On this day July 7, 1927, the S. T. CRAPO was launched by the Great Lakes Engineering Works. Built for the Huron Transportation Company, the steel steamer was properly announced in the Marine Review of August 1927:
“The Great Lakes Engineering Works at Detroit successfully launched the self-unloading cement carrier S. T. CRAPO on July 7. The new steamer is being built for the Huron Portland Cement Co. and is somewhat similar to the JOHN W. BOARDMAN. She is 400 feet long, 60 feet wide and 29 feet deep. Steam is supplied by scotch boilers and the main propulsive unit is a 2000 indicated horsepower reciprocating steam engine. Coal is burned for fuel.
“The new steamer is named for Stanford T. Crapo, secretary and treasurer of the Huron Portland Cement Co. She was christened by Miss Anita Boardman, daughter of John W. Boardman, vice president of the Cement Company and also of the Huron Transportation Co. In accordance with old custom a bottle of champagne was broken on the bow of the steamer as she slid sideways into the water. When completed the S. T. CRAPO will join the fleet of the Huron Transportation Co. consisting of the steamers SAMUEL MITCHELL and JOHN W. BOARDMAN. She will ply between Detroit, Alpena, Mich., Cleveland, Buffalo, Milwaukee and Duluth.”
S. T. CRAPO about 1940
S. T. CRAPO docked west of the high rise bridge in Milwaukee. November 1984
Photo at top of page: S. T. CRAPO at St. Joseph, MI, August 11, 1987
The CRAPO had a full sailing career. In 1987 her new owners Inland Lakes Transportation celebrated her 60th anniversary. At that time, the cement carrier was one of only four coal burners still operating.
S. T. CRAPO at Muskegon in 1991. Photo by Bob Campbell
In 1994, Bay Shipbuilding in Sturgeon Bay replaced her coal fired boilers with oil burners. At one point, plans were to repower her with diesel, but with the oil burners, the CRAPO was able to retain her fire tube Scotch boilers, her vintage triple expansion engine, and her original steam whistle. This conversion left only one coal burning vessel on the Great Lakes – the carferry BADGER.
In September 1996, a strike halted Inland Lakes operations and the CRAPO was laid up in Cleveland’s Cuyahoga River. The following September she was towed to Green Bay to be used as a storage facility.
In 2003 she was towed from Green Bay to Bay Shipbuilding in Sturgeon Bay to have her propeller and tail shaft removed. Having her tail shaft removed and welded up, she became watertight. Her rudder was fixed permanently in the center position.
S. T. CRAPO at Green Bay, July 18, 2007, photo by Chuck Sterba
She did have another reappearance on the Lakes in 2006. The ALPENA lost her rudder and the CRAPO took on her load of cement. She arrived in Green Bay on October 30th being towed by the tug OHIO.
There were efforts to preserve the CRAPO as a museum ship at Alpena, but that did not happen.
On September 23, 2022, the 95 year old S. T. CRAPO began her final journey. She sailed, under tow, from Green Bay to Port Colborne to be scrapped, arriving on September 29th.
Suzette Lopez
Photo Credit: Great Lakes Marine Collection of the Milwaukee Public Library and Wisconsin Marine Historical Society.
