They called her The Ship That Built Cleveland, and the SS William G. Mather, a retired Great Lakes bulk freighter, is the museum ship in front of you. One of five museum ships in the Great Lakes region, she once carried ore, coal, stone, and grain to ports throughout the lakes and earned the nickname “The Ship That Built Cleveland” because Cleveland’s steel mills were a frequent destination. She was built in 1925 by Great Lakes Engineering Works in Ecorse, Michigan as the flagship for Cleveland-Cliffs and was named for the company president, William Gwinn Mather.
She remained the Cliffs’ flagship until the SS Edward B. Greene was built in 1951–52, and she stayed active in the fleet through the end of the 1980 navigation season. In early 1941 she led a convoy of 13 freighters through the ice-choked Upper Great Lakes to Duluth, setting a record for the first arrival in a northern port, an effort featured in the April 28, 1941 issue of Life. In 1941 she led 13 freighters through the ice-choked Great Lakes to Duluth, a feat that made Life magazine for you to remember.