Today in Great Lakes History – October 19

1868
1868:   PARAGON (wooden schooner; 212 tons; built in 1852 at Oshawa, ON, as a brig) was being towed up the St. Clair River by the tug WILLIAM A. MOORE with a load of lumber in the company of four other barges. During a gale, the tow was broken up. While the tug MOORE was trying to regain the tows, she collided with PARAGON, causing severe damage. Four were drowned, but two were rescued by the Canadian gunboat and tug PRINCE ALFRED. PARAGON was then towed into Sarnia, ON, but she sank there and was abandoned in place.

1871
1871:   ELIZA LOGAN (two-masted wooden schooner; 130 feet; 369 gross tons; built in 1855 at Buffalo, NY) foundered in rough weather about 12 miles off Erie, PA, on Lake Erie. She was sailing from Toledo, OH, to Buffalo with a load of wheat when she sank. Captain Lawson and one sailor were lost, but the six others scrambled up the rigging and held on to the crosstrees for 42 hours until they were rescued by the schooner EMU at 06:00 on the morning of October 21.

1873
1873:   JOHN F. RUST (wooden schooner barge; 161 feet; 347 gross tons; built in 1869 at East Saginaw, MI) was carrying lumber in tow of the steamer BAY CITY in a storm when she broke her towline and went ashore a few miles north of Lakeport, MI.

1876
1876:   MASSILON (three-masted wooden schooner with foretop and topgallant sails; 130 feet; 298 gross tons; built in 1857 at Cleveland, OH, as a bark) was sailing from Kelleys Island, OH, for Chicago, IL, with limestone when she sprang a leak 20 miles above Pointe aux Barques, MI, at the mouth of Saginaw Bay. She was abandoned at about 02:00 and then sank. The crew was in an open boat until 07:00 when they were rescued by the tug VULCAN.

1905
1905:   KALIYUGA foundered in Lake Huron with the loss of 18 lives. The ore-laden steamer was en route to Cleveland, OH.

1905:   SIBERIA sank in a storm on Lake Erie while eastbound with a cargo of grain. All on board were saved.

1907
1907:   KINSMAN VOYAGER was launched as a.) H.P. BOPE for the Standard Steamship Co. of Cleveland, OH.

1910
1910:   The crew on the stranded WILLIAM C. MORELAND was removed in gale-force winds by the Portage, IN, U.S. Life-Saving Service crew.

1912
1912:   WILLIAM LIVINGSTONE of 1908 had the honor of being the first vessel to navigate the opening of the Livingstone Channel, named after the man who helped conceive the idea of a separate downbound channel on the east side of Boblo Island in the lower Detroit River. Mr. Livingstone, President of the Lake Carriers’ Association at the time, piloted his namesake vessel in the channel on that historic trip. The vessel was renamed b.) S.B. WAY in 1936 and c.) CRISPIN OGLEBAY in 1948 before being scrapped at Santander, Spain, in 1974.

1916
1916:   The wooden schooner D.L. FILER, loaded with coal and en route from Buffalo, NY, to Saugatuck, MI, became waterlogged and sank near the mouth of the Detroit River 3.5 miles east of Bar Point Light. The vessel settled in shallow water with the crew clinging to the masts. The forward mast cracked, throwing the sailors into the water, and all six were lost. Only the captain on the aftermast survived.

1919
1919:   ANN ARBOR NO. 4, while on the run from Grand Haven, MI, to Milwaukee, WI, got caught in a gale, stretching the normal 6-hour crossing to 27 hours.

1923
1923:   SAMUEL MATHER was driven onto Gull Rock on Lake Superior near Keweenaw Point during a snowstorm and gale winds. The crew was safely removed from the badly exposed steamer on October 21 by the Eagle Harbor, MI, U.S. Life-Saving Service crew. She was renamed b.) PATHFINDER in 1925, sold Canadian in 1964, and renamed c.) GODERICH, d.) SOO RIVER TRADER, and finally e.) PINEGLEN in 1982. The vessel was scrapped at Port Maitland, ON, in 1984.

1923:   Michigan Limestone’s self-unloader B.H. TAYLOR sailed from Lorain, OH, on her maiden voyage. She was renamed b.) ROGERS CITY in 1957 and scrapped at Recife, Brazil, in 1988.

1947
1947:   MANCHESTER CITY went aground off Cap-au-Saumon near Saint-Siméon, QC, inbound from the United Kingdom with freight, 12 passengers, and a crew of 50. The ship stranded in fog, and the passengers were removed safely before the vessel was lightered. The vessel made 17 trips through the Seaway from 1959 to 1963 before being scrapped at Faslane, Scotland, in 1964.

1976
1976:   ALGOSEA, a.) BROOKNES, was christened at Port Colborne, ON. She was renamed c.) SAUNIERE in 1982. and eventually scrapped in Turkey in 2011.

1981
1981:   ELSIE WINCK first came through the Seaway in 1962. It was bombed and sunk at Bandar-e Emam Khomeyni, Iran, as e.) MOIRA on this date and was a total loss.

1987
1987:   GEORGE A. SLOAN ran aground off Boblo Island in the Amherstburg Channel. She was released when she unloaded part of her cargo to the CALCITE II. SLOAN was repaired in Toledo, OH. She was purchased by Lower Lakes Towing in 2001 and renamed c.) MISSISSAGI.

1990
1990:   BUFFALO was able to leave the Saginaw River once it opened to traffic. The river was closed after the tanker JUPITER exploded as the BUFFALO passed.

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