Businesswoman, president Kinsman Transit Great Lakes shipping fleet
Sophia Steinbrenner (September 14 1854 - 13 December 1933)[1] was an American businesswoman and president of a Great Lakes shipping fleet, Kinsman Transit.[2]
Sophia Minch was born on September 14 1854 to German-born Anna Christina (née Leimbach) and Philip Minch of Vermilion, Ohio.[3] Her parents had settled in the area in the 1830s, her father was trained as a shoemaker but moved into shipping and shipbuilding. The company, Kinsman Transit, was named for the street where the family lived, Kinsman Street, Cleveland, Ohio. The couple had eight children, four of whom died in infancy. Sophia, her sister Catherine Hassenflue, and two brothers survived to adulthood but all predeceased Sophia. Charles died age 20 and Peter drowned with his wife and two of their children when the steamer Western Reserve sank in 1892.[2][4]
Business career
Rockefeller Building, Cleveland
Anna Minch took over the shipping business when her husband died and when she died in 1905, Sophia took over Kinsman Transit (the family business), a large shipping concern on the Great Lakes, with her husband Henry Steinbrenner as general manager.[5][6] Four ships of the line were named SS Henry Steinbrenner. Their son, George M. Steinbrenner, became general manager when his father died in 1929.[5]
The Onoko underway
Sophia Steinbrenner "personally directed the movement of her vessels" and went to work at the company offices in the Rockefeller Building (Cleveland) everyday throughout her career until shortly before her death.[2]
In 1913, she stayed awake at her desk for three days straight until all her ships were accounted for following a storm which sank 14 other vessels.[2]
The Steinbrenner family had shares in the SS Onoko, the first iron-hulled, iron-screw steam freighter on the Great Lakes and the prototype for all modern bulk freighters. Launched in 1884, it sank in Lake Superior in 1915 and was mentioned in Steinbrenner's New York Times obituary. The wreck was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1992.[2][7][8]
Personal life
Sophia Minch married Henry Steinbrenner (1849–1929) on 24 December 1874 in Vermilion.[9] They had six children. She died age 79 on 12 December 1933.[6]
Lake freighters, or lakers, are bulk carrier vessels that operate on the Great Lakes of North America. These vessels are traditionally called boats, although classified as ships.
The Defoe Shipbuilding Company was a small ship builder established in 1905 in Bay City, Michigan, United States. It ceased to operate in 1976 after failing to renew its contracts with the United States Navy. The site of the former company is now being developed for business and housing on the bank of the Saginaw River.
The SS Anna C. Minch was a cargo carrier which foundered, broke in two, and sank in Lake Michigan during the Armistice Day Blizzard on 11 November 1940. The Anna C. Minch was a steam-powered, steel-hulled bulk freighter constructed in 1903 by the American Ship Building Company at Cleveland, Ohio.
Henry George Steinbrenner III was an American businessman who was a part owner and co-chairman of the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball (MLB). He was the older brother of the team's principal owner and managing general partner Hal Steinbrenner.
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.
Henry Darling Coffinberry was an American industrialist from Cleveland, Ohio. Along with his partner, Robert Wallace, H. D. Coffinberry is considered one of the founding fathers of modern Great Lakes shipping. Following a memorable Civil War career on the ironclad gunboat Louisville, Coffinberry returned to civilian life in Cleveland, Ohio. There he met Robert Wallace and together they built the first iron- and steel-hulled freighters to be used on the Great Lakes.
The lake freighter SS Henry Steinbrenner was a 427-foot (130 m) long, 50-foot (15 m) wide, and 28-foot (8.5 m) deep, dry bulk freighter of typical construction style for the early 1900s, primarily designed for the iron ore, coal, and grain trades on the Great Lakes. Commissioned by the Kinsman Transit Co. of Cleveland, Ohio she was launched as hull number 14 by Jenks Ship Building Co. of Port Huron, Michigan. Her design featured a forward forecastle containing crew cabins topped with an additional cabin and pilot house. The mid section was a long nearly flat deck over the cargo holds only interrupted by 12 hatches fitted with telescoping type hatch covers. The aft end featured a large cabin situated over the engine room containing the galley, mess rooms, and crew quarters and was topped with a smoke stack and air vents. The Steinbrenner later featured a "doghouse" cabin aft of her smoke stack to house added crew from a change in the crew watch system on the Great Lakes.
