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JAMES WATT SHIPS THAT The JAMES WATT (US 77236) was one of NEVER DIE seven large steamers and five steel # 137 barges built for John D. Rockefel- ler's Bessemer Steamship Company during the winter of 1895-96. All of the ves- sels were named for famous inventors, the JAMES WATT carrying the name of the man who perfected the modern steam engine. She was built by the Cleveland Shipbuilding Company (Hull #26) and was powered by a big tri- ple-expansion engine built by the same company. She was 406 feet long, 48 feet wide, 28 feet deep and measured 4090 gross or 3105 net tons. The old two-deck system of construction was used but the decking itself of the middle deck was not placed. In other words, instead of the WATT's holds being large clear areas as in the modern freighter, she had a steel framework in her hold which could be planked over, thus mak- ing two separate levels upon which to carry car= go. This framework made the unloading of bulk cargoes difficult and in 1925 steel arches were Photo by Kenneth E. Smith built into the WATT's holds and the old frame- work removed. In her early years, the ship gained some fame as an icebreaker, especially when she broke the CHARLES R. VAN HISE (now the CAPTAIN C.D.SECORD) out of 18 inches of solid ice in Gladstone har- served a series of owners: Bessemer Steamship Co., 1896-1901; Pittsburgh Steamship Co., 1901-1928; Jenkins Steamship Co., 1928-1935; Carriers Transport Corp., 1936; Erie Steamship Co., 1937, and Nicholson Transit Co., 1938-1960. In the spring of 1961, the WATT was sold to the Acme Scrap Company, of Ashtabula, 0., who in turn sold her to European scrap merchants. On July 16, 1961, the JAMES WATT sailed under her own power through the Welland Canal. She was later towed across the Atlantic and arrived at a scrapping dock in Gizon, Spain, Sept. 25, 1961. ¢ Dave Glick