Captain William H. Le Fleur of the Pere Marquette carferry fleet, known as “the Bear,” was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
1976
The carferry WOLFE ISLANDER III was inaugurated into service between Kingston and Wolfe Island Ontario. Later that night, two blocks over, a Kingston resident noticed the captain turning off the running lights of the ‘ol WOLFE ISLANDER as she joined her already winterized sister, the UPPER CANADA.
1972
CHRISTIANE SCHULTE, a West German Seaway trader, went aground at Khidhes Island, Cyprus, while on fire and was abandoned by the crew. The ship was traveling from Lattakia, Syria, to Mersin, Turkey, as b) CITTA DI ALESSANDRIA and was a total loss.
1977
The Israeli freighter TAMAR, a Seaway caller in 1959 and 1961, was gutted by a fire in the Aegean Sea south of Thira Island as c) ATHENA. The vessel, enroute from Mersin, Turkey, to Albania, was towed into Piraeus, Greece, on February 12. It was a total loss and scrapping began at Eleusis in January 1978.
1982
The Canadian tanker JAMES TRANSPORT spent 10 hours aground in the St. Lawrence near Batiscan, Quebec.
1988
ASHLAND, in a critically leaking condition, barely made Mamonel, Colombia, where she was scrapped.
1996
A shipboard fire caused extensive damage to the JEAN PARISIEN docked at the stone docks in Port Colborne. No one was injured in the blaze, which took two hours to extinguish and was the second one on board a ship in two days.
Contributors & Sources
Gerry Ouderkirk, Max Hanley, Brian Johnson, Ahoy & Farewell II, and the Great Lakes Ships We Remember series from the Marine Historical Society of Detroit.
Capt. William Bridges of Bay City and A.C. McLean of East Saginaw purchased the steamer D.W. POWERS (wooden propeller freighter, 140 foot, 303 gross tons, built in 1871, at Marine City, Michigan) for the lumber trade. This vessel had an interesting rebuild history. In 1895, she was rebuilt as a schooner-barge in Detroit, then in 1898, she was again rebuilt as a propeller driven steamer. She lasted until 1910, when she was abandoned.
1904
The PERE MARQUETTE 19 went aground on Fox Point, Wisconsin approaching Milwaukee in fog. Engulfed in ice and fog, she quickly filled with water.
1909
ALVA C. DINKEY (Hull #365) was launched at Lorain, Ohio by American Ship Building Co.
1952
The LIMESTONE (steel propeller tug, 87 foot 10 inches) was launched at Bay City, Michigan, by the Defoe Shipyard (Hull #423) for the Michigan Limestone and Chemical Company. Later she was sold to U.S. Steel and in 1983, to Gaelic Tug Company who renamed her b.) WICKLOW. She is currently owned by the Great Lakes Towing Company and is named c.) NORTH CAROLINA.
1962
HALLFAX (Hull#526) was launched at Port Glasgow, Scotland by William Hamilton & Co. Ltd.
1974
LORNA P, a.) CACOUNA was damaged by fire at Sorel, Quebec, which was ignited by a welder’s torch.
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.
HURON (Hull#132) was launched at Ecorse, Michigan, by Great Lakes Engineering Works for Wyandotte Transportation Co. She was scrapped at Santander, Spain in 1973.
1965
The Liberty ship GRAMMATIKI, which visited the Seaway for one trip in 1960, began leaking in heavy weather on the Pacific enroute from Tacoma, Washington, to Keelung, Taiwan, with a cargo of scrap. The vessel, also slated to be scrapped, was abandoned by the crew the next day and slowly sank.
1973
ENDERS M. VOORHEES closed the Soo Locks downbound.
1974
ROGER BLOUGH closed the Poe Lock after locking down bound for Gary, Indiana.
Contributors & Sources
Skip Gillham, Joe Barr, Brian Bernard, Father Dowling Collection, Ahoy & Farewell II, and the Great Lakes Ships We Remember series from the Marine Historical Society of Detroit.
ETRURIA (steel propeller freighter, 414 foot, 4,653 gross tons) was launched at West Bay City, Michigan, by West Bay City Ship Building Co. (Hull#604). She was built for the Hawgood Transit Company of Cleveland but only lasted three years. She sank in 1905, after colliding with the steamer AMASA STONE in the fog off Presque Isle Light in Lake Huron.
