1870
1870: At 03:00, the 76-ton tug ONTARIO caught fire and burned to the waterline while lying at Harrow’s dock in Algonac, MI.
1871
1871: The grain-laden schooner PLOVER struck a reef near Whitefish Point on Lake Superior, put a hole in her hull, and sank in deep water. Captain Jones and the crew of eight escaped in the yawl. They spent two days making their way to Sault Ste. Marie.
1874
1874: On her maiden voyage, the tug MARY passed Port Huron, MI, downbound with the bark FAVORITE in tow. The tug was owned by William Hardison of Port Huron.
1880
1880: TRADER (wooden propeller; 115 feet; 169 gross tons; built in 1865 at Marine City, MI) was carrying lumber in a storm on Lake Michigan. She was battered severely and became waterlogged. Her crew abandoned her with water up to her decks. They were saved by the schooner GUIDE in a daring rescue. A few days later, her wreckage washed ashore near Holland, MI, in the “Alpena Storm,” and she was erroneously reported as another “all-hands” victim of that storm.
1901
1901: ALVINA (wooden schooner-rigged scow barge; 89 feet; 95 gross tons; built in 1871 at Fair Haven, MI) was being towed by the steamer WESTON and had a load of 700 barrels of lubricating oil. They were bound from Cleveland, OH, for Manistique, MI. The ALVINA was overwhelmed in a storm and sank near Thunder Bay Island in Lake Huron. Her entire crew made it to shore in her yawl. Her cargo was salvaged five days later.
1912
1912: MARENGO, a wooden schooner under tow of the LLOYD S. PORTER, broke loose in a storm, came ashore west of Port Colborne, and was pounded to pieces by the waves. The anchor was salvaged and now sits on the lawn of Port Colborne High School.
1912: S.K. MARTIN began leaking in heavy weather and sank in Lake Erie off Harbor Creek, NY. The coal-laden wooden steamer ran for shore but the effort fell short. The crew took to the lifeboats and was saved. The ship went down bow first and rested on the bottom in 56 feet of water.
1918
1918: The wooden tug ELLA G. STONE was destroyed by a brush fire that swept through the town of Cloquet, MN. Several scows, tugs, and a dredge as well as over 400 lives were lost.
1922
1922: The JOHN A. KLING sailed on her maiden voyage for the Rockport Steamship Co. (Reiss Steamship Co., manager) light from Manitowoc, WI, to load stone at Rockport, Michigan. She was sold into Canadian registry in 1981 and renamed b.) LEADALE before being scrapped at Ramey’s Bend in Port Colborne, ON, in 1983.
1925
1925: The keel was laid for the Interlake Steamship Co.’s steamer COLONEL JAMES PICKANDS.
1941
1941: ENARE, a Great Lakes visitor from 1932 to 1933, sustained heavy damage in an air attack in the North Sea as h.) GLYNN. The ship was subsequently sunk by a convoy escort as a hazard to navigation. It had also been a Great Lakes trader as f.) FLAKS in 1933 and 1934.
1967
1967: The SYLVANIA returned to service. She sank at the Peerless Cement Co. Dock at Port Huron, MI, in June after being struck by the Canada Steamship Lines package freight steamer RENVOYLE.
1967: The Papachristidis Co. Ltd.’s FEUX-FOLLETS entered service with the distinction of being the last steam-powered vessel built on the Great Lakes. The vessel was renamed b.) CANADIAN LEADER when it was sold to Upper Lakes Shipping in 1972. It was scrapped in 2011.
1976
1976: Three boats discharged a record 108,379 tons of cargo on a single day at the Pinney Dock in Ashtabula, OH. The three boats were the JAMES R. BARKER (57,305 tons), the WILFRED SYKES (20,678 tons), and the JOSEPH L. BLOCK (30,306 tons).
1981
1981: The JEAN PARISIEN suffered considerable bottom damage when she ran aground near Comfort Island about a mile west of Alexandria Bay, NY. She was released on this day in 1981 and returned to service after repairs were completed at the Canadian Vickers yard in Montreal, QC.
1985
1985: The CLIFFS VICTORY was sold to the Hai International Corp. of New York, NY, for scrapping in Asia and transferred to Panamanian registry. Her name was changed to c.) SAVIC, utilizing the “S” from CLIFFS, the “VIC” from VICTORY, and inserting an “A” in between. All the other letters were painted out.
1991
1991: ZIEMIA GNIEZNIENSKA hit the wall at Lock 7 of the Welland Canal and dislodged a chunk of concrete. The Welland Canal was closed for three days.
1993
1993: The tug EDNA G. was towed from Two Harbors, MN, to Fraser Shipyards at Superior, WI, by the Great Lakes Towing Co. tug KANSAS. She is now on display as a floating exhibit in Agate Bay.
2002
2002: STELLANOVA and CANADIAN PROSPECTOR were in a head-on collision on the Seaway near Côte-Sainte-Catherine, QC, and both ships sustained considerable damage. The former was repaired at Les Méchins, QC, and the latter at Port Weller Dry Docks in St. Catharines, ON.
Data from: Skip Gillham, Joe Barr, Dave Swayze, Max Hanley, Russ Plumb, Ahoy & Farewell II, and the Great Lakes Ships We Remember series from the Marine Historical Society of Detroit. Compiled by Roger LeLievre.
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- Sylvania in 1969. Robert A. Zeleznik collection
