Today in Great Lakes History – August 13

1887
The 272-foot, 1,740-gross-ton, wooden propeller freighter SITKA was launched by F.W. Wheeler (Hull #32) at West Bay City, Michigan.

1899
H.G. CLEVELAND (wooden schooner, 137 feet, 264 tons, built in 1867 at Black River, Ohio) sank with a full load of limestone 7 miles from the Cleveland harbor entrance.

1917
The barge MIDDLESEX of the Ontario Transportation and Pulp Company broke loose and stranded at Rapide Plat in the St. Lawrence. The ship was abandoned to the insurers but salvaged and returned to service as b) WOODLANDS in 1918.

1979
IRISH OAK first came to the Great Lakes in 1960 for Irish Shipping Ltd. The vessel went aground near Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, as c) VEGAS on this date while en route from Piraeus, Greece, to Vietnam. The hull was refloated on October 28 and reached Jeddah on November 16. It was sold for scrapping at Gadani Beach, Pakistan, and arrived there on January 29, 1980.

1980
The ARTHUR K. ATKINSON returned to service after repairing a broken crankshaft suffered in 1973. She brought 18 railcars from Manitowoc to Frankfort.

1982
EUTHALIA visited the Seaway for the first time in 1972. It caught fire in the engine room on this date as d) FORUM SPIRIT en route from Port Said, Egypt, to Piraeus, Greece, and was abandoned by most of the crew. While it was towed into Piraeus on August 14, the vessel was declared a total loss. The ship arrived at Split, Yugoslavia, again under tow, for scrapping on March 6, 1984.

1986
Operated by a crew of retired Hanna captains, chief engineers, and executives, the GEORGE M. HUMPHREY departed the old Great Lakes Engineering Works yard in Ecorse, Michigan, under her own power for Lauzon, Quebec. The HUMPHREY cleared Lauzon on September 3 with the former Hanna steamer PAUL H. CARNAHAN in tow of the Dutch tug SMIT LLOYD 109. The tow locked through the Panama Canal on September 27–30, 1986, and arrived at Kaohsiung, Taiwan, on December 10, 1986, completing a trip of over 14,000 miles. The HUMPHREY was scrapped in 1987 by Shiong Yek Steel Corp.

INDIANA HARBOR set a Toledo and Lake Erie record, loading 55,047 tons of coal at Toledo for Marquette.

1993
The second CORFU ISLAND to visit the Great Lakes came inland in 1970. This SD14 cargo carrier had been built the previous year and returned as b) LOYALTY in 1980. Later that fall, the ship arrived at Basrah, Iraq, from Duluth with severe missile damage resulting from the Iraq-Iran War. The ship was declared a total loss but remained idle there until being towed away on this date. LOYALTY arrived at Gadani Beach, Pakistan, for scrapping on September 22, 1993.

Data from: Skip Gillham, Joe Barr, David Swayze, Max Hanley, Ahoy & Farewell II and the Great Lakes Ships We Remember series from the Marine Historical Society of Detroit. Compiled by Roger LeLievre.