The Kaye E. Barker

When I went down to Belle Isle, I wasn't intending on seeing any ships as there were no ships on the boatnerd list for tonight. But sometimes, a ship will slip through and I get to take pictures of it. There was a barge that I've taken pictures of before, but I don't really like the look of it, so I didn't take any pictures tonight.

As I was crossing the MacArthur Bridge to leave Belle Isle, I looked towards the Ambassador Bridge and I saw this ship sailing up the river. Fortunately, there is a spot where I can turn around so that I could head back to the Island for pictures.So making her debut on this blog is the Kaye E. Barker. She is the wife of James Barker (whose namesake has been on this blog before).

The Kaye Barker started life as the Edward B. Greene. She was constructed for the Cleveland Cliffs Steamship Company. She was also the first ship in the history of the Great Lakes to be built completely in drydock. She was one of eight AAA-Korea Class ships which were built for the iron ore and coal trades.

She was christened in 1952. She orginally had a length of 647 feet and could carry a little over 20,000 tons of cargo.

In 1975, she was lengthened to 767 feet and her carrying capacity was increased to a little under 27,000 tons. In 1980, she was converted to a self unloader which decreased her capacity a bit.

She was sold to the Rouge Steel Corporation and named the Benson Ford.

In 1989, the Ford Fleet was disolved and sold to the Interlake Steamship Company where she got her current name.

She is actually and pretty nice looking ship. At first, I thought she was the Lee Tregurtha.

Here she is heading out to Lake St. Clair.

This is just a shot just to give an idea of just how vast the Lakes are.

She heads off towards her destination. It's amazing that after close to 60 years, she is still afloat.