Joel Dinda's photos with the keyword: steamship

"Wed. Sept. 20, 1939 Company name on side of Steamer 'South Park'" Second of three photos; the third will be along in a month or so. I discussed this ship's history here . Borucki's Lakers

"Wed Sept. 20, 1939 Steamer 'South Park' An converted 'whale back'" First of three photos. "Converted" is an interesting description, as this ship's history is a series of conversions: Built in 1896 as the Frank Rockefeller , she sailed until 1927 as an ore carrier, mostly as a member of the Steel Trust's 'Tin Stacker' fleet. Renamed South Park in '27 and converted to a sand dredge, she helped fill in the site of the Chicago World's Fair. Converted again in 1936, she hauled automobiles around the lake until she was wrecked off Manistee in 1942. She wasn't done yet: She was salvaged, converted to a tanker, and renamed Meteor . In 1969 she was wrecked off Marquette. As a single-hulled tanker, she wasn't worth saving; as the last surviving whaleback laker, she was worthy of a final rescue. She's been a museum ship in Superior, Wisconsin, since 1971. She's apparently in need of serious repairs at this point and her future is in doubt. American Steel Barge of Superior built ships and (mostly) barges of this general design in the late 1800s. Whalebacks were interesting-looking ships, and evidently served their owners well, but the design has generally been judged a failure. More information is available on Wikipedia ; I shan't repeat it here. Borucki's Lakers

"Sunday Nov. 6, 1938 Discarded Steam barge 'Sacremento' [sic] of Davidson fleet rotting in slip at Davidson shipyard" I've seen this ship's name misspelled often enough to wonder if perhaps she wore that spelling on her hull. Like her consort Chieftain, she'd been sitting untended in this slip since 1929 when Mr. Borucki made this photo, which was taken shortly before she was formally abandoned. John Devendorf's Great Lakes Bulk Carriers 1869-1985 tells me that remnants of the ship remained visible on the waterfront into the 1980s, when Bay City recovered the area as Veterans Park. Her rudder is preserved in the park; the remainder of the ruined ship was reportedly buried when the park developers filled the slip. Sacramento was built in 1895 at this yard as a 302 foot steamship (some sources say 307). Davidson Steamship's all-wooden fleet , including this ship, was discarded as obsolete in the late '20s. More information about that, and the shipyard, at the Chieftain writeup . Borucki's Lakers

"Nov. 20, 1938 Sunday Going downloaded. Going through M.C. RR. Bridge." Second of two photographs of this ship. Presumably this is a Bay City photograph, in which case it's this bridge . I told what I know about this oddly-configured ship with last week's photograph ; I've nothing to add today. Borucki's Lakers

"Ben Lasch on stairs of pilot house on S.S. Calcite docked at 17th St & Water. Bay, City, Mich. Thursday Sept 1938" September 1, I'm sure, since that's the date on the others in the set. Final of four pictures; I sketched Calcite's history here . This pilot house survives, as part of the museum complex at 40 Mile Point Lighthouse . Presumably Ben Lasch was a Borucki family friend, but I don't know the story. Nor do I know anything much about him. The only reference I can find for Lasch on the Web is this mention in an article about Mackinac ferry service in 1927. Borucki's Lakers

'Steamer Aetna turning around by cement plant Sunday Sept. 25/38' First of two photos. That cement plant would be in Essexville, and was also named Aetna; the ship was named for the plant. She carried bags of cement around the Lakes under charter with Mid-West Transportation, which was owned largely by the same capitalists as the cement company. Aetna, another " Fredrikstad ship " (or Laker Type A ), was built as Lake Catherine by Toledo Shipbuilding under government contract in 1918. She was renamed Oscar J. Lingeman in 1926 and Aetna in 1937. She was sold off-lakes in 1941 and renamed Manasquan. The ship was scrapped in 1947. Borucki's Lakers