Today in Great Lakes History – October 9

1820
1820:   ASP (wooden schooner; 57 tons; built in 1808 at Mississauga, ON) was carrying lumber and staves when she sprang a leak near Long Point on Lake Ontario. She waterlogged and then capsized. The upturned vessel was driven across the lake and finally went ashore off the Salmon River at Mexico, NY, and broke up quickly. Nine of the 11 onboard lost their lives. She was originally built as the British-armed schooner ELIZABETH.

1871
1871:   On October 8–9, NAVARINO (wooden propeller passenger-package freight steamer; 184 feet; 761 tons; built in 1870 at Manitowoc, WI) was lying at a dock when the Great Chicago Fire swept through the city. The vessel tried to pull away from the dock and get to the safety of Lake Michigan, but the wind, which was being drawn into the fire, held her against the dock. She burned to a total loss; no lives were lost. Her machinery was later salvaged and used in the new propeller MENOMINEE.

1895
1895:   AFRICA (wooden propeller steam barge; 135 feet; 352 gross tons; built in 1873 at Kingston, ON) was towing the schooner SEVERN in a storm on Lake Huron when she struck a reef 15 miles south of Cove Island Light on Lake Huron. AFRICA broke up in the storm, and all 11 of her crew were lost. SEVERN went ashore in Bradley Harbour and broke up. The crew was rescued by a fish tug from Stokes Bay, ON.

1907
1907:   CYPRUS cleared Superior, WI, with a cargo of iron ore for Lackawanna, NY, on only her second trip. The vessel sank two days later, and there was only one survivor. The hull was found on the bottom of Lake Superior in 2007 in 460 feet of water.

1911
1911:   COL. JAMES M. SCHOONMAKER sailed from the Great Lakes Engineering Works on her maiden voyage to Toledo, OH, where she loaded coal bound for Sheboygan, WI. The SCHOONMAKER was the largest vessel on the Great Lakes when she came out. For much of the decade, this vessel either broke or held many bulk cargo records. She was renamed b.) WILLIS B. BOYER in 1969. Since 1987, the BOYER has served as a museum ship in Toledo with her original name restored.

1920
1920:   JAMES DAVIDSON (Hull #288) was launched at Wyandotte, MI, by the Detroit Shipbuilding Co. for the Globe Steamship Co. of Cleveland, OH (G.A. Tomlinson, manager).

1922
1922:   TURRET CROWN ran aground off Cove Island in Georgian Bay but was later salvaged.

1931
1931:   CHARLES H. BRADLEY (wooden propeller; 201 feet; 804 gross tons; built in 1890 at West Bay City, MI) was carrying pulpwood and towing the barge GRAMPIAN. She was traversing the Portage Canal in the Keweenaw Peninsula when she ran onto a bar and stranded. The barge kept coming and plowed into her stern. The BRADLEY caught fire and burned to the waterline. The wreck still lies in 6–17 feet of water just off the mouth of the Sturgeon River.

1944
1944:   The German freighter LUDOLF OLDENDORFF, a Great Lakes trader as a.) WESTMOUNT (i) and e.) TRACTOR, was sunk by British aircraft at Egersund, Norway.

1968
1968:   BUCKEYE, under tow for scrapping overseas, began drifting in rough weather when the anchors were unable to hold off Port Colborne, ON. The ship was blown aground west of the city, and the hull remained stuck until November 29.

1976
1976:   GULF MACKENZIE (Hull #435) was launched at Sorel-Tracy, QC, by Marine Industries Ltd. Renamed b.) L. ROCHETTE in 1985, she departed the lakes and was renamed c.) TRADEWIND ISLAND in 1995 and d.) KEMEPADE in 2003.

1983
1983:   The CHIMO was moved to Port Weller Dry Docks, where workers began to cut her apart forward of her aft-located pilothouse and engine room. Upon completion, Upper Lakes Shipping renamed her b.) CANADIAN RANGER.

1983:   Pioneer Shipping Ltd.’s SASKATCHEWAN PIONEER arrived in the Welland Canal on her delivery trip en route to her formal christening at Thunder Bay, ON. She was sold off the lakes and renamed b.) LADY HAMILTON in 1995 before being brought back to the lakes as VOYAGEUR PIONEER in 2006. She was renamed KAMINISTIQUA in 2008.

1984
1984:   PATERSON was sold to Shearmet Recycling, a Thunder Bay, ON, shipbreaker, and was broken up at their Mission River dock.

2001
2001:   The Maltese-flagged freighter SYLVIA ran over a buoy below the Eisenhower Lock, and the mooring chain was wrapped around the propeller. The cable was freed, and the ship proceeded to Port Weller Dry Docks for repairs, arriving October 19 and returning to service on October 27. The ship had previously been inland as a.) CHIMO when new in 1981 and later returned as d.) SYLVIA in 2000. The vessel was noted as h.) INTERCROWN and registered in Cambodia as of 2010.

Data from: Skip Gillham, Joe Barr, Dave Swayze, 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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