Talk:SS Ste. Claire

Fact template
Can't remove it...can't find it. Any help? §hep  •   ¡Talk to me!  20:24, 8 April 2008 (UTC)

Thanks for being concerned and working on trying to clear the Fact tag on the current and/or permanent regular location of the ship, Shep. I think the Bobloboat.Com site (seems continuous with the www.boblosteamer.com site that you suggested above) can serve as a source on the current location. There's a photo there of Ste Claire being towed, with text reading "The BOBLO BOAT Ste. Claire was towed on Wednesday January 16th from her Tri-Centennial Park slip to her winter berth. Many thanks to U. S. Steel for allowing the Ste. Claire to be stored behind her sister ship Columbia. ...." Since other parts of the website are updated, and there is a statement that there are no open hours until Spring 2008, I believe that this is refering to January 16 of year 2008. Is Tri-Centennial Park in Ohio? Maybe there is enough info in the webpages for someone who knows this area to find the specific winter berth, or at least establish that it is in the Toledo, Ohio area, or not. cheers, doncram (talk) 21:39, 8 April 2008 (UTC)

unequalled service?
The NHL webpage, quoted in the article, states "For 81 years, this vessel carried passengers to Bois Blanc (Bob-Lo) Island, a record of service on a single run unequalled in U.S. maritime history". But, isn't it nearly a twin ship to the Columbia (steamer), so wouldn't they both have comparable years of service? I haven't examined the NRHP text linked in the article, or the Boblo website carefully for this question, but thot i would state it in case someone else would be developing the article.


 * In fact, the full NRHP nomination text by Worden contains this statement of significance on page 7, from which the NHL summary webpage was apparently derived: "Ste Claire and her running-mate Columbia are the last two steamers of their type with integrity left in the United States.  The pair shared their original run from Detroit to Bob-Lo Island for 81 years, a record of service on a single run unequalled in U.S. maritime history."  It is a complete mess-up to take that and then say the Ste Claire has an unequalled run of service.  Its run of service is equalled at least by the Columbia.  And in fact the Columbia's run seems to have been slightly longer, as it was built first.  So the NHL statement is wrong: Ste Claire's run was equalled and probably in fact surpassed.  I have to observe that was poor editing done in the NHL webpage writeup. doncram (talk) 22:47, 8 April 2008 (UTC)

In general, I am a bit skeptical of the claim that 81 years is really exceptional to the point of being unique. How would they have known? How do we know that the record of continuous service is not broken now by another ship, since the NHL designation date. The only ship with continuous service in what category of ships? (steamers serving Bois Blanc? too narrow to be useful) I bet there is some ship somewhere that has operated a regular schedule for longer. doncram (talk) 22:12, 8 April 2008 (UTC)


 * The Yavari (ship) on Lake Titicaca in Peru is a contender for longer service. doncram (talk) 22:18, 8 April 2008 (UTC)