The wooden propeller tug TORNADO had her boiler explode without warning 4 miles northwest of Oswego, New York. The tug sank quickly into deep water. Three of the six onboard lost their lives. Apparently, the tug had a new boiler, and it had been allowed to run almost dry. When cold water was let in to replenish the supply, the boiler exploded.
1871
The three-mast wooden schooner GOLDEN FLEECE was downbound on Lake Huron laden with iron ore. The crew mistook the light at Port Austin for the light at Pointe Aux Barques and steered directly for the Port Austin Reef, where the vessel grounded. After 200 tons of ore were removed, GOLDEN FLEECE was pulled off the reef then towed to Detroit by the tug GEORGE B. MCCLELLAN and repaired.
1899
The WILLIAM B. MORLEY (steel propeller freighter, 277 feet, 1,846 gross tons, built in 1888 at Marine City, Michigan) and the LANSDOWNE (iron side-wheel car ferry, 294 feet, 1,571 gross tons, built in 1884 at Wyandotte, Michigan) collided head-on in the Detroit River early in the morning. Both vessels sank. The LANSDOWNE settled on the bottom in her slip at Windsor, Ontario, and was raised four days later and repaired. The MORLEY was also repaired and lasted until 1918 when she stranded on Lake Superior.
1900
The McMorran Wrecking Company secured the contract for raising the 203-foot, three-mast wooden schooner H.W. SAGE, which sank at Harsen’s Island on July 29, 1900. The SAGE had been rammed by the steel steamer CHICAGO. Two lives had been lost; they were crushed in her forecastle.
1907
A building fire at the Toronto Island ferry terminal spread to the ferry SHAMROCK, and it was badly burned and sank. Running mate MAYFLOWER also caught fire but was pulled from the dock by TURBINIA, and this blaze was extinguished. SHAMROCK, however, was a total loss and was towed to Hanlan’s Point. The latter ship was replaced by the still-active TRILLIUM in 1910.
1924
The Lake Ontario rail car ferry ONTARIO NO. 2 went aground in fog on the beach at Cobourg, Ontario, but was refloated the next day.
1928
HURONIC went aground at Lucille Island and needed hull repairs after being released.
1929
The CITY OF SAGINAW 31 (Hull #246) was launched at Manitowoc, Wisconsin, by Manitowoc Shipbuilding Co. for the Pere Marquette Railway. She was christened by Miss Ann Bur Townsend, daughter of the mayor of Saginaw.
1953
A record 176 vessels passed through the Soo Locks.
1977
The BELLE RIVER’s bottom was damaged at the fit-out dock and required dry docking for repairs prior to her maiden voyage. Renamed b.) WALTER J MCCARTHY JR. in 1990.
1985
VANDOC, en route from Quebec to Burns Harbor, went aground in the St. Lawrence outside the channel near St. Zotique but was released the following day.
1994
CATHERINE DESGAGNÉS, outbound at Lorain, struck about 30 pleasure boats when a bridge failed to open.
2000
ANANGEL ENDEAVOUR was in a collision with the IVAN SUSANIN in the South-West Pass and was holed in the #2 cargo hold and began listing. The ship was anchored for examination, then docked at Violet, Louisiana, and declared a total loss. It was subsequently repaired as b) BOLMAR I and was operating as c) DORSET when it arrived at Gadani Beach, Pakistan, for scrapping on April 24, 2009. The ship first came through the Seaway in 1983.
Contributors & Sources
Skip Gillham, Max Hanley, Jody L. Aho, Joe Barr, David Swayze, Russ Plumb, Father Dowling Collection, Historical Collections of the Great Lakes, Ahoy & Farewell II, and the Great Lakes Ships We Remember series from the Marine Historical Society of Detroit.
President George Washington signed the ninth act of the first United States Congress, placing management of the lighthouses under the Department of the Treasury. August 7 is now “National Lighthouse Day” in the U.S.
1844
DANIEL WHITNEY, a wooden schooner, was found floating upside down with her crew of 4 missing and presumed dead. She was 6 miles off the mouth of the Kalamazoo River in Lake Michigan.
