The SS ''William G. Mather'' was a long Great Lakes freighter that was built in 1905, by the Great Lakes Engineering Works (GLEW) of Ecorse, Michigan, for the Grand Island Steamship Company (managed by

Cleveland-Cliffs Iron Company Cleveland-Cliffs Inc., formerly Cliffs Natural Resources, is a Cleveland, Ohio-based company that specializes in the mining, beneficiation, and pelletizing of iron ore, as well as steelmaking, including stamping and tooling. It is the largest f ...

). Her keel was laid on May 18, 1905. She was launched on September 23, 1905, as hull #9. The ship was named after William G. Mather, the Cleveland-Cliffs executive. She was powered by a triple expansion steam engine which was attached to a single fixed-pitch

propeller A propeller (colloquially often called a screw if on a ship or an airscrew if on an aircraft) is a device with a rotating hub and radiating blades that are set at a pitch to form a helical spiral which, when rotated, exerts linear thrust upon ...

. She was fueled by two coal-fired Scotch marine boilers. She entered service in January 1905, and was the first Great Lakes freighter with a beam. The William G

New owners

In 1919 the ''William G. Mather'' was transferred to the

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

. She served for six years under her original name. In 1925 Cleveland-Cliffs acquired a new freighter (also named ) because of this, the original ''William G. Mather'' was renamed ''J.H. Sheadle''. In 1932 the ''J.H. Sheadle'' was re-registered to Wilmington, Delaware. She operated for thirty years under the name ''J.H. Sheadle''. In 1955 she was renamed ''H.L. Gobeille''. She did not sail throughout the 1962 and the 1963 seasons. In 1964 the ''H.L. Gobeille'' was sold to the Gartland Steamship Company of Chicago, Illinois. After she was acquired by Gartland Steamship, she was converted to a self-unloading freighter by the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company. In 1965 she was renamed ''Nicolet''. In 1969 Gartland Steamship's fleet was sold to the American Steamship Company of Buffalo, New York (managed by

Boland & Cornelius Boland and Cornelius Company was a shipping company founded in 1904 by Messrs Boland and Adam E. Cornelius in Buffalo, New York. Adam Edwards Cornelius came up with the idea of having self-unloading ships to save time and money. Adam Edwards Co ...

). On April 5, 1972 the ''Nicolet'' cracked about 55 of her hull plates off Beaver Island on

Lake Michigan Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume () and the third-largest by surface area (), after Lake Superior and Lake Huron. To the east, its basin is conjoined with that o ...

when she was squeezed by ice. She saved herself by unloading part of her cargo into the nearby steamer ''William G. Mather''. The cost to repair her was about $200,000. In 1974 the ''Nicolet'' had a new diesel engine installed by the Defoe Shipbuilding Company of Bay City, Michigan. On December 29, 1979 the ''Nicolet''s forward cabins were seriously damaged in a fire that broke out on her self-unloading gear when it was ignited by sparks from an

acetylene torch Principle of burn cutting Oxy-fuel welding (commonly called oxyacetylene welding, oxy welding, or gas welding in the United States) and oxy-fuel cutting are processes that use fuel gases (or liquid fuels such as gasoline or petrol, diesel, ...

, while she was being repaired in Toledo, Ohio by the Hans Hansen Welding Company. A new pilothouse and cabins were installed by the American Shipbuilding Company. The ''Nicolet'' resumed service in 1981.

Scrapping

She was laid up in 1990 never to sail again. In 1996 she was sold for

scrap Scrap consists of Recycling, recyclable materials, usually metals, left over from product manufacturing and consumption, such as parts of vehicles, building supplies, and surplus materials. Unlike waste, scrap Waste valorization, has monetary ...

to the International Marine Salvage Company. She was towed to Port Maitland, Ontario and scrapped.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:William G. Mather (1905) 1905 ships Maritime incidents in 1979 Merchant ships of the United States Great Lakes freighters Ships built in Ecorse, Michigan Ships powered by a triple expansion steam engine