Wednesday, March 21, 2007

CLARKE Departs

The PHILIP R. CLARKE departed Erie today at 5:00 p.m. bound for Sandusky on her first trip of the season. After spending the morning undergoing final preparations, the CLARKE's crew winched her forward at 11:30 to ballast, because the water near the stern where she had been was too shallow for the vessel to ballast. The CLARKE finally got underway at 5:00, saluting fleetmate PRESQUE ISLE and onlookers on the South Pier on her way out to begin a new season.

101_1303
CLARKE at her layup dock at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday.

101_1292
Stern view.

101_1324
Shifting forward to ballast at 11:30 a.m.

101_1348
Passing the PRESQUE ISLE on its way outbound, 5:00 p.m.

101_1363
Entering the channel

101_1375
Final approach to the Erie channel.

101_1386
Chief Engineer John Bellmore (Left) and another Clarke engineer enjoy the view as the vessel departs.

101_1394

101_1397

For more photos of the CLARKE taken today, visit my Webshots album.

1 comment:

diddywah said...

Really enjoy your blog! Love the pictures... takes me back to the years I spent on East Front!