1907 Sheldon Parks 1964
Steel Great Lakes bulk freighter
Built at Superior WI by Superior Shipbuilding Co., Hull 516
Launched Dec 22, 1906
552’ LOA, 532’ LBP, 56’ beam, 31’ depth
1 deck, arch cargo hold construction, hatches @ 12’, coal-fired boilers, triple expansion engine, 1720 IHP
Enrolled at Marquette MI April 4, 1907 (Temp #23)
540.0 x 56.0 x 31.0, 6611 GT, 5049 NT US 203927 to:
Superior Shipbuilding Co.,
Reenrolled at Cleveland OH April 10, 1907 (#70) to:
Cuyahoga Steamship Co., Cleveland OH, W. A. Hawgood, Mgr. (home port to Fairport OH)
Entered service April 1907
Fleet transferred 1911 to Commonwealth Steamship Co.
Sold summer 1914 to Scott Steamship Co., Cleveland OH, a subsidiary of American Ship Building Co., M. A. Hanna & Co., Mgr. and renamed Edward A. Uhrig.
(The stockholders of Commonwealth Steamship Co. had filed a lawsuit against American Ship Building Co. in 1911, charging that they had paid illegal construction rebates to William A. and Arthur H. Hawgood, who were salaried employees of Commonwealth, on the construction of several Commonwealth vessels, and demanding payment by the shipyard of the difference between the contract prices charged and the net payments received by them on the vessels. In the final settlement the strs. Sheldon Parks, J. Q. Riddle and Abraham Stearn were returned to American Ship – the others involved having already been sold by Commonwealth to other operators – and Scott Steamship Co. was organized to own them.)
Fleet sold Oct 18, 1918 to Calumet Transportation Co., Cleveland OH, M. A. Hanna & Co., Mgr.
Fleet transferred 1930 to Producers Steamship Co.
Renamed David M. Weir 1931
Home port to Wilmington DE 1932
Transferred 1937 to National Steel Corporation.
Sold 1953 to Midwest Steamship Co., Detroit MI, T. H. Browning, Mgr. (home port to Detroit MI)
Renamed Norman W. Foy 1955
Transferred 1957 to Browning Lines Inc.
Sold for scrap 1964 to Marine Salvage Ltd., Port Colborne ON. Resold to Italian shipbreakers. Arrived with str. David Z. Norton under tow at Genoa Italy June 14, 1964.
0706
i have the steering wheel from the david m. wier. it is 42 inches in diameter with an 11 inch brass hub. it has 8 spokes and is very heavy, almost a 2 man lift. it was made by the hyde windlass company. when the david wier was converted to hydraulic steering and the wheel was replaced my relative, the captain, ended up with the wheel. it is on display in my home, is in excellent condition, and i would like to sell it. more details can follow. any idea how i can get in touch with someone that may know the value of this wheel and where the market may be. thank you
Post this in the Information Search section of boatnerd.com. I’m sure you’ll get a bunch of responses. Any chance you’d like to donate it to a major museum like the National Museum of the Great Lakes in Toledo, or the Dossin Museum in Detroit? I’ll bet they’d take care of getting it there for you.