1879
While lying at the dock at the C. & L.H. Railroad Yard in Port Huron, the scow MORNING LARK sank after the scow MAGRUDER ran into her at 4:00 a.m. MORNING LARK was raised and repaired at the Wolverine dry dock and was back in service on September 20.
1890
The schooner CHARGER (wooden schooner, 136 feet, 277 gross tons, built in 1868 at Sodus, New York) was struck by the CITY OF CLEVELAND (wooden propeller freighter, 255 feet, 1,528 gross tons, built in 1882 at Cleveland, Ohio) near Bar Point near the mouth of the Detroit River on Lake Erie. The schooner sank, but her crew was saved.
1912
A collision in heavy fog with the RENSSELAER sank the JAMES GAYLEY 43 miles east of Manitou Light, Lake Superior. The upbound coal-laden vessel was hit on the starboard side, about 65 feet from the bow, and went down in about 16 minutes. The two ships were held together long enough for the crew to cross over to RENSSELAER.
1921
RUSSELL SAGE caught fire and burned on Lake Ontario while downbound with a load of wire. The ship sank off South Bay Point, about 30 miles west of Kingston. The crew took to the lifeboat and were saved. About 600 tons of wire were later salvaged. The hull has been found and is upright in 43 feet of water, and numerous coils of wire remain on the bottom.
1948
Edward L. Ryerson, chairman of Inland Steel Company, announced that the new ore boat under construction for Inland would be named the WILFRED SYKES in honor of the president of the company. Mr. Sykes had been associated with Inland since 1923 when he was employed to take charge of engineering and construction work. From 1927 to 1930, he served as assistant general superintendent, and from 1930 to 1941, as assistant to the president in charge of operations. He became Inland’s president in May 1941. He had been a director of the company since 1935. The new ship would be the largest and fastest on the Great Lakes, having a carrying capacity in intermediate depth of 20,000 gross tons. The ship would be 678 feet long, 70 feet wide and 37 feet deep, and would run at 16 miles per hour when loaded.
1957
The first keel plate was laid for Hull #301 at the Great Lakes Engineering Works of River Rouge, Michigan. Hull #301 was built for the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co. of Milwaukee and would later be named the EDMUND FITZGERALD. The next year, Northwestern Mutual would contract her to Oglebay Norton for 25 years. Oglebay Norton made her the flagship of their Columbia Transportation fleet.
1958
HURLBUT W. SMITH hit bottom off Picnic Island, near Little Current, Manitoulin Island, while outbound. The ship was inspected at Silver Bay and condemned. It was sold to Knudsen SB & DD of Superior and scrapped in 1958–1959.
The T3 tanker GULFOIL caught fire following a collision with the S.E. GRAHAM off Newport, Rhode Island, while carrying about 5 million gallons of gasoline. Both ships were a total loss, and 17 lives were lost with another 36 sailors injured. The GULFOIL was rebuilt with a new midbody and came to the Great Lakes as c) PIONEER CHALLENGER in 1961, later being renamed MIDDLETOWN in 1962 and e) AMERICAN VICTORY in 2006.
1964
CARL LEVERS, a pre-Seaway visitor as a) HARPEFJELL and b) PRINS MAURITS, had come to the Great Lakes in 1957–1958. It had been an early Great Lakes trader for both the Fjell Line from Norway and the Dutch flag Oranje Lijn. The ship was cast adrift in a cyclone at Bombay, India, on this date, going aground on a pylon carrying electric wires off Mahul Creek and catching fire. The vessel was released and scrapped at Bombay later in the year.
1970
ORIENT TRANSPORTER first came through the Seaway in 1966. It arrived at Beaumont, Texas, on this day following an engine breakdown. The 1949 vintage ship was not considered worth repairing and was broken up at Darica, Turkey, in 1971.
1972
The small Canadian tanker barge TRANSBAY, loaded with liquid asphalt and under tow of the JAMES WHALEN for Sept-Iles, sank in a storm on the Gulf of St. Lawrence. There were no casualties.
1976
The JAMES R. BARKER was christened, becoming 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 1,000-footer to sail on the lakes and the first built entirely on the lakes.
