The Steinbrenner Lifeboat
In 2017 the Port Burwell Historical Society came into possession of a lifeboat that had served on the SS Henry Steinbrenner. The Steinbrenner was scrapped at the Marine Recycling Corporation's yard in Port Maitland, Ontario, Canada in 1994.
The Historical Society donated the lifeboat to the Marine Museum as an artifact representative of Great Lakes shipping.
Refurbishing the Lifeboat
After serving as an outdoor exhibit for a number of years, the lifeboat has suffered from exposure to the elements and is in need of restoration.
The Historical Society is working with the Marine Museum to raise funds to complete the refurbishment of this museum artifact.
Once it has been restored and refurbished, the SS Henry Steinbrenner lifeboat will be moved inside the Museum and will become the focal point of a new exhibit.
Please Donate
Please join with the Marine Museum and the Port Burwell Historical Society in saving this important piece of Great Lakes naval history by donating to the Lifeboat Restoration Fund.
The SS Henry Steinbrenner
The SS Henry Steinbrenner was a Pittsburgh class Great Lakes freighter. She was built in 1916 as the William A. McGonagle at the Great Lakes Engineering Works, Ecorse, Michigan.
Kinsman Transit bought the McGonagle in 1979. Kinsmen Transit was owned by George M. Steinbrenner III, the former owner of the New York Yankees. Kinsmen kept her original name until 1986 when she was renamed Henry Steinbrenner, after George Steinbrenner's Great Grandfather. She sailed through the 1989 season and was laid up in Toledo. At that time she was the last coal-fired straight-decker on the Great Lakes, and the last of the "Standard 600-footers" in unmodified form. She was scrapped in Port Maitland, Ontario in 1994.
