Today in Great Lakes History – August 21

1856
1856:   CHARTER (wooden propeller vessel, 132 feet, 197 tons, built in 1849 at Huron, Ohio as a sidewheeler) was bound from Cleveland for Buffalo with flour, oats, and rye. She swamped and sank in a storm 6 miles above Fairport, Ohio. By the end of August, she had been damaged beyond repair, but her machinery was recovered as she lay in relatively shallow water.

1861
1861:   BANSHEE (wooden propeller freighter, 119 feet, 166 tons, built in 1852 at Portsmouth, Ontario, named HERO in 1860-61) was carrying wheat, flour, and butter to Montreal when her engine failed (broken shaft), and she was helpless in a storm on Lake Ontario. She foundered near Timber Island on Lake Ontario. One passenger died, but the crew of 10 made it to Timber Island. She was owned by Howard & Rowe of Quebec.

1879
1879:   The graceful schooner HUNTER SAVIDGE was launched by the Grand Haven Ship Building Company.

1901
1901:   The whaleback steamer ALEXANDER MCDOUGALL (steel propeller modified whaleback freighter, 413 feet, 3,686 gross tons, built in 1898 at W. Superior, Wisconsin) ran into and cut in two the tug GEORGE STAUBER (wooden propeller tug, 55 feet, 43 gross tons, built in 1883 at Buffalo, New York) in the rapids at the mouth of the St. Clair River. The STAUBER sank immediately in about 60 feet of water. No lives were lost. The steam barge IDA assisted in retrieving people in the water. The MCDOUGALL did not stop.

1911
1911:   THE HARVESTER cleared Lorain, Ohio, on her maiden voyage loaded with coal for Duluth, Minnesota.

1954
1954:   The British freighter PERTH, en route from Toronto to St. John’s, NF, with general cargo, was damaged in a collision with an unidentified vessel off the south coast of Newfoundland. The pre-Seaway trader to the Great Lakes had been built as LOCHEE in 1937 and had also made a total of 3 inland voyages in 1959 and 1960.

1955
1955:   A collision between the CASON J. CALLAWAY and the B.F. JONES occurred above Lime Island in the St. Marys River. The latter, upbound and light, was declared a total loss and taken to Superior. Part of the bottom of the hull was saved for use as the shipyard lighter SCC 1; the cabins were transplanted to the SPARKMAN D. FOSTER; and the hatches, hatch lifter, and funnel become part of the LYMAN C. SMITH. The 3-year-old CASON J. CALLAWAY was repaired, outlasts all of the other ships, and exists today under the same name.

1957
1957:   IMPERIAL QUEBEC (Hull #161) was launched at Collingwood, Ontario, by Collingwood Shipyards Ltd. for Imperial Oil Ltd.

1971
1971:   CHARLES DICK severed two underwater cables in the Maumee River, cutting off power to east Toledo and the Cherry Street Bridge. Massive traffic jams developed on Toledo’s streets.

1973
1973:   The first KINSMAN INDEPENDENT lost steering in the Neebish Rock Cut and went aground with heavy bottom damage. After being refloated, the ship was laid up at Lorain and, in 1974, sold to Marine Salvage for scrap. She arrived at Santander, Spain, for dismantling under tow of the Polish tug JANTAR and in tandem with the JAMES DAVIDSON on July 21, 1974.

1975
1975:   Cleveland Tankers’ VENUS was sold to Acme Metals Inc. and was towed to Ashtabula, Ohio, where she was broken up in 1976.

1978
1978:   GEORGE A. STINSON was christened at Detroit, Michigan.

1978:   BUFFALO’s sea trials were conducted from August 21 through August 24.

1994
1994:   CEDARGLEN, a.) WILLIAM C. ATWATER, arrived under tow at Port Maitland, Ontario, where she was scrapped.

1996
1996:   The former U.S. Army Corps of Engineers tug MARQUETTE was downbound past Detroit on her delivery trip to her new owners based in Key West, Florida. Renamed MONA LARUE in 1997, she is no longer in documentation.

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