1871

R.P. MASON (three-masted wooden schooner; 115 feet; 155 gross tons; built in 1867 at Grand Haven, MI) was bound from Chicago, IL, for Detroit, MI, when she struck a rocky reef near Waugoshance Point in the Straits of Mackinac. Water gushed in an 8-foot hole. The vessel was temporarily patched, and her cargo of grain, flour, and meat was taken off over the next few days. The tug LEVIATHAN took her in tow, going to Little Traverse Bay when, on this date in 1871, they encountered a gale near Cross Village, MI. The MASON broke free and capsized. Five died, and four were rescued. The MASON drifted ashore upside down. She was eventually salvaged and sailed for another 46 years. She ended her days when she burned in Lake Michigan in 1917.

LA PETITE (wooden schooner; 94 feet; 122 gross tons; built in 1866 at Huron, OH) was carrying lumber from Alpena, MI, to Huron when she was caught in a terrific gale on Lake Huron. The heavy seas carried away the lumber strapped on deck. The vessel then sprang a leak and turned on her beam ends. Captain O.B. Smith, his wife, and four other sailors rode out the storm on the wreck until found by the tug BROCKWAY. The schooner was towed to Port Huron, MI, and repaired.

R.G. COBURN (wooden propeller passenger/package freight steamer; 193 feet; 867 tons; built in 1870 at Marine City, MI) was carrying 15,000 bushels of wheat, 3,500 barrels of flour, and 30 barrels of silver ore from Lake Superior to Detroit, MI. As she came down Lake Huron, she encountered a terrific gale that had driven most vessels to seek shelter. The COBURN fought the wind at Saginaw Bay throughout the night until she lost her rudder and turned broadside to the waves. Her large stack fell and smashed the cabin area, and then the cargo came loose and started smashing holes in the bulwarks. About 70 passengers were aboard, and almost all were terribly seasick. As the ship began her final plunge beneath the waves, only a few lifeboats were getting ready to be launched, and those were floated right from the deck as the ship sank. 32 people perished, including Captain Gilbert Demont. No women or children were saved.

EXCELSIOR (three-masted wooden schooner; 156 feet; 374 gross tons; built in 1865 at Buffalo, NY) was struck by a gale near Thunder Bay on Lake Huron. She sailed through the early morning hours, only to sink at about 04:30. Only Charles Lostrom survived. He was on the cabin roof, which blew off when the vessel went down. Mr. Lostrom remained on the floating roof-raft for two days and two nights until he was rescued by fishermen near South Hampton Light on the Canadian side of Lake Huron.

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1893

According to reports in Buffalo, NY, newspapers, First Mate Ben Lewis was washed off the decks of the JAY GOULD during a storm. A succeeding wave picked him up and dropped him back on the deck of the GOULD.

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1900

The wooden 186-foot freighter F.E. SPINNER was sunk in a collision with the steamer H.D. COFFINBERRY in the St. Marys River. She was raised from 125 feet of water, one of the deepest successful salvage operations of that time. She was later renamed HELEN C. and lasted until 1922.

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1910

After the sinking of the PERE MARQUETTE 18 of 1902, built at Cleveland, OH, the previous September, a new PERE MARQUETTE 18 of 1911 was ordered by the Pere Marquette Railway from the Chicago Ship Building Co.

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1916

The wooden bulk freighter L. EDWARD HINES was sold to Nicaraguan owners and left the Great Lakes in 1916. The ship had loaded coal in New Orleans, LA, for Venezuela for its maiden voyage on this date in 1916 but got caught in a hurricane and sank with the loss of 17 lives 45 miles east of Belize.

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1949

COVERDALE (Hull #34) was launched at Midland, ON, for Canada Steamship Lines of Montreal, QC. She was renamed b.) GEORGE HINDMAN in 1973 and c.) MELDRUM BAY in 1979 before being scrapped at Lisbon, Portugal, in 1985.

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1961

The PAUL H. CARNAHAN came out on her maiden voyage.

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1969

C.H. MCCULLOUGH JR. was laid up at Manitowoc, WI.

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1971

SINGAPORE TRADER was upbound with general cargo from Japan to Detroit, MI, on its first trip to the Great Lakes when it ran aground in the Thousand Islands. The vessel was released on November 29 and towed back to Montreal, QC, on December 16. The ship was arrested there and offered for sale by court order. The successful bidder for the 27-year-old vessel was a shipbreaker at Santander, Spain, and the ship arrived there for dismantling on June 22, 1972.

