1852 — Nov 11-12, Cleveland steamer Oneida sinks, Lake Erie storm, off E. Barcelona, NY-17-19

–17-19 Blanchard on estimated death-toll range and on date of loss.*

–25-30 Warrick Democrat, Newburgh, IN. “The Lost and the Living.” 11-27-1852, p. 1.**
— 25 Madison Daily Banner, IN. “The Lake Disasters.” 11-25-1852, p. 2, col. 2.
— 19 Alchem Incorporated. Eastern Erie Shipwrecks (Map D).
— 19 Maritime History of the Great Lakes. “Oneida (Propeller), capsized, 12 Nov 1852.”
— 19 Swayze. Shipwreck!…Directory of…Shipwrecks on the Great Lakes. 1992, p. 176.
— 17 Berman, Bruce D. Encyclopedia of American Shipwrecks. 1972, p. 258.
— 17 Boston Post. “All Sorts of Paragraphs.” 11-22-1852, p. 2, col. 1.
— 17 Mansfield. History of the Great Lakes (Chapter 37, 1851-1860). 1899.
— 17 Zanesville Courier, OH. Nov 20, 1852, p. 2.

* Blanchard on estimated death-toll range and on date of loss. The great majority of reports on this loss note either seventeen or nineteen deaths (we show but a sampling, in that most appear to be merely reprints of articles from an earlier publication. There are a couple which show either twenty-five or 25-30 deaths. In that the 25-30 deaths report is out of Cleveland where the steamer was home-ported, we do not dismiss it as our-of hand, but rather follow the majority of reports, which put the loss as 17 or 19.

While a number of dates-of-loss were put forward at the time, it appears to us that the loss was the result of a Nov 11-12 gale which swept the lakes. We highlight in yellow below some of the date-of-loss reporting for the readers benefit.

**Reprinted from the Cleveland Herald of Nov 20.

Narrative Information

Alchem Incorporated: “Oneida: Steamer of 345 tons sank 11/11/1852 5 miles West of Ripley, New York. Swayze claims the Oneida capsized and sank in a gale while Ackerman states the wreck was due to a collision. Both agree that nineteen lives were lost in the incident. The wreck supposedly lies just offshore.” (Alchem Incorporated. Eastern Erie Shipwrecks (Map D).)

Berman: “Oneida…1846 [built]. Nov 7, 1852. Foundered. Fairport, Ohio [sic]. 17 lives lost.” (Berman 1972, 258)

King: “…the steamer Oneida…[went] to the bottom of Lake Erie a few miles east of Barcelona, New York in 1852. The cargo of this vessel was flour, and strange as it may seem, very little of this flour was damaged.” (King, Ted. “The Looted Treasure Ship.” Telescope, Vol. 8, No. 2, February 1959, p. 3 of pp. 3-6.)

Mansfield: “Loss of the Oneida. — A terrible storm swept over the lakes November 10 and 11, resulting in the complete or partial loss of 55 vessels. The most disastrous wreck was that of the propeller Oneida, which capsized on Lake Erie with the loss of 17 lives.” (Mansfield. History of the Great Lakes (Chapter 37, 1851-1860). 1899.)

Swayze: “Oneida. Steamer of 345 t. [tons]. Lake Erie: Nineteen lives were snuffed out when the steamer Oneida was lost in a gale on November 11, 1852. She ostensibly capsized in a gale and sank off Barcelona, New York.” (Shipwreck!…Shipwrecks on the Great Lakes. 1992, p. 176.)

Newspapers

Nov 15: “Buffalo, Nov. 15 – The propeller Oneida, known to have been on her passage from Cleveland to Buffalo, during the severe gale of Thursday Friday nights last [Nov 11-12] last, is no doubt a total wreck by foundering. Her two boats and part of her papers, together with a large quantity of flour had drifted ashore about five miles from Dunkirk. There is no doubt of the loss of all on board.” (Lebanon Post, PA. “Loss of the Propeller Oneida.” 11-24-1852, p. 3, col. 2.)

Nov 17: “The propeller Oneida went ashore at Dunkirk on Monday morning [Nov 15?] It is supposed that all on board were lost.” (Daily Free Democrat, Milwaukee, WI. 11-17-1852, p. 3.)

Nov 18: “The record of the disasters of the late gale is, we sincerely hope, about closed, though we have a few more wrecks to chronicle today….There is little or no question that the Propeller Oneida is lost with all on board. Her books, papers and portions of the wreck are said to have floated ashore near Erie. The Oneida belonged to A. O. Knight, of Cleveland, and was insured for $10,000.” (Daily Commercial Register, Sandusky OH. “News of the Day.” 11-18-1852, p. 2, c. 1.)

Nov 19: “The Dunkirk Journal gives a few additional particulars of the late gale on Lake Erie. There is no doubt of the loss of the propeller Princeton with all on board….The propeller Oneida was capsized off Lake Erie and all hands probably lost….” (Boston Post. “All Sorts of Paragraphs.” 11-19-1852, p. 2.)

Nov 20: “The Cleveland Herald says that there is no longer any doubt of the loss of the propeller Oneida, and that all on board are lost. It is supposed there were seventeen persons on board, including two passengers. The officers were W. S. Rich, captain; Samuel Hulgate, 1st mate; Chas. Williams, 2d mate; E. B. Sherwood, clerk;_____ Ferry, engineer; and Henry White steward.” (Zanesville Courier, OH. Nov 20, 1852, p. 2, col. 2.)

