RED WING was launched as a.) BOUNDBROOK (Hull#335) at Chester, Pennsylvania, by Sun Shipbuilding & Drydock Co. A T2-SE-A1 Ocean Tanker, she was renamed b.) IMPERIAL EDMONTON in 1947. In 1959, she was brought to Port Weller Drydocks for conversion to a bulk freighter for Upper Lakes Shipping Ltd. and renamed c.) RED WING. Scrapped at Kaohsiung, Taiwan in 1987.
1965
MARGIT, a Danish vessel, which came inland for one trip in 1964, suffered an explosion and fire in the engine room about 1,000 miles southwest of Honolulu on a voyage from Vancouver, British Columbia, to Calcutta, India, and had to be abandoned. Three members of the crew were killed and the ship was burning fiercely when last seen. The drifting hull later grounded at Wotje Atoll, Marshall Islands, and was found, still burning, on March 11, 1965. The ship was a total loss.
1975
E.B. BARBER was in winter quarters at Port Colborne when a fire broke out in the engine room. Local fire fighters contained and extinguished the blaze.
2021
K+S Windsor Salt Ltd. and Canada Steamship Lines announced the construction of a new, state-of-the-art self-unloading ship with a deadweight of 26,000 metric tons for service in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and Great Lakes region. It was launched as NUKUMI.
Contributors & Sources
Skip Gillham, Ahoy & Farewell II, and the Great Lakes Ships We Remember series from the Marine Historical Society of Detroit.
The PERE MARQUETTE (later named PERE MARQUETTE 15) arrived in Ludington on her maiden voyage, with Captain Joseph “Joe” Russell in command.
1926
POINTE NOIRE was launched as a.) SAMUEL MATHER (Hull#792) at Lorain, Ohio by the American Ship Building Co.
1941
The first WESTCLIFFE HALL, overseas to assist in the war effort, was damaged when hit by a bomb while two miles off Whitby High Light. The ship was repaired and returned to the Great Lakes after the war. It last sailed as b) WHEATON in the Misener fleet before scrapping at Hamilton in 1965-1966.
1973
MITERA MARIA loaded street cars on deck during a Great Lakes visit to Toronto in August 1967. The ship sustained fire damage in the engineroom at Karachi, Pakistan, as d) MARBELLA and sold for scrap. The 25-year old vessel was broken up at Gadani Beach in 1974.
Contributors & Sources
Skip Gillham, Max Hanley, Ahoy & Farewell II, and the Great Lakes Ships We Remember series from the Marine Historical Society of Detroit.
Ford Motor Co., looking to expand its fleet, purchased the JOSEPH S. WOOD, a.) RICHARD M. MARSHALL for $4.3 million and renamed her c.) JOHN DYKSTRA. In 1983, she was renamed d.) BENSON FORD. Renamed e.) US.265808, in 1985, she was scrapped at Recife, Brazil in 1987.
1973
The LEADALE’s forward cabins burned during winter lay-up at Hamilton, Ontario and were later repaired. Built in 1910, at Great Lakes Engineering Works (Hull#77) as a,) HARRY YATES, for the American Steamship Co. renamed b.) CONSUMERS POWER in 1934, c.) FRED A. MANSKE in 1958 and d.) LEADALE in 1962. Scrapped at Cartagena, Columbia in 1979.
1977
MESABI MINER (Hull#906) was launched at Lorain, Ohio by American Ship Building Co. becoming the fourth 1,000-foot bulk carrier on the Great Lakes and Interlake’s second. She had been built under Title XI of the Merchant Marine Act of 1970 at a cost of $45.1 million.
1997
The SD 14 cargo ship PATRICIA M. was a Seaway trader in 1974 and returned as c) SELATAN in 1991. It was sailing as d) NIKA II when it stranded on a breakwall near Veracruz, Mexico, while inbound, in ballast, to load sugar. The hull was refloated on March 8, towed to an anchorage and declared a total loss. It was broken up for scrap at Tuxpan, Mexico, beginning on April 27, 1997.
2000
ZAFIRO, a Seaway trader in 1984, sank as d) ZAFIR off Calabria, Italy, after a collision with the ESPRESSO CATANIA while carrying 6000 tons of cement clinker. Thirteen sailors were lost or missing.
Contributors & Sources
Skip Gillham, Ahoy & Farewell II, and the Great Lakes Ships We Remember series from the Marine Historical Society of Detroit.
HARRY R JONES, a.) D.G. KERR arrived at her final port of Troon, Scotland, where she was cut up for scrap the same year.
1990
The tug LOIS T. was swamped while docked at Hamilton and sank in a storm. The vessel was pumped out, refloated and repaired. It now serves as the Port Colborne based tug CHARLIE E.
1993
BELLE ISLE, an SD-14 cargo carrier, visited the Seaway when new in 1971. It was sailing as g) VAST OCEAN when it reported in on this day as sailing on the Sea of Japan. It was never heard from again and disappeared with all hands on a voyage from Vanimo, Russia, to Shanghai, China.
Contributors & Sources
Skip Gillham, Ahoy & Farewell II, and the Great Lakes Ships We Remember series from the Marine Historical Society of Detroit.
The little tug JAMES ANDERSON burned on Long Lake near Alpena, Michigan. Arson was suspected.
1910
JAMES E. FERRIS was launched as the ONTARIO (Hull#71) at Ecorse, Michigan by Great Lakes Engineering Works.
1939
The state ferry CHIEF WAWATAM was fast in the ice in the Straits of Mackinac. She freed herself the next day and proceeded to St. Ignace.
