The barge N. MILLS was launched at P. Lester’s yard in Marysville, MI. Her dimensions were 164 feet x 30 feet x 12 feet.
1884
The 137-foot steam barge HENRY HOWARD was sailing upbound with the schooner barge GEORGE WORTHINGTON in tow when she caught fire near Harsens Island at the mouth of the St. Clair River. The fire broke out near the HOWARD’s engine room and spread rapidly. The vessel was beached on the island, but the WORTHINGTON ran against her and was thus scorched. No lives were lost. The HOWARD was valued at $5,000 but only insured for $3,000 by her owners, B. Hoose and Julia Miner.
1890
The PORTER CHAMBERLAIN (wooden propeller bulk freighter; 134 feet; 280 gross tons; built in 1874 at Marine City, MI) was floated free of the Wolverine Drydock in Port Huron, MI, where she had steel arches installed. When she floated free, the arches broke in three places, and she stayed in Port Huron to have them repaired.
1909
COLUMBUS (wooden propeller bulk freighter; 136 feet; 439 gross tons; built in 1874 as the tug JOHN OWEN) burned to a total loss at her dock at Gargantua, ON, on Lake Superior. She was cut loose and allowed to drift out into the bay, where she sank. The top of her engine reportedly still shows above the water.
1918
The barge SANTIAGO, under tow of the small bulk carrier JOHN F. MORROW, sank in Lake Huron off Pointe aux Barques, MI, without loss of life.
1940
A.E. AMES was once part of Canada Steamship Lines. The vessel was sold for saltwater service in about 1917 and was lost via enemy action as c.) GINETTE LEBORGNE on this date in 1940 when she struck a mine in the Mediterranean Sea west of Sardinia, Italy, while returning demobilized troops from North Africa to France.
1952
The forebody and afterbody of the future JOSEPH H. THOMPSON arrived at the American Ship Building yard in South Chicago, IL. The two sections were delivered to the lakes via the Mississippi River and Chicago Ship Canal. The afterbody departed Baltimore, MD, on August 2, and the forebody departed Pascagoula, MS, on August 21.
1972
The whaleback tanker METEOR was towed from Manitowoc, WI, by the tug JOHN ROEN IV to Superior, WI, for use as a museum ship.
1979
The car ferry SPARTAN was laid up. She remains in Ludington, MI.
2002
The KINSMAN ENTERPRISE turned 75 years old. When she entered service as a.) HARRY COULBY on this date in 1927, the 631-foot bulk freighter was the third largest on the Great Lakes.
Contributors & Sources
Skip Gillham, Max Hanley, Joe Barr, David Swayze, Russ Plumb, Father Dowling Collection, Jody L. Aho, James Neumiller, Ahoy & Farewell II, and the Great Lakes Ships We Remember series from the Marine Historical Society of Detroit.
The schooner HARVEST HOME sank on Lake Michigan while bound from Chicago, IL, for Cleveland, OH, with a load of scrap iron. She was about 26 miles off Grand Haven, MI. The crew was taken off by the schooner GRACIE M. FILER just as the boat was going down.
1883
EXPLORER (two-masted wooden schooner; 48 foot; 33 gross tons; built in 1866 at Chatham, ON) struck rocks and went down on Stokes Bay on the outside of the Bruce Peninsula. Her crew was visible from shore clinging to the wreck until the vessel broke up. All five were lost.
1895
S.P. AMES (two-masted wooden schooner; 61 feet; 43 gross tons) was driven ashore at Pointe aux Barques, MI, in a storm. She was quickly stripped before she went to pieces. She had been built in 1879 at Montrose, MI, in farm country, well inland, on the Flint River by Mr. Seth Ames. He wanted to use her to return to sea, but he died the day before her hull was launched.
1929
HORACE JOHNSON sailed on her maiden voyage light from Lorain, OH, upbound for Two Harbors, MI, to load iron ore.
