CITY OF BUFFALO (wooden propeller, 340 feet, 2,026 tons, built in 1857 at Buffalo, New York, as a side-wheeler) was unloading 72,000 bushels of wheat at the Sturgis Elevator at Buffalo, New York, when arsonists set fire to the complex. The fire destroyed the wharf, the elevator, several businesses and the ship. The arsonists were caught. Incidentally, the CITY OF BUFFALO was converted from a passenger side-wheeler to a propeller freighter during the winter of 1863–1864. After the conversion, she was dubbed “the slowest steam craft on the lakes.”
1871
The 162-foot bark HARVEY BISSELL was carrying lumber from Toledo to Tonawanda, New York. When she was on the western end of Lake Erie, she sprang a leak. Although the crew worked the hand-powered pumps constantly, the water kept gaining at a rate of about a foot an hour. The tug KATE WILLIAMS took her in tow, intending to get her to Detroit to be repaired, but this proved impossible. The BISSELL was towed close to Point Pelee and allowed to sink in 14 feet of water. The WILLIAMS then left for Detroit to get steam pumps and other salvage equipment. On returning, they pumped out the BISSELL, refloated and repaired her. She lasted until 1905.
1872
The Port Huron dry dock launched SANDY, a lighter. Her dimensions were 75 feet x 20 feet x 5 feet.
1873
George Hardison of Detroit announced the beginning of a new shipyard in Port Huron, Michigan. It would be located above the 7th St. Bridge on the Black River on land owned by J. P. Haynes, accessible by River St. Within 30 days of this announcement, the new yard had orders for two three-and-aft-rigged canalers for delivery in the spring of 1874. Their dimensions were to be 146 feet overall with a 139-foot keel, 26-foot beam and 11.5-foot depth.
1952
GORDON C. LEITCH (i) (Hull #36) was launched at Midland, Ontario, by Canadian Shipbuilding & Engineering Ltd. for the Upper Lakes & St. Lawrence Transportation Co. Ltd., Toronto, Ontario. She departed Quebec on July 29, 1985, in tandem tow with R. BRUCE ANGUS and arrived at Setubal, Portugal, on August 20, 1985. Scrapping was done there by Joao Luis Russo & Filhos Ltda.
1959
The Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker CCGS ALEXANDER HENRY entered service. Since 1985, the HENRY has served as a museum in Kingston, Ontario, and later Thunder Bay, Ontario.
1996
The Boatnerd News site was launched.
CSL’s self-unloader H.M. GRIFFITH, which was off Whitefish Bay in Lake Superior and bound for Nanticoke, Ontario, with a load of 22,775 tons of western coal, had a spontaneous combustion fire in her number two cargo hold. Water was used to cool the fire, and the GRIFFITH used her unloading boom to dump 3,000 tons of coal into Lake Superior. After an inspection by the USCG at the Soo the following day revealed only minor damage, the vessel was cleared to proceed on her journey. She was reconstructed and renamed b.) RT. HON. PAUL J. MARTIN in 2000.
Contributors & Sources
Skip Gillham, Joe Barr, Dave Swayze, Lake Huron Lore Society, Mike Nicholls, Father Dowling Collection, Ahoy & Farewell II and the Great Lakes Ships We Remember series from the Marine Historical Society of Detroit.
ACORN (wooden schooner, 84 feet, 125 tons, built in 1842 at Black River, Ohio) was struck amidships by the propeller TROY near West Sister Island in Lake Erie. She sank quickly, but no lives were lost since all hands made it to the TROY.
1850
AMERICA (wooden side-wheeler, 240 feet, 1,083 tons, built in 1847 at Port Huron, Michigan) suffered a boiler or steam pipe explosion while sailing on Lake Erie. The explosion immediately killed nine persons and scalded others who died later. The vessel was repaired and sailed for three more seasons.
1948
In a total elapsed time of 19 hours, the JAMES DAVIDSON of the Tomlinson fleet unloaded 13,545 tons of coal at the Berwind Dock in Duluth and loaded 14,826 tons of ore at the Allouez Dock in Superior.
