J. B. Ford

{|

| Ship name = ''J.B. Ford'' | Ship namesake = J. B. Ford | Ship builder = American Shipbuilding Company | Ship launched = 12 December 1903 | Ship launch name = Edwin F. Holmes | Ship identification = * *Callsign: WA4454 | Ship fate = Scrapped | Ship Yard Number = 329 }}

| Ship beam = | Ship height = | Ship draft = | Ship power = Triple expansion steam | Ship boilers = Two Scotch Marine Boilers }} |}

The ''J. B. Ford'' was a steamship bulk freighter that saw service for 112 years on the Great Lakes of the United States and Canada.

The ship was launched in Lorain, Ohio on 12 December 1903 as the ''Edwin F. Holmes''. The freighter was named in honor of Edwin Francis Holmes, an investor in the Hawgood & Avery Transit Co. and a director of the Hawgood & Avery Fleet in 1904. The Edwin F. Holmes sailed in the Commonwealth Steamship Fleet until 1911 when she was transferred to the Acme Transit Fleet (another of the Hawgood fleets). At the time of its scrapping was the oldest intact lake freighter still afloat.

The ship was 440 feet long by 50 feet across the beam, with a depth of 28 feet. It was powered by a 1,500-horsepower triple-expansion steam engine, fed by two coal-fired Scotch marine boilers. The ''Ford'' had 12 hatches feeding into 4 cargo compartments.

Although the ''Ford'' had not seen powered service since 15 November 1985, it served as a stationary cement storage and transfer vessel in South Chicago, Chicago, from 1987 until 2001. The vessel was towed to Superior, Wisconsin to serve in the same capacity. The ''Ford'' continued in this duty until 2006 when the ''JAW Iglehart'', former fleet mate of the ''Ford'', was retired from service and took over the ''Ford's'' duties in Superior.

The ''Ford'' was moved to a storage dock awaiting orders to scrap the vessel. The scrapping of the ''E. M. Ford'', and the attempts to save that ship in 2008, generated public interest in the old steamers. In 2010 the Great Lakes Steamship Society (GLSS) was formed (and soon thereafter incorporated) with the intention of acquiring and preserving items of maritime heritage on the Great Lakes, with their first goal the preservation of the ''J. B. Ford''. The GLSS achieved 501c3 non profit status in 2011 and worked to save the vessel until July 2014. When the GLSS effort began in 2010, the vessel's owner, Lafarge, deferred scrapping the Ford to allow the group time to get organized and put a real effort forward to preserve the ship. The effort failed due to increasing cost to stabilize and preserve the vessel, combined with a loss of interest in preserving it. As of July 2014, the GLSS was still working with the vessel's owners to recover artifacts and significant items from the vessel, particularly the forward cabins.

The ''J. B. Ford'' was towed to the Azcon scrapyard on Friday morning, 9 October 2015.

On the afternoon of Monday, 1 March 2021, the ship accidentally caught fire when a spark ignited wood in a cabin area while crews were dismantling it. Provided by Wikipedia