Today in Great Lakes History – August 2

1858
1858:  The wooden side-wheeler TELEGRAPH collided with the schooner MARQUETTE and sank 40 miles north of Cleveland.

1862
1862:  John C. Ackerman was born in Kenosha, Wisconsin. At the time of his death in 1916, he was commodore of the Pere Marquette car ferry fleet based in Ludington.

1869
1869:  Deputy U.S. Marshall Insley sold at auction the scow AGNES HEAD to pay for debts incurred when she was repaired that spring by Mr. Muir and Mr. Stewart. Bidding started at $500 and ran very lively. Mr. John Stewart of Detroit purchased the vessel for $1,050.

1877
1877:  GRACE A. CHANNON (wooden schooner, 141 feet, 266 gross tons, built in 1873 at East Saginaw, Michigan) was bound from Chicago for Buffalo when she collided with the propeller tug FAVORITE and sank 12 miles south of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The young son of the owner of the CHANNON lost his life in this accident.

1880
1880:  The new Goodrich propeller CITY OF LUDINGTON was launched at Manitowoc, Wisconsin. The CITY OF LUDINGTON was 170 feet x 35 feet x 11 feet and had 44 staterooms and a salon. She was built at a cost of $90,000. The CITY OF LUDINGTON was partially dismantled at Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, in 1930–1931, and the hull was towed to Big Summer Island on Lake Michigan in 1933 for use as a breakwall.

1909
1909:  GLENELLAH of Inland Navigation struck the east breakwall at Port Colborne, damaging both the ship and the structure. The vessel joined Canada Steamship Lines in 1913, becoming b) CALGARIAN (ii) in 1926. It was broken up at Hamilton in 1960.

1915
1913:  KENORA went aground off Flat Point, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, en route from Montreal to Sydney. The CSL canal ship was operating on saltwater due to the demands of World War I and was soon refloated.

1924
1924:  Loaded with coal from Toledo, Ohio, BENSON FORD set off on her maiden voyage to Duluth, Minnesota, and returned with iron ore to the Ford Rouge Plant at Dearborn.

1931
1931:  The RAPIDS KING took out the gates of Lock 2 of the St. Lawrence Canal at Montreal, and SASKATOON was one of 7 ships left on the bottom of the channel.

1967
1967:  The West German freighter JOHANN SCHULTE and the new Canadian self-unloader CANADIAN CENTURY brushed each other in the Welland Canal near Thorold. The former hit the bank and was holed but made it to the tie-up wall before settling on the bottom. The ship was traveling from Duluth-Superior to Poland with wheat. The 4-year-old vessel was refloated on August 5 and went to Port Weller Dry Docks for repairs. It was scrapped in China as d) SINGAPORE CAR in 1984–1985.

1977
1977:  The U.S. Coast Guard’s report on the sinking of the EDMUND FITZGERALD was released. It cited faulty hatch covers, lack of watertight cargo hold bulkheads and damage caused from an undetermined source as the cause of her loss.

1979
1979:  AMERICAN MARINER (Hull #723) was launched at Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, by Bay Shipbuilding Co. for the Connecticut Bank & Trust Co. (American Steamship Co., Buffalo, New York, manager). She was to be named CHICAGO, but that name was removed before launch.

1990
1990:  The Lightship HURON was dedicated as a National Historic Landmark. LIGHTSHIP 103 had been almost completely restored and was opened to the public in 1974 for tours and remains so at this time.

1991
1991:  Paterson’s 1961-built lake bulk carrier CANADOC, which had been in lay-up in Montreal since April 6, 1990, and since sold for scrapping, cleared the port in tow of the Netherlands Antilles tug DALMAR SPIRIT, bound for Mamonal, Columbia, arriving there on August 26, 1991.

Data from: Skip Gillham, Max Hanley, Joe Barr, Dave Swayze, Russ Plumb, Lake Huron Lore Society, Mike Nicholls, 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.