1942
HMCS CHARLOTTETOWN, a Canadian naval corvette built at Kingston, ON, in 1941, was torpedoed and sunk by U-517 on the St. Lawrence River near Cap-Chat, QC. Nine of the 64 on board were lost.
1944
The GEORGE M. HUMPHREY was patched and refloated. She had sunk in 80 feet of water after a collision with the steamer D.M. CLEMSON of 1916 off Old Point Light on June 15, 1943. On May 6, 1944, the barges MAITLAND NO. 1 and HILDA were employed as pontoons for the salvage operation positioned over the sunken hull. Cables were attached to the HUMPHREY’s hull and to the barges. The hull was raised through a series of lifts, which allowed it to be brought into shallower water. Partial buoyancy was provided by the HUMPHREY’s ballast tanks, which were pumped out to about 25 percent capacity. She was taken to the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Co. first for an estimate of repairs, which totaled $469,400, and then was towed to Sturgeon Bay, WI, for reconditioning, which was completed at a reported cost of $437,000. Captain John Roen’s Roen Transportation Co. assumed ownership on September 18, 1944, and the next year the ship was renamed b.) CAPTAIN JOHN ROEN. She re-entered service on May 1, 1945, chartered to the Pioneer Steamship Co. on a commission basis. The vessel was renamed c.) ADAM E. CORNELIUS in 1948 and d.) CONSUMERS POWER in 1958. She was scrapped at Kaohsiung, Taiwan, in 1988.
1946
The former Hall freighter LUCIUS W. ROBINSON, heading for new service in the Far East as b.) HAI LIN, ran into a typhoon on the Pacific during its delivery voyage but was unscathed.
1961
The retired PERSEUS, under tow for scrapping overseas, broke loose of the tug ENGLISHMAN and was abandoned in rough seas near the Azores. The hull was later found drifting and taken in tow only to sink on September 21.
1968
GRINDEFJELL, a pre-Seaway and Seaway-era visitor for the Norwegian Fjell Line from 1953 to 1965, was put into Mozambique as b.) LENRO after a fire had broken out in a cargo hold. The flames spread, and at one time the hull glowed red hot. The ship was gutted, later capsized, and was abandoned as a total loss. The vessel was en route from Assab, Ethiopia, to Rotterdam, Netherlands, with a cargo of bagged niger seed expellers and had to take the long way around due to the Suez Canal being closed. The hull was either scrapped or scuttled.
1969
The Bethlehem steamer LEHIGH, under the command of Captain Loren A. Falk, delivered the first cargo to the new Bethlehem Steel mill at Burns Harbor, IN. The cargo consisted of 15,700 tons of taconite pellets loaded at Taconite Harbor, MN.
1987
An arson fire gutted the bridge and top deck of the laid-up former CSL package freighter FORT YORK at Sarnia, ON. There had been another suspicious fire 3 weeks earlier that had been extinguished.
1988?
Carrying cargoes off the lakes, CANADA MARQUIS departed Halifax, NS, bound for Philadelphia, PA, with a cargo of grain. HON. PAUL MARTIN departed Halifax the same day on her way to Tampa, FL, with a load of gypsum.
2001
The former Boblo boat STE. CLAIRE was towed from Detroit, MI, to Toledo, OH, by Gaelic’s tug SHANNON. In August 2005, she was taken to Belanger Park in River Rouge, MI, and in the spring of 2006, she was returned to Nicholson’s slip in Ecorse, MI, by Gaelic’s tugs PATRICIA HOEY and CAROLYN HOEY.
Contributors & Sources
Skip Gillham, Joe Barr, David Swayze, Russ Plumb, Father Dowling Collection, Jody L. Aho, James Neumiller, Ahoy & Farewell II, and the Great Lakes Ships We Remember series from the Marine Historical Society of Detroit.
