SAINTE MARIE (Hull#127) was launched at Toledo, Ohio, by Craig Shipbuilding Co.
1973
GOLDEN HIND was sold to Trico Enterprises Ltd., Hamilton, Bermuda (Quebec & Ontario Transportation Co. Ltd., Thorold, Ontario, mgr.).
1976
INGRID WEIDE, a West German freighter which first came to the Great Lakes in 1953 and made 23 trips through the Seaway through 1965, stranded off Borkum Island, West Germany, as c) DENEB B. while inbound for Emden with a cargo of stone. The hull broke in two and sank but all on board were rescued.
1991
The c.) WOODLAND, a.) FRENCH RIVER) cleared the lakes from Montreal under the Bahamian flag with the modified name to d.) WOODLANDS after being sold to International Capital Equipment of Canada.
Contributors & Sources
Skip Gillham, Max Hanley, Ahoy & Farewell II and the Great Lakes Ships We Remember series from the Marine Historical Society of Detroit.
Wreckage of the CELTIC (wooden schooner-barge, 190 foot, 716 gross tons, built 1890, at West Bay City, Michigan), a yawl and the captain’s desk with the ship’s papers, were found on Boom Point southeast of Cockburn Island. The vessel was lost with all hands on 29 November 1902 during a fierce gale on Lake Huron after breaking away from the steamer H.E. RUNNELS.
1965
The rail car ferry GRAND HAVEN sailed on her first trip as a roll on/roll off carrier from Port Burwell, loaded with 125 tons of coiled steel bound for Cleveland and Walton Hills, Ohio.
1965
The Greek freighter CAPTAIN M. LYRAS, which visited the Seaway in 1960 and 1961 and returned as b) ANGELIKI L. in 1965, arrived at Gadani Beach as c) ANAMARIA for scrapping.
1979
GEORGE A. STINSON struck a wall of the Poe Lock at Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. The damage was estimated at $200,000.
2023
The JOHN J. BOLAND arrived light at Milwaukee and headed up the Kinnickinnic River to COFCO. All grain (soybeans) remaining in the elevator was loaded and taken to COFCO’s Chicago terminal. COFCO then closed the Kinnickinnic elevator and sold the property.
Contributors & Sources
Skip Gillham, Max Hanley, Ahoy & Farewell II and the Great Lakes Ships We Remember series from the Marine Historical Society of Detroit.
The steel barge MADEIRA (Hull#38) was launched at Chicago, Illinois, by the Chicago Ship Building Co.
1924
SPRUCEGLEN was launched a.) WILLIAM K. FIELD (Hull#176) at Toledo, Ohio, by the Toledo Ship Building Co.
1952
JOHNSTOWN (Hull#4504) was launched at Sparrows Point, Maryland, by Bethlehem Sparrows Point Shipyard.
1964
RUTH ANN, a Liberian freighter that came through the Seaway in 1960, ran aground on the Chinchorro Bank off the Yucatan Peninsula enroute from Tampico to Puerto Barrios, Guatemala, as d) GLENVIEW. It later broke up as a total loss.
1967
DAMMTOR, a West German flag pre-Seaway trader, foundered in heavy weather as b) HASHLOSHA while about 80 miles west of Naples, Italy, enroute from Greece to Marseilles, France. A distress call was sent but the vessel went down with the loss of 21 lives before help could arrive. The ship had also made four Seaway voyages in 1959,
1988
ENDERS M. VOORHEES, under tow on the Mediterranean, broke loose in gale force winds and went aground about 56 miles south of Athens off Kythnos Island and broke up. The hull was salvaged in sections and the bow and stern reached the scrapyard at Aliaga, Turkey, in August 1989.
2009
DIAMOND QUEEN sank at the Gaelic Tugboat Co. dock at River Rouge. It was refloated on January 27, 2009.
ALEX NIMICK (wooden propeller, 298 foot, 1,968 gross tons) was launched at W. Bay City, Michigan. She was built by J. Davidson (Hull # 30).
1908
The W.C. RICHARDSON was launched as the a.) WAINWRIGHT (Hull#175) at Wyandotte, Michigan, by the Detroit Ship Building Co.
1923
JOSHUA A. HATFIELD (Hull#782) was launched at Lorain, Ohio, by the American Ship Building Co.
1964
MAX MANUS (dated from 1937 and appeared on the Great Lakes for one trip in 1959) suffered an engine room explosion and fire at Ibiza, Spain, as c) FLORA N., which took the lives of three crew and extensively damaged the midships area of the vessel. The freighter had been discharging cement but was towed out of the port and beached three miles south as a total loss.