1955
Al A. Wolf, the first chief engineer of a Great Lakes freighter powered by a 7,000-hp engine, retired as Chief Engineer of the WILFRED SYKES. Chief Wolf started as an oiler on the POLYNESIA in 1911, became Chief Engineer in 1921, and brought out the SYKES in 1948.
1965
The CEDARBRANCH was damaged and sunk by an explosion several miles below Montreal, Quebec, resulting in the loss of one life. Repaired and lengthened in 1965, she was renamed b.) SECOLA in 1978 and c.) KITO MARU in 1979 and scrapped at Brownsville, Texas, in 1985.
1974
The Liberian vessel ARTADI approached the dock at Trois-Rivières, Quebec, where she damaged the docked GORDON C. LEITCH’s stern.
1976
Sea trials took place for the JAMES R. BARKER. She was to become Interlake’s first 1,000-footer and the flagship of the fleet for Moore McCormack Leasing, Inc. (Interlake Steamship Co., Cleveland, Ohio, manager). She was built at a cost of more than $43 million under Title XI of the Merchant Marine Act of 1970. She was the third thousand-footer to sail on the lakes and the first built entirely on the lakes.
Contributors & Sources
Jody Aho, Joe Barr, Dave Swayze, Russ Plumb, Mike Nicholls, Father Dowling Collection, Ahoy & Farewell II, and the Great Lakes Ships We Remember series from the Marine Historical Society of Detroit.
CHICAGO (wooden passenger-package freight vessel, 95 feet, 151 tons, built in 1842 at Oswego, New York) burned in Buffalo Harbor. No lives were lost.
1862
UNION (wooden propeller passenger-package freight steamer, 163 feet, 434 tons, built in 1861 at Manitowoc, Wisconsin) was sold by the Goodrich Line to James H. Mead and J.F. Kirkland for $28,000. This was $9,000 more than Goodrich had paid to have the vessel built just the previous year.
1871
The construction of the canal through the St. Clair Flats was finished at a cost of $365,000. It was the first real channel built to help ships through the shallow waters where the St. Clair River empties into Lake St. Clair and where there are seven mouths or passes. It took the Canadian contractor John Brown 3 years to dig the channel that measures 300 feet wide and 8,421 feet long. The water was 18 feet deep. It was protected on most of its sides by piers and dikes. The new channel was considered too small even as it was being dug. At only 300 feet wide, tows of log rafts were encouraged to sue the old shallower channels. Within 20 years, plans were made to deepen the channel to 20 feet.
1911
Seven lives were lost when the wooden passenger ship SIRIUS capsized and sank in the St. Lawrence 8 miles from Massena, New York. There were 75 passengers on board headed for a picnic when the accident occurred. Apparently, many passengers had rushed to one side of the ship to see a woodchuck as the ship was turning in the current, and this led to the ship going over.
1951
YANGTSE PHOENIX dragged her anchors while riding out a typhoon near Tai Po, Hong Kong, went aground and was wrecked. The vessel was built as SAGUENAY (i) for CSL at Govan, Scotland, in 1913 and entered service between Quebec City and Saguenay River ports. It left Canada for the Far East as b) KIANG YONG in 1946 and became c) YANGTSE PHOENIX in 1949.
1957
The PERE MARQUETTE 18 of 1911 was sold to Luria Brothers, Chicago scrap merchants, along with the PERE MARQUETTE 14.
1969
The British freighter BETHLEHEM sank following a collision with the SHOWA MARU about 30 miles from Singapore. The ship was en route from Tokyo to Aden, and seven of the crew were lost. The vessel made two trips to the Great Lakes in 1959 as HOPERIDGE.
1982
The Canadian tanker L’ERABLE NO. 1 entered service. Renamed b.) HUBERT GAUCHER in 1982. Sold foreign in 1996, renamed c.) RODIN and d.) OLYMPIC PRIDE in 2000.
Contributors & Sources
Skip Gillham, Jody Aho, Joe Barr, Dave Swayze, Mike Nicholls, Father Dowling Collection, Ahoy & Farewell II, and the Great Lakes Ships We Remember series from the Marine Historical Society of Detroit.
