Talk:Lake freighter
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The expression "lakers" is ambiguous. People mostly concerned with the Great Lakes, when they wish to distinguish dry-bulk carrying vessels that only trade there ("Lakes-only bulkers") from oceangoing vessels that trade both there and elsewhere in the world, often use the expression "lakers" to mean "Lakes-only bulkers" and "salties" to mean the others.
On the other hand, people concerned with international shipping in general and not specially focussed on the Great Lakes mostly ignore the "Lakes-only bulkers" and use the expression "lakers" to mean "Lakes-fitted bulkers." These are a subset of smallish handysize bulkers with suitable cargo-handling gear and beam of no more than 23 point something meters. (Sorry, I don't know exactly.) "Lakers" in this sense go everywhere and one might be chartered for a voyage from Thunder Bay to Rotterdam or Jedda or Singapore. Thus international people use "laker" to mean what the Lakes folk mean by "salty." (N.B.: Some other types of smaller ships that carry bulk cargoes trade on the Lakes as well and are not called "lakers" by anybody.)
The Wikipedia article "Lake freighter" follows the usage described in the first paragraph above and would be confusing to somebody who had been talking to an international shipbroker, e.g., who had referred to a certain vessel as a "laker".
[edit] Photos
Moving the Edmund Fitzgerald down the page in favour of starting the page with the John B. Aird is a little problematic given that the Aird has a wheelhouse-aft configuration. While a number of larger vessels have been built in recent years with the wheelhouse aft, the classic laker design puts the wheelhouse forward. If another free (not fair use) image of a wheelhouse-forward laker can be found and uploaded, it might be a good candidate for the top of the article... but arguably, that shot of the Edmund Fitzgerald is the iconic image of the laker. Susan Davis 06:47, 1 February 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Museums
For whoever keeps adding the Niagara to the museum section: The Niagara that currently resides in Erie is a reproduction of a frigate that was used in the War of 1812, not a lake frieghter.
- You are confusing the Brig Niagara with the SS Niagara which is owned by the Steamship Niagara Museum, Inc.[1][2]. I can't tell whether the ship is actually open as a museum though. Rmhermen 04:06, 7 February 2007 (UTC)
- The SS Niagara was retired as a sand dredge in 1985. Efforts to turn her into a museum failed and she was scrapped in 1997. See http://digin.bgsu.edu/vsl_sch.htm for more info. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Cason (talk • contribs) 20:53, 8 February 2007 (UTC).
- While the future tense of the page does allow that it may still exist, I agree there is no reason to list it as a museum here. Rmhermen 21:14, 8 February 2007 (UTC)
