SS D. M. Clemson (1903)

For other ships with the same name, see SS D. M. Clemson.

History
United States
Name	D. M. Clemson
Namesake	Daniel M. Clemson
Operator	Provident Steamship Company
Port of registry	Duluth, Minnesota
Builder	Superior Shipbuilding Company, West Superior, Wisconsin
Yard number	510
Launched	3 July 1903
Maiden voyage	13 August 1903
Out of service	30 November 1908
Identification	US official number  157703
Fate	Sank in a storm on Lake Superior
General characteristics
Class & type	Lake freighter
Tonnage	5,531  GRT 3,991  NRT
Tons burthen	17,000
Length	468 feet (143 m) o/a 448 feet (137 m) p/p
Beam	52 feet (16 m)
Depth	28 feet (8.5 m)
Installed power	Engine: 1 × 1,370  hp (1,020  kW) 90 RPM quadruple expansion steam engine Boilers: 2 × 250 pounds per square inch (1,700  kPa) water-tube boilers
Propulsion	1 × propeller
Crew	24
Sister ship(s)	D. G. Kerr James H. Reed

SS D. M. Clemson was a steel-hulled American lake freighter in service between 1903 and 1908. She was built by the Superior Shipbuilding Company in West Superior, Wisconsin, for the Provident Steamship Company of Duluth, Minnesota, managed by Augustus B. Wolvin. She was engaged in the iron ore, coal and grain trade, breaking various haulage records on multiple occasions. She was involved in a number of serious accidents, almost sinking in a storm on Lake Superior in September 1905, as well as a collision with the piers of the Ashtabula Harbor Light just a few weeks prior to her loss.

On what was her final voyage of the year, D. M. Clemson locked through the Soo Locks into Lake Superior on the morning of 30 November 1908, with a cargo of coal loaded two days prior in Lorain, Ohio, consigned to Duluth. She was under the command of Captain Samuel R. Chamberlain, who was scheduled to retire after D. M. Clemson's trip ended. Chamberlain chose to take his vessel on the southernmost route to Duluth, which required passage through the Portage Canal. She was accompanied by the freighter J. J. H. Brown until Whitefish Point, when the latter altered course for the north shore of the lake. J. J. H. Brown was the final vessel to verifiably encounter D. M. Clemson. Shortly thereafter, an unusually powerful snow storm descended on Lake Superior. She sank with the loss of her complete crew.

Within a few days, wreckage began to wash ashore between Crisp Point and Grand Marais, Michigan. Initially believed to be from a different freighter, the discovery of several different pieces of wreckage bearing a legible name and the confirmation she was the only missing vessel on the lake conclusively identified D. M. Clemson as the source. Contemporary sources believed she was lost shortly after entering the storm. Modern authors have attributed her unexplained loss to structural or mechanical failure, or the loss of her hatch covers.

Despite repeated searches by the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society, the wreck of D. M. Clemson has never been found. As of 2025, she is the largest undiscovered shipwreck the Great Lakes.

History

Background

The gunship USS Michigan became the first iron-hulled vessel built on the Great Lakes, upon her completion in 1843, in Erie, Pennsylvania. ^[1] By the mid–1840s, Canadian companies had begun to import iron vessels prefabricated in the United Kingdom. The first iron–hulled merchant vessel built on the lakes, Merchant, was built in 1862, in Buffalo, New York. ^[1] Despite Merchant's clear success proving the potential of iron hulls, ships built from wood remained preferable until the 1880s, due to their lower cost and the abundance of high quality timber. ^[2] That same decade, shipyards around the Great Lakes began to construct iron ships on a relatively large scale. ^[3] The most notable being the freighter Onoko, built by the Globe Iron Works Company, which became the largest vessel on the lakes upon her launch in 1882. ^[4] In 1884, the first steel freighters were built on the Great Lakes. ^[5] Within a decade of the first examples arriving, the majority of ships built on the lakes were steel–hulled. ^[6] The development of the pneumatic rivet gun and the advancement of gantry cranes enabled shipyard employees to work at an increased speed, with greater efficiency. ^[7] This, combined with the rapidly decreasing steel prices, contributed to the rapid increase in the size of lake freighters in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. ^[8] The first 400-foot (121.9 m) freighter was built in 1895, the first 500-foot (152.4 m) freighter was constructed five years later. ^[9]

