Boatnerd Discussion Forum

Jon Paul wrote:

Guest wrote:If I remember correctly, the fastest vessels on the Lakes were the package freighters of Canada Steamship. The Fort Henry or the Fort York would easily outdistance the Cliffs Victory or the "Red Tomatoes" or the Joe Thompson. I think the discussion really is about the fastest "ore boat" rather than the fastest ships on the Lakes!

I was a wheelsman on C. M. White and sailed with Capt. Ray long who had been on all three of the Republic C-4s as well as the Cliffs Victory. According to him the White was the fastest of the 3 C-4s and had been in three unofficial races with the Victory. The White won the 2 races when both were light and in A Ballast and the Victory won the 1 race when both were loaded. His belief was that when loaded, the White having a wider beam and blunter bow was slowed a bit compared to the narrower Victory and its flared bow. As for the Fort Henry I can attest to the fact she was speedier than the above mentioned boats. One time that I can remember they overtook us just east of Superior Shoal downbound and beat us to the Soo locks by over an hour. The CSL package freighters are not a fair comparison however. They were considerably smaller, lighter and because of their hull design and if I remember correctly 4000 plus horsepower, they were built for speedy delivery of their cargo.

Guest wrote:If I remember correctly, the fastest vessels on the Lakes were the package freighters of Canada Steamship. The Fort Henry or the Fort York would easily outdistance the Cliffs Victory or the "Red Tomatoes" or the Joe Thompson. I think the discussion really is about the fastest "ore boat" rather than the fastest ships on the Lakes!

Jon Paul wrote:They were fast compared to standard 600 ft plus lakers which averaged 10-14mph loaded. The T-2's generally had a 7250-7700 hp steam turbine. On the original 523' tanker's that could provide enough speed to keep up with convoy's and battle groups but in a 730' laker it was a bit below average for what was being put in the maximum size boats coming out of the shipyards at the time. The C-4 and Victory conversations were a different story. Those were 10,000 hp turbines being put in smaller ships. The Republic triplets were 600', the McKee Sons was 633', Joe Thompson was 714' and the Cliffs Victory after lengthening was 716'. The Victory had only a 62' beam however and with that flared bow it made up for the extra length.

Duluth Guest wrote:Wasn't there quite a rivalry going between the Charles M.White, Cliffs Victory, Thomas F.Patton, Tom Girdler, and Joe Thompson as to which was the speediest boat on the Lakes? If I recall, wasn't the Lee A., with her flared, knife edge bow, in the frakas as well?