Today in Great Lakes History – September 20

1856
1856:   COLONEL CAMP (three-masted wooden bark; 137 feet; 350 tons; built in 1854 at Three Mile Bay, NY) was carrying wheat to Oswego, NY, when she collided with the wooden steamer PLYMOUTH and sank in just a few minutes. No lives were lost.

1873
1873:   W.L. PECK (two-masted wooden schooner barge; 154 feet; 361 gross tons) was launched at Carrollton, MI.

1875
1875:   John Jonathon Boland was born. Along with Adam E. Cornelius, he formed the partnership of Boland and Cornelius in 1903 and was one of the founders of the American Steamship Co. in 1907. He died in 1956.

1880
1880:  On this day September 20, 1880, the OCONTO was blamed for the burning of 60 dwellings and at least 30 barns in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The wooden steamer OCONTO was built in 1872 at Manitowoc by G. S. Rand for the Goodrich Transit Co. She measured 143 feet in length, 32 feet in beam and 10 feet in depth. She had an eventful career. Some might say she was not lucky but she did manage to have a bit of luck one time, when she wrecked on the Saturday morning her insurance was to expire at noon – so the wreck was covered

1951
1951:   CHARLES M. WHITE was christened at Baltimore, MD.

1970
1970:   MARATHA ENDEAVOUR, en route from Chicago, IL, to Rotterdam, Netherlands, broke down in the Atlantic Ocean and sent out a distress call. The ship was taking water but survived. The 520-foot vessel had been a Seaway trader since 1965 and returned as b.) OLYMPIAN in 1971. The ship arrived at Huangpu, China, for scrapping as c.) HIMALAYA on January 9, 1985.

1973
1973:   CHARLES E. WILSON sailed light on her maiden voyage from Sturgeon Bay, WI, bound for Escanaba, MI, to load ore. She was renamed b.) JOHN J. BOLAND in 2000.

1980
1980:   The Canadian coastal freighter EDGAR JOURDAIN was built at Collingwood, ON, in 1956 as MONTCLAIR. The ship had been a pre-Seaway trader to the lakes and returned as b.) PIERRE RADISSON in 1965, c.) GEORGE CROSBIE in 1972, and d.) EDGAR JOURDAIN beginning in 1979. It was wrecked in the Foxe Basin off Hall Beach in the Canadian Arctic after going aground on this date in 1980. The ship was abandoned with the anchors down but disappeared overnight on December 15, 1982, while locked in shifting pack ice. It is believed that the vessel was carried into deeper water, and at last report, no trace had ever been found.

1982
1982:   BEAVERFIR served Canadian Pacific Steamships as a Seaway trader beginning in 1961. The ship stranded off Barra de Santiago, El Salvador, as d.) ANDEN in a storm on this date in 1982 after dragging anchor. 16 sailors from the 26-member crew perished.

1983
1983:   GEORGE A. STINSON’s self-unloading boom was replaced. The boom had collapsed onto her deck due to a mechanical failure on the night of April 19, 1983, at Detroit, MI. No injuries were reported. She continued hauling cargoes without a boom until replacement could be fabricated. She was renamed b.) AMERICAN SPIRIT in 2004.

1986
1986:   Vandals started a $5,000 fire aboard the NIPIGON BAY at Kingston, ON, where she had been laid up since April 1984.

2011
2011:   MINER, formerly a.) MAPLECLIFFE HALL, b.) LEMOYNE (ii), and c.) CANADIAN MINER, broke loose of the tug HELLAS and drifted aground off Scaterie Island in the Atlantic Ocean while under tow for scrapping at Aliaga, Turkey. The ship was a total loss and, in 2013, was still waiting to be dismantled and removed.

Data from: Skip Gillham, Joe Barr, Dave Swayze, Ahoy & Farewell II, and the Great Lakes Ships We Remember series from the Marine Historical Society of Detroit. Compiled by Roger LeLievre.