The Great Lakes Storm of 1913, historically referred to as the Big Blow, the Freshwater Fury and the White Hurricane, was a blizzard with hurricane-force winds that devastated the Great Lakes Basin in the Midwestern United States and Southwestern Ontario, Canada, between November 7 and 10, 1913. The storm was most powerful on November 9, battering and overturning ships on four of the five Great Lakes, particularly Lake Huron.
Goderich is a town in the Canadian province of Ontario and is the county seat of Huron County. The town was founded by John Galt and William "Tiger" Dunlop of the Canada Company in 1827. First laid out in 1828, the town is named after Frederick John Robinson, 1st Viscount Goderich, who was prime minister of the United Kingdom at the time. It was incorporated as a town in 1850.
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 her 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. When built in 1906, she was the "Queen of the Lakes", being the longest ship then in service on the Great Lakes.
The Mataafa Storm of 1905 was a storm that occurred on the Great Lakes on November 27–28, 1905. The system moved across the Great Basin with moderate depth on November 26 and November 27, then east-northeastward across the Great Lakes on November 28. Fresh east winds were forecast for the afternoon and evening of November 27, with storm warnings in effect by the morning of November 28. Storm-force winds and heavy snows accompanied the cyclone's passage. The storm, named after the steamship Mataafa, ended up destroying or damaging about 29 vessels, killing 36 seamen, and causing shipping losses of US$ 3.567 million on Lake Superior.
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 Hydrus was an American steel-hulled Great Lakes bulk freighter, constructed in 1903 and launched as the R.E. Schuck. She was following the SS James Carruthers heading south on Lake Huron while carrying a load of iron ore when she and the Carruthers were caught in the Great Lakes Storm of 1913.
The SS Kaliyuga was a steamship that sank with the loss of 16 lives on Lake Huron on the night of October 19/20, 1905. The wreck of the Kaliyuga has never been found, and the cause of her sinking remains a mystery.
SS Isaac M. Scott was an American Great Lakes freighter that sank during the Great Lakes Storm of 1913 in Lake Huron, 6 to 7 miles northeast of Thunder Bay Island, while she was traveling from Cleveland, Ohio, United States to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States with a cargo of coal.
SS Clifton, originally SS 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 Argus was a steel-hulled Great Lakes freighter, that was constructed as the SS Lewis Woodruff by the American Ship Building Company, and was launched on 5 August 1903. Its original owner was the Gilchrist Transportation Company, based in Cleveland, Ohio. In 1913, the ship was sold to the Interlake Steamship Company, and was renamed the Argus.
SS John A. McGean was a steamship that operated on the Great Lakes in the early 1900s until she sank in the Great Lakes Storm of 1913.
The SS Andaste was a Monitor-class vessel, 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.
Minnedosa was a four-masted wooden Great Lakes schooner launched in 1890. This was late in the era of sailing ships and it spent its career as a schooner barge, towed by a steam tug. It was lost with its nine crew and passengers and a heavy load of grain in a storm October 20, 1905 on Lake Huron.
Howard M. Hanna Jr. was a 500 ft (150 m) Great Lakes freighter that had a lengthy, 75-year career on the Great Lakes of Canada and America. Hanna was a product of the Cleveland Shipbuilding Company of Cleveland, Ohio. The ship was commissioned by the Richardson Transportation Company to haul iron ore, coal and grain. She had a cargo capacity of 9,200 tons of bulk cargo, or 323,000 bushels of grain.
The J.H. Sheadle was an American Great Lakes freighter built in 1906. She was built in Ecorse, Michigan, by the Great Lakes Engineering Works. She was owned by the Grand Island Steamship Company of Cleveland, Ohio. She had the identification number #203826. She was used to transport coal, iron ore and grain across the Great Lakes of North America and Canada.
The Henry Phipps was a 601-foot-long (183 m) American Great Lakes freighter that served on the Great Lakes of North America from her launching in 1907 to her scrapping in 1976 by Hyman Michaels Company of Duluth, Minnesota. The Phipps was used to haul bulk cargoes such as iron ore, coal, grain and occasionally limestone.
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, and Cleveland, she carried iron ore downbound, and coal upbound.
Iosco was a Great Lakes freighter that served on the Great Lakes from her construction in 1891 to her foundering on September 2, 1905, when she and her tow, the schooner barge Olive Jeanette sank on Lake Superior. While Olive Jeanette's wreck was located in over 300 feet (91 m) of water about eight miles (13 km) off the Huron Islands in the 1990s, Iosco's wreck has not yet been found.
SS Emperor was a steel-hulled Canadian lake freighter in service between 1911 and 1947. She was built between 1910 and April 1911 by the Collingwood Shipbuilding Company in Collingwood, Ontario, for Inland Lines, Ltd., of Midland, Ontario. She entered service on May 3, 1911. Emperor was sold to Canada Steamship Lines of Montreal, Quebec. Under the ownership of Canada Steamship Lines, she carried a wide variety of cargoes, but most frequently iron ore to Point Edward, Ontario, where it would be transported to Hamilton, Ontario, by train. After the opening of the fourth Welland Canal, Emperor carried the ore directly to Hamilton. She was involved in several accidents throughout her career.
Canada
