Steel King 1

1902                                  Steel King     1                                  1953

Steel Great Lakes bulk freighter

Built at Lorain OH by American Ship Building Co., Hull 316
Launched April 5, 1902

400’ LOA, 380’ LBP, 50’ beam, 28’ depth
1 deck, hold beams, hatches @ 24’, coal-fired boilers, triple expansion engine, 1450 IHP

Enrolled at Cleveland OH April 24, 1902 (#71)
380.0 x 50.0 x 28.0, 4308 GT, 3366 NT     US 117134     to:
American Ship Building Co, Cleveland OH (home port Cleveland OH)

Reenrolled at Cleveland OH May 6, 1902 (#83) to:
Steel Steamship Co., Cleveland OH, J. C. Gilchrist, Mgr. (home port to Fairport OH)

Entered service 1902

Fleet merged 1903 into Gilchrist Transportation Co., Cleveland OH, J. C. Gilchrist, Mgr.

Gilchrist fleet went into receivership 1910

Sold at auction 1913 to Davidson Steamship Co., Duluth MN, G. A. Tomlinson, Mgr. (home port to Duluth MN)

Sold Dec 31, 1915 to Grand Island Steamship Co., Cleveland OH, Cleveland-Cliffs Iron Co.,Mgr. (home port to Grand Island MI)

Renamed Cadillac (2) 1918

Transferred 1921 to Cleveland-Cliffs Steamship Co., Cleveland OH (home port to Fairport OH)

Cargo hold rebuilt 1923 to arch construction by Great Lakes Engineering Works
Remeasured to 24.0 depth and 3586 GT, 2855 NT

Home port to Wilmington DE 1932

Traded in 1943 with four other Cleveland-Cliffs managed vessels to U. S. War Shipping Administration, Washington DC on the purchase price of strs. Cadillac and Champlain and renamed Chacornac.  Operated during World War II by Cleveland-Cliffs Steamship Co. and after the war on a continuing temporary charter.

Sold for scrap 1953 to Boston Metals Co. and scrapped at Buffalo NY in 1954.

See history in Scanner Feb 2006 (#297)
Also in Detroit Marine Historian July-Aug 1956 (#76)
Also in Great Lakes Ships We Remember p. 61

 

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One thought on “Steel King 1

  1. Probably, 1953 or 1954, my father took the family down to the Fllats in Cleveland to see the Steel King before it was scrapped. The name Steel King was painted on the hull, not Chacornac.

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