Today in Great Lakes History – July 10

1866
1866:  COQUETTE (one-mast wooden scow-sloop, 90 feet, 140 tons, built in 1858 at Perry, Ohio, as a schooner) capsized in a storm on Lake Michigan and was lost with her crew of four. She had originally been built for the U.S. government.

1909
1909:  HENRY R. PLATT, JR. (2) was launched as a) G.A. TOMLINSON (1) at the American Ship Building Co., Lorain, OH – July 10, 1909

1911
1911:  JOHN MITCHELL (wooden propeller bulk freighter, 420 feet, 4,468 gross tons, built in 1907 at St. Clair, Michigan) was carrying wheat off Whitefish Point on Lake Superior when she was rammed broadside by the coal-laden steel steamer WILLIAM HENRY MACK (steel propeller bulk freighter, 354 feet, 3781 gross tons, built in 1903 at Cleveland, Ohio). The MACK tried to keep her bow in the hole, but the MITCHELL still sank in 7 minutes. Quick work saved most of her crew and all seven passengers. Three of the 34 onboard were lost. The MACK got most of the blame for the accident. The MITCHELL’s wreck was discovered upside down on the bottom in 1972. (Note: Bowling Green’s database gives the date of this accident as July 19, 1911, and Dave Swayze’s Shipwreck database gives the date as July 10, 1911.)

1930
1930:  YORKTON was beached with only the top of the pilothouse above water after a head-on collision in fog on Whitefish Bay with the MANTADOC. The ship was later salvaged and repaired at Collingwood.

1938
1938:  RAHANE ran aground on a shoal in the American Narrows of the St. Lawrence while downbound with steel, package freight and grain. Some cargo was removed by the lighter COBOURG, and the ship was refloated with major bottom damage. The vessel last sailed on the lakes as A.A. HUDSON before departing for saltwater service in the fall of 1965.

1979
1979:  Captain Thomas Small had his license for Master of Steam and Motor Vessel of any gross tonnage renewed at the St. Ignace Coast Guard Station. Captain Small, a retired Pittsburgh Steamship employee and 106 years of age, was the oldest person to be licensed, and the issue number of his license is the highest ever issued by the Coast Guard: 14-17 (14th masters license and 17th license as a pilot, mate, or master).

1997
1997:  The first “SEAWAY” Class design is underway for Interlake Transportation Inc. This 126′-6″ AT/B TM tug will be used to push the new bulk barge “PATHFINDER”, currently being created from the ex-steamer “J.L. MAUTHE” at Bay Shipbuilding. The yet unnamed tug will be the most innovative tug ever created for a tug/barge unit. Designed specifically with Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway service in mind, this class of tug from Ocean Tug & Barge Engineering has a number of features designed to enhance safety, operation and efficiency.

1997:  The Canadian Navigator (Canadian-registry 18,788-gt, 31,650-dwt, 12,830-nt, 222.2-meter/729.0-foot motor bulk carrier built in 1967 by J. Readhead & Sons Ltd. at South Shields, England; operated by Upper Lakes Group Inc.’s ULS Corp.) ran aground in the St. Clair River on 10 July. The ship, carrying stone, reportedly grounded on a soft bottom.

1998
1998:  The ALGOWEST was rededicated at Port Weller Dry Docks. The $20-million conversion of the ship to a self-unloader from a bulk carrier was completed by 400 shipbuilders at Port Weller Dry Docks during the previous eight months. Renamed in 2001, she sailed for Algoma as b.) PETER R. CRESSWELL before being scrapped in Turkey in 2014.

2005
2005:  Noted marine photographer Paul Wiening passed away at his residence in Port Washington, Wisconsin.

Data from: Skip Gillham, Joe Barr, Dave Swayze, Russ Plumb, 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.