History:
The J. B. Ford was built by American
Shipbuilding Company in Lorain, Ohio on the Black
River, over the winter of 1903-1904. On December 12, 1903 the
J. B. Ford was launched at noon. The ship was Christened
the steamer Edwin F. Holmes by Miss Alia E. Hawgood, and
in ceremonies that followed Captain James Owen was given first command.
The Hawgood family and guests had arrived from Cleveland,Ohio to
Lorain via
a special railroad car of the Nickel Plate RR.
On January 22, 1904
heavy rains caused wide spread flooding of Ohio and PA. Ice dammed up
around the Nickel Plate RR turntable
bridge on the Black river causing it to
be washed out. The bridge tender had to be rescued and the ice flow caused
wide spread damage. The tug Pankrats caught fire and sank, the tug Gull
sank after the steamer Holden pinned it against the pier until it sank in
the river. The tug Brazier was washed out onto Lake
Erie. The Holmes tied up along the shipyard
swung across the river burying her bow into the muddy bank. The yard, as
well as a steel mill, were closed for three weeks due to flooding. The
local fire engine pumper was dispatched to pump out the shipyard
buildings. On February 5, 1904 a gang of shipyard workers dug out the bow
of the Holmes.
Today the shipyard
has been re-developed into housing with two steel mills remaining on the
Black River. The bridge has been replaced
with a newer RR lift bridge.
The Edwin F.
Holmes entered the bulk cargo trades on the Lakes in 1904. On
July 19, 1904 in the Duluth, MN harbor the Holmes was backing away from the
Northern Coal dock unassisted by tugs, when a wind caught her hull and she
drifted into the Booth s Line passenger steamer America.
One of the Holmes anchor s touched the
America crushing in five
cabins. The America s hull was not damaged,
so she was able to continue service for chartered groups. The
Holmes left Duluth,MN the 
next day. The Steamer America exists today as part of
an underwater preserve on Isle Royale Lake Superior.
The gales of
November 28-30th ,1905 damaged many ships. In Duluth, MN the storm is remembered as the
Mataafa Storm as thousands were unable to help the crew of this troubled
ore carrier which sank and broke in half just yards off the pier entrance.
During this time many mariners lost their lives in cold icy waters of
Lake Superior. The Edwin F.
Holmes left Lorain up bound loaded
with coal for Duluth,MN. On November 28th she is listed as
passing Port
Huron,MI around
1pm. Later that day 2:30PM the Steamer Charles M. Warner which lasted up
until the mid-1990 s as the Lakewood, also
headed up bound onto Lake Huron, but her crew was blinded by a snow storm
and grounded on Nine Mile Point near Sheboygan,MI. The Holmes made it
through the Soo Locks out onto Lake Superior, telegraph messages listed
her as overdue on November 30th, the same day her sistership
Umbria of the same dimensions and company but from the
Cleveland yard arrived in Duluth with a badly damaged bridge. The crew
brought the Umbria into port by
steering the ship from the emergency steering station located behind the
smoke stack. The Edwin F. Holmes arrived in Duluth the next day
on December 1, 1905. The Hawgood fleet expanded with more new ships like
the Salt Lake
City(Chester A. Congdon) and the Henry B. Smith.
Captain James Owen was given command of the latter. In 1913 on November
11th another fierce gale claimed the lives of many mariners and lake
ships. The Henry B. Smith was lost with all hands in this storm. Captain
James Owen first Captain of the J. B. Ford remains part
of Lake Superior. In 1916 after many
court appeals to the US District Court in Cleveland,Ohio the Edwin
F. Holmes, and her sister ship were sold with 9 other Hawgood
vessels to Harry Coulby of the Pittsburg Steamship company. The court
found evidence of secret
commissions paid to the shipbuilding company to have
new ships built for them rather than other companies which were seeking to
keep up with rising demand for new ships to move bulk
cargos.