Nov 22: “Propeller Oneida has been passed bottom up on Lake Erie. All on board, 17 in all, perished.” (Boston Post. “All Sorts of Paragraphs.” 11-22-1852, p. 2, col. 1.

Nov 25: “The disasters of the late storm on Lake Erie foot up a fearful aggregate of disasters to life and property. Upwards of sixty persons are known to have been lost, most of them leaving families. The propeller Oneida, heavily loaded at Cleveland, which capsized and went to pieces, near Dunkirk, left port with some twenty-five persons, all of whom have gone down. The officers resided at Cleveland, and had families.” (Madison Daily Banner, IN. “The Lake Disasters.” 11-25-1852, p. 2, col. 2.)

Nov 27: “The fearful November storm which swept over the chain of the Western Lakes, brought sorrow and desolation to many a domestic hearth. The total number of lives lost will probably exceed sixty, most of them suddenly engulfed in the surging waters. On Lake Erie one vessel is known to have gone down and not one survivor to tell the name or sad tale of shipwreck; and a propeller, full-freighted and carrying twenty-five or thirty persons, has strewn the shore with fragments of her wreck, but no living soul survives to relate the cause and manner of her going down. It is probable, however, that some of her machinery gave way during the war of wind and waves.

“We learn the Oneida took on 3,500 barrels of flour, which filled her hold and some tiers deep on part of her main deck, and at the Railroad Deport received additional freight, beef and hams to tiers.

“She was loaded nearly to her guards, and may have foundered in consequence. The floating ashore of the small boat with the books and papers of the vessel lashed to it, shows that there was a protracted struggle for life.

“The blow falls heavily in Cleveland and Ohio City. Capt. Rich formerly resided in Ohio City, but his wife and four small children are in Massachusetts. The first Mate, Mr. Holgate, aged 30, resided in Ohio City. An aged mother, her only son, the staff of her declining years, a wife and child, and two sisters, one of them in feeble health, and dependent on the brother, now mourn the loved and the lost. Mr. Williams, the second Mate, has left a wife and child in this city. Mr. Sherwood, the Clerk, also of Cleveland, a disconsolate wife. The Steward, a wife and child in Cleveland. Cleveland Herald, Nov. 20.” (Warrick Democrat, Newburgh, IN. “The Lost and the Living.” 11-27-1852, p. 1.)

Sources

Alchem Incorporated. Lake Erie Shipwreck Map “D” and Index. Accessed 1-30-2009 at: http://www.alcheminc.com/east.html

Berman, Bruce D. Encyclopedia of American Shipwrecks. Boston: Mariners Press Inc., 1972.

Boston Post. “All Sorts of Paragraphs.” 11-19-1852, p. 2. Accessed 12-20-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/boston-post-nov-19-1852-p-2/

Boston Post. “All Sorts of Paragraphs.” 11-22-1852, p. 2, col. 1. Accessed 12-20-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/boston-post-nov-22-1852-p-2/

Boston Post. “All Sorts of Paragraphs.” 12-9-1852, p. 2, col. 2. Accessed 12-21-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/boston-post-dec-09-1852-p-2/

Buffalo Evening Post, NY. 11-23-1852, p. 2, col. 2. Accessed 12-20-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/buffalo-evening-post-nov-23-1852-p-2/

Daily Commercial Register, Sandusky, OH. “News of the Day.” Nov 18, 1852, p. 2. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=7191094

Daily Chronicle and Sentinel, Augusta, GA. “Loss of the Steamer Oneida.” 11-25-1852, p. 2, col. 4. Accessed 12-21-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/augusta-daily-chronicle-and-sentinel-nov-25-1852-p-2/

King, Ted. “The Looted Treasure Ship.” Telescope, Vol. 8, No. 2, February 1959, pp. 3-6. Accessed 12-20-2020 at: https://images.maritimehistoryofthegreatlakes.ca/images/MHGL0001219121T.PDF

Lebanon Post, PA. “Loss of the Propeller Oneida.” 11-24-1852, p. 3, col. 2. Accessed 12-21-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/lebanon-post-nov-24-1852-p-3/

Madison Daily Banner, IN. “The Lake Disasters.” 11-25-1852, p. 2, col. 2. Accessed 12-21-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/madison-daily-banner-nov-25-1852-p-2/

Mansfield, John Brandts (Ed. and Compiler). History of the Great Lakes (Vol. 1). Chicago: J.H. Beers & Co., 1899. http://www.linkstothepast.com/marine/chapt36.html — Google digitized: http://books.google.com/books?id=iHXhAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_v2_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q=&f=false

Maritime History of the Great Lakes. “Oneida (Propeller), capsized, 12 Nov 1852.” Accessed 12-20-2020 at: https://images.maritimehistoryofthegreatlakes.ca/39360/data?n=1

Swayze, David D. Shipwreck! A Comprehensive Directory of Over 3,700 Shipwrecks on the Great Lakes. Boyne City, MI: Harbor House Publications, Inc., 1992.

Warrick Democrat, Newburgh, IN. “The Lost and the Living.” 11-27-1852, p. 1. Accessed 12-21-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/newburgh-warrick-democrat-nov-27-1852-p-1/

Zanesville Daily Courier, OH. [Oneida Foundering]. 11-20-1852, p. 2. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=13918549