Steamer ''South American'' was a

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steamer built by the

Great Lakes Engineering Works The Great Lakes Engineering Works (GLEW) was a leading shipbuilding company with a shipyard in Ecorse, Michigan, that operated between 1902 and 1960. Within three years of its formation, it was building fifty percent of the tonnage of all ships ...

Ecorse, Michigan Ecorse ( ') is a city in Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 9,512 at the 2010 census. Ecorse is part of the Downriver community within Metro Detroit. The city shares a northwestern border with the city of Detroit ...

. It was built in 1913/14 for the Chicago, Duluth & Georgian Bay Transit Company. The vessel was launched on February 21, 1914 and was the newer of two near-sister ships, the older one being the ''North American''. The ''South American'' was in length, had a beam, and drew . She was equipped with a 2,200 indicated

horsepower Horsepower (hp) is a unit of measurement of power, or the rate at which work is done, usually in reference to the output of engines or motors. There are many different standards and types of horsepower. Two common definitions used today are the ...

quadruple-expansion

steam engine A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a cylinder. This pushing force can be trans ...

and three

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when dea ...

-burning Scotch marine boilers. She caught fire on September 9, 1924 in winter lay-up at Holland, Michigan. Her upper works were rebuilt that winter. Also at the time, a second smokestack was added and her coal-fired boilers were converted to oil-burning. In 1967, the ''South American'' departed from her usual schedule to offer trips to the 1967 World's Fair in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

. At the end of the season, she was retired from regular passenger service and sold to

Seafarers International Union The Seafarers International Union or SIU is an organization of 12 autonomous labor unions of mariners, fishermen and boatmen working aboard vessels flagged in the United States or Canada. Michael Sacco has been its president since 1988. The orga ...

in Piney Point,

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

, as a replacement for the ''North American'' which sank a year prior while in tow there. Failing Coast Guard inspection, she was moved to

Camden, New Jersey Camden is a city in and the county seat of Camden County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Camden is part of the Delaware Valley metropolitan area and is located directly across the Delaware River from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At the 2020 ...

, where she rotted before being scrapped in 1992 in Baltimore.

References

External links

Marine Historical Society of Detroit: SS South American

New Great Lakes Steamship South American
(''International Marine Engineering''; April 1914, pp. 135–140, article on new ship with profiles, plans and text) {{DEFAULTSORT:South American Great Lakes ships Steamships of the United States 1914 ships Passenger ships of the United States Ships built in Ecorse, Michigan Passenger ships of the Great Lakes