Oldest laker, the 'last of its kind,' ends service, heads to scrap yard

摘要

The oldest active freighter on the Great Lakes awaits its fate at a Duluth, Minn., scrap yard, despite a years-long effort by a group of maritime preservationists to save the steamship. Built by the American Shipbuilding Co., J.B. Ford was launched as Edwin F. Holmes on Dec. 12, 1903, in Lorain, Ohio. At 440 feet long, the vessel was powered by a 1,500-hp triple expansion steam engine.