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Submitted by Linda Talbott
for the USGenNet Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/
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Formatted by USGenNet Data Repository Chief Archivist, Linda Talbott
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    VESSEL NAME:   Pal
    OTHER NAME(s): -
    OFFICIAL NO:   238189
    DATE OF LOSS:  2 May 1947
    REASON:        Explosion?
    LOCATION:      Lake Michigan, off Pentwater
    RIG TYPE:      Fish Tug, 95 hp marine gasoline motor.
    HULL TYPE:     Wooden
    BUILDER:       Omena, Mich., 1938
    OWNER(S):      Daniel Loncar, of Pentwater
    MASTER:        same
    TONNAGE:       17 gt
    DIMENSIONS:    36 x 11 x 4
    CASUALTIES:    3 (Daniel Loncar, Merrill Ginther, Clyde Smith)
    SURVIVORS:     0

                    Left Pentwater, Mich., on Saturday, May 3, 1947
                 at 10 a.m. and headed for fishing nets about 8 miles
                 off shore.  About 4 hours later the sound of an
                 explosion was heard from out on the lake by Mrs.
                 Otto Ricktor, residing south of Cedar Banks.  Thick
                 fog blanketed the area and she could not see out
                 onto the lake.  A search by the local Coast Guard began 
                 on Sunday morning when the tug failed to return, aided 
                 by the Coast Guard seaplane from Traverse City.  On
                 Tuesday a daily beach patrol was established between
                 Pentwater and Little Point Sable.
                    On Monday pieces of the fish tug, including two
                 pieces of charred lumber, some fish boxes and part
                 of a pilot's cabin, came ashore near Juniper beach.
                 The wreckage was positively identified by Frank Larsen,
                 former owner, as having come from the PAL.  Nails in
                 the some of the planking that came ashore had been
                 driven out from the inside.
                    According to Coast Guard officers the crew of the
                 tug had a habit of refilling her tanks in mid-lake.

                    Daniel Loncar left a widow, Ida (Shearer), and
                 two small sons; George (age 5), and Robert (age 3).
                    Clyde Smith, resident of Mears, Mich., left a
                 wife and his mother, Mrs. Arlie Smith of Mears,
                 and a brother, Harold of Shelby.
                    Merrill Ginther, a WWI veteran, was a single man.
                 He left a brother, Ralph of Pentwater.




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Sources: The Ludington Daily News, Tuesday, May 6-7, 1947
         Merchant Vessel Lists