Sarah Spencer

Barge Sarah Spencer waiting for a break in the lock traffic at Sault Ste Marie in 1998. The blue paint job's pretty unusual; most photographs of this ship show her in a more conventional scheme.

At this time she was being pushed by tug Atlantic Hickory, a tug with a high pilot house that made for a real exotic look. (Sorry, no picture: I ran out of film.) Jane Ann IV, her current pusher, is less odd-looking.

For thirty-odd years this ship was called Adam Cornelius, and to my view was one of the best-looking lakers. In 1989 they chopped off part of her stern and inserted a tug; this happens to occasional ships, and keeps threatening to become common because the crew requirements are different, and less expensive for the shippers. Most of the resulting conversions destroy the ship's looks; not so with this one.