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Circa 1905. "Freighters in winter quarters." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.
The Ford can be seen here in this old Bing map. I used to pass it on the water every weekend.
The after steering station was likely an emergency redundant steering mechanism in case the normal steering wheel was disabled. It could potentially be used to add more manpower to turning the main system. Most ships do have an emergency wheel somewhere apart from the main wheel.
Not overly familiar with the layouts and practices on the lakers, I would make an educated guess that in certain circumstances, such as maneuvering into locks or along side loading or unloading docks, a second pilot or complete ship control crew located aft where they could better see what was happening might be very useful.
I'd like to see Mr. Lafferty's 1962 pic.
Out of curiosity, why the ship's wheels on the rear decks of a couple of these ships? Backup steering? I believe the bridge was well forward in lake steamers by 1900.
The vessel to the right of the Delaware is still with us. In the photo she is the Presque Isle, launched May 25, 1898, at Cleveland by the Cleveland Ship Building Company for the Presque Isle Transportation Company of Mentor, Ohio. In 1956 she was converted to a self-unloading cement carrier at Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, and renamed E. M. Ford in honor of the chairman of her new owners, the Huron Portland Cement Company. She remained in service until 1996 when she was retired from service and used to store cement at Saginaw, Michigan. Sold for scrap in 2008, the E. M. Ford nevertheless remains intact today, laid up at Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. She was a very handsome vessel in her later years, with a majestic pilothouse. Below is a photo I took of the E. M. Ford at South Chicago in 1962. I was just a kid.
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