1983
EAGLESCLIFFE sank in shallow water at Galveston, Texas, while carrying a cargo of cattle freed for Tampico, Mexico. The ship developed hull cracks and subsequently broke in two during an August 1983 hurricane. The canal sized bulk carrier operated on the Great Lakes as a) EAGLESCLIFFE HALL (ii) from 1956 through 1971 and went south in 1974.
1984
While in lay-up a fire broke out in WILLIAM G. MATHER’s after accommodations, causing considerable damage to the galley and killing a vagrant from Salt Lake City, Utah, who started the fire.
1990
LE SAULE NO. 1 received a hole in the bow after striking the Yamachiche Beacon in the Lake St. Peter area of the St. Lawrence and went to Sorel for lay-up. The damage was later repaired at Les Mechins.
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.
JOHN V. MORAN, a wooden propeller package freighter (214 foot, 1,350 gross tons) built in 1888 at West Bay City, Michigan, by F. W. Wheeler & Co. (Hull#44), was cut by the ice and developed a severe leak during a mid-winter run on Lake Michigan. The iron passenger/package freight steamer NAOMI rescued the crew from the sinking vessel. The MORAN was last seen drifting with the ice about 20 miles off Muskegon, Michigan. She was a combination bulk and package freighter with hatches in her flanks as well as on her deck.
1901
The ALEXANDER LESLIE was launched as a.) J T HUTCHINSON (Hull # 405) at Cleveland, Ohio by American Ship Building Co.
1964
The Collingwood built tug PUGWASH (Hull 85 – 1930) was torn from its moorings at Harbour Grace, Newfoundland. The vessel drifted out to sea and sank.
1971
HOMER D. WILLIAMS suffered extensive fire damage to her side plating and forward lower cabins during her lay-up at Toledo, Ohio. The fire was started by a spark from welding that caused the tarpaulins stored in the hold to catch fire.
1995
The founder of Lake Michigan Carferry, Charles Conrad, died at the age of 77.
2009
The SONATA suffered engine failure in the Gulf of Finland and had to be towed to Talinn, Estonia, for repairs. It was arrested there, sold at auction and broken up for scrap locally. The ship had been a Great Lakes visitor first as c) RENTALA in 1988 and was back as d) MARY W. in 1990 and f) LANGESUND in 2000.
2023
The Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society announced the discovery of the 144-foot Barquentine NUCLEUS, which sank more than 150 years ago in Lake Superior. The vessel was found under 600 feet of water, about 40 miles northwest of Vermilion Point on Lake Superior. The NUCLEUS sank on Sept. 14, 1869, when it was going downbound from Marquette with a load of iron ore. She got caught in a bad storm on Lake Superior and started to take on water. The crew reportedly abandoned ship and took the lifeboat, and after one steamer passed them by, they were rescued by the schooner WORTHINGTON. The NUCLEUS had previously sunk twice, and in 1854 it rammed and sank the S.S. DETROIT in Lake Huron. She is one of the oldest ships to go down along the Lake Superior Shipwreck Coast. The society used a marine sonic technology side-scan sonar in the summer of 2021 and positively identified the wreck in 2022.
Cargill announced it had closed its grain elevator at Burns Harbor in Portage as of Jan. 31, saying a variety of current and expected market conditions led to the decision to not renew its lease. The elevator handled soybeans, corn and wheat on Lake Michigan with a storage capacity of 7.768 million bus, according to Sosland Publishing’s 2023 Grain & Milling Annual. The Ports of Indiana grain export terminal at Burns Harbor received by truck and rail and loaded barge, rail and truck. Cargill said it notified customers of its decision in September 2022.
Contributors & Sources
Skip Gillham, Max Hanley, Joe Barr, Father Dowling Collection, Brian Bernard, Ahoy & Farewell II, and the Great Lakes Ships We Remember series from the Marine Historical Society of Detroit.
NYANZA (wooden propeller freighter, 280 foot, 1,888 gross tons) was launched at F. W. Wheeler’s yard (Hull #63) in W. Bay City, Michigan by West Bay City Ship Building Co. In 1916, she was renamed LANDBO and she lasted until abandoned in 1920.