The wooden side-wheeler TELEGRAPH collided with the schooner MARQUETTE and sank 40 miles north of Cleveland.
1862
John C. Ackerman was born in Kenosha, Wisconsin. At the time of his death in 1916, he was commodore of the Pere Marquette car ferry fleet based in Ludington.
1869
Deputy U.S. Marshall Insley sold at auction the scow AGNES HEAD to pay for debts incurred when she was repaired that spring by Mr. Muir and Mr. Stewart. Bidding started at $500 and ran very lively. Mr. John Stewart of Detroit purchased the vessel for $1,050.
1877
GRACE A. CHANNON (wooden schooner, 141 feet, 266 gross tons, built in 1873 at East Saginaw, Michigan) was bound from Chicago for Buffalo when she collided with the propeller tug FAVORITE and sank 12 miles south of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The young son of the owner of the CHANNON lost his life in this accident.
1880
The new Goodrich propeller CITY OF LUDINGTON was launched at Manitowoc, Wisconsin. The CITY OF LUDINGTON was 170 feet x 35 feet x 11 feet and had 44 staterooms and a salon. She was built at a cost of $90,000. The CITY OF LUDINGTON was partially dismantled at Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, in 1930–1931, and the hull was towed to Big Summer Island on Lake Michigan in 1933 for use as a breakwall.
1909
GLENELLAH of Inland Navigation struck the east breakwall at Port Colborne, damaging both the ship and the structure. The vessel joined Canada Steamship Lines in 1913, becoming b) CALGARIAN (ii) in 1926. It was broken up at Hamilton in 1960.
1915
KENORA went aground off Flat Point, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, en route from Montreal to Sydney. The CSL canal ship was operating on saltwater due to the demands of World War I and was soon refloated.
1924
Loaded with coal from Toledo, Ohio, BENSON FORD set off on her maiden voyage to Duluth, Minnesota, and returned with iron ore to the Ford Rouge Plant at Dearborn.
1931
The RAPIDS KING took out the gates of Lock 2 of the St. Lawrence Canal at Montreal, and SASKATOON was one of 7 ships left on the bottom of the channel.
1967
The West German freighter JOHANN SCHULTE and the new Canadian self-unloader CANADIAN CENTURY brushed each other in the Welland Canal near Thorold. The former hit the bank and was holed but made it to the tie-up wall before settling on the bottom. The ship was traveling from Duluth-Superior to Poland with wheat. The 4-year-old vessel was refloated on August 5 and went to Port Weller Dry Docks for repairs. It was scrapped in China as d) SINGAPORE CAR in 1984–1985.
1977
The U.S. Coast Guard’s report on the sinking of the EDMUND FITZGERALD was released. It cited faulty hatch covers, lack of watertight cargo hold bulkheads and damage caused from an undetermined source as the cause of her loss.
1979
AMERICAN MARINER (Hull #723) was launched at Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, by Bay Shipbuilding Co. for the Connecticut Bank & Trust Co. (American Steamship Co., Buffalo, New York, manager). She was to be named CHICAGO, but that name was removed before launch.
1990
The Lightship HURON was dedicated as a National Historic Landmark. LIGHTSHIP 103 had been almost completely restored and was opened to the public in 1974 for tours and remains so at this time.
1991
Paterson’s 1961-built lake bulk carrier CANADOC, which had been in lay-up in Montreal since April 6, 1990, and since sold for scrapping, cleared the port in tow of the Netherlands Antilles tug DALMAR SPIRIT, bound for Mamonal, Columbia, arriving there on August 26, 1991.
Contributors & Sources
Skip Gillham, Max Hanley, Joe Barr, Dave Swayze, Russ Plumb, Lake Huron Lore Society, Mike Nicholls, Father Dowling Collection, Ahoy & Farewell II, and the Great Lakes Ships We Remember series from the Marine Historical Society of Detroit.
R.H. RAE (three-mast wooden bark, 136 feet, 344 tons, built in 1857 at St. Catharines, Ontario) capsized and sank in a “white squall” off Duck’s Creek on Lake Ontario. She went down slowly enough for her people to abandon in her small boat. They were later picked up by the propeller COLONIST. There was a big effort to salvage her the next summer but to no avail. She was a total loss of $20,000. She was reportedly built for the trans-Atlantic trade and looked more like a seagoing schooner. Some sources give the date of the loss as August 4, 1857. The wreck is in very good condition. The Cousteau organization lost a diver on her in 1980.