The
Edwin F. Holmes was re-named the
E. C. Collins, and her sister ship
Umbria was named the Mac Gilvray
Shiras. World Wars 1 & 2 came and these ships continued to
deliver vital coal, iron ore, and grain to meet America s
demand. In World War 2, Pittsburg Steel acquired newer, faster, larger ore
carriers, and the pair were sold in 1944 to Kinsman Transit
Company(Steinbrenner Fleet). The vessels mainly worked in and around
Buffalo & Cleveland. The
E.C. Collins would lay-up during the winter months on the
Buffalo
River or in the outer
harbor. Ships were loaded with grain to keep the flour mills producing
when shipping closed for the winter season. In February 1956 the Huron
Cement Company of Detroit ,MI purchased the
Collins to be converted into a cement carrier. The ship
was tied up near the Seneca elevator on the Buffalo River. Over the winter of 1958-1959
in Sturgeon Bay,
WI, the
Collins was converted to a self unloading cement carrier,
equipped with a Norberg diesel generator to power her self unloading
gear.
On January 21, 1959
fifty years ago her sister, the Mac
Gilvray Shiras, was docked near the Concrete
Central elevator on the Buffalo river. Gale winds and rain pulled
her free from the dock. The Shiras navigated three
right-angle bends in the river unassisted by tugs or crew. She bore down
stern first to another grain boat. The Shiras collided
with the Michael K.Tewksbury which then continued down the river until it
was stopped by the Michigan
Ave lift bridge. The Lift bridge towers fell
one crashing into the river and the other blocking the Buffalo Fire Dept.
vessel Cotter. A huge pulley from the bridge landed on top of an
unsuspecting Ford Fairlane crushing it s trunk. Later in 1959 the
Shrias was given up for scrap, the aft end of the carrier
housing it’s steering engine and rudder were badly damaged.
The J. B. Ford continued
service as a cement carrier, her hull a green with gray decks and white
deck houses. 
Huron Cement became part of National Gypsum. The Ford
spent many more winters laid up in Buffalo housing a load of cement instead
of grain. On Feb. 16, 1967 Buffalo was blasted with a 90mph wind
storm, killing three when a bar collapsed at 6 South Park
Street. Much paper debris ended up on the
streets, and the ship keeper s stove vent located on the boat deck was
lost in the storm. Oldman Boiler Works repaired the vent. During the
winter of 1975-1976 as the country prepared for the Bi-centennial,
Nicholson & Hall Corp. of Buffalo,NY was commissioned to convert the coal
fired steamship to burn heavy fuel oil. It was a cold three month project
according to M. Padia, then project manager, who is now the current
president of the company. The J.B. Ford s coal bunker was
removed and three grain elevator like fuel cells were installed in the
ship along with fuel burning boiler fronts. In 1985 the season was very
damp due to much rain. On November 8th 1985 the J. B.
Ford unloaded a cargo of cement into the E. M. Ford built in 1898
serving as a storage hull in Milwaukee,WI. On November 15 the J. B.
Ford was laid up for the season in Milwaukee. The ship was full of cement
for the winter season, and she was tied to the E. M. Ford. Interviews with
Bill Kulka(engineer 1984), and Rodney(fireman 1984) former crew; suggest
that in 1985 the steam engine suffered damage when an operator did not
blow condensation out of the steam line heading to the triple expansion
steam engine. A water droplet propelled by steam cracked the high pressure
cylinder damaging the engine. The engine was repaired, but was not
functioning the way it did prior to the damage. Another interview with
Larry B. son of one of the last captains of the ship stated one of the
reasons why the J.B. Ford was converted to oil firing was
due to it s thick black smoke from her stack. The ship is rumored to have
been not welcome in the town of St Joesph, MI, due to this problem prior
to her conversion. The J. B. Ford was towed to LaFarge s
cement silo in S.
