This boat was the first thousand-footer built and is significantly different from the twelve that followed it. The Cort's construction was different right from the start - in the Ingalls yard in Pascagoula, Mississippi, where the bow and the eventual stern, each topped by a deckhouse were built. The resulting 182 foot vessel was sailed around Florida and up the St. Lawrence Seaway and the Welland Canal to Erie, Pa, where in 1971 the vessel was cut in half and an 818 foot mid-body inserted. She was christened "Stewart J. Cort" after a deceased Vice President of her owner, Bethlehem Steel Corporation, and made her maiden voyage on May 1, 1972.
Although the Cort "looks" like a big version of a traditional "fore-and-aft" lake boat - it isn't. The aft deckhouse contains no crew quarters or mess. The entire aft structure is taken up by the the massive elevator for the unloading system which which resembles a giant water wheel. This nontraditional self-discharging system consists of a short (90 foot) shuttle boom at the stern, which is actually faster and more efficient than the more common 250' centerline booms on other ships of the class, but limits the ship to certain ports which can accommodate it. The Cort is powered by four 20 cylinder GM Diesel engines driving two propellers, and has dual side-thrusters in both the bow and stern.