Making a rare visit to the Motor City, the 107 year old St. Marys Challenger works at Detroit's Lafarge Cement facility.

Currently holding the honors of being the oldest lake boat still trading on the Great Lakes, the self unloading cement carrier St. Marys Challenger was built as a traditional Great Lakes bulk carrier as hull #17 by Great Lakes Engineering Works, Ecorse (Detroit), MI in 1906. This veteran of the lakes was launched February 7, 1906 as the William P. Snyder for Shenango Steamship & Transportation Co. (subsidiary of Shenango Furnace Co.), Cleveland, OH. Retaining her original overall dimensions, the St. Marys Challenger is now powered by a Skinner Marine Unaflow 4 cylinder reciprocating steam engine burning heavy fuel oil rated at 3,500 i.h.p. (2,611 kW) with 2 water tube boilers. The power is fed to a single fixed pitch propeller and the vessel is equipped with a bow thruster. The vessel is capable of carrying 10,250 tons (10,415 mt) in 8 holds at mid summer draft of 21’09” (6.63m). Cargoes of bulk or powdered cement can be unloaded by a fully automated system including air slides, conveyor equipment and bucket elevators feeding a forward mounted 48’ (14.63m) discharge boom.

 Of note, the St. Marys Challenger is one of only two remaining U.S. flagged vessels still active on the Great Lakes to be powered by the classic Skinner Marine Unaflow steam engine. The other vessel is the car ferry Badger (2) which is powered by two of these engines and, in turn, remains as the only coal fired vessel still in active service on the Great Lakes.
Copyright Notice: This image ©Earl Minnis all rights reserved.


Caption: Making a rare visit to the Motor City, the 107 year old St. Marys Challenger works at Detroit's Lafarge Cement facility. Currently holding the honors of being the oldest lake boat still trading on the Great Lakes, the self unloading cement carrier St. Marys Challenger was built as a traditional Great Lakes bulk carrier as hull #17 by Great Lakes Engineering Works, Ecorse (Detroit), MI in 1906. This veteran of the lakes was launched February 7, 1906 as the William P. Snyder for Shenango Steamship & Transportation Co. (subsidiary of Shenango Furnace Co.), Cleveland, OH. Retaining her original overall dimensions, the St. Marys Challenger is now powered by a Skinner Marine Unaflow 4 cylinder reciprocating steam engine burning heavy fuel oil rated at 3,500 i.h.p. (2,611 kW) with 2 water tube boilers. The power is fed to a single fixed pitch propeller and the vessel is equipped with a bow thruster. The vessel is capable of carrying 10,250 tons (10,415 mt) in 8 holds at mid summer draft of 21’09” (6.63m). Cargoes of bulk or powdered cement can be unloaded by a fully automated system including air slides, conveyor equipment and bucket elevators feeding a forward mounted 48’ (14.63m) discharge boom. Of note, the St. Marys Challenger is one of only two remaining U.S. flagged vessels still active on the Great Lakes to be powered by the classic Skinner Marine Unaflow steam engine. The other vessel is the car ferry Badger (2) which is powered by two of these engines and, in turn, remains as the only coal fired vessel still in active service on the Great Lakes.

Photographer:
Earl Minnis (more) (contact)
Date: 08/06/2013 (search)
Company: Port City Steamship Services Inc (search)
Ship Type: Cement Carrier (search)
Propulsion: Steam (search)
Year Built: 1906 (search)
Country: Canada (search)
Length/Width: 552,56' 00"
Registry Philadelphia PA (search)
Ship Name: St. Marys Challenger (search)
Photo ID: 124
Use your mouse scroll wheel to zoom in/out on the map
Latitude/Longitude: 42.2910245596,-83.100543022156
full size map

You may be interested in the following..
Loading


Leave your comments below, registration is not required at this time. All times are UTC
2 Responses
  1. mile27 says:

    The Challenger generally works the ports of Lake Michigan.

  2. admin says:

    Very cool, thanks for sharing. Where does this vessel typically run between?

Leave a Reply

Site contents © 2006-2013 www.bigships.net., all photos are copyright of the photographer