By Chris Winters

SOUTHDOWN CHALLENGER loading Type I Portland cement at Charlevoix, Michigan, January, 2004.  

The SOUTHDOWN CHALLENGER was built in 1906 at Ecorse, Mich., by the Great Lakes Engineering Works for the Shenango Steamship Company as the WILLIAM P. SNYDER.  She was a 530 foot steel bulk cargo steamer.  Rebuilt in 1966 as a cement carrier, she has had six names throughout her career.

WILLIAM P. SNYDER;  ELTON HOYT II – 1939; ALEX D. CHISHOLM – 1952;  MEDUSA CHALLENGER – 1966; SOUTHDOWN CHALLENGER – 1999;  ST. MARY’S CHALLENGER – 2005.  

The summer of 2014 the ST. MARYS CHALLENGER reentered service as part of an articulated tug/barge unit, having her engines and pilothouse removed.  As a steamer she needed 25 people to operate her.  As a tug/barge unit only 11 were required.  Her pilothouse is on display at the National Museum of the Great Lakes in Toledo.

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Chris Winters is a Trustee and Vice President of the Wisconsin Marine Historical Society, a well-known author and has been a photojournalist for over 25 years.  He and his cameras have enjoyed a privileged glimpse into the lives of merchant mariners aboard some of the Great Lakes best-known and best-loved vessels.