After an extremely dry summer, forests were burning all over the Great Lakes region in the autumn of 1871. The smoke from these fires affected navigation. Newspaper reports on this date stated that 38 ships and four strings of barges anchored near Point Pelee on Lake Erie due to the restricted visibility caused by the smoke from the forest fires.
1889
ROTHESAY, a wooden sidewheel passenger vessel, collided with the tug MYRA in the St. Lawrence River between Kingston, ON, and Prescott, ON. The MYRA sank with the loss of two lives. The ROTHESAY was beached on the Canadian shore, where it settled and was abandoned. The wreck was dynamited in 1901, and part of it remains on the bottom in 35 feet of water.
1900
The schooner H.W. SAGE was raised by the McMorran Wrecking Co. and was then towed to Port Huron, MI, for repairs. She had sunk near Algonac, MI, in a collision with the steamer CHICAGO on July 30, 1900.
ALBACORE (two-masted wooden schooner; 137 feet; 327 tons; built in 1872 at Port Dalhousie, ON) had a storm blow out her sails, driving her into the seawall at Fort Bank just east of Oswego, NY, where she broke up. The tug J. NAVAGH tried unsuccessfully to save her. Her crew of seven was rescued by the U.S. Life-Saving Service.
The wooden steamer JOHN B. LYON began taking water in a storm about 25 miles east of Ashtabula, OH, and sank in Lake Erie. There were nine lost with only six rescued from the 19-year-old vessel.
1902
EXPERIMENT (two-masted wooden schooner; 65 feet; 50 gross tons; built in 1854 at St. Joseph, MI) was carrying firewood in a storm on Lake Michigan when she went out of control in the harbor at St. Joseph after swerving to miss an unmarked construction crib. She wrecked and was declared a total loss. Her crew was rescued by the U.S. Life-Saving Service. 3 days later, she was stripped and abandoned in place.
1903
The R.E. SCHUCK (steel propeller bulk freighter; 416 feet; 4,713 gross tons) was launched by the American Ship Building Co. (Hull #327) at Lorain, OH, for the Gilchrist Transportation Co. She was purchased by the Interlake Steamship Co. (Pickands, Mather & Co., manager) in 1913 and renamed b.) HYDRUS. However, she foundered in the “Big Storm” of 1913 on Lake Huron with all hands; 24 lives were lost.
1917
GISLA was built at Wyandotte, MI, in 1916 and went overseas for war duty. The vessel was hit by gunfire from U-64 in the western Mediterranean off Cape Palos, Spain, and sunk by a timed bomb on this date in 1917. The ship was carrying nuts and vegetable oil from Cotonou, Dahomey, to Marseille, France, when it was attacked.
1919
The wooden barge CHICKAMAUGA began leaking in huge seas off Harbor Beach, MI, while under tow of the CENTURION, and the ore-laden vessel sank the next day. The crew of 10 was rescued by the JAMES WHALEN, and the wreck was removed the following year.
1928
B.B. MCCOLL was virtually destroyed by a fire at Buffalo, NY, while loading and had to be abandoned as a total loss. The ship was salvaged, rebuilt, and last sailed as h.) DETROIT. The ship was scrapped in 1982-1983 at Lake Calumet near Chicago, IL.
1953
MARYLAND was mauled by a storm on Lake Superior, and 12 hatch covers were blown off. The ship was beached near Marquette, MI, and all 35 on board were saved. The ship was abandoned, but the extensive bottom damage was repaired, and the vessel resumed service as d.) HENRY LALIBERTE.
1979
CARTIERCLIFFE HALL, formerly a.) RUHR ORE, was towed by the tug WILFRED M. COHEN to Collingwood, ON, for repairs from a June 5 fire and arrived at Collingwood Shipyards Ltd. She was later renamed c.) WINNIPEG in 1988 and d.) ALGONTARIO in 1994.
1981
ROGER BLOUGH was laid up at Sturgeon Bay, WI, through 1986 because of economic conditions.
