Today in Great Lakes History – September 2

1851
1851:   BUNKER HILL (wooden sidewheeler; 154 feet; 457 tons; built in 1835 at Black River, OH) burned to a total loss at Tonawanda, NY.

1896
1896:   The COLONEL ELLSWORTH (wooden schooner; 138 feet; 319 gross tons; built in 1861 at Euclid, OH, as a bark) was beached on Whitefish Point in Lake Superior the entire winter of 1895–96. She was repaired and put back into service late in the summer of 1896. On this day, the newly rebuilt vessel collided with the schooner EMILY B. MAXWELL about 6 miles from White Shoals on Lake Michigan and sank at about 04:00. Her crew escaped in the yawl and was picked up by the MAXWELL.

1902
1902:   The White Star Line’s TASHMOO (steel side-wheel excursion steamer; 308 feet; 1,344 gross tons; built in 1900 at Wyandotte, MI) hosted President Theodore Roosevelt when he came to Detroit, MI, to speak to Spanish-American War veterans. The vessel took the president and his party on a sightseeing tour up and down the river while flying his blue-and-gold flag from the main mast.

1905
1905:   The large wooden schooner PRETORIA, which cleared Superior, WI, with ore under tow of the VENEZUELA, hit a fierce storm, and the steering gear failed. The vessel fell into the trough after the tow line snapped, and the barge broke up off Outer Island. Five crew were rescued, and another five were lost.

1905:   IOSCO and the schooner OLIVE JEANETTE foundered off Huron Island on Lake Superior with the loss of 19 lives on the former and another seven on the latter. Both were downbound with iron ore and were last seen near Stannard Rock. The SEVONA also stranded on a reef in a Lake Superior storm and broke in two as a total loss. Seven drowned from the bow section when they tried to come ashore on hatch rafts. The wreck was dynamited in 1909 after the boilers had been salvaged.

1914
1914:   THOMAS R. SCOTT became waterlogged and sank during a storm in the deepest part of Georgian Bay off the east coast of the Bruce Peninsula. The ship was swamped in a storm while carrying lumber from Cockburn Island to Owen Sound, ON, and all on board were saved. The hull was located using side-scan sonar in 1994.

1915
1915:   The W.F. WHITE was one of the earliest ships built as a self-unloader on the Great Lakes. On her maiden voyage, the WHITE loaded coal at Erie, PA, and sailed for Menominee, MI. She was the largest self-unloading bulk carrier on the lakes at that time with a cargo capacity of 10,500 tons.

1926
1926:   BURT BARNES, a wooden three-masted schooner, foundered in Lake Ontario while carrying 210 tons of coal from Sodus Point, NY, to Picton, ON. The crew abandoned the ship in the yawl boat near Picton, were blown across the lake, and came ashore safely 12 miles west of Rochester, NY.

1938
1938:   The RALPH H. WATSON departed light from Detroit, MI, upbound to load iron ore at Duluth, MN. She was built as part of a fleet modernization plan for the Pittsburgh Steamship Co. of four new “GOVERNOR MILLER”-class bulk carriers; the other two were the JOHN HULST and the WILLIAM A. IRVIN. The WATSON was only the fourth steam turbine-powered vessel on the lakes.

1970
1970:   BROOKNES (Hull #1177) was launched at Glasgow, Scotland, by Lithgows Ltd. for “Langra” Schiffahrsges GmbH & Co. of Hamburg, Germany. The vessel was brought to the lakes in 1976, converted to a self-unloader, and renamed b.) ALGOSEA. She sailed most recently as c.) SAUNIERE.

1972
1972:   The Cypriot freighter AEGIS WISDOM and the Italian vessel LIBRA collided in fog on the St. Lawrence near Les Escoumins, QC. The former, which had been launched in March, was on her first trip outbound from the Seaway and was heavily damaged aft. The vessel was towed to Lauzon, QC, for repairs and survived until scrapping at Alang, India, as d.) ANGELIKI II following her arrival on January 14, 1997. LIBRA dated from 1965 but did not come to the Great Lakes until 1975. She was scrapped in mainland China as b.) DEPY in 1986.

1975
1975:   CHICAGO TRIBUNE, en route from Thunder Bay, ON, to Collingwood, ON, with grain, went aground in Georgian Bay and had to be lightered by the CHARLES W. JOHNSON, working with the tug ROD MCLEAN. After being released and unloaded, the ship went to Port Weller Dry Docks for repairs.

1977
1977:   ROBERT KOCH made her first trip up the Welland Canal bound for Buffalo, NY, with cement.

1988
1988:   HUBERT GAUCHER ran aground in the lower St. Lawrence. It took three tugs to free her; repairs took place at Quebec City, QC.

1988:   ZIEMIA TARNOWSKA lost her engine while docking at Pier 24 in Cleveland, OH, ramming the dock and causing about $100,000 in damage. The vessel herself had minimal damage to her bulbous bow.

Data from: Skip Gillham, Max Hanley, Joe Barr, David Swayze, Father Dowling Collection, James Neumiller, Jody L. Aho, 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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