The tug Manitou, captained by owner David Malcolm, visits Alpena each winter to make sure freighters and barges can reach Lafarge Alpena’s giant storage bins to pick up loads of cement, to be used in building the things that build the country.

Last weekend, as it has for decades, the Manitou chugged in slow-motion loops around the Lafarge harbor, the boat’s bathtub-shaped sides and angled bow climbing onto and breaking into panes the inches-thick ice that could stop a bigger ship in her tracks.

Check out the video below. Viewing on mobile? Turn your device horizontally for the best viewing experience. Story continues below the video.

“These hulls are beautiful hulls. Great for breaking ice,” said Malcolm, who has worked the tug since his father bought and refurbished the Manitou, which originally served as a U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker in New York in the 1940s.

News Photo by Julie Riddle A great blue heron fishes from ice freshly broken by the tug Manitou in Lafarge harbor last week.

Everybody knows everybody on the Great Lakes, Malcolm said, chatting easily over a hand-held radio with the captain of the tug Samuel de Champlain, pushing the barge Innovation toward Lafarge with empty holds last week for the barge’s last visit of the season.

An hour and a half before the Innovation’s arrival, Malcolm and his crew of two headed into Thunder Bay, which a sharp wind had covered with 4-inch-thick ice the night before.

Hunks of ice spun off over the frozen water as the Manitou’s bulk forged forward, the ice crunching and snapping and sliding in blue-white sheets like recalcitrant puzzle pieces at the ship’s approach.

Buoys mark a channel designated for Lafarge-bound boats. Malcolm deftly steered his ship through the channel to make sure the larger ship would reach its destination without getting stuck.

All would be well, Malcolm said, as long as the wind didn’t blow the broken ice together again too quickly.

News Photo by Julie Riddle Ice shatters and chunks slide away under pressure from the tug Manitou in Thunder Bay last week.

In front of the hulking Lafarge buildings, Malcolm looped through the ice again and again, crushing large ice chunks into smaller ones.

Gliding sideways, he scraped the bow of his ship along the walls of the loading slip, where no ice could be left to separate the Innovation from the precise mechanical arms that would dump cement into 18-inch-wide hold openings.

Below, chief engineer Rich Malcolm and deckhand John Woehlert peered out the windows of a small room where a bare table and a stove serve as kitchen and dining room for the crew that sometimes works for weeks at a time.

A few tiny bedrooms feature tiny sinks and barely enough room to turn around.

The rooms get pretty small after a few weeks, said Rich Malcolm, who has worked aboard the Manitou for 17 years.

News Photo by Julie Riddle Border doodle Tug keeps watch as Dave Malcolm steers the tug Manitou through Thunder Bay ice last week.

“We see a lot of the Great Lakes,” said the engineer. “Not always when it’s warm.”

The rest of the boat’s interior is small and intimate — the loud engine room; the rope locker in the ship’s original crew quarters, thick with ancient-but-strong-looking loops of rope in nautical tones; the laundry room, with a faintly off-putting scent hovering around a large, silver box.

“The shi**** tank,” Rich Malcolm said, offering a good-natured tour of his home away from home as broken ice made the floor vibrate underfoot.

Back on the top floor, Captain Malcolm continued his sharp-eyed circles, supervised by his watchful dog, Tug.

The border-doodle has made his place on the boat since he was a puppy, learning to shift his weight to keep his footing during storms, Malcolm said.

News Photo by Julie Riddle Coils of rope fill the rope locker on the tug Manitou last week.

Right on time, the Innovation bullied its way into the Lafarge harbor, a crew member standing at the ship’s nose to watch the approach.

A bald eagle that had been hunting a duck in the harbor gave up and flapped to a nearby tree as the Innovation navigated gracefully into position in the slip. It eased forward, struggling to butt up tight against the slip’s wall.

“Hey, Dave,” the captain’s voice scratched over the radio. “You wanna come over here and give us a push?”

With a steady hand, Malcolm eased the Manitou’s nose against the bigger ship, the smaller boat’s strong engine growling as the little boat pushed the barge into place for loading.

Like other tugs on the Great Lakes, the Manitou keeps busy all year, moving freighters and barges and assisting with dredging projects.

News Photo by Julie Riddle Cement-storage stacks at Lafarge Alpena appear through a window of the tug Manitou last week.

“Wherever needs doing,” the captain said, eyes scanning for rogue ice chunks, “we do it.”

He likes breaking ice the best, though, Malcolm said, circling the harbor one more time.

News Photo by Julie Riddle Captain Dave Malcolm steers the tug Manitou into Thunder Bay in preparation for the arrival of a barge at Lafarge Alpena last week.