July/August 1998
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July/August 1998 |
by Garwood Tripp
The E.M. Ford -- which is still afloat! -- had put in 10 years of work on the Great Lakes before construction of the Titanic had even begun.
She is, as far as we know, the oldest operating commercial vessel in the world. This year she celebrates her 100th birthday.
Launched in 1898 as the steamer Presque Isle, built by the Cleveland Shipbuilding Company for the Cleveland Cliffs Steamship Company, she was purchased in 1956 by Huron Cement and renamed after their chairman of the board. On her maiden voyage as a cement carrier, the E.M. Ford collided with, and sank the A.M. Byers on the St. Clair River. Then, on Christmas Eve 1979, she sank in Milwaukee harbor after a vicious storm had torn her away from her moorings. Under water, a thick crust formed on the 5,850 tons of cement cargo. The E.M. Ford was raised from the harbor in January 1980 and towed to a shipyard in Sturgeon Bay, where the hardened cement was broken up and removed in chunks. After months of repair and refurbishing, the E.M. Ford was back in service.
The E.M. Ford is currently docked at the Lafarge Corporation in Carrollton, Michigan, near Saginaw, where she is used to store and unload cement. She is owned by Inland Lakes Management who transport cement for Lafarge.
Will she sail on her 100th birthday? There are no firm plans yet. Burning 250 gallons of fuel an hour, and averaging 13 knots when loaded, the E.M. Ford is no longer economical, though she seems able to last forever ... majestic, always.
Garwood Tripp served as communications advisor to the Commission's Canadian Section and recently accepted a position at Citizenship and Immigration Canada.