Scrap Yard Looms for Arthur M. Anderson?
By James Donahue
There is a rumor among Great Lakes vessel enthusiasts that the venerable ore carrier Arthur M. Anderson may soon be retired. Indeed, while we could find no official word, this 66-year-old freighter today remains among the last of the U. S. Steel Company’s fleet of vessels operating on the lakes.
The Anderson was one of three AAA class lake freighters built for the Pittsburgh Division of U.S. Steel by the American Ship Building Company in Lorain, Ohio in the early 1950s. The others, each portraying the same classic design of great lake vessels, were the Philip R. Clarke and Cason J. Callaway.
This ship measured 647 feet in length when launched in 1952. Since then it has been expanded by an additional 120 feet in its midsection, giving it a total cargo tonnage of 26,000. In 1981 it was fitted with a self-unloading beam giving it a unique profile.
The Arthur Anderson’s claim to fame was that it survived the Lake Superior storm that claimed the Edmund Fitzgerald in 1975. In fact, it was traveling with the Fitzgerald, both ships laden with ore and steaming hard for the safety of Whitefish Point when the Fitzgerald disappeared in a snow squall. Captain Jesse B. Cooper on the Anderson had been in radio contact with Captain Ernest M. McSorley on the Fitzgerald right up to the moment of the sinking. When the snow squall was over and the Fitzgerald had dropped off the Anderson’s radar screen, Cooper contacted the Coast Guard and his vessel participated in a fruitless search for survivors.
The Anderson also was the first vessel in the fleet to transit the St. Lawrence Seaway after it opened in 1962. The ship traveled to Port Cartier, Quebec to load Canadian ore for delivery at Gary, Indiana.
In February 2015 the Anderson stranded in heavy ice on Lake Erie, off Conneaut Harbor, Ohio. She was freed five days later with the help of Canadian Coast Guard’s cutter Griffon.
The Anderson has remained a member of the U.S. Steel Company fleet since the day it was launched.
By James Donahue
There is a rumor among Great Lakes vessel enthusiasts that the venerable ore carrier Arthur M. Anderson may soon be retired. Indeed, while we could find no official word, this 66-year-old freighter today remains among the last of the U. S. Steel Company’s fleet of vessels operating on the lakes.
The Anderson was one of three AAA class lake freighters built for the Pittsburgh Division of U.S. Steel by the American Ship Building Company in Lorain, Ohio in the early 1950s. The others, each portraying the same classic design of great lake vessels, were the Philip R. Clarke and Cason J. Callaway.
This ship measured 647 feet in length when launched in 1952. Since then it has been expanded by an additional 120 feet in its midsection, giving it a total cargo tonnage of 26,000. In 1981 it was fitted with a self-unloading beam giving it a unique profile.
The Arthur Anderson’s claim to fame was that it survived the Lake Superior storm that claimed the Edmund Fitzgerald in 1975. In fact, it was traveling with the Fitzgerald, both ships laden with ore and steaming hard for the safety of Whitefish Point when the Fitzgerald disappeared in a snow squall. Captain Jesse B. Cooper on the Anderson had been in radio contact with Captain Ernest M. McSorley on the Fitzgerald right up to the moment of the sinking. When the snow squall was over and the Fitzgerald had dropped off the Anderson’s radar screen, Cooper contacted the Coast Guard and his vessel participated in a fruitless search for survivors.
The Anderson also was the first vessel in the fleet to transit the St. Lawrence Seaway after it opened in 1962. The ship traveled to Port Cartier, Quebec to load Canadian ore for delivery at Gary, Indiana.
In February 2015 the Anderson stranded in heavy ice on Lake Erie, off Conneaut Harbor, Ohio. She was freed five days later with the help of Canadian Coast Guard’s cutter Griffon.
The Anderson has remained a member of the U.S. Steel Company fleet since the day it was launched.