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1973

SCOTT MISENER of 1954 struck bottom near Whaleback Shoal on the St. Lawrence River, reportedly damaging 60 of her bottom plates. She proceeded to the shipyard in Port Arthur, ON, for dry docking and repairs from October 20–28.

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1974

On her maiden voyage, Branch Lines’ new tanker LEON SIMARD was spotted traveling eastward on the St. Lawrence River. The vessel was renamed b.) L’ORME NO. 1 in 1982. She was later sold off the lakes and renamed c.) TRADEWIND OCEAN in 1997 and d.) AMARA in 2001.

The self-unloader WOLVERINE departed the American Ship Building Co. on her maiden voyage from Lorain, OH, light to load stone at Stoneport, MI, for delivery to Huron, OH.

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1977

The three-year-old Panamanian bulk carrier GOLDEN STAR damaged its rudder when it struck the opposite bank while backing from the dock at Huron, OH. The vessel, bound for the United Kingdom, needed four tugs when it was towed out of the Seaway for repairs at Sorel-Tracy, QC. The vessel was last noted as c.) FUN JIN under the flag of Panama in 1993.

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1978

The West German freighter FRANCISCA SARTORI made 21 trips through the Seaway from 1959 to 1967. It was lying at Piraeus, Greece, as f.) GIOTA S. when the engine room flooded on this date in 1978. The ship departed for Chalcis, Greece, on October 24, 1979, but further leaks developed, and the vessel had to be beached at Laurium, Greece.

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1980

NIPIGON BAY, loaded with ore for Hamilton, ON, grounded at the crossover near Brockville, ON, on the St. Lawrence River and sustained a 100-foot rip in her bottom plates. She proceeded to Thunder Bay, ON, arriving there on October 24, where repairs were made at an estimated cost of $500,000.

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1984

JOHN O. MCKELLAR of 1952 was sold to P&H Shipping of Parrish & Heimbecker Ltd. of Mississauga, ON, and renamed b.) ELMGLEN.

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1988

HERBERT C. JACKSON cleared Fraser Shipyard after having the 1,000-hp bow thruster motor installed from the JOHN SHERWIN. The motor from the JACKSON was later repaired and placed in the SHERWIN’s cargo hold for future use.

Scrapping began on JOHN T. HUTCHINSON at Kaohsiung, Taiwan, by Li Chong Steel & Iron Works Co. Ltd.

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Contributors & Sources

Skip Gillham, Joe Barr, Dave Swayze, Russ Plumb, Father Dowling Collection, Jody L. Aho, James Neumiller, Max Hanley, Ahoy & Farewell II, and the Great Lakes Ships We Remember series from the Marine Historical Society of Detroit.

Compiled & Maintained by Roger LeLievre.

1853

PHILO SCOVILLE (two-masted wooden brig built in 1853 at Sheboygan, WI) was carrying flour, wheat, pigs, and barreled fish when she encountered a gale in the eastern Straits of Mackinac. She was dismasted and drifted ashore, where she was pounded to pieces. Her crew was saved by floating ashore while clinging to the floating main mast.

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1855

SENECA (wooden propeller tug; 92 feet; 73 tons; built in 1847 at Buffalo, NY) was towing the brig LANSING past the foot of Randolph Street at Chicago, IL, when her boiler exploded. Her skipper and engineer were killed instantly, and several others were injured. The vessel was later recovered.

The brig TUSCARORA was carrying coal from Buffalo, NY, to Chicago, IL. She anchored off Chicago’s Harrison Street, but a storm dragged her in. Volunteers from shore were unable to get to the stricken vessel. A group of nine ship captains and four seamen organized a rescue party and took two new “Francis” metal lifeboats out and rescued the entire crew of 11. By October 21, TUSCARORA was pounded to pieces.

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1880

ALPENA, a wooden side-wheel passenger steamer, was lost in Lake Michigan in a violent storm. All 67 on board perished.

