Copyright USGenNet Inc., 2015 All Rights Reserved USGenNet Data Repository Please read USGenNet 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: J. Oswald Boyd OTHER NAME(s): - OFFICIAL NO: 223043 DATE OF LOSS: 11 November 1936 CAUSE OF LOSS: Stranding/fire LOCATION: Lake Michigan, Simmons Reef north of Beaver Island RIG TYPE: Propeller, bulk tanker HULL TYPE: Steel BUILDER: Bow, McLachlan & Co., Paisley, Scotland - 1913 OWNER(S): Gotham Marine Corp. MASTER: Capt. M. W. Whitney TONNAGE: 1,806 gt DIMENSIONS: 244.86 x 44 x 20.25 CASUALTIES: none from vessel Driven off course in a blinding snowstorm the J. OSWALD BOYD, loaded with 920,000 gallons of gasoline bound for Escanaba from Toledo, ran hard aground on Simmons Reef. Her crew was rescued by the Beaver Island Coast Guard crew who battled the storm for twenty-three miles in a motor life- boat. Salvage rights were purchased by the Beaver Island Transit Company. On New Years Day morning, 1937 they attempted to remove some of the gasoline using the MAROLD II. During the effort the BOYD exploded and burned. Her hull was dragged down to Detour later in the year and scrapped in 1942. ======================================================================== Sources: Chicago Tribune, 12 November 1936 Merchant Vessel List - 1935, 1937 Kadar, Wayne "Great Lakes Freighter, Tanker and Tugboat Disasters" Ratigan, Wm "Great Lakes Shipwrecks and Survivals" Swayze, David D. "SHIPWRECK!"