1 of the oldest ships still floating on the Great Lakes to be scrapped

GREEN BAY, Wisc. (WLUK) — The days are numbered for one of the oldest ships still floating on the Great Lakes, which has called Wisconsin home for 25 years.

The S.T. Crapo, built in 1927, has been docked at ready-mix concrete supplier Lafarge on the west bank of the Fox River in Green Bay. It has served as a cement storage barge, according to BoatNerd, which tracks Great Lakes shipping.

However, Lafarge is expanding its storage facilities on land, and the Crapo is expected to be tugged out of port Friday, according to Port Director Dean Haen.

The vessel was sold to a Canadian company, Marine Recycling Corp., to be scrapped in Port Colborne, Ontario – just west of Buffalo, on Lake Erie.

“All the metals recovered from the ship will be made into new metal, using industrial furnaces with energy savings of approximately 80%, as compared to making metal from virgin ores and, metal is infinitely recyclable. She may next appear as vehicle components!” Wayne Elliott, a co-founder of MRC, told WLUK.

The ship weighs about 4,000 tons, according to Elliott.

According to BoatNerd’s history of the ship, the Crapo was named in honor of Sanford Tappan Crapo, a co-founder of the Huron Portland Cement Co. It was just the second purpose-built self-unloading bulk cement carrier. It was removed from active service in 1996 and was subsequently docked in Green Bay. The Crapo made one last voyage in 2005 when it was towed to Alpena, Mich., to pick up a load of cement.