This is a ship I've been wanting to get on this blog for a long time. I don't know how many times I've seen her on boatnerd only to have it be at inopportune times. Since I was coming home from the other office, I could make a stop by Detroit for a bit this time.
Unfortunately, the traffic doesn't like to cooperate and I was about to miss her. The weather was also not cooperating so I had to bump up the film speed. Otherwise these pictures would have been blurrier.
The Manistee was built by the Great Lakes Engineering Works in River Rouge, MI during World War II. She was the second of sixteen "Maritimer" class ships built during the war. She was launched as the Adirondack in 1943. She was later renamed the Richard J. Reiss in honor of the company's owner.
In 1964, she was converted to a self unloader. In 1986, her company was merged into the American Steamship Company and her name was shortened to the Richard Reiss.
In 1976, her powerplant was converted to diesel. She is 620 feet long and can carry almost 15,000 tons of cargo.
In 2002, she was sold to the Oglebay Norton company where she retained her name. In 2004, she was sold to the Grand River Navigation Company and in 2005 she was named the Manistee. This would be the first time in 100 years that a no ship on the Great Lakes carried the Reiss name.
Her history of ownership is complicated. She had been owned by ASC for most of her life, and in the 1980s was sold to Erie Sand Steamship Company. In 2003, Erie Sand was sold to Oglebay-Norton but Reiss remained under the Erie Sand banner. In 2005 she was sold to GRN. By the way, the "J" in her name was removed by Erie Sand because it shortened the name from 13 letters to 12 (superstition).
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