CANADIAN PIONEER was christened at Port Weller Dry Docks Ltd. by Mrs. Louise Powis, wife of the chairman and president of Noranda Mines for Upper Lakes Shipping Ltd. The vessel was renamed b.) PIONEER in 1987.
1986
Canadian Shipbuilding & Engineering Ltd. at Collingwood, ON, closed the yard after 103 years of shipbuilding. “Collship” was famous for its spectacular side launches. 214 ships were built at Collingwood.
1988
While unloading steel in South Chicago, IL, from the a.) CANADA MARQUIS, a shoreside crane lifting a payloader into the hold collapsed onto the ship. CANADA MARQUIS had a hole in her tank top and damage to her hatch coaming. She later sailed as e.) BIRCHGLEN for CSL.
1989
POLARLAND began visiting the Great Lakes in 1968 and returned as b.) ISCELU in 1980, c.) TRAKYA in 1981, and d.) TRAKYA I in 1982. The ship was lying at Hualien, Taiwan, as e.) LUNG HAO during Typhoon Sarah and got loose in the storm prior to going aground on this date in 1989. The hull broke in two and was a total loss.
SACHA, a Liberian-registered SD14, began Seaway trading in 1973. It returned as b.) ERMIONI in 1982. The ship stranded on the wreck of the ORIENTAL PEARL while approaching Bombay, India, from Tampa as d.) SAFIR on December 22, 1984, and sustained considerable damage. This was repaired, but SAFIR was lost after stranding on a reef off Tiran Island in the Red Sea on this date in 1989.
2006
TORO went aground in the St. Lawrence River off Cornwall Island with damage to the bulbous bow and #2 hold. The ship, en route from Thunder Bay, ON, to Progreso, Mexico, with a cargo of wheat, was released on September 18 and repaired at the Verreault shipyard in Les Méchins, QC, before resuming the voyage on October 27. The vessel had previously visited the Great Lakes as a.) LA LIBERTE, c.) ASTART, and d.) ULLOA. It was still sailing as g.) XING JI DA as of 2011.
Contributors & Sources
Skip Gillham, Joe Barr, Dave Swayze, Father Dowling Collection, James Neumiller, Ahoy & Farewell II, and the Great Lakes Ships We Remember series from the Marine Historical Society of Detroit.
The bark S.D. POMEROY was anchored off Menominee, MI, during a storm. Archie Dickie, James Steele, John Davidson, and James Mechie were seen lowering the yawl to go to shore. Later, the empty yawl drifted ashore, and then the bodies of all four men floated in.
1872
The wooden schooner RAPID left Pigeon Bay, ON, bound for Buffalo, NY, with 5,000 railroad ties. While on Lake Erie, a storm blew in, and Captain Henderson decided to turn for Rondeau Provincial Park. While turning, the vessel capsized. Annie Brown, the cook, was trapped below deck and drowned. The seven other crew members strapped themselves to the rail and waited to be rescued. One by one, they died. Finally, 60 hours later, the schooner PARAGON found the floating wreck with just one man, James Low, the first mate, barely alive.
1875
CITY OF BUFFALO (wooden schooner; 91 feet; 128 tons; built in 1859 at Buffalo, NY, as a propeller canal boat) beached and sank after striking a rock in the St. Marys River. The tug MAGNET worked for days to release her before she went to pieces on September 19. No lives were lost.
1894
The GLOBE (steel propeller package freighter; 330 feet; 2,995 gross tons) was launched by the Globe Iron Works (Hull #53) at Cleveland, OH. She was lengthened to 400 feet and converted to a bulk freighter in 1899 when she was acquired by the Bessemer Steamship Co. and renamed JAMES B. EADS. She lasted until 1967 when she was scrapped at Port Weller Dry Docks in Port Weller, ON.
1953
PERE MARQUETTE 22 made her second maiden voyage since she was new in 1924. She was cut in half, lengthened, and had new boilers and engines installed.
