 The Myron C. Taylor and the Carl D. Bradley unloading at Michigan Limestone
| |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Name |
|
| Owner |
|
| Operator |
|
| Builder | Great Lakes Engineering Works, River Rouge (Detroit) |
| Yard number | 269 |
| Launched | July 15, 1929 |
| Maiden voyage | August 27, 1929 |
| Identification | IMO number: 5244807 |
| Fate | Scrapped, 2008 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Bulk carrier |
| Tonnage | 12,450 |
| Length | 184.02 m (603.7 ft) |
| Beam | 18.29 m (60.0 ft) |
| Depth | 9.75 m (32.0 ft) |
| Propulsion | 3,114 kW (4,176 bhp) |
The Calumet was the second lake freighter of that name. The vessel was built in Detroit, Michigan, in 1929, by the Great Lakes Engineering Works. For her first 71 years she was operated by two subsidiaries of US Steel, the Pittsburgh Steamship Company, and the Bradley Transportation Company. She was christened the Myron C. Taylor after one of the directors of US Steel, Myron Charles Taylor.
She was originally powered by a triple expansion steam engine. During her eighty years in service she was upgraded with a self-unloading boom and conveyor belts, a bow thruster, and her steam engine was replaced with a more powerful diesel. According to George Wharton, of the boatnerd site, she was the largest vessel in the US Steel's fleets, when built, but by 1981, she had become one of the smallest.
In 1956 US Steel shifted her to the fleet of the Bradley Transportation Company, due to an increased need to transport limestone, one of the materials needed in the manufacture of steel. At that time the vessel was retrofitted with a large self-unloading boom and the accompanying change in her holds and the addition of conveyor belts below her holds.
Her original steam engine produced 1,618 kilowatts (2,170 bhp), and over the winter of 1967/1968 her steam engine was replaced with a diesel producing 3,114 kilowatts (4,176 bhp). Her bow thruster was retrofitted in 1988.
She experienced a number of groundings, collisions and other incidents, none of which caused loss of life or serious damage. When she was damaged in 2007, she was not repaired because she was scheduled to be retired later that year.
She was scrapped in Port Colborne, Ontario in 2008.
References
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George Wharton. "Great Lakes Fleet Page Vessel Feature -- Calumet". boatnerd. Archived from the original on 2013-05-02. Retrieved 2013-11-20.
Her lay up in Sarnia was a result of a pending sale to a U.S. affiliate of a Canadian shipping company. Late March, 2001; the sale of the Myron C. Taylor and her fleetmate Calcite II was announced: the vessels had been sold to Grand River Navigation Co., Cleveland, OH; an affiliate of Lower Lakes Towing Ltd., Port Dover, ON. On Saturday, April 21, 2001; the vessel was christened Calumet in honor of the Calumet River which empties into Lake Michigan at Chicago, IL.
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Patrick White (2008-09-26). "Nerds ahoy". The Globe and Mail. Port Colborne, Ontario. Archived from the original on 2013-11-21.
All over the windswept scrapyard, flash bulbs blaze, especially at the yardworker guiding his cutting torch along the hull of the Calumet, a classic straight-decker laid up after 80 year on the Great Lakes.