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1897.Wreck of the Idaho. -- The wreck of the steamer Idaho off Long Point, on the night of November 5, was the most serious disaster of 1897 on the Great Lakes. This is true as regards both the number of lives lost and the monetary loss. The vessel sank, and with her went down 19 of the 21 men who constituted the ship's company. The two survivors were Louis LaForce, second mate, and William Gill, a deck hand. The steamer herself was old, and was insured for not more than $10,000 or $15,000; but the amount of property aboard is estimated at from $75,000 to $100,000. The Idaho left Buffalo with package freight for Milwaukee on the afternoon before the wreck. A November gale caught her before she reached Long Point. Her captain, Alexander Gillies, made the unfortunate decision to push on, leaving astern the safe shelter behind the Point. Twelve miles beyond Long Point the Idaho began to ship water, and part of the crew was ordered to the pumps. After a little while the water got into the engine room, and then in the fire hold. Then the captain attempted to head the steamer around to get back under Long Point. As she veered a great roller swept over her, throwing her into the trough of the sea and washing half a dozen of the crew off the deck into the lake. All hands were at once ordered to the pumps except the watchman and a wheelman. One of the pumps broke, and the captain organized a line of fire buckets. Inch by inch, however, the water crept up until it was bubbling around the edge of the fires. In ten minutes the fires were quenched and the ship was at the absolute mercy of the sea. All then went on deck to lower the anchors in the hope that the ship would right herself. While the men were giving more line to the port anchor the stern began to sink and every wave slopped over it. Suddenly the moon broke through the clouds and the crew got the first light they had seen since the engine fires were extinguished. Gill saw the captain running forward, when a wave swept him far from the ship and as it passed the clouds closed over the moon and the night was black again. Gill and LaForce found themselves on the end of the deckhouse, and scrambled into the rigging as the Idaho went down. They scrambled to the crow's nest, and there the Mariposa found them in the morning. While working at the pumps Gill and LaForce had stripped themselves to shirt and trousers, and there they clung, sprayed by every wave. Others of the crew tried to launch one of the small boats and were swamped with it. Looking about them Gill and LaForce saw that all their companions had been lost. LaForce, who was above Gill, sighted a vessel just at daybreak and signaled frantically for it, but it steamed by, and LaForce temporarily went mad with despair. He beat his head against the mast, prayed, sang and threatened Gill, whose position was less secure, and who was lost if he let go with one hand. To add to their misery, hail began to fall and cut their faces. It was past noon when the Mariposa came in sight. The men were too stiff to signal her. They saw the Mariposa change her course, and Captain Root bring her alongside. He lowered a small boat, but it was wrecked instantly. Three times he tried it. Finally he brought the Mariposa right up against the spar, and her crew lifted the men aboard. Gill was so cold that he could not unfasten his hands. LaForce says he was in he hold when the stern began to sink. The crew made a frantic dash for the deck, and one of the men was trampled to death by his companions, madly eager to escape. Resolutions adopted by the Buffalo Merchants Exchange, commending Capt. Frank Root of the Mariposa for his skill and courage in rescuing the two survivors, contained this paragraph: "In bringing a great steel steamer nearly 350 feet long, in such a heaving sea, alongside the spar to which the two unfortunate men were clinging for their lives with a skill and nicety which enabled the rescue to be successfully made. Captain Root and his officers and crew not only proved themselves possessed of the highest skill and discipline as seamen, but showed a courage, coolness and nerve which belong only to the truly brave. Their seamanship and their courage were both brought to a supreme test, and both proved unsurpassed." The owners of the Mariposa also commended Captain Root for his exploit, and thus gave precedence to humanity over the danger to which the steamer was necessarily subjected in approaching the sunken Idaho. In a letter to Captain Root, President Mather of the Minnesota Steamship Company, owners of the Mariposa, said: "I wish to express to you, and through you to all your brave crew, my sincere appreciation of the unusually skillful seamanship, coolness, nerve and bravery displayed by you