1858
ANDROMEDA (two-mast wooden schooner, 112 feet, 568 tons, built in 1848 at Madison Dock, Ohio) was carrying 800 barrels of salt from Oswego to Chicago. She sprang a leak suddenly and foundered 20 miles from Sheboygan, Wisconsin. The crew escaped in her boat, many just in their underwear. They arrived at Manitowoc the next day.
1872
The schooner D.L. COUCH of Detroit (formerly AVCORN) sank about 10 miles from Long Point on Lake Erie. Two lives were lost.
1874
The wooden propeller freighter N.K. FAIRBANK (205 feet, 980 gross tons) was launched in Marine City, Michigan, by W.B. Morley. She was then towed to Detroit, where her engines were installed by William Cowie. She had two direct-acting condensing engines, 34 feet by 32 inches on one shaft, and her boiler was installed on her main deck. She only lasted until 1895, when she was stranded and burned near Port Colborne, Ontario. The remains of the hull were sold to Carter Brothers of Port Colborne, and it was rebuilt and enrolled as a new vessel with the name ELIZA H. STRONG. The STRONG lasted until she burned in 1904.
1911
The wooden steamer TAMPA sank in the Detroit River after a collision with the JOHN W. GATES of U.S. Steel. The former was raised and moved to Marine City and then, after being partially dismantled, was sunk in 1915 as a breakwall to halt erosion off the Belle River.
1913
The canal tanker COMET (Hull #705) of the American Ship Building Co. at Lorain, Ohio, entered service for ocean service. Sold Mexican and renamed b.) COMETA in 1928. She returned to the lakes in 1936 and was renamed c.) COMET for Cleveland Tankers. She was lengthened in 1940. She was scrapped at Ashtabula, Ohio, in 1973.
1925
WILLIAM A. REISS was launched as a.) JOHN A. TOPPING (Hull #251) at River Rouge, Michigan, by Great Lakes Engineering Works for the Columbia Steamship Co.
WILLIAM G. MATHER completed her sea trials.
1938
ISLET PRINCE (ii), en route to Owen Sound for a new service, stopped for the night behind Chantry Island, Southampton, and was struck by lightning. The ship caught fire, but all on board were rescued before the vessel sank the next day.
1954
LAKE GADSDEN was lost near Corrubedo Light off the coast of Spain as g) SAN NICOLAS after going aground. The vessel slid back into deep water and sank. She was built at Manitowoc in 1919.
1960
IRISH MAPLE, a Great Lakes visitor beginning in 1966, sank the 479-gross-ton DENBIGH COAST in the River Mersey after a collision. IRISH MAPLE remained in service until reaching the scrapyard at Karachi, Pakistan, as c) ANNOOR on October 24, 1981.
1967
NEW YORK NEWS (iii) buckled and sank while loading salt at Pugwash, Nova Scotia. The ship was raised and towed to Halifax in two sections for repairs. It survives as e) WOLF RIVER but has not operated for years.
1970
The WILLIAM J. FILBERT was in collision with the KINSMAN INDEPENDENT of 1907 at the Burlington Northern Dock when the Steel Trust steamer lost control in the current entering the slip
1974
Interlake Steamship decommissioned the COLONEL JAMES PICKANDS after 48 years of service due to continuing problems with her boilers and engines.
1977
AGAWA CANYON struck an abutment at the Welland Canal’s Bridge 11 at Allanburg, Ontario, while downbound with salt for Kingston, Ontario, and sustained a 30-foot gash just above the waterline at the port bow.
1984
PANAGIOTIS S., a Seaway trader beginning in 1975, suffered severe fire damage aft in the Gulf of Aden while on a voyage from Antwerp, Belgium, to Calcutta, India. The ship was a total loss and, after being sold and renamed d) OTIS, was taken to Gadani Beach, Pakistan, for scrapping. PANAGIOTIS S. had also visited the Great Lakes as a) VIZCAYA in 1972 and EMILIA LOVERDOS in 1975.
1986
The entire forward superstructure of the b.) JOHN DYKSTRA, a.) BENSON FORD of 1924, including the forecastle deck, was delivered to South Bass Island in Lake Erie on the barge THOR 101, towed by the tug GREGORY J. BUSCH. The superstructure was moved for use as a summer home where it remains. The hull of the DYKSTRA was sold to Marine Salvage, Port Colborne, Ontario, and was towed from Cleveland, Ohio, on July 10 by the tugs ARGUE MARTIN and GLENBROOK to Ramey’s Bend, arriving there on July 12, 1986, where it was scrapped.
Contributors & Sources
Skip Gillham, Max Hanley, Jody Aho, Joe Barr, Dave Swayze, Russ Plumb, Mike Nicholls, Father Dowling Collection, Ahoy & Farewell II and the Great Lakes Ships We Remember series from the Marine Historical Society of Detroit.
Compiled by Roger LeLievre.
