1879

AMAZON (wooden propeller freighter, 245 foot, 1,406 tons, built in 1873, at Trenton, Michigan) was carrying “provisions” – 900 tons of freight plus 7,000 barrels of flour – from Milwaukee to Grand Haven, Michigan. She struck the notorious bar off of Grand Haven in a gale and broke up. All 68 aboard survived. Her engine was later recovered.

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1880

THOMAS A. SCOTT (4-mast wooden schooner-barge, 207 foot, 1,159 tons, built in 1869, at Buffalo, New York as a propeller) was riding out a storm at anchor one mile off Milwaukee when she was struck by the big steamer AVON (wooden propeller, 251 foot, 1,702 gross tons, built in 1877, at Buffalo, New York). The SCOTT sank quickly. She had been bound from Chicago for Erie, Pennsylvania, with 44,000 bushels of corn. Three of her crew scrambled onto the AVON while the seven others took to the yawl and were towed in by the Lifesaving Service.

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1887

VERNON, enroute from Cheboygan to Chicago, foundered off Two Rivers, Wisconsin, in a sudden and violent Lake Michigan storm. Only one on board was saved while another 36 lives were lost.

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1892

The whaleback barge 127 (steel barge, 264 foot, 1,128 gross tons) was launched by the American Steel Barge Company of W. Superior, Wisconsin. She lasted until 1936, when she was scrapped at New Orleans, Louisiana.

ZACH CHANDLER (3 mast wooden schooner-barge, 194 foot, 727 gross tons, built in 1867, at Detroit, Michigan) was carrying lumber from Ashland, Wisconsin, in tow of the steamer JOHN MITCHELL when the two became separated in a northerly gale in Lake Superior. The CHANDLER was overwhelmed and broke up on shore about three miles east of Deer Park, Michigan. Five of the crew made it to shore in the lifeboat and the Lifesaving Service saved two others, but one perished. Three years earlier, the CHANDLER stranded at almost the same spot and sustained heavy damage.

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1906

The schooner WEST SIDE (wooden schooner, 138 foot, 324 gross tons, built in 1870, at Oswego, New York) was carrying pulpwood from Tobermory, Ontario, to Delray, Michigan, when she was caught in a severe gale on Lake Huron. There was no shelter and the vessel was lost about 25 mile off Thunder Bay Island. The skipper and his crew, consisting of his wife and three sons aged 10 to 18, abandoned in the yawl. They all suffered from exposure to the wind and waves, but luckily the FRANK H. PEAVEY (steel propeller freighter, 430 foot, 5,002 gross tons, built in 1901, at Lorain, Ohio) picked them up and brought them to Port Huron, Michigan.

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1907

CITY OF GRAND RAPIDS, a wooden passenger steamer recently brought into Canadian registry, caught fire while stopped at Tobermory for the night while enroute from Wiarton to Manitoulin Island. The blazing ship was cut loose, drifted into the bay and sank.

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1917

RISING SUN stranded at Pyramid Point, Lake Michigan, in snow and the 32 on board were rescued before the ship was broken apart by the surf.

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1924

GLENORCHY sank in Lake Huron, six miles ESE of Harbor Beach after a collision with the LEONARD B. MILLER. Dense fog mixing with smoke from forest fires were blamed for the accident. All on board were saved. No lives were lost but the GLENORCHY sank and the estimated damage to the two vessels was $600,000.

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1926

TORHAMVAN, built at Midland as CANADIAN LOGGER, was wrecked off Newfoundland after going aground in fog enroute to Montreal. Area residents rescued the crew.

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1929

The passenger and freight carrier WISCONSIN foundered off Kenosha, Wisconsin, with the loss of 16 lives.

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1942

NORLUNA, built at Chicago in 1919 as LAKE GETAWAY, stranded in Ungava Bay, off the coast of Labrador near Fort Chimo, and was a total loss.

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1951

After unloading grain at Buffalo, the PENOBSCOT was in a collision on the Buffalo River with the tanker barge MORANIA 130, pushed by the tug DAUNTLESS NO. 12. The barge was carrying gasoline and a terrible fire broke out. A total of 11 sailors, including two on the freighter, died from burns.

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1959

MARISCO had visited the Great Lakes as a) MOYRA and b) HEIKA. The ship foundered in the Gulf of Laconia, off Gythion, Greece, after developing a leak in the engineroom. It was enroute from Varna, Bulgaria, to Genoa, Italy, with iron ore.

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1968

GLOUCESTER CITY began Great Lakes trading in 1966. The ship was sailing as b) ST. JOHN when it put into Fort Dauphin, Malagasy Republic, with engine trouble on a voyage from Montreal to Djakarta, Indonesia. Two days later the vessel broke its moorings in a gale and was blown on a sandbank as a total loss.

