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May x June, 1980 Page 63 THE SELF-UNLOADERS OF STURGEON BAY b PAUL G. y. WIENING \S design standards go, the decade of the 1970s apparently has devoted itself to the self-unloader type of bulk carrier for the Great Lakes. It has become the standard by which most new vessels are measured. Ever since pelletized iron ore made possible the use of this type of vessel for that commodity, the role has changed. The idea of vessels being able to discharge their cargoes without the aid of any dockside equipment was developed in the early years of this century. Credit goes to George B. Palmer, an employee of the Wyandotte Chemi- cal Company. He was responsible for that company building the Wyandotte in 1908. It was a diminutive-sized vessel, that was designed to unload coal and stone much the same as another vessel. . .the Samuel Mitchell. . .was able to discharge cement. The Wyandotte was successful, and just two years later was lengthened to give added capacity. Wyandotte Chemicals subsequently built three more vessels along the same lines. Meanwhile, the self-unloader was being considered for other types of vessels, and strange designs were brought forth. The first to resemble the design innovation was the Calcite, built for United States Steel's sub- sidiary Limestone fleet. This company event- ually went back to the shipyards and had several more ships built along these same lines, although larger. These vessels were primarily designed for the stone and coal trade, since they were natural bulk cargoes for the tunnel and belt systems of these vessels. While all of these vessels were being built,