1906
UHLMANN BROTHERS was launched as a.) LOFTUS CUDDY (Hull#341) at Lorain, Ohio by American Ship Building Co.
1960
The MARKHAM (Twin Screw Hopper Suction Dredge) was delivered to the Army Corps of Engineers at Cleveland, Ohio.
1973
The CUNARD CAVALIER was launched at Seville, Spain. It first appeared on the lakes in 1978.
1975
A fire onboard CRISPIN OGLEBAY [a.) J.H. HILLMAN JR of 1943] caused $100,000 damage to the conveyor and tunnel while she was laid up at Toledo. The forward end of CRISPIN OGLEBAY is now ALGOMA TRANSFER (C.323003).
1981
A pair of former Seaway traders collided in the Mediterranean off Algiers and one sank. The FEDDY had been inland as b) SUNSEA in 1969, c) SAGA SAILOR in 1971 and as d) ELLY in 1976. It went to the bottom with the loss of 32 lives. This ship had been enroute from Boston to Volos, Italy, with a cargo of scrap steel. The second vessel, SOUNION, survived. It had been to the Great Lakes as a) SUGAR CRYSTAL in 1968 and was back as b) SOUNION in 1979. It sailed until scrapping at Gadani Beach, Pakistan, following arrival as c) MED VITORIA on April 17, 1993.
1982
TEXACO BRAVE (ii) was pushed off course by the ice and current and struck the bridge crossing the St. Lawrence at Quebec City damaging a mast and the radar. The vessel still sails as d) ALGOEAST.
1984
Scrapping of the Italian freighter b) VIOCA got underway at La Spezia, Italy. The ship made 8 trips through the Seaway as a) BAMBI from 1959 to 1964.
1984
The AEGIS FURY arrived at Shanghai, China, for scrapping as e) WELL RUNNER. The ship first came to the Great Lakes in 1972.
1998
The Ludington Daily News reported that a private investment group (later identified as Hydrolink) was planning to start cross-lake ferry service from Muskegon, Michigan to Milwaukee running two high-speed ferries.
Contributors & Sources
Skip Gillham, Max Hanley, Joe Barr, Brian Bernard, Dave Swayze, Historical Collections of the Great Lakes, Ahoy & Farewell II, and the Great Lakes Ships We Remember series from the Marine Historical Society of Detroit.
Albert Edgar Goodrich, the founder of the Goodrich Steamboat Line, was born in Hamburg, New York, near Buffalo.
1911
BEN W. CALVIN (Hull#388) was launched at Lorain, Ohio by American Ship Building Co.
1918
Amid blasts of whistles from nearby ships and factories and the cheers of several hundreds of people, the cargo steamer ASP was launched at the Polson Iron Works. Fears that the launching could not be carried out because of the thickness of the ice proved unfounded. Gangs of men cut away the ice barrier and at 3:20 the vessel slipped easily into the water without any mishap. Curiosity was aroused when one of the ice cutters found a three-foot alligator frozen just under the surface of the ice. Whether or not it escaped from some sailor or from the local zoo is not known.
1965
The keel was laid for ROY A. JODREY (Hull#186) at Collingwood, Ontario by Canadian Shipbuilding & Engineering Co. Ltd.
1970
NIXON BERRY was sold to Marine Salvage for scrap on in 1970, she was the former a.) MERTON E. FARR.
1971
The tanker IMPERIAL CORNWALL was retired.
1987
UNILUCK first came through the Seaway in 1977. The vessel was sailing as b) TINA when it reported water entering the engine room and cargo holds in the Sula Sea off the Philippines. The crew said they were abandoning the ship but no trace of them or their vessel was ever found.
1994
The tug MARY E. HANNAH and an empty fuel barge became trapped in the ice in the Pelee Passage on Lake Erie. The vessels were freed by the U.S. Coast Guard cutter NEAH BAY and the Canadian Coast Guard ship SAMUEL RISLEY.
Contributors & Sources
Skip Gillham, Joe Barr, Dave Swayze, Historical Collections of the Great Lakes, Ahoy & Farewell II, and the Great Lakes Ships We Remember series from the Marine Historical Society of Detroit.