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1973

The tug portion of the PRESQUE ISLE departed New Orleans, Louisiana.

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1976

ALGOLAKE (Hull# 211) was launched at Collingwood Shipyards, Ltd. for the Algoma Central Railway.

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1978

The Swedish freighter FREDBORG, b) FREDRIK RAGNE, a Great Lakes visitor under both names before and after the Seaway was opened, returned as c) ANASTASSIA in 1968. The vessel was towed out of Tema, Ghana, as e) GAYTA on this date in 1978 and scuttled in the deep waters of the Atlantic.

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1981

The H. C. HEIMBECKER’s last trip started at Thunder Bay, Ontario, with a load of grain bound for Owen Sound, Ontario where it was discovered that one of her boilers was cracked. When unloading was completed on October 30th, the HEIMBECKER proceeded under her own power to Ashtabula, Ohio, for scrapping.

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1983

The pieced-together CANADIAN EXPLORER (Hull#71) was christened at Port Weller Dry Docks. She was created from the bow section of the NORTHERN VENTURE and the stern of the CABOT. The stern of the EXPLORER is now the stern of the ALGOMA TRANSFER.

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1986

The JAMES R. BARKER, which had suffered an engine room fire, was lashed side-by-side to the thousand-foot WILLIAM J. DE LANCEY and towed to Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin for repairs.

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1987

While upbound with coal from Sandusky, Ohio, the ROGER M. KYES went aground on Gull Island Shoal in Lake Erie’s Middle Passage and began taking on water. About 3,000 tons of coal was transferred to the AMERICAN REPUBLIC after which the KYES freed herself the next morning. Damage from the grounding required extensive repairs. She was renamed b.) ADAM E. CORNELIUS in 1989.

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1991

The National Transportation Safety Board ruled that Total Petroleum was responsible for the fire that destroyed the tanker JUPITER because of faulty moorings and exonerated the BUFFALO from primary responsibility.

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Contributors & Sources

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

Compiled & Maintained by Roger LeLievre.

1863

TORRENT (2-mast wooden schooner, 125 foot, 412 gross tons, built in 1855, at Newport [Marine City], Michigan) was carrying railroad iron from Buffalo to Little Bay de Noc when she foundered in a storm on Lake Erie, 10 miles east of Port Stanley, Ontario. No lives were lost.

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1870

JOSEPH A. HOLLON (wooden barge, 107 foot, 158 gross tons, built in 1867, at E. Saginaw, Michigan) was in tow of the tug CLEMATIS (wooden tug, 179 tons, built in 1863, at Cleveland, Ohio) in a terrific gale on Lake Huron. The barge broke free and drifted off. The waves washed completely over her and the captain was swept overboard. Her cabins were destroyed. The next day the wife of the mate and another crewmember were rescued by the bark ONEONTA (wooden bark, 161 foot, 499 gross tons, built in 1862, at Buffalo, New York) and taken to Detroit, but the HOLLON was left to drift on the Lake. The newspapers listed her as “missing”. Five days later the vessel was found and was towed into Port Elgin, Ontario. A total of four lives were lost: three were missing and the fourth was found “lashed to a pump, dead, with his eyes picked out.”

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1873

During a storm, the schooner ANNABELLA CHAMBERS was wrecked on the islands off Toronto, Ontario. One sailor was washed overboard and lost. The skipper was rescued, but he had the dead body of his small son in his arms.

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1874

LOTTA BERNARD (wooden side wheel “rabbit”, 125 foot, 147 tons, built in 1869, at Port Clinton, Ohio) was carrying general merchandise from Silver Islet to Duluth when she foundered in a terrific gale off Encampment Island in Lake Superior. Three lives were lost. She was capable of only 4 miles per hour and was at the mercy of any fast-rising storm.

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1877

CITY OF TAWAS (3-mast wooden schooner, 135 foot, 291 tons, built in 1864, at Vicksburgh [now Marysville], Michigan as a sloop-barge) was carrying 500 tons of iron ore when she struck a bar outside the harbor at St. Joseph, Michigan, while attempting to enter during a storm. She drifted ashore with a hole in her bottom and was pounded to pieces. One brave crewman swam ashore with a line and the rest came in on it.

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1918

The bulk carrier VULCAN went aground off Point Abbaye, on Lake Superior and the pilothouse caught fire and burned. The ship was enroute to Hancock, MI with coal and, after being released, was towed to Houghton, MI. The vessel was repaired and became b) VINMOUNT in 1919.

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1947

The ISLE ROYALE (Canal bulk freighter) was launched as a.) SOUTHCLIFFE HALL for the Hall Corporation of Canada Ltd. (which in 1969, became Hall Corporation (Shipping) 1969 Ltd.), Montreal.

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1960

JOHN SHERWIN went aground several miles above the Soo Locks and received serious bottom damage. The vessel was pulled free on November 7 and went for repairs.

