AmFort and AmVal in Toledo

[GLMC1]

Best bet - take a boat or rent one; either way - on the water is about your only chance. Too bad it's not like the old days, you could just wander around pretty much unnoticed.

[Guest]

I happen to have a picture for you of American Valor taken from Cullen Park. I’ve never uploaded a picture to Boatnerd. I hope it is received & published. As I previously mentioned, Cullen Park is just too far away from the shipping channel for decent viewing. Some visitors walk to the end of the dike for a closer look. I don’t recommend it because it is physically challenging and ends with a pleasure boat channel and a large island, created from dredge spoilage, which pretty much blocks viewing of the shipping channel. The picture was taken 05/06/2010 when strong westerly winds blew all of the water out of Maumee Bay. Low water happens occasionally. No water was exceptional and very rare. The swirl marks are from boat propellers. From left to right, American Fortitude is behind the dike/island and can’t be seen at all, the Bayshore Power Plant, The CSX coal unloading dock, and the American Valor in lay-up.

[Guest]

Both the American Fortitude (formerly Ernest T. Weir (2) and Courtney Burton) and American Valor (formerly Armco) are in lay-up at separate docks at the mouth of the Maumee River. Both of the lay-up docks are also special as the site of the Indian village of Chief Pontiac, summer resort places, yacht clubs, Hullett unloaders, the last Wellman coal unloader on the Great Lakes, and the 2 slips called the Frog Pond, which were the final lay-up areas for many well known ships before they were towed away for scrapping. The ships, and docks, are easy to view from a pleasure boat in the shipping channel. But, neither is easy to view from land because of fences, 24-hour security, and dredge spoilage areas blocking the views. Cullen Park is often suggested as a boat watching area. The park, located on the other side of the river, is just too far way from the shipping channel for decent viewing, even with the best of binoculars. Good news is that everything you want to see, and I mentioned, are available in every detail in Boatnerd pictures. Just search for “Toledo Images” on the homepage. For a short visit to Toledo, I would recommend a visit to the Willis Boyer museum ship in downtown Toledo. Great ship, inexpensive, great views in a park setting, Easy access from I-75 or I-280,Great Parking, Next to the site of the maritime museum being moved from Vermillion Ohio, Home to some of Toledo’s best food & fun with a group of restaurants known collectively as “The Docks”. If you are really lucky, you might catch a grain ship passing by the Boyer through & under the bridges. Recent postings for the American Fortitude & American Valor have suggested that neither may sail again.

[Boat Brad]

I'm not familiar with Toledo, but I will be there in the next few weeks. Are the American Valor and American Fortitude tied up somewhere where you can get a decent vantage point for a picture?

Thanks