1901 — May 24, Lake Huron storm, steamer Baltimore sinks off Au Sable Point, MI –12-13
–12-13 Blanchard range.[1]
–14 Swayze. Shipwreck! 1992, p. 30.[2]
–13 Lewis. “Baltimore (Propeller)…sunk, 24 May 1901,” Maritime History of the Great Lakes.
–13 Swayze. Great Lakes Shipwrecks Beginning with the letter B.
–13 The Advocate, Sturgeon Bay, WI. “Lake Michigan and Green Bay.” 6-29-1901, p. 1.
–13 The Reporter, Waterloo, IA. “Steamer Baltimore Meets Fate.” 5-28-1901, p. 7.[3]
–13 U.S. Steamboat-Inspection Service. Annual Report…FY Ended June 30, 1902. 1902, p. 78.
–12 Daily News Almanac…for 1902. “Events of 1901…Marine Disasters.” 1902, p. 335.
–12 News-Democrat, Uhrichsville and Dennison, OH. “Lake Steamer Founders,” 6-4-1901, p. 6
–12 The Evening News, Benton Harbor, MI. “Storm on the Lakes.” 5-25-1901, p. 6, col. 1.
Narrative Information
Swayze: “Baltimore
Other names: built as Escanaba, renamed in 1899.
Official no.: 135487
Type at loss: propeller, wood, bulk freight
Build info: 1881, Linn & Craig, Gibraltar, MI
Specs: 201x36x20 1161g 918n[4]
Date of loss: 1901, May 24
Place of loss: SE of AuSable, MI
Lake: Huron
Type of loss: storm
Loss of life: 13 of 15
Carrying coal: coal
Detail: She struck a reef, broke in two and foundered after fighting all the way to above Thunder Bay in a gale. She turned back for Tawas, but didn’t quite make it. Maybe towing a steam drill and a lighter….”[5]
U.S. Steamboat-Inspection Service: “May 24. – The steamer Baltimore foundered on Lake Huron, near Au Sable. Loss on vessel $40,000; on cargo, $3,000. Thirteen lives lost.” (US SIS. Annual Report…1902. 1902, 78.)
May 25: “Chicago, May 25. — In a storm that lashed the waters of the upper lakes the steamer Baltimore was sent to the bottom of Lake Huron, near Au Sable, Mich., Friday morning [24th], and of her crew of 14 men [sic] only two escaped. Lashed to a heavy raft, the two men were adrift on the lake under heavy seas all day Friday, and one of them was crazy when rescued.
“The following lost their lives with the wreck of the Baltimore:[6]
Capt. M. H. Place, master of the steamer, Cleveland;
Mrs. M. H. Place, wife of captain, stewardess;
Michael Breatden [or Brethren],[7] first mate;
John Deiders [or Delders], second steward;
Edward Owen, wheelsman;[8]
- W. Sears, wheelsman;[9]
George W. Scott, watchman;
Herbert Winning, watchman;
William Barker [or Parker],[12] fireman;
- Krueger, fireman;
August Anderson, deck hand.
“The Baltimore was a wooden steamer loaded with coal, from Lorain [OH] to Washburn, Wis. It had a large steam drill and a scow in tow. The storm had buffeted the vessel badly all through Thursday afternoon and night. Off Thunder Bay Capt. Place saw that the steamer was in danger. The waves had already smashed in the engineer’s quarters and the wash-rooms and water was running into the hold every time a wave came on board. As a last resort, the captain decided to turn about and run for Tawas for shelter. His ship stood the storm seemingly all right until it was near Au Sable, when it struck heavily on the bottom. The seas broke over and carried away the deckhouse and the after cabin. Then the smokestack fell, and both rails broke in two aft of the forward deckhouse.
“Some of the crew took to the rigging, but McGinnis and Murphy, the two men were rescued, lashed themselves to a ringbolt in a piece of the after cabin, and waited till they were washed overboard just before the vessel sank. Then came 12 hours of horror to the two rescued men. They suffered so much that they could not appreciate how much more fortunate they were than their fellow sailors. McGinnis lost his reason completely. He tried to throw Murphy overboard, and the two men struggled violently. Sometimes Murphy would calm the madman, then the latter would break loose again. Murphy tied him fast several times and tried to convince him that rescue would soon come, but when he did calm him it would not last long.
“After a few hours the passenger steamer City of Holland passed at a distance, but it was too far away for the raft to be seen. Murphy began to grow weaker, and each time the wave struck him with unusual violence he thought the breath was being driven out of his body. At last the tug Columbia came and picked the two men up.
