City of Bangor (ship)

History
United States
Name: City of Bangor
Operator:
  • Eddy-Shaw Transportation Co
  • Bay City, Michigan 1896-1906
  • Lake Transit Co
  • Bay City, Michigan 1906-1925
  • Nicholson Transit Co
  • Detroit, Michigan 1925-1926
Builder:
  • Wheeler, F.W. & Co
  • West Bay City, Michigan
Yard number: 00113
Completed: 1896
Fate: Stranded November 30, 1926 Keweenaw Peninsula, Lake Superior. Declared total loss
Status: Hull scrapped on site 1942
Notes: United States Registry #127131
General characteristics
Class and type: freighter
Tonnage:
  • 3690 gross 2976 net (1896)
  • 4202 gross 3058 net (1904)
  • 3994 gross 2847 net (1925)
Length:
  • 372.42 ft (113.51 m) (1896)
  • 445.42 ft (135.76 m)(1904)
Beam: 44.66 ft (13.61 m)
Height: 23.42 ft (7.14 m)
Propulsion: Triple expansion steam
Crew: 30
Notes: Ship rebuilt and lengthened in 1904.

The City of Bangor was a freighter that had a 30-year career on the Great Lakes. Originally designed to carry ore, the ship was converted into an automobile carrier in 1925. She was trapped in ice on Lake Superior November 30, 1926, and after multiple salvage attempts the Bangor was declared a total loss.

Shipwreck

The City of Bangor was captained by William J. Mackin. On the night of November 30, 1926, the Bangor was carrying 248 new Chryslers from Detroit, Michigan to Duluth, Minnesota, when a severe storm drove it onto the rocks of Keweenaw Peninsula, on Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Eighteen cars that were spiked to the deck of the ship slipped overboard and were lost. During the same storm, the Thomas Maytham, which was carrying 20,000 tons of grain from Duluth to Toledo, Ohio, went aground on the other side of the peninsula.[1]

Rescue

The next morning, after the winds had subsided, the crew of the Bangor managed to free the lifeboats, and by afternoon all the men had made it ashore. They began to walk to the nearest village, Copper Harbor, which was about 15 miles away, but became lost in the unfamiliar territory. They spent the night with a fire but no shelter, inadequate clothing, and no food.[2]

The next day, a United States Coast Guard rescue lifeboat, out of Eagle Harbor Life Saving Station, that was carrying the crew of the Thomas Maytham came around the point, and discovered the crew of the Bangor. The Coast Guard captain dropped off the Thomas Maytham at Copper Harbor and returned for the City of Bangor crew. The men were exhausted and suffering from hypothermia; several were hospitalized with frostbite.[1]

The majority of the Chryslers were in the hold, separated from the flooded engine room by a strong partition. A visual inspection of the hold showed that the cars were in good condition. When the water around the wrecked ship had frozen solid, an ice ramp was constructed, and the cars were driven off of the ship.[3] The area around Keweenaw Peninsula was heavily forested and buried in about 4 ft (1.2 m) of snow,[4] so the cars were driven along the icy banks of the lake to Copper Harbor. When the roads opened in the spring, the cars were driven to Calumet, Michigan, loaded on to trains, and taken to Detroit for repair and re-sale.[5] 202 of the vehicles were salvaged from the wreck and sold, but the ship itself was a total loss.[6]

The City of Bangor wreck site is now part of the Keweenaw Underwater Preserve, established in 1991, along with the nearby wrecks of the Altadoc and the Scotia, and can be visited by scuba divers.[7] The only remaining part of the Eagle Harbor Life Saving Station, the boathouse, is now a museum containing shipwreck memorabilia including one of the 1927 Chryslers from the City of Bangor wreck.[8]

References

  1. 1 2 "Lake boats go aground; 45 rescued". Minneapolis Star. December 3, 1927. p. 1.
  2. ↑ "Shipwreck of the City of Bangor, Eagle Harbor, Lake Superior,Upper Peninsula of Michigan". www.exploringthenorth.com. Retrieved January 30, 2018.
  3. ↑ Billock (2014), p. 90
  4. ↑ "Must build 15-mile road to get 232 autos from stranded vessel". Green Bay Press-Gazette. February 3, 1927. p. 12.
  5. ↑ Billock (2014), p. 90
  6. ↑ Thompson, Mark L. (2004-04-01). Graveyard of the Lakes. Wayne State University Press. p. 69. ISBN 0814332269.
  7. ↑ Billock (2014), p. 89
  8. ↑ Billock (2014), p. 80

Sources

  • Billock, Jennifer (12 May 2014). Keweenaw County. Arcadia Publishing Incorporated. ISBN 978-1-4396-4513-0.

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