EFC Design 1007: Notes & Illustrations

Click on the photographs above and below to prompt larger views of the same images.

Notes: On 28 June 1917 the EFC contracted with the Lake & Ocean Navigation Co., whose offices were in Chicago, to build one wooden freighter to its own design, which the EFC designated the "Lake & Ocean type," EFC Design 1007. On 8 July 1917 Lake & Ocean bought the wooden Great Lakes bulk freighter Roumania, which had been built in 1887 and which had one of the first three triple expansion steam engines to operate on the Great Lakes. The new ship, the only wooden freighter built for the EFC on the Great Lakes, was laid down on 14 July 1917 (also reported as 1 and 4 July) at the Rieboldt, Wolter & Company shipyard at Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, for the benefit of the Lake and Ocean Navigation Company of Chicago using Crosby & Sullivan (also of Chicago) as the general contractors. (EFC contract records list Lake & Ocean as the contractor.) Rieboldt (not Reiboldt) & Wolter had built ships at Sheboygan, Wisc., in the 1880s and 1890s, moved their shipyard and dry dock from Sheboygan to Sturgeon Bay in 1896 following a "flattering" offer from Sturgeon Bay, and operated them until they retired in 1918. The last big ship built by the Rieboldt & Wolters yard in 1918 was the ocean-going steamer Sturgeon Bay for the U.S. Shipping Board. On 3 January 1918 the Door County Advocate newspaper, (Sturgeon Bay is in Door County), reported that the Rieboldt & Wolter Shipyard at Sturgeon Bay had been sold and added on 14 February 1918 that it was to be taken over by the Universal Shipping Company. On 2 May 1918 the Advocate published pictures and an article on the steamer's launching, which had occurred on 25 April. (The Sheboygan press published a similar illustrated article on 26 April 1918.) On 8 May 1918 the Gazette from Stevens Point, Wisc., reported that the Universal Shipbuilding Co. had purchased the Rieboldt-Wolter shipyards at Sturgeon Bay for $100,000 and that the new owners proposed to build steel and wooden ships for the government. It added that the former owners had recently launched a wooden transport. The Universal Shipbuilding Company was incorporated on January 8, 1918 and operated until January 1925, then becoming part of the new Sturgeon Bay Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company. The old 1,000 ihp triple expansion engine of Roumania was installed in Sturgeon Bay, most likely after launching. (Roumania was resold in August 1918 and received a steeple engine salvaged from a ship that had been wrecked on 4 December 1918.) The Advocate reported on 28 February 1919 that Sturgeon Bay had reached Boston. For her career in the Shipping Board's Recruiting Service and then in the Navy see the page on this site on USS Sturgeon Bay (IX-27).

USS Sturgeon Bay, now reduced to a floating Naval Reserve armory at Buffalo, New York, was blown from her moorings and grounded in a channel in a storm on 9 December 1927. She was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 4 February 1928 and sold "as is, where is" on 5 March 1928 to the Donahue-Stratton Co. of Milwaukee, Wisc. The Advocate reported on 22 June 1928 she had new owners and noted on 20 September 1929 that she had sprung a leak and was beached. She was owned by Donahue-Stratton until 1933 when she was sold for use as a dock facing at Cleveland, Ohio. While under tow from Milwaukee, Wisc., to Cleveland in 1934 her seams opened shortly before reaching the Cleveland breakwater and she settled in shallow water. Her hull was later dynamited there. On 14 September 1934 the Advocate reported her sinking in the harbor at Cleveland.

Specifications: Design 1007 (Lake & Ocean). Wood hull. Deadweight tons: 2500 designed. Dimensions: 245.0' pp x 43.5' ext, 42.0' mld x 26' depth mld, 23.9' draft load. Propulsion: 1 screw, 1 triple expansion engine, 2 standard water tube boilers, 1000 IHP, 10 knots. Configuration: 2 decks, 2 holds, 3 hatches.

Selected sources: U.S. National Archives (NARA), RG-32 (Shipping Board), RG-19 Entry 105 Box 1067, 9-M47 (USS Sturgeon Bay), and RG-45 subject 11-27 file OS box 1349 (same); NHHC source file on USS Sturgeon Bay; wisconsinshipwrecks.org/NewsArticle?page=4963 (Door County Advocate); www.greatlakesvesselhistory.com/histories-by-name/r/roumania (S.S. Roumania); enjoyed.today/USS_Sturgeon_Bay/ (Crosby & Sullivan); www.sheboygansun.com/history/history-uncovered-shipbuilding-in-sheboygan/article_964f4ed0-a1f3-11eb-8894-af7d4ad0d36a.html (Rieboldt at Sheboygan)

*S.S. Sturgeon Bay* (Design 1007, EFC Hull 191)** Port side photographed by the Rieboldt Studio on 1 November 1917 while under construction by the Lake & Ocean Navigation Co., Sturgeon Bay, Wisc. Photo No. 165-WW-501G-001 Source: U.S. National Archives, RG-165-WW
S.S. Sturgeon Bay Interior photographed by the Rieboldt Studio on 1 November 1917 while under construction by the Lake & Ocean Navigation Co., Sturgeon Bay, Wisc. Photo No. 165-WW-501G-002 Source: U.S. National Archives, RG-165-WW
S.S. Sturgeon Bay "Launching of SS Sturgeon Bay, at the Universal Shipyard, Sturgeon Bay, WI. 25 April 1918." (Caption from the source.) Photo No. None Source: Door County Maritime Museum, via NavSource
S.S. Sturgeon Bay At Green Bay, Wisconsin, circa November 1918 soon after completion at Sturgeon Bay. Note the wartime camouflage paint. Photo No. NH 105922-A-KN Source: U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command
USS Sturgeon Bay (IX-27) Probably shown at the Norfolk Navy Yard in late 1921 or early 1922 soon after delivery to the Navy by the Shipping Board. The faded inscription on her bow shows her previous occupation: "Sturgeon Bay, United States Shipping Board, Recruiting Service." Photo No. NH 438 Source: U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command
USS Sturgeon Bay (IX-27) Probably shown at the Norfolk Navy Yard in late 1921 or early 1922 soon after delivery to the Navy by the Shipping Board. Upon arrival she was showing daylight through the seams in her sides. These images probably show her after recaulking by the yard. Photo No. NH 2203 Source: U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command
USS Sturgeon Bay (IX-27) Shown on one of her rare Naval Militia training cruises soon after entering service on the Great Lakes in 1923, probably in the locks at Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. Photo No. NH 43662 Source: U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command

EFC Design 1007 (Lake & Ocean type): Notes & Illustrations