Rouge: Pictured in Its Prime

14. Ship Salvage

14 SHIP SALVAGE In negotiating for the ocean freighters Oneida and Onondaga, Henry Ford became aware of hundreds of surplus World War I merchant ships, most of them built on the Great Lakes and called Lakers. In August 1925, Ford purchased 199 of these 1500-ton surplus ships for an average price of $8530 in their “as is, where is” condition. Towing was to be from various Atlantic coastal ports to the Rouge by way of the St. Lawrence and Canadian locks from as far away as Orange, Texas, a distance of 4332 miles. Towing to the Rouge was at Ford’s expense, and the dismantled parts were to be used solely by Ford Motor Company. However, any one of the ships could be restored upon payment of $16,470 to the government, Ford bearing the restoration expense of about $22,000. Along with the ships, seven seagoing steel tugs were also purchased from the Shipping Board. Because of their size, about fifty ships larger than Lakers were scrapped on the Atlantic coast and hauled in pieces to the Rouge on the smaller Lakers. The first salvage ship to reach Fordson was the Lake Fondulac, arriving on November 15, 1925, from Kearny, New Jersey, towed by the tug Barlow. Scrapping of this first ship was completed on June 15, 1926. A crew of 1500 workers, by means of a ten-station disassembly line along the west bank of the ship canal at the Rouge, completely dismantled seventy-six derelict vessels during 1926. During 1927, about 1000 employees continued working at the docks, and sixty more vessels had been either dismantled or converted to barges. The last of the salvage vessels to arrive at Fordson was the Lake Annette in August 1927. Three of the ships were converted for ocean use and five for use as freshwater barges. The major material recovered from the ships at the Rouge docks was steel, amounting to 144,532 tons. Much of the steel was cut into scrap and fed into open-hearth furnaces. Large pieces were hauled to the pig-cast building, where each piece was slowly dunked in a vast ladle of molten blast-furnace iron prior to being pigged. Engines and boilers were reconditioned. Miles of pipe and electrical conduit were utilized for plant construction and maintenance , as were thousands of small hardware items. Almost all of the ship salvage materials had been used in one way or another by 1929. 95 96 Top: A tug with a strong hawser tows four Lakers in a line on calm waters during August 1926. Each Laker can supply its own steam for steering and auxiliary equipment but not for propulsion. (833.47446) Bottom: A Laker is pulled along the Rouge River toward the Ford docks by Ford tugs on October 4, 1926. (833.47617) 97 Top: The Lake Copley, tied to the dismantling dock at the Rouge boat slip on October 25, 1927. Markings on the ship’s hull indicate where the giant shears and cutting torches will do their cutting. (833.50088) Bottom: Carefully lifting the ship’s valuable engine out of the hull. These engines have had little use and will be put back into working condition for powering various Ford operations. (833.50386) 99 A worker operating a giant press to straighten salvaged Laker pipe for further use in Ford factories. The photograph is dated December 1926. (833.48036) Opposite, top: Rows of engines (left) and boilers (right) stored temporarily at the Rouge Plant in November 1926. These will all be put to use later. (833.47981) Opposite, bottom: A grand mixture of small items, including piping, fittings, valves, and other hardware, is accumulated near dockside to be hauled to repair stations elsewhere at the Rouge. (833.47806) ...