The bumboat Marine Trader in Duluth, MN, and other parts of Great Lakes marine life

Bumboats are small boats used as floating shops that market to sailors in harbor.  There's a tradition of them on the Great Lakes; here's what I could find with a bit of searching.

In Duluth, Minnesota, the Marine Trader went back to the lakes in 1998:  (via a story in Minnesota's World Port w/photos)

On May 24, 1998, an old boat and an even older maritime practice both came back to life. Here’s what happened, as described by Franz VonRiedel: "After 12 years of lying idle, the bumboat Marine Trader pulled up along-side the 650-foot self-unloader Algoway at the Cutler-Magner salt dock in Duluth. Up went the ladders, and the crew members of the Algoway scrambled down to do a little shopping … "

Franz VonRiedel wrote those words as part of an article for a recent edition of the Nor’easter, the journal of the Lake Superior Marine Museum Association. Mr. VonRiedel knows bumboats, and he really knows the Marine Trader. He and his father, Bruce VonRiedel, own the Trader and three other small craft that make up their business, Acme Marine Services.

Some other bumboats on the lakes included the Dewey's and Kessler II in Toledo (now scrapped), and something similar but not quite the same is the mail boat J. W. Westcott on the Detroit River.

Generally lots more information and forums and photos at boatnerd.com .