1905 James E. Davidson 1963
Steel Great Lakes bulk freighter
Built at Ecorse MI by Great Lakes Engineering Works, Hull 5
Keel laid Nov 9, 1904; launched March 25, 1905
524’ LOA, 504’ LBP, 54’ beam, 30’ depth
1 deck, arch cargo hold construction, hatches @ 12’, coal-fired boilers, quadruple expansion engine, 2000 IHP
Enrolled at Detroit MI May 27, 1905 (Temp #73)
504.0 x 54.2 x 33.0, 6206 GT, 4943 NT US 201961 to:
Inter Ocean Steamship Co., Duluth MN, G. A. Tomlinson, Mgr. (home port Duluth MN)
Entered service 1905
Permanent enrollment at Duluth MN June 12, 1905 (#48)
Tomlinson fleets merged 1954 into Tomlinson Fleet Corporation (home port to Wilmington DE)
Sold 1963 to Marine Salvage Ltd., Port Colborne ON. Resold to Italian shipbreakers. Towed to Genoa Italy for scrapping.
See history in Detroit Marine Historian Dec 1965 (#162)
Also in Great Lakes Ships We Remember p. 158
0506
Hi, Nice to see that someone remembers this ship. As a Port Colborne boy, I had an interest in all of these ships, but this one I actually worked in during the summer of 1963 (yes, the James E. Davidson, and not the James Davidson). A friend (whose father was an officer of Marine Salvage) and I wangled a job as a “shared” shipkeeper for a couple of weeks, joining the ship in Buffalo Harbor where we helped a crew get the anchors out of the mud (the chain locker was a real experience for a 16-year-old!) and tow the James E. Davidson to Cleveland. We were told that the ship had been bought for scrap, and was destined to be towed to Italy to be dismantled (sound familiar?). During our stay at the dock in Cleveland, the ship was filled with compressed cars to add to the scrap value; we watched the trim and fended off the souvenir-hunters, who otherwise would have stripped the boat bare 🙂
Thanks for reminding me of a great summer. Can you direct me to a photo of the ship when she was in service?