1989
CLARENVILLE, a former East Coast wooden passenger and freight carrier, came to the Great Lakes in 1981 for conversion to a floating restaurant at Owen Sound. The restaurant declared bankruptcy in May 1989, and a fire of suspicious origin broke out on this date. It was a long and difficult blaze to control, and the ship sank. It broke apart during salvage in September 1989. The bow was clammed out in December 1989, with the stern removed in April 1990 and taken to the city dump.
1991
FINNPOLARIS first came through the Seaway in 1985. It struck an iceberg in the North Atlantic off Greenland on this date and sank in deep water the next day. All 17 on board were saved.
1994
GUNDULIC came inland under Yugoslavian registry for the first time in 1971. The ship caught fire as c) PAVLINA ONE while loading at Mongla, Bangladesh, on this date and was abandoned by the crew on August 8. The blaze was extinguished on August 9, but the gutted-and-listing freighter was beached and settled in shallow water. The hull was auctioned to a local demolition contractor in 1996 but was still listed as a hazard to navigation in 1999.
Contributors & Sources
Skip Gillham, Dave Wobser, Wisconsin Marine Historical Society, Joe Barr, David Swayze, Father Dowling Collection, Ahoy & Farewell II, and the Great Lakes Ships We Remember series from the Marine Historical Society of Detroit.
The U.S. Navy schooner HAMILTON (wooden 10-gun schooner, 112 feet, 76 tons, built in 1809 at Oswego, New York, as a.) DIANA), was lying at anchor off the mouth of the Niagara River on Lake Ontario with her armed fleetmate SCOURGE awaiting dawn when they planned to attack the British fleet. However, a quick rising storm swamped and sank both vessels. Since they were both built as commercial vessels, it has been suggested that their cannons may have made them top-heavy. The HAMILTON was found by sonar in 1975, sitting upright almost completely intact at the bottom of Lake Ontario. The Cousteau organization has dived to her, and she was the subject of a live television dive by Robert Ballard in 1990.
1869
The wooden tug J.E. EAGLE was destroyed by fire at about 4:00 p.m. while towing a raft of logs on Saginaw Bay to Bay City. Her loss was valued at $10,000, but she was insured for only $7,000.
1878
The Buffalo (wooden propeller package freighter, 258 feet, 1,762 gross tons) was launched at the yard of Thomas Quayle & Sons in Cleveland, Ohio, for the Western Transportation Company. Her engine was a double Berry & Laig compound engine constructed by the Globe Iron Works in Buffalo, New York. She lasted until 1911, when she was abandoned at Marine City, Michigan.
1882
An August snowstorm was reported by a ship on Lake Michigan, dumping 6 inches of snow and slush on the deck. Snow showers were reported at shore points that day.
1887
CITY OF ASHLAND (wooden sidewheel tug, 90 feet, 85 gross tons, built in 1883 at Ashland, Wisconsin) was towing a log raft near Washburn, Wisconsin, in Lake Superior. A fire broke out near the boilers and quickly cut off the crew from the lifeboat. They jumped overboard, and all but one or two were picked up by local tugs. The burned hull sank soon afterward.
1941
An explosion aboard the Canadian tanker TRANSITER at River Rouge resulted in the loss of two lives. The ship was towed to Port Dalhousie for repairs and returned to work as b) TRANSTREAM in 1942. It was sold for off-lakes service as c) WITSUPPLY in 1969 and sank in heavy weather off Cabo de la Vela, Colombia, while apparently en route to Cartagena, Colombia, for scrap on February 23, 1981.
1942
The seven shipyards at Duluth-Superior were in full production and announced three launchings in two days. The submarine chaser SC-671 was also launched at Inland Waterways, Inc. on Park Point.
1964
ELLEN KLAUTSCHE suffered an engine failure while berthing at Toronto and rammed the docked NORDIA after just missing the tugs TERRY S. and WILLIAM LYON MACKENZIE. The West German freighter was towed to Port Weller for repairs by the GRAEME STEWART. Later, as b) VARUNA YAN, it was detained in the Shatt-Al-Arab waterway and then, on April 3, 1984, was shelled, becoming a CTL.
1976
The JAMES R. BARKER became the longest vessel on the Great Lakes when it entered service. It held at least a tie for this honor until the WILLIAM J. DELANCEY entered service on May 10, 1981. The BARKER’s deckhouse had been built at AmShip’s Chicago yard and was transported in sections to Lorain on the deck of the steamer GEORGE D. GOBLE.
