Today in Great Lakes History – September 28

1849
1849:   W.G. BUCKNER (wooden schooner; 75 feet; 107 tons; built in 1837 at Irving, NY) was carrying lumber in a storm on Lake Michigan when she sprang a leak and capsized. The man to whom the cargo belonged was aboard with his wife and five children. One child was washed overboard, while the wife and three children died of exposure. The schooner ERWIN took off the survivors plus the bodies.

1891
1891:   THOMAS PARSONS (two-masted wooden schooner; 135 feet; 350 tons; built in 1868 at Charlotte, NY) was carrying coal out of Ashtabula, OH, when she foundered in a storm a few miles off Fairport Harbor, OH, in Lake Erie.

1921
1921:   The W.H. RITCHIE caught fire and sank at Port Arthur, ON, where it had become a bulk grain transport vessel. The remains were uncovered during dredging work in 1961.

1908
1908:   On this day September 28, 1908, the wooden steamer NESHOTO stranded in dense smoke 2 ½ miles off Crisp Point in Lake Superior. Yes, dense smoke due to forest fires in the Upper Peninsula and plains west of Crisp Point and Vermilion. Luckily her crew of 16 were rescued by the life savers from the Crisp Point station who had heard their distress signals and discovered the stranded ship. A northwest gale pounded her to pieces and wreckage was strewn all along the beach. At the time, she was part of the Gilchrist Transportation Company’s fleet, bound down with 2,822 tons of iron ore, not insured and valued between $40,000 and $50,000.

1946
1946:   BRIG. GEN. M.G. ZALINSKI, built at Lorain, OH, in 1919 as a.) LAKE FROHNA and later operating inland in the package freight trade as b.) ACE, hit the rocks off Pitt Island. The vessel was en route from Seattle, WA, to Whittier, AK, with a cargo of army supplies and sank in 20 minutes. All on board were rescued by the tug SALLY N. and taken to the fishing village of Butedale, BC. The hull was located in June 2011 and is upside down.

1960
1960:   CHICAGO TRIBUNE and SHENANGO II were both damaged in a collision in the St. Clair River off Marysville, MI.

1973
1973:   FRANK R. DENTON and FEDERAL SCHELDE (i) collided in the St. Marys River with minor damage to both ships. The former was scrapped at Ashtabula, OH, in 1985–1986. The latter began Seaway service when new in 1968, returned as b.) C. MEHMET in 1977, and was delivered to the scrappers at Nantong, China, on March 16, 1999.

1980
1980:   BURNS HARBOR entered service, departing Sturgeon Bay, WI, bound for Superior, WI, to load taconite pellets.

1987
1987:   THOMAS WILSON left Toledo, OH, in tow of the tug TUSKER for overseas scrapping. The WILSON had been laid up since December 16, 1979.

1998
1998:   ANDROS TRANSPORT, a Fortune-class cargo ship, first came through the Seaway in 1978. Flooding occurred in the engine room in the Caribbean off Trinidad as d.) GRIGOROUSSA on this date in 1998 while traveling in ballast. The crew of 15 was removed, and the ship was towed into Port au Spain, Trinidad. It was declared a total loss, sold to Mexican shipbreakers, and arrived at Tuxpan, Mexico, under tow for dismantling on December 4, 1998.

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