1900
1900: The steel barge MADEIRA (Hull#38)[US-93020] was launched on January 24, 1900, at Chicago, Illinois, by the Chicago Ship Building Co.
1924
1924: SPRUCEGLEN was launched January 24, 1924, as a.) WILLIAM K. FIELD (Hull#176) at Toledo, Ohio, by the Toledo Ship Building Co. [Renamed b) REISS BROTHERS c) GEORGE D GOBLE, d) ROBERT S PIERSON, e) SPRUCEGLEN]
1952
1952: JOHNSTOWN (Hull#4504) was launched January 24, 1952, at Sparrows Point, Maryland, by Bethlehem Sparrows Point Shipyard. After 33 years of service she departed Quebec in tow, May 28, 1985, and arrived at San Esteban de Pravia, June 24, 1985, for scrapping by Spanish shipbreakers. Scrapping began on September 20, 1985 by Vige S.A.
1964
1964: RUTH ANN, a Liberian freighter[Built in 1947] that came through the Seaway in 1960, ran aground on the Chinchorro Bank off the Yucatan Peninsula enroute from Tampico to Puerto Barrios, Guatemala, as d) GLENVIEW. It later broke up as a total loss.
1967
1967: DAMMTOR, a West German flag pre-Seaway trader,[Built-1953, IMO-5514364] foundered in heavy weather as b) HASHLOSHA while about 80 miles west of Naples, Italy, enroute from Greece to Marseilles, France. A distress call was sent but the vessel went down with the loss of 21 lives before help could arrive. The ship had also made four Seaway voyages in 1959,
1988
1988: ENDERS M. VOORHEES, under tow on the Mediterranean, broke loose in gale force winds and went aground about 56 miles south of Athens off Kythnos Island and broke up. The hull was salvaged in sections and the bow and stern reached the scrapyard at Aliaga, Turkey, in August 1989.
1997
1997: The U.S. Coast Guard cutter NEAH BAY may have averted disaster Thursday when it intercepted a runaway oil barge heading for the rocky shore of Middle Sister Island in Lake Erie.
NEAH BAY stopped the loaded Hannah barge about 800 yards from the island and pushed it to safety during the 5 hour mission in Canadian waters. Shifting ice up to 10 inches thick and 25 mph winds pushed the barge, loaded with about a million gallons of fuel oil toward the island where rocks and ice could have ruptured the hull.
The tug DONALD C. HANNAH [Built in 1962, Renamed: DONALD C, Renamed NATHAN S] was pushing the barge, loaded in Toledo to LTV Steel Co. in Cleveland. The NEAH BAY was escorting the tug and barge until about 11 A.M. when a steering cable snapped disengaging the barge from the tug.
Once the NEAH BAY had pushed the barge a safe distance from the island the crew on the Hannah tug was able to pair the cables enough to tow the barge to a port in Canada for repair. The tow may continue once they convince the Coast Guard that this won’t happen again.
2009
2009: DIAMOND QUEEN [Built as the MOWHAWK in 1956 at Marinette Marine] sank at the Gaelic Tugboat Co. dock at River Rouge. It was refloated on January 27, 2009.
2023
2023: The former U.S. Coast Guard cutter BRAMBLE is being scrapped at Gibson, LA. A photo (see gallery below) shows her in rough shape and missing her main mast and other equipment.
USCGC BRAMBLE (WLB-392) was one of the 39 original 180-foot seagoing buoy tenders built at Duluth, MN, between 1942 and 1944 for the Coast Guard. In commission from 1944 until 2003, she saw service in Pacific, Caribbean and Atlantic waters, as well as the Great Lakes. In 1947 Bramble was present at the nuclear testing at Bikini Atoll, and in 1957 a circumnavigation of North America involved a forced traverse of the Northwest Passage.
