Owen Sound has seen its first delivery on the harbour for 2025! Say hello to the Prentiss Brown and St. Mary’s Challenger, which arrived on May 28th bringing powdered cement from Charlevoix, Michigan.
The Prentiss Brown and St. Mary’s Challenger are an articulated tug and barge (or ATB) system. Rather than using tow lines like a traditional barge, you can see that the Prentiss Brown sits in a space cut out of the Challenger’s hull at the stern. This gives greater efficiency and control in their operations.
The St. Mary’s Challenger itself may not have its own engines, but it is one of the oldest hulls on the Great Lakes. It was first launched as the William P. Snyder way back in 1906. It ran under its own power for 107 years before conversion to a barge in 2013.
