Tom Wenstadt, our Door County correspondent, reports that the M/V JAMES R. BARKER departed Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding, Thursday evening April 3rd (2025). The BARKER headed out Sturgeon Bay and anchored for the night out in the Bay of Green Bay. The next morning, the BARKER motored slowly out through Rock Island Passage, into Lake Michigan to its destination of Two Harbors, Minn., for its first load of taconite of the season.
The BARKER was christened August 7, 1976, at the American Shipbuilding yard in Lorain, Ohio, for the Interlake Steamship Co. for whom she sails today. She was the first 1000 footer to be built with its pilot house aft.
The JAMES R. BARKER suffered an engine room fire October of 1986 in Lake Huron. The fire was put out by on board equipment. The BARKER was towed side by side by its sister ship the WILLIAM J. De LANCEY for repairs at Bay Shipbuilding.
Specifications:
Length 1004 feet
Beam (width) 105 feet
Depth 56 feet
Capacity 63,300 tons
Power 2 Pielstick V16 8000 horsepower diesel engines turning two propellers and a bow thruster
Self-Unloading rate 10,000 tons per hour
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Tom Wenstadt, who lives in Sturgeon Bay, is a retired marine engineer, having worked in the Great Lakes area for thirty-seven years. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering from Michigan Technological University and is the author of Freighters of Manitowoc. He is a member of the Wisconsin Marine Historical Society and the Door County Maritime Museum & Lighthouse Preservation Society. He is a volunteer archival assistant and docent for the JOHN PURVES.
Photo by Bob Kuhn dated March 30, 2016
