SKU: 5138

Since August 1, 1932 coal was delivered to the Port Washington WI power plant. The last delivery was made by the vessel JOHN J. BORLAND on June 19, 2004. Each shipping season an average of 18,000 tons of coal was shipped monthly from Lake Erie through the Great Lakes. The MIDDLETOWN made frequent stops to the Port Washington Harbor.

Built by Bethlehem Steel in Sparrows Point MD, she was first launched October 31, 1942 as the tanker MARQUETTE. Used in 1943 as an oiler for the U.S. Navy under the name NESHANIC during WWII, she was hit with a bomb by a Japanese plane while refueling a destroyer and decommissioned in 1945. Sold to Gulf Oil in 1947, she was renamed GULFOIL. In 1958 she collided with the tanker, SE GRAHAM near Newport, RI. The GRAHAM exploded and the heavily damaged GULFOIL was taken to Baltimore for repair. Converted to a straight deck bulk carrier, the pilothouse and forward cabins were moved to the bow and the ship was made longer and wider. Purchased by the Pioneer Steamship Co. in 1961, she was renamed PIONEER CHALLENGER. At 730' long, 75' wide and 39'deep, her steam turbine plant produced 7700hp and was capable of over 16mph with full load - faster than most vessels on the Great Lakes. She was purchased in 1962 by the Columbia Transportation Div. of Oglebay Norton and renamed MIDDLETOWN. In 1982 the MIDDLETOWN was converted to a self unloader at Bay Shipbuilding in Sturgeon Bay. On June 6, 2006 she was sold to the American Steamship Co. for $120 million and renamed AMERICAN VICTORY.

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