It’s been 50 years since a freighter sank in the Great Lakes. But in the summer of 2024, one freighter came dangerously close.
On June 8, 2024, the Michipicoten was carrying a load of iron ore across Lake Superior when the crew heard a loud bang. The ship was taking on water.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/07/has-this-freighter-made-final-voyage/
Abdullatif Ahmed was just 23 years old when he first stepped foot on the Medusa Challenger, a 1906-built Great Lakes bulk freighter.
“Before I came to America in 1990,” he said, “I had never even seen the sea.”
Born and raised in Juban, a rural district in southern Yemen, Ahmed was drawn to the Great Lakes by family history and opportunity.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/02/the-fascinating-history-of-the-great-lakes-yemeni-sailors/
Spooky Lakes: 25 Strange and Mysterious Lakes That Dot Our Planet is a new book by Geo Rutherford. Below is an adapted excerpt from her New York Times best seller, all about Lake Superior. Follow Geo on TikTok or Instagram for more content on spooky lakes.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2024/10/spooky-lake-superior-the-ss-kamloops/
By Kelly House, Bridge Michigan
The Great Lakes News Collaborative includes Bridge Michigan; Circle of Blue; Great Lakes Now at Detroit Public Television; and Michigan Public, Michigan’s NPR News Leader; who work together to bring audiences news and information about the impact of climate change, pollution, and aging infrastructure on the Great Lakes and drinking water.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2024/08/on-lake-michigan-a-coal-fired-steamship-and-ferry-eyes-a-clean-energy-future/
This article was republished here with permission from Great Lakes Echo.
By Eric Freedman, Great Lakes Echo
A Detroit-built sailing ship that sank in Lake Michigan during an 1864 storm has been added to the National Register of Historic Places.
The three-masted Mojave, only 1 year old at the time, went down in heavy weather while northbound on the route from Chicago to Buffalo with a load of grain.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2024/07/ship-doomed-on-lake-michigan-now-moored-on-national-register-of-historic-places/
A strike by about 350 members of UNIFOR, Canada’s largest private sector union, could cripple thousands of businesses and cause the loss of billions in economic activity if it continues, according to shipping officials.
“Every day is a critical time,” said Jayson Hron, communications director for Port of Duluth-Superior, the U.S.’ furthest inland seaport.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/10/great-lakes-imports-and-exports-halted-by-strike/
Eat Your Heartland Out is a Taste Awards nominated program about the intersection of food and culture in the American Midwest. The show is produced by the Heritage Radio Network, a leader in culinary audio storytelling and distributed on the Public Radio Exchange (PRX), which provides content to public radio affiliates across the United States.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/06/eat-your-heartland-out-how-to-feed-great-lakes-freighter-crew/
Freighters are mysterious creatures, grazing the horizon at what seems a glacier’s pace, laden with commodities like coal or iron ore. We accept them as part of the Great Lakes’ landscape, but we don’t often think about what it takes to run them.
It turns out, it takes a sizable team.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/05/culinary-masters-great-lakes-freighters-navigating-high-seas-flavor/
Love staring at a map and discovering something interesting? Then “Mapping the Great Lakes” is for you. It’s a monthly Great Lakes Now feature created by Alex B. Hill, a self-described “data nerd and anthropologist” who combines cartography, data, and analytics with storytelling and human experience.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/05/mapping-the-great-lakes-freighters/
TORONTO (AP) — Gordon Lightfoot, the folk singer-songwriter known for “If You Could Read My Mind” and “Sundown” and for songs that told tales of Canadian identity, died Monday. He was 84.
Representative Victoria Lord said the musician died at a Toronto hospital. His cause of death was not immediately available.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/05/ap-folk-singer-songwriter-gordon-lightfoot-dies/
By Kathleen Foody, Associated Press
CHICAGO (AP) — Michigan researchers have found the wreckage of two ships that disappeared into Lake Superior in 1914 and hope the discovery will lead them to a third that sank at the same time, killing nearly 30 people aboard the trio of lumber-shipping vessels.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/04/ap-michigan-researchers-find-1914-shipwrecks-in-lake-superior/
DETROIT (AP) — Sailors who lost their lives in shipwrecks on the Great Lakes and Michigan waterways will be remembered at a historic church in downtown Detroit.