all in rescuing the two poor survivors of the Idaho, and to say further that notwithstanding the risk thereby involved to the safety of the steamer, your act has the hearty commendation of this company and of myself. In some recognition I wish you to give your first mate and your chief engineer an extra month's salary each, and to all the other members of your crew an extra half-month's salary each, for which draft is inclosed herewith; and as for yourself, will you please call at our office upon your arrival down and receive in person from us a testi- monial of our regard and esteem." When, in answer to this letter, Captain Root called at the office of Mr. Coulby, manager of the trans- portation department of the company, he was presented with a beautiful gold watch. The Idaho was one of the oldest steam vessels on the lakes. She was built in 1863. A few years ago the Western Transit Company, which owned the boat, took her out of commission and she lay idle at Buffalo until a month or so before her loss. She was 220 feet long, with a net tonnage of 906. During the G. A. R. Encampment the Idaho was used by the naval veterans as a lodging place. Safe to Sail the Lakes. - Not a single passenger was lost by accident during the season of navigation on the great lakes for 1897. 68 sailors lost their lives. This is about the average for the past two seasons. The only craft in disaster was the Idaho, lost on Lake Erie, when 19 lives were sacrificed. The remainder of the 68 were lost one at a time from accident. Falling into the hold caused the death of a dozen. Forty-six were drowned and three committed suicide. The season was remarkable for the large number of narrow escapes of crews from wrecked vessels, but the lifesaving crews everywhere made daring rescues. Vessel Earnings in 1897. - Instead of having to make good a deficit vessel owners found a balance to their credit. It was not large, but under the circumstances a little is as good as a feast. One local owner figures that his property earned at least 5 per cent. on its insurance valuation, or about 10 per cent. on what he considers its actual market value at present, although there is apparently no market for it. Another owner claims that the earnings of vessels of 2,500 tons carrying capacity have been about 3 per cent. on their insurance valuation, or 6 per cent. on a supposititious market value. And this he considers a fair result for one of the most unsatisfactory seasons ever experienced on the lakes. In regard to the steel steamers and towbarges carrying anywhere from 4,500 to 6,000 tons it is learned from outside sources that they have earned about 6 per cent. upon the capital invested in them. While this is not a satisfactory return by any means, it is sufficient to demonstrate their superiority as money makers in ordinary seasons, and serves to explain why only vessels of this description are now being placed under contract at all of the large ship-building plants on the lakes. True, there will always be a good demand for medium-sized carriers, but the presence of these leviathans in a competitive market will tend to keep freight rates down to such a low notch throughout future seasons that they can no longer be looked upon as gilt-edged property. So firmly, in fact, has this belief become fixed in the minds of the most discerning owners that some of them have recently expressed a willingness to dispose of their holdings at a heavy sacrifice in order that they be enabled to put the proceeds into great carriers such as are now being rapidly introduced. Wreck of the Pewabic Found. - The wreck of the long-lost steamer Pewabic was located after a casual search extending over thirty years. The wreck was found by a wrecking expedition from Milwaukee in the steamer H. A. Root. It lies six miles southeast from Thunder Bay island, Lake Huron, in 27 fathoms of water, and is in the regular course of steamers, on almost an even keel. The upper works are entirely gone, but portions of the bulwarks are standing, and the main deck appears to be intact. The American Wrecking and Salvage Co., of Milwaukee, under a contract with the underwriters, worked for the recovery of the wreck and cargo, consisting largely of copper in barrels, recovering copper to the value of $7,000. For several years from one to four expeditions had been sent out to locate the Pewabic, and several lives have been lost in the search. There was always a belief that the safe of the steamer contained a large amount of money. The Pewabic was lost by collision with the steamer Meteor in 1865. Losses of vessels from 1890 to 1897 are shown in the following table:
Previous Next Return to Home Port Some of the transcription work was also done by Brendon Baillod, who maintains an excellent guide to Great Lakes Shipwreck Research. |
