Today in Great Lakes History – October 7

1858
1858:   In a severe gale, rain, and hail storm, the 247-ton schooner OSPREY approached Oswego, NY. As she was about to enter the harbor, the vessel struck the east pier broadside. Her masts and rigging were carried away, and she started to sink. Captain John Parsons got his wife and child out of the cabin to try to escape to the pier. His wife was washed overboard and drowned. Captain Parsons held on to his child, but another wave struck the wreck and swept the child into the water. George Crine, the mate, was also swept overboard. Those three were lost, but the next wave swung the wreck about with her bowsprit over the pier, and the captain and the six remaining crewmen scrambled to safety. The entire town and harbor mourned those deaths and held a dockside service two days later with many prayers and all flags at half-mast. Donations were accepted for the surviving sailors, as they escaped with only the clothes on their backs.

1871
1871:   GEM (wooden schooner; 120 feet; 325 tons; built in 1853 at Buffalo, NY) was sailing upbound in a storm on Lake Erie with a load of coal. She began to leak and was run to shore in an effort to save her. However, she went down before reaching shoal water and settled with six feet of water over her decks.

1873
1873:   PULASKI was launched at the Archibald Muir yard on the Black River in Port Huron, MI. She was 136 feet long, 26 feet wide, and 11 feet deep and measured 349 gross tons. She was a three-masted “full canaller” painted white, and her private signal was a red “M” on a white ground bordered with blue. Her sails were made by Mr. D. Robeson of Port Huron.

1886
1886:   The Port Huron Times reported that “The old side-wheel ferry SARNIA, which was a familiar sight at this crossing [Port Huron, MI-Sarnia, ON] for so many years, and which is said to have earned enough money in her time to sheet her with silver, the hull of which has been for some years back used as a barge by the Marine City Salt Company, has closed her career. She was last week scuttled near the Marine City Salt Works wharf.”

1896
1896:   BLACK RIVER, a lake bulk freighter, was built as a steel barge in 1897 by F.W. Wheeler & Co. She was launched  as a.) SIR ISAAC LOTHIAN BELL (Hull# 118).

1902
1902:   ANN MARIA hit a sandbar approaching Kincardine, ON, while inbound with a cargo of coal and broke up as a total loss. Four crew and a volunteer rescuer were reported lost.

1903
1903:   ADVENTURE (wooden propeller bulk freighter; 108 feet; 142 gross tons; built in 1875 at Detroit, MI, as a schooner) caught fire while tied to the Kelleys Island Line & Transport Co. dock. The blaze spread so quickly that those on board barely escaped. She was towed from Kelleys Island out into Lake Erie by the tug SMITH to save the dock and the adjacent schooner ANDERSON.

1917
1917:   GEORGE A. GRAHAM was wrecked off Manitoulin Island in Georgian Bay when the cargo shifted when turning in a storm. The ship ran for the safety of South Bay but stranded on the rocks. All on board were saved, but the ship was a total loss.

1919
1919:   The wooden steamer HELEN TAYLOR was damaged by a fire in the pilothouse near Hessel, MI, but was repaired.

1923
1923:   The ANN ARBOR NO. 4 went back into service after being overhauled and having new cabins built on her main deck.

1926
1926:   The WILLIAM MCLAUCHLAN (Hull #793) was launched at Lorain, OH, by the American Ship Building Co. for the Interlake Steamship Co. of Cleveland, OH. She was renamed b.) SAMUEL MATHER in 1966, c.) JOAN M. MCCULLOUGH in 1975, and d.) BIRCHGLEN in 1982 before being scrapped at Sydney, NS, in 1988.

1937
1937:   M&F DREDGE NO. 14, Hull #39 from the Collingwood, ON, shipyard, foundered in the St. Lawrence off Batiscan, QC, as b.) D.M. DREDGE NO. 14.

1939
1939:   E.G. MATHIOTT collided with the steamer CORVUS on the St. Clair River. Damage to the CORVUS totaled $37,647.70.

1956
1956:   The consort barge DELKOTE of the Hindman fleet was adrift for nine hours in a Lake Superior storm with 13 on board and waves up to 20 feet. The ship had broken loose of the GEORGE HINDMAN but was picked up by the CAPTAIN C.D. SECORD.

1958
1958:   WALTER E. WATSON, under the command of Captain Ralph Fenton, rescued the sailing vessel TAMARA on Lake Huron.

1962
1962:   HUTCHCLIFFE HALL was raised and taken to Port Weller Dry Docks for repairs. She had sunk after a collision a few days earlier.

1968
1968:   NORMAN P. CLEMENT was damaged in a grounding off Britt, ON. The Canadian boat was towed to Collingwood, ON, for repairs. However, while in dry dock, an explosion occurred on October 16 that injured 11 workers and further damaged the hull. Rather than repair her, the owners had the CLEMENT towed out into Georgian Bay, where she was intentionally sunk on October 23, 1968.

1968:   EDWARD Y. TOWNSEND, under tow for scrapping in Bilbao, Spain, broke in two about 400 miles southeast of St. John’s, NL, and the bow sank. The stern was apparently retrieved and towed into Santander, Spain, for scrapping on October 28.

1973
1973:   PAUL THAYER was launched for the Union Commerce Bank Trustee of Cleveland, OH, and managed by the Kinsman Marine Transit Co., also of Cleveland. She was built under Title XI of the Merchant Marine Act of 1970 for $12.6 million. She was renamed b.) EARL W. OGLEBAY in 1995, c.) EARL W. in 2006, and d.) MANITOWOC in 2008.

1980
1980:   ALGOWOOD was launched at Collingwood, ON, for Algoma Central Marine of Sault Ste. Marie, ON.

1987
1987:   MADISON suffered a fire while lying idle at Muskegon, MI, and was badly damaged.

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.

---