1930 Eugene P. Thomas 1984
Steel Great Lakes bulk freighter
Built at River Rouge MI by Great Lakes Engineering Works, Hull 274
Launched March 8, 1930
603’9” 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 Detroit MI April 8, 1930 (Temp #83)
588.3 x 60.2 x 28.0, 7860 GT, 6201 NT US 229306 to:
Pittsburgh Steamship Co., Cleveland OH (home port Duluth MN)
Entered service May 5, 1930 clearing Ecorse MI light for Duluth MN
Permanent enrollment at Duluth MN April 19, 1930
Fleet reincorporated 1949 in Delaware (home port to Wilmington DE)
Fleet merged July 1951 into parent United States Steel Corporation (home port to New York NY)
Remeasured 1952 to 7895 GT, 6182 NT
Repowered 1963 with diesel engine at Lorain OH by American Ship Building Co.
Remeasured to 7878 GT, 6150 NT
Fleet renamed United States Steel Great Lakes Fleet 1967 (home port to Wilmington DE)
Cracked piston on diesel engine July 23, 1981 on Lake Superior. Towed back to Duluth MN, laid up and did not operate again
Sold for scrap 1984 to Azcon Corporation. Towed to Thunder Bay ON and scrapped.
IMO 5109382
3003
My uncle was aboard this ship going to Vietnam in 1967. He was a merchant marine.
I didn’t know about its service with the military. My brother sailed her as a deck hand the 1960-61 season here on the Great Lakes.
this ship never left the great lakes
Video of the Eugene P Thomas (and the Mantadoc) passing through the locks at Sault Ste. Marie in 1938.
Filmed in 8mm in 1938 by B. LeRoy Gilbert of Kalamazoo, Michigan.
https://youtu.be/jHfvu90A5RU
Video of the Eugene P Thomas (and the Mantadoc) passing through the locks at Sault Ste. Marie in 1938.
Filmed in 8mm in 1938 by B. LeRoy Gilbert of Kalamazoo, Michigan.
https://youtu.be/jHfvu90A5RU
I worked on this ship as a deck hand for a couple of months in the summer of 1968. Felllow deck hand was named “Norm” and was from Superior, WI. We worked for the bos’n whose nickname, I think, was “Bandy”.
Jim, I too served on the Thomas during the summer of 1968 as a wiper. I would often go forward to sit and visit with the deckhands when off shift. Good memories of my limited three months on the Thomas until I disembarked in Ashtabula, OH to go to college. You are correct that Bandy was the name of the bos’n mate.
My brother, Ed Kennedy, sailed on her in 1976.
My father sailed on her1942-44 was a oiler.
I sailed on her in ’70 as a deckhand. Bandy was there again, good man but you better pay attention and do your job with him or it could turn on you. I chose the former! Good boat to sail, 18 hatches so no hatch farm there. Had a grumpy diesel engine that ended up being its demise. We broke down in Duluth harbor coming in to load and had to be tugged to the ore dock.