Today in Great Lakes History – October 1

1843
1843:   ALBANY (wooden brig; 110 tons; built in 1835 at Oswego, NY) was carrying merchandise and passengers when she went aground in a storm and was wrecked just a few miles from Mackinaw City, MI.

1869
1869:   SEA GULL (wooden schooner; 83 tons; built in 1845 at Milan, OH) was carrying lumber in a storm on Lake Michigan. She was driven ashore and wrecked south of Grand Haven, MI. The wreck was pulled off the beach a few days later but was declared a constructive loss, stripped, and abandoned. She was owned by Captain Henry Smith of Grand Haven.

1881
1881:   The steam barge C.H. GREEN was launched at East Saginaw, MI, for Mason, Green & Corning of Saginaw, MI. She was schooner rigged and spent her first year as a tow barge. The following winter, her engine and boiler were installed. She measured 197 feet long, 33 feet wide, and 13 feet deep and weighed 920 tons. She cost $70,000.

1888
1888:   The ST. CLAIR (three-masted wooden schooner; 156 feet; 296 gross tons; built in 1859 at Montreal, QC, as a bark) was carrying coal in a storm on Lake Huron as part of a five-barge tow of the tug CHAMPION. She broke loose and came to anchor off Harbor Beach, MI. The anchor dragged, and she sank near the mouth of the harbor. The crew was rescued by the U.S. Life-Saving Service. However, this rescue soon turned ill-fated. All were taken in a surfboat, and the boat was rowed 23 miles to Port Sanilac, MI. 100 yards from shore, just a half mile from Port Sanilac, the surfboat capsized with the loss of five lives. The wreck of the ST. CLAIR was later lightered, raised, and towed out into the lake and re-sunk.

1918
1918:   The Canadian bulk carrier GALE STAPLES was blown ashore at Point au Sable about eight miles west of Grand Marais, MI. All on board were saved, but the wooden vessel, best known as b.) CALEDONIA, broke up.

1942
1942:   The former CANADIAN ROVER, Hull #67 from the Collingwood, ON, shipyard, was torpedoed and sunk as d.) TOSEI MARU in the Pacific east of Japan by USS NAUTILUS.

1946
1946:   KINDERSLEY, loaded with 2,074 tons of excess munitions, was scuttled in the deep waters of the Atlantic. The former CSL freighter had been on saltwater to assist in the war effort.

1974
1974:   Dismantling commenced on the KINSMAN INDEPENDENT, the former a.) WILLIAM B. KERR of 1907, at Santander, Spain.

1976
1976:   CHICAGO TRADER, formerly a.) THE HARVESTER of 1911, was laid up at the Frog Pond in Toledo, OH.

1984
1984:   ANNEMARIE KRUGER arrived at Finike, Turkey, as e.) BANKO with engine damage and was laid up. The ship, a frequent Seaway visitor in the 1960s, was sold for scrap and arrived at Aliaga, Turkey, under tow on August 3, 1986, to be dismantled.

1986
1986:   The HERBERT C. JACKSON rescued Carl Ward and his nephew after they had been adrift on lower Lake Michigan for 80 hours.

1997
1997:   The CITY OF MIDLAND 41 was towed out of Ludington, MI, to be converted to a barge, the present-day PERE MARQUETTE 41.

1998
1998:   The tank barge SALTY DOG NO. 1 broke tow from the tug DOUG MCKEIL and went aground off Anticosti Island the next day. The vessel was released, and it operated until scrapping at Port Colborne, ON, in 2005.

Data from: Skip Gillham, Joe Barr, Dave Swayze, Max Hanley, Jody Aho, Russ Plumb, Father Dowling Collection, 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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