1920 — Aug 20, freighters collide, Superior City explodes/sinks, Lake Superior, Whitefish Bay, WI–29

— 35 Berman, Bruce D. Encyclopedia of American Shipwrecks. 1972, p. 265.
— 29 Ironwood Daily Globe, MI. “Vessels Collide; 29 Missing.” Aug 21, 1920, p. 1.
— 29 Great Lakes & Seaway Shipping News Archive. Report News (August 2009).
— 29 Lake Carriers’ Association. Annual Report of… 1920, pp. 139-140.
— 29 McNeil. “Superior City…sunk by collision, 20 Aug 1920.” Maritime History…Great Lakes.
— 29 Nash, Jay Robert. Darkest Hours, 1977, p. 697.
— 29 Swayze, David D. Great Lakes Shipwrecks S.
— 29 Swayze, David D. Shipwreck!…Directory…Shipwrecks on the Great Lakes. 1992, p. 227.
— 29 Thompson, Mark L. Graveyard of the Lakes. 2004, p. 183.
–28 crewmembers
— 1 wife of second engineer
— 29 U.S. Bureau of Navigation. Merchant Vessels of the United States…1921, p. 453.
— 29 U.S. Steamboat-Inspection Service. Annual Report 1921, p. 16.
— 29 Wikipedia. “SS Superior City.” April 10, 2011 modification.
— 29 Wolff, Julius F., Jr. Lake Superior Shipwrecks. 1990, p. 168.

Narrative Information

Great Lakes & Seaway Shipping News: “August 20, 1920, the Willis L. King, up bound light in Whitefish Bay, was in collision with and sank the down bound Steel Trust steamer Superior City. The Superior City was struck nearly amidships and when the cold water reached her engine room, her boilers exploded. She sank immediately with 29 of her 33 crew members aboard.” (Great Lakes & Seaway Shipping News Archive. Report News (August 2009).)

Lake Carriers’ Association: “The Superior City, downbound with 7,000 tons of ore, and the Willis L. King, upbound without cargo, collided in Whitefish Bay on the evening of August 20 at about 9:30 o’clock, after all but those navigating the ship and those on watch in the engine room and firehold had gone to bed. The Superior City was vitally punctured aft of amidships on the port side, but in several similar and undoubtedly as serious accidents, the crews have been able to escape in the life boats or be rescued by the other ship. Following the collision all members of the crew were seen on deck waiting calmly for the boats to be launched, when an explosion blew the crew into the water and to their death. The vessel sank instantly. Only four were saved, the master, Captain Edwin Sawyer, and the second mate, the boatswain and one wheelsman. Not one of the four survivors knows more than that after the blast and he regained consciousness he was in the waters of Lake Superior. The four bore evidence of an explosion in bruises and burns. Twenty-eight seamen and the wife of the assistant engineer, a passeng4r on the vessel, lost their lives in the catastrophe. As Lake Superior seldom…gives up her dead, none of the bodies was recovered.” (Lake Carriers’ Association. Annual Report of the Lake Carriers’ Association 1920. pp. 139-140.)

Swayze: “Superior City
….
Type at loss: propeller, steel, bulk freight
Build into: 1898, American Ship Building, Lorain, OH
Specs: 429x50x25, 4795f 3693n
Date of loss: 1920, Aug 20
Place of loss: Whitefish Bay
Lake: Superior
Loss of life: 29 of 33
Carrying: iron ore
Detail: “Downbound, she collided with the 580 ft. steamer Willis L. King in a
confusion of passing signals. Superior crossed King’s bow, was rammed amidships and sank very quickly. Cold water hitting boiler caused an explosion which killed most of her crew…. [4 survivors]. Wreck discovered by a diver in 1972.” (Swayze. Great Lakes Shipwrecks S.)

