The Calumet news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 1907-1938, 1913-11-17
TRAGEDIES OF
OTHER YEARS
Average Annual Loss of Life on
Great Lakes Has Been 1870

which whipped the northwestern lakes
into a fury and eXacted as its toll
nearly POO human, lives and $4,000,
| coo worth OF property. will probably
pass into history as the greatest ma :
rine disaster on the Great Lakes. IL is
interesting 10 recall tragedies of for
mer seasons, says the Duluth Herald.
IL has been estimated that the av-
erage yearly loss Of life ON the Great
Lakes has been approximately 1870.
J This figure includes all fatalities.
| whether caused by shipwreck or ac-
cidental drowning. Government statis-
ties of lives lost i'm the lake trade
place the average at considerably
lower figure. The difference is ac-
counted for by reason of the fact that
IN the government statistics lives lost
on vessels suffering no material dam
age are not reckoned.
The season OF 1905 will be long
remembered among marine men as an
Inflated year for vesselmen. With
the exception of the present season
more lives and property were lost dur
us NiOSf AtN lllOlllilS VI dNAlNt nav
igation than there has been since.
Duluthians remember that the season
closed with terrible record i'm loss
of life and property \ November
storm ragged for several days. ON Nov.
IS, the steamer Mataafa was wrecked
dce conditions rather unusual. An
entire city watched nine shipwrecked
men freeze tn death before help could
reach them. ON this day several 9TH
or vessels ran ashore. The steamer
Edenborn struck near Split Rock and
one man was drowned The steamer
Crescent City was thrown high and
dry on the beach near Lakewood; the
Lafayette at Encampment island and
the steamer II. w. England on Min
nesota Point. During this same sea-
son the steamer Scvona ON Sept. /,
during severe gale struck a reef in
the vicinity Of York island, one of the
APOSTLE group and sunk. Seven men
persisted. During the storms of Sep
TENDER, October and November 1905.
Il is said that fifty-f four vessels were
left total losses. The greatest losses
were ON Lake Superior.
Season of 1911.
During the season OF 1911 the great
est loss of life in any single wreck
was when the Canadian tug G. G. Mar
tin foundcred in storm on Georgian
bay on Aug. y, 1911, entailing "a loss
of ten lives. all hands aboard On
March Is of the same year the little
fishing tug Silver Spray pounded to
pieces on the Cleveland breakwater
and seven lives were lost. On April
Is, 1911, the schooner ottawa found
cred near Sturgeon bay in Lake Michi-
gan, costing five lives. Three of the
crew of the steamer r.. l.. Fisher lost
their lives when the Fisher collidcd
with the steamer Clement i'm the low
er Detroit river early i'm May, 1911. In
July of the same year the steamer
w III Mack collided with the John
Mitchell, sinking the Mitchell and
drowning three of her crew of Nermil-
ion point, Lake Superior. There were
ten collisions during the 1911 season.
years OF these the steamer A. l.. Hop
kins perhaps attracted the most at
tention. The Hopkins became water
logged on the Ashland tx eweenaw
course on Lake Superior, fifteen miles
off Michigan island, on oct >, and
after a thrilling experience her crew
of thirteen, including one woman,
ts.ls of L.. e tl,.,
steamer Dinkey, bound for Ashland.
The derClict was sighted several times
after that, but when the government
engineers searched for it they were
unable To locate her.
FOTty-nine livcs were lost during
the season Of 1910, forty four of which
were in two aCcidents-the sinking of
the steamer }. Is. Wood on Lake HUI
ron. cntailng the loss OF sixteen lives,
and the laundering of the steamer
Pere Marquette No. is, from Luding-
ton, Mich. bound for Milwaukee with
a cargo of twenty mine loaded cars.
Twenty seven lives were lost.
The season of 1909 was also a dis
dstrous one on the lakes, more than
100 lives beng sacrinced. Thirty-two
people lost their lives when the car
ferry Marquette and Bessemer No. >
sank on Lake Erie In one Of the life
boats nine frozen bodies were found.
ON July II of the same year the
steamer j. Il. Cowle sank when il col
lidcd with the /. NJ. Scott on Lake
Superior Fourteen of her crew went
down. Thirteen men also persisted
with the steamer Adclla Shores and
fifteen lives were taken as toll when
the steamer Clarion of the Anchor
line burned on Lake Erie in early
December, 1911. Thirteen men got
away from the Clarion in yawl boat,
but were doubtless frozen To death
and sunk by the ice, as they were new
or heard from
Clemson Foundering.
Duluth people remember the foun-
dering of the big steel freightcr ID.
NJ. Clemson near Whiteiish point, Lake
Superior. about Nov. 30, 1908. Her
entire crew of tweuty-four men went
Gown with her and no one survived TO
tell the tale. Capt. Chamberlain of
this city was the mister in charge.
Twenty-Five people persisted the same