1900
FONTANA (wooden two-mast schooner-barge, 231 feet, 1,164 gross tons, built in 1888 at St Clair, Michigan as a four-mast schooner-barge) was carrying iron ore in tow of the steamer KALIYUGA. The FONTANA sheared off and collided with the big schooner-barge SANTIAGO and settled in the mouth of the St. Clair River in the St. Clair Flats, one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world. After salvage was given up months later, she was dynamited several times to flatten and reduce her wreckage. Although officially no loss of life was reported, a local newspaper reported that one crewman drowned. The FONTANA was owned by Cleveland Cliffs Iron Co.
1915
ALEXANDRIA (wooden sidewheel passenger-package freighter, 174 feet, 863 gross tons, built in 1866 at Hull, Quebec, formerly a.) CONSORT) was carrying foodstuffs in Lake Ontario when she was blown on a bar in a storm and fog. She broke up by wave action under the Scarborough Bluffs east of Toronto. Lifesavers worked for hours and rescued the entire crew. GARDEN CITY was caught in the same storm as ALEXANDRIA. This ship sustained smashed windows and a hole in the hull but was able to reach safety.
1920
The wooden steamer MAPLEGROVE sank in the Welland Canal. The vessel was salvaged and sold for further service as JED. It had been built at Marine City in 1889 as CHEROKEE.
1927
The bulk canaller CASCO of the Lakes & St. Lawrence Transportation Co. went aground at Pipe Island in the lower St. Marys River and required lightering before floating free and proceeding for repairs.
1946
The third officer of the ANN ARBOR NO. 6 drowned while painting her draft marks. He had apparently leaned too far and fell out of the rowboat.
1960
EDWARD L. RYERSON, new flagship of the Inland Steel fleet, successfully completed her sea trials.
1962
MEDINA PRINCESS, a former “Empire ship,” went aground on a reef near Djibouti while en route from Bremen, Germany, to China. The hull was refloated August 31 but was laid up at Djibouti. It remained idle until breaking loose and going aground on September 4, 1964. The hull was a total loss and, at last report, the wreck was partially submerged. The vessel first came to the Great Lakes under British registry in 1959 and made five trips through the Seaway.
1978
The French freighter JEAN L.D. was sailing as c) CAVO STARAS when the engine room become flooded during a voyage from Port Harcourt, Nigeria, to Buenos Aires, Argentina, in the overnight hours. The vessel was towed to Dakar, Sierra Leone, on August 14 and sold to Spanish shipbreakers via auction on May 8, 1979. It arrived at Barcelona under tow on June 18, 1978, and scrapping began on July 5 of that year. The vessel made 37 trips to the Great Lakes from 1959–1967.
1979
Under tow, the AVONDALE, a.) ADAM E. CORNELIUS of 1908, in tandem with former fleet mate FERNDALE, a.) LOUIS R. DAVIDSON of 1912, arrived at Castellon, Spain for scrapping.
1991
CANADOC left the St. Lawrence River in tow bound for Mamonal, Colombia, for scrapping.
2010
SIDSEL KNUTSEN lost power due to a fire in the engine room and went aground off St. Clair, Michigan. It remained stuck until August 9 and was then refloated and cleared to proceed to Montreal. It was operating in Canadian service at the time under a special waiver.
Contributors & Sources
Skip Gillham, Max Hanley, Joe Barr, Dave Swayze, Russ Plumb, Mike Nicholls, Father Dowling Collection, Ahoy & Farewell II, and the Great Lakes Ships We Remember series from the Marine Historical Society of Detroit.
LYCOMING (wooden propeller, 251 feet, 1,610 gross tons) was launched at West Bay City, Michigan, by F.W. Wheeler (Hull #7) as a two-deck package freighter. She was rebuilt as a single-deck bulk freighter after she burned in 1905. She was one of the few bulk freighters that still carried her arched hog braces visible above deck.
