Copyright USGenNet Inc., 2014, All Rights Reserved USGenNet Data Repository Please read U.S. Data Repository Copyright Statement on this page: Submitted by Linda Talbott for the USGenNet Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ ========================================================================= Formatted by USGenNet Data Repository Chief Archivist, Linda Talbott All of the above information must remain when copied or downloaded. =========================================================================== VESSEL NAME: Baltimore OTHER NAME(s): Escanaba - renamed in 1899 OFFICIAL NO: 135487 DATE OF LOSS: 24 May 1901 REASON: Storm LOCATION: Lake Huron, off Au Sable RIG TYPE: Propeller HULL TYPE: Wooden, iron strapped inside and out with an iron cord running fore and aft. BUILDER: Linn & Craig, Gibralter, MI - 1881 Launched on April 6, 1881 OWNER: Escanaba & Lake Michigan Transportation Co., 1881 - 1898 Capt. Chamberlain, et. el., 1898 MASTER: Capt. M. H. Place TONNAGE: 1160 gt LENGTH: 202 ft BEAM: 35.5 ft DEPTH: 20 ft CASUALTIES: 13 SURVIVORS: 2 As Escanaba: October, 1883 - Collision with R. Hallaran August 17, 1884 - Stranded in Lake Michigan September 12, 1886 - Grounded at Sault Ste. Marie with the THOMAS L. PARKER in tow. Was run into by the PARKER October 16, 1890 - Collision with schooner MERRITT at Lake George Flats. May, 1896 - Aground on Gull Island shoal -------------------------------------------------------- DIE IN THE RAGING WAVES ------- Steamer Baltimore Founders Dur- ing Storm in Lake Huron TWELVE OF THE CREW LOST ------- Two Others Escape, but One Loses His Reason Through His Terrible Ex- perience-Struggles with the Madman --Storm of Wide Extent. ------- East Tawas, Mich., May 25. - The wooden steamer BALTIMORE foundered in Lake Huron, near Au Sable, at 6 a.m., and twelve of the crew of four- teen were drowned. Two men were washed about in the lake for several hours, lashed to a piece of wreckage, and finally were picked up by the tug Columbia and brought in here. George McGinnis, a deckhand, one of the res- cued, went crazy from his experience. The other survivor, Thomas Murphy of Milwaukee, second engineer, was able to tell the story of the disaster. Names of the Victims The dead follow: August Anderson, deckhand; Michael Breathen, first mate; John Delders, second steward; F. Krueger, fireman; Peter Marcoux, chief engineer; William Parker, fire- man; M. H. Place, captain; Mrs. M. H. Place, captain's wife, steward; Edward Owen, wheelsman; George W. Scott, watchman; C. W. Sears, wheels- man; Herbert Winning, watchman. Survivor Tells of the Disaster It was some time after the Colum- bia had brought the shipwrecked men into port before Murphy was revived sufficiently to tell his story. He said: "We were bound from Lorain to Sault Ste. Marie, and had in tow a large steam drill and scow. When off Thun- der Bay last night Captain Place saw the steamer was making bad weather, for the waves had smashed in the en- gineer's quarters and the washrooms and the water was running into the hold. Captain Place decided to turn about and run for Tawas for shelter. Everything went alright until we were off Au Sable, when the steamer struck heavily on the bottom. The seas broke over it at the same time and carried away the deckhouse, then the after cabin, and, finally, the smoke- stack fell. Both rails forward broke in two just aft of the forward deck- house, and we knew that it was only a few minutes before the steamer would go to pieces. 'It is every man for himself now,' shouted Captain Place. The look of despair on Mrs. Place's face was something I shall never forget. It was awful. We took the Captain's advice, and every man started to save himself as best he could. Some of the boys took to the rigging, but McGinnis and I lashed ourselves to a ringbolt in a piece of the after cabin, and we were washed overboard shortly afterward. Goes Insane on the Raft. "The strain was too much for Mc- Ginnis, and he went crazy before we had been in the water long. He tried to throw me off the wreckage, but I talked to him and encouraged him to hold on. Twice he got loose and tried to drown us both, but each time I suc- ceeded in quieting him. I told him a boat was coming to take us off, and then I would get him tied fast again. The COLUMBIA finally came along and picked us up, just as I was about to give up hope. I am afraid all of the rest of the crew were drowned, includ- ing Mrs. Place. I only wonder how it was that we lived through it all. Our wreckage was big enough to make a raft, but it was small, and the seas swept it constantly." Source: Daily News Review, Crawfordsville, IN May 25, 1901 ======================================================================== Sources: Cleveland Herald, 11 March 1881 Detroit Tribune, 13 September 1886 The Marine Review, 8 December 1898 Port Huron Daily Times, 25 May 1901 Meteorological Chart of the Great Lakes, 1901 Annual Report of the Steamboat Inspection Service, 1901