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1971

The PERE MARQUETTE 21 was laid up due to a coal strike. She never sailed again as a carferry.

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1973

AIGLE MARIN, enroute to Thorold with 600 tons of ferrous chrome, went aground in the Seaway near Cornwall, ON. The tug ROBINSON BAY helped pull this small coastal freighter, a product of the Collingwood Shipyard, free on October 31.

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1974

JOHN O. McKELLAR of the Misener fleet went aground in the St. Marys River and had to be lightered before being refloated. It was stuck for 3 days.

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1978

The Cypriot freighter KARYATIS came through the Seaway in 1973. The ship, later under the Greek flag, was damaged in a collision on the Western Mediterranean with the SPRING. The latter, as a) IRISH ROSE, had made been a Great Lakes visitor from 1956 through 1958, and was declared a total loss after the collision. It was scrapped at Santander, Spain, in 1979. KARYATIS was repaired and was later broken up at Gadani Beach, Pakistan, as e) NOURA after arrival on April 7, 1987.

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1980

The wooden-hulled former coastal freighter AVALON VOYAGER II, enroute to Owen Sound for planned use as a restaurant, had pump problems, lost power and struck bottom off Cape Hurd. The anchors failed to hold. The ship drifted into Hay Bay and stranded again. All on board were saved but the ship was a total loss.

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1985

The tugs GLENADA and MOUNT MC KAY towed the tanker AMOCO ILLINOIS from Essexville, Michigan, and arrived at the M&M slip in Windsor, Ontario, on November 1st. where she was to be scrapped.

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1987

The Maritimers CADILLAC and her fleetmate CHAMPLAIN arrived under tow by the Dutch tug/supply ship THOMAS DE GAUWDIEF at Aliaga, Turkey, to be scrapped.

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Contributors & Sources

Skip Gillham, Joe Barr, Dave Swayze, Max Hanley, 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.

1821

WALK-IN-THE-WATER (wooden side-wheeler, 135 foot, 339 tons, built in 1818, at Black Rock [Buffalo], New York) was wrecked on Point Abino, on the Canadian shore of Lake Erie during a storm. She was the first steam-powered vessel above Niagara and her frequent comings and goings during her career were very much in the newspapers in Detroit but her loss was not mentioned not at all since this steamer was virtually the only source of news from the east. Her engine was installed by Robert Fulton himself. After the wreck, it went into the steamer SUPERIOR and later ran a lumber mill in Saginaw, Michigan.

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1874

The tug FAVORITE was towing the schooner WILLIE NEELER on Lake Erie. At about 10:30 p.m., near Bar Point, the schooner suddenly sheered and before the to line could be cast off, the FAVORITE capsized and sank. One life was lost. The rest of the crew clung to the upper works, which had become dislodged from the vessel, and were rescued by the schooner’s lifeboats.

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1880

TRANCHEMONTAGNE (wooden schooner, 108 foot, 130 tons, built in 1864, at Sorel, Quebec) was loaded with rye and sailing in a storm on Lake Ontario. She struck the breakwater at Oswego, New York head-on at about 3:00 a.m. She stove in her bow and quickly sank. The crew took to the rigging, except for one who was washed overboard and rode a provision box from her deck to shore. The Lifesaving Service rescued the rest from the breakwater. The schooner broke up quickly in the storm.

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1883

CITY OF TORONTO (wooden passenger-package freight sidewheeler, 207 foot, 898 gross tons, built in 1864, at Niagara, Ontario) caught fire at the Muir Brothers shipyard at Port Dalhousie, Ontario and was totally destroyed. She previously had her paddle boxes removed so she could pass through the Welland Canal, and she was in the shipyard to have them reassembled that winter.

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1885

WILLIAM T. GRAVES stranded at North Manitou Island, Lake Michigan, and was a total loss.

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1888

A W LAWRENCE (wooden propeller tug, 72 foot, 51 gross tons, built in 1880, at Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin) blew her boiler at 2:30 a.m. off North Point near Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The tug quickly sank. Four of the six aboard were lost. None of their remains were ever found. The tug MERRILL rescued the cook and a passenger. The LAWRENCE was owned by Capt. Mc Coy & Banner and valued at $5,000.

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1911

The wooden lumber carrier D. LEUTY hit a squall off Marquette. The wooden steamer ran on the rocks off Lighthouse Point while trying to return to the harbor and was a total loss. The crew was saved and later the machinery was salvaged.

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1925

The CHARLES L. HUTCHINSON, a.) WILLIAM C. MORELAND, struck a reef overnight three miles south of Manitou Island, off the Keweenaw Peninsula, on Lake Superior.

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1929

SENATOR and MARQUETTE collided in fog on Lake Michigan and the former sank with the loss of 10 lives.

