Loss of tug BRIDGEBUILDER X – New material and pictures

Kathy Firestone of Northport, Michigan, has provided me with corrected information and pictures of her father’s lumber tug BRIDGEBUILDER X, lost near the Fox Islands, Lake Michigan, in December of 1959. The tug’s varied history included a stint working as a construction tug on the Mackinac Bridge. New/corrected material shown in red type.

BRIDGEBUILDER X

Other names : built as fish tug PITTSBURG, renamed BIDE-A-WEE in 1939, last name in 1946(?)

Official no. : 208790

Type at loss : propeller tug, Diesel

Build info : 1911, American Shipbuilding, Lorain, OH hull #392d

Specs : 71x17x7, 46g 36n

Date of loss : 1959, Dec 15

Place of loss : while enroute Sturgeon Bay to South Fox Isl.

Lake : Michigan

Type of loss : foundered

Loss of life : 2 [all]

Carrying : none

Detail : Bound for the owner’s lumber yard on South Fox and thence to her home at Northport, when she foundered in a storm. The Coast Guard searched for any sign of her for five days, but did not find a trace.  Owned and operated by Sterling K Nickerson(d), Northport Mi. The body of  his shipmate and relative Glen Roop, was recovered several months later near Manitowoc, but his was never located

Built as oil-fired steam fish tug; converted to excursion boat in 1939; re-engined to Diesel in 1946; converted to a  construction tug for the Mackinac Bridge, 1957; rebuilt to an open-deck lumber tug in 1958 by Nickerson.

Working on the Mighty Mac and as a lumber boat

Sources : a&f,eas,h,mpl,hcgl,wgts,hr,mv,kf

LAKE GROGAN wrecked on Lake Erie

  LAKE GROGAN

Other names   :  none

Official no.     :  217529

Type at loss    :  propeller, steel, 3-island  “Laker Class”

Build info       :  1919, Detroit Shipbuilding, Wyandotte, Mich

Specs              :  251x44x26,  2592g  1604n

Date of loss    :  1926, Nov 10

Place of loss   :  near Port Colborne, Ont

Lake                :  Erie

Type of loss    :  storm

Loss of life      :  none

Carrying         :  none

Detail              :  She was in tow of the Ford Motor Co. tug BARRYTON and manned by a temporary crew when she broke loose in a storm and went ashore on Morgan’s Point, 4 1/2 miles west of Port Colborne. The boat immediately started to break up and her crew had to be rescued with a breeches’ buoy by Buffalo Coast Guardsmen. LAKE GROGAN was in the process of being transferred to the Ford Motor Company and was being towed to Detroit for scrapping. She was later scrapped in place by Ford workers. Owned by the U. S. Shipping Board. Master: Capt. William Lamb.

LAKE GROGAN was a member of a class of small (2,500 ton) ocean freighters built in Lakes shipyards to ease the Allied shortage of cargo ships during World War I. More than 320 of the ships were built between 1918 and 1921. After the war was over many of the ships were leased to private companies, but it was later decided not to flood the market with cheap ships and the U. S. Shipping Board decided to scrap many of them. 200 were purchased by Ford Motor Company on the condition that all be cut up for scrap. LAKE GROGAN was the only Laker-class ever lost on the Lakes.

Sources            :    mv,hcgl,oo,mhgl

for more of my shipwreck files (5,000 + more) see GreatLakesRex.com

FB – Great Lakes Rex

I’ll be posting info here that is new to my database since the last time I was on-line with it. If you want my info on a specific ship, place or date, contact me and I’ll try to post it as time permits.

Why I’m Here

This site is still under construction, but contains the compiled results of over 25 years of research into hundreds of sources of great lakes shipwreck data. When I began, the best published lists of known wrecks on the lakes contained less that 1,000 known wrecks. The database now contains information on over 5000! My research continues and I will be posting new and – I hope – interesting information as I find it. I hope you enjoy it and I hope that if you are able to contribute reliable information, you will!

To access the entire Great Lakes Shipwreck Files, click on ALPHABETICAL SHIPWRECK LIST above and go to the first letter of the wreck you are looking for. To access the sources used for each entry on the database, click on REFERENCES above.

To search at present you will need to enter the Alphabetical List where you expect to find the vessel of interest, then use your browser search function to find the item. I’m working on easier search options.  Feel free to contact me to help with any search.