Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs A Canadian cargo freighter carrying 17 crew members that had been wedged in ice on Lake Erie for three days amid a prolonged cold snap was dislodged on Saturday after the Coast Guards of both the United States and Canada deployed ice-breaking vessels to free it.The ship, a 663-foot-long bulk carrier called the Manitoulin, had gotten stuck Wednesday morning about a mile off the shore of Buffalo, after delivering a shipment of wheat and attempting to return to its home port in Sarnia, Ontario, on Lake Huron.The vessel began moving again early Saturday afternoon.While it is not uncommon for shipping vessels to become temporarily immobilized by ice in the Great Lakes, the Manitoulin’s proximity to land and its extended stay captured the imaginations of Buffalo residents and boating enthusiasts alike.“It’s so unusual to be literally stuck,” said Karen Taylor, who was among dozens of people gathered along the shoreline Saturday to take in the spectacle before the ship started moving. “We’re used to ice on the lake, but not seeing something that enormous not able to move through it.”Her friend, Barb Fleissner, said her heart was with the crew and that, for her, the scene evoked memories of disasters at sea.“Thank God they’ve got electricity and can stay warm,” Ms. Fleissner said. “You hear stories and remember the Edmund Fitzgerald when they lost power and they didn’t have anything and you’re like, ‘Oh, God, I hope these guys are all right out there,’ because it’s been bitter cold.”By all official accounts, the situation on the Manitoulin was not dire. Lt. Kyle Rivera, a U.S. Coast Guard spokesman, had reported that the crew was safe and had provisions to last five days. A few hours before the ship was freed, he said that a private tugboat had delivered more food to the crew.Indeed, the crew seemed to accept their circumstances with good humor, listing “EXASPERATED SIGH” as their reported destination on a marine traffic system.Messages left by The New York Times for the captain of the ship on social media channels were not returned.Lieutenant Rivera said that four vessels had been deployed to aid the Manitoulin as part of an ongoing ice-breaking partnership with Canada in the region known as Operation Coal Shovel.Three of the vessels — the cutter Bristol Bay, ported in Detroit; the tug Neah Bay, ported in Cleveland; and the Canadian icebreaker Samuel Risley — were on the scene Saturday.Another American cutter, the Mackinaw, was on its way from Lake Huron when the Manitoulin began moving under its own power.Lieutenant Rivera estimated that the Manitoulin had been encased in ice that was more than two feet thick.Complicating the operation were the region’s relentlessly frigid temperatures.“It’s been at least six years since this area has seen ice of this magnitude,” Lieutenant Rivera said. “We have had vessels become beset this winter, but they didn’t take this long to free.”The ice-breaking efforts, which involved the other vessels circling the Manitoulin with a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter sometimes hovering overhead, lured a steady stream of onlookers undeterred by the weather to the shoreline throughout the day.“Look at that,” said Joe Moran, who arrived with his wife, Jeanne Moran, from suburban West Seneca, N.Y., before the ship started moving. “It’s a huge thing and it’s stuck. It’s kind of cool, you know?”Mark Arras, from suburban Tonawanda, N.Y., was one of several amateur photographers to capture the scene.“They say they can navigate the ice on the water, but to see a ship like that get stuck is kind of impressive,” Mr. Arras said.Renee Witt took in the rescue operation from the warmth of her car at the Erie Basin Marina.“This is not something you see every day,” she said. “It’s an adventure.”Amy Daggett, 61, an administrator of a Facebook group called “Ship Junkies — Lakes, Locks & Rivers,” which tracks vessels on the Great Lakes for its roughly 82,000 followers, had been closely chronicling the Manitoulin.She drove nearly an hour from her home in Geneseo, N.Y., to check out the scene and deliver doughnuts to the crew of the Bristol Bay, which had docked in Buffalo the night before after a day of ice-breaking.“We don’t get a lot of freighters in Buffalo, so they’re kind of rock stars just coming in here to begin with,” Ms. Daggett explained. “Then to have one stranded out there, it’s like everybody’s kind of cheering, between the Buffalo Bills and the Manitoulin.”
