Posted on Monday, February 6, 2012 by Peter Knego
The "as built" EDWIN F. HOLMES, one of eight identical bulk carriers. Photo by Louis Pesha from the William S. Carmen collection courtesy of Paul C. LaMarre III.
The Great Lakes Steamship Society was founded in 2010 with the key goal of preserving the J.B. FORD, originally the 1904-vintage iron ore bulk carrier E.F. HOLMES commissioned for the Commonwealth Shipping Company. She was built by American Shipbuilding Company in Lorain, Ohio, measured 440 by 50 feet and was powered by Scotch boiler-fired triple expansion steam engines that produced 1,500 shaft horsepower.
The E.C. COLLINS, ex HOLMES. Tom Manse and Paul C. Lamarre Jr. collection.
In 1916, the HOLMES was sold to the Pittsburgh Steamship Company and after some minor structural modifications, renamed E. C. COLLINS. In 1944, she was traded to Kinsman for service as a grain carrier, lasting until 1956, when she was sold to the Huron Cement Company.
J.B FORD. Photo and copyright Roger LeLievre.
After a two year layup, the ship was converted into a self-unloading cement carrier. Renamed J.B. FORD in 1959, she commenced her new service, lasting until 1985. She was subsequently used as a storage ship, first at South Chicago and then from 2001 at Superior, Wisconsin. In 2008, the J.B. FORD became redundant and faces the likely prospect of being sold for demolition.
The ship is a rare remnant of a once vast fleet of turn-of-the-twentieth-century lakers. Her vintage hull and many of her structural elements, woodwork and steam machinery remain the same. The FORD also, quite remarkably, survived both the 1905 “Mataafa Storm” and the 1913 “White Hurricane” which devastated the region and claimed many lives.
The Great Lakes Steamship Society is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization consisting of Great Lakes shipping industry professionals and maritime historians. They are actively seeking donations and volunteers in their efforts to preserve this important ship as a floating museum in the Great Lakes area.
For more information on the Great Lakes Steamship Society and a detailed history of the J.B. FORD, please click here.
With special thanks: Steven Haverty
jan
February 13, 2012 at 2:50 pm
http://www.mhsd.org/photogallery/cliff.htm
Check out this ore carrier…
This began as the Notre Dame Victory 455′ long
stretched twice take time to read the story
compared to the JB Ford pretty similiar except for stretched overhang aft the stack
Cliffs Victory
http://www.mhsd.org/photogallery/cliff.htmCached – Similar
You +1′d this publicly. Undo
CLIFFS VICTORY, US. … Launched March 9, 1945 as the “Victory” ship a) NOTRE DAME VICTORY for the U.S. … Purchased by Cleveland-Cliffs S.S. Co.
Richard Weiss
February 14, 2012 at 8:25 am
This is fantastic news. For years my friends discussed how the JB Ford needs to be preserved. We toured her a few years ago. Other than the conversion to carry cement the ship is totally original from when built 1904. An amazing survivor is an understatement. The reciprocating engine and even the brass gauges are all still there. The woodwork in all cabins on up to the marble sink in the captains quarters has never been changed.
Skip Meier
March 20, 2012 at 7:23 pm
I really appreciate the enthusiasm about this wonderful and historic vessel, but I’d like to inteject that she has been changed since originally built. In some cases, in major ways. First, look at early shots of her as the HOLMES. She has an open wheel house which was enclosed in the teens. Next she was originally built with stanchions and beams and later rebuilt with arch construction in 1916. She had had a dog house added in the teens at #9 hatch and taken off since her conversion to a cement carrier. And of course more importantly, her spar deck has been stripped of her hatch coamings and plated over with cement loading/inspection portals. Her starboard anchor pocket is now flush and she was converted to burn oil in the 1970s. And finally, her cement unloading equipment is not original. Of course I get it, this boat did what she had to in oder to survive this long. We want to protect her and hopefully keep her around for a long time. She’s now one of the few classics still around. Thsi was not meant in a mean or antagonsitic spirit, but just trying to keep history straight.