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Page 60 Powered by a 8,500 horsepower engine, her owners estimated that the HUMPHREY would travel an estimated 50,000 miles each season loading iron ore in Lake Superior ports for delivery to National Steel at Zug Island in Detroit. Passengers on the Bob-Lo boats would know that a round trip to Duluth-Superior was five days, so when they boarded for the Saturday ride down the Detroit River, they would guess what ship was due into Zug Island. Would it be the HUMPHREY, PAUL H. CARNAHAN or LEON FALK, JR.? As the COLUMBIA or STE. CLAIRE made the wide turn out into the river and headed downbound, all eyes turned to upbound boat traffic as well as vessels docked at Zug Island. The morning sun would highlight the huge HUMPHREY as the unloading rigs began their work. The HUMPHREY spent very little time in the shipyards, outside of mandatory 5-year inspections and few groundings on shoals, she had a safe sailing record. Built as a straight-decker, her future was uncertain in the early 1980 s when the vessel owners were forced to make tough decisions. Newer vessels launched in the 1960 s were self-unloaders and several older vessels had already been converted to self-unloaders, thus making the HUMPHREY and others in her class vulnerable for scrap. Without a strong economy to justify the expense, owners retired perfectly good vessels and sold them for scrap. The HUMPHREY was laid up for the season on December 31, 1983 at Ecorse, MI. the usual winter berth for National Steel vessels. The CARNAHAN, Falk and GEORGE A. STINSON joined her. She would not return to service for the 1984 season. As most vessels ended their careers being towed away, the HUMPHREY departed Ecorse on August 13, 1986 under her own power with a crew of retired HANNA sailors and sailed to Lauzon, Quebec. Later the same crew would sail the PAUL H. CARNAHAN to Quebec. On September 3, 1986, the Dutch tug SMIT LLOYD 109 towed the Humphrey and CARNAHAN to Taiwan for scrapping. After traveling through the Panama Canal, they arrived on December 10, 1986. The GEORGE M. HUMPHREY - unloading. Photos by Peter M. Worden - Dossin Museum Collection Photo by Herm Phillips