Transport to Detroit

Workers wrap The Spirit of Detroit in preparation for its voyage to Detroit

The Spirit of Detroit is loaded onto the ocean liner Thomas Schulte in Oslo, Norway for its journey across the Atlantic Ocean and up the St. Lawrence Seaway to Detroit

The Spirit of Detroit aboard the ocean liner Thomas Schulte for its journey to Detroit.

To prevent the sculpture from being damaged during transit, the sculpture was wrapped in burlap and mounted on a huge steel-reinforced wooden platform called a skid, then lowered into the hold of the Fjell Line German steamship Thomas Schulte.

The only ship making the Europe-to-Great Lakes crossing with a hold big enough to accommodate a sculpture of that size, the Thomas Schulte left Oslo on August 17^th, 1958. At the time, The Spirit of Detroit was the largest cargo ever shipped in the hold of an ocean liner through the St. Lawrence Seaway.