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Individuals desiring to use this material in their own research may do so. ========================================================================= Formatted by U.S. Data Repository Chief Archivist, Linda Talbott All of the above information must remain when copied or downloaded. =========================================================================== NAME: Marquette & Bessemer No. 2 OTHER NAME(s): none REASON: foundered DATE: December 7, 1909 LOCATION: Lake Erie TYPE: Propeller (car ferry) HULL TYPE: steel BUILDER: American Shipbuilding Co., Cleveland, OH - 1905 OWNER: Marquette & Bessemer Dock & Navigation Company MASTER: TONNAGE: 2,154 gross LENGTH: 338 ft BEAM: 54 ft DEPTH: 19.42 ft CASUALTIES: 31 SURVIVORS: 0 Foundered on Lake Erie during a storm while enroute from Port Dover, Ontario, to Conneaut, Ohio. FOUND 9 FROZEN ---------- Yawl of Marquette and Bessemer Contain Number of Crew ---------- TOLD TALE OF FATE ------ Twenty-two Others Missing--First Acci- dent Known to a Carferry--Consi- dered Invincible in Marine World. ------ All hope that the carferry Marquette and Bessember No. 2 or any of her crew had outlived the wintry gale which made Lake Erie a watery grave last week were abandoned Sunday when the Commodore Perry, Pennsyl- vania's state fish boat brought to Erie, Pa., the dead and frozen bodies of nine of the crew of the ferry. They were identified at once and found to be all of Conneaut. For 48 hours the Perry had scoured the waters of eastern Lake Erie for traces of the carferry but until the yawl was sighted 17 miles off Erie it was feared that no clue would be found to tell the fate of the craft, con- sidered the greatest marine disaster of a quarter of a century. The use of the glasses discovered the yawl which was marked "Bessemer and Marquette No. 2," loaded with nine men and as the Perry came abreast of the drifting and half water-logged boat is was found that the little state fish craft was too late to save life. The Perry took the yawl in tow and with the flag at half mast steamed to Erie. The cook of the carferry was the only man to wear an overcoat. The eight other men were dressed in over- alls and jumpers indicating that the departure from the carferry had been hurried. Eight Bodies Sitting Upright In the bow of the yawl was found complete clothing for one man and it is believed that the craft originally contained ten men but that one had become crazed, discarded his clothing and jumped overboard. Eight of the men were sitting up and the ninth was frozen to the slatting at the bottom of the boat. Of the crew of 31 men, Captain Robert McLeod and Chief Engineer E. Wood were well known sailors on Lake Michigan. They both sailed the carferry Muske- gon, now the Pere Marquette 16, and later the Grand Haven and were known in local marine circles. The Marquette & Bessemer No. 2 was valued at $350,000, and the cargo at upwards of $40,000. She was built at Cleveland in 1905. The boat was operated by the Pere Marquette and the Bessemer and Lake Erie roads. The Marquette and Bessemer No. 2 was exactly like carferries Pere Marquette 19 and 20 excepting that she was two feet narrower. The loss of the big craft is of peculiar in- terest here, the home of the Pere Marquette carferries, in that this is the first accident ever known to a carferry. They are considered invincible sea boats in the marine world. It is supposed that the ferry was improperly loaded or the tossing of the boat in the sea dis- placed the coal cars and they pitched through the side admitting water to the hold. The Ludington Chronicle December 15, 1909 ---------------------------------------- VAIN SEARCH FOR VICTIMS ------------- Over Score of Car Ferry Victims on Lake Erie Unaccounted for. Erie, Penn., Dec. 15. - With the fur- ther abatement to-day of the storm that menaced traffic on Lake Erie during the past week or so renewed efforts were made to recover, if pos- sible, the bodies of the victims of the car ferry Marquette and Bessemer No. 2, which were believed to be still adrift somewhere on Lake Erie. The car ferry, which is supposed to have foundered in the middle of the lake a week ago yesterday, during the heavy storm, carried 38 persons on board, and nothing has been heard from more than a score of these. The commodore Perry, which has led in the search for the persons who left here on board the ill-fated steam- er and which found nine of the victims frozen to death in a yawl boat on Sun- day, has again taken up the hunt and is scouring the lake, hoping to find the remaining crew and passengers of the boat. A number of other crafts also left here to-day to steam about the lake to assist in the search. The Daily Phoenix Saskatoon, Canada - Dec. 15, 1909 --------------------------------------------- FLOOR OF LAKE IS BEING SWEPT ---------------- By United Press Conneaut, O., Aug. 24. - The floor of Lake Erie today is being swept with huge electrical mag- nates in an effort to recover the huge car ferry Marquette and Bessemer No. 2 which went down off Conneaut harbor during a terrible storm on the night of Dec. 9, 1909. The ferry carried a cargo of coal valued at $35,000, and a crew of thirty men, all of whom were lost. The work has been undertaken by a syndicate of business men from Windsor, Ont., who have taken a six month option on the boat and cargo and expect to realize handsomely if she is re- covered. E. L. White, and elec- trical engineer of St. Thomas will direct the search from the large yacht Berthie which has been equipped with special apparatus for the work. Mansfield Shield, Mansfield, Ohio August 24, 1914 ------------------------------------- ======================================================================== Sources: - The Robinson Constitution, Robinson, Crawford County, IL Wednesday, December 15, 1909 - Pere Marquette Historical Society