04/19/2020
The Buoy Tender: This past Monday in Oswego was fortunate to see the U.S. Coast Guard Hollyhock, a cutter based in Port Huron, Michigan and charged with switching out 150 buoys in the Lower Great Lakes. The top image I captured Monday where the Oswego River meets Lake Ontario—the vessel anchored there during heavy winds that evening. I did a post on this ship Tuesday and heard from many of you. Since then, the vessel’s commander was kind enough to share an image with me (bottom) of the kind of buoys they work on, switch out. These are sophisticated instruments that gather weather information and help with navigation—they can weigh several thousand pounds. Some 150 buoys are switched out after winter and replaced by summer buoys by the crew on this ship. Making the story more compelling is the fact a Western New Yorker is part of the talented crew. Cory Wisecup is a second class petty officer who assists with navigation. He is from Hilton, NY and has been in the Coast Guard for ten years now. He has been stationed in Alaska, Wisconsin, South Carolina and now Michigan. The Hollyhock also helps breakup ice in the winter and is at the ready for search and rescue missions. This was a very cool sight to see on Monday evening in Oswego.