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1912

JAMES BUCKLEY (two-masted wooden schooner barge; 161 feet; 442 gross tons; built in 1884 at Quebec City, QC) was carrying coal and being towed by the tug WILLIAM PROCTOR in consort with the barges H.B. and MENOMINEE in Lake Ontario. The BUCKLEY separated from this group in a storm and was driven into the shallows off the coast of Jefferson County, NY. The PROCTOR delivered MENOMINEE to Cape Vincent, NY, and then returned in time to take BUCKLEY’s crew out of the rigging — hand over hand on a heaving line — before BUCKLEY finally sank.

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1920

Sea trials of MERTON E. FARR were successfully completed.

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1928

PARKS FOSTER ran aground due to fog in Lake Huron near Alpena, MI. The ship was lightered, pumped out, and refloated. While declared a total loss, the vessel was rebuilt as b.) SUPERIOR and eventually dismantled at Port Weller, ON, in 1961.

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1940

TREVISA was torpedoed and sunk by U-124 while 600 miles off the coast of Ireland. The ship had become a straggler from convoy SC-7 that had been attacked over a period of three nights. Seven lives were lost when TREVISA was hit in the engine room by a single torpedo.

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1950

JOHN M. MCKERCHEY of the Kelley’s Island Lime and Transport Co. sank at 2:30 a.m. while returning from the pumping grounds with a load of sand. Captain Horace S. Johnson went down with the boat, but the remaining 19 crewmembers were rescued by the U.S. Coast Guard.

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1954

SCOTT MISENER of 1954 became the first laker to load a record 800,000 bushels of grain on the Great Lakes when she was loaded with barley at Fort William, ON, for delivery to Port Colborne, ON.

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1968

The NORMAN P. CLEMENT was at Collingwood, ON, for examination of grounding damage sustained earlier in the month when an onboard explosion injured 11. The hull was contaminated with chemicals and declared a total loss.

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1969

FREDEN V. came to the Great Lakes in 1958 and returned through the Seaway in 1959. The small tanker was heavily damaged as c.) YARIMCA in an engine room fire on this date in 1969 at Sinop, Turkey. She was repaired in 1972, and the ship survived until scrapping at Aliağa, Turkey, as f.) ORTAC in 2004.

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1971

The Cypriot freighter UNION came through the Seaway in 1971 after prior visits as c.) MICA beginning in 1965. A fire broke out in the engine room on October 10, 1971, and the ship was abandoned 130 miles off Freetown, Sierra Leone. The vessel sank on October 16 and had been en route from Gdynia, Poland, to Chittagong, Bangladesh.

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1982

ALGOWEST set a cargo record by carrying 27,517 tons of grain down the Seaway to Port-Cartier, QC. She was converted to a self-unloader in 1998 and renamed b.) PETER R. CRESSWELL in 2001.

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1990

JOHN B. AIRD’s loop belt caught fire while loading mill scale at the Inland Steel Mill in East Chicago, IL. Fueled by coal dust left over from previously unloading coal, 1,400 feet of the rubber conveyor belt burned, causing nearly $500,000 in damages.

The Cayman Islands-registered tanker RIO ORINOCO grounded off Anticosti Island was abandoned. She was later salvaged by Groupe Desgagnés, refloated, repaired, and renamed d.) THALASSA DESGAGNÉS.

WILLIAM G. MATHER of 1925 was towed from her Cuyahoga River berth by the Great Lakes Towing tugs IDAHO and DELAWARE. She was placed next to the 9th Street Pier of Cleveland, OH’s North Coast Harbor and now serves as a marine museum.

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Contributors & Sources

Skip Gillham, Joe Barr, Dave Swayze, Russ Plumb, Ahoy & Farewell II, and the Great Lakes Ships We Remember series from the Marine Historical Society of Detroit.

Compiled & Maintained by Roger LeLievre.

1843

The wooden schooner ALABAMA collided with a pier during a storm at the mouth of the Grand River at Fairport, OH, and was a total loss.

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1871

CASCADEN (two-masted wooden schooner; 138 tons; built in 1866 at Saugeen, ON) was carrying much-needed supplies for the Cove Island Lighthouse keeper and his family who were in desperate straits. However, she went ashore 3 miles below Cape Hurd near Tobermory, ON, in a storm and was wrecked.

The 42-ton wooden schooner SEA HORSE stranded on Fitzwilliam Island at the mouth of Georgian Bay in a storm. She was a total loss.

