SS Argus was an American lake freighter in service between 1903 and 1913. She was built under the name Lewis Woodruff by the American Ship Building Company in Lorain, Ohio, for the Gilchrist Transportation Company of Cleveland, Ohio. In 1913, she was sold at auction to the Pickands Mather & Company's Interlake Steamship Company three years after the Gilchrist fleet went into receivership, and was renamed Argus. She was involved in multiple accidents.
On the morning of 9 November 1913, Argus entered Lake Huron under the command of Captain Paul Gutch, upbound with a cargo of coal for Chicago, Illinois, loaded in Sandusky, Ohio, and Buffalo, New York. As Argus ventured out onto open water, she encountered heavy snowfall and large waves from the most destructive storm in the history of the Great Lakes. Later that day while labouring in the heavy seas, Argus sank, killing her entire crew. Her loss was the only one to be witnessed by the crew of another vessel.
The wreck of Argus was located upside down around north of Point Aux Barques in 1972, with damage to her stern.
History Background The gunship USS Michigan became the first iron-hulled vessel built on the Great Lakes, upon her launching in 1843, in Erie, Pennsylvania. By the mid-1840s, Canadian merchants were importing iron vessels prefabricated in the United Kingdom. The first iron–hulled merchant vessel built on the lakes, Merchant, was built in 1862, in Buffalo, New York. Despite Merchant clear success proving the potential of iron hulls, ships built from wood remained preferable until the 1880s, due to their lower cost, as well as the abundance of high quality timber and workers trained in carpentry.
Between the early–1870s and the mid-1880s, shipyards around the Great Lakes began to construct iron ships on a relatively large scale. In 1884, the first steel freighters were built on the Great Lakes. By the 1890s, metal had become a common hull material used on the lakes. The development of the pneumatic rivet gun and the advancement of gantry cranes enabled shipyard employees to work at an increased speed, with greater efficiency. This, combined with the rapidly decreasing steel prices, contributed to the rapid increase in the size of lake freighters in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Throughout the 1880s, the iron ore trade on the Great Lakes grew significantly, primarily due to the increasing size of the lake freighters, and the rise in the number of trips they made to the ore docks of Lake Superior. As the railways were unable to keep up with the rapid production of iron ore, bulk freighters became integral to the region's iron ore industry. By 1890, 56.95% of the of the iron ore produced by mines in the United States was sourced from the region surrounding Lake Superior.
Joseph C. Gilchrist was a major vessel operator on the Great Lakes in the late-19th and early-20th centuries, eventually amassing the second largest American-owned fleet on them. He would regularly order numerous "classes" of identical vessels in bulk, from multiple shipyards. In October 1902, the Detroit Free Press reported on Gilchrist's order of six identical freighters, two from the American Ship Building Company.
Design and construction Lewis Woodruff was built by the American Ship Building Company at their yard in Lorain, Ohio, at a cost of $275,000 ($ in ), as yard number 326. She was built for the Gilchrist Transportation Company of Cleveland, Ohio, and was the first of eight identical "6,200–ton" vessels commissioