1882
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.
Maunaloa. Peter B. Worden collection, MHSD
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.
Tom M. Girdler maiden trip. Press photo/Roger LeLievre
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.
Spartan from above. Andy LaBorde
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.
Ralph Misener with her unique Conflow self-unloading equipment on deck. John Vournakis
Contributors & Sources
Skip Gillham, Joe Barr, Dave Swayze, George Wharton, Roger LeLievre, the Ahoy & Farewell series and the Great Lakes Ships We Remember series from the Marine Historical Society of Detroit.
Compiled & Maintained by Roger LeLievre.