Chicago,IL where
she remained for a long time as a floating cement silo. Larger cement
carriers unloaded cement into her which was then pumped to the land silo
into trucks. The J. B. Ford also pumped cement into river
barges to be transported inland. In 1991 she was discovered by a youth and
with much luck and with the cooperation of the Chicago Maritime Society
and Illinois Port Authority 30 museum guests toured and photographed this
aging carrier, noting her riveted hull, steam machinery, and victorian
wood work. Between 1991-1993, I a freelance photographer documented most
of this ship on film. I rode a Schwinn bicycle two hours each way from
Bridgeport in Chicago to the ship on 130th Ave and
the Calumet
River. In 1992 after
shooting some film the crew, consisting of Max, Greg and John, advised me
of an upcoming storm. I made my way home only to be caught in a fierce
wind storm on 31st beach. Like the storm of 1967 people were harmed. At a
construction site three workers were injured when a wall fell on them, a
woman was struck and killed by lightning in the Chicago area.
DeLaSalle high school on Wabash Ave lost a large section of
roof and some rooms suffered water damage. The J. B. Ford
was fine because the crew prepared by securing her doors and hatches. My
tours were rewarding as all of the Ford s nautical
goodies were intact, the brass plaques, steam whistles, and other memoirs
that make for good den decorations. I toured the engine room with Norman
Martinson, a Fleet Engineer for Inland Lakes Management who managed the
ship for Lafarge Corp. He gave valuable information on how the ship
functioned. He explained what the handles on the engine were used for, and
what the brass gauges measured. As a cadet for GLMA I toured the
J.B. Ford again while the cement carrier Alpena was
unloading a cargo of cement into her in the summer of 1996. I noticed a
handful of items were missing, such as the engine revolution counter,
whistle, and name boards. In 1996 Inland Lakes Management transferred
ownership of the vessel to LaFarge Corp. In 2001 LaFarge no longer needed
the ship in S. Chicago, due to a much
larger land silo being completed there. The J. B. Ford
under tow from May 31st to June 5th was lead up to Superior,WI just
across from Duluth,MN where she continued service as a
cement silo. In 2004 the J.B. Ford was dry docked at
Fraser shipyards, where her hull was painted, and her sea chest ports were
welded shut. The large propeller was also cut off from the hull to ensure
water tightness. In the year of 2006 a few things occurred. LaFarge Corp.
celebrated their 50th year of service, the same number of years the
J.B. Ford was in the cement fleet, and some small items
from the vessel s lifeboats and engine room were sold on on-line auctions
during the summer months. The ship s Starboard lifeboat and wooden
steering wheel were put on display by LaFarge Corp. at the Bessemer Museum in Alpena,MI from February to September. Also in
Sept. the J.B. Ford was moved to another dock in
Superior,WI to make room for a larger carrier
which is currently being used as a cement silo. The J. B.
Ford is still docked in Superior , WI as of 2009. Another
old fleetmate the E. M. Ford(1898) was sold to
Purvis Marine of Canada to be reduced to scrap in November of 2008.
As of April 2009 the E. M. is docked across the river
from the S.S. Valley Camp Museum.
Vessel
Specifications:
Length Over All 440
feet, Length of Keel 420 feet, Beam 50 feet, Depth 28 feet
Main
Engine:
Triple Expansion
Steam Engine with the following cylinders
22 inches
diameter high pressure cylinder, 35 inches diameter intermediate
cylinder,
40 inches diameter
low pressure cylinder, Cylinder Stroke 40 inches
Boilers:
Two Scotch Boilers 13
feet 2 inches diameter by 11 feet 6 inches in length
Purpose:
This website was created in order to raise historical awareness of this
historic steamship. Over time I wish to complete a book on this
vessel. As further research is completed more photos and
drawings are planned to be added to this page in order to give an idea of
what steamships were like in that transitional era from sail power to
steam, from wooden hulls to steel. This vessel is a reflection into the
past.
