Great Lakes freighter freed after running aground near Belle Isle
Detroit ― A 639-foot Great Lakes freighter carrying 21,000 tons of salt and headed for Milwaukee was stuck for more than four hours in the Detroit River on Wednesday after running aground just feet from the Belle Isle shoreline.
It was freed by early afternoon.
The freighter, the M/V Mark W. Barker, was headed toward Lake St. Clair from Cleveland when it got stuck around 8 a.m., not far from the Dossin Great Lakes Museum on the island's east end. With the help of a tugboat, it was freed around 12:10 p.m. "with the assistance of commercial towing," the Coast Guard said.
No pollution or damage were reported. Coast Guard Lt. j.g. Grade Adeeb Ahmad, public affairs officer for the Detroit sector, said the Coast Guard deployed teams earlier Wednesday to assess the cause and investigate any potential leaks.
The ship, which also was carrying 105,000 gallons of diesel fuel and was headed to Milwaukee, expected to arrive Friday, "experienced a loss of power and maneuverability" at about 7:30 a.m., said Chrissy Kadleck, spokeswoman for the Interlake Steamship Co., a Middleburg Heights, Ohio-based Great Lakes carrier that owns the ship.
"The vessel turned to port unexpectedly and the ship's captain dropped the anchor before the bow grounded on the soft bank of the channel," Kadleck said. "No one was injured in the incident nor does there appear to be any risk of pollution or damage to the vessel."
But "working with the United States Coast Guard and with the assistance of a tug, the vessel was able to back away from the bank and get underway to make its way to the Belle Isle Anchorage, where the crew will continue to assess the vessel and work to determine the cause of the incident," she said in an email.
A repair crew will diagnose the power issue and fix it before the ship gets back underway, said Chief Petty Officer John Masson with the 9th District in Cleveland.
The ship had its maiden voyage in July 2022, according to the company.
St. Clair Shores native Ed Pascua, who captains a fishing charter boat out of Belle Isle every morning, watched the mishap unfold from the water.
"As it approached, it started turning. ... I seen him turning sideways and then I said, 'I think this guy's in trouble,'" Pascua said. "Then we seen him drop his anchor, I'm assuming to try to slow him down before he got to the island. ... And then we seen the front end raise as it hit the shallow water."
Pascua was about 300 yards away from the freighter when it ran aground. He has been running the charter service for 20 years and fishing on the Detroit River for 45 years but has never witnessed anything like the grounding. It did not affect the morning's fishing haul, Pascua said.
"They did make the initial turn, and then it didn't seem to turn back," Pascua said.
Diane Reid of Shelby Township was on Belle Isle and saw the ship, which "jack-knifed," she said.
“I saw this one go by and then you know, I didn't think anything of it," Reid said. “And then my friend texted me and said that there was a boat run aground. … I knew it wasn't on this end and so I came down here and I looked and I was like, 'Whoa.'"
The Mark W. Barker, named after the Ohio company's president, is the Interlake Steamship Co.'s first new ship since 1981. Built in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, it was the first new ship built on the Great Lakes in 35 years, the company said.
Founded more than a century ago, the Interlake Steamship Co. boasts being the largest privately held U.S.-flag fleet on the Great Lakes and has a fleet of nine vessels. It annually transports 20 million tons of raw materials, including iron ore, flux stone, stone and coal.
After the freighter ran aground, a small crowd gathered at Belle Isle to watch it in the water, marveling at its size and what happened.
Dan Dempsey, 67, of St. Clair Shores said he'd never seen a ship run aground near Belle Isle before.
"I've lived here my whole life and have a boat, I'm on the water all the time," Dempsey said. "I heard (about) it through friends, knowing they'd be involved and knowing that I'd be running down here. ... I had to check it out to see what happened. It looks like it's pretty solid."
Maezine Denson, 68, of Detroit still remembers when a boat capsized under the Ambassador Bridge years ago and her parents took her to see it.
"When I heard about this, I had to come down to see it for myself — I was surprised it was still here," Denson said. "This is what we do in our retirement age, we find events to run to ... and we meet interesting people and learn interesting stories."
Two years ago in December 2020, engine failure stranded a freighter, the Harvest Spirit, for two days in the Detroit River's Livingstone Channel before it was moved with tugboat assistance. A second vessel, a cargo ship named the Gardno, struck the river's bottom while trying to sail around the Harvest Spirit.
hmackay@detroitnews.com