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1887

Henry McMorran and D.N. Runnels bought the engine and boiler of the tug GEORGE HAND at the U.S. Marshals sale in Port Huron, MI, for $500.

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1889

The whaleback barge 103 completed her maiden trip by delivering 86,000 bushels of wheat from Duluth, MN, to Buffalo, NY.

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1893

FLINT & PERE MARQUETTE NO. 1 was damaged by fire while in Ludington, MI.

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1903

The car ferry PERE MARQUETTE 19 was launched.

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1923

The bulk carrier LUZON went aground in Lake Superior northeast of Passage Island due to poor visibility from the dense smoke of local forest fires. The vessel sustained serious bow damage, but, fortunately, the bulkhead held. It was en route from Fort William, ON, to Buffalo, NY, with grain at the time. The ship returned to service as b.) JOHN ANDERSON in 1924 and was last known as G.G. POST.

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1936

The 252-foot sand sucker SAND MERCHANT rolled over and sank when a 50-mph gale swept across Lake Erie. The steamer THUNDER BAY QUARRIES, under the command of Captain James Healey, rescued three survivors, and the steamer MARQUETTE & BESSEMER NO. 1, under the command of Captain George Wilson, rescued four additional survivors. 18 crewmembers and one female passenger drowned in the accident.

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1951

GEORGE F. RAND and HARVEY H. BROWN collided just below the Huron Cut at Port Huron, MI, and the former was beached with a starboard list. After being refloated, this vessel unloaded its cargo of silica sand at Port Huron and then went to Toledo, OH, for repairs. The latter later sailed as PARKER EVANS and MARLHILL.

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1959

The EMS ORE was launched for Transatlantic Bulk Carriers of Monrovia, Liberia. Purchased by the Hall Corp. of Canada in 1976, she was reconstructed for lake service and renamed b.) MONTCLIFFE HALL in 1977. She was later renamed c.) CARTIERDOC in 1988 and d.) CEDARGLEN in 2002 before being scrapped in Turkey in 2019.

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1963

The CARLTON (Hull #542) was launched in Sunderland, England, by Short Brothers Ltd. for Chapman & Willan Ltd. She was renamed b.) FEDERAL WEAR in 1975, purchased by Upper Lakes Shipping Ltd. in 1975, renamed c.) ST LAWRENCE PROSPECTOR in 1975, lengthened to Seaway size and renamed d.) CANADIAN PROSPECTOR in 1979, and scrapped in 2009 at Aliağa, Turkey.

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1980

The Canadian tanker GULF CANADA and MEGALOHARI II collided at Montreal, QC, with minor damage. The former had been built at Collingwood, ON, as a.) B.A. PEERLESS in 1952 and was scrapped at Alang, India, as d.) COASTAL I in 1990. The latter had begun Seaway trading in 1965 and was scrapped at Alang as b.) AGIOS CONSTANTINOS in 1985.

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1988

The Society for the Preservation of the S.S. City of Milwaukee purchased CITY OF MILWAUKEE from the City of Frankfort for $2.

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Contributors & Sources

Skip Gillham, Joe Barr, Dave Swayze, Max Hanley, Russ Plumb, Father Dowling Collection, Ahoy & Farewell II, and the Great Lakes Ships We Remember series from the Marine Historical Society of Detroit.

Compiled & Maintained by Roger LeLievre.

1868

PARAGON (wooden schooner; 212 tons; built in 1852 at Oshawa, ON, as a brig) was being towed up the St. Clair River by the tug WILLIAM A. MOORE with a load of lumber in the company of four other barges. During a gale, the tow was broken up. While the tug MOORE was trying to regain the tows, she collided with PARAGON, causing severe damage. Four were drowned, but two were rescued by the Canadian gunboat and tug PRINCE ALFRED. PARAGON was then towed into Sarnia, ON, but she sank there and was abandoned in place.

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1871

ELIZA LOGAN (two-masted wooden schooner; 130 feet; 369 gross tons; built in 1855 at Buffalo, NY) foundered in rough weather about 12 miles off Erie, PA, on Lake Erie. She was sailing from Toledo, OH, to Buffalo with a load of wheat when she sank. Captain Lawson and one sailor were lost, but the six others scrambled up the rigging and held on to the crosstrees for 42 hours until they were rescued by the schooner EMU at 06:00 on the morning of October 21.

