1842
CHICAGO (wooden passenger & package freight sidewheeler, 105 foot, 166 tons, built in 1837, at St. Joseph, Michigan) was struck by a gale between Ashtabula and Conneaut in Lake Erie. She lost both of her stacks and became unmanageable when her fires went out. She was driven ashore about 3 miles east of Silver Creek, New York and was wrecked. About 60 persons were on board and amazingly no lives were lost.
1869
EQUATOR (wooden propeller package freighter, 184 foot, 621 tons, built in 1857, at Buffalo, New York) was trying to pull the schooner SOUTHWEST off a reef near North Manitou Island on Lake Michigan. A storm swept in and EQUATOR foundered in the relatively shallow water. She was thought to be unsalvageable but was re-floated in 1870. Her hull was extensively rebuilt and became the barge ELDORADO in 1871, while her engine was used in the tug BISMARCK.
1873
The tug CRUSADER was launched at 1:20 p.m. at the Leighton & Dunford yard in Port Huron, Michigan. Her dimensions were 138 foot overall, 125 foot keel, 23 foot beam, and 12 foot depth. She was built for Mr. G. E. Brockway of Port Huron.
1881
The schooner JAMES PLATT left Bay City with a cargo of lumber for Chicago. However, she was wrecked on Lake Michigan during a terrible snowstorm during the first week of December and never made it to Chicago. The storm lasted two full days and six of the crew survived but the rest were lost.
1882
DROMEDARY (wooden propeller, 120 foot, 255 gross tons, built in 1868, at Port Dalhousie, Ontario) burned to a total loss at the dock at Hamilton, Ontario when her banked fires overheated. She was owned by Burroughs & Co. No lives were lost.
1886
A terrible storm swept the Lakes in mid-November 1886. On 18-19 November of that year, The Port Huron Times listed the vessels that were known to have foundered in that storm. Here is the list as it appeared on 18 November 1886. “The barge CHARLES HINCKLEY is ashore near Alpena. The schooner P S MARCH is ashore at St. Ignace. She will probably go to pieces. The schooner THOMAS P. SHELDON is ashore about 10 miles north of Alpena. The crew was rescued by the tug HAND. The schooner NELLIE REDINGTON is reported going to pieces at Two Rivers. Three of her crew reached harbor all right, but the other 7 men on board are in danger of their lives. The coal barges F. M. DICKINSON and EMERALD were driven ashore at Kewaunee, Wisconsin Wednesday morning [17 Nov]. Three of the DICKINSON’s crew were drowned, the other four floated ashore on a plank. The EMERALD’s crew started ashore in the yawl, but 5 were drowned.
1913
The ANN ARBOR NO 4 ran aground on Green Isle, the island in Green Bay to the north of her course between Sturgeon Bay and Menominee. ANN ARBOR NO 3 pulled her off undamaged after about 2 hours work.
1924
The ASHCROFT was launched as a) GLENIFFER.
1926
The passenger and freight carrier MONTREAL was built at Toronto in 1902. It caught fire and burned near St. Joseph de Sorel in the St. Lawrence River while operating late season in a freight only capacity. The superstructure was destroyed and the vessel was beached. Five deckhands, believed trapped in the bow area, died.
1941
TURRET CAPE stranded near Cove Island, Lake Huron and was not released until 1912. It last sailed as c) WALTER INKSTER and was scrapped at Port Dalhousie in 1959.
1958
The CARL D. BRADLEY was lost in a violent storm on Lake Michigan.
1969
The bow and stern sections of the vessel that was to become the STEWART J. CORT were built by Ingalls Shipbuilding Division, Litton Systems, Inc., Pascagoula, MS, as hull 1173. That 182 foot vessel, known as “STUBBY” was launched on this date. “STUBBY” sailed under its own power from the Gulf of Mexico through the St. Lawrence Seaway and Welland Canal to Erie, Pennsylvania where the sections were cut apart by Erie Marine, Inc. and the 818 foot mid section was added – making the Lakes first thousand footer.
1970
SILLERY, a Canadian freighter that operated on the St. Lawrence, was heavily damaged aft due to an engineroom fire while enroute from Sept-Iles to Montreal. The ship was a total loss. The bow was later removed and transplanted to sistership CACOUNA which received collision damage on July 6, 1971. The latter was later lost on Lake Michigan as c) JENNIFER on December 1, 1974.
1976
The CANADIAN OLYMPIC’s sea trials were conducted. Her maiden voyage was on 28 November 1976, to load coal at Conneaut, Ohio for Nanticoke, Ontario. Her name honors the Olympic Games that were held at Montreal that year.
2006
JOHN G. MUNSON hit the Shell Fuel Dock at Corunna and knocked about 200 feet of the structure into the St. Clair River.
Contributors & Sources
Skip Gilham, Joe Barr, Dave Swayze, Father Dowling Collection, Historical Collections of the Great Lakes, Max Hanley, Steve Haverty, Ahoy & Farewell II, and the Great Lakes Ships We Remember series from the Marine HIstorical Society of Detroit.
