paper, all the essentials.
35:04Oh, look at that moon.
35:08It's gorgeous.
35:09I love this boat.
35:11But it's late.
35:12It's about 8 o'clock now.
35:14We're due at the Sulox at midnight.
35:17So I'm going to hit the hay.
35:18So we're in line, essentially, to go through the Sulox?
35:28Correct.
35:28And what we're doing now is I'm listening to my mates, and we're going to be tying up here.
35:46We're stopping the boat right now.
35:47We're down to about six.
35:47We're winding out after night.
35:48I've got four.
35:49Four after.
35:50Okay, hard left.
35:51I got you.
35:52Hard left.
35:52Four is about halfway through the dog lake.
35:54Okay.
35:56Up 40 inches close.
35:57This has got to be one of the most delicate operations.
36:00I mean, you are here in the middle of the night doing this.
36:03No one else can do it, right?
36:05Well, correct.
36:06Correct.
36:06I'm the only one that's, this is the best part of the job I told you about, the maneuvering part, which is nice.
36:10It's such a massive thing.
36:12Correct.
36:13And, like, you bump up there, like, do you feel it?
36:15Well, the guys, yes, you can.
36:16Okay.
36:17If you do happen to bump the boat, you can feel it.
36:19Uh-huh.
36:20So what he's doing now is these guys are now in my eyes and ears, and so I'm listening to the commits.
36:27She's closing up forward.
36:28She's three-aft holding one foot forward.
36:30So what I want to do is just feathering it so I don't bump the boat.
36:34And the landing chair up forward is how we landed the guys.
36:36See, I was swinging them out, dropping them there.
36:38Yeah, yeah, yeah.
36:38So now I'm going to have two guys on the pier.
36:40I'll start backing down the engine here, start slowing her up a little bit.
36:43You are really threading the needle here.
36:45Not so much here, but when we get to maneuver into the locks where you're 110 feet wide, we're 105.
36:52So we have five feet to work with.
36:54That's it?
36:54That's it.
36:56Two and a half on each side.
36:57Correct.
36:58Right?
36:58Oh, my gosh.
36:59That's correct.
37:00I'm doing about nine-tenths of a mile an hour right now, basically about 300 feet to stop.
37:05You don't have brakes, though.
37:07We have no brakes.
37:08Okay.
37:08We're using an engine.
37:10Put our hard left.
37:13Is there a way I can get off and watch this process from over there?
37:16Yes.
37:16We're actually going to get you out down below here on the gangway.
37:20So we're up against forward.
37:22Wow.
37:22It's boggling to me that you could actually bring this thing in.
37:32So close.
37:33It's pretty cool.
37:34Well, you know, it's such a big ship, you just think, yeah, and power and all that, but what you just did was just a bit of...
37:41Finesse.
37:42Finesse.
37:42Finesse is the perfect way, yeah.
37:44Yeah.
37:44I can park this better in my car.
37:45Finesse is the perfect way, yeah.
37:46Yeah.
37:47Yeah.
37:48Yeah.
37:49Yeah.
37:50Hi there.
37:51Yeah.
37:52Someone told me to be really nice to you guys so you don't jiggle the ladder.
37:55Check it out.
37:59It looks even bigger at night, if that's possible.
38:01It's just this massive wall of steel.
38:04It looks like a building.
38:09Looks like there have been a few fender benders over time.
38:15The Sioux Locks were built so boats could navigate a series of deadly rapids on the St. Mary's River.
38:20The river falls 21 feet and only three-quarters of a mile.
38:26It is a simple yet brilliant piece of engineering wisdom.
38:31You open up a gate, you bring your ship in, you close the gate, you raise the water a couple of feet,
38:39you open up the next gate, and you're off.
38:42Oh my gosh, it's like three inches.
38:54Astonishing.
39:01He did it.
39:02Perfect.
39:03The captain has got her in perfect position, and now there's water pouring in through the second set of gates,
39:10and the water level is raising up.
39:13It takes about 15 minutes, and then they'll be able to open these, and off she goes.
39:30Hey guys.
39:31Go!
39:32Go!
39:33Go!
39:34Go!
39:35The Sioux Locks are the busiest canal locks in the world, and during the summer navigation
40:00season, they make over 10,000 lockages, moving 80 million tons of cargo.
40:05This waterway is a backbone of the American economy, feeding the automobile, construction,
40:13appliance and mining industries, and powering much of the Midwest.
40:18It's estimated that if the locks broke down, it would cost 11 million jobs.
40:23It's a 24-hour operation, and like my boat, many move through the locks in the dead of
40:27night.
40:37Overall, my first sleep on board was good.
40:40I mean, I like the vibration and the gentle rocking of the boat.
40:44It's kind of like being in a mother's womb puts you to sleep.