1981
MANUEL CAMPOS, which first came through the Seaway when new in 1968, sank off of Crete on this date as c) DENIZ SOMNEZ after developing a severe list in heavy seas. The vessel was traveling from Sfax, Tunisia, to Mersin, Turkey, with a cargo of phosphate ore. All 34 on board were lost.
1988
The tanker L’ORME NO 1 was involved in an accident at Ultramar Refinery near Quebec City when attempting to tie up during foggy weather. She struck the dock and the impact started a fire that extensively damaged the wharf and the forward section of the ship.
1988
Scrapping on E. J. BLOCK began at Port Colborne, Ontario.
1992
NORDSTERN (which transited the Seaway in 1968 and returned as b) GEORG RUSS in 1975 and c) CAPTAIN VENIAMIS in 1984) was beached on the South Korean coast after the hull began to flood during heavy weather on a long voyage from Europe to Yantai, China. The vessel was refloated on February 1 but was declared a total loss, sold to Chinese shipbreakers, and arrived at Qinhuangdao under tow for scrapping on March 1, 1992.
2003
An arson fire aboard replica sailing ship LA GRANDE HERMINE at Jordan Harbour, Ontario, destroyed the wooden superstructure and interior of the idle ship. The vessel was built in 1914 as a ferry across the St. Lawrence and had several subsequent uses under a variety of names. The listing and burned out hull became a tourist attraction with many passers-by stopping to take photos. Its remains were finally removed in late 2021.
Contributors & Sources
Skip, Gillham, Joe Barr, Dave Swayze, Ahoy & Farewell II and the Great Lakes Ships We Remember series from the Marine Historical Society of Detroit.
The CITY OF DULUTH (wooden passenger/package freight vessel, 202 foot, 1,310 gross tons, built as a passenger vessel in 1874, at Marine City, Michigan) was carrying passengers, corn, flour, and general merchandise from Chicago to St. Joseph, Michigan, during a late season run when she struck an uncharted bar in a storm while inbound to St. Joseph. She was heavily damaged and driven ashore 350 feet west of the north pier, where she broke up. The Lifesaving Service rescued all 24 passengers and 17 crew members using breeches’ buoy.
1907
THOMAS F. COLE (Hull #27) was launched by the Great Lakes Engineering Works, Ecorse, Michigan, for the Pittsburgh Steamship Co.
J.F. SCHOELLKOPF JR. was launched as a.) HUGH KENNEDY (Hull#349) at Lorain, Ohio, by the American Ship Building Co.
1945
The keel for CLIFFS VICTORY, a). NOTRE DAME VICTORY (Hull#1229), was laid on January 26, 1945, at Portland, Oregon, by Oregon Shipbuilding Corp.
1967
ST. LAWRENCE NAVIGATOR was launched in 1967, as a.) DEMETERTON (Hull#619) at South Shields, United Kingdom, by John Readhead & Sons, Ltd.
1986
The saltwater ship f) MARIKA L. was sold at auction on this date to Scrap Hellas Ltd. The vessel had arrived at Eleusis, Greece, under tow, on April 25, 1981, after an engine room fire on the Mediterranean. The ship had been arrested and partially sunk prior to being sold. It made one trip through the Seaway as a) DONATELLA PARODI in 1965 and was ultimately resold for scrapping at Aliaga, Turkey.
1994
In 1994 THALASSA DESGAGNES (steel propeller tanker, 131.43 meters, 5,746 gross tons) entered service for Groupe Desgagnes. The vessel was built in 1976, in Norway, as the a.) JOASLA, renamed b.) ORINOCO in 1979, and c.) RIO ORINOCO in 1982.
Contributors & Sources
Skip Gilham, Joe Barr, Steve Haverty, Joe Barr, Dave Swayze, Ahoy & Farewell II and the Great Lakes Ships We Remember series from the Marine Historical Society of Detroit.
Charles Lonsby and Louis Wolf purchased the 161-foot wooden steam barge THOMAS D. STIMSON for $28,000. The vessel was built in 1881 by W. J. Daley & Sons at Mt. Clemens, Michigan, as a schooner and was originally named VIRGINIUS. She was converted to a steamship in 1887.
1912
The Great Lakes Engineering Works’ Ecorse yard launched the steel bulk freighter WILLIAM P. SNYDER JR (Hull #83), for the Shenango Furnace Co.
1972
The Canadian coastal freighter VOYAGEUR D. hit a shoal off Pointe au Pic, Quebec, and was holed. It was able to make the wharf at St. Irenee but sank at the dock. The cargo of aluminum ingots was removed before the wreck was blow up with explosives on November 8, 1972.
1974
LEON FALK JR. closed the 1974 season at Superior by loading 17,542 tons of ore bound for Detroit.