The annual Great Lakes Memorial service will be held at 3 p.m. Sunday and will be livestreamed from Mariners’ Church along the Detroit River.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/11/ap-detroit-church-to-remember-sailors-lost-on-great-lakes/
Broadcasting in our monthly PBS television program, The Catch is a Great Lakes Now series that brings you more news about the lakes you love. Go beyond the headlines with reporters from around the region who cover the lakes and drinking water issues. Find all the work HERE.
This month, The Catch features a new bulk freighter that is making waves in Great Lakes shipping.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/10/the-catch-new-freighter-in-town/
Great Lakes Now tries to make every episode interesting and educational.
In “Finders, Keepers,” join researchers as they uncover details about the bottom of the Great Lakes, head to Toronto’s Royal Ontario Museum to learn how scientists are using a natural history collection to understand changes to global biodiversity, and tune into The Catch for more news about the lakes you love.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/09/finders-keepers-the-great-lakes-now-episode-quiz/
For the first time in decades, a new bulk freighter has been built on and launched on the Great Lakes.
The Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding Company in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin unveiled the Mark W. Barker earlier this year after spending nearly three years constructing it. The vessel was commissioned by Cleveland-based Interlake Steamship Company which currently operates about a dozen ships.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/09/new-great-lakes-freighter-joins-fleet/
A common question for casual observers of Great Lakes vessels is “Where are the big container ships?” The reference is to the massive ocean-traversing ships with containers stacked stories high.
The container ships have been absent from the Great Lakes where cherished lake freighters dominate the waterways hauling bulk cargo.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/07/shipping-update-great-lakes-container-cargo/
If you notice your packages arriving much faster than they did at the start of the pandemic, it isn’t just a minor coincidence – rather, it could be the Great Lakes shipping industry making a comeback after weathering the effects of COVID-19’s spread.
“(This) has been a bounce-back season from the COVID-induced lows of 2020,” said Jason Hron, director of communication and marketing for the Duluth Seaway Port Authority.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/03/2022-great-lakes-shipping-season-infrastructure-improvements-covid-19/
The finish line is finally in view for the new Soo Lock, which was first authorized in 1986 and will help prevent the disruption of the supply chains in event of error or repairs.
“Having a new Soo Lock that has the same dimensions of the Poe and able to accommodate those largest freighters on the lakes will give us a great deal of resiliency and the ability to increase the time periods in which we do necessary repairs or maintenance or rehabilitation throughout the year,” said Lt.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/11/in-progress-new-soo-lock-2030-completion/
By Lester Graham, Michigan Radio
The Great Lakes News Collaborative includes Bridge Michigan; Circle of Blue; Great Lakes Now at Detroit Public Television; and Michigan Radio, Michigan’s NPR News Leader; who work together to bring audiences news and information about the impact of climate change, pollution, and aging infrastructure on the Great Lakes and drinking water.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/06/canada-ballast-water-restrictions-invasive-species/
By Julie Riddle, The Alpena News
This article is part of a collaboration between The Alpena News and Great Lakes Now at Detroit Public Television to bring audiences stories about the Great Lakes, especially Lake Huron and its watershed.
ALPENA — Sailors aboard Great Lakes freighters got a shot in the arm when nurses in Sault Ste.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/06/ship-vaccinations-freighters-covid-19/
The Great Lakes Now supervising producer, Rob Green, wants your help figuring out more about an old movie shot aboard a freighter. He’s done what he can to identify the ship, ports, time period and people in a mysterious black-and-white video he found in an online archive.
Green knows someone out there can help with more clues to answer: who shot this footage?
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/03/freighter-mystery-identify-people-places-historic-film/
Lake Erie fishing charters reel from stay at home orders, and lake freighters idle due to industry shutdowns.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/04/covid-19-coronavirus-fishing-freighters-great-lakes-industries/
Travel may not be an option for people right now with the ongoing spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, but there are many ways to still take in the sights – including through photos of hard-to-find views of the massive freighters that cross the Great Lakes.
The Great Lakes Seaway Partnership is a nonprofit initiative that is a collaboration between U.S.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/04/freighter-photos-great-lakes-seaway/
