On a chilly September day in 1991 Elaine and I were locking up through the Soo locks in the NOKOMIS. Locking up bound in the neighboring Poe lock was the largest ship I had ever seen, the STEWART J. CORT.
The STEWART J.CORT was the first 1000 footer on the great lakes. Built in the Ingalls Shipbuilding yards of Pascagoula, Mississippi as HULL 1173, she was constructed as just the fore and aft ends welded together. This vessel nicknamed "Stubby" was mated with it's mid section in Erie, Pennsylvania in 1971. It was christened STEWART J. CORT after the late vice president of Bethlehem Steel. She is powered by four General Motors EMD diesels generating 14000 horsepower and is the only "1000 footer" with a foward pilothouse.
I have seen her several times in the Straits of Mackinac shuttling between Superior, Wisconsin and Burns Harbor, Indiana. She is still one of the most impressive sights on the Great Lakes. LOA 1000'
Beam 105'
Depth 49'
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