1890
HIRAM W. SIBLEY (wooden propeller freighter, 221 feet, 1,419 gross tons) was launched at East Saginaw, Michigan. She only lasted eight years. While carrying 70,000 bushels of corn from Chicago for Detroit, she stranded on the northwest corner of South Manitou Island in Lake Michigan during a blizzard on November 26, 1898. The tugs PROTECTOR and SWEEPSTAKES were dispatched for assistance, but the SIBLEY re-floated herself during high water the following night and then was stranded on the southwest side of North Fox Island to prevent sinking. She broke in half, later completely breaking up during a gale on December 7, 1898.
1896
The whaleback COLGATE HOYT became the first boat to transport a load of iron ore through the new Poe Lock. The man at the wheel of the HOYT, Thomas Small, was also at the wheel of the PHILIP R. CLARKE when the second Poe lock was opened to traffic 73 years later.
1902
On a clear, almost perfect night, the SEGUIN (steel propeller freighter, 207 feet, 818 gross tons, built in 1890 at Owen Sound, Ontario) collided with the CITY OF VENICE (wooden propeller freighter, 301 feet, 2,108 gross tons, built in 1892 at W. Bay City, Michigan) abreast of Rondeau, Ontario, on Lake Erie. The CITY OF VENICE, which was loaded with iron ore, sank, and three of her crew drowned. The U.S. Marshall impounded the SEGUIN for damages.
1910
On this day in 1910, a mutiny occurred aboard the Pittsburgh steamer DOUGLAS HOUGHTON when a deckhand was confined for peeping into the cabin window of five female passengers (relatives of officers of the United States Steel Corporation). It required one hour for Captain John Parke, loaded revolver in hand, to quell the mutiny, confine the ringleaders, and clear away the broken furniture.
1935
ANN ARBOR NO. 7 had the full limit of passengers for the first and only time in her career when she ran an excursion from Frankfort, Michigan, around Manitou Island and back with 375 on board.
1949
HOCHELAGA (Hull #144) was launched at Collingwood, Ontario, by Collingwood Shipyards Ltd. for Canada Steamship Lines Ltd., Montreal, Quebec.
1953, 1960
Two favorites of many boatwatchers entered service on August 4: WILLIAM CLAY FORD on August 4, 1953, and EDWARD L. RYERSON on August 4, 1960.
1977
POINTE NOIRE went hard aground in the fog near the entrance to the Rock Cut in the St. Marys River and blocked the channel. After her grain cargo was lightered by Columbia Transportation’s crane steamer BUCKEYE, POINTE NOIRE was released on August 6. She was reloaded in Hay Lake and continued her downbound trip. Repairs to her bottom damage were completed at Thunder Bay. Ontario.
1979
Paterson’s ONTADOC, built in 1975, sailed to the Netherlands with a load of bentonite from Chicago. Renamed b.) MELISSA DESGAGNES in 1990.
1980
The D.M. CLEMSON left Superior in tow of Malcolm Marine’s TUG MALCOLM for Thunder Bay, Ont., where she was dismantled.
1984
The E.J. BLOCK was laid up for the last time at Indiana Harbor, Indiana. The E.J. BLOCK was sold for scrap in late May 1987.
1985
REGENT TAMPOPO, en route from Japan to the Great Lakes with steel, was heavily damaged in the Pacific after a collision with the MING UNIVERSE. The vessel, which first came through the Seaway in 1982, was towed to Los Angeles but declared a total loss. It recrossed the Pacific under tow in 1986 and arrived at Hong Kong for scrapping on October 26, 1986.
Contributors & Sources
Skip Gillham, Max Hanley, Joe Barr, Dave Swayze, Russ Plumb, Military.com, Mike Nicholls, Father Dowling Collection, Ahoy & Farewell II, and the Great Lakes Ships We Remember series from the Marine Historical Society of Detroit.
The ST. CLAIR (sidewheel steamer, passenger-package freight, 140 feet, 210 tons, built in 1843 at Detroit, Michigan) was reported as lost with no details given whatsoever. The report of her loss was published three days before she was enrolled at Detroit by J. Watkin.
