1876
1876: CITY OF PORT HURON, a wooden steam barge, sank a few miles offshore near Lexington, MI, at about noon. She was heavily loaded with iron ore and sprang a leak at about 11:00. Most of the crew managed to get on top of the cabin, while two were in the forward rigging as she went down in 6 fathoms of water. The heavy seas washed over those on the cabin. Captain George Davis and two others floated ashore on wreckage, and a fish boat picked up the five others. No lives were lost.
1889
1889: The new steamer CHEROKEE (wooden propeller freighter; 209 feet; 1,002 gross tons) arrived in Port Huron, MI, from M.P. Lester’s yard in Marine City, MI, for the Phoenix Iron Works to install the engine and boiler. Her outfitting was completed by Carleton and Cole of Port Huron.
1921
1921: The former laker RANDOLPH S. WARNER was cut in two to leave the Great Lakes during World War I. It was rebuilt with the pilothouse amidships and sank on this date about 40 miles off the Bosporus after reportedly striking an unrecovered mine.
1926
1926: HARSEN, loaded with a cargo of sand, capsized and sank in a storm 3 miles northeast of the Pelee Passage Light in Lake Erie. The wooden-hulled vessel was a total loss.
1961
1961: IMPERIAL HAMILTON caught fire while loading ethyl gasoline at Sarnia, ON, and sustained considerable damage. Six on board were injured.
1963
1963: The Egyptian freighter SALAH ELDIN, a former Victory ship, caught fire in the crew quarters in Hamilton, ON, but the blaze was extinguished before it reached the cargo hold. The vessel almost capsized due to the weight of the water, but it remained upright. Two crew were injured, and the chief steward died. The ship was towed out by GRAEME STEWART and JAMES BATTLE on November 22, 1963, for Quebec City, QC, and sold as is, where it became d.) MERCANTILE VICTORY after a refit at Houston, TX. Another fire on April 23, 1964, this time in the engine room on the Red Sea shortly after re-entering service in March 1964, led to an eventual resale to Spanish shipbreakers. The vessel arrived at Castellón, Spain, for dismantling on May 10, 1965.
1967
1967: The tugs MICHAEL MCALLISTER and AMERICA towed the retired passenger ship NORTH AMERICAN through the Welland Canal en route to a new career as a training ship for the Seafarers International Union at Piney Point, MD.
1972
1972: NORSE CORAL was new when it entered the Seaway in 1962 and returned as b.) TOTEM STAR in 1963. The ship opened the Seaway season on April 8, 1964, and returned to our shores as c.) SILVERBEACH in 1965. It sustained heavy damage off Victoria, BC, while inbound from Hong Kong, China, to Vancouver, BC, on this date due to a collision with the C.E. DANT. The two ships were locked together. They were towed to Victoria the next day and then separated on September 6. The damage was repaired, and the former lakes trader survived until scrapping at Xingang, China, in 1986.
Data from: Skip Gillham, Joe Barr, David Swayze, Father Dowling Collection, Jody L. Aho, 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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- Randolph S. Warner. Pesha photo, Peter B. Worden collection, MHSD
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- Imperial Hamilton. Ed Wilson, Tom Manse collection
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- Salah Eldin at Hamilton, ON, in August 1963. Jim Hoffman collection
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- North American is towed by tug Michael McAllister in August 1967. Paul Sherlock
