Connecting Lake Huron and Lake St. Clair, the St. Clair River has seen a number of interesting ships make passage. In this volume twenty current Great Lakes vessels are described with detailed histories. This includes prior ownerships, name changes, and incidents in which theses vessels have been involved. This collection is meant to provide a cross section of ships in operation on the Great Lakes. Vessel types include straight deck bulk carriers, self-unloaders, cement carriers, and tankers. Vessel sizes range from the 324 foot YANKCANUCK to the 1,013 foot PAUL R. TREGURTHA. This volume contains numerous photographs showing these ships in both their previous operations, along with depictions current as of the 2008 shipping season. Over 200 vessel names are indexed within the text. Book is 107 pages long, softcover in 8 1/2" X 11 1/2" format. Contains 140 never before published photographs.

The St. Clair River, separating Michigan from Ontario, is one of the world's greatest natural waterways. The 40-mile strait connects Lake Huron with Lake St. Clair, northeast of Detroit, as a key link in the Great Lakes chain of mid-North America. Effectively, the St. Clair drains Lakes Superior, Lake Michigan, Lake Huron, and their tributaries, pouring billions of gallons of freshwater into the lower Great Lakes over the Niagara Falls and out through the St. Lawrence Seaway to the Atlantic Ocean. Its recorded history dates from the earliest French fur trappers of the 17th century to the ultramodern ocean freighters connecting the world directly with inner America. This photographic record of the St. Clair River relates the common historical experiences of the major communities along the American side of the waterway--from south to north, the St. Clair Flats, Algonac, Marine City, St. Clair, Marysville, and Port Huron.

Once the mainstay of the Great Lakes fleet, steam powered freighters are now in the twilight of their era on the inland seas. Once numbering in the hundreds, this class is now represented by only twenty active carriers as of the end of the 2008 shipping season. They range from the ST. MARYS CHALLENGER built in 1906, with over 100 years of steadfast service, to the last steam powered freighter constructed on the lakes, the CANADIAN LEADER, built in 1967. Individual histories are given for each vessel providing details of previous and current operations. These steamers encompass a variety of carrier types, including cement carriers, straight deckers, and self-unloaders. Included are numerous never before published photographs, portraying these vessels in both previous and current operations.

Since the beginning of commerce on the Great Lakes there has been a desire to build larger and more efficient ships. Beginning in the nineteenth century shipbuilders began to increase the size of their creations as new materials and construction techniques became available. This process of innovation would continue throughout the twentieth century as improvements to the shipping channels on the Great Lakes opened up new possibilities in ship design. These efforts culminated in 1972 with the commissioning of the first thousand-foot vessel to sail on the inland seas, the STEWART J. CORT. This ship set a new benchmark in the hauling of raw materials and would be followed by twelve more ships of her class which collectively revolutionized the US flagged shipping industry on the Great Lakes. These ships represent such a significant step forward in the evolution of the Great Lakes freighter that even today, nearly forty years after they began to enter service, they remain unsurpassed in size and carrying capacity. The story of this class of ships includes the earliest of the thousand-footers, the STEWART J. CORT and the PRESQUE ISLE, two unique vessels built incorporating highly innovative features many of which were not carried on in subsequent designs. This tale also includes vessels such as the JAMES R. BARKER and the BELLE RIVER which became patterns for the ships that followed them. In this volume, each of the thirteen thousand-foot ships is described to relate each of their unique operational histories along with the purposes for which they were built. Included are numerous never before published photographs, portraying these ships in both their previous and current operations.