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The Challenger sailed for Pickands Mather/Interlake as the Elton Hoyt Iland Alex D. Chisholm from 1926 until her conversion to the highly-specialized cement trade. She was repowered with a four-cylinder Skinner Unaflow engine in 1950. During the final decades of the 20th century her updated power plant and trans- formation into a self-unloading cement bulker helped stave off extinction as global forces and a changing domestic economy saw lake vessels twice as large and half as old hauled away to the shipbreakers. As her centennial season drew closer, the boat became a favorite among shutterbugs and vessel enthusiasts around the Great Lakes, Re-named St. Marys Challenger in June 2005, the boat steamed into her 99th season under her sixth name. The photos in this special section were produced by Great Laker magazine contributer Chris Winters, who spent three seasons creating a definitive record of life aboard this most extraordinary __ of ordinary vessels as she approached the magic 100-year milestone. Irene Sedgwick, daughter of Medusa Cement's chair- man, christens the firm’s new flagship at Cleveland on June 19, 1967. Most contemporary boatnerds remember the ship as the Medusa Challenger, a name she carried for 32 seasons. : * hallenger, as the b as known from 1999-2004, prepares i zemex Ce ht terminal at Detroit in April 2004.