1958
EDMUND FITZGERALD began her sea trials.
1962
The HOFFMAN (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers twin screw hopper dredge) collided with the Japanese saltie KUNISHIMA MARU at Toledo, ON. The blame was reportedly placed on the pilot of the saltie, and apparently, the damage was minor.
1967
The former Great Lakes passenger ship NORTH AMERICAN sank in the Atlantic (40.46 N, 68.53 W) while under tow for a new career as a training ship at Piney Point, MD.
1968
The AUGUST ZIESING grounded in fog 200 yards above the Rock Cut in the St. Marys River. The grounded vessel swung into the shipping channel, blocking it until lightering was completed on September 15.
1988
The Cypriot freighter BLUESTONE, at Halifax, NS, since August 19, had three crewmembers jump ship at the last minute claiming unsafe conditions due to corrosion in the tank tops, but this could not be checked since the vessel was loaded.
Contributors & Sources
Skip Gillham, Max Hanley, Joe Barr, David Swayze, James Neumiller, Ahoy & Farewell II, and the Great Lakes Ships We Remember series from the Marine Historical Society of Detroit.
R.J. CARNEY (wooden barge; 150 feet; 397 gross tons) was launched at Saginaw, MI.
1872
The 203-foot wooden schooner KATE WINSLOW was launched at J. Davidson’s yard in East Saginaw, MI.
1882
The steamer ASIA sank in a storm off Byng Inlet, ON, on Georgian Bay. Over 100 people lost their lives, with only two — a man and a woman — rescued. ASIA was built in St. Catharines, ON, in 1873 and was bound from Collingwood, ON, to the French River and Sault Ste. Marie, ON.
1885
Captain Albert Edgar Goodrich died at the age of 59 at his residence in Chicago, IL. He was a pioneer steamboat man and founded the Goodrich Transportation Co., famous for its passenger-package freight steamers on Lake Michigan.
1907
The J.J. SULLIVAN (Hull #439) was launched at Cleveland, OH, by the American Ship Building Co. for the Superior Steamship Co. (Hutchinson & Co., manager). The vessel was renamed b.) CLARENCE B. RANDALL in 1963. She was scrapped at Windsor, ON, in 1988.
1960
The Bahamas-registered vessel ITHAKA stranded 10 miles east of Churchill, MB, in Georgian Bay after the rudder broke and the anchors failed to hold in a storm. The ship had served on the Great Lakes for Hall as a.) FRANK A. AUGSBURY and e.) LAWRENCECLIFFE HALL (i), for Canada Steamship Lines as b.) GRANBY, and for Federal Commerce & Navigation as f.) FEDERAL PIONEER.
1962
The HORACE S. WILKINSON was involved in a collision with the Canadian freighter CAROL LAKE in the Welland Canal. Rather than repair the WILKINSON, Wilson Marine had her towed to Superior, WI, for conversion to a barge. The cabin superstructure, engine, boilers, and auxiliary machinery were removed. The stern was squared off and notched to receive a tug. The WILKINSON was renamed WILTRANCO I and re-entered service in 1963 as a tug/barge combination with a crew of 10, pushed by the tug FRANCIS A. SMALL of 1966.
1963
The BENJAMIN F. FAIRLESS, under the command of Captain Earl C. Bauman, received a National Safety Council Award of Merit for operating 1,001,248 consecutive man-hours without a lost-time accident. This accomplishment required 15 years, 600 round trips, and 1,200 passages through the Soo Locks.
1965
FORT WILLIAM, which recently entered service as a package freight carrier for Canada Steamship Lines, capsized at Pier 65 in Montreal, QC. There was an ensuing fire when part of the cargo of powdered carbide formed an explosive gas, and five were killed. The vessel was refloated on November 22, 1965, repaired, and returned to service as b.) STEPHEN B. ROMAN.
