. >> we are on board the colonel james schoonmaker. when she was launched in 1911, she was called the queen of the lakes. she was the largest ship on the great lakes at the time. we will take you around and show you just how much cargo this great ship could carry. >> we like to think of it as two football fields of education and entertainment. it is a great hook for us to get people appreciating and understanding more of the great lakes. we are on the pilot house deck. this is the national museum of the great lakes. -- largest artifact the . -- the schoonmaker was a commercial freighter from when it was built in 1911 to the 1980's. it became a museum when the city of toledo purchased it in 1987. her main purpose was to deliver iron ore from lake superior down to lake erie to places like ohio where it was unloaded and put in railroad cars and taken to pittsburgh for a company to support its steelmaking business. at its time, it was the largest carrier. it would remain the largest carrier, meaning it could carry more bulk material than a

. >> we are on board the colonel james schoonmaker. when she was launched in 1911, she was called the queen of the lakes. she was the largest ship on the great lakes at the time. we will take you around and show you just how much cargo this great ship could carry.