“The full extent of death and disaster by the storm is not known yet. From Chicago to Ogdensburg, N.Y., the storm held sway and a score of vessels were sunk, wrecked, or suffered serious damage…” (Evening News, Benton Harbor MI. “Storm on the Lakes.” 5-25-1901, p. 6.)
May 25: “East Tawas, Mich., May 25 — The wooden steamer Baltimore foundered yesterday in Lake Huron, near Au Sable, and 12 of her crew of 14 were drowned. Two men were washed about in the lake for several hours, lashed to a piece of wreckage, and were finally picked up by the tug Columbia and brought here. George McGinnis, a deckhand, one of the rescued went crazy with his experience. The other survivor, Thomas Murphy of Milwaukee, second engineer, was able to tell the story of the disaster….” (Adams County Union-Republican, Corning, IA. “Find Watery Graves.” 5-29-1901, p. 8.)
May 29: “East Tawas, Mich., May 29. — The wreck of the lost steamer Baltimore was found today by the searchers near Fish Point. The engine cylinders show three feet above the water, but the boiler has been rolled off the wreck. All of the upper works have been washed away by the heavy seas and the wreck is a dangerous obstruction to navigation, lying as it does in eighteen to twenty feet of water, right in the course of steamers and about two miles from the beach. Mrs. Owen, Mr. Schott, and two brothers of Mrs. Place have arrived to search for bodies.” (The Herald, Eldora, IA. “Locate Wreck of Baltimore,” 6-1-1901, p. 6.)
June 5: “A portion of the stern of the wrecked steamer Baltimore has been found, and it explains why the boat went to pieces. A three-inch oak plank was so rotten that a finger could be shoved through it.” (Evening News, Benton Harbor, MI. “Marine News,” 6-5-1901, p. 3.)
June 29: “In recognition of their heroism in rescuing Thomas Murphy, one of its members, Milwaukee branch No. 8, Licensed Tug Men’s Protective Association will present the officers of the Detroit tug Columbia with gold medals. The men whose names will be inscribed under the words ‘for bravery’ are Joseph Marks, captain; Herbert Hickmott, mate; William Cook, first engineer, and Peter Loonde, second engineer. The daring rescue for which the medals are presented occurred May 24th, when the steamer Baltimore was wrecked off East Tawas on Lake Huron. There were fifteen in the Baltimore’s crew, and all were lost save two, Thos. Murphy of Milwaukee, and a deckhand named McGinnis.” (The Advocate, Sturgeon Bay, WI. “Lake Michigan and Green Bay.” 6-29-1901, p. 1.)
Sources
Adams County Union-Republican, Corning, IA. “Find Watery Graves.” 5-29-1901, p. 8. Accessed 7-10-2018 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/adams-county-free-press-may-29-1901-p-1/
Daily News Almanac and Book of Facts for 1902. “Events of 1901.” Chicago Daily News Company, 1902, pp. 335-338. Accessed 7-10-2018 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=7ZIaAQAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false
Evening News, Benton Harbor, MI. “Marine News,” 6-5-1901, p. 3. Accessed 7-11-2018 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/benton-harbor-evening-news-jun-05-1901-p-3/
Lewis, Walter. “Baltimore (Propeller), U135487, sunk, 24 May 1901,” Maritime History of the Great Lakes. Accessed 7-10-2018 at: http://images.maritimehistoryofthegreatlakes.ca/52765/data
Newark Daily Advocate, OH. “Floater Found.” 6-3-1901, p. 6. Accessed 7-11-2018 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/newark-daily-advocate-jun-03-1901-p-6/
News-Democrat, Uhrichsville and Dennison, OH. “Lake Steamer Founders,” 6-4-1901, p. 6. Accessed 7-11-2018 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/uhrichsville-news-democrat-jun-04-1901-p-6/
Oleszewski, Wes. Stormy Disasters: Great Lakes Shipwrecks. Gwinn, MI: Avery Color Studios, Inc., 2001.
Rock Island Argus, IL. “Looking for the Dead,” 6-4-1901, 1. Accessed 7-11-2018 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/rock-island-argus-jun-04-1901-p-2/
Swayze, David D. Great Lakes Shipwrecks Beginning with the letter B. Accessed 7-29-2010 at: http://www.boatnerd.com/swayze/shipwreck/b.htm
Swayze, David D. Shipwreck! A Comprehensive Directory of Over 3,700 Shipwrecks on the Great Lake. Boyne City, MI: Harbor House Publications, Inc., 1992.
