American Fortitude

[CWilson]

Here's a postcard of the Weir. Not sure of the date.

[Paul A]

From doing process photo for litho work and litho work itself I think the National steel print is actually the mass printed version of the painting or another generation of the separation offered by Al, or vice versa. Past litho print renderings tended to gain contrast from the process itself so the only difference is the darker contrast and the logo that was stripped in during process. The only other thing different I see is that they stripped in a new pilot house. Easy now days with software but I'm impressed with the original manual work, or perhaps someone took a print and rendered a new forward superstructure.

[southsideriverrat]

Pretty interesting that both images used nearly identical elements including the smoke pattern and the ship in the background!

Yes. This artist had a system going. Can anybody make out the name of the artist?

Thanks.

[Guest]

Pretty interesting that both images used nearly identical elements including the smoke pattern and the ship in the background!

[William Lafferty]

Attached is a much-traveled relic from my newspaper days. I don't know its origin -- probably a promotional brochure.

Apparently the first Ernest T. Weir (the former Worrell Clarkson and later George R. Fink) got the same treatment.

[wlbblw]

Neat stuff. I never could get used to the shape of the pilothouse, but with that said, I did enjoy her last days here in Buffalo. Another one bites the dust.

[Al]

Attached is a much-traveled relic from my newspaper days. I don't know its origin -- probably a promotional brochure. It hung in my buddy's cubicle and then mine for several years. As the Courtney Burton, the boat was a frequent caller in the Twin Ports when I lived there, and I always thought she was among the best-looking boats.

[Alex]

Thanks Guest33, much like the mighty Munson being reduced to sounding like a cow mooing.

[Guest33]

Steam whistles were replaced by air horns because of cost of repair and obsolete parts needed to repair. I remember Captain Bobby Tilley arguing to engineering about just fixing them but parts cost more than new horns. She just sounded like a dump truck after the steam whistle was replaced.

[Guest]

I attached a scan of a illustration showing the Ernest T. Weir that is part of a article my family has had in there possession since at least 1958. I apologize for the low quality of the scan as I did not spend time to retouch it. However, I always liked this image as I have always been fond of conceptual illustrations particularly those made during the 1950-60s time period.

I have also attached a postcard in my collection that shows the Ernest T. Weir passing St. Clair, Michigan. It appears to be from the early to mid-1960s as the Lambton generating plant has not yet been built. As it is unused, there is no postmark on the card.

[Holubecois]

It looks like her name has been painted over. It's over. Sad.

It's all over, mmmy friend.... :(

[Guest]

It looks like her name has been painted over. It's over. Sad.

[Alex]

Question for Old Columbia, why were the real horns ever replaced on the steamers by the lame air horns?

[Ken Niemi]

For all you Ernest T. Weir fans, I will have for sale a beautiful museum quality framed original painting of her by the late Kinley Shogren at the annual Dossin Museum Marine Sale Saturday, November 15th at the Grosse Pointe Veterans War Memorial. It was done in 1972 and shows the Weir with a huge bone in her teeth and measures 21" x 29" in a 28" x 36" walnut frame. For more information about this painting or the Dossin sale email me at reissrecollections@hotmail.com

[Old Columbia]

I agree with you 100% when we laid her up for the last time she was as good as the day she was built. Just the usual short sightedness of the ASC bean counters.

[Guest]

How come Interlake and Lower Lakes can repower their boats but ASC thinks they are not worth it?

They think they don't need her capacity, despite their entire diesel fleet being kept busy this Fall and the Burton's hull being in better shape than most of their fleet.

I hope Brownsville gives them a surprise and she ends up back on the Lakes steaming again.

[Old Columbia]

The sad thing is before Oglebay went under there was talk of repowering the steamers. But along came the new management that did not know what an asset the fleet was. Then came the sale to ASC who cannot see the forest for the trees. How come Interlake and Lower Lakes can repower their boats but ASC thinks they are not worth it? I dearly wish they had gone to Interlake or Key Lakes, we would all still have our boats and jobs. Just my two cents.

[Guest]

I think it's very well known that Columbia purchased the Ernest T. Weir as a replacement for the Fitzgerald. For one, she became their flagship, just like the Fitz. The vessels you mentioned were all in operation before the Fitz sank, though the Reiss and Wilson were not operating due to needing a refit and 1975 being a recession year.

Oglebay had eyes on the Sparrows Point in 1977/78 after she was damaged in a grounding in the Seaway in Fall of 1977. With the Lewis Wilson Foy due to enter service in June 1978, Oglebay thought that Sparrows Point would be excess tonnage to Bethlehem's needs, but Bethlehem felt otherwise and spent money on repairs. Ernest T. Weir would also be excess to the needs of her owner, National Steel in 1978, so eventually agreement was reached on her purchase.

[Guest]

Is it a known fact that Oglebay Norton purchased the Weir to replace the Fitzgerald? There is about a 2-3 year gap between these two events. In additon, Columbia had increased its carrying capacity during the same time with the lengthening of the Armco and Reserve along with the acquisiton of the Ashland, J. Burton Ayers, Robert C. Norton, Crispin Oglebay, William A. Reiss, and Thomas Wilson. Furthermore it had built the Fred R. White Jr. and Wolverine along with forming the Pringle Transit Subsidiary to operate the Paul Thayer and William R. Roesch following their acquistion from Kinsman. Has any concrete evidence ever emerged of Oglebay Norton indicating the Weir purchase was to replace the tonnage represented by the loss of the Fitzgerald or is this just an assumption?

[Denny]

Very sad to see hear the news and see her go to scrap as she was always one of my favorite boats. She had a classic whistle and was one of those types of ships that we all loved and enjoyed to watch with the classic laker style both fore and aft and even with a self-unloader, she still looked great to boatwatchers that saw and photographed her. I still remember one time seeing her while she was downbound at the Soo Locks in the 1990s. At the time, her captain then Bob Tilley and a former mate on the Fitz was outside and talking to viewers. She was a true classic and will definitely be missed by all. I will also miss if the Valor and Victory are scrapped as well someday. My only wish is that they could find a way to keep the Victory as she served in WWII and also was credited for shooting down enemy aircraft. At one point she even had her WWII battlestars applied near her pilothouse. If she is scrapped someday, I hope at least they save those battlestars and put them in a museum someplace along with the ones from the Lee A. Tregurtha as well. Now there is history to talk about!