Maroon & Cream, Over the Horizon. Running lights on, hatches closed, and the anchors are stored. Slowly she creeps away from the dock under a sky that is as forlorn as the day that she is leaving. Water moving under the keel, it feels good to a lady who hasn’t been able to move for the last 6 years, but that’s all that feels good. So long Toledo, it’s been real. Although her gown of maroon and cream is faded, she begins the first leg, of her last trip. For someone who knows her time left isn’t long, she doesn’t show much concern. With smell of diesel in the air, and the chains that hang from her, she is moving again. She comes about, abreast of her fleet mate of almost 40 years. With her steam whistles silent, and unable to say farewell, she glides out to Maumee Bay. Life has been kind. 61 years, 3 owners, 3 names, and many sea miles gone by. She should have known that someday it would all come down to this. No more will she see the sunrises on Lake Huron or the sunsets on Michigan. The paintings of fall on the St. Marys River or the Northern Lights on Lake Superior: now those were sights to see! No more ore out of Superior, Ashland, or Marquette. No more visits to Calcite or Marblehead. Steaming out of Conneaut with a load of coal on a warm summers evening seems like a distant dream now. With her boilers cold, her engine silent, and her interior pretty much emptied, she still stands as a proud monument to the men who created her, and to the men who called her home and work, for so many years. Un noticed by the rest of the world, she slips past the Toledo Harbor Lighthouse. 20 miles to go, and then she’ll haul to 095.5 to begin her final eastbound run. On the shore, a man stands with his field glasses and camera. He checks his log book, the last time he crossed paths with her was July of 2006. As an avid boat watcher, it is hard to watch a Laker on her final trip. It is like viewing the funeral procession of an old friend. The rest of the world will never understand the feeling of watching a scrap tow. But to the few who have dedicated the time to these great ladies, there is no explanation needed. The man looks out and thinks to himself, this will be one of the last times that he will see the Maroon and Cream paint scheme, on the Horizon. A livery that was once a symbol on the lakes for many years is fading fast. History is being made. Shakespeare once wrote “Being consumed with that which it was nourish’d by…” As fitting as those words are, one would wish that the fire could be relit from the ashes. Sadly everyone, including the man on the shore, knows that this cannot be done. She may be named “American Fortitude” but him, she’ll always be the “Courtney Burton”. He raises the field glasses once more. Way out on the horizon, she has now turned. He opens the logbook, writes the date, the time. Next to that he writes “Str. Courtney Burton, WE 6970, clear of Toledo with Maroon & Cream over the Horizon. Farewell, 8 bells.” Picture: Courtney Burton docking at Sterling fuel. May 2, 2005. Posted with permission of Wade P. Streeter.
Posted on: Sun, 23 Nov 2014 21:23:51 +0000
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