Throughout the 1880s, the iron ore trade on the Great Lakes grew exponentially, primarily due to the increasing size of the lake freighters, and the rise in the number of trips made by ore boats to the ore docks of Lake Superior. ^[10] As the railways were unable to keep up with the rapid production of iron ore, most of it was transported by bulk freighters. By 1890, 56.95% of the 16,036,043 long tons (16,293,372  t ) of the iron ore produced by mines in the United States was sourced from the region surrounding Lake Superior. ^[10] Freighters engaged in the iron ore trade frequently carried coal on upbound voyages to fuel mining equipment and infrastructure, while hauling ore when heading downbound. ^[11]

Service history

D. M. Clemson in the Soo Locks

References

1. Bugbee (1962a), p. 24.
2. Bowlus (2010), p. 85; Bugbee (1962a), p. 26; Thompson (1994), p. 32.
3. Bugbee (1962b), p. 48; Thompson (1994), p. 32.
4. Thompson (1994), p. 31.
5. Bugbee (1962b), p. 50; Thompson (1994), pp. 40–42.
6. Bugbee (1962b), pp. 49–51.
7. Stonehouse (1990), p. 65.
8. Stonehouse (1990), p. 65; Thompson (1994), pp. 59–84.
9. Thompson (1994), pp. 59–84.
10. National Park Service (2018), p. 16.
11. National Park Service (2018), p. 7.

Sources

• Baillod, Brendon (2025). "Lost Leviathans: Lake Superior". Madison, Wisconsin: Great Lakes Shipwreck Research. Retrieved 22 July 2025– via Prezi.
• Bowlus, W. Bruce (2010). Iron Ore Transport on the Great Lakes: The Development of a Delivery System to Feed American Industry. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc. ISBN   978-0-786433-26-1 . Retrieved 22 July 2025.
• Boyer, Dwight (1966). Great Stories of the Great Lakes. New York City: Dodd, Mead and Company. ISBN   978-0-396053-74-3 . Retrieved 26 August 2025.
• Bugbee, Gordon P. (1962a). "Iron Merchant Ships: An Upper Lakes Centennial - Part One" (PDF). Detroit, Michigan: Great Lakes Maritime Institute. Retrieved 22 July 2025– via maritimehistoryofthegreatlakes.ca.
• Bugbee, Gordon P. (1962b). "Iron Merchant Ships: An Upper Lakes Cenntenial – Part Two" (PDF). Detroit, Michigan: Great Lakes Maritime Institute. Retrieved 22 July 2025– via maritimehistoryofthegreatlakes.ca.
• "Choctaw Shipwreck Site National Register of Historic Places Registration Form" (PDF). Washington D.C.: National Park Service. 2018. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 January 2019. Retrieved 22 July 2025.
• "Clemson, D. M." Bowling Green, Ohio: Bowling Green State University. 2017. Archived from the original on 26 January 2018. Retrieved 14 August 2025.
• Herriman, H. N. (1905). "Great Lakes Register – For the Construction and Classification of Steel and Wooden Vessels – 1905". Chicago, Illinois: Lakeside Press . Retrieved 22 July 2025– via maritimehistoryofthegreatlakes.ca.
• Donahue, James L. (1989). "Mystery: Why Did Clemson Sink?". Port Huron, Michigan: The Times Herald . Retrieved 3 August 2025– via Newspapers.com.
• "Inland Seas – Volume 58, Fall 2002, Number 3". Toledo, Ohio: Great Lakes Historical Society. 2002. Retrieved 31 July 2025– via National Museum of the Great Lakes.
• Lofton, Justine (2025). "Found: Largest Missing Shipwreck in the Great Lakes". Grand Rapids, Michigan: MLive Media Group . Retrieved 26 August 2025.
• Stonehouse, Frederick (1990) [1984]. Went Missing, II. Au Train, Michigan: Avery Color Studios. ISBN   978-0-932212-37-5 . Retrieved 3 August 2025.
• "The Marine Review: Volume 27, Number 13 – March 26, 1903". Cleveland, Ohio: The Marine Review. 1903. Within the "Duluth News Notes" section on page 26. Retrieved 31 July 2025– via maritimehistoryofthegreatlakes.ca.
• Thompson, Mark L. (1994). Queen of the Lakes. Detroit, Michigan: Wayne State University Press. ISBN   0-8143-2393-6 . Retrieved 22 July 2025.
• Witsil, Frank (2025). "Lost in Lake Huron for More Than 100 Years, the Carruthers is Finally Found". Detroit, Michigan: Detroit Free Press . Retrieved 24 August 2025.