Retired Passenger Steamers Superstructure Burning For Dismantling

[Guest]

Here's an article that says the owners claimed it was too expensive to dismantle the ships after having dismantled the City Of Detroit III.

[Guest]

I was the original poster and my question was basically why several retired passenger steamers were towed into Lake St. Clair during the 1950s to have their cabin structures burned before being fully dismantled. Was this the usual way in which such ships (wooden cabins with steel/iron hulls) were scrapped? It seems as though it would have made more sense to cut the structure up from the top down rather than have to deal with a pile of burnt wood, Was it prohibitively expensive to get rid of the wood? Was the wooden structure of these ships so dry and/or rotted that there was little left of it after the intentional burning?

I have seen some photographs of them being towed to be burned, and at least one of the Put-In-Bay on fire, but has anyone any photos of the ships after they were burned?