1927 Robert Hobson 1985
Steel Great Lakes bulk freighter
Built at Lorain OH by American Ship Building Co., Hull 794
Launched Oct 30, 1926
600’ LOA, 580’ LBP, 60’ beam, 32’ depth
1 deck, arch cargo hold construction, hatches @ 24’, coal-fired boilers, triple expansion engine, 2200 IHP
Enrolled at Cleveland OH
586.3 x 60.2 x 27.9, 8024 GT, 6314 NT US 226175 to:
Interlake Steamship Co., Cleveland OH, Pickands Mather & Co., Mgr. (home port Fairport OH)
Entered service March 1927
Home port to Wilmington DE 1932
Sold for scrap 1975 to Marine Salvage Ltd., Port Colborne ON and towed to Port Colborne. Resold to Quebec & Ontario Transportation Co., Thorold ON (home port to Port Colborne ON) and renamed Outarde (3)
Enrolled Canadian at 9086 GT, 6728 NT Can 348593
Boilers converted to oil firing at Toronto ON winter 1975-1976
Laid up Dec 21, 1983 at Toronto ON and did not operate again
Fleet sold 1984 to Transport Desgagnes Ltd.,
Sold for scrap 1985 to ULS International. Towed to Port Colborne ON and scrapped there.
IMO 5297634
See history in Scanner Feb and March 1993 (#202)
2708
I sailed on the “Robby Hobby” the summer of 1963 as a deckhand (ablebody seaman) If my memory is correct one of our wheelsmen later served as a wheelsman on the Anderson as she shadowed the Fitzgerald that fateful night when the gales of November took her down. Pretty exciting stuff for a college kid working a summer job! We drydocked the Hobson in Duluth late in the winter and had to have a path cleared by the Icebreaker Mackinac to get there.
the Robert hobson was the frist steam ship I work on for interlake. she was a very good ship.
My father Jerome J. Thomalla was on the crew of this ship June 1951
Is there a way to get construction print of the Robert Hobson hull number 794 built in 1927 my Grandfather was on this Ore Boat
I served on Robert Hobson in 1974 and 1975 in the engine room. I was a wiper in the engine on the watch with 3rd Engineer, Mike Early. We decommissioned and stripped it in Ashtabula when it was supposed to be sold for scrap. I then later served on the Beeghley and then the Barker when it first sailed. A very interesting experience. I remember the Edmund Fitzgerald sinking.