1893                                  Centurion                                  1946

Steel Great Lakes bulk and package freight vessel

Built at West Bay City MI by F. W. Wheeler & Co., Hull 100
Keel laid March 2, 1893, launched Aug 30, 1893
With S. S. Curry and Merida longest vessel on the Great Lakes (until Victory and Zenith City of 1895 – superseded Mariposa, W. H. Gilbert and Maritana of 1892)

378’ LOA, 360’ LBP, 44’6” beam, 26’6” depth
2 decks, hold beams, 10 hatches @ 24’, coal-fired boilers, triple expansion engine, 1200 IHP
Built for shipyard account and sold before launch
Named in honor of its being the hundredth vessel built by the shipyard

Enrolled at Port Huron MI Sept 7, 1893 (#14)
360.0 x 45.2 x 21.9, 3401.81 GT, 2728.48 NT     US 126994     to:
Hopkins Transportation Co., John Mitchell, Mgr. (home port East China MI)

Entered service 1893

Cleveland-Cliffs Iron Co., Cleveland OH took over management of the vessel and in 1901 she was reenrolled to Hopkins Steamship Co. (home port to Fairport OH)

Sold Feb 7, 1917 to Mentor Transit Co., Cleveland OH, W. C. Richardson, Mgr.

Renamed Alex B. Uhrig 1919

Sold 1922 to Milwaukee-Western Steamship Co.

Sold Nov 6, 1923 to Reiss Steamship Co., Sheboygan WI

Converted to bulk freighter 1923 at Ashtabula OH by Great Lakes Engineering Works.  To 1 deck and 12’ hatch centers.
Remeasured to 366.4 x 45.2 x 22.2, 3257 GT, 2011 NT

Converted to crane vessel 1927 at Owen Sound ON by William Kennedy & Sons Ltd.

Converted back to bulk freighter (cranes removed) 1931 at Toledo OH by Toledo Shipbuilding Co.

Traded in 1943 with str. Richard J. Reiss  (1) to U. S. War Shipping Administration, Washington DC on the purchase price of str. Richard J. Reiss  (2).  Operated during World War II by Reiss Steamship Co.

Laid up end of 1944 season at Erie PA

Sold for scrap 1946 to Steel Company of Canada.  Towed to Hamilton ON Oct 1946 and scrapped there.

See history in Detroit Marine Historian June 1976 (#206)
Also in Great Lakes Ships We Remember II p. 54

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