1893
1893: On 27 January 1893, Charles Lonsby and Louis Wolf purchased the 161- foot wooden steam barge THOMAS D. STIMSON [US-25992] for $28,000. The vessel was built in 1881, by W. J. Daley & Sons at Mt. Clemens, Michigan, as a schooner and was originally named VIRGINIUS.[US-25992] She was converted to a steamship in 1887.
1912
1912: In 1912, the Great Lakes Engineering Works’ Ecorse yard launched the steel bulk freighter WILLIAM P. SNYDER JR (Hull #83), for the Shenango Furnace Co.
1972
1972: The Canadian coastal freighter VOYAGEUR D. [Built-1958 IMO-5257177] hit a shoal off Pointe au Pic, Quebec, and was holed. It was able to make the wharf at St. Irenee but sank at the dock. The cargo of aluminum ingots was removed before the wreck was blow up with explosives on November 8, 1972.
1974
1974: LEON FALK JR. closed the 1974 season at Superior by loading 17,542 tons of ore bound for Detroit.
1978
1978: A major winter storm caught the American tanker SATURN [Built-1974 IMO-556139] on Lake Michigan and the ship was reported to be unable to make any headway in 20-foot waves. It left the Seaway for Caribbean service in 2003 and was renamed b) CENTENARIO TRADER at Sorel on the way south.
1978: On 27 January 1978, ALLEGHENY, the training vessel of the Great Lakes Maritime Academy [built in 1944, at Orange, Texas as a sea-going naval tug: Other names: Built as ATR-106, ATA-179, ALLEGHENY, TUG MALCOM, MATTHEW BEYEL, ALEJANDRO] capsized at her winter dock at Traverse City, Michigan, from the weight of accumulated ice. She was recovered but required an expensive rebuild, was sold and renamed MALCOLM in 1979.
1985
1985: January 27, 1985 – CITY OF MIDLAND 41 [Built-1941 US-240226] had to return to port (Ludington) after heavy seas caused a 30-ton crane to fall off a truck on her car deck.
1997
1997: On January 27 after departing Escanaba loaded Inland Steels Adam E. Cornelius holed her bow enough to take on water. Thank goodness for bulkhead compartments as the water in the forward compartment was estimated to be 31 feet. A Coast Guard helicopter stood by as a precaution and the ship was escorted by tugs to Bay Shipbuilding at Sturgeon Bay to end the season after expecting to run untill the end of Jan. The Inland Fleet including the Edward L. Ryerson are scheduled to be ready for fit out around mid March.
2002
2002: SJARD first came through the Seaway in 2000. It was lost in a raging snowstorm 350 miles east of St. John’s Newfoundland with a cargo of oil pipes while inbound from Kalinigrad, Russia. The crew of 14 took to the lifeboat and were picked up by the BEIRAMAR TRES.
2006
2006: PINTAIL [Built-1983 IMO-8101953] received extensive damage in a collision off Callao, Peru, with the TWIN STAR.[Built 1998 IMO-9171711] The latter broke in two and sank. PINTAIL began Seaway service in 1996 and had been a regular Great Lakes trader as a) PUNICA beginning in 1983. The ship arrived at Chittagong, Bangladesh, for scrapping as c) ANATHASIOS G. CALLITSIS and was beached on September 19. 2012. It had also traded inland under the final name in 2008 and 2009.
Data from: Skip Gillham, Max Hanley, Joe Barr, Dave Swayze, Father Dowling Collection, Ahoy & Farewell II and the Great Lakes Ships We Remember series
