1905 John Stanton 1961
Steel Great Lakes bulk freighter
Built at Lorain OH by American Ship Building Co., Hull 338
Launched Sept 16, 1905
524’ LOA, 504’ LBP, 54’ beam, 30’ depth
1 deck, arch cargo hold construction, hatches @ 12’, coal-fired boilers, triple expansion engine, 1600 IHP
Enrolled at Cleveland OH Sept 30, 1905 (#20)
504.0 x 54.0 x 30.0, 6129 GT, 4668 NT US 202494 to:
American Ship Building Co., Cleveland OH (home port Cleveland OH)
Reenrolled at Cleveland OH Oct 9, 1905 (#27) to:
Pioneer Steamship Co., Cleveland OH, Hutchinson & Co., Mgr.
Entered service Oct 10, 1905 clearing Lorain OH on maiden trip.
Home port to Wilmington DE 1932
Remeasured 1946 to 511.0 x 54.2 x 26.6, 6318 GT, 5222 NT
Sold for scrap 1961 to Marine Salvage Ltd. Resold to Fraser-Nelson Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co. and scrapped at Superior WI.
0523
I have had my Dads old compass in a box with sliding lid for quite a few years. He is now in a dementia care facility at the age of nearly 95 and I wanted to bring something he valued and might remember from his past. I looked on the bottom and he had written the SS Stanton name with a date of 1944 and his name on it. So I discovered this site.
He often told us of his job working on the Great Lakes back then. Before he married Mom (now 90 and very much alive!!) and had all of five kids. I was the first with one sister and three of the “other types”.
I would very much like to donate this compass to a museum somewhere on the Great Lakes to somehow show my respect for those who worked very hard in all the stormy, foggy, wet days and nights. Especially for my Dad.
The compass still works really well which says a lot about how well it is built. The box shows wear but the lid is still flat and works. North is still north!!
I have seen examples of these in antique stores in worse shape and some in better but I do not wish to sell it. I will donate it somewhere.
My wife and I are retired in Hemet, CA after have two kids and surviving careers teaching high school. I also served in the US Navy for 6 years. My Dad served overseas in the Philippines during the Second World War. I will be telling him I will get the compass back to somewhere near where he worked so hard back then.
I do realize his ship no longer exists and got scrapped. But it lives on somewhere in the memories of lots of people who were around then. Hopefully…
Gary Norgan
Hemet, CA
I was a deckhand on this ship in 1951. The Captain was E.P. Maxim, First Mate was Waldo Kirk. I decided this life was not for me, but I’ve remained a “boatnerd” all of my 89 years.
I was a deckhand on on this ship in 1949. I was paid 85 cents an hour and saved $1500 after sailing the full season. I thought I was rich. It was an interested life, but not for any 18 year old. The first mate was from Appleton, WI. Good man. I forget his name. His first name was Ray. Good man.
I have two brass hurricane lanterns that were originally oil lite. My dad got them from the Stanton when he was young and converted them to electricity. They were wall mounted so probably for inside lighting use. He spent his summers in Collingwood Ontario where my grandmother Mary Adam was from. He spent time on the fishing tugs and the rest of the year at home in Toledo growing up. He had them on the wall in the cottage overlooking Lake Erie South of Detroit. I grew up watching the freighters going by upbound or down bound a few miles off shore. Great memories of growing up in the 50’s.