Elmer Engman, our Duluth correspondent, reports that the WALTER J. McCARTHY, Jr. was loading taconite at the CN dock in Duluth on May 3rd.

The WALTER J. McCARTHY, Jr. was launched by the Bay Shipbuilding Co. at Sturgeon Bay, Wis., in 1977 as the BELLE RIVER.  She is 1,000 feet in length and 105 feet wide.  In 1990, she was renamed WALTER J. McCARTHY, Jr. in honor of the former Chairman of the Detroit Edison Company.

The McCARTHY is powered by four 3500 HP General Motors Electro Motive Division (EMD) diesel engines. The vessel uses a conveyor system below its cargo holds to transport cargo to a “loop conveyor” system that elevates the cargo to the massive deck-mounted boom conveyor. For maneuvering in port, the vessel is equipped with 1,500 HP bow and stern thrusters.

She currently sails as part of the American Steamship Company fleet.

Photos by Elmer Engman

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Elmer Engman is a long time resident of the Duluth area. He started scuba diving in 1968, because of an interest in maritime history, and wrote the first dive guide for the area called, Shipwreck Guide to the Western Half of Lake Superior. He is a past board member of the SS Meteor Maritime Museum and the Lake Superior Marine Museum Association. He is also the founder of the Maritime history program called “Gales of November”. This will be the 38th of the program held on the second weekend in November.