1916 Maitland No. 1 1980 (1981)
Steel twin-screw crosslake railroad carferry
Built at Ecorse MI by Great Lakes Engineering Works, Hull 129
Keel laid March 13, 1913; launched Nov 8, 1913
350’ LOA, 338’ LBP, 56’ beam, 20’6” depth
2 decks, coal-fired boilers, 2 triple expansion engines, 2500 IHP
Built for service carrying railroad cars of coal across Lake Erie from Ashtabula OH to Port Maitland ON, to continue by rail to Hamilton ON, but remained at the shipyard because the ports were not prepared to accept the traffic.
Enrolled at Cleveland OH Oct 20, 1916 (#14)
338.0 x 56.0 x 18.3, 2757 GT, 1653 NT US 214213 to:
Toronto, Hamilton & Buffalo Navigation Co., Ashtabula OH (home port Fairport OH)
Firm jointly owned by New York Central Railroad and Canadian Pacific Railway
Entered service 1916, first under temporary charter to the Ann Arbor Railroad Co. for service across Lake Michigan and, beginning in November, for her intended service.
Laid up June 1932 at Ashtabula OH after the opening of the enlarged Welland Canal made possible direct coal shipments from lower Lake Erie ports to Hamilton.
Sold 1936 to Nicholson-Universal Steamship Co., Detroit MI to carry automobiles across Lake Michigan between Muskegon MI and Milwaukee WI. Sale cancelled 1937 when vessel forbidden to trade between two U. S. ports because of partial Canadian ownership of fleet and vessel returned to former owner and laid up at Ashtabula OH.
Requisitioned 1942 by U. S. War Shipping Administration, Washington DC to use her engines to power two Ford Motor Co. barges (Lake Pleasant and Lake Sapor) which had been requisitioned for off-Lakes service during World War II.
Hull sold Nov 1942 to Roen Steamship Co., Sturgeon Bay WI to replace barge Transport, which had been lost Sept 22, 1942.
Reduced 1943 to a crane-equipped pulpwood barge
Remeasured to 2850 GT, 2850 NT
Sold 1973 to Eder Barge & Towing Co., Milwaukee WI
Sold 1978 to Bultema Marine Transportation Co., Muskegon MI
Sold 1980 for off-Lakes service and left the Great Lakes
Renamed Trio Trado (Honduras) 1980
Foundered Jan 10, 1981 between Yarmouth NS and Rockland ME, Atlantic Ocean.
See history in Great Lakes Ships We Remember III p. 237
1611
I was a cook, and then a fireman on the Maitland from ‘76 to 78. Repainted much of the forward house. Hauled steel to Bay Ship in Sturgeon bay, took Miller brewing tanks to Oswego NY, and slag to Atlas Cement in Milwaukee. Stan Webber, Ron Westergan, Joel Elkin and myself worked together. I was also deck hand and wheelsman on the Roen V , John Purves, Soo Chief and Rodger Simmons while working for Eder Barge and Towing.