Marine Historical Society of Detroit

Marine Historical Society of Detroit Dedicated to the preservation and promotion of Great Lakes shipping past and present for future gene James M. Schoonmaker and William G.

The Marine Historical Society of Detroit, a non-profit organization founded in 1944, provides a focal point for individuals and organizations interested in and concerned with the history of the Great Lakes and its maritime heritage. Membership includes our monthly publication The Detroit Marine Historian, which offers a variety of articles exploring Great Lakes shipping past and present. Features

include Great Lakes Ships to be Remembered, a look at Marine News from 100 Years Ago, and The Log, a digest of current news concerning Great Lakes shipping. Membership also includes an annual, full-color calendar featuring superb, often rare, photos of Great Lakes ships of the past. In keeping with the Society’s objective to further interest and preservation of Great Lakes history, we have published several quality books, including three volumes of Great Lakes Ships We Remember, two volumes of Ahoy & Farewell, GLEW (an illustrated history of the Great Lakes Engineering Works shipyard) and The Nicholson Fleets and Their Captains. Many of the photographs used in these publications are not available elsewhere. In keeping with the Society’s objective
to further interest and preservation of Great Lakes history, we have also provided financial support to worthy projects around the Great Lakes, among them the Lightship Huron museum, the Col. Mather museum ships, the Great Lakes Maritime Institute’s William Clay Ford pilothouse and Edmund Fitzgerald anchor-raising projects. The society has also given scholarship support to The Great Lakes Maritime Academy at Traverse City. Our archival collection has been donated to The Historical Collections of the Great Lakes at Bowling Green, Ohio. The MHSD has members in the United States, Canada and around the world. We would be pleased to have you join us.

As we slide into September, it seems like a good time to remind everyone to book passage on our fall Detroit River cruis...
08/31/2026

As we slide into September, it seems like a good time to remind everyone to book passage on our fall Detroit River cruise, Saturday Sept. 19. See the attached flier for details.

Great Lakes Towing's tug Minnesota, still steam-powered, escorts US Steel's William B. Dickson in the St. Marys River. ...
08/31/2026

Great Lakes Towing's tug Minnesota, still steam-powered, escorts US Steel's William B. Dickson in the St. Marys River. Unknown date. Scott B. Worden Jr. photo/MHSD.

The laker was scrapped in Port Colborne in 1989. The tug was dieselized in 1960, renamed Tennessee in 2021, and is still active for Great Lakes Towing.

Andrew M. Barnes, unknown location and date. Peter Worden collection/MHSD.Built by the McDougall-Duluth Shipbuilding Co....
08/28/2026

Andrew M. Barnes, unknown location and date. Peter Worden collection/MHSD.

Built by the McDougall-Duluth Shipbuilding Co. in Duluth in 1921, the early motorship was one of five identical vessels specifically built for trade between the Great Lakes and the East Coast via the New York State Barge Canal system.

An American Barge Line towboat, believed to be the Java Sea, pushes the Tom M. Girdler up the Mississippi River on its d...
08/27/2026

An American Barge Line towboat, believed to be the Java Sea, pushes the Tom M. Girdler up the Mississippi River on its delivery trip to the Lakes in 1951. Photos from the M. Mack Earle collection/MHSD.

Owned by National Steel and operated by M.A.Hanna Co., the Paul H. Carnahan is seen in the St. Marys River near 6 Mile P...
08/26/2026

Owned by National Steel and operated by M.A.Hanna Co., the Paul H. Carnahan is seen in the St. Marys River near 6 Mile Point. June 1985 photo by Richard Krause/MHSD.

With two bridge travelers working to complete the truss work, what appears to be the vessel Captain C. D. Secord heads u...
08/25/2026

With two bridge travelers working to complete the truss work, what appears to be the vessel Captain C. D. Secord heads upbound under the original Bluewater Bridge, 1938. Unknown photographer, Peter VanderLinden collection/MHSD.

The sand sucker (trailing suction hopper dredge) John R. Emery seen from the Anthony Wayne Bridge in Toledo. Undated pho...
08/24/2026

The sand sucker (trailing suction hopper dredge) John R. Emery seen from the Anthony Wayne Bridge in Toledo. Undated photo by Jim Hoffman/MHSD collection.

Built as the Trenton in 1905, the vessel was scrapped in Perth Amboy, NJ in 2007.

The tug Vicki O'Day seen in the Calumet River in May 1959. J.R. Williams photo.It appears that the vessel may still exi...
08/23/2026

The tug Vicki O'Day seen in the Calumet River in May 1959. J.R. Williams photo.

It appears that the vessel may still exist, as the Shamrock, laid up on Beaver Island. https://gltugs.wordpress.com/shamrock/

N.M. Paterson & Sons' Vandoc (ii) seen at the ADM grain elevator in Windsor, Ont. August 16, 1986 photo by Jim Jackson/...
08/22/2026

N.M. Paterson & Sons' Vandoc (ii) seen at the ADM grain elevator in Windsor, Ont. August 16, 1986 photo by Jim Jackson/MHSD collection.

The grain elevator was built in 1978 by United Co-operatives of Ontario (UCO). It has been owned by ADM since 1985.

The U.S. Coast Guard Tupelo, seen in August 1969. Emory Massman photo/Mike Nicholls collection/MHSD.There are at least t...
08/21/2026

The U.S. Coast Guard Tupelo, seen in August 1969. Emory Massman photo/Mike Nicholls collection/MHSD.

There are at least two automobiles on deck.

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Detroit, MI

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