The ship seen at the beginning of the film is the S.S. North American, owned by the Chicago, Duluth & Georgian Bay Transit Company. It was built in 1914 by the Great Lakes Engineering Works at Ecorse, Michigan. She was retired from Great Lakes passenger service in 1964 and sold in 1967 to the Seafarers International Union for use as a training ship. While being towed to Maryland, the ship suddenly sank 25 miles off Nantucket, Massachusetts on September 4, 1967.