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1942

The CADILLAC was launched as a.) LAKE ANGELINE.

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1952

The Swedish vessel RYHOLM was hit portside ahead of the bridge by the Swiss freighter BASILEA and beached 23 miles below Quebec City. The former had been a pre-Seaway visitor to the Great Lakes and was not salvaged until June 6, 1953. It became CARLSHOLM in 1957 and last came inland in 1967. The ship was scrapped at Aviles, Spain, as d) ARCHON in 1972.

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1966

While down bound in the St. Marys River loaded with 11,143 tons of potash for Oswego, New York, the HALLFAX ran aground on a rocky reef and settled to the bottom with her hold full of water. She had grounded on Pipe Island Twins Reef just north of DeTour, Michigan.

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1973

The H. M. GRIFFITH entered service for Canada Steamship Lines on her maiden voyage bound for Thunder Bay, Ontario to load iron ore for Hamilton, Ontario. The GRIFFITH was rebuilt with a new larger forward section and renamed b.) RT. HON PAUL J. MARTIN in 2000.

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1975

The tug JESSE JAMES operated on the Great Lakes from 1923 to 1966. It caught fire and sank as c) BALEEN about 30 miles southeast of Boston. All on board were saved.

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1978

The EDWIN H. GOTT was christened.

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1983

CANADIAN EXPLORER’s sea trials were conducted on Lake Erie where a service speed of 13.8 m.p.h. was recorded.

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1983

The SYLVANIA was towed out of Toledo’s Frog Pond by the harbor tugs ARKANSAS and WYOMING. She was handed over to the tug OHIO for delivery to the Triad Salvage Co., at Ashtabula, Ohio, arriving there on November 1st. Dismantling was completed there in 1984. Thus ended 78 years of service. Ironically the SYLVANIA, the first built of the 504-foot-class bulkers, was the last survivor of that class. During her career with Columbia Transportation, the SYLVANIA had carried over 20 million tons and netted over $35 million.

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1984

At approximately 10:30 p.m., the international railroad bridge at Sault Ste. Marie went askew and blocked boat traffic until 3:40 p.m. on Nov. 2. Twelve boats were delayed up to 41 hours by the incident, costing operators an estimated $350,000.

ELMGLEN cleared Owen Sound, Ontario, on her first trip in Parrish & Heimbecker colors.

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1991

The MAHOGANY visited the Seaway in 1978 and as b) CARDIFF in 1981. It was sailing as f) PANAGHIA PHANEROMENI when in collision with the AQUILLA off Piraeus Roads. The ship was repaired at Perama, Greece, before it returned to service in January 1992.

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2005

The Canfornav bulk carrier EIDER was only one year old when it ran aground near Famagusta, Chile, while inbound to load copper ore. The ship was damaged but refloated and repaired at Balboa, Panama. It was back through the Seaway in 2006 and has been a frequent caller since then.

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Contributors & Sources

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

Compiled & Maintained Roger LeLievre.

1862

BLACK HAWK (wooden brig, 138 foot, 385 tons, built in 1854, at Ohio City, Ohio) was carrying 19,000 bushels of corn and some stained glass when a gale drove her ashore and wrecked her near Point Betsie. In 1858, this vessel had sailed from Detroit, Michigan to Liverpool, England and back.

CHIEF JUSTICE MARSHALL (2-mast wooden schooner, 105 foot, 182 tons, built in 1830, at Cape Vincent, New York) was driven aground between Dunkirk and Barcelona, New York during a storm. All hands were lost and the vessel was a total loss.

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1880

NINA BAILEY (wooden schooner, 30 tons, built in 1873, at Ludington, Michigan) filled with water and went out of control in a storm on Lake Michigan. She struck the North Pier at St. Joseph, Michigan and capsized. Her crew climbed up on her keel and was rescued by the Lifesaving Service. The vessel later broke up in the waves.

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1907

WILLIAM E. REIS settled on the bottom of the St. Clair River following a collision with the MONROE C. SMITH. It was finally refloated for good on December 7 after several earlier efforts were short lived. The former last sailed as SASKADOC in 1966.

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1908

TELEGRAM, a wooden passenger and freight carrier, stranded at Horse Island, Rattlesnake Harbour, Georgian Bay. The ship caught fire when the stove upset and the vessel was a total loss. All on board were rescued.

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1912

The barge P.B. LOCKE, under tow of the JUNO, was lost in a storm on Lake Ontario enroute from Pointe Anne to Toronto.

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1916

MAITLAND NO 1 made her maiden voyage from Ashtabula, Ohio to Port Maitland, Ontario, transporting rail cars with coal for the steel mills at Hamilton, Ontario.

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1917

ALVA B (wooden steam tug, 74 foot, 84 gross tons, built in 1890, at Buffalo, New York) apparently mistook amusement park lights for the harbor markers at Avon Lake, Ohio during a storm. She struck bottom in the shallows and was destroyed by waves.

