“DoorDash but for ships”: Detroit’s mail service for ships is the same since 1874

If you’ve driven by Lake St. Clair recently, you likely noticed the icy sheet covering its surface, stretching toward Canada. Perhaps you noticed a freighter or two, creeping along the horizon.
These freighters cruise up and down the Detroit River, returning from or headed to the Great Lakes. But what happens when those freighters need something from the mainland? It turns out these boats utilize a unique mail service in Detroit that has been operating for more than 150 years.
The service is offered by the J.W. Westcott Company, which delivers goods from the port of Detroit to the passing freighters via a bucket tied to a rope. Captain J.W. Westcott founded the operation in 1874.

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