Cleveland and Great Lakes Shipping

Before the Hulett shovel ships were unloaded several different ways. At first, men would use shovels to unload schooners. After that buckets were used to unloaded the ships. In the photo two cranes with clam shell buckets are unloading a ship in Cleveland. There were different designs of clam shell buckets to unload the ship. This was the more common way.

This is the Hulett shovel, the first one was used in Conneaut, Ohio in 1899. This machine was powered be steam but later models were electric.

One feature of this shovel was the operator sat inside of the shovel and went along for the ride into the hull of the ship. This help the operator see where he needed to go to pick up more ore. Also in the photo is a bulldozer that the shovel would lower into the hull to push all of the ore at the bottom into piles the shovel could pick up.

William G. Mather being unloaded and the seen almost looks like organized chaos.

Two of the four shovels used in Cleveland, Ohio. Today the shovels have been torn down and two of them sit in a pile on Whisky Island waiting for the day that they are rebuilt and put on display for the public.

The end of the Hulett shovels came when more ships were built or remodeled with self unloading booms. These booms improved on time to unload and can unload at ports that were not big enough for the Hulett shovels.

This photo will show one way to unload the ships before the Hulett shovel. This shovel was designed by a man named Alexander Brown.