The 603-foot Cana­di­an bulk car­ri­er, M/V MISSISSAGI, was suc­cess­ful­ly refloat­ed by The Great Lakes Tow­ing Com­pa­ny on Sat­ur­day, April 25 by 1 p.m. with no injuries or pol­lu­tion, after the ves­sel went aground ear­li­er that morn­ing on the St. Marys Riv­er at Big Trout Island in U.S. Waters.The ves­sel was tran­sit­ing down­bound the St. Marys Riv­er from Bruce Mines, Ontario ear­ly Wednes­day car­ry­ing more than 17,000 tons of stone when it ran aground in the Pota­gan­niss­ing Bay. Once on scene, The Tow­ing Company’s Tug MISSOURI respond­ed and freed the ves­sel with­in 5 hours.

Cap­tain Mike Pat­ter­son, Tug Cap­tain for The Great Lakes Tow­ing Com­pa­ny in Sault Ste. Marie was the first to respond. “One of the things I’ve always liked best about this job is that a cap­tain can’t do it alone. We work as a team.” Cap­tain Pat­ter­son worked with his crew to quick­ly and safe­ly free M/V MISSISSAGI. Cap­tain Paterson’s crew includ­ed Mate Evan Keat­ing, Engi­neer Fred Carr and Deck­hand Dan Gallagher.

The Great Lakes Tow­ing Company’s Full Ser­vice Lakes-Wide Tow­ing Con­tract offers lakes-wide com­pre­hen­sive tow­ing ser­vice with read­i­ly avail­able “round-the-clock” tugs and crews. In addi­tion to har­bor ser­vices, The Com­pa­ny pro­vides emer­gency assis­tance to ves­sels that are wrecked, dis­abled, or in dis­tress on the Great Lakes. No claim for sal­vage under the mar­itime laws is made by the Tow­ing Com­pa­ny for emer­gency ser­vices pro­vid­ed under the Company’s Contract.

To learn more, vis­it www.thegreatlakestowingcompany.com