James R Barker Whistle

[Guest]

I assume the salute was originally just ships blowing for a bridge lift, then when they started using radios they just saluted for the people at the park.

[BigRiver]

if you have this year's Know Your Ships you can read the story about the Barker's long salutes, which he reserves for family at Duluth, the Soo and DeTour. Capt Newland might not be on right now, or no family members were present when the vessel saluted.

[guest]

well put hausen

[hausen]

Is there a problem with the whistle on the Barker? Coming in to the Duluth piers to day it did not seem to sound for nearly as long as normal.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with the air horns on the James R. Barker

The nature of the salute depends on how the person pressing the horn control button wants to do it. Simple as that. The salute the Barker gave at Duluth today was a perfectly normal, standard one long and two short. The extra elongated 3 long, 2 shorts the Barker was often giving last year were a relatively new development, not normal at all, and a nice treat for all involved, but nothing that needs to be expected every time the Barker goes through the Duluth ship canal.

There's no obligation for ships to salute the lift bridge at Duluth. The people involved are in the middle of a challenging manuever and a hectic period of port arrival tasks right as they're passing through the canal. We're lucky the extremely unique tradition of ships and the Aerial bridge exchanging salutes exists at all, and the frankly strange attitude that has developed among observers about the Barker giving completely normal salutes this spring is exactly the sort of thing that leads to the hard working people in the wheelhouses of these ships giving a second thought to even bothering at all.

[Guest]

Is there a problem with the whistle on the Barker? Coming in to the Duluth piers to day it did not seem to sound for nearly as long as normal.