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1873

JOHN F. RUST (wooden schooner barge; 161 feet; 347 gross tons; built in 1869 at East Saginaw, MI) was carrying lumber in tow of the steamer BAY CITY in a storm when she broke her towline and went ashore a few miles north of Lakeport, MI.

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1876

MASSILON (three-masted wooden schooner with foretop and topgallant sails; 130 feet; 298 gross tons; built in 1857 at Cleveland, OH, as a bark) was sailing from Kelleys Island, OH, for Chicago, IL, with limestone when she sprang a leak 20 miles above Pointe aux Barques, MI, at the mouth of Saginaw Bay. She was abandoned at about 02:00 and then sank. The crew was in an open boat until 07:00 when they were rescued by the tug VULCAN.

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1905

KALIYUGA foundered in Lake Huron with the loss of 18 lives. The ore-laden steamer was en route to Cleveland, OH.

SIBERIA sank in a storm on Lake Erie while eastbound with a cargo of grain. All on board were saved.

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1907

KINSMAN VOYAGER was launched as a.) H.P. BOPE for the Standard Steamship Co. of Cleveland, OH.

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1910

The crew on the stranded WILLIAM C. MORELAND was removed in gale-force winds by the Portage, IN, U.S. Life-Saving Service crew.

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1912

WILLIAM LIVINGSTONE of 1908 had the honor of being the first vessel to navigate the opening of the Livingstone Channel, named after the man who helped conceive the idea of a separate downbound channel on the east side of Boblo Island in the lower Detroit River. Mr. Livingstone, President of the Lake Carriers’ Association at the time, piloted his namesake vessel in the channel on that historic trip. The vessel was renamed b.) S.B. WAY in 1936 and c.) CRISPIN OGLEBAY in 1948 before being scrapped at Santander, Spain, in 1974.

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1916

The wooden schooner D.L. FILER, loaded with coal and en route from Buffalo, NY, to Saugatuck, MI, became waterlogged and sank near the mouth of the Detroit River 3.5 miles east of Bar Point Light. The vessel settled in shallow water with the crew clinging to the masts. The forward mast cracked, throwing the sailors into the water, and all six were lost. Only the captain on the aftermast survived.

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1919

ANN ARBOR NO. 4, while on the run from Grand Haven, MI, to Milwaukee, WI, got caught in a gale, stretching the normal 6-hour crossing to 27 hours.

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1923

SAMUEL MATHER was driven onto Gull Rock on Lake Superior near Keweenaw Point during a snowstorm and gale winds. The crew was safely removed from the badly exposed steamer on October 21 by the Eagle Harbor, MI, U.S. Life-Saving Service crew. She was renamed b.) PATHFINDER in 1925, sold Canadian in 1964, and renamed c.) GODERICH, d.) SOO RIVER TRADER, and finally e.) PINEGLEN in 1982. The vessel was scrapped at Port Maitland, ON, in 1984.

Michigan Limestone’s self-unloader B.H. TAYLOR sailed from Lorain, OH, on her maiden voyage. She was renamed b.) ROGERS CITY in 1957 and scrapped at Recife, Brazil, in 1988.

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1947

MANCHESTER CITY went aground off Cap-au-Saumon near Saint-Siméon, QC, inbound from the United Kingdom with freight, 12 passengers, and a crew of 50. The ship stranded in fog, and the passengers were removed safely before the vessel was lightered. The vessel made 17 trips through the Seaway from 1959 to 1963 before being scrapped at Faslane, Scotland, in 1964.

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1976

ALGOSEA, a.) BROOKNES, was christened at Port Colborne, ON. She was renamed c.) SAUNIERE in 1982. and eventually scrapped in Turkey in 2011.

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1981

ELSIE WINCK first came through the Seaway in 1962. It was bombed and sunk at Bandar-e Emam Khomeyni, Iran, as e.) MOIRA on this date and was a total loss.

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1987

GEORGE A. SLOAN ran aground off Boblo Island in the Amherstburg Channel. She was released when she unloaded part of her cargo to the CALCITE II. SLOAN was repaired in Toledo, OH. She was purchased by Lower Lakes Towing in 2001 and renamed c.) MISSISSAGI.

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1990

BUFFALO was able to leave the Saginaw River once it opened to traffic. The river was closed after the tanker JUPITER exploded as the BUFFALO passed.

