Today in Great Lakes History - December 29
B F JONES (2) was launched December 29, 1906, as a.) GENERAL GARRETSON.
KINSMAN INDEPENDENT (1) was launched in 1906, as a.) WILLIAM B KERR (Hull#72) at Chicago, Illinois by Chicago Ship Building Co. for the Weston Transit Co.
The GEORGE M HUMPHREY (1) was christened on December 29, 1926.
The GOLDEN HIND was laid up for the last time on December 29, 1985, at Toronto, Ontario.
On 29 December 1813, ARIEL (4-gun armed schooner, 112 tons, built in 1813, at Erie, Pennsylvania as part of Perry's fleet) ran aground in a squall at Black River (now Buffalo) and was burned by the British.
CAROLINE (wooden sidewheeler, 71 foot, 46 tons, built in 1822, at New York City, New York) was chartered to transport arms and munitions to Navy Island near Buffalo. On 29 December 1837, she was commandeered by about 60 Canadian rebels under the command of a Royal Navy officer at Schlosser on the Niagara River. In the fight that followed, she was set afire, abandoned and allowed to drift down the river. Some sources say that she went over the Falls. This incident caused hostile feelings along the U.S. northeastern frontier for many months.
Today in Great Lakes History - December 28
The HENRY FORD II was laid up in the Rouge Steel slip at Dearborn, Michigan on December 28, 1988.
On 28 December 1907, CALDERA (steel propeller freighter, 504 foot, 6328 gross tons) was launched at W. Bay City, Michigan.
On 28 December 1881, the steamer R J GORDON arrived in Port Huron from Marine City on her maiden voyage with a large number of passengers. She was powered with a steam engine with an 18" cylinder and 20" stroke. Her dimensions were 116 feet long with a 26 foot beam. She cost nearly $20,000 and was built to run between Algonac and Lexington.
Today in Great Lakes History - December 27
The SAVIC (CLIFFS VICTORY) cleared the Welland Canal on Christmas night 1985, and finally anchored at Pointe aux Trembles near Montreal, Quebec on December 27th, awaiting another load of scrap. The SAVIC remained there the entire winter, because the underwriters ordered that her hull be re-enforced by welding straps to her stress points for her overseas journey.
The THOMAS LAMONT as a single tow arrived at Aliaga, Turkey on December 27, 1987, where she was scrapped. The LAMONT was one of the last bulkers that retained her telescoping hatch covers to the very end.
Today in Great Lakes History - December 26
In 1981, the steamer ENDERS M VOORHEES laid up for the last time at the Hallett Dock #5 in Duluth, Minnesota.
On 26 December 1916, the wreck of the wooden self-unloading freighter TOPEKA was leveled by dynamiting. She sank just off Windsor/Sandwich, Ontario in the Detroit River on 15 April 1916, in a collision with the small steamer CHRISTOPHER. Her machinery was removed prior to dynamiting.
Today in Great Lakes History - December 25
The E G GRACE carried 14,797 tons of taconite ore on her last trip out of Taconite Harbor, Minnesota bound for South Chicago, Illinois and then was laid up at Ashtabula, Ohio on December 25, 1976, with engine trouble which often plagued the six "Al" ships powered with Lentz-Poppet engines. The lay-up of the E G GRACE lasted until April, 1984 when she became the first Maritimer to be sold for scrap.
Today in Great Lakes History - December 24
December 24, 1969 - The CITY OF FLINT 32 made her last trip out of Ludington, Michigan pulled by 2 tugs. She was sold to Norfolk and Western Railway Company to be converted into a river ferry barge and renamed b.) ROANOKE by Nicholson’s Terminal & Dock Co. at Ecorse, Michigan.
On 24 December 1910, ALSAKA (wooden propeller bulk freighter, 165 foot, 348 tons, built in 1878, at Detroit, Michigan as a.) ACORN) was sheltering from a storm a few miles from Tobermory, Ontario, when she caught fire from an overheated boiler and burned to a total loss. She was originally built as a sidewheel passenger vessel and when rebuilt in 1889, her engine went into the steamer FRANK E KIRBY.
On 24 December 1875, the Port Huron Times listed the following vessels at winter lay-up at St. Clair, Michigan -- Scows: ANNA H MOORE, A MONROE, MYRTLE, CLIPPER VISION, J SNADERS and B MONROE; Steamers: BERTIE DAHLKE and HELEN; Schooners: JOHN RICE and M R GOFFE; Barges: MILLIN and JUSTIN R WHITING; Tug: C M FARRAR; and Dredge: H LIFIAN.
On Christmas Eve of 1979, while at her temporary dock in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the steamer E M FORD sank when gale force winds forced her from her moorings and repeatedly slammed her bow into the dock facing. By Christmas morning her stern was settled on the bottom, her engine room flooded. Her storage cargo of powdered cement was partially flooded also. By afternoon, the proud steamer lay sunken at her dock. She stayed on the bottom for several weeks as crews had to remove a solid 3 feet of hardened cement and patch her holed bow. On January 20th, 1980, she was refloated and towed to Bay Shipbuilding where work began on rebuilding her.
Today in Great Lakes History - December 23
The IMPERIAL ST CLAIR was selected to participate in the three-year winter navigation experiment during which the Soo Locks remained open all year. On December 23, 1976, at the very onset, she ran aground entering ice-jammed Parry Sound on Georgian Bay in a blinding snow squall. One of her cargo tanks ruptured spilling 1,800 barrels of diesel oil.
The SAVIC (CLIFFS VICTORY) was downbound past Detroit, Michigan December 23, 1985, by-passing a 15,000 ton load of scrap because of the lack of time to clear the Seaway.
CHARLES DICK was sold for scrap to Marine Salvage Ltd., Port Colborne, Ontario on December 23, 1976.
The SIR TREVOR DAWSON was laid up after the Great War until December 23, 1920, when she was sold to Pioneer Steamship Co. and renamed c) CHARLES L HUTCHINSON (3).
On 23 December 1905, JAMES B WOOD (steel propeller freighter, 514 foot, 7159 gross tons) was launched at W. Bay City, Michigan. In 1913, she was renamed ARCTURUS.
On 23 December 1885, MARY MARTINI (wooden propeller passenger-package freight vessel, 85 foot, 91 gross tons, built in 1877, at W. Bay City, Michigan) stranded on Brule Point, 13 miles east of Grand Marais, Minnesota on Lake Superior in fair weather. A navigational error was blamed. She became a total loss but her passengers and crew were taken off by the Duluth tug T H CAMP.
In 1903, the PERE MARQUETTE 20 arrived Ludington on her maiden voyage.
Data from: Joe Barr, Dave Swayze, Father Dowling Collection, Ahoy & Farewell II and the Great Lakes Ships We Remember series. Marine Historical Society of Detroit.
This is a small sample, the books includes many other vessels with a much more detailed history