SS Frank C. Ball

The Frank C. Ball was an American Bulk carrier that was built by the Great Lakes Engineering Works of Ecorse, Michigan, for the Globe Steamship Company (managed by G. A. Tomlinson, Mgr.) of Duluth, Minnesota. She was launched on December 9, 1905, as hull #14. She was powered by a 1,700 horsepower triple expansion steam engine and fueled by two coal-fired Scotch marine boilers. Even though Ball was built in 1905, she only entered service in 1906. In 1930 the Ball was sold to the Construction Materials Corporation of Chicago, Illinois. She was converted to a self-unloading sand dredge, and repowered by a steam powered Turbo-electric engine at American Shipbuilding Company of Lorain, Ohio. She was the first commercial vessel on the lakes to use this form of propulsion. Her original engine was installed in the Ford Motor Company's former barge, the Lake Frugality, when she was requisitioned for salt water service in World War II.