40:47And there's this series of alarms that went off, which seemed like non-alarm alarms, but
40:53they did wake you up.
40:54It's kind of like being on a train, except you wake up to this view, which makes it all
40:59worthwhile.
41:01Look at this, you can't see any land out there, you feel like you're in the middle of nowhere.
41:10Lake Superior is astonishing.
41:12It holds 10% of the world's fresh water, it's the same size as North Carolina, in fact, it
41:17is the biggest lake in the world.
41:21Now we're in open waters, and it's full steam ahead, cruising across Lake Superior.
41:32It's time to see what really drives this boat.
41:35I'm off to meet Chief Engineer Dan in the engine room.
41:39Oh my God, it's so loud in here.
41:47It's not really loud, it gets louder.
41:50How do you hear yourself think?
41:53You can't.
41:54You don't think down here, you just work.
41:56Right.
41:57What is this thing?
41:58This is one of our new main engines.
42:00This is the heartbeat.
42:01If this doesn't work, the boat don't move.
42:03This is the nerve center here.
42:05How many horsepower are we talking about?
42:0716,000 horsepower total.
42:09How much power is that?
42:11Well, if you imagine, the boat is as long as the Empire State Building is tall.
42:15It's enough horsepower to move the Empire State Building down the lake.
42:19It's smelly and loud and brawny down here, but you look very together and delicate.
42:28This is your child, and this is what your child smells like.
42:34We change his diapers once in a while.
42:37Okay.
42:38No, we're serious.
42:41What's that?
42:43Not really sure.
42:44We're probably sinking.
42:46If you don't know, I'm worried.
42:49The Chief is supposed to know these things.
42:52All right, it's over with.
42:54In my experience on this boat, these alarms are going off all the time.
42:58Just a slightly different tone, and I never know what they are, but...
43:03There are several different alarms, and it's Washington's responsibility to know whether or not it's a clinical alarm or a nuisance alarm.
43:10So we'll just call that a nuisance alarm.
43:12For today, yes.
43:21You'd think that it's diesel that fuels this ship, but it's not. It's food.
43:25Hi.
43:26Hi.
43:27Paul?
43:28Yes?
43:29You're working on dinner here?
43:31We're making tenderloin to put on our smoker outside for dinner.
43:36You don't mess around.
43:38No, we don't.
43:39It's not like big fat pots of, you know, unidentifiable stuff.
43:42Oh, no.
43:43That was the olden days.
43:44When I first started, that's the way it was.
43:46Oh, really?
43:47It was beef stews and boiled corned beef for lunch and that.
43:51Now the world's changed and everybody goes to more sensible eating.
43:56Well, the thing is, you don't want a lot of hungry, tired, angry, grumpy men.
44:02Mm-hmm.
44:03We can make or break the day.
44:06What's a shift for you?
44:08I try to stay around 12 to 13 hours a day.
44:12So you're working 12 hours a day, seven days a week.
44:14Right.
44:15For how long?
44:16I just did 84 days straight.
44:18Oh.
44:19So, but, uh, it's easy.
44:23It's not bad.
44:24It's you always thinking about what's happening next shift.
44:27Right.
44:28Always thinking when the next groceries are coming aboard.
44:31What's the weather like?
44:32That's very important.
44:33How does weather affect you?
44:34If we get stuck in the ice or if there's traffic in the ice.
44:37How long can you get stuck out here?
44:39Oh, you can go a week, two weeks.
44:41So that's when you bust out the beef jerky?
44:44Yeah.
44:45Because we're getting into lunch hour here, so we've got to go to work.
44:48All right.
44:49So what do you want me to do?
44:50Oil that up.
44:51Okay.
44:52That other one.
44:53Hey, Nick.
44:54Hi.
44:55What do you fancy?
44:56I'm going to do a chicken sandwich today.
44:58Chicken sandwich.
44:59Everything on it?
45:00Yeah.
45:01Bread.
45:02Chicken and cherry wrap.
45:04Nice choice.
45:05Yep.
45:06Swiss.
45:07Thanks.
45:08Yep.
45:09There are 25 crew members who run this gigantic ship and everyone has a very specific job to do.
45:25I'm off to meet Chris, a guy who isn't afraid to get his hands dirty.
45:28Hey, Chris.
45:29How you doing?
45:30I'm Holly.
45:31I'm Chris.
45:32Nice to meet you.
45:33So what's your job on the boat?
45:34I'm conveyor man.
45:35I'm in charge of the unloading system there.
45:36Oh, you're like the engineer in charge of the conveyor belt?
45:37Yeah.
45:38That's the boom back there.
45:39The rest of it, it's all underneath of us.
45:40This is really the critical part of this boat in some respects because this is how the coal comes on and off?
45:56Yeah.
