Boatnerd Discussion Forum

Other notable differences is the Gott “got” new main propulsion diesels ditching the original Enterprise engines for newer efficient MAK units in 2011. But the biggest eye catching change was having the athwartship unloading shuttle boom ( like the SPEER) exchanged in 1995-96 for a more traditional 280 ft tubular unloading boom. I believe its the longest boom on the lakes to date.

Yes Bob, the Gott does indeed have elevators aboard her as a good close friend of mine knew the Chief Engineer on her years ago and got a trip aboard her and told me all on the Gott and how it was and the trip he took. I too know all about those snug elevators Bob as you like to call them as I was able to go aboard the Mesabi Miner once. It was at layup time and Spring Fit Out in 2000 and they were in Toledo at that time. Me and a group of guys all got inside the elevator of the Mesabi Miner and it was indeed very snug, tight and cramped for all of us. At least we all had tons of fun and enjoyed our time aboard her. I’ve been on two of the footers Mesabi Miner and Oglebay Norton twice and later as American Integrity. The time I got aboard it as the Integrity was awesome as they unloaded coal then at the DTE plant at St. Clair. I was able to go on deck see all the coal in the hatches and go up top to the pilot house and watch as they unloaded. You could hear and feel the vibrations as they unloaded into the coal hopper. That my friend was really amazing for me!

You are correct Denny about the gott having an elevator in it, my wife and I were on it several years ago and the elevator is quite snug. I’m sure the speer probably does as well.

I think the aftercabins are pretty much the same. They both have elevators. As you pointed out, they both are members of the same fleet, so I am sure there have to be a number of guys that worked on both hulls. They have electric hatchcranes which I hadn't seen before, and those smaller inboard hatches that only position the boats to haul taconite pellets. I only worked relief on one of them years ago, the Speer.

Of the differences, the most obvious the Gott received a new unloading boom during the Winter of 1995-96 while in BayShip at Sturgeon Bay. Another difference, their ports of registration are different. The Gott is Duluth while the Speer is New York. Also, the Gott I’ve read and heard is owned by GLF where the Speer I thought was owned by a different source. I’m sure there are other differences on each vessel but I don’t know what they are and I’m sure that someone will know and explain it to us. I believe that both vessels were built with elevators inside of them?

At first glance the Edwin H Gott and the Edgar B Speer appear to be almost identical sister ships, but upon closer examination there are quite a few differences -the Gott has a deeper hull, they were built with engines from different manufactures and built at different shipyards. I suspect there may be other difference too that I am not aware of. What was the reasoning for these differences? They were both built at the same time for the same trade routes, I would think that it would have been cheaper to build two identical ships rather than what appears to be two one-off designs.