Thompson: “On the evening of August 20, 1920, the ore freighter Willis L. King made the big sweeping turn around Whitefish Point and set a course across Lake Superior. Visibility wasn’t very good. The last rays of sunlight were just disappearing over the western horizon, and a haze and occasional patches of heavy fog covered the lake. Shortly after leaving Whitefish Bay, the master of the King made out the silhouette of an approaching ship. It appeared that the oncoming vessel would pass to port of the King, and the captain sounded the required passing signal, one long blast on the ship’s whistle. Leaning out the front window of the pilothouse, he heard the downbound vessel answer with one long blast.

“What occurred during the next several minutes is still the subject of debate. What we do know is that at about 9:30 that evening, the King and the downbound vessel – Pittsburgh Steamship’s Superior City – collided. In the last moments before the crash, it must have been obvious that the two ships weren’t going to clear each other, because the captain of the Superior City sounded the general alarm to alert his crew even before the collision. As crewmembers on the Pittsburgh freighter scrambled for the ship’s two lifeboats, the sturdy bow of the King punched through the hull of the heavily laden Superior City on its port side, near the ship’s stern. A gaping hole was ripped in the hull at the forward end of the engine room. As the momentum of the two ships pulled them apart, water began cascading into the Superior City’s engine room and the ship’s stern, working frantically to launch the two lifeboats. Among them was Walter Richter, the boatswain….

“According to Richter, only minutes after the collision the cold water flooding the engine room must have come in contact with the superheated boilers, and the boilers blew up, taking much of the stern of the ship with them. Almost immediately, the heavily laden Superior City plunged to the bottom in two hundred feet of water….

“Twenty-eight of the Superior City’s crewmembers and the wife of the second assistant engineer went down with the ship. No bodies were ever recovered, even though many of the dead had been on the boat deck at the stern when the boiler blew up and the ship sank. Their bodies were either blown to bits by the explosion, or the ship sucked them under as it plummeted to the bottom.

“The King, with a gaping hole in her bow, was able to reverse course and return to Sault Ste. Marie for repairs. When the King was inspected at the Soo, it was found that her stem had been set back ten feet….

“Both masters were later found guilty of ‘not satisfying themselves as to the intent of the other,’ as required by the rules of the road….” (Thompson. Graveyard of the Lakes. 2006, pp. 182-183.)

US Bureau of Navigation notes a crew of 32 and a loss of 29. (U.S. Bureau of Navigation. Merchant Vessels of the United States…1921, p. 453.)

US Steamboat Inspection Service: “On August 20, 1920, at about 9:20 p.m., the upbound steamer Willis L. King, and the downbound steamer Superior City collided when below Whitefish Point, Lake Superior, and as a result, the Superior City sank within three minutes after the accident occurred and 29 crew members of her officers and crew lost their lives.” (U.S. Steamboat-Inspection Service. Annual Report 1921, “Accidents Resulting in Loss of Life,” p. 16.)

Newspaper

Aug 21, AP: “By Associated Press. Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., Aug. 21. — The lives of 29 persons, one of them a woman, are believed to have been lost shortly after 9 o’clock last night when the City of Superior, a freighter, sank four and one-half miles northwest of Whitefish Point in Lake Superior after a collision with the steamer Willis King.

“Four members of the crew, including Capt. Edward Sawyer of Albion, Mich., were saved. Names of the missing could not be learned today as all records of the City of Superior were lost. The missing woman is known to have been the wife of the second engineer.

“Cleveland, Aug. 21.— Officials of the Pittsburgh Steamship company, owners of the steamer City of Superior, sank in a collision in Lake Superior last night, had received no word at 11 o’clock today of the safety of 28 members of the crew of 32 and expressed grave fears that they were drowned. Press reports to the Lake Carriers association here said four members of the crew had been saved.

“Sault Ste Marie, Aug. 21—Capt. Sawyer would make no statement except that the night was clear, no fog being in evidence. ‘The captain’s alarm signal rang just two minutes before the crash,’ said Walter Richter, one of the survivors. ‘If we had had two minutes more, no lives would have been lost. The King struck us just aft of midship on the port side and the impact took away the entire stern. The crew kept their heads and all waited calmly for the boat, but there was no time. Several of the boats were torn away while the men were trying to launch them.’

