ORE BOATS! Why the fuck didn't someone think of that?

[eauclaireliberal]

Anyone who has lived on or near Lake Superior knws well that ten of these could probably evacuated the entire city of New Orleans!



I'm sure that various ports along the Atlantic coast have them and could have been dispatched by the gummint to get people out after the levee first broke.

But hey, the remaining people were 'colored' so who gives a fuck, right?

[Brundle_Fly]

1. I hate your comment.

but I hate that it's probably true more.

[eauclaireliberal]

4. Only mention that what I have seen for myself

I went to a funeral of a friend's grandma in Bessemer, Alabama. After seeing the neighborhood she grew up in, I thought I'd puke. I haven't seen anything thas impoverished in East Chicago, for chrissakes.

Whites are no better off in the South. So why do they vote Repub?

[BOHICA06]

2. Sorry .... very very slow ...

...10kt max - no Cross-Florida Barge Canal - we're talking a week or more. Now there are some coal barges that might be tugged into position.

[no name no slogan]

3. Most ore boats aren't ocean-worthy

Although the swells in the great lakes can be powerful, they're not nearly as powerful as the tides you see in the Atlantic Ocean. Most ore boats never go beyond the great lakes, and it's doubtful they'd survive the rigors and salt water of the oceans.

Also, they're too "deep" for river navigation, so it wouldn't be practical to send them downriver, either.

It sounds like a good idea, but not all big boats are alike.

[eauclaireliberal]

5. Actaully

I was thinking of them bypassing the Miss and go through the St. Lawrence seaway.

As for the Atlantic...I don't know...Lake Superior can be mighty fierce sometimes...

[no name no slogan]

7. Superior is fierce, but the ocean is much worse

Those ore boats are little more than reinforced river barges. They are not meant to withstand tides and there's no way they could handle ocean-size swells. Once you add in the corrosive effects of ocean salt water on the hulls, and you've got a disaster waiting to happen.

I'm a bit of a great lakes shipwrecks buff, and have done a fair amount of research on these vessels. And I can tell, even from a strictly amateur perspective, that these ships wouldn't last long on the open ocean.

[Nederland]

6. Think about it

How deep does the water need to be for this thing to not scrap bottom? I'm not sure this is the solution to the problem...