J. B. Ford

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

It was powered by a 1,500-horsepower triple-expansion steam engine, fed by two coal-fired Scotch marine boilers.

The scrapping of the E. M. Ford, and the attempts to save that ship in 2008, generated public interest in the old steamers.

[6] The GLSS achieved 501c3 non profit status in 2011 and worked to save the vessel until July 2014.

[10][11] 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.

The J. B. Ford at Azcon scrap dock Duluth, MN 27 June 2018
The main steam whistle from the Steamship J. B. Ford. The insert shows a plaque inside the building that tells whom the whistle honors. Guest of the museum may salute passing lake freighters using this whistle. The Harsens Island Historical Society was gifted the whistle in 2017. Harsens Island is North of Detroit in Michigan.
Wooden Nameboard from Steamship J. B. Ford on display at the Buffalo Harbor Museum in Buffalo, N.Y.
The bow section of the J. B. Ford on 06 August 2022. By the end of August none of this vessel would remain floating.