1870
1870: February 5, 1870 – Captain William H. Le Fleur of the Pere Marquette carferry fleet, known as “the Bear” was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
1972
1972: CHRISTIANE SCHULTE, a West German Seaway trader, went aground at Khidhes Island, Cyprus, while on fire and was abandoned by the crew. The ship was traveling from Lattakia, Syria, to Mersin, Turkey, as b) CITTA DI ALESSANDRIA and was a total loss.
1976
1976: On February 5, 1976, the carferry WOLFE ISLANDER III was inaugurated into service between Kingston and Wolfe Island Ontario. Later that night, two blocks over, a Kingston resident noticed the captain turning off the running lights of the ‘ol WOLFE ISLANDER as she joined her already winterized sister, the UPPER CANADA.
1977
1977: The Israeli freighter TAMAR, a Seaway caller in 1959 and 1961, was gutted by a fire in the Aegean Sea south of Thira Island as c) ATHENA. The vessel, enroute from Mersin, Turkey, to Albania, was towed into Piraeus, Greece, on February 12, 1977. It was a total loss and scrapping began at Eleusis in January 1977
1982
1982: JAMES TRANSPORT [Built-1966 By Davie Shipbuilding LTD. At Lauzon, Canada. Renamed: ENERCHEM TRAVAILLEUR-1986 C-323026, ENERCHEM DOLPHIN-1995-Barbados and DOLPHIN-1996-Barbados] As JAMES TRANSPORT February 5, 1982 she ran aground below Batiscan, in the St. Lawrence, but was released the same day.
1988
1988: ASHLAND, in a critically leaking condition, barely made Mamonel, Colombia, on February 5, 1988, where she was scrapped.
1996
1996: A shipboard fire caused extensive damage to the JEAN PARISIEN docked at the stone docks in Port Colborne. No one was injured in the blaze, which took two hours to extinguish and was the second one on board a ship in two days.
2022
2022: Capt. Gus Markakis passed away peacefully in Boca Raton, Florida on Saturday, February 5, 2022. Born in Greece on December 20, 1937, he was 84 years old.
Data from: Gerry Ouderkirk, Max Hanley, Brian Johnson, Ahoy & Farewell II and the “Great Lakes Ships We Remember” series.