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1921

The Canadian wooden freighter CANOBIE, a) IRON KING received major storm damage on Lake Erie and arrived at Erie, Pa., in a leaking condition. The ship was stripped of valuable parts and abandoned. It later caught fire and subsequently scuttled about 2 miles offshore.

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1924

GLENLYON stranded at Menagerie Island, Siskiwit Bay, Lake Superior while enroute to Port Colborne with 150,000 bushels of wheat. It had been seeking shelter in a storm but grounded as a total loss and then sank over the winter. All on board were saved.

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1929

KEYSTATE and the schooner MAGGIE L. collided in the St. Lawrence near Clayton, NY, and the latter was lost.

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1943

LEHIGH, Captain Edward P. Fitch in command, cleared the Great Lakes Engineering Works yard at River Rouge, Michigan, to begin her maiden trip. The LEHIGH was one of two Maritimers (the other was the STEELTON) acquired by Bethlehem Steel Corp. as part of a government program to upgrade and increase the capacity of the Great Lakes fleet during World War II. Bethlehem exchanged three older vessels, the JOHNSTOWN of 1905, the SAUCON, and the CORNWALL, plus cash for the two Maritimers.

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1956

JAMES B. EADS and fleetmate GREY BEAVER were in a collision in western Lake Ontario and both received bow damage.

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1957

The Mackinac Bridge was opened to traffic.

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1965

High winds blew the Taiwanese freighter KALLY aground on a mud bank at Essexville, MI while inbound to load a cargo of scrap. The ship was released the next day.

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1978

The Grand Trunk Western Railway was granted permission by the Interstate Commerce Commission to discontinue its Lake Michigan service between Muskegon, Michigan and Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and thus the CITY OF MILWAUKEE (steel propeller carferry, 347 foot, 2,988 gross tons, built in 1931, at Manitowoc, Wisconsin) made her last run for Grand Trunk’s rail car ferry service. She was then chartered to Ann Arbor Railroad. She is currently a museum ship at Manistee, Michigan.

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1984

Port Maitland Shipbreaking Ltd. began scrapping P & H Shipping’s f.) ELMGLEN. She had a long career, being built in 1909, at Ecorse, Michigan as the a.) SHENANGO (steel propeller bulk freighter, 580 foot. 8,047 gross tons).

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1986

SCOTT MISENER of 1954 returned to service in the grain trade after a 3-year lay-up.

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2000

The Panamanian freighter OXFORD was only two years old when it came through the Seaway in November 1984. It got caught in typhoon Xangsene, as d) MANILA SPIRIT, on this date. The ship, still flagged in Panama, was driven aground and then sank off Hualien, Taiwan. One crewman was apparently able to swim to shore but the other 23 sailors were missing and presumed lost.

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Contributors & Sources

Data from: Skip Gillham, Joe Barr, Dave Swayze, Jody Aho, Russ Plumb, Father Dowling Collection, Ahoy & Farewell II, and the Great Lakes Ships We Remember series from the Marine HIstorical Society of Detroit.

1862

BAY STATE (wooden propeller, 137 foot, 372 tons, built in 1852, at Buffalo, New York) was bound for Lake Erie ports from Oswego, New York when she broke up offshore in a terrific gale in the vicinity of Oswego. All 22 onboard, including six passengers, lost their lives. The shoreline was strewn with her wreckage for miles.

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1874

PREBLE (2-mast wooden schooner, 98 foot, 166 tons, built in 1842, at Buffalo, New York as a brig) was lost in a storm off Long Point on Lake Erie and broke up in the waves. The steamer ST PAUL rescued her crew.

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1878

During the first week of November 1878, The Port Huron Times reported wrecks and mishaps that occurred during a severe storm that swept over the Lakes on Friday and Saturday, 1-3 November. The information was reported on 2, 4 & 5 November as the reports came in. The same reports will appear here starting today: The Port Huron Times of 2 November 1878: “The schooner L. C. WOODRUFF of Cleveland is ashore at the mouth of the White River with her foremast gone. She is loaded with corn. Three schooners went ashore at Grand Haven Friday morning, the AMERICA, MONTPELIER, and AUSTRALIAN. One man was drowned off the AUSTRALIAN. The schooner WORTS is ashore and full of water on Beaver Island. Her cargo consists of pork for Collingwood. The tug LEVIATHAN has gone to her aid. The schooner LAKE FOREST is ashore at Hammond’s Bay, Lake Huron, and is full of water. She has a cargo of corn aboard. The tug A J SMITH has gone to her rescue. The barge S. C. WOODRUFF has gone down in 13 feet of water off Whitehall and her crew is clinging to the rigging at last accounts. A lifeboat has been sent to her relief. The barge RUTTER is in 25 feet of water and all the crew are now safe.”

