One of the Great Lakes foremost experts on Alexander McDougall’s whaleback barges and steamships, Neel Zoss has spent thirty years researching the man and the boats. He has written a number of articles on the whalebacks for well-known magazines and journals such as Inland Seas, The Nautical Research Journal, and Soundings. Zoss’ book, McDougall’s Great Lakes Whalebacks, was published by Arcadia Publishing in 2007. Zoss, now retired, uses the skills he learned as a local police officer in West Michigan and as an investigator for the State of Florida to help him unearth the small, difficult to find details from libraries, archives, and museums across the Great Lakes region. He lives in Hamilton, Michigan with his wife Judy.
