IN THIS EPISODE:

In this episode of Great Lakes Now, delivering mail to Great Lakes freighters, a day in the life of a freighter pilot, and feeding the crew of a thousand-foot freighter.

When to Watch?

Check your local station for when Great Lakes Now is on in your area.

Watch The Feature

You’ve Got Mail

SEGMENT 1 | ABOARD THE J.W. WESTCOTT, DETROIT RIVER

Since 1874, this family-owned company has made deliveries to commercial ships on the Detroit River. Great Lakes Now’s Ward Detwiler goes aboard the J.W. Westcott II while mail and crew get to today’s passing freighters.

Brian Heikkuri, a deckhand with the Westcott company, shares stories about his work.

“They’ll order from the pizza joint right down the street,” Heikkuri says. “We take it, put it into their delivery box and send it right up the side of the ship on a rope.

This segment originally aired in May, 2019.

Watch The Feature

Salty Visitors

SEGMENT 2 | Lake Huron, Port Huron, St.Clair River, Lake St. Clair, Detroit River, Detroit

When the St. Lawrence Seaway opened in 1959, it meant that oceangoing vessels—with captains unfamiliar with the Great Lakes—would be sailing into these freshwater seas. In 1960, Congress passed the Great Lakes Pilotage Act, which requires all foreign flagged vessels entering the Great Lakes use the services of a U.S or Canadian pilot.

Piloting ships is a time-honored nautical tradition dating back to the ancient mariners of hiring someone familiar with the local currents and other hazards to ensure safe passage.

Great Lakes Now joined Captain Haynes on a recent downbound journey from lower Lake Huron to Detroit. Our cameras were rolling as he climbed a rope ladder dangling over the side of a freighter, navigated the tight turns in the upper St. Clair River to the wide open expanse of Lake St. Clair and finally disembarked in Detroit.

Whether Captain Haynes goes home from Detroit or travels to Cleveland for his next assignment is up to a team of dispatchers. They monitor vessel passages throughout the Great Lakes to ensure pilot services are available when needed. It’s a fluid puzzle with dozens of moving pieces.

This segment originally aired in October, 2023.

Watch The Feature

Cooking for the Crew of a 1,000-foot Freighter

SEGMENT 3 | Port of Cleveland, Whiskey Island, Cleveland, OH

From late March to January, freighters crisscross the Great Lakes delivering raw materials to ports all across the region. It’s hard work and the crews on these ships develop hearty appetites.

Join Great Lakes Now as we board one of the biggest ships on the Great Lakes – The Interlake Steamship Company’s Mesabi Miner – and see what’s cooking in the ship’s galley.

Built in 1977, this 1,004-foot-long freighter transports approximately 63,000 gross tons in a single load. It’s an impressive feat, but a ship is nothing without a crew and that’s where Chief Steward Sissy Payment comes in.

Payment and her second cook feed the ship’s crew, which consists of two dozen sailors, each and every day. Their daily menu includes three full meals, grab-n-go snacks, homemade cookies and desserts, and even fresh baked bread each night. It’s a lot of work, but Payment knocks it out of the park by serving up delicious food that refuels the crew’s bodies and good vibes that helps boost morale.

This segment originally aired in May, 2023.