Edwin-H.-Gott

The first two U.S.-flag lakers are on schedule to depart the Port of Duluth-Superior Tuesday, March 22, signaling the start of the 2016 commercial shipping season at this, the farthest inland port on the Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway (GLSLS) system. Shortly after 7 a.m., the Edwin H. Gott, is scheduled to move from its winter berth at the Clure Public Marine Terminal – first to fuel, then to depart mid-morning beneath Duluth’s famed Aerial Bridge en route to the CN Dock in Two Harbors to load iron ore pellets. Shortly thereafter, another ship in the Great Lakes Fleet, the Philip R. Clark, also will fuel and head to Two Harbors. Both vessels, with deliveries to make to steel mills on the Lower Lakes, will proceed across Lake Superior toward Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., to ‘line up’ in a downbound queue to await the opening of the Soo Locks at 12:01 a.m. on Friday, March 25. The Welland Canal opened at 8 a.m. today; the Montreal/Lake Ontario section of the St. Lawrence Seaway opens Wednesday. http://www.marinelink.com/news/duluthsuperior-shipping406977.aspx

The Coast Guard conducted an emergency medical evacuation of a sick crewmember from the "Edwin H. Gott" operating approximately 40 miles northwest of Bayfield, Wis. in Lake Superior, in the foremidday of Aug 31, 2013. At around 8 a.m. CST, a search-and-rescue coordinator at Coast Guard Sector Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., answered a distress call via VHF-FM channel 16, from the "Edwin H. Gott" reporting that a crewmember aboard was experiencing symptoms of a stroke. The laker's captain reported that the 60-year-old man's medical condition had been deteriorating rapidly throughout the early morning. SAR coordinators at Coast Guard Sector Sault Ste Marie, Mich., immediately directed the launch of a boatcrew from Station Bayfield, Wis., aboard a 45-foot Response Boat-Medium. The SAR coordinator consulted the on-call Coast Guard flight surgeon, who recommended proceeding with the medevac. The Station Bayfield boatcrew arrived on scene at around 9:20 a.m., and coordinated with the crew of the laker to have the crewmember lowered to the Coast Guard rescue boat. The laker's crew used a crane to lower the patient in a rescue basket to the deck of the Coast Guard boat. The Coast Guard boatcrew had two emergency medical technicians on board who provided medical care to the patient while they transited back to shore. The boastcrew moored at Station Bayfield at 10:45 a.m., and transferred the man to local emergency medical services waiting on shore. Local EMS transferred the man to the Ashland Memorial Medical Center.