After several years constructing 1,000-foot lakers, Bay Ship Building in Sturgeon Bay, WI, received several contracts in the mid-to-late 1970s to build a series of smaller vessels meant to service smaller ports that could not accommodate larger vessels. These shorter, highly maneuverable lakers would have the capability to shuttle cargo unloaded from the oversized ships to customers up river and also be able to hold their own in the aggregate and coal trades.

The first vessel of this new River-class design was constructed in 1974 as American Steamships Co.’s Sam Laud. Among the vessels that followed was Fred R. White Jr. (U.S. 606421), built for the Columbia Transportation Division of Oglebay Norton Co. in 1979.

The White is powered by two 3,600 b.h.p. single-acting, two-stroke cycle, V-20 cylinder GM-EMD 20-645-E7 diesel engines running to a Falk reduction gear, turning a variable pitch propeller. The White’s 20 hatches empty into five hold compartments in which she capable of hauling 23,800 tons of stone or ore, and 18,500 tons of coal. The cargo is unloaded via 250-foot self-unloading boom. At her maximum rate of 6,000 net tons per hour she can off load in about four hours.

The inclusion of bow and stern thrusters make all vessels of this class highly maneuverable and able to transit the tight confines of the Cuyahoga, Saginaw and Manistee rivers with little difficulty.

The White (and another River-class vessel, the Wolverine of 1976) would replace several smaller and older vessels. Included were Ashland, Thomas Wilson, Sylvania and G. A. Tomlinson.

In 2003 the combination of low lake levels, foreign steel dumping, and the loss of major ore and stone contracts left the Oglebay Norton Co stunned. The vessels of the fleet were all affected: Joseph H. Frantz was chartered to Great Lakes Associates (Kinsman), but the Buckeye and Courtney Burton would never leave lay up in Toledo, OH. The Armco laid up prematurely and the Wolverine would spent the first part of the season at the wall.

February 23, 2004, Oglebay Norton Company and its wholly owned subsidiaries filed voluntary petitions under chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware.

On June 6, 2006 in a joint announcement made with American Steamship Co. of Williamsville, NY, Oglebay Norton Co. announced the sale of the Fred R. White Jr. and five of her fleetmates to American Steamship Co. (ASC) for $120 million. With the sale came a new name: American Courage. The other vessels going to ASC were the Armco, Columbia Star, Courtney Burton, Middletown and Oglebay Norton.

American Courage entered layup at Bay Shipbuilding Co. at the end of the season and remained there until April 2019, when she was reactivated to handle an increase in demand for tonnage.

Written by Roger LeLievre