The Great Lakes Storm of 1913 was a blizzard with hurricane-force winds that devastated the Great Lakes Basin in the Midwestern United States and Southwestern Ontario, Canada, from November 7 to 10, 1913. The storm was most powerful on November 9, battering and overturning ships on four of the five Great Lakes, particularly Lake Huron.
Lake freighters, or lakers, are bulk carrier vessels that ply the Great Lakes of North America. These vessels are traditionally called boats, although classified as ships.
The SS Appomattox was a wooden-hulled, American Great Lakes freighter that ran aground on Lake Michigan, off Atwater Beach off the coast of Shorewood, Wisconsin in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, United States in 1905. On the day of January 20, 2005 the remnants of the Appomattox were listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
SS Daniel J. Morrell was a 603-foot (184 m) Great Lakes freighter that broke up in a strong storm on Lake Huron on 29 November 1966, taking with it 28 of her 29 crewmen. The freighter was used to carry bulk cargoes such as iron ore but was running with only ballast when the 60-year-old ship sank.
The SS James Carruthers was a Canadian Great Lakes freighter built in 1913. The ship was owned by the St. Lawrence & Chicago Steam and Navigation Company of Toronto, Ontario, with the official registry number 131090.
SS Henry B. Smith was a steel-hulled lake freighter built in 1906 by the American Ship Building Company at Lorain, Ohio USA. The steamship was owned by the Acme Transit Company of Lorain, Ohio, under the management of William A. Hawgood. The hull number was 343 and the registration number was US203143.
SS Wexford was a steel-hulled, propeller-driven, cargo ship built by William Doxford & Sons. at Sunderland, Great Britain in 1883. The official number for Wexford was 87342 with the hull number 00145. The ship was lost on Lake Huron with all hands on 9 November 1913 during the Great Lakes storm of 1913. Sources cite conflicting numbers for crew lost with 17 to 24 crew being listed. Her cargo at the time of loss was 96,000 bushels of wheat. The wreck was discovered 25 August 2000 sitting intact and upright in 75 feet (23 m) of water on the lake bottom. A copper wreath was placed on the wreck to honor the crew of the 100th Anniversary of The Great Storm of 1913.
The SS Regina was a cargo ship built for the Merchant Mutual Line and home ported in Montreal, Quebec. Named after Regina, Saskatchewan, Regina had a tonnage of 1,956 gross register tons (GRT) and a crew of 32.
The SS Marquette was a wooden-hulled, American Great Lakes freighter built in 1881, that sank on Lake Superior, five miles east of Michigan Island, Ashland County, Wisconsin, Apostle Islands, United States on October 15, 1903. On the day of February 13, 2008 the remains of the Marquette were listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
SS Clifton, originally Samuel Mather, was a whaleback lake freighter built in 1892 for service on the Great Lakes. She was 308 foot (94 m) long, 30 foot (9.1 m) beam, and 24 foot (7.3 m) depth, and had a 3,500 ton capacity. The self-propelled barge was built by the American Steel Barge Company in West Superior, Wisconsin. Her builders used a design well-suited to carry iron ore, her intended trade. The new vessel was christened Samuel Mather, after a cofounder of Pickands Mather and Company, which at the time was the second largest fleet on the Great Lakes.
The SS Andaste was a semi-whaleback freighter, built in 1892 by the Cleveland Ship Building Company for the Lake Superior Iron Company. The vessel is best known for sinking on Lake Michigan on the night of September 9–10, 1929, with all hands; 25 men were lost. As of 2020, the wreck of Andaste has not yet been located.
The Henry A. Hawgood was an American steel-hulled, propeller-driven lake freighter that was built by the American Ship Building Company of Cleveland, Ohio for service on the Great Lakes of North America and Canada. She was used to haul bulk cargoes such as iron ore, coal and grain.
SS Choctaw was a steel-hulled American freighter in service between 1892 and 1915, on the Great Lakes of North America. She was a so-called monitor vessel, containing elements of traditional lake freighters and the whaleback ships designed by Alexander McDougall. Choctaw was built in 1892 by the Cleveland Shipbuilding Company in Cleveland, Ohio, and was originally owned by the Lake Superior Iron Company. She was sold to the Cleveland-Cliffs Iron Company in 1894 and spent the rest of her working life with it. On her regular route between Detroit, Escanaba, Marquette, Michigan and Cleveland, Ohio, she carried iron ore downbound, and coal upbound.
SS Ohio was a wooden hulled Great Lakes freighter that served on the Great Lakes of North America from her construction in 1875, to her sinking in September 1894 when she collided with the schooner barge Ironton which also sank in the collision. Ironton was being towed by the steamer Charles J. Kershaw, which was also towing the schooner Moonlight. Ohio was found upright in 2017, over 122 years after her sinking in over 200 feet of water off Presque Isle, Michigan. Ironton is still missing. The researchers who discovered Ohio plan to nominate her for a listing in the National Register of Historic Places.
SS S.C. Baldwin was a wooden-hulled steam barge built in 1871, that capsized in a storm on August 26, 1908, on Lake Michigan, off Two Rivers, Wisconsin, United States, with the loss of one life. On August 22, 2016 the remnants of S.C. Baldwin were listed in the National Register of Historic Places as reference number 16000565.
SS Russia was an iron-hulled American Great Lakes package freighter that sank in a Lake Huron gale on April 30, 1909, near DeTour Village, Michigan, with all 22 of her crew and one passenger surviving.
SS John V. Moran was a wooden-hulled American package freighter in service between 1888 and 1899. She was built in 1888 in West Bay City, Michigan, by F.W. Wheeler & Company. She was built for Ward's Crescent Transportation Company of Detroit, Michigan, and was operated as part of his Detroit & Lake Superior Line. She was built to haul both bulk, and package freight. Throughout the 1893 shipping season, John V. Moran ran between Buffalo, New York, and Duluth, Minnesota. She was sold for the first time in 1895 to the Union Transit Line of Buffalo, and once again in 1898 to the Crosby Transportation Company of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
SS Ironsides was a wooden-hulled American package freighter in service between 1864 and 1873. She was built in 1864 in Cleveland, Ohio, by either Ira Lafrinier or Quayle & Martin. She was built for John E. Turner, also of Cleveland, and operated as part of the Cleveland & Lake Superior Line. She had an identical sister ship named Lac La Belle. Ironsides operated between Cleveland and Lake Superior for a number of years, and was sold several times. In 1869, she was sold to Nathan Englemann of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and operated between Milwaukee and Grand Haven, Michigan. In 1871, she became part of the Englemann Transportation Company.
United States
