Pilothouse of the SS Joseph H. Thompson (Escanaba, Michigan)

 house, ship, historic landmark

Sitting on blocks inside Basic Marine’s shipyard is the pilothouse of the former SS Joseph H. Thompson, awaiting its fate as scrap, private sale or re-use.

The Lake Freighter SS Joseph H. Thompson's marine career began in 1944 when she slid down the ways at the Sun Shipbuilding Yard in Chester, PA as the MARAD C4-S-B2 type cargo ship SS Marine Robin.

Engaged as a troopship in the Second World War, the Marine Robin made several trans-Atlantic voyages ferrying troops from the United States to Europe, and was present at the D-Day Invasion of Normandy on June 6th, 1944. After the cessation of hostilities, she returned US & Canadian Veterans from Europe to North America for over a year before she was deactivated by the US Navy and placed into the reserve fleet in the James River in 1946. Remaining in mothballs for the next four years, the outbreak of the Korean War and subsequent spike in demand for Iron Ore saw the Marine Robin purchased for conversion into a Great Lakes Freighter.

Financed by the Hansand Steamship Co, the Marine Robin was towed in 1952 to the Maryland Drydock Co. in Baltimore where her entire forward hull section was removed and scrapped, and her stern retained and converted into a traditional Laker-style stern cabin & engine room arrangement. At the same time, a new bow and midsection were buit at the Ingalls Pascagoula Shipyard in Mississippi and fitted out. Once all the yard work was completed on the two sections, both were towed to New Orleans, where they entered the Mississippi River and began the long transit to Chicago.

Arriving at the American Shipbuilding Yard in Chicago in mid-1952, the two sections were joined together and completed, and christened as the SS Joseph H. Thompson. Entering service in November 1952, the Thompson's 714 foot length made her not only the new "Queen of the Lakes", but also the largest freight ship on Earth at the time. Serving Hansand Steamship for the next three decades in the Iron Ore trades, the Thompson was sidelined in 1981 when the global market for her cargo crashed. Laid up in Detroit for the next four years, the Thompson seemed destined for the scrapyard as many of her similarly-converted WWII-era cargo ships, however she was purchased in 1985 by Upper Lakes Towing Co
of Escanaba.

Shortly after purchasing the Thompson, Upper Lakes announced its intentions to convert the forty year old ship into a self-unloading barge, which would be paired with a dedicated tug for propulsion. Towed to Bay Shipbuilding in the spring of 1986, the Thompson's fore and aft pilothouses were removed along with her engine room to make room for her new propulsion unit, a conversion which lasted until 1990. Paired with the tugboat Joseph H. Thompson Jr., which had been constructed with a large amount of salvaged steel from the Thompson’s removed hull sections, the Thompson resumed lake trading in 1991 and continues to ply lakes to this day.

www.boatnerd.com/pictures/fleet/thompson.htm