45:57So if something goes wrong, you're on the hot seat.
45:59Oh yeah.
46:00I don't like the hot seat.
46:02It don't matter what the weather is.
46:03If you've got to fix it, you've got to fix it.
46:05I've been out here in the middle of December and January.
46:08Icicles hanging off my face, breaking ice off everything so it'll run.
46:12I'm the dirtiest guy on the boat generally.
46:14Are you?
46:15Yeah.
46:16It's a contained environment downstairs.
46:17So all the coal dust and the grease and everything just stays right there.
46:21So when something breaks, it's covered in coal dust, door dust, grease, coal, hydraulic oil.
46:27Then change it, you've got to touch it, lay on it.
46:29But I enjoy it.
46:31Yeah.
46:32Where are you from, Chris?
46:33I'm from Helmand, Michigan.
46:35Okay.
46:36Small town?
46:37Tiny town.
46:38The boat's bigger than our town.
46:39And when you go on shore leave, do you just scrub down?
46:42It takes a couple days to get it all off me usually.
46:45Really?
46:46Yeah.
46:47I start taking extra showers, two, three a day.
46:48Yeah.
46:49Then I get home, my wife makes me shower like four times a day.
46:52Because it's all nasty.
46:53Yeah.
46:54It just soaks into your skin and you can't get it off.
46:56Yeah.
46:57Can you show me around the conveyor belt?
47:00Yes, I can.
47:01Okay.
47:10This is so cool.
47:12It's like the bowels of the entire ship.
47:15Yeah.
47:16Right now we're like 22, 23 foot below the water line right now.
47:20Oh really?
47:21There's only a foot below us at the bottom of the ship to the water beneath our feet.
47:27Wow.
47:28And what is this?
47:29This right here is the gate.
47:31This is what dumps the cargo onto the belt.
47:34And a simple little valve and away we go.
47:38Oh my God.
47:39Okay, so it's sliding down here.
47:41Yeah.
47:42Whew.
47:43And it gets dusty.
47:44Yeah.
47:45I can see how you get pretty dirty down here.
47:47Yeah, don't take much.
47:48You just gotta touch it.
47:49You wind up like this.
47:51Yeah.
47:52And you're done nothing.
47:53I got it dirty.
47:54I'd better let Chris get back to work as it's all hands on deck to get ready for our arrival
48:03in Duluth tomorrow.
48:07At first blush, it might feel like you and I don't have any connection to these trade routes
48:11and what's in these ships.
48:13But in fact, we really do.
48:14I mean, think about it.
48:15They carry iron ore and coal and limestone and grain.
48:20I mean, these are the things that heat our homes, build our cars and feed us.
48:25Pretty much everything.
48:31There's no denying that life for these modern day mariners is tough.
48:34But I'm struck by their grit and how passionate they are about what they do.
48:42It's been a fascinating day of exploring this ship.
48:45But tomorrow morning, early, we arrive Duluth and that's where we get the coal.
49:06I may be rubbing the sleep out of my eyes, but it's a 24-hour operation here.
49:11And within minutes of arriving, the coal is being loaded.
49:14Duluth and Superior twin ports provide the gateway to the lakes for all of Western America.
49:24What's happening, Pete?
49:26Right now we're loading all Arts Agurtha.
49:29Loading it with a Decker Spring Creek coal.
49:31We're loading at about 11,500 ton an hour.
49:3411,000 tons an hour?
49:3611,500 ton an hour.
49:38It's amazing with all this massive amount of machinery.
49:40This one guy with this little console is controlling it all?
49:43Yep, controlling the whole system.
49:45Where does the coal come from?
49:47Montana, Wyoming.
49:48Most of it there.
49:49Southern Powder River Basin.
49:50And it comes in by railway?
49:52Comes in by rail, yep.
49:53You hold it here and then you dump it into the ships and up they go?
49:57Yep.
49:58That's a lot of ships, a lot of coal, a lot of industry.
50:01Busy times.
50:02While renewable energy sources are paving the way for the future, 33% of the U.S. is still powered by coal.
50:12And at Midwest Energy they have the capacity to store 5 million tons of it.
50:16I thought my boat trip around the Great Lakes would be about water and coal.
50:28But at every turn and every vessel told the story of tough physical lives.
50:33About camaraderie and loyalty, community and loss.
50:37The story of the Great Lakes is one of commerce and trade.
50:40But at the heart of it all are its solid, proud people.
50:44But everything is not an energy.
50:48Thepreneur, institute is Cherokee Center
50:54But a lot of people grew up in an international field.
50:58People are exposed to each other.
51:01Their lived in a international field of clergy and sisters because the woods became the most powerful.
Recommended
52:13
|
Up next
1:58
2:06
0:33
50:11
45:27
6:17