I had been watching the S/S Phillip R. Clarke of Canadian National Railway's Great Lakes Fleet and the M/V Lee A. Tregurtha of the Interlake Steamship Company off and on over the past 24 hours come across Lake Superior via the live Marine Traffic website. They travelled parallel to one another about a mile apart on their way to Duluth, MN. Approximately 20 miles out the Clarke moved into the lead as the Tregurtha checked down, the captain of the Tregurtha told the Clarke to enter the Duluth Ship Canal first as the Clark's dock at the CN Oredock was open. On the other hand, the Lee A.'s dock was the Burlington Northern-Santa Fe in Superior, WI was not open, the M/V Roger Blough was in there loading iron ore pellets. Besides, the Lee A. needed to refuel at the Calumet Fuel Dock in Duluth anyway, so it was agreed the Clarke would go in first. At times the snow fell heavily enough to completely block out the two vessels. Complete whiteouts with howling winds over 40 m.p.h., then as quickly as the snow came it was gone. This was repeated over and over again as the vessels approached the Duluth Piers.