William A. Irvin Boat Museum

The SS William A. Irvin was once the flagship of US Steel's Great Lakes Fleet. The boat was retired in the late 1970s after over 40 years of service carrying iron ore and taconite from one end of the Great Lakes to the other. The 60 minute guided tour was only $6.50 for adults and provided a great deal of insight as to  what life is like on the ships that currently sail out of Duluth Harbor.

The Irvin is a little over 600 feet long and weighs about 8,000 tons unloaded. She could carry a load of approximately 14,500 tons of iron ore. One anchor weighs 3 tons while each link of the anchor chain weighs 40 pounds. One lid to the cargo hold weighs 5.5 tons. The Irvin was retired because it was small by modern standards. Currently, the iron ore boats are 1,000 feet long and carry loads of 50-60,000 tons.

The tour took us all over the ship. We started in the gift shop located in the middle of the ship. The tour took us to the deck for some background information on the boat. From there we went to the back of the boat where we saw the kitchen and galley area for the crew and rooms the crew stayed in. The engine room (pictured at left) was pretty amazing with an up-close view of the 2,000 horsepower steam turbine engines that powered the ship.

It would have been a rough place to work though, as temperatures were around 120 degrees in that room.

From there, we went back to the deck and walked to the front of the boat to the pilothouse (pictured at right). This area also included the captain's quarters, guest rooms and the kitchen and galley used to serve the guests. US Steel often invited high ranking company officials, business partners and other dignitaries to vacation on the boat for free.

After a quick walk through 2 of the 3 huge cargo holds, we ended up back in the gift shop.

Thoughts/Recommendations

• We really enjoyed the tour and found it to be very educational. We enjoyed watching the ships go through the harbor so this provided us with more information about the travels of these ships.
• There are quite a few stairs on the boat and the tour - generally no more than 15-20 at a time though. It is not handicap accessible, although they do give persons who can prove disability a videotape of the tour for the price of admission.
• Starting in the middle of October, the ship becomes the Ship of Ghouls. Admission price is the same for this self-guided trip through a haunted boat. It sounds fun.
• The boat is only open during the Spring-Fall. Admission includes a free self-guided tour of the tugboat Lake Superior. The tug was closed the day we were there, but looked pretty cool.