1943
WAR OSIRIS was built at Port Arthur, Ontario, now part of Thunder Bay, in 1918. It was mined and sunk as c) LISTO near Spodsbjerg, Denmark, while enroute from Larvik, Norway, to Emden, Germany, with iron ore.
1952
American Shipbuilding Co., Lorain, OH, launched the steamer ARTHUR M. ANDERSON for the Pittsburgh Steamship Div., U.S. Steel Corp., in Cleveland, OH, by Mrs. Anderson in honor of her husband. Arthur Marvin Anderson was a director of the United States Steel Corp., a member of its finance committee and vice chairman of the J. P. Morgan and Co. at the time of the launch.
1977
A four-hour fire caused major damage to the crews’ forward quarters aboard the W.W. HOLLOWAY while at American Ship Building’s South Chicago yard.
1979
EDWIN H. GOTT sailed on her maiden voyage February 16, 1979, in ballast from Milwaukee, bound for Two Harbors, Minnesota. This was the first maiden voyage of a laker ever in mid-winter. She was in convoy with three of her fleet mates; CASON J. CALLAWAY, PHILIP R. CLARKE and JOHN G. MUNSON each needing assistance from the U.S.C.G.C. MACKINAW to break through heavy ice 12 to 14 inches thick the length of Lake Superior. The GOTT took part in a test project, primarily by U.S. Steel, to determine the feasibility of year around navigation.
2019
A devastating fire swept through the American Steamship Co. self-unloader ST. CLAIR while she was docked at the Torco dock in Toledo, OH, for winter lay up. The fire burned the length of the ship along the unloading belts and destroyed the superstructure. No one was injured, but the vessel was declared a total loss. On December 7, 2021, the McKeil Marine tug MOLLY M 1 took the ST. CLAIR under tow to the Marine Recycling Corp. scrapyard at Port Colborne, ON.
Contributors & Sources
Skip Gillham, Max Hanley, Joe Barr, Father Dowling Collection, Ahoy & Farewell II, and the Great Lakes Ships We Remember series from the Marine Historical Society of Detroit.
The CITY OF MIDLAND 41 encountered a heavy ridge of ice shortly after departing Ludington that snapped all the blades off her starboard propeller. One of the blades ripped a hole two feet long by three inches wide which caused the 41 to take on water, but pumps were able to keep her afloat. The SPARTAN came out to free her but also became mired in the ice. On February 18 the cutter MACKINAW freed them.
1981
In heavy weather, the WITSUPPLY, b.) TRANSTREAM, foundered in the Caribbean Sea off Cabo de la Vela, Colombia. She was being towed to the scrap yard at Cartagena, Columbia when she sank.
2019
ALGOMA CONVEYOR departed the shipyard in Jiangsu, China enroute to Canada on its delivery trip.
Contributors & Sources
Max Hanley, Ahoy & Farewell II, and the Great Lakes Ships We Remember series from the Marine Historical Society of Detroit.
The Murphy fleet was sold on this date. The tugs GLADIATOR, KATE WILLIAMS, and BALIZE went to Captain Maytham; the tug WILLIAM A. MOORE to Mr. Grummond; the schooner GERRIT SMITH to Captain John E. Winn; and the tug ANDREW J. SMITH to Mr. Preston Brady.
1957
The b.) JOSEPH S. YOUNG, a.) ARCHERS HOPE, was towed to the Great Lakes via the Mississippi River and arrived at the Manitowoc Ship Building Co., Manitowoc, Wisconsin, where her self unloading equipment was installed. This was the last large vessel to enter the Lakes via the Mississippi. She was the first of seven T-2 tanker conversions for Great Lakes service. Renamed c.) H. LEE WHITE in 1969, and d.) SHARON in 1974. SHARON was scrapped at Brownsville, Texas in 1986.
1977
IMPERIAL ST. CLAIR participated in an historic special convoy (with DOAN TRANSPORT, carrying caustic soda, and led by CCGS GRIFFON) which arrived at Thunder Bay, Ontario on this date. The journey took one week from Sarnia, Ontario through Lake Superior ice as much as six feet thick, and at one point it took four days to travel 60 miles. The trip was initiated to supply residents of the Canadian lakehead with 86,000 barrels of heating oil the reserves of which were becoming depleted due to severe weather that winter.
1980
PANAGIS K. arrived at Alexandria, Egypt, on this date and was soon placed under arrest. The ship was idle and in a collision there with NORTH WAVE on January 23, 1981. The hull was abandoned aground, vandalized and, on October 12, 1985, auctioned off for scrap. The ship first traded through the Seaway in 1960 as a) MANCHESTER FAME and returned as b) CAIRNGLEN in 1965, again as c) MANCHESTER FAME in 1967 and as d) ILKON NIKI in 1972.
1983
A fire in the bow area during winter work aboard the Canada Steamship Lines bulk carrier RICHELIEU (ii) at Thunder Bay resulted in the death of three shipyard workers.
2010
The sailing ship CONCORDIA, which visited the Great Lakes in 2001 and participated in the Tall Ships Festival, sank in the Atlantic about 300 miles off Rio de Janeiro after being caught in a severe squall. All 64 on board were rescued from life rafts after a harrowing ordeal.
2010
The tug ADANAC (Canada spelled backwards) sank at the Essar Steel dock at Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. It was refloated the next day.
Contributors & Sources
Skip Gillham, Jody Aho, Joe Barr, Father Dowling Collection, Ahoy & Farewell II, and the Great Lakes Ships We Remember series from the Marine Historical Society of Detroit.