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1889

FRANCIS PALMS (wooden schooner, 173 foot, 560 tons, built in 1868, at Marine City, Michigan, as a bark) was sailing from Escanaba to Detroit with a load of iron ore when she was driven ashore near Beaver Island in Lake Michigan. Her entire crew was taken off by the tug GLADIATOR that also pulled in vain while trying to free the PALMS. The PALMS was pounded to pieces by the storm waves. November was a bad month for the PALMS since she had previously been wrecked on Long Point in Lake Erie in November 1874, and again at Duluth in November 1872.

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1910

The WILLIAM C. MORELAND was abandoned to the underwriters as a constructive total loss, amounting to $445,000. She had stranded on Sawtooth Reef off Eagle Harbor, Michigan, on Lake Superior in mid October.

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1912

JUNO, which had lost the barge P.B. LOCKE the previous day on Lake Ontario, arrived safely at Cobourg and then sank at the dock.

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1923

The wooden steamer WESEE caught fire in Lake Erie off Middle Bass Island and burned as a total loss. The crew took to the yawl boats and all were saved.

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1924

TURRET CROWN (steel propeller “turret ship,” 253 foot, 1,827 tons, built in 1895, in England) was driven ashore in a gale on Meldrum Point on the north side of Manitoulin Island on Lake Huron. Her hull was wrecked during the storms that winter. She was cut up and removed for scrap the following year.

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1948

FRANK ARMSTRONG collided head-on with the c.) JOHN J. BOLAND of 1905, a.) STEPHEN B. CLEMENT, in a heavy fog on Lake Erie near Colchester, Ontario. Both vessels were badly damaged and resulted in one fatality on the BOLAND. The ARMSTRONG was towed to Toledo, Ohio, for repairs.

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1956

The former schooner J.T. WING, which had operated as a museum at Belle Isle in Detroit until condemned due to rotting timbers, was burned.

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1959

The keel of the new section, identified as Hull #28, was laid down. A new forward pilothouse and a hatch crane were installed and her steam turbine engine and water tube boilers were reconditioned. The vessel was named c.) RED WING after the Detroit Red Wing hockey team, honoring a long association with Upper Lakes Shipping and James Norris, the founder of ULS, and his two sons, James D. and Bruce, owners of the National Hockey League team.

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1961

PAUL H. CARNAHAN was christened at the foot of West Grand Boulevard in Detroit, Michigan. She had been converted from the tanker b.) ATLANTIC DEALER to a dry bulk cargo carrier by American Ship Building Co. at Lorain, Ohio and came out on her maiden bulk freighter voyage just two weeks before this christening ceremony.

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1971

The Lake Michigan carferry BADGER was laid up due to a coal strike.

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1972

The A. E. NETTLETON’s towline parted from the OLIVE L. MOORE during a snowstorm with gale force winds 17 miles west of the Keweenaw Peninsula on Lake Superior. The barge developed a 15-degree list when her load of grain shifted. Three of her five-member crew were air lifted by a U.S.C.G. helicopter to the MOORE to assist in re-rigging the towline. The NETTLETON was towed the next day into the Lily Pond on the Keweenaw Waterway to trim her cargo.

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1981

H.C. HEIMBECKER arrived under her own power to Ashtabula, Ohio, for scrappinng.

FROSSO K., an SD 14 ocean freighter, suffered an engine room fire enroute from Vancouver to Japan. The ship was towed back to Vancouver November 15 and repaired. It first came through the Seaway in 1974 and arrived at Cartagena, Columbia, under tow, for scrapping on February 15, 1995, as e) MAMER.

The West German freighter POSEIDON first came through the Seaway in 1962 and became a regular inland trader. It was abandoned, in leaking condition on this date, as e) VIKI K. in the Red Sea. There was some suspicion that the vessel was scuttled as part of an insurance fraud.

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1984

The tugs ATOMIC and ELMORE M. MISNER towed the ERINDALE, a.) W.F. WHITE, to the International Marine Salvage scrap dock at Port Colborne, Ontario, where demolition began that month.

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1988

PETER MISENER struck a shoal while upbound in the Saguenay River for Port Alfred with coke. There was major damage and the ship went to Montreal for repairs.

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2001

AUDACIOUS stranded at Keleman Island, Indonesia, but was refloated two days later. The damage was severe and the vessel was laid up at Singapore and then sold to shipbreakers. The ship arrived at Alang, India, to be broken up, on April 27, 2002. The ship visited the Great Lakes as a) WELSH VOYAGER in 1977, and returned as b) LONDON VOYAGER in 1982 and c) OLYMPIC LEADER in 1983. It made its first inland voyage as d) AUDACIOUS in 1996 and its final call in 2000.

