1917 Eugene W. Pargny 1984
Steel Great Lakes bulk freighter
Built at Lorain OH by American Ship Building Co., Hull 719
Launched Jan 20, 1917
600’ LOA, 580’ LBP, 60’ beam, 32’ depth
1 deck, arch cargo hold construction, hatches @ 12’, coal-fired boilers, triple expansion engine, 2000 IHP
Enrolled at Cleveland OH March 2, 1917 (Temp #32)
580.0 x 60.0 x 32.0, 7724 GT, 6020 NT US 214747 to:
Pittsburgh Steamship Co., Cleveland OH (home port Duluth MN)
Entered service April 24, 1917 clearing Lorain OH light for Duluth MN
Permanent enrollment at Duluth MN Jan 9, 1918 (#14)
Fleet reincorporated 1949 in Delaware (home port to Wilmington DE)
Fleet merged July 1951 into parent United States Steel Corporation (home port to New York NY)
Repowered 1951 with diesel engine at Lorain OH by American Ship Building Co.
(Vessel was repowered with a diesel engine and sister vessel Homer D. Williams was repowered with a steam turbine engine in an experiment to see which type of powering was the more effective, for use in making future fleet repowering decisions. The diesel engine was determined to be the better choice.)
Remeasured to 8363 GT, 6659 NT
Fleet renamed United States Steel Great Lakes Fleet 1967 (home port to Wilmington DE)
Laid up May 19, 1980 at Duluth MN and did not operate again
Sold for scrap 1984 to Azcon Corporation, Duluth MN. Scrapped at Duluth
IMO 5109423
See history in Great Lakes Ships We Remember III p. 287
1706
I got on the pargny as a wiper in ’70. At that time it still had coal fired boilers. Arthur Smoger was her captain. Sailing the steamers back then was an experience I will always remember as a high point in my life that I owe Art for giving me that early morning call to get to Duluth. At 18yo I remember how stifling hot it was down their, pulling clinkers out along side the fireman and blowing them over the side, usually down wind. It wasn’t long before I was chipping paint and repainting as a deckhand living up forward. Cooler and quieter with the waves crashing against the hull. We played basketball in the forepeak? Storms were awesome watching stern rise and fall. The rollers crossing the deck. Awesome!
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The Diesel engine put into the Eugene W. Pargny was the same diesel engine that would be used in a railroad train. It was way too noisy. Take that comment from personal experience in that engine room to be true.
To take a shower on this boat, you had to leave your bedroom, walk on deck to the shower. That bathroom had its entrance from on deck. Think about doing that in December and January. By 1977 the water supply lines for the shower had to be replaced to simply have enough water to take a shower. Only one shower out of the two or three in the barhroom had that adequate supply of water.