SS Meteor

The SS Meteor is a museum ship in Superior, Wisconsin, featuring a steel hull with a pronounced cigar shape built for hauling ore across the Great Lakes. The hull sits low in the water and the rounded top was meant to handle waves and cargo better than ordinary freighters.

Captain Alexander McDougall launched the ship in 1896 and it sailed until 1969 for several companies, undergoing repeated modifications during that time. After the end of operations it was preserved and later opened to the public as a museum.

The ship shows visitors today how freight vessels worked on the Great Lakes and how that technology changed over decades. People walk through the narrow corridors and see the machinery that once made transporting iron ore and grain possible.

The museum sits along Marina Drive and opens from May through October, with visits best on calm weather days. Weekends draw more visitors, while weekdays tend to be quieter for exploring the ship.

No other whaleback freighter survives anywhere in the world in this form. The design with its rounded upper deck was considered revolutionary in the late 1800s but never caught on against other ship types.

Location: Superior

Inception: January 1, 1896

Address: Marina Drive

GPS coordinates: 46.72317,-92.06294

Latest update: December 9, 2025 13:10