The self-unloading barge McKee Sons was built in 1945 as a type C4-S-B2 fast troop transport by Sun Shipbuilding and Drydock Co., Chester, PA, christened as the Marine Angel. Her overall length was approximately 510 feet with power coming from a 9,900 shp steam turbine engine. Marine Angel was acquired by Amerisand Steamship Co. in 1952, with partial ownership shared with Boland & Cornelius (American Steamship Co.), whose fleet would operate the converted vessel for Great Lakes use. The retrofit included lengthening of 123 feet; a new, fuller bow; replacing the midship pilothouse with a new bow pilothouse; and an overhaul of her engine. This was completed at Maryland Drydock Co., Baltimore, MD. After being towed up the Mississippi River into the Great Lakes, her conversion to a self-unloader was finished at Manitowoc Shipbuilding Inc., Manitowoc, WI in 1953. She was christened McKee Sons and entered service that same year. As such, she became the first saltwater vessel to sail as a self-unloader on the Great Lakes. The vessel was named in honor of the 11 sons of the three McKee brothers who were the principals of Sand Products Corporation, Detroit, MI.

McKee Sons sailed as a steamer until 1979. From 1980-1990 she lay idle in Toledo, OH. Upper Lakes Towing Co., Escanaba, MI, acquired the idle steamer in late 1990, converting her to a barge and shortening her hull by 53 feet 10 inches in 1991. The conversion included removing her aft accommodations and propulsion system as well as the installation of a notch in her stern. Her six holds are fed by 28 hatches where she can carry 18,400 tons at maximum Seaway draft of 26 feet and is capable of carrying 19,900 tons at her maximum mid-summer draft of 27 feet 6 inches. She is equipped with a bow thruster. McKee Sons has a 250-foot bow-mounted self-unloading boom that can be swung 120 degrees to port or starboard. The barge was paired up with the 297 GRT Upper Lakes Towing tug Olive L. Moore. The 6,000 bhp diesel powered Olive L. Moore was built in 1928 and rebuilt in 1980.

McKee Sons and the Olive L. Moore sailed as a pair for the first time in 1992, first for Lakes Shipping Service Co. (managed by Upper Lakes Towing) in 1996, then for Upper Lakes Barge Line Inc., Bark River, MI from, 1997 into the 2000 navigation season.

In June 1997, the pair became stuck on the Saginaw River due to current due to high water, which caught them and swept them sideways. Four tugs were required to free her. Then, in October 1998, the pair ran aground in the Saginaw River, but was released after unloading about 7,000 tons of stone into the Joseph H. Frantz.

After the McKee Sons’ charter was terminated in early 2000, she was long-term bareboat chartered to Grand River Navigation Co., Cleveland, OH, an affiliate of Lower Lakes Towing Ltd., Port Dover, ON. After being refurbished and painted in Lower Lakes’ colors at Sarnia, ON, she was paired with the articulated notch tug Invincible. This tug was built in 1979 at Jacksonville, FL, as the R. W. Sesler, a name she retained until 1991 when she was renamed Invincible. The tug is 99′ x 35′, is equipped with an upper pilothouse with a 60-foot height of eye, and has a Budworth linkage. Her twin screws are powered by EMD diesel engines rated at 5,750 bhp. The tug was purchased from Dixie Fuels Ltd., Houston, TX, where she had been engaged in pushing the 18,816 dwt hopper barge Mary Cecilia. Leaving Texas on June 6, 2000, the Invincible arrived in Sarnia via the St. Lawrence Seaway on June 20. McKee Sons and Invincible left Sarnia on their first voyage together Sept. 4, 2000.

McKee Sons arrived up in Erie at the end of the 2012 season to be drydocked for its five-year inspection, however the steel work needed was never carried out and the charter to Grand River came to an end. Tug and barge stayed in Erie until departing for Muskegon and further layup, arriving there on December 20, 2014. McKee Sons remains there still. Invincible arrived at Sturgeon Bay December 20 for layup and has been inactive since, first at Sturgeon Bay and, as of October 2018, at Ashtabula, Ohio, where she was towed by the tug Manitou.

Written by George Wharton