1967: PAUL L. TIETJEN and FORT WILLIAM were in a head-on collision on Lake Huron about 25 miles north of Port Huron. Both ships were damaged but were repaired and returned to service.
On 10 August 1890, TWO FANNIES (3-mast wooden bark, 152 foot, 492 gross tons, built in 1862, at Peshtigo, Wisconsin) was carrying 800 tons of iron ore on Lake Erie when a seam opened in rough weather. The crew kept at the pumps but to no avail. They all made it off of the vessel into the yawl just as the bark sank north of Bay Village Ohio. The CITY OF DETROIT tried to rescue the crew but the weather made the rescue attempt too dangerous and only two men were able to get to the steamer. The tug JAMES AMADEUS came out and got the rest of the crew, including the ship’s cat, which was with them in the yawl.
On August 10, 1952, the ARTHUR M. ANDERSON entered service for the Pittsburgh Steamship Co. Exactly 14 years later, on August 10, 1966, the vessel’s namesake, Arthur Marvin Anderson, passed away.
In 1969, the EDMUND FITZGERALD set the last of many cargo records it set during the 1960s. The FITZGERALD loaded 27,402 gross tons of taconite pellets at Silver Bay on this date. This record was broken by the FITZGERALD’s sister ship, the ARTHUR B. HOMER, during the 1970 shipping season.
On 10 August 1937, B.H. BECKER (steel tug, 19 tons, built in 1932, at Marine City, Mich.) foundered in heavy seas, 9 miles north of Oscoda, Mich.
In 1906, JOHN H. PAULEY (formerly THOMPSON KINSFORD, wooden propeller steam barge, 116 foot, 185 gross tons, built in 1880, at Oswego, New York) caught fire at Marine City, Mich. Her lines were burned through and she then drifted three miles down the St. Clair River before beaching near Port Lambton, Ont. and burning out.
On 10 August 1922, ANNIE LAURA (wooden propeller sandsucker, 133 foot, 244 gross tons, built in 1871, at Marine City, Mich.) beached near Algonac, Mich., caught fire and burned to the waterline.
1899: The whaleback steamer JOHN B. TREVOR was rammed and sunk by her barge #131 in the St. Clair River. The accident was caused by CRESCENT CITY crossing the towline. The sunken ship was refloated and, in 1912, became the ATIKOKAN.
1975: CIMBRIA came through the Seaway for the first time in 1965 under West German registry. The ship was sailing as c) KOTA MENANG when it stranded on Nyali Reef, off Mombasa, Tanzania, due to a steering failure on August 10, 1975. The vessel received severe hull damage and was deemed a total loss.
1979: The Indian freighter JALARAJAN and the British flag LAURENTIC sustained minor damage in a collision at Kenosha, Wis. The former was dismantled at Calcutta, India, in 1988 while the latter was scrapped at Karachi, Pakistan, in 1984.
1992: MENASHA was set adrift and then sank in the St. Lawrence off Ogdensburg, N.Y. The former U.S. Navy tug was refloated and repaired. After some later service at Sarnia, the tug was resold and moved for Montreal for work as c) ESCORTE.
2007: NORDSTRAND came to the Great Lakes in 1990 and sank at the stern, alongside the Adriatica Shipyard at Bijela, Montenegro, as c) MEXICA, when the engine room flooded on this date. The ship was refloated on September 1, 2007, and arrived at Aliaga, Turkey, for scrapping on May 5, 2010.
Data from: Skip Gillham, Joe Barr, David Swayze, Jody L. Aho, Max Hanley, Ahoy & Farewell II and the Great Lakes Ships We Remember series.