Today in Great Lakes History – September 8

1860
1860:   The wooden passenger and freight steamer LADY ELGIN sank in Lake Michigan following a collision with the schooner AUGUSTA with an estimated 297 deaths.

1868
1868:   HIPPOCAMPUS (wooden propeller; 152 tons; built in 1867 at St. Joseph, MI) stranded in a storm off St. Joseph and was pounded to pieces. 36 of the 41 passengers were lost. Litigation continued until November 10, 1884, when the owner was held innocent of blame in court at Grand Rapids, MI.

1871
1871:   The schooner MORNING LIGHT was sailing from Kelleys Island on Lake Erie with a cargo of stone for Marquette, MI, in heavy weather. Trying to enter the Detroit River, the crew miscalculated their position and ran the ship aground on Pointe Mouille just below Gibraltar, MI. The crew scuttled the vessel in the shallow water to save her from harm. The following day, the tug GEORGE N. BRADY was sent out with steam pumps and hawsers, and the MORNING LIGHT was raised and towed to Detroit, MI, for repairs.

1885
1885:   ADVANCE (wooden schooner; 119 feet; 180 gross tons; built in 1853 at Milwaukee, WI) was carrying wood when she became waterlogged and capsized in a gale and blinding rain near Port Washington, WI, in Lake Michigan. All but one of her crew of seven drowned when her yawl capsized in the surf.

1906
1906:   The W.E. FITZGERALD (Hull #167) was launched at Wyandotte, MI, by the Detroit Shipbuilding Co. for the Chicago Navigation Co. of Chicago, IL (D. Sullivan, manager).

1906:   The bulk freighter HENRY A. HAWGOOD was launched at Cleveland, OH, by the American Ship Building Co. for the Minerva Steamship Co. (W.A. & H.A. Hawgood, manager). The vessel was renamed b.) C. RUSSELL HUBBARD in 1912 and c.) W.W. HOLLOWAY in 1935.

1913
1913:   RADIANT departed the shipyard light on her maiden voyage bound for Montreal, QC.

1936
1936:   The Interlake steamer CRETE and the Pittsburgh steamer CORNELL collided in heavy fog above Whitefish Point on Lake Superior. After temporary repairs were made in the Weitzel Lock, the CRETE proceeded to the Chicago Shipbuilding Co. in Chicago, IL, to repair a damaged bow. The CORNELL proceeded to Manitowoc, WI, to repair damage to her starboard side just forward of her boiler house.

1970
1970:   MILWAUKEE CLIPPER made her last run from Milwaukee, WI.

1978
1978:   GEMINI sailed upbound through the Welland Canal, becoming the largest U.S.-flagged tanker on the Great Lakes with a capacity of 76,000 barrels. GEMINI was renamed b.) ALGOSAR in 2005 and scrapped at Port Colborne in 2016.

1979
1979:   The Norwegian carrier INGWI first came through the Seaway in 1960 and made about 10 trips inland through 1967. The hull was reported to have fractured on this date as b.) OH DAI en route from Singapore to Calcutta, India. The ship foundered in the Bay of Bengal, but there was speculation at the time that this was an insurance fraud.

1980
1980:   The idle railcar ferry GRAND RAPIDS sustained fire damage from a blaze in the pilings at Muskegon, MI, buckling plates on the car deck. It was extinguished by the U.S. Coast Guard and the fire department.

1985
1985:   The downbound Panamanian NORCHEM collided with the upbound CANADIAN PROSPECTOR near Kahnawake, QC. PROSPECTOR had little damage, but NORCHEM was ripped open near her port anchor.

2010
2010:   The tug MESSENGER came to the Great Lakes for the Gaelic Tugboat Co. in 1984 and was renamed b.) PATRICIA HOEY. It was later sold and became c.) NEW HAMPSHIRE and then d.) SEA TRACTOR II before leaving the lakes via Oswego, NY, in about 1991. It was known as e.) SHARK when scuttled as an artificial reef near Miami, FL, on this date.

Data from: Skip Gillham, Max Hanley, Joe Barr, Al Miller, David Swayze, Russ Plumb, Father Dowling Collection, James Neumiller, Ahoy & Farewell II, and the Great Lakes Ships We Remember series from the Marine Historical Society of Detroit. Compiled by Roger LeLievre.

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