“In the belief that some of the missing members of the crew of the Superior may be clinging to refuse, a tug and life savers and coast guards are patrolling the lake in the vicinity of the disaster.

“Walter Richter, the survivor who made a statement, is believed to be a former resident of Escanaba who left the Sandy City four years ago.

“Cleveland, Aug. 21—A dispatch to the Lake Carriers association from Sault Ste. Marie at noon said the steamer Turner remained in the vicinity of the collision until midnight and the Steamer King remained there until daylight.

“There is about 200 feet of water where the vessel is believed to have gone down and lake men say that at the time of the collision, 9 o’clock last night, most of the crew were probably asleep below deck. Because of the heavy cargo the Superior City carried, they believe she sank almost immediately.

“George A. Marr, secretary of the Lake Carriers association, said the Superior City left Sandusky, O., upbound on Aug. 14….” (Associated Press. “Vessels Collide; 29 Missing.” Ironwood Daily Globe, MI. Aug 21, 1920, p. 1.)

Crewmembers with Death Benefits Policies with Lake Carrier’s’ Association (p. 50)

1. Carusos, Angel Fireman
2. Cleary, Gerald J. Able Seaman
3. Ferguson, George S. Chief Engineer
4. Galloway, John F. Able Seaman
5. Koblesky, Peter Oiler
6. Lindquist, Arvi Fireman
7. McHatton, Guy Ordinary Seaman
8. Rees, Leo Mate
9. Sprague, Clarence Ordinary Seaman
10. Todoroski, Joseph Oiler
11. Unsitola, John Fireman

Sources

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

Great Lakes & Seaway Shipping News Archive. Report News, August 2009. “Today in Great Lakes History – August 20.” Accessed 1-17-2021 at: http://www.boatnerd.com/news/archive/8-09.htm

Ironwood Daily Globe, MI. “Vessels Collide; 29 Missing.” Aug 21, 1920, p. 1. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=81748900

Lake Carriers’ Association. Annual Report of the Lake Carriers’ Association 1920. Detroit: Bland Printing Co. Accessed 1-17-2021 at: https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015071572740&view=1up&seq=13&size=125&q1=%22Superior%20City%22

McNeil, William R. “Superior City (Propeller), U116820, sunk by collision, 20 Aug 1920.” Maritime History of the Great Lakes. Accessed 1-17-2020 at: https://images.maritimehistoryofthegreatlakes.ca/46783/data?n=2

Nash, Jay Robert. Darkest Hours – A Narrative Encyclopedia of Worldwide Disasters from Ancient Times to the Present. New York: Pocket Books, Wallaby, 1977, 792 pages.

Swayze, David D. Great Lakes Shipwrecks S. Accessed 1-17-2021 at: http://www.boatnerd.com/swayze/shipwreck/s.htm

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

United States Bureau of Navigation, Department of Commerce. Fifty-Third Annual List of Merchant Vessels of the United States…For the Year Ended June 30, 1921. Washington: Government Printing office, 1921. Accessed 1-17-2021 at: http://www.archive.org/stream/merchantvessels01statgoog#page/n6/mode/1up

United States Steamboat-Inspection Service. Annual Report of the Supervising Inspector General, Steamboat-Inspection Service to the Secretary of Commerce for the Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 1921. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1921. Digitized by Google. Accessed 1-17-2021 at: http://books.google.com/books?id=oafNAAAAMAAJ

Wikipedia. “SS Superior City.” 4-10-2011 modification. Accessed at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Superior_City

Wolff, Julius F., Jr. Lake Superior Shipwrecks: Complete Reference to Maritime Accidents and Disasters. Duluth, MN: Lake Superior Port Cities, Inc., 1990.