Coal is unloaded from the ship Frank E. Taplin at a Green Bay dock. The Taplin was part of the Wilson Marine Transit Company-one of the most productive shipping lines during the 1950s. The line was established in 1890 as the Wilson Transit company by Thomas Wilson, a former ship captain. The line specialized in shipping industrial cargo between the Great Lake states and the East coast and docked several times a month in Green Bay. Despite more than 60 years of business success, a series of problems including a steel industry strike, use of inefficient vessels, business competition, morale problems, and the resignation of chief personnel, all led to its sale to Litton Industries in 1967. The company was sold again in 1972 to American Ship Building and by the following year was no longer in operation.

Photo #18.1988.567.