The Great Lakes ore boat “William P. Snyder” was launched in 1906 (six years before “Titanic”) and celebrated 100 years as a working boat in 2006. The boat (like submarines, Great Lakes freighters are “boats”, not “ships”) is now named “St. Marys Challenger” and serves as a cement carrier. She has “new” engines, but is still powered by steam. She is quite possibly the oldest working ship – and certainly the oldest large steam ship – in history.
Chris Winters spent several years on and around the “St. Marys Challenger” photographing the ship and her crew. I first saw his work at the wonderful and surprising Minnesota Marine Art Museum in Winona, Minnesota. “Centennial” is a large book full of his photos along with historic photos and informative text. Winters’ love for the boat and appreciation for the passage of time come out clearly in the book. He reflects that the boat’s first captain was born 20 years before the American Civil War and that her youngest crew member in 2006 was born 20 years after man landed on the moon.
I enjoyed this book a lot, though I would characterize the individual photographs as workmanlike rather than individually great. “Centennial” is more “National Geographic” than David Plowden. However, the whole transcends the parts and this is an admirable and well-executed project and I really appreciate how Winters celebrates the otherwise-obscure boat’s history and crew. The only thing that disappointed me about the book was the layout, which is marred by “artistic” merging of photos in some spreads. This might work for a wedding album, but here it’s just confusing and distracting.