1978
The BUFFALO was christened for the Connecticut Bank & Trust Co. (American Steamship Co., manager).
1981
The Ann Arbor car ferry VIKING took part in a ceremony christening a body of water between Manitowoc and Two Rivers as “Maritime Bay.”
1982
The Soo River Company was forced into receivership.
1985
The E.B. BARBER, along with the motor vessel SAGINAW BAY, a.) FRANK H. GOODYEAR of 1917, arrived under tow in Vigo, Spain. Demolition began on August 9 by Miguel Martins Periera at Guixar-Vigo.
1991
The excursion ferry AMERICANA was sold and passed down the Welland Canal bound for the Caribbean under Panamanian registry. She was the former East Coast ferry BLOCK ISLAND that arrived in Buffalo.
1999
The KAYE E. BARKER delivered the last shipment of limestone for Dow Chemical, Ludington. The plant later closed its lime plant and began lime deliveries by rail.
Contributors & Sources
Skip Gillham, Joe Barr, David Swayze, Lake Huron Lore Society, Father Dowling Collection, Historical Collections of the Great Lakes, Jody L. Aho, Brian Bernard, Max Hanley, Ahoy & Farewell II, and the Great Lakes Ships We Remember series from the Marine Historical Society of Detroit.
CHAUTAUQUE (wooden sidewheel steamer, 124 feet, 162 tons, built in 1839 at Buffalo, New York) caught fire in the St. Clair River and burned to a total loss. In previous years, she had been driven ashore in 1844 and sank twice — once in 1846, and again in 1848. In September 1846, she made the newspaper by purposely ramming a schooner that blocked her path while she was attempting to leave the harbor at Monroe, Michigan.
1856
BRUNSWICK (wooden propeller, 164 feet, 512 tons, built in 1853 at Buffalo, New York) was carrying corn, scrap iron, and lard from Chicago when she sprang a leak in a storm and was abandoned by the crew and passengers. One passenger drowned when one of the boats capsized, but the rest made it to shore near Sleeping Bear in the three other boats. BRUNSWICK went down in 50 fathoms of water 6 miles south of South Manitou Island on Lake Michigan.
1865
METEOR met her running mate, the propeller PEWABIC, off Thunder Bay on Lake Huron around 9 p.m. As the two approached, somehow METEOR sheered and struck her sister, sinking the PEWABIC within minutes in 180 feet of water. About 125 people went down with her, and 86 others were saved.
1870
ONTONAGON (wooden propeller bulk freighter, 176 feet, 377 tons, built in 1856 at Buffalo, New York by Bidwell & Banta) sank after striking a rock near the Soo. She was initially abandoned, but later that same year she was recovered, repaired, and put back in service. In 1880, she stranded near Fairborn, Ohio, and then 3 years later, she finally met her demise when she was run ashore on Stag Island in the St. Clair River and succumbed to fire.
1871
The 204-foot wooden side-wheeler CUMBERLAND was launched at Melancthon Simpson’s yard in Port Robinson, Ontario. She cost $101,000. Too large for the Welland Canal, she was towed up the Welland River to Chippewa and then up the Niagara River to Lake Erie. She operated on the upper lakes and carried soldiers to put down the Red River Rebellion. She survived being frozen in for the winter near Sault Ste. Marie in 1872, grounding in 1873, sinking in 1874, and another grounding in 1876. However, she finally sank near Isle Royale on Lake Superior in 1877.
1875
The Port Huron Times reported that the schooner HERO, while attempting to enter the piers at Holland, Michigan, was driven 2 miles to leeward and went to pieces. Her crew took to the boats, but the boats capsized. Luckily all made it safely to shore.
1909
The G.A. TOMLINSON (Hull #370) entered service. Renamed b.) HENRY R. PLATT JR in 1959. Hull was used as a breakwall at Burlington Bay, Ontario, in 1971.
1910
The Eastland Navigation Company placed a half-page advertisement in both the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Cleveland Leader offering $5,000 to anyone who could substantiate rumors that the excursion steamer EASTLAND was unsafe. No one claimed the reward.
