Joel Dinda's photos with the keyword: b/w

"Bow of S.S. Calcite and conveyor and coal pile ft of 17th St Bay City, Mich. Thursday Sept 1, 1938" First of four photos in this set. Calcite was the first ship built for Bradley Transportation--US Steel's limestone fleet (then known as Calcite Transportation). The ship was named after the Port of Calcite--which was in turn named after the product (limestone, which is predominantly calcite) shipped from the Michigan Limestone Company's great mine south of Rogers City. All fits together nicely. Calcite was built by American Shipbuilding at Wyandotte in 1912 and scrapped in 1961 (at which time her fleetmate William G. Clyde was renamed Calcite II ). This ship's pilot house has been preserved, on the grounds of Forty Mile Point Lighthouse, north of Rogers City (and Calcite). Borucki's Lakers

"Sunday Nov 14, 1937 boat loading limestone at Rogers City Mich." B.H. Taylor was launched on September 1, 1923 at Lorain for Rogers City-based Bradley Transportation (a division of US Steel). She was renamed to Rogers City in 1957, and scrapped in 1988. The Milwaukee Public Library has several pictures of this then-new ship helping build Milwaukee's breakwater in 1924. According to the Milwaukee contractor, Edward E Gillen Company, the Taylor was the "Biggest, best, & fastest self unloader in the world." Perhaps in 1924, but at 522 feet she was not a large ship. I was unable to find anything about the person this ship honored except that he was one of Carl Bradley's pallbearers, which likely means (or verifies) that he was a Steel Corp executive. Any assistance would be appreciated. Borucki's Lakers

"Saturday, July 3, 1938. [note: July 3 was a Sunday] 'Benson Ford' tied to Ford Motor Company dock River Rouge" The first of three ships to bear this name. Launched in 1924 or 1925, this and fleetmate Henry Ford II were the first and second large Great Lakes ships powered by diesel powerplants (a Google search shows launch sequence disagreements). Renamed John Dykstra II in 1982 (this seems to have been a name swap), at which time this ship was effectively retired. The ship was scrapped in 1989, but her pilot house has been converted to a home on Put-In-Bay (South Bass Island), Lake Erie. Borucki's Lakers