The American Ship Building Company was the dominant shipbuilder on the Great Lakes before the Second World War. It started as Cleveland Shipbuilding in Cleveland, Ohio in 1888 and opened the yard in Lorain, Ohio in 1898. It changed its name to the American Ship Building Company in 1900, when it acquired Superior Shipbuilding, in Superior, Wisconsin; Toledo Shipbuilding, in Toledo, Ohio; and West Bay Shipbuilding, in West Bay City, Michigan. With the coming of World War I, the company also acquired Buffalo Dry Dock, in Buffalo, New York; Chicago Shipbuilding, in Chicago, Illinois; and Detroit Shipbuilding, in Wyandotte, Michigan. American Shipbuilding ranked 81st among United States corporations in the value of World War II military production contracts.
The Henry Cort was a 320-foot (98 m) long whaleback freighter. It sank four times during its career; finally running aground at Muskegon, Michigan in November, 1934. The ship broke apart over the winter and was scrapped in 1935.
SS Edward Y. Townsend was a 603-foot (184 m) American Great Lakes freighter that served on the Great Lakes. She was primarily used to haul bulk cargoes such as iron ore, coal, grain and occasionally limestone. She was in service from her launching in 1906 to her sinking in 1968. She is best known for sinking on the way to the scrapper, near RMS Titanic, off the coast of Newfoundland.
The John Sherwin was an American steel-hulled, propeller-driven Great Lakes freighter built in 1906 by the West Bay City Shipbuilding Company of Bay City, Michigan for service on the Great Lakes of North America. She was used to transport bulk cargoes such as coal, iron ore and grain. She served from her launching in 1906 to her scrapping in 1974, in Germany.
SS Onoko was an iron hulled Great Lakes freighter. She was launched in 1882 in Cleveland, Ohio as hull number #4, and sank on September 14, 1915 in Lake Superior near Knife River, Minnesota. Onoko is thought to be the prototype for every single steel hulled Great Lakes Bulk carrier that ever sailed. These vessels made possible the cheap transport of bulk cargoes such as iron ore, coal and limestone. Her wreckage still remains on the bottom of Lake Superior and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1992.
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 Robert Wallace was a wooden-hulled American bulk freighter that served on the Great Lakes of North America from her construction in 1882 to her sinking in 1902 on Lake Superior near the town of Palmers, St. Louis County, Minnesota, United States. On November 17, 1902 shortly after leaving Superior, Wisconsin with a cargo of iron ore, Robert Wallace sprang a leak and sank. Her wreck was found in 2006, and on October 14, 2009, the wreck of Robert Wallace was listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
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. In March, 2023, it was announced that Ironton had been located in 2019. The researchers who discovered Ohio plan to nominate her for a listing in the National Register of Historic Places.
SS Etruria was a steel hulled lake freighter that served on the Great Lakes of North America from her construction in 1902 to her sinking in 1905. On June 18, 1905, while sailing upbound on Lake Huron with a cargo of coal, she was rammed and sunk by the freighter Amasa Stone 10 miles (16 km) off Presque Isle Light. For nearly 106 years the location of Etruria's wreck remained unknown, until the spring of 2011 when her wreck was found upside down in 310 feet (94 m) of water.
SS John Mitchell was a steel-hulled, American lake freighter in service between 1907 and 1911. She was built in 1906 by the Great Lakes Engineering Works in St. Clair, Michigan, for the Cornell Steamship Company of Chicago, Illinois, which was managed by C.W. Elphicke. She entered service in 1907, and had a sister ship named William B. Davock. Throughout her career, John Mitchell carried iron ore and coal. On October 4, 1908, she ran aground at Indiana Harbor, Indiana, while loaded with iron ore.
SS Cayuga was a steel-hulled American package freighter in service between 1889 and 1895. She was built in 1889 in Cleveland, Ohio, by the Globe Iron Works Company for the Lehigh Valley Transit Company of Buffalo, New York. One of five identical sister ships, Cayuga entered service in 1889, carrying package freight between Buffalo and Chicago, Illinois, also making stops in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and Gladstone, Michigan. Prior to her sinking, Cayuga was involved in two accidents. In the first in 1890, when she went aground in a gale just outside of Buffalo harbour; six tugboats managed to pull her free that same day. The second accident occurred in 1891, when Cayuga was involved in a collision with the package freighter Delaware near Cheboygan, Michigan.
SS Sir William Siemens was a steel-hulled American lake freighter in service between 1896 and 1944. Built in 1896 by the Globe Iron Works Company of Cleveland for John D. Rockefeller's Bessemer Steamship Company, she was the third of three 432 ft-long (131.7 m) lake freighters, each of which shared the unofficial title of Queen of the Lakes due to their record-breaking length.
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