1882
1882: Mr. H.N. Jex accepted the contract to recover the engine and boiler from the MAYFLOWER, which sank in the Detroit River in 1864. He was to be paid $600 upon delivery of the machinery at Windsor, ON. He succeeded in raising the engine on October 12 and recovered the boiler shortly thereafter.
1887
1887: ADA E. ALLEN (wooden propeller steam barge; 90 feet; 170 gross tons; built in 1872 at Walpole Island, ON) caught fire while moored at Amherstburg, ON. She was cut loose and set adrift to prevent the fire from spreading ashore. She drifted to Bois Blanc (Boblo) Island and burned to a total loss.
1911
1911: The HENRY PHIPPS collided with and sank her Steel Trust fleetmate, the steamer JOLIET of 1890, which was at anchor on the fog-shrouded St. Clair River near Sarnia, ON. The JOLIET sank without loss of crew and was declared a total loss. The PHIPPS then continued her downbound journey and collided with the Wyandotte Chemical steamer ALPENA of 1909 but incurred only minor damage.
1913
1913: The ANN ARBOR NO. 5 struck bottom in the Sturgeon Bay Ship Canal and damaged her rudder and steering gear. After undergoing repairs at Milwaukee, WI, she was back in service the following October.
1917
1917: The wooden steamer WILLIAM P. REND, formerly a.) GEORGE G. HADLEY, foundered off Alpena, MI, while carrying livestock. All nine crewmembers were rescued.
1951
1951: The Liberty ship THUNDERBIRD visited the Seaway in 1959. On this date in 1951, the ship received major bow damage from a head-on collision with the Chinese freighter UNION BUILDER (built in 1945 at Brunswick, GA, as a.) COASTAL RANGER) at the entrance to Colombo, Ceylon. THUNDERBIRD was also a Great Lakes trader as d.) NEW KAILING in 1964 and was scrapped at Kaohsiung, Taiwan, in 1967.
1958
1958: The EDMUND FITZGERALD entered service, departing River Rouge, MI, for Silver Bay, MN, on its first trip. The FITZGERALD’s first load was 20,038 tons of taconite pellets for Toledo, OH. The vessel would, in later years, set several iron ore records during the period from 1965 through 1969.
1976
1976: While in ballast, the ROGER M. KYES struck bottom in the Buffalo Harbor at Buffalo, NY, sustaining holes in two double-bottom tanks and damage to three others, whereupon she proceeded to Chicago, IL, for dry docking on September 27, 1976, for survey and repairs. She was renamed b.) ADAM E. CORNELIUS in 1989.
1979
1979: OCEANIC KLIF first visited the Seaway in 1971. The ship stranded near Las Palmas, Spain, on this date in 1979 while on a voyage from Kamsar, Guinea, to Port-Alfred, QC, with calcinated bauxite and was abandoned by the crew.
1980
1980: While being towed from Duluth, MN, by the Canadian tug TUSKER, the D.G. KERR rammed into the breakwater, causing $200,000 in damages to the breakwater. The tow apparently failed to make the turning buoy leaving the Duluth Harbor.
1987
1987: The T.W. ROBINSON and US.265808 (formerly BENSON FORD) departed Quebec City, QC, in tow of the Polish tug JANTAR bound for Recife, Brazil, where they arrived on this date in 1987. Scrapping began the next month.
1988
1988: MATHILDA DESGAGNÉS was freed from polar ice in the Arctic by the West German icebreaker research vessel POLARSTERN.
Data from: Skip Gillham, Joe Barr, Dave Swayze, Max Hanley, James Neumiller, Jody Aho, 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.
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- Joliet. Peter B. Worden Collection, MHSD
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- T.W. Robinson scrap tow. Tom Manse Collection
