1910                                  Octorara                                  1942 (1951)

Steel Great Lakes passenger and package freight vessel

Built at Wyandotte MI by Detroit Shipbuilding Co., Hull 181
Launched Dec 11, 1909

361’ LOA, 340’ LBP, 45’ beam, 28’ depth
3 decks, coal-fired boilers, quadruple expansion engine, 2500 IHP

Enrolled at Detroit MI March 31, 1910 (Temp #80)
340.0 x 45.2 x 28.0, 4329 GT, 2619 NT     US 207175     to:
Conemaugh Steamship Co.

Reenrolled at Erie PA June 3, 1910 (#17) to:
Erie & Western Transportation Co., Erie PA (home port to Erie PA)
Great Lakes fleet of Pennsylvania Railroad, also known as “Anchor Line”

Entered service 1910

Fleet sold Feb 22, 1916 to Great Lakes Transit Corporation, Buffalo NY (home port to Buffalo NY)
The railroads were required under the provisions of the Panama Canal Act of 1912 to divest themselves of competing vessels.  Great Lakes Transit Corporation was organized to own and operate these vessels.

The burning of the str. Morro Castle , with heavy loss of life, off Asbury Park NJ on Sept 8, 1934 resulted in many new safety regulations.  Vessel was not considered worth the cost of the necessary modifications and was retired after the 1936 season and laid up at Buffalo NY.

Sold 1940 to Sand Products Corporation, Milwaukee WI.

Sold 1942 to U. S. Coast Guard for use as a barracks for recruits.  Transferred 1943 to U. S. Army, towed down the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers to New Orleans LA and converted into a troop transport for use in the western Pacific Ocean.  Laid up in California after World War II and scrapped 1951 in San Francisco CA.

See history in Detroit Marine Historian July-Aug 1949 (#8)
Also in Great Lakes Ships We Remember p. 314

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