1905 — Nov 28, freighter Ira H. Owen sinks, Lake Superior storm, ~Outer Island, WI– 19

–19 Oxford Mirror, Oxford Junction, IA. “Nineteen Men Perish in Lake.” 11-30-1905, p. 3, c2.
–19 Ratigan, William. Great Lakes Shipwrecks & Survivals (Revised). 1969, p. 273.
–19 Swayze, David D. Great Lakes Shipwrecks Beginning with the letter O.
–19 Swayze. Shipwreck!…Directory…Shipwrecks…Great Lakes. 1992, p. 181.
–19 U.S. Bureau of Navigation. Merchant Vessels of the United States…1906, p. 386.
–19 U.S. Steamboat Inspection Service. Annual Report, 1906, p. 13.
–19 Wolff, Julius F., Jr. Lake Superior Shipwrecks…Maritime Accidents…Disasters. 1990, 115.
–12 Berman, Bruce D. Encyclopedia of American Shipwrecks. 1972, p. 248.

Narrative Information
Swayze:
“Official no. : 100410
Type at loss : propeller, steel, bulk freight
Build info : 1887, Globe Iron Works, Cleveland
Specs : 262x39x19, 1753g 1498n
Date of loss : 1905, Nov 28
Place of loss : near Outer Isl., Apostles.
Lake : Superior
Type of loss : storm
Loss of life : 19 [all]*
Carrying : barley

“Detail: Broke up offshore in 80-90 mph winds and sank. Master: Capt. Joseph Milligan(d).

*most reports say that all hands were lost, though Lifesaving Service report says all were saved
(Swayze, David D. Great Lakes Shipwrecks Beginning with the letter O.)

Swayze: “Ira H Owen. Steel bulk freight steame4r of 1,753 t. [tons] and 262 ft., launched in 1887 at Cleveland. Lake Superior: One of a number of big vessels lost in the Big Blow of 1905, the barley-carrying steamer Ira H Owen was lost on November 28. The tremendous storm, with some of the highest-velocity winds ever recoded on the Lakes, broke the vessel up offshore and sank her near Outer Island, at the north end of the Apostles group…most…references say she went down with all 19 hands…” (Swayze. Shipwreck!…Directory…Shipwrecks…Great Lakes. 1992, p. 181.)

U.S. Steamboat Inspection Service: “…the steamer Ira H. Owen [founders] on Lake Superior on November 28, 1905, when 19 souls perished…” (U.S. Steamboat Inspection Service. Annual Report, 1906, p. 13.)

Newspaper

Nov 30: “Chicago dispatch: The Chicago steamer Ira H. Owen, with a crew of nineteen men, foundered on Lake Superior during the great storm of Nov. 28, and every person on board perished. The fate of ship and crew became certain Friday evening when the steamer Sir William Siemens arrived at Ashland and Captain M. K. Chamberlain reported passing through wreckage from the Owen. When twelve miles east of Michigan Island in the Apostles group the Siemens ran into a mass of chairs, stanchions, the top of a cabin and other debris, and floating in the midst of it were life preservers marked ‘S.S. Ira H. Owen.’

“In addition to the Owen disasters to five big ships were reported, increasing the list of wrecks to forty-three and swelling the property loss to $3,235,500. The total of lives now known to have been lost is forty-one.
Men Lost on Owen.

“The Owen was loaded with grain from Duluth. The members of the crew, so far as could be learned, were as follows:

J. B. Alger, second engineer.
H. Buchanan, first engineer.
Joseph Houlihan [or Hulligan captain.
Thomas Honner, first mate.
M. Haggerty, second mate.
B. N. Hook, oiler.
J. Jacobson, wheelman.
J. Knudsen, lookout.
Louis Montroy, 20, wheelman.
Charles McKee, lookout.

“The last seen of the Owen was when she was sighted about forty miles off Outer Island of the Apostle group by the steamer Harold B. Nye, when the storm was at its height, Nov. 28. The Owen was then blowing distress signals, and seemed to be in a bad way. The Nye had all she could do to keep afloat herself, and could not respond to the signals. Then the snow set in again, shutting the disable boat out from view. When a lull came two hours afterward the vessel had disappeared….” (Oxford Mirror, Oxford Junction, IA. “Nineteen Men Perish in Lake.” 11-30-1905, p. 3, c2.)

Sources

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

Oxford Mirror, Oxford Junction, IA. “Nineteen Men Perish in Lake.” 11-30-1905, p. 3, col. 2. Accessed 1-3-2021 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/oxford-mirror-nov-30-1905-p-3/

Post-Standard, Syracuse, NY. “Dead Mourned in Ogdensburg.” 12-4-1905, p. 10. Accessed 1-3-2021 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/syracuse-post-standard-dec-04-1905-p-10/

Ratigan, William. Great Lakes Shipwrecks & Survivals (New Revised and Enlarged Edition). Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1969.

Swayze, David D. Great Lakes Shipwrecks Beginning with the letter O. Accessed 9-7-2009 at: http://greatlakeshistory.homestead.com/files/o.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 and Labor. Thirty-Eighth Annual List of Merchant Vessels of the United States…For the Year Ended June 30, 1906. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1906. Digitized by Google at: http://books.google.com/books?id=ROEYAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=editions:LCCNsn88028129&lr=#v=onepage&q=&f=false

United States Steamboat-Inspection Service. Annual Report of the Supervising Inspector General, Steamboat-Inspection Service to the Secretary of Commerce and Labor for the Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 1906. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1906. 345 pages. Digitized by Google. Accessed at: http://books.google.com/books?id=ZVcpAAAAYAAJ