1970
The barge AFT, the forward part of the former STEEL KING (ii), arrived at Ramey’s Bend in Port Colborne, ON, under tow of the tug HERBERT A. for dismantling. The barge had been part of a tandem tow with the dipper dredge KING COAL, but the latter broke loose in a Lake Erie storm and sank.
1998
The Cypriot-flagged STRANGE ATTRACTOR first came through the Seaway in 1989 as a.) LANTAU TRADER. It returned under the new name in 1996 and lost power on this date in 1998 while leaving the Upper Beauharnois Lock. The vessel had to be towed to the tie-up wall by OCEAN GOLF and SALVAGE MONARCH and was soon able to resume the voyage. STRANGE ATTRACTOR continued Great Lakes trading through 2003. It arrived for scrapping at Aliaga, Turkey, as d.) ORIENT FUZHOU on August 7, 2009.
Contributors & Sources
Skip Gillham, Clive Reddin, Joe Barr, Dave Swayze, Russ Plumb, Father Dowling Collection, James Neumiller, Ahoy & Farewell II, and the Great Lakes Ships We Remember series from the Marine Historical Society of Detroit.
A.J. BEMIS (wood propeller tug; 49 tons; built in 1859 at Buffalo, NY) caught fire while underway. The fire originated under her boiler. She ran for shore but sank about six miles from Alpena, MI. No lives were lost.
1873
IRONSIDES (wooden propeller passenger-package freight vessel; 220 feet; 1,123 tons; built in 1864 at Cleveland, OH) became disabled when she sprang a leak and flooded. The water poured in and put out her fires. She sank about seven miles off Grand Haven, MI, on Lake Michigan. Reports of the number of survivors varied from 17 to 32, and the number lost varied from 18 to 28.
1886
F.J. KING (wooden schooner; 140 feet; 280 tons; built in 1867 at Toledo, OH) was carrying iron ore from Escanaba, MI, to Chicago, IL. She sprang a leak and sank in a heavy southwesterly gale three miles off Rowleys Bay, WI. Her crew reached shore in the yawl. Her loss was valued at $7,500.
1915
ONOKO of the Kinsman Transit Co. foundered in Lake Superior off Knife River, MN, while downbound with wheat from Duluth, MN, to Toledo, OH. The crew took to the lifeboats and was saved. The hull was located in 1987 upside down in about 340 feet of water.
1917
The steamer WILLIAM A. AMBERG (Hull #723) was launched at Lorain, OH, by the American Ship Building Co. for the Producers Steamship Co. (M.A. Hanna, manager). She later sailed under the names b.) ALBERT E. HEEKIN in 1932, c.) SILVER BAY in 1955, d.) JUDITH M. PIERSON in 1975, and e.) FERNGLEN in 1982 before being scrapped at Port Maitland, ON, in 1985.
1925
The JOHN A. TOPPING left River Rouge, MI, light on her maiden voyage to Ashland, WI, to load iron ore for delivery to Cleveland, OH. Renamed b.) WILLIAM A. REISS in 1934, she was scrapped at Alang, India, in 1994.
1928
MANASOO, in only her first season of service after being rebuilt for overnight passenger and freight service, foundered in Georgian Bay after the cargo shifted and the vessel overturned in heavy weather. There were 18 casualties, plus 46 head of cattle, and only five survived.
1934
The ANN ARBOR NO. 6 collided with the steamer N.F. LEOPOLD in a heavy fog.
1940
KENORDOC, en route to Bristol, United Kingdom, with a cargo of lumber, was sunk due to enemy action as part of convoy SC-3 while 500 miles west of the Orkney Islands. The ship had fallen behind the convoy due to engine trouble and was shelled by gunfire from U-48. There were seven casualties, including the captain and wireless operator.
The Norwegian freighter LOTOS came inland in 1938 delivering pulpwood to Cornwall, ON, and went aground there in a storm. The ship was torpedoed and sunk by a German submarine on this date in 1940 about 15 miles west of Rockall Island while inbound from Dalhousie, NB for Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom.
