Today in Great Lakes History – October 2

1873
1873:   The 183-foot, three-masted wooden schooner QUEEN CITY was launched at West Bay City, MI.

1887
1887:   The Port Huron Times reported the following shipwrecks from a severe storm that swept the lakes on October  2–3, 1887: The schooner CITY OF GREEN BAY, lost near South Haven, MI; schooner barge CHARLES L. HUTCHINSON, lost near Buffalo, NY; steam barge ALBION and consort schooner barge ARK, ashore near Grindstone City, MI; three-masted schooner EBENEZER, ashore near Holland, MI; wooden package freighter CALIFORNIA, sunk in the Straits of Mackinac; schooner HOLMES, ashore at Middle Island on Lake Huron; schooner GARIBALDI, ashore near Port Elgin, ON, on Lake Huron; barge MAYFLOWER, disabled near Grand Haven, MI; schooner D.S. AUSTIN, ashore at Point Clark, ON; and schooner HENRY W HOAG, ashore at Erie, PA.

1888
1888:   OLIVER CROMWELL (wooden schooner barge; 138 feet; 291 tons; built in 1853 at Buffalo, NY) was being towed by the steamer LOWELL in a storm on Lake Huron when she broke her towline. She rode out most of the storm at anchor, but then she snapped her anchor chains and was driven ashore at Harbor Beach, MI, where she broke up.

1891
1891:   WINSLOW ran aground in fog while inbound at Duluth, MI. The hole in the wooden hull was patched, and the ship was released and able to be docked. The vessel caught fire while unloading the next day and was destroyed.

1901
1901:   M.M. DRAKE (wooden propeller freighter; 201 feet; 1,102 gross tons; built in 1882 at Buffalo, NY) and her consort MICHIGAN (three-masted wooden schooner barge; 213 feet; 1,057 gross tons; built in 1874 at Detroit, MI) were loaded with iron ore while sailing in a strong gale on Lake Superior. The MICHIGAN began to leak, and the DRAKE came around to take off her crew, but the two vessels collided. Both sank off Vermilion Point. One life was lost. As the vessels sank, the passing steamers NORTHERN WAVE and CRESCENT CITY stood by and rescued the crews.

1905
1905:   On her maiden trip, the PETER WHITE grounded outside the breakwall at Lackawanna, NY. After lightering 200 tons, she proceeded to the Lackawanna Steel mill where the remainder of the cargo was unloaded.

1938
1938:   The first WINDOC was struck when Bridge 20, a railway bridge across the Welland Canal, was lowered prematurely and removed the stack, spar, and lifeboats of the N.M. Paterson steamer.

1943
1943:   On her maiden voyage, E.G. GRACE cleared Lorain, OH, bound for Superior, WI, to load iron ore.

1953
1953:   A collision occurred between PIONEER and WALLSCHIFF on the St. Clair River, and the latter, a West German visitor to the Great Lakes, rolled on its side and settled in shallow water. One crew member perished. PIONEER, a Cleveland-Cliffs steamer, was repaired for further service and later scrapped at Genoa, Italy, in 1961. WALLSCHIFF, on her first and only trip to the Great Lakes, was refloated and departed for permanent repairs overseas in 1954. The vessel was still sailing as g.) GOLDEN MERCURY in 2011.

1954
1954:   The PERE MARQUETTE 21 sailed into Ludington, MI, on the second maiden voyage of her career.

1956
1956:   The sandsucker AMERICAN last operated and laid up at Manitowoc, WI. She was scrapped in South Chicago, IL, in 1984.

1969
1969:   TADOUSSAC (Hull #192) departed Collingwood, ON, on her maiden voyage for Canada Steamship Lines to load iron ore at Fort William, ON.

1973
1973:   A head-on collision in fog off Gull Island on Lake Michigan between the T2 tanker MARATHONIAN and Norwegian freighter ROLWI left both ships with massive bow damage. The former had begun Seaway service as f.) MARATHON in 1960 and was repaired at South Chicago, IL. It disappeared in the Bermuda Triangle as h.) SYLVIA L. OSSA in October 1976. ROLWI, a Norwegian salty, was also repaired and returned inland as b.) DOBERG in 1974 and c.) LORFRI in 1976. It arrived at Alang, India, for scrapping as e.) PEROZAN on February 6, 1996.

1976
1976:   Upper Lakes Shipping’s new self-unloader CANADIAN OLYMPIC was christened at St. Catharines, ON. Her name honored the Olympic Games that were held in Montreal, QC, that year.

1979
1979:   The ELTON HOYT 2ND unloaded her last cargo as a straight-decker at the Ashtabula & Buffalo Dock in Ashtabula, OH.

1988
1988:   JOHN T. HUTCHINSON and CONSUMERS POWER arrived at Kaohsiung, Taiwan, where dismantling began on October 14 by Li Chong Steel & Iron Works Co. Ltd.

1992
1992:   The Canadian coastal freighter SIR JOHN CROSBIE was built in St. Catharines, ON, by Port Weller Dry Docks in 1962. It sank in the Gulf of Mexico off the west coast of Florida as c.) HOLSTEN on this date in 1992, but all on board were rescued.

1993
1993:   HOCHELAGA of 1949 departed Toronto, ON, in tow of the McKeil tugs GLENBROOK and KAY COLE for Montreal, QC, and then to the cutter’s torch.

Data from: Skip Gillham, Joe Barr, Dave Swayze, Jody Aho, Max Hanley, 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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