1874
The 181-foot, 3-mast wooden schooner MORNING STAR was launched at E. Saginaw, Michigan, by Crosthwaite.
1876
The CITY OF SANDUSKY (wooden side-wheel passenger/package freight vessel, 171 foot, 608 gross tons, built in 1866, at Sandusky, Ohio) burned and sank in the harbor at Port Stanley, Ontario.
1876
The MINNIE CORLETT (wooden scow-schooner, 107 gross tons, built before 1866) was sailing light from Chicago, Illinois, to Two Rivers, Wisconsin, on Lake Michigan when she stranded and then sank. No lives were lost.
1905
The wooden passenger and freight carrier LAKESIDE (built in Windsor in 1888) sank at the dock in Port Dalhousie during fitout when water was sucked in through the seacock after the engine filling the boiler shut down. The hull was refloated and returned to service until the DALHOUSIE CITY was built in 1911. It spent most of its life operating between Niagara and Toronto.
1906
PETER ROBERTSON was launched as a) HARRY COULBY (Hull#163) at Wyandotte, Michigan, by Detroit Ship Building Co. for the L. C. Smith Transit Co., Syracuse, New York.
1909
ALPENA (Hull#177) was launched at Wyandotte, Michigan, by Detroit Ship Building Co. for the Wyandotte Transportation Co.
1917
IRVIN L. CLYMER was launched as a.) CARL D. BRADLEY (Hull#718) at Lorain, Ohio, by American Ship Building Co. the third self-unloader in the Bradley Transportation Co. fleet.
1965
The SAMUEL MATHER was transferred to the newly-formed Pickands Mather subsidiary Labrador Steamship Co. Ltd. (Sutcliffe Shipping Co. Ltd., operating agents), Montreal, Quebec, to carry iron ore from their recently opened Wabush Mines ore dock at Pointe Noire, Quebec to U.S. blast furnaces on Lakes Erie and Michigan. She was renamed b.) POINTE NOIRE.
1981
The West German freighter ANNA REHDER, which first came through the Seaway in 1967 and was sold and renamed LESLIE in 1973, sank off the Atlantic coast. The captain last reported his position on this date, and stated that they were encountering heavy weather while en route from Boulogne, France, to Umm Said, Qatar. There was no further word and it is believed that the ship went down with all hands in the Atlantic off the coast of Spain. A ring buoy was later found north of Cape Finnestere.
2021
The Soo Locks opened for the 2021 season just after noon. The first upbound passage was the tug LAURA L. VANENKEVORT / barge JOSEPH H. THOMPSON. Capt. Daniel Deady and Chief Engineer Randy Steen, greeted by a small group of local dignitaries, were presented with two plaques, First Boat 2021 ball caps and copies of the 2021 Know Your Ships book. Boatwatchers filled the observation stand and Soo Locks Park grounds despite a steady rain as the vessels locked through. They were followed up by fleetmates JOYCE L. VANENKEVORT/GREAT LAKES TRADER. JOSEPH L. BLOCK was next, with Capt. Ray Sheldon, retiring when the vessel arrives at Two Harbors after more than 44 years on the lakes. Capt. Sheldon blew multiple salutes to friends and family, including his wife Peggy, who was holding a large banner wishing her husband well in retirement and signed by many of the Boatnerds on hand for the event.
Contributors & Sources
Skip Gillham, Joe Barr, Dave Swayze, Father Dowling Collection, Ahoy & Farewell II, and the Great Lakes Ships We Remember series.