1959
The buoy tender USCGC MESQUITE was stationed at Sault Ste. Marie, MI, for the final day.
1962
A collision between the HARRY L. FINDLAY of the Kinsman Line and the Greek Liberty ship MESOLOGI occurred at Toledo, OH. The latter began Seaway service in the same year and made a total of six inland voyages. It was scrapped at Aioi, Japan, as f.) BLUE SAND after arriving in November 1969.
1968
Lightering was completed on the AUGUST ZIESING; she had grounded above the Rock Cut just two days earlier, blocking the channel.
1986
MIDDLETOWN suffered a fire in her tunnels. Second- and third-degree burns were suffered by two crew members. She was renamed f.) AMERICAN VICTORY in 2006.
1987
The A.H. FERBERT of 1942 was towed out of Duluth, MN, by the Sandrin tug GLENADA. The tow encountered rough weather on Lake Superior and required the assistance of another tug to reach the Soo on September 19. On the 21st, the FERBERT had to anchor off DeTour, MI, after she ran aground in the St. Marys River when her towline parted. Her hull was punctured, and the U.S. Coast Guard ordered repairs to her hull before she could continue. Problems struck again on September 24, when the FERBERT went hard aground at the cut-off channel’s southeast bend of the St. Clair River. Six tugs — GLENADA, ELMORE M. MISNER, BARBARA ANN, GLENSIDE, SHANNON, and WILLIAM A. WHITNEY — worked until late on the 26th to free her. The FERBERT finally arrived at Lauzon, QC, in tow of GLENSIDE and W.N. TWOLAN on October 7.
1993
Robert Manglitz became CEO and president of Lake Michigan Carferry after Charles Conrad announced his retirement and the sale of most of his stock.
Contributors & Sources
Skip Gillham, Max Hanley, Joe Barr, David Swayze, Father Dowling Collection, James Neumiller, Ahoy & Farewell II, and the Great Lakes Ships We Remember series from the Marine Historical Society of Detroit.
The 46-foot tug RED RIBBON, owned by W.H. Morris of Port Huron, MI, burned about 2 miles below St. Clair, MI. Captain Morris ran the tug ashore and hurried to St. Clair to get assistance, but officials there refused to allow the steam fire engine to go outside the city. The tug was a total loss and was only insured for $1,000, half her value. She had just started in service in May of 1877 and was named for the reform movement that was in full swing at the time of her launch.
1892
The wooden propeller VIENNA sank in foggy Whitefish Bay on Lake Superior after being hit broadside by the wooden steamer NIPIGON. The latter survived and later worked for Canada Steamship Lines as b.) MAPLEGRANGE and c.) MAPLEHILL (i), but she was laid up at Kingston, ON, in 1925 and scuttled in Lake Ontario in 1927.
1893
HATTIE EARL (wooden schooner; 96 feet; 101 gross tons; built in 1869 at South Haven, MI) was driven ashore just outside the harbor of Michigan City, IN, and pounded to pieces by the waves. No lives were lost.
1895
ARCTIC (two-masted wooden schooner; 113 feet; 85 gross tons; built in 1853 at Ashtabula, OH) was rammed and sunk by the steamer CLYDE in broad daylight and calm weather. ARCTIC was almost cut in half by the blow. The skipper of CLYDE was censured for the wreck and for his callous treatment of the schooner’s crew afterward. Luckily, no lives were lost.
1900
LULU BEATRICE (two-masted wooden schooner; 72 feet; 48 gross tons; built in 1896 at Port Burwell, ON) was carrying coal on Lake Erie when she was wrecked on the shore near the harbor entrance at Port Burwell in a storm. One life was lost, the captain’s wife.