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Contributors & Sources

Skip Gillham, Joe Barr, Dave Swayze, Father Dowling Collection, Max Hanley, Ahoy & Farewell II, and the Great Lakes Ships We Remember series from the Marine Historical Society of Detroit.

Compiled & Maintained by Roger LeLievre.

Unknown

The tug RESCUE was sent from Port Huron, MI, to Tawas, MI, to release the 246-foot barge OCEAN that was grounded. After pulling the barge free, Captain Fitch of RESCUE began towing her down Lake Huron, but the storm got so bad that he was about to turn back and run for Tawas. However, the captain of OCEAN yelled that they were all right and to go ahead down the lake. Soon the seas got the better of the barge. The tug kept with her until she was about to sink. Then the line was cut, the tug turned about, ran under her lee, and rescued her crew of nine from the lifeboat. The barge sank. On the way down Lake Huron, opposite Port Sanilac, MI, the RESCUE picked up six men and one woman from the wrecked barge JOHN F. RUST. In this one trip, the RESCUE earned her name by rescuing 16 persons!

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1844

DAYTON (two-masted wooden schooner; 69 feet; 85 tons; built in 1835 at Grand Island, NY) capsized and sank in Lake Erie off Dunkirk, NY, in a terrific gale. All onboard were lost.

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1854

JOHN J. AUDUBON (wooden brig; 370 tons; built in 1854 at Black River, OH) was carrying railroad iron from Buffalo, NY, to Chicago, IL, when she was struck amidships by the schooner DEFIANCE on a dark night halfway between Thunder Bay on Lake Huron and Presque Isle, MI. AUDUBON was cut almost in half. Both vessels sank quickly. No lives were lost.

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1863

E.S. ADAMS (three-masted wooden bark; 135 feet; 341 gross tons; built in 1857 at Port Robinson, ON) was carrying 18,500 bushels of wheat on a clear night when she collided with the American bark CONSTITUTION, resulting in the loss of the ADAMS. One life was lost. Neither vessel was blamed for the accident.

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1875

The wooden schooner F.C. LEIGHTON was loaded with ore when she struck a rock in the St. Marys River and sank a few miles from DeTour, MI. A tug was sent right away to raise her.

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1898

The SHENANGO NO. 2 (later PERE MARQUETTE 16) was arriving Milwaukee, WI, when her steering gear failed, causing her to crash into a grain elevator that was under construction.

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1906

The JAMES S. DUNHAM was launched for the Chicago Navigation Co. (D. Sullivan & Co., manager) of Duluth, MN. She was renamed b.) LYNFORD E. GEER in 1926 and c.) OTTO M. REISS in 1934. The vessel was scrapped at Castellón, Spain, in 1973.

PETER A.B. WIDENER was launched for the Pittsburgh Steamship Co. (later the U.S. Steel Corp. in 1952) of Cleveland, OH.

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1916

The whaleback JAMES B. COLGATE sank off Long Point in Lake Erie with a loss of 26. The lone survivor was Captain Walter J. Grashaw, who was picked up two days after the sinking. Captain Grashaw had sailed as First Mate on the COLGATE for 10 years and was conducting his first trip as her captain. The “Black Friday” storm also claimed the MERIDA, D.L. FLYER, and M.F. BUTTERS.

MERIDA (steel propeller bulk freighter; 360 feet; 3,261 gross tons; built in 1893 at West Bay City, MI) was heavily loaded with iron ore when she encountered the “Black Friday” storm on Lake Erie. She sank about 24 miles east of Erieau, ON. All 24 onboard were lost. A few days later, the wheelhouse was found floating 15 miles south of Port Stanley, ON. 21 bodies were eventually found, but not the bodies of Captain Harry L. Jones or crewman Wilfred Austin. The wreck was found in 1975 by Larry Jackson, a commercial fisherman.

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1926

The keel was laid for the twin-screw lake passenger and railcar ferry WABASH (Hull #177) of the Toledo Shipbuilding Co.

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1973

The SCOTT MISENER of 1954 proceeded to the Port Arthur, ON, shipyard for dry docking and repairs after striking bottom on October 15, 1973, near Whaleback Shoal on the St. Lawrence River.