1978
A major winter storm caught the American tanker SATURN on Lake Michigan and the ship was reported to be unable to make any headway in 20-foot waves. It left the Seaway for Caribbean service in 2003 and was renamed b) CENTENARIO TRADER at Sorel on the way south.
1978
ALLEGHENY, the training vessel of the Great Lakes Maritime Academy (built in 1944, at Orange, Texas as a sea-going naval tug), capsized at her winter dock at Traverse City, Michigan, from the weight of accumulated ice. She was recovered but required an expensive rebuild, and was sold and renamed MALCOLM in 1979.
1985
CITY OF MIDLAND 41 had to return to port in Ludington after heavy seas caused a 30-ton crane to fall off a truck on her car deck.
2002
SJARD, which first came through the Seaway in 2000, was lost in a raging snowstorm 350 miles east of St. John’s, Newfoundland, with a cargo of oil pipes while inbound from Kalinigrad, Russia. The crew of 14 took to the lifeboat and were picked up by the BEIRAMAR TRES.
2006
PINTAIL received extensive damage in a collision off Callao, Peru, with the TWIN STAR. The latter broke in two and sank. PINTAIL began Seaway service in 1996 and had been a regular Great Lakes trader as a) PUNICA beginning in 1983. The ship arrived at Chittagong, Bangladesh, for scrapping as c) ANATHASIOS G. CALLITSIS and was beached on September 19. 2012. It had also traded inland under the final name in 2008 and 2009.
Contributors & Sources
Skip Gillham, Max Hanley, Joe Barr, Dave Swayze, Father Dowling Collection, Ahoy & Farewell II and the Great Lakes Ships We Remember series from the Marine Historical Society of Detroit.
The ferry SARNIA was discovered on fire at 4 a.m. while lying at Fitzgerald’s yard in Port Huron. All of the cabins were destroyed although the fire department had the fire out within an hour. About $3,000 damage was done. She was in the shipyard to be remodeled and to have a stern wheel installed. Arson was suspected.
1889
The Port Huron Times announced that the Toledo & Saginaw Transportation Company went out of business and sold all of its vessels and its shipyard. The shipyard went to Curtis & Brainard along with the PAWNEE and MIAMI. The BUFFALO, TEMPEST, BRAINARD, and ORTON went to Thomas Lester. The C.F. CURTIS, FASSET, REED, and HOLLAND went to R. C. Holland. The DAYTON went to J. A. Ward and M. P. Lester. The TROY and EDWARDS were sold, but the new owners were not listed.
1965
TRANSWARREN, a T-2 tanker which made three trips through the Seaway in 1960, began flooding on the Atlantic and sent out a distress call enroute from Bahamas to Ijmuiden, Holland. The ship made it to Ponta Delgada, Azores, for repairs but these were only temporary. On arrival at drydock in Marseilles, France, the vessel was declared a total loss and sold to Spanish shipbreakers at Castellon.
1966
The passenger ship STELLA MARIS, which came to the Great Lakes in 1959, caught fire while bunkering at Sarroch Roads, Italy, as e) WESTAR after being refitted for the Alaska trade. Two died, another three were injured and the ship was declared a total loss. It arrived at La Spezia, Italy, for scrapping on April 30, 1966.
1975
CHRISTIAN SARTORI was the closest ship to the CARL D. BRADLEY when it sank in Lake Michigan on November 18, 1958, and helped in the search for survivors. The West German freighter continued to travel to the Great Lakes through 1967 and returned as b) CHRISTIAN in 1968. On this date, it ran aground at Puerto Isabel, Nicaragua, after breaking its moorings as e) ROMEO BERNARD. The vessel had to be abandoned as a total loss.
1983
JALAJAYA went aground at the Los Angeles breakwater after the anchors dragged in bad weather. The ship was released and operated until tying up at Bombay, India, on October 3, 1987. It was subsequently scrapped there in 1988. The vessel had not been in service long when it first came through the Seaway in 1967.
1983
SELKIRK SETTLER (Hull #256) was launched in Govan, Scotland, by Govan Shipbuilding Ltd. She sails today as SPRUCEGLEN for Canada Steamship Lines.
1986
ADEL WEERT WIARDS caught fire as c) EBN MAGID enroute from northern Europe to Libya. The vessel docked at Portland, U.K., on the English Channel the next day, but following two explosions and additional fire on January 30, it was towed away and beached. The vessel was a total loss and scrapped at Bruges, Belgium, later in the year.
Contributors & Sources
Skip Gillham, Joe Barr, Father Dowling Collection, Ahoy & Farewell II and the Great Lakes Ships We Remember series from the Marine Historical Society of Detroit.
