Wintry mix spreads across Minnesota

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A Great Lakes freighter required Coast Guard help to break free from the ice in Duluth.

The Lee A. Tregurtha was testing recent engine repairs when they grounded to a halt in thick ice Friday morning about a mile away from the Duluth Piers. The U.S. Coast Guard sent the cutter Spar to the rescue, which spent around 90 minutes smashing the ice to clear the way for the Lee A. to reach open lake.

Scott Bjorklund, an Army Corps of Engineers park ranger stationed at the Lake Superior Maritime Visitor Center, said in an interview the spectacle drew out a crowd and commenters, but it is fairly common on the eastern side of the lake.

“I feel like if this had happened in the middle of the night, no one would have noticed and it wouldn’t have blown up as much as it has,” Bjorklund said.

The Lee A. Tregurtha is more than 800 feet long. It was built in 1942 as an oil tanker before being converted to a traditional Great Lakes freighter, according to Interlake Maritime Services, the Ohio-based company that owns the ship.

It was the largest steam-powered ship on the Great Lakes through the 2005 navigation season.

Bjorklund said the season for stuck ships isn’t over on the Great Lakes, particularly along the St. Mary’s River and White Fish Bay.

The last stuck ship he could personally recall in Duluth was in April 2022. That ship required a tug rather than an icebreaker.

“The ice is still probably going to be a problem for weeks to come, because according to our forecast, it’s still not going to be that warm for us up here,” he said. “It’s going to look pretty below average. I don’t know, it might happen again. We’ll see.”

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Seth Richardson

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The Lee A. Tregurtha required some help after it got stuck in a pack of ice outside Duluth. 

Freighter caught in ice outside Duluth requires Coast Guard help

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