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Here is the James R. Barker arriving in Duluth, Minnesota on the morning of November 6, 2025. She was arriving empty to load taconite (iron ore) pellets at the Canadian National dock in West Duluth. The taconite was scheduled for delivery to Toledo, Ohio.
Given that the Barker was arriving a little before 5am, I wasn't sure if we would hear a salute from her legendary dual horns. Discussing it with another photographer present, we surmised that we might get a short salute if we were lucky. But we were wrong! The Barker let loose with one of her epic master salutes, no doubt rattling some bedroom windows in the process. The bridge responded with its own master salute, but even the six horns from the bridge seemed inadequate in responding to the Barker's roar.
The James R. Barker is 1004 feet in length and was built in 1976 by the American Ship Building Company of Lorain, Ohio. According to the Boatnerd website, she is powered by "two 8,000 bhp V-16 cylinder, four stroke cycle, single acting, turbocharged Colt-Pielstick PC2V diesel engines, built by Fairbanks Morse Engine Division of Colt Industries, Beloit, WI driving through a Falk reversing gear box to two Bird-Johnson controllable pitch, stainless steel, four bladed propellers seventeen feet, six inches in diameter." She has a cargo capacity of 63,300 tons. She has the distinction of being the first self-contained 1000-footer to be built with the entire superstructure at the aft end of the vessel. This design would be the model for the remaining 1000-footers to be built for Great Lakes service.