1871
1871: The LEVANT (two-masted wooden schooner; 91 feet; 115 tons; built in 1854 at Chicago, IL) was loaded with lumber when she was overtaken by a severe gale and went over on her beam ends off Sheboygan, WI, on Lake Michigan. The six-man crew lashed themselves to the vessel so as not to be washed away by the waves. Throughout the night, the men died one by one. At daylight, the schooner D.P. DOBBINS found the wreck with floating bodies tied to it and three still alive (two of them were barely alive). One died during the rescue attempt, and another died within minutes of being rescued. Only Peter J. Thornum survived.
1875
1875: it was discovered that thieves had completely stripped the canvas and rigging from the schooner FORWARDER owned by Little & Brown. The schooner was lying about 3 miles below Port Huron, MI.
1876
1876: The tug NELSON burned at Chicago, IL. She was one of the smaller class of tugs, and the damage was so great that she was not considered to be worth repairing.
1876: NEW YORK (wooden propeller freighter; 183 feet; 704 tons; built in 1856 at Buffalo, NY) was carrying lumber and towing the schooner BUTCHER BOY and barges NELLIE MCGILVERAY and A.J. CORREY from Cove Island in Georgian Bay to Buffalo, NY, when she encountered a severe storm near Pointe Aux Barques, MI. The towline parted, and the NEW YORK could not regain it in the heavy seas. She then sprang a leak, and the water rose rapidly enough to put out her fires. The crew (15 men and one woman) abandoned in the yawl as NEW YORK was overwhelmed and sank. The open boat was adrift for 5 hours when the 74-foot schooner NEMESIS came upon it. NEMESIS tried twelve times to approach the yawl in the rough seas, losing a portion of her deck load of tanbark each time that she came about, but at last, she got alongside the yawl. The NEW YORK’s crew managed to get aboard the NEMESIS except for Fireman William Sparks, who fell between the yawl and the schooner and was lost. The other vessels in the tow all made it to Port Huron, MI, safely.
1882
1882: APPELONA (wooden schooner; 45 feet; 37 tons; built in 1814 at Henderson, NY) was bound from Oswego, NY, for Genesee, NY, when she was struck by lightning in Lake Ontario and sank about 15 minutes. All hands were injured but abandoned her for shore, and all survived.
1883
1883: NELLIE GARDNER (wooden schooner barge; 178 feet; 567 gross tons; built in 1873 at Marine City, MI) was loaded with 39,000 bushels of corn while being towed by the steamer JOHN PRIDGEON JR. in a storm on Lake Huron. The GARDNER released herself from the tow in the heavy weather to run for the shelter of Thunder Bay under sail. However, she was unable to make it and turned back for Tawas, MI, but struck a reef, broke in two, and was wrecked 1 mile southeast of Scarecrow Island. Her crew made it to shore in her yawl.
1893
1893: DEAN RICHMOND (wooden propeller passenger/package freight steamer; 238 feet; 1,432 gross tons; built in 1864 at Cleveland, OH) sailed from Toledo, OH, on Friday the 13th of October with a load of bagged meal, flour, zinc, and copper ingots. She encountered hurricane-force winds of over 60 mph and battled the storm throughout the night. She was seen on October 14 off Erie, PA, missing her stacks and battling the wind and waves. The following day, wreckage and bodies were washing ashore near Dunkirk, NY. Among the dead were the captain, his wife, and three children. A few crewmembers managed to make it to shore; however, all but one died of exposure. The only survivor was found on the beach 2 days later near Van Buren Point. During the search for bodies, three volunteers lost their lives. The wreck was found in 1984.
1895
1895: The wooden steamer AFRICA struck a reef near Cove Island en route to Georgian Bay, broke up, and sank with the loss of all 13 crew.
1911
1911: ANN ARBOR NO. 4 ran aground while en route to Manistique, MI, at full speed, damaging several plates. The ANN ARBOR NO. 3 pulled her off.
1922
1922: ARROW, a steel side-wheeler, partially burned at the dock in Put-in-Bay, OH.
1953
1953: Boston Metals Company of Baltimore, MD, submitted a successful bid of $118,111 for six retired lakers to be scrapped by the U.S. Maritime Commission. The six boats were the CHACORNAC, COLONEL, MUNISING, NEGAUNEE, YOSEMITE, and AMAZON.
1954
1954: The Dutch freighter PRINS WILLEM V sank off Milwaukee, WI, after a collision with the barge SINCLAIR XII, pushed by the SINCLAIR CHICAGO. All 30 sailors on board were rescued, but the overseas vessel was never salvaged. It was replaced in 1956 by another PRINS WILLEM V.
1966
1966: The STONEFAX and ARTHUR STOVE collided in the Welland Canal between Allanburg, ON, and Port Robinson, ON. The former, a member of the Halco fleet, sank with its cargo of potash and remained on the bottom until November 25. The latter subsequently visited the Seaway as b.) TIARET and was scrapped at Nantong, China, as c.) CLARET in 1984–1985.
1974
1974: The keel for the JAMES R. BARKER was laid. She was to become Interlake’s first 1,000-footer and the flagship of the fleet for Moore McCormack Leasing, Inc. (Interlake Steamship Co. of Cleveland, OH, manager).
1978
1978: The GEORGE A. STINSON departed Detroit, MI, on her maiden voyage light for Superior, WI, to load iron ore pellets for delivery to the Great Lakes Steel Division of the National Steel Corp. at Zug Island in River Rouge, MI. She was renamed b.) AMERICAN SPIRIT in 2004.
1983
1983: CHI-CHEEMAUN encountered 48-knot winds after departing Tobermory, ON, with 113 passengers bound for South Baymouth, ON. Due to high wind and waves, the captain decided to find shelter rather than continue on or return to port. The ferry made her way around the Bruce Peninsula southeast to Dyer Bay where she dropped anchor for the night; however, she had no overnight accommodations. Complimentary meals were served, and activities were organized by the crew. The anchor was lifted the next morning, and the ferry returned to Tobermory.
1983: The British freighter HOUSTON CITY visited the Great Lakes in 1966. It ran aground at Mayotte Island, part of the Comoros, on this date in 1983 while en route from the Far East to South Africa as c.) ALPAC AFRICA. The ship was stuck until October 22 and scrapped at Shanghai, China, in 1984.
1985
1985: FURIA was trapped in Lock 7 when a section of the lock wall collapsed. The Welland Canal was closed until November 7. The vessel arrived at Shanghai, China, for scrapping as b.) YRIA on November 1, 2001, after it made a final trip inland as such in 2000.
1987
1987: GEORGE A. SLOAN sustained major bottom damage going aground in the Amherstburg Channel and was repaired at Toledo, OH. The ship later became b.) MISSISSAGI and was sold for scrap in fall 2021.
Data from: Skip Gillham, Joe Barr, Dave Swayze, Russ Plumb, Father Dowling Collection, Max Hanley, 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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- Stonefax sunk in the Welland Canal in 1966. John Vournakis
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- News clipping shows Stonefax on the bottom. Press photo