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2022

WorkBoat magazine names MARK W. BARKER one of 2022’s 10 Significant Boats.

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Contributors & Sources

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

1855

DELAWARE (wooden propeller, 173 foot, 368 tons, built in 1846, at Black River, Ohio) was carrying general merchandise from Chicago to Buffalo with a stop at Milwaukee. She was driven ashore by a gale eight miles south of Sheboygan, Wisconsin and sank. Ten or 11 of the 18 on board lost their lives. Within a few days, only her arches were visible above the water.

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1898

PACIFIC (wooden propeller passenger/package freighter, 179 foot, 918 gross tons, built in 1883, at Owen Sound, Ontario) caught fire at the Grand Trunk dock at Collingwood, Ontario. She burned to a shell despite a concerted effort to save her. She was later towed out into Georgian Bay and scuttled.

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1907

Tug ESCORT (wooden propeller, 45 foot, 40 gross tons, built in 1894, at Port Colborne, Ontario) tried to pass the barge BEN J HARRISON at the mouth of the Niagara River. In a navigational error, the tug sheared under the barge’s bow, was run over and sunk. Three lives were lost.

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1928

CANADIAN TRADER was Hull 39 of the Port Arthur shipyard. Following a sale to Japanese interests, the ship departed Seattle on this date in 1928 on its delivery voyage, still as c) GUILDA SCUDERI, and was never seen again.

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1952

B. A. PEERLESS sailed on her maiden voyage bound for Superior, Wisconsin, where 110,291 barrels of crude oil were loaded destined for British-American’s refinery at Clarkson, Ontario. The PEERLESS was built for the express purpose of transporting crude oil from the Interprovincial / Lakehead Pipeline terminus at Superior to B / A’s Clarkson refinery. The vessel lasted until 1991, when she was broken up.

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1953

The tug J.A. CORNETT went hard aground about seven miles north of Clayton, NY and was leaking badly. The vessel was eventually refloated and survived at Port Dover, ON at least as recently as 2011. It has been laid up there since 1992 and is now in derelict condition.

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1965

The tug MISEFORD was towing the barge CHARLES W. JOHNSON when they were caught in a storm on the St. Marys River. The tug was pulled over on her side and rested on the bottom. MISEFORD was salvaged in the spring of 1966 and remains in service in 2024 as a harbor tug at Thunder Bay, Ont.

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1981

Dismantling of the H. C. HEIMBECKER began by Triad Salvage Company at Ashtabula, Ohio, and was completed the following year. This vessel was originally named GEORGE W. PERKINS (steel bulk freighter, 556 foot, 6,553 gross tons, built in 1905, at Superior, Wisconsin.

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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.

1856

J W BROOKS (wooden propeller, 136 foot, 322 tons, built in 1851, at Detroit) was carrying provisions and copper ingots to Ogdensburg, New York in a storm when she foundered on Lake Ontario, 8 miles northeast of False Ducks Light. Estimates of the loss of lives range from 22 to 50. In July 1857, she was partially raised and some of her cargo was recovered. She only had a five year career, but besides this final incident, she had her share of disasters. In July 1855, she had a boiler explosion and in May of that same year, she sank in Canadian waters.

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1875

SWAN (wooden propeller tug, 11 gross tons, built in 1862, at Buffalo, New York) caught fire while lying out in the Saginaw River near East Saginaw. She was abandoned by the crew and burned to the water’s edge.

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1877

MARY BOOTH (wooden scow-schooner, 132 tons, built in 1857, at Buffalo, New York) was carrying maple lumber in a storm in Lake Michigan. She became waterlogged but her crew doggedly clung to her until she appeared ready to turn turtle. Then her crew abandoned her and she rolled over. She drifted in the lake for several days. The crew landed at White Lake, Michigan and they were near death.

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1878

From The Port Huron Times: “The propeller CITY OF MONTREAL is believed to have gone down on Lake Michigan on Friday [1 NOV 1878]. The schooner LIVELY, laden with coal for Bay City, is reported ashore 6 miles above Sand Beach, having gone on at 12 o’clock Sunday night [3 NOV 1878]. The schooner WOODRUFF, ashore at Whitehall, is a total loss. Two men were drowned, one died from injuries received, and Capt. Lingham was saved. The tugs E M PECK and MYSTIC, which went from the Sault to the assistance of the propeller QUEBEC, were wrecked near where she lies, one being on the beach and the other sunk below her decks. Both crews were rescued and were taken to St. Joseph Island.”

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1883

MAYFLOWER (wooden propeller freighter “steam barge,” 185 foot, 623 gross tons, built in 1852, at Buffalo, New York) was carrying lumber when she stranded in a gale off Point Abino near Buffalo, New York where the waves pounded her to pieces. The crew made it to shore in the yawl. She was built as a very fine passenger steamer for the Western Transportation Line then in 1868, she was rebuilt as a “steam barge.”