1866
AUTOCRAT (two-mast wooden schooner, 345 tons, built in 1854 at Caltaraugus, New York) was carrying 15,000 bushels of corn and was lying off Chicago waiting for a storm to die down. Just before dawn, the schooner J.S. NEWHOUSE was also seeking shelter when she ran into AUTOCRAT, sinking her in 7 fathoms of water. The crew was rescued by the tug UNION.
1869
LAURA E. CALVIN (three-mast wooden schooner, 130 feet, 216 tons, built in 1863 at Garden Island, Ontario, as a bark) sprang a leak during a storm and foundered 10 miles off Braddock’s Point on Lake Ontario. No lives were lost.
1907
A female passenger dived off the deck of the PERE MARQUETTE 18 of 1902 on a dare. Two of the 18’s officers leaped over to rescue her. One of the officers nearly drowned and was rescued by the passenger.
1953
The RICHARD M. MARSHALL, later b.) JOSEPH S. WOOD, c.) JOHN DYKSTRA, d.) BENSON FORD, and finally e.) US265808, entered service. From 1966 until it was retired at the end of 1984, this vessel and the WILLIAM CLAY FORD were fleetmates. There is only one other instance of two boats being owned by the same company at some point in their careers with as close or closer age difference: The CHARLES M. BEEGHLY (originally SHENANGO II) and the HERBERT C. JACKSON.
1954
A sudden blanket of fog descended on a section of the St. Lawrence near Waddington, NY, resulting in the two ships SELKIRK and DUNDEE losing their way and going aground. The former, a CSL package freighter, was turned partway around by the current and was stuck until September 2. The latter was a British ship and was also spun by the current. The proximity of the rapids made salvage a challenge. The newly-built DUNDEE continued Great Lakes visits to the end of 1962. It foundered in the Mediterranean as g) VLYHO on September 15, 1978, following an engine room explosion.
1955
FALCO, a pre-Seaway trader, hit a bridge at Montreal. The vessel later visited the Great Lakes as c) LABRADOR and was scrapped at Piraeus, Greece, as f) BONANZA in 1978.
1958
The tug GARY D. (steel propeller tug, 18 tons) was destroyed by an explosion and fire near Strawberry Island Light on Lake Huron.
1962
The motor vessel BEAVER ISLANDER completed her maiden voyage to Charlevoix. At the time, she was the largest, fastest, and most advanced ship built for the run. She served as the flagship for 37 years, a record, until the EMERALD ISLE arrived in 1997.
1971
The G.A. TOMLINSON, a.) D.O. MILLS of 1907, was sold outright to Columbia Transportation Division (Oglebay Norton Co.) along with the last two Tomlinson vessels, the SYLVANIA and the JAMES DAVIDSON.
1972
MANCHESTER VENTURE was built in 1956 and was a regular Great Lakes trader from 1956 to 1961. An explosion in the cargo hold as c) BAT TIRAN on this date in 1972 resulted in a major fire. The damaged hull was refloated in September and scrapped in Turkey in 1973.
1976
The aft section of the BELLE RIVER (Hull #716), was float launched. She was American Steamship’s first thousand-footer and the first thousand-footer built at Bay Shipbuilding Co. She was renamed b.) WALTER J. MCCARTHY JR. in 1990.
1980
The Liberian freighter BERTIE MICHAELS had been a Seaway trader in 1971 and had returned as the Greek-flagged c) DIMITRIS A. in 1976. It departed Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, on August 4, 1980, for Belize City and reported her position on August 5. The vessel was never heard from again and was believed to have been a victim of Hurricane Allen, which was in the area at the time. All 27 on board were lost.
1994
The recently completed French freighter PENHIR began Great Lakes trading in 1971 and returned as b) MENHIR under Liberian registry in 1979. It arrived off Tolognaro, Madagascar, on this date with hull cracks as d) WELLBORN and abandoned as a total loss.
Contributors & Sources
Skip Gillham, Max Hanley, Joe Barr, Dave Swayze, Mike Nicholls, Father Dowling Collection, Ahoy & Farewell II, and the Great Lakes Ships We Remember series from the Marine Historical Society of Detroit.
