I came across this photo at a local antique store last week. There is nothing to ID the date by, but I would guesstimate late 1950’s – early 1960’s.
According to the Boatnerd Bible, she was built in 1949 by the American Shipbuilding Co. at Lorain, Ohio. At only 678 ft., she’s not one of the biggest ships, and was converted to a self unloader in 1975. So the old photo above was taken sometime between 1950 and 1969. I believe the Windsor building in the foreground is the old Ford Plant 1 along the river. It was demolished in 1969.
The on-line source for all things boat related http://boatnerd.com/, has this to say about the Sykes:
Built by American Shipbuilding Co., Lorain, OH in 1949 for Inland Steel Co., the streamlined bulk freighter Wilfred Sykes was the first new American-built Great Lakes vessel constructed after World War II. At the time of her launch, she was the largest vessel on the Great Lakes. The Sykes is powered by 2 steam turbine engines producing a combined 7,000 horsepower driving an 18 1/2 foot diameter four-blade propeller giving her a speed of up to 16 mph. Being the first steamship built to burn “bunker C” heavy oil for fuel instead of coal, her fuel tanks can hold 165,000 gallons giving her a cruising range of 4,500 miles. She is also equipped with a bow thruster.
She is also equipped with a bow thruster…
HOT
Clear view across the river right to the Hudson’s building in the pre-Ren Cen era.
Those ships looked so big until they came out with the next generation that dwarfed them. I’m terrible with dates (Everything seems more recent than it is at my age.) but I do remember doing a double take when the first of the giant lake freighters passed.
I was born and lived in Windsor all my life until about seven years ago and I was always near the river.
I will try and find a few snapshots from the fifties and contribute them.
BTW I went shopping at Hudson’s in Detroit with my mother frequently and remember when our money was worth more. Michigan had sales tax, though, which seemed so weird!
Enjoying this site!
I can remember when the lakers were all stoked with coal and long plumes of black smoke came from the stacks, almost making a continuous black ribbon up and down the river. If you look now, most of the lakers are having their diesel engine compartments removed for more powerful tugs pushing them, returning to being just super large barges. The number of crew needed now is far less than even in the 50’s through to the 80’s. Cleaner but not as romantic as it once was.
Great Website – I think there was an article in the Globle about it not too long ago.
isn’t it though rich? lol
she’s real close to our side. is the river deeper on our side or being so “small”, does she not have much of a draft?
The Detroit River channel is fairly constant in its depth at the place the picture was taken, the laker is actually in the upbound channel of the river.
thanks Urbanrat! i suppose i really wasn’t thinking about the area, and there’s only one way around belle isle. i guess i’ve just never seen two freighters pass in opposite directions there and thought it was a one at a time deal thru that part of the channel.
To me, the most interesting aspect of this photograph is the view of the Detroit skyline. A riverfront dense with industry and all those smokestacks as far as the eye can see! I remember the old Ford plant too, a very interesting example of early industriaI architecture that has been lost. Would love to see some images of it in future posts. I spent much time on the river while growing up. The freighters got into my blood and I eventually found work in the engine rooms of the oldest steamers I could find. Scotch boilers, triple expansion engines – 19th century technology. Passed the Sykes in the St. Mary’s River back in ’84 and snapped a couple of photos of her. A very sleek design by the standards of the day. One of my most memorable passages through the Detroit River was in either ’84 or ’85. Just after midnight. I believe it was summer. We were downbound passing the very spot that the Sykes occupies in your photo. I had just come off the 8 to 12 watch in the boiler room and was hanging on the fantail having a smoke and an illicit beer, enjoying the night view of my home town. I looked south in the direction of Walker Rd and saw an enormous blaze in the distance. Leaping and dancing flames lit up the sky. A large warehouse was burning and creating an unforgettable display as we steamed serenely down the river. Maybe someone could research this event? I’m sure it must have been one of the more spectacular fires in Windsor’s history.
Probably the Studebaker plant fire.
From what I hear it was quite the doozy…
Perhaps it was the McDonald White paint plant that burned down. A huge fire, I remember to this day. It was one of my earliest memories going to the end of my block on Chilver road and looking towards Walker and seeing the entire sky engulfed in flames. Incredible…
That fire was probably the work of a serial arsonist. A year or two later, he/she/they burned down the old studebaker factory on St Luke and Edna, almost bankrupting the company I work for at the time, because they were the sole tenents of that huge old factory at the time….
Andrew, the Studebaker fire was in the late fall of 87 or 88, or so I’m told by the guys I work with. hey worked in the building at the time and almost lost their jobs until the owner at the time leased the old Graham Paige Motorworks factory on Wyandotte and St Luke where I worked for 5 years with Complete Packaging
Brendan, you might be right. I moved to Windsor in ’89, and I think the fire wasn’t that long before me. I remember people still tlaking about it.
The building on Edna (former Fisher Body Plant) went up in ’87.
According to windsorfire.com there was a big fire at 985 Walker in 1985, the former Gotfredson’s Truck Plant. That site also show’s McDonald White as 1987.
andrew, since your hanging around at the moment i wanted to thank you for the link to that damn DTE site. i havn’t done a lick of work all day and it’s all your fault!!!
Yeah, I second that thank you, an awesome webiste, amazing high res pictures! I think all of those fires are related to each other, the work of a serial arsonist. I dont know if anyone was ever arrested for those factory fires…
How, it gets really interesting when you look at both former sites (Studebaker/compac, Gotfredsons) on Google earth. they were pretty well next to each other.
elementary, my dear watson
Wow, it gets really interesting when you look at both former sites (Studebaker/compac, Gotfredsons) on Google earth. they were pretty well next to each other.
elementary, my dear watson
*** UPDATE TO THE POST ***
I got an email from a friend who is a tug boat captain and Boatnerd… He had this to say:
Andrew, that is quite a find. That is her maiden voyage in April of 1950 upbound with a load of coal from Toledo bound for Indiana Harbor. She’s blowing her steam horns and has all her flags flying and not a spot of dirt or rust on her.
Wade