1938
The carferries PERE MARQUETTE 17 and PERE MARQUETTE 18 left Milwaukee for Grand Haven carrying 600 United States Army personnel, bound for war maneuvers near Allegan and at Camp Custer.
1942
The sea-going tug POINT SUR was launched at Globe Shipbuilding Co. in Superior, Wisconsin, and the Walter Butler Shipbuilders, also in Superior, launched the coastal freighter WILLIAM BURSLEY.
1963
The HAMILDOC (Hull #642) was christened.
1968
Labrador Steamships agreed to sell POINTE NOIRE to Upper Lakes Shipping. The vessel was operated by U.L.S. on charter until the sale was approved.
1969
The SIR THOMAS SHAUGHNESSY, with the former CSL steamer ASHCROFT in tow of the Polish tug JANTAR, arrived in Castellon, Spain, for scrapping.
1978
The keel was laid for the INDIANA HARBOR (Hull #719) at Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, by Bay Shipbuilding Co. for Connecticut Bank & Trust Co. (American Steamship Co., manager).
1989
The tug FAIRPLAY IX departed Sorel with the FORT CHAMBLY and NIPIGON BAY in tandem tow bound for Aliaga, Turkey, for scrapping.
Contributors & Sources:
Skip Gillham, Joe Barr, David Swayze, The Father Dowling Collection, Historical Collections of the Great Lakes, Jody L. Aho, Max Hanley, Ahoy & Farewell II, and the Great Lakes Ships We Remember series from the Marine Historical Society of Detroit.
TWO FANNIES (three-mast wooden bark, 152 feet, 492 gross tons, built in 1862 at Peshtigo, Wisconsin) was carrying 800 tons of iron ore on Lake Erie when a seam opened in rough weather. The crew kept at the pumps to no avail. They all made it off of the vessel into the yawl just as the bark sank north of Bay Village, Ohio. The CITY OF DETROIT tried to rescue the crew, but the weather made the rescue attempt too dangerous, and only two men were able to get to the steamer. The tug JAMES AMADEUS came out and got the rest of the crew, including the ship’s cat, which was with them in the yawl.
1899
The whaleback steamer JOHN B. TREVOR was rammed and sunk by her barge #131 in the St. Clair River. The accident was caused by CRESCENT CITY crossing the tow line. The sunken ship was refloated and, in 1912, became the ATIKOKAN.
1906
JOHN H. PAULEY (formerly THOMPSON KINSFORD, wooden propeller steam barge, 116 feet, 185 gross tons, built in 1880 at Oswego, New York) caught fire at Marine City, Michigan. Her lines were burned through, and she then drifted 3 miles down the St. Clair River before beaching near Port Lambton, Ontario, and burning out.
1922
ANNIE LAURA (wooden propeller sandsucker, 133 feet, 244 gross tons, built in 1871 at Marine City, Michigan) beached near Algonac, Michigan, caught fire, and burned to the waterline.
1937
B.H. BECKER (steel tug, 19 tons, built in 1932 at Marine City, Michigan) foundered in heavy seas 9 miles north of Oscoda, Michigan.
1952
The ARTHUR M. ANDERSON entered service for the Pittsburgh Steamship Co. Exactly 14 years later, on August 10, 1966, the vessel’s namesake, Arthur Marvin Anderson, passed away.
1967
PAUL L. TIETJEN and FORT WILLIAM were in a head-on collision on Lake Huron about 25 miles north of Port Huron. Both ships were damaged but were repaired and returned to service.
1969
The EDMUND FITZGERALD set the last of many cargo records during the 1960s. The FITZGERALD loaded 27,402 gross tons of taconite pellets at Silver Bay on this date. This record was broken by the FITZGERALD’s sister ship, the ARTHUR B. HOMER, during the 1970 shipping season.
1975
CIMBRIA came through the Seaway for the first time in 1965 under West German registry. The ship was sailing as c) KOTA MENANG on this date when it stranded on Nyali Reef off Mombasa, Tanzania, due to a steering failure. The vessel received severe hull damage and was deemed a total loss.
