St. Mary’s Challenger and the Majestic Fresh Water Ocean

Posted on by November 20, 2013
STMARCHAL-6-14-09-LGb

Photo: Lou Gerard

This is the last season for the Great Lakes self-unloading bulk carrier St. Mary’s Challenger (ex William P. Snyder, Elton Hoyt II, Alex D. Chisolm, Medusa Challenger, Southdown Challenger.)  The ship has been in service for 107 years!  She was re-engined 47 years ago and apparently her machinery is getting tired.  She is not bound for the scrap yard, however.  After considering installing a new engine room, her  owners are converting her to a barge.  Her stern will be cut off and her forward superstructure will be removed, but she will still be earning keep.

While I have been primarily involved in ships that operate in salt water, I did train as a naval architect at the University of Michigan and spent a little time sailing on the Great Lakes.  I also worked for a company with a subsidiary that operated Lakes boats.  It is a different world up there. Eleven hundred foot long Great Lakes ore carriers are referred to as “boats.”  They travel in miles per hour and the main deck is called the spar deck.  But the strangest and most wonderful thing about the Great Lakes is that nothing seems to rust. The Great Lakes is a majestic fresh water ocean, where, at least compared to the salt water ocean, steel simply doesn’t rust.  So the 107 year old  hull of the St. Mary’s Challenger has enough steel in her to stay in service as a barge. Amazing.

Comments

St. Mary’s Challenger and the Majestic Fresh Water Ocean — 3 Comments

  1. Thanks for that interesting story. I spent several years in the US Navy. I sailed the Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, and Med; but I have never sailed the Great Lakes. It is nice to see that the old ship will still be useful!

  2. Rick,
    as usual thanks for sharing:
    According to the computer St Mary’s Challenger, is a steamer with a
    Skinner Marine 4 cylinder Uniflow engine, and heavy FO water tube boilers. 3500 IHp, 2611 kw. It was either New Diesel Engines or the Barge Conversion. People rarely live to 107, God Speed St Mary’s Challenger!

  3. One source says that she was re-engined in 1966. Another says 1950 as the re-enginning date. 1950 makes more sense for installing a Skinner Uniflow engine.