Here is a list of some interesting Great Lakes Shipping Facts
If one of the 1000 Foot Ships on The Great Lakes were stood on end, It would be as Tall as the Empire State Building
One 1000 foot ship can carry enough iron-ore in one load to make 30,000 small automobiles.
The Largest Ship on The Great Lakes is the Paul r. Tregurtha, it is 1013.5 feet long, 105 feet wide, and is capable of carrying 68,000 tons of cargo.
When transiting the Soo Locks, the 1000 foot vessels only have 2.5 feet of leaway on each side of the ship. The 1000 foot ships are 105 feet wide, and the lock is 110 feet wide.
The term "Super Laker" refers to ships that will never be able to leave The Great Lakes due to their large size, and the smaller size of the locks they are required to go through to reach the oceans. They are "landlocked".
The largest ship to ever sink on The Great Lakes was the Edmund Fitzgerald on November 10th 1975, it sank with all 29 of it's crew members. When The Fitzgerald was built in the 50's it was the biggest ship ever to be seen on The Great Lakes, on the night it sank it was one of the smallest vessels stuck in the storm.
When The Kinsman Independent made it's last trip in December of 2002 it was the last U.S. Straight Decker (A Not Self-unloading Ship) in service. When it went out, it still had it's original World War 2 steam engines powering it. There are still plenty of operating straight deckers on the Canadian side. There are also some inactive ones on the U.S. Side that are in lay-up and are still operable, but none are scheduled to return to service.