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Contributors & Sources

Joe Barr, Dave Swayze, Max Hanley, Russ Plumb, Father Dowling Collection, Ahoy & Farewell II, and the Great Lakes Ships We Remember series from the Marine Historical Society of Detroit.

Compiled & Maintained by Roger LeLievre.

1886

W.L. BROWN (wooden propeller freighter; 140 feet; 336 gross tons; built in 1872 at Oshkosh, WI, as NEPTUNE) was carrying iron ore from Escanaba, MI, for De Pere, WI. A storm struck while she was on Green Bay. She sprang a leak 1 mile from Peshtigo Reef and went down in 76 feet of water. No lives were lost. All of her outfits and machinery were removed the following summer. This vessel’s first enrollment was issued at Milwaukee, WI, on April 22, 1873, as NEPTUNE, but this enrollment was surrendered at Milwaukee on September 30, 1880, endorsed as “broken up.” However, she was re-enrolled as a new vessel at Milwaukee on June 15, 1880, having been rebuilt by A.L. Johnson at Green Bay, WI, as the W.L. BROWN.

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1891

The Anchor Line’s CONEMAUGH (wooden propeller passenger/package freight steamer; 251 feet; 1,609 gross tons; built in 1880 at West Bay City, MI) and the Union Line’s NEW YORK (wooden propeller package freighter; 269 feet; 1,922 gross tons; built in 1879 at Buffalo, NY) collided on the Detroit River at 19:30. The CONEMAUGH sank close to the Canadian shore. She was carrying flour and other package freight from Chicago, IL, to Buffalo. She was later raised and repaired and lasted until 1906 when she was lost in a storm on Lake Erie.

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1912

Two were lost when the wooden steamer PINE LAKE sank in the Detroit River near Belle Isle following a collision with FLEETWOOD (i). The hull was later dynamited as a hazard to navigation.

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1913

C.W. ELPHICKE began leaking in a storm on Lake Erie and was beached near the Long Point lighthouse. The downbound, grain-laden wooden freighter was a total loss, but the crew was saved.

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1914

JAMES A. FARRELL and fleetmate RICHARD TRIMBLE were the first vessels to lock downbound in the newly-opened Davis Lock at the Soo.

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1923

The crew on the SAMUEL MATHER was safely removed from the badly exposed steamer by the Eagle Harbor, MI, U.S. Life-Saving Service crew. She had run aground on October 20. The vessel was renamed b.) PATHFINDER in 1925, sold Canadian in 1968, and renamed c.) GODERICH. She was later renamed d.) SOO RIVER TRADER in 1980 and e.) PINEGLEN 1982 before being scrapped at Port Maitland, ON, in 1984.

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1941

AMERICA (steel tug; 80 feet; 123 gross tons; built in 1897, at Buffalo, NY) was on a cable along with the tug OREGON off Belle Isle in the Detroit River trying to pull the steel bulk freighter B.F. JONES off a bar. The cable tightened, pulling AMERICA out of the water and spinning her upside down. Six of the crew of 13 lost their lives. AMERICA was later recovered. AMERICA was renamed b.) MIDWAY in 1982 and c.) WISCONSIN in 1983.

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1954

GEORGE M. HUMPHREY set a record when she took aboard 22,605 gross tons of iron ore at Superior, WI. The record stood until 1960.

Captain Allen K. Hoxie, the skipper of the MILWAUKEE CLIPPER, retired.

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1969

JOHN PURVES was towing derrick scow 43 bound for Rogers City, MI, when the latter was lost.

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1980

The converted ELTON HOYT 2ND loaded her first cargo of 1,000 tons of pellets at Taconite Harbor, MN. After field-testing her new self-unloading gear, she loaded 21,000 tons of pellets for delivery to Chicago, IL.

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1986

It was announced that Canada Steamship Lines and Upper Lakes Group would merge CSL’s Collingwood shipyard and ULS’ Port Weller shipyard and create Canadian Shipbuilding & Engineering (1986) Ltd.

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1990

The JOHN B. AIRD arrived at Sarnia, ON, for repairs after suffering a conveyor belt fire a week earlier.

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Contributors & Sources

Skip Gillham, Joe Barr, Dave Swayze, Max Hanley, Russ Plumb, Father Dowling Collection, Ahoy & Farewell II, and the Great Lakes Ships We Remember series from the Marine Historical Society of Detroit.

Compiled & Maintained by Roger LeLievre.