The Lee A. Tregurtha herself is a fascinating piece of maritime history. 

The ship was built in 1942 on the East Coast as a T-3 class tanker, designed to transport oil products and to fuel warships at sea.  Currently sailing under her SIXTH name, the ship was laid down as Mobiloil, but launched as Samoset.  Upon taking delivery of the vessel on Christmas Eve, 1942, the U.S. Navy renamed the vessel Chiwawa, (after a river in Washington state) and gave the new fleet oiler the designation 'AO-68'.  Chiwawa shuttled oil from the Caribbean to East Coast port cities, as well as sailing convoy duty across the Atlantic multiple times.  After war with Germany ended, Chiwawa was overhauled and posted to the Pacific Fleet, where she served until 1946.  After being decomissioned, the vessel was turned over to City Services Oil Company (currently known as Citgo) and sailed commercially on familiar East Coast and Caribbean trade routes until 1960.

The Cleveland-Cliffs Steamship Company purchased Chiwawa in early 1960 and brought her to the Lakes through the brand new St. Lawrence Seaway.  Over the next year, the vessel was converted into a Great Lakes bulk carrier in the American Shipbuilding yards of Toledo, OH and Lorain, OH.  The bow and stern sections were rebuilt and mated to a new, West German-built cargo hold - the first of several T-3 conversions to be completed in the early 1960's.  Christened Walter E. Sterling in May, 1961, the "new" vessel immediately began hauling refined iron ore and coal around the Great Lakes.  Further modifications to the boat over the years included a 96-foot lengthening, the addition of self-unloading equipment, and two new names and paint jobs as the ship changed ownership twice in the economically tumultuous 1980’s.  In 2006, the original steam-turbine power plant was removed in the shipyard at Sturgeon Bay, WI and replaced with new low-speed marine diesel engines built in Norway.  The new fuel-efficient power plant re-classified the Lee A. Tregurtha as a motor vessel, and subsequently increased her lifespan by decades. 

‘Steamboating’ is not only the story about Barone's experience living and working aboard the Lee A. Tregurtha, but a story about the many lives of the venerable steamship herself.