1979
The Indian freighter JALARAJAN and the British flag LAURENTIC sustained minor damage in a collision at Kenosha, Wisconsin. The former was dismantled at Calcutta, India, in 1988, while the latter was scrapped at Karachi, Pakistan, in 1984.
1992
MENASHA was set adrift and then sank in the St. Lawrence off Ogdensburg, NY. The former U.S. Navy tug was refloated and repaired. After some later service at Sarnia, the tug was resold and moved to Montreal for work as c) ESCORTE.
2007
NORDSTRAND came to the Great Lakes in 1990 and would sink at the stern alongside the Adriatica Shipyard at Bijela, Montenegro, on this date as c) MEXICA when the engine room flooded. The ship was refloated on September 1, 2007, and arrived at Aliaga, Turkey, for scrapping on May 5, 2010.
Contributors & Sources
Skip Gillham, Joe Barr, David Swayze, Jody L. Aho, Max Hanley, Ahoy & Farewell II, and the Great Lakes Ships We Remember series from the Marine Historical Society of Detroit.
B.F. BRUCE (wooden propeller passenger steamer, 110 feet, 169 tons, built in 1852 at Buffalo, New York, as a tug) was carrying staves when she caught fire a few miles off Port Stanley, Ontario, in Lake Erie. She was run to the beach, where she burned to a total loss with no loss of life. Arson was suspected. She had been rebuilt from a tug to this small passenger steamer the winter before her loss.
1865
A fire broke out at Sault Ste. Marie in the cargo of lime aboard the wooden passenger and freight carrier METEOR that was involved in the sinking of the PEWABIC on August 9. METEOR was scuttled in 30 feet of water to prevent its loss. The hull was pumped out and salvaged four days later and repaired.
1871
The wooden scow-schooner SCOTTISH CHIEF had been battling a storm on Lake Michigan since Tuesday, August 8, 1871. By late afternoon of this date, she was waterlogged. The galley was flooded and the food ruined. The crew stayed with the vessel until that night when they left in the lifeboat. They arrived in Chicago on Sunday morning, August 13.
1899
SIMON LANGELL (wooden propeller freighter, 195 feet, 845 gross tons, built in 1886 at St. Clair, Michigan) was towing the wooden schooner W.K. MOORE off Lakeport, Michigan, on Lake Huron when they were struck by a squall. The schooner was thrown over on her beam ends and filled with water. The local life-saving crew went to the rescue and took off two female passengers from the stricken vessel. The Moore was then towed to Port Huron, Michigan, by the tug HAYNES and placed in dry dock for inspection and repairs.
1908
TITANIA (iron propeller packet/tug/yacht, 98 feet, 73 gross tons, built in 1875 at Buffalo, New York) was rammed and sunk by the Canadian sidewheeler KINGSTON near the harbor entrance at Charlotte, New York, on Lake Ontario. All 26 on board were rescued.
1919
MURIEL W. hit a sunken crib off Port Weller and was partially sunk. An August 15, 1919, storm broke up the hull.
1928
W.H. SAWYER stranded off Harbor Beach Light in a storm. Her barges, A.B. KING and PESHTIGO, were blown aground and broken up by the waves. The trip had run for shelter, but the effort ended 100 yards short of safety. The cook was a casualty.
1944
The Norwegian freighter ERLING LINDOE was built in 1917 and came to the Great Lakes for the first time in 1923. The ship struck a mine in the Kattegat Strait off Varberg, Sweden, on this date and sank with its cargo of pyrites. The number of casualties varies, with one report noting the loss at 19 members of the crew, another at 17, and yet another had the death toll at 13. There were six survivors.
1973
Opening ceremonies for the whaleback tanker METEOR, a.) FRANK ROCKEFELLER, museum ship were held. The president of Cleveland Tankers, whose company had donated the ship, was present. This historically unique ship was enshrined in the National Maritime Hall of Fame.
1976
The Panamanian freighter WOKAN was beached off Oman with a fractured hull en route from Ulsan, South Korea, to Kuwait. It was declared a total loss and abandoned. The 1952-built vessel first came through the Seaway as b) DAUPHINE in 1968 and returned as d) SPACE KING in 1975.
1977
The THOMAS W. LAMONT was the first vessel to take on fuel at Shell’s new fuel dock at Corunna, Ontario. The dock’s fueling rate was 60 to 70,000 gallons per hour and was built to accommodate 1,000-footers.
