Built by American Ship Building Co. as hull #329. Launched on December 12, 1903 as the bulk freight steamer EDWIN F. HOLMES for the Commonwealth Steamship Fleet (one of the Hawgood fleets). Dimensions: 440’ LOA x 50’ beam x 28’ depth; 4,787 GRT 3,517 NRT. Powered by a triple expansion steam engine and two Scotch marine boilers. The HOLMES was built with wooden hatch covers for each of her 12 hatches feeding into 4 cargo compartments. Each hatch contained 10 individual sections were secured with Nacy & Hynd fasteners. She was named in honor of Edwin Francis Holmes who was an investor in the Hawgood & Avery Transit Co. and a director of the Hawgood & Avery Fleet in 1904.
The EDWIN F. HOLMES sailed in the Commonwealth Steamship Fleet until 1911 when she was transferred to the Acme Transit Fleet of Cleveland, OH (another of the Hawgood fleets).
With the demise of the Hawgood fleets in 1915, the HOLMES was sold to the Pittsburgh Steamship Co. of Cleveland, OH in 1916 when she was renamed E. C. COLLINS. The E. C. COLLINS remained with this fleet (subsequently the US Steel fleet) until 1944. Her holds and hatches were rebuilt in the winter of 1916-1917 in Conneaut Ohio, to the arch and hopper side construction. Her original boilers were replaced in 1927 with new Scotch boilers, each of them 13 feet 2 inches diameter by 11 feet 6 inches in length.
The ship again changed ownership to Kinsman Transit Co. of Cleveland, OH until 1956 when she was sold to the Huron Portland Cement Co. of Detroit, MI.
The vessel was converted to a self-unloading cement carrier at the Christy Corp. at Sturgeon Bay, WI over the winter of 1958-59 and renamed J. B. FORD. From 1965 to 1971 the ship was owned by National Gypsum Co. of Detroit, MI. In 1971 the company was renamed the Huron Cement Division National Gypsum Co. Struck on port side between #5 and #6 by ULYSSES REEFER off Cordwood Point Buoy with top part of sheer strake plate bent in during 1971. On July 2, 1972 there was an electrical panel board fire at Carrollton, MI, on the Saginaw River, after repairs, she cleared on July 4. The J. B. FORD last operated Nov. 15, 1985 due to engine problems with her 5-year Coast Guard survey expiring November 1989.
In 1996, the vessel’s ownership changed to Lafarge North America Inc. of Southfield, MI. She served as a finished cement stationary storage and transfer vessel in Lake Calumet, South Chicago, IL, until a new cement silo made her capacity excess. In June 2001 the vessel was towed to the Lafarge dock at Superior, WI, for use as a storage vessel. After being replaced in that capacity in 2006 by the larger J.A.W. Iglehart, the J.B. Ford was retired, after which efforts began to preserve the historic vessel as a marine museum. The effort failed due to increasing cost to stabilize and preserve the vessel. J. B. Ford was towed to the Azcon Metals scrapyard at Duluth on Friday, October 9, 2015, where this historic vessel will eventually be cut up. As of February 2017, she remained intact.