Editing Ship (section)

====Great Lakes====
[[Lake freighter]]s, also called lakers, are [[cargo]] vessels that ply the [[Great Lakes]]. The most well-known is {{SS|Edmund Fitzgerald}}, the latest major vessel to be wrecked on the Lakes. These vessels are traditionally called boats, not ships. Visiting ocean-going vessels are called "salties". Because of their additional [[Beam (nautical)|beam]], very large salties are never seen inland of the [[Saint Lawrence Seaway]]. Because the smallest of the [[Soo Locks]] is larger than any Seaway lock, salties that can pass through the Seaway may travel anywhere in the Great Lakes. Because of their deeper draft, salties may accept partial loads on the Great Lakes, "topping off" when they have exited the Seaway. Similarly, the largest lakers are confined to the Upper Lakes ([[Lake Superior|Superior]], [[Lake Michigan|Michigan]], [[Lake Huron|Huron]], [[Lake Erie|Erie]]) because they are too large to use the Seaway locks, beginning at the [[Welland Canal]] that bypasses the [[Niagara River]].

Since the [[freshwater]] lakes are less corrosive to ships than the [[Seawater|salt water]] of the oceans, lakers tend to last much longer than ocean freighters. Lakers older than 50&nbsp;years are not unusual, and as of 2005, all were over 20&nbsp;years of age.<ref>Office of Data and Economic Analysis, 2006, p. 2.</ref>

{{SS|St. Marys Challenger}}, built in 1906 as ''William P Snyder'', was the oldest laker still working on the Lakes until its conversion into a barge starting in 2013. Similarly, ''E.M. Ford'', built in 1898 as ''Presque Isle'', was sailing the lakes 98&nbsp;years later in 1996. As of 2007 ''E.M. Ford'' was still afloat as a stationary transfer vessel at a riverside cement silo in [[Saginaw, Michigan]].