1847
CONSTITUTION (wooden passenger-package freight side-wheeler, 141 feet, 444 tons, built in 1837 at Charleston, Ohio) struck a pier in Sandusky harbor, stove a large hole in her bow and sank. Her machinery was later recovered and installed in J.D. MORTON.
1873
The wooden steamer OSCAR TOWNSEND was launched at 14:20 at E. Fitzgerald’s yard in Port Huron. The launch went well with a few hundred spectators. She was built for use in the iron ore trade by the Lake Superior Transportation Co. Her dimensions were 210 feet overall with a 200-foot keel; 33-foot, 10-inch beam; and a 15-foot depth. She had three masts and was painted a deep green.
1915
EASTLAND rolled over and sank on her side at Chicago with the loss of 844 lives. It was the worst marine accident in Great Lakes history.
1925
WILLIAM G. MATHER left River Rouge, Michigan, on her maiden voyage for Ashtabula, Ohio, to load coal for Port Arthur/Fort William, Ontario.
1960
The idle tanker COASTAL CASCADES was being used for occasional storage when she sank at the dock at Montreal. The hull was salvaged in August and dismantled at Montreal in 1961–1962.
1970
The 226-foot Danish freighter NORDLAND SAGA was wrecked off Oman as c) ADEL of the Dubai National Shipping Corp. while en route from Bombay, India, to Dubai with a cargo of steel bars and generals. She made one trip through the Seaway in 1965.
1974
ALGOSOO (Hull #206) was launched at Collingwood, Ontario, by Collingwood Shipyards Ltd. for Algoma Central Railway, Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario.
ANDY was lost en route from Pensacola, Florida, to Guayaquil, Ecuador, in the Caribbean off Isla de Providencia. The former GRAINMOTOR had left the Great Lakes in 1966 for saltwater service.
1975
ST. CLAIR (Hull #714) was launched at Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, by Bay Shipbuilding Corp. for the American Steamship Co.
1980
34 ships were delayed when the BALTIC SKOU, a 595-foot Danish-flagged freighter built in 1977, ran aground after losing power 3 miles east of the Snell Lock near Massena, New York. The ship, loaded with sunflower seeds, was headed for Montreal and the Atlantic Ocean when the grounding occurred. No injuries or pollution resulted from the accident, and the vessel did not take on any water.
BURNS HARBOR’s sea trials were conducted, during which she performed an emergency stop in 3,160 feet loaded to a depth of 25–26 feet. She was the third 1,000-footer built for Bethlehem and the tenth on the Great Lakes.
Contributors & Sources
Skip Gillham, 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.
Compiled by Roger LeLievre.
