SS Edward L. Ryerson
bulk carrier built in 1960
SS Edward L. Ryerson is a steel-hulled American Great Lakes freighter that entered service in 1960. Built between April 1959 and January 1960 for the Inland Steel Company, she was the third of the thirteen so-called 730-class of lake freighters, each of which shared the unofficial title of "Queen of the Lakes", as a result of their record-breaking length. She was not only the last steam-powered freighter built on the lakes but also the last one that was not a self-unloader. She is one of only two American-owned straight deck lake freighters, the other being John Sherwin, built in 1958.
Built to transport iron ore almost exclusively, Edward L. Ryerson completed her sea trials on August 3, 1960. She then travelled to Escanaba, Michigan, where she loaded a cargo of iron ore, embarking on her maiden voyage for Indiana Harbor, Indiana, on August 4. She set a Great Lakes iron ore cargo haulage record that stood for three years on August 28, 1962, after loading 24,623 long tons (27,578 short tons; 25,018 t) of iron ore in Superior, Wisconsin. Due to her top speed of 19 mph (31 km/h), she received the nickname of "Fast Eddie". Enthusiasts consider Edward L. Ryerson to be one of the most aesthetically pleasing lake freighters ever built; she quickly became one of the most popular boats on the lakes, to the point that there were rumors that at the Soo Locks, she would regularly be directed through the lock closest to the shore, the MacArthur Lock, for the benefit of boat watchers.
As a result of a downturn in the steel industry, Edward L. Ryerson was laid up in Indiana Harbor for the 1986 and 1987 shipping seasons, returning to service in 1988.
The public source identifies “SS Edward L. Ryerson” as bulk carrier built in 1960. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Edward, Ryerson and bulk.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 18, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q52295417. Authority coordinates are 46.738, -92.104. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1960, 1959, 1958 and 1962.
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This entry incorporates text from “SS Edward L. Ryerson” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.