The Advocate, Sturgeon Bay, WI. “Lake Michigan and Green Bay.” 6-29-1901, p. 1. Accessed 7-11-2018 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/sturgeon-bay-advocate-jun-29-1901-p-1/
The Evening News, Benton Harbor, MI. “Storm on the Lakes.” 5-25-1901, p. 6, col. 1. Accessed 7-10-2018 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/benton-harbor-evening-news-may-25-1901-p-7/
The Herald, Eldora, IA. “Locate Wreck of Baltimore,” 6-1-1901, p. 6. Accessed 7-11-2018 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/herald-jun-01-1901-p-6/
The Reporter, Waterloo, IA. “Steamer Baltimore Meets Fate.” 5-28-1901, p. 7. Accessed 7-10-2018 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/semi-weekly-iowa-state-reporter-may-28-1901-p-7/
United States Steamboat-Inspection Service. Annual Report of the Supervising Inspector General, Steamboat-Inspection Service for the Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 1902. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1902, 337 pages. Google preview accessed 7-10-2018 at: http://books.google.com/books?id=sVYpAAAAYAAJ
[1] We tend toward belief that there were twelve fatalities. The company owning the Baltimore released a list of 14 crewmembers shortly after its lost, including the names of the two who were found alive. Additionally the news reports which included statements from the surviving engineer, who would have known how many people were on the Baltimore, did not indicate there were thirteen fatalities. However, we do not feel comfortable dismissing the U.S. Steamboat-Inspection Service report of thirteen lives lost, though we have seen mistaken fatality numbers in other US SIS reports. Swayze reports fourteen deaths in his book and thirteen deaths on his website. News reporting at the time notes twelve deaths in some stories and thirteen in others. In no news story, however, have we seen a name not on the company list of fourteen crewmembers (including the captain and his wife), two of which we know survived. Thus, even though we are of the opinion that there were twelve deaths, we show a range of 12-13.
[2] “All 14 crew were victims of a deadly storm that sank this coal-laden freighter on May 24, 1901.”
[3] “Thirteen were drowned, including a woman and a boy.” However, further down in the article (“Names of the People on Board.” Chicago, May 25), 14 names are noted, two of which were later found alive on a raft.
[4] A newspaper report of the time notes that “She was 201 feet long, thirty-five feet wide and carried about 2000 tons of freight. The steamer was rated at $40,000 by the underwriters and was insured for nearly that amount.” (News-Democrat, Uhrichsville and Dennison, OH. “Lake Steamer Founders,” 6-4-1901, p. 6.)
[5] Sources: Swayze’s newspaper clipping file; Frederick Stonehouse. Great Wrecks of the Great Lakes (Marquette: Harboridge Press, 1973; Inland Seas, vol. 1, no. 71; Shipwrecks of the Lakes (Bowen Dana, self-published, Daytona Beach, FL, 1952);, Namesakes series (John O. Greenwood, Freshwater Press, Cleveland, 1975-1987), Directory of Shipwrecks of the Great Lakes (Karl E. Heden, Boston: Bruce Humphries Publications, 1966); Milwaukee Public Library Great Lakes Marine Collection; Historical Collections of the Great Lakes (Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green State University, OH, Robert Graham, curator).
[6] Another article provides the names of fourteen people on the Baltimore, citing the P. H. Fleming & Co. Two of the 14, however, deck hand George McGinnis and first engineer Thomas Murphy, were later found alive.
[7] Oleszewski 2001, p. 78.
[8] “Saginaw, Mich., June 3. — Lewis Dubey [or Duboy], a fisherman, found the body of a man floating in the water. He took the body to Bayport. The floater wore a life jacket and a heavy gold ring on his finger which bore the initials ‘C. E.’….The body is supposed to e that of Edward Owen, wheelman on the steamer Baltimore, which recently sank.” (Newark Daily Advocate, OH. “Floater Found.” 6-3-1901, p. 6.)
[9] “Saginaw, Mich., June 4. — The body of C. W. Sears, the young wheelman of the steamer Baltimore, was brought to this city and buried. Sears’ mother is very wealthy and the young man had a large inheritance of his own, yet he preferred the life of a sailor. Nothing could induce him to abandon this rough and dangerous career and he finally lost his life in the wreck off Au Sable. His sister recently committed suicide.” ((Rock Island Argus, IL. “Looking for the Dead,” 6-4-1901, 1.)
[10] Oleszewski 2001, p. 78.
[11] “East Tawas, Mich., June 4. — Mrs. Marceau, of Chicago, aunt of Engineer Marceau, who was lost on the steamer Baltimore, has arrived here. She is wealthy, and says she will spare no expense which may lead to the recovery of the body of her nephew. Relatives of the dead seamen keep up a constant patrol on the beach in the region of the wreckage, but no more bodies have been recovered.” (Rock Island Argus, IL. “Looking for the Dead,” 6-4-1901, 1.)
[12] The Reporter, Waterloo, IA. “Steamer Baltimore Meets Fate.” 5-28-1901, p. 7.