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1891

The iron freighter NORTH, which had become the first ocean ship to be cut in two and brought to the Great Lakes, arrived at Collingwood to be rebuilt as b) CAMPANA for the passenger & freight trades on the upper lakes.

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1898

The wooden passenger and freight steamer PACIFIC burned at the Grand Trunk Railway dock in Collingwood along with the freight sheds and their contents. The blaze had begun the previous evening and roared for hours. The vessel was valued at $65,000.

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1905

JOSEPH G. BUTLER JR (steel bulk freighter, 525 foot, 6,588 gross tons) was launched at Lorain, Ohio for the Tonopah Steamship Co. (Hutchinson & Co., mgr.). She lasted until 1971, when she was stripped of her cabins and scuttled, along with HENRY R. PLATT JR., at Steel Co. of Canada plant, Burlington Bay, Hamilton, Ontario, as breakwater and fill.

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1925

CHARLES L. HUTCHINSON developed a sizable leak and almost sank during her tow to Superior after she struck a reef a few nights before.

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1942

ROBERT C. STANLEY’s keel was laid.

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1950

CSL’s NIPIGON BAY was launched.

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1952

JOSEPH H. THOMPSON entered service and departed Chicago on its first trip, becoming not only the largest vessel on the Great Lakes but also the longest dry bulk cargo vessel in the world.

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1953

The Great Lakes Steamship Company steamer NORWAY passed downbound through the Soo Locks with 6,609 tons of rye. This cargo increased the total tonnage transiting the locks in 1953 to 120,206,088 tons – a new one-season tonnage record. Renamed b.) RUTH HINDMAN in 1964, she was scrapped at Thunder Bay, Ontario in 1978.

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1959

WESTRIVER arrived at Halifax for repairs after an earlier engine room explosion on Lake Superior had left the ship with significant damage.

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1967

PEARL LIGHT, a World War II Empire ship, came through the Seaway for one trip in 1965. It was wrecked off Vietnam as g) HABIB MARIKAR while enroute from Dalian, China, to Chittagong, Bangladesh, with bagged cement. One life was lost.

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1972

UNITED STATES GYPSUM of 1910 grounded at Toledo, Ohio, resulting in damage totaling $125,000. Her propeller was removed and the rudder shaft was locked in position to finish the season as a manned barge on the coal run from Toledo to Detroit, Michigan.

INLAND TRANSPORT went aground off Garden Island Bank, near Little Current, Manitoulin Island, and received major hull damage that led to the retirement of that Halco tanker after one more trip.

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1975

Setting the stage for the fateful storm that followed less than a week later that sank the EDMUND FITZGERALD, many locations in Minnesota and Wisconsin were setting all-time record high temperatures for the month of November during the period of November 4-6, 1975. Grand Marais, Minnesota, reached 67 degrees on November 5 and Superior reached 74 degrees on November 6, both all-time records for the month. Many other notable Great Lakes storms, including the Armistice Day storm of 1940, and the storm that sank the HENRY STEINBRENNER in 1953, were proceeded by record-setting warm weather.

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1977

CARTIERCLIFFE HALL was registered at Toronto, Ontario, but didn’t enter service until the spring of 1978 because of mechanical difficulties during her sea trials.

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1978

HERON BAY proceeded under her own power to Lauzon, Quebec, for her final lay-up.

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1980

The tug LAUREN CASTLE sank while towing the AMOCO WISCONSIN near Lee Point in Traverse Bay. Engineer William Stephan was lost.

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1986

TEXACO CHIEF was renamed A.G. FARQUHARSON. She was renamed c.) ALGONOVA (i) in 1998.

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1991

CARLI METZ struck the wall below Lock 2 of the Welland Canal and the vessel had to go to Port Weller Dry Docks for repairs. It had been inbound for the first time earlier in the year and returned in 1992. It was scrapped at Chittagong, Bangladesh, as d) METZ ITALIA in 2001.

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1993

ZIEMIA ZAMOJSKA, while under tow, struck the raised 106th Street Bridge on the Calumet River at Chicago resulting in damage to the structure and traffic problems. The corn-laden vessel received a hole in the port bow, which was repaired at Montreal.

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2000

CALCITE II departed Cleveland at 5:30 a.m. on her last trip for USS Great Lakes Fleet. She sailed upbound for Sarnia, Ontario, where she spent the winter in lay-up. Grand River Transportation had entered into a sale agreement with USS Great Lakes Fleet, Inc. for the purchase of the CALCITE II, GEORGE A. SLOAN and MYRON C. TAYLOR. Built as the WILLIAM G. CLYDE in 1929, CALCITE II is awaiting scrapping as c.) MAUMEE.

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Contributors & Sources

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