SS ''Arthur M. Anderson'' is a cargo ship of the laker type. She is famous for being the last ship to be in contact with before she sank on November 10, 1975. ''Arthur M. Anderson'' was also the first rescue ship on the scene in a vain search for ''Edmund Fitzgerald'' survivors. The vessel's namesake, Arthur Marvin Anderson, was director of U.S. Steel, a member of its finance committee and vice chairman of J.P. Morgan & Co. at the time. The ship was launched in 1952 and is in active service.

History

SS ''Arthur M. Anderson'' came out of the drydock of the

American Ship Building Company The American Ship Building Company was the dominant shipbuilder on the Great Lakes before the Second World War. It started as Cleveland Shipbuilding in Cleveland, Ohio in 1888 and opened the yard in Lorain, Ohio in 1898. It changed its name to t ...

of Lorain,

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

in 1952. She had a length of , a beam, a depth, and a gross tonnage of roughly 20,000 tons. She was second of eight of the AAA class of

lake freighter Lake freighters, or lakers, are bulk carrier vessels that operate on the Great Lakes of North America. These vessels are traditionally called boats, although classified as ships. Since the late 19th century, lakers have carried bulk cargoes of ma ...

s; the others being, in order, , , , , , , and . ''Arthur M. Anderson'', along with ''Philip R. Clarke'' and ''Cason J. Callaway'', were built for the Pittsburgh Steamship Division of U.S. Steel. ''Arthur M. Anderson''s

sea trials A sea trial is the testing phase of a watercraft (including boats, ships, and submarines). It is also referred to as a "shakedown cruise" by many naval personnel. It is usually the last phase of construction and takes place on open water, and i ...

commenced on August 7, 1952, and she loaded her first cargo at the Two Harbors dock on August 12, 1952. She received several refits in her life including the addition of a new midsection in 1975 which added about 6,000 tons to her gross tonnage, bringing the total to about 26,000 tons. During the Lake Superior storm on November 10, 1975, she was operating in close company with and reported her loss to the

United States Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, mu ...

. In 1981, she received a self-unloading boom which improved her cargo loading and unloading. She is unique among the three Great Lakes Fleet steamships in that she has a softer midsection that prohibits loading as much cargo as the others; roughly 1500 tons less. In February 2015 ''Arthur M. Anderson'' became stuck and stranded in several feet of ice in

Lake Erie Lake Erie ( "eerie") is the fourth largest lake by surface area of the five Great Lakes in North America and the eleventh-largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and therefore also h ...

near Conneaut Harbor, Ohio. ''Arthur M. Anderson'' was freed from the ice on February 21, 2015, after five days with the help of the

Canadian Coast Guard The Canadian Coast Guard (CCG; french: links=no, Garde côtière canadienne, GCC) is the coast guard of Canada. Formed in 1962, the coast guard is tasked with marine search and rescue (SAR), communication, navigation, and transportation issues ...

vessel . was slated to escort ''Arthur M. Anderson'' to

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

. had also become stranded while attempting to free the ship from the up to thick ice. ''Arthur M. Anderson'' was put on long-term lay-up in

Duluth, Minnesota , settlement_type = City , nicknames = Twin Ports (with Superior), Zenith City , motto = , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top: urban Duluth skyline; Minnesota ...

on January 15, 2017, at the end of the 2016 shipping season. In April 2019, she was transferred to the nearby Fraser Shipyards for a five-month

survey Survey may refer to: Statistics and human research * Statistical survey, a method for collecting quantitative information about items in a population * Survey (human research), including opinion polls Spatial measurement * Surveying, the techniq ...

and refitting to prepare for her return to service. The vessel returned to service on July 25, 2019.

Notes

References

External links

AIS Tracking of SS ''Arthur M. Anderson'' via marinetraffic.com

sailwx.info: ''Arthur M Anderson'' current position and weather
{{DEFAULTSORT:Arthur M. Anderson Great Lakes freighters Merchant ships of the United States 1952 ships Ships built in Lorain, Ohio