1901
HUDSON was last seen dead in the water with a heavy list. The steel package freighter had cleared Duluth, MN, the previous day with wheat and flax for Buffalo, NY, but ran into a furious storm and sank in Lake Superior off Eagle Harbor Light with the loss of 24–25 lives.
1906
CHARLES B. PACKARD hit the wreck of the schooner ARMENIA off Middle Island on Lake Erie and sank in 45 minutes. All on board were rescued, and the hull was later dynamited as a hazard to navigation.
1937
The large wooden tug G.R. GRAY (ii) of the Lake Superior Paper Co. got caught in a storm off Coppermine Point on Lake Superior working with GARGANTUA on a log raft and fell into the trough. The stack was toppled, but the vessel managed to reach Batchawana Bay and was laid up. The hull was towed to the Soo in 1938 and eventually stripped out. The remains were taken to Thessalon, ON, in 1947 and remained there until they caught fire and burned in 1959.
1946
The NORISLE went into service as the first Canadian passenger ship commissioned since the NORONIC in 1913.
1952
CASON J. CALLAWAY departed River Rouge, MI, for Duluth, MN, on her maiden voyage for the Pittsburgh Steamship Co.
1975
BJORSUND, a Norwegian tanker, visited the Seaway in 1966. The 22-year-old vessel began leaking as b.) AMERFIN on this day in 1975 en route from Mexico to Panama and sank in the Pacific while under tow off Costa Rica.
1982
Parrish & Heimbecker Ltd. purchased all nine of the Soo River’s fleet for a reported CAD $2.5 million, and all nine returned to service, although only four were running at the end of the season.
1990
At about 08:30, the inbound motor vessel BUFFALO passed close by while the tanker JUPITER was unloading unleaded gasoline at the Total Petroleum dock in the Saginaw River near Bay City, MI. As the BUFFALO passed, the dock’s aft pilings broke off and the fuel lines parted, which caused a spark and ignited the spilled fuel. At the time, 22,000 barrels of a total of 54,000 barrels were still aboard. Flames catapulted over 100 feet high, filling the air with smoke that could be seen for 50 miles. The fire was still burning the next morning when a six-man crew from Williams, Boots & Coots Firefighters and Hazard Control Specialists of Port Neches, TX, arrived to fight the fire. By afternoon they extinguished the fire, only to have it re-ignite that night, resulting in multiple explosions. Not until Tuesday morning on the 18th was the fire finally subdued with the assistance of the U.S. Coast Guard’s USCGC BRAMBLE and USCGC BRISTOL BAY. The tanker, which was valued at $9 million, was declared a total constructive loss, though the engine room was relatively untouched. Unfortunately, the fire claimed the life of one crew member, who drowned attempting to swim ashore. As a result, the U.S. Coast Guard closed the river to all navigation. The river was opened to navigation on September 19 after the Gaelic tugs SUSAN HOEY and CAROLYN HOEY towed the JUPITER upriver to the Hirschfield & Sons Dock at Bay City (formerly the Defoe Shipyard) where a crane was erected for dismantling the burned-out hulk. Her engines were removed and shipped to New Bedford, MA, for future use. The river opening allowed American Steamship’s BUFFALO to depart the Lafarge dock where she had been trapped since the explosion. JUPITER’s dismantling was completed over the winter of 1990–1991. Subsequent investigation by the NTSB and U.S. Coast Guard and the findings of a federal judge all exonerated the master and BUFFALO in the tragedy.
2005
A fire broke out aboard the tug JAMES A. HANNAH above Lock 2 of the Welland Canal while downbound with the barge 5101 loaded with asphalt, diesel, and heavy oil. St. Catharines, ON, firefighters helped extinguish the blaze.
Contributors & Sources
Skip Gillham, Joe Barr, Dave Swayze, Father Dowling Collection, Jody L. Aho, James Neumiller, Ahoy & Farewell II, and the Great Lakes Ships We Remember series from the Marine Historical Society of Detroit.
