In August 1925, Ford Motor Company signed a contract with the United States Shipping Board to purchase cargo ships originally ordered by the U. S. Shipping Board to meet war-time needs as the country entered World War I. After the war, thousands of the ships were sold off until 1921, when a world-wide economic downturn scuttled shipping growth. Over the next three years, the remaining ships were docked in harbors, rivers, and bays from Texas to New York. In 1924, the U. S. Shipping Board authorized a scrap program for the ships and opened up bids to American companies. Ford's $1.6 million bid netted the company 199 ships that ultimately would need to be brought from various locations to the Fordson Plant (which became the Ford Motor Company Rouge River Plant) outside Dearborn, Michigan. In addition to recycling the iron and steel hulls and superstructures, the company's scrap program would entail refurbishing and reconditioning steam engines and boilers, plumbing equipment and fixtures, generators, pumps, lumber, and even bathroom fixtures for use in Ford plants and offices around the world. As general superintendent of plant construction and power operations, Willam B. Mayo was tasked with planning and implementing an unprecedented industrial salvage program. Staff in Dearborn and company branches in Norfolk, Virginia; New Orleans, Louisiana; and Kearney, New Jersey coordinated the labor, tooling, machinery, supplies, and fuel purchases as well as coordinated with U. S. and Canadian government regulators and established schedules. Ships too large to pass through Great Lakes canals were cut down and shipped as cargo on smaller boats that were towed along the Atlantic seaboard, through the St. Lawrence Seaway, and through a series of Canadian and American canals until finally reaching Ford's newly built dry-docks along the Rouge River. Once moored in a specially designed dry-dock, the ships were methodically stripped of machinery, engines, and building material to be stored for later use. The hulls and superstructure were surgically dissected by powerful hydraulic shears and cut by hand with acetylene torches. Ultimately, Ford was able to recover 4,000 board feet of high-quality construction and finished lumber and over 200,000 tons of iron and steel that supplemented the company's forging operations until 1929. In addition to providing scrap material, eighteen ships were retained and refurbished by Ford for barge towing and cargo shipping. One ship, the Lake Ormac, served as temporary offices and living quarters for Ford employees working on the company's newly established rubber plantation in Brazil. These ships formed the nucleus of what became the Ford shipping fleet. The salvage program ran from December 1926 with the arrival of the Lake Fondulac for test operations through February 1928.
From the description of Ships salvage program records subseries, 1916-1929 (bulk 1924-1929) (The Henry Ford). WorldCat record id: 85892150
