By Chris Winters 

Crew people aboard the LEE A. TREGURTHA swung out of the vessel’s rescue boat during a weekly fire and boat drill while upbound on Lake Michigan in September 2006. 

The LEE A. TREGURTHA was launched on June 25, 1942, as the CHIWAWA by Bethlehem Steel at Sparrows Point, Maryland, under a Maritime Commission contract as the SS SAMOSET. As the CHIWAWA, she received two battle stars for her World War II service and was decommissioned on May 6, 1946.  

Idle for years, Cleveland Cliffs Iron Company purchased her from 1959 to 1960 and rebuilt her for Great Lakes use. In 1961, a new ship having been lengthened and widened, she was christened WALTER A. STERLING in honor of Cliffs’ chairman. In 1978, she was converted into a self-unloader. Cleveland Cliffs sold her in 1985 to the Ford Motor Co. (later Rouge Steel), who renamed her WILLIAM CLAY FORD. In 1989, she joined the Interlake Steamship Co., for whom she still sails, and was renamed LEE A. TREGURTHA in honor of the wife of Interlake’s vice chairman. 

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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.