From April through mid-December, around 5,000 sailors travel in continual motion on the Great Lakes. They live and work aboard vessels hauling freight from Lake Superior to Lake Michigan or Lake Huron or Lake Erie or vice versa. At some point during their journey, the ships pass through the Port of Detroit where the J.W. Wescott II will meet them and send up “mail by the pail.”

The J. W. Westcott Company is headquartered along the Detroit River, just below the Ambassador Bridge. It became an official U.S. post office in 1895, and its pilot boat has been delivering letters and packages (as well as candy, cigarettes, and the occasional pizza) to vessels as they pass through the narrows of the Detroit River. During shipping season, the company is on duty 24/7 and delivers just about anything requested by the shipping companies, whether it’s a new stove for a freighter or groceries for a trawler’s cook. The Wescott meets the ships mid-river and hands up the goods in five-gallon steel buckets. It’s a tricky exchange, as the pilot boat has to match the speed of the larger vessel, make the delivery, then pull away so as not to get caught in the bigger ship’s wake.