1987
The H.M. GRIFFITH was the first self-unloader to unload grain at Robin Hood’s new hopper unloading facility at Port Colborne, Ontario. She was renamed b.) RT. HON. PAUL J. MARTIN in 2000.
The T.W. ROBINSON departed Québec City along with US265808 (former BENSON FORD) in tow of the Polish tug JANTAR bound for Recife, Brazil, where they arrived on September 22, 1987. Scrapping began the next month.
2001
Bridge 11 of the Welland Canal was lowered prematurely, striking the downbound bulk carrier WINDOC, taking the top off the pilothouse, toppling the stack, and igniting a fire. The massive damage to the ship was never repaired, and efforts to find work for the vessel as a barge were not a success. The hull arrived at Port Colborne for dismantling on November 9, 2010.
2004
ONEGO MERCHANT came through the Seaway for the first time in May 2004. On this date, the vessel sustained bow damage in a grounding near Larvik, Norway, but was refloated within hours. It returned to the Great Lakes in 2005 and 2006 and has sailed as b) VRIESENDIEP since 2009.
Contributors & Sources
Skip Gillham, Father Dowling Collection, Joe Barr, David Swayze, Jody L. Aho, Ahoy & Farewell II, and the Great Lakes Ships We Remember series from the Marine Historical Society of Detroit.
FLORIDA (three-mast wooden schooner, 352 tons, built in 1875 at Batiscan, Ontario) was carrying 662 tons of coal from Black River to Toronto when she sprang a leak and sank 12 miles from Port Maitland, Ontario. She hailed from Quebec and was constructed mostly of pine and tamarack.
1899
MAUNALOA (Hull #37) was launched in Chicago, Illinois, by Chicago Shipbuilding Co. for the Minnesota Steamship Co. Sold Canadian and renamed b.) MAUNALOA II in 1945. Scrapped at United Metals in Hamilton, Ontario, over the winter of 1971–72.
1905
WILLIAM E. COREY sailed from Chicago on her maiden voyage bound for Duluth, Minnesota, to load iron ore. She later became b.) RIDGETOWN in 1963. Used as a breakwater in Port Credit, Ontario, in 1974, and is still there.
1941
The first EAGLESCLIFFE HALL was attacked by a German bomber from the Luftwaffe and was struck aft. The vessel was 2 miles east of Sunderland, England, at the time, and one member of the crew was killed. The ship reached Sunderland for repairs and, at the end of the war, resumed Great Lakes service for the Hall Corporation. It later joined the Misener fleet as DAVID BARCLAY.
1951
TOM M. GIRDLER was christened; she was the first of the C4 conversions.
1960
A collision on the Detroit River between the Finnish freighter MARIA and the ALEXANDER T. WOOD damaged both vessels and put the latter aground in the Ballard Reef Channel. After being lightered of some grain by MAITLAND NO. 1, the vessel was released with the aid of the tug JOHN PURVES. MARIA, a pre-Seaway caller to the Great Lakes as BISCAYA and TAMMERFORS, was towed to the Great Lakes Engineering Works at Ecorse for repairs. It was eventually scrapped in Yugoslavia in 1968. ALEXANDER T. WOOD sank as VAINQUER after an explosion in the Gulf of Mexico on March 15, 1969.
1976
The C&O car ferry SPARTAN, in a heavy fog while inbound from Kewaunee, struck rocks at the entrance to the Ludington harbor. She suffered severe damage to about 120 feet of her bottom plating. She was taken to Bay Shipbuilding in Sturgeon Bay on August 18 for repairs. There were no injuries as a result of this incident.
1980
An explosion in the crankcase of the bulk carrier RALPH MISENER left one crew member killed and another four injured. One of the injured later died. The ship was loaded with coke and on the Saguenay River bound for Port Alfred. Repairs were carried out at Montreal.
Contributors & Sources
Skip Gillham, Joe Barr, David Swayze, Father Dowling Collection, Jody L. Aho, Max Hanley, Ahoy & Farewell II, and the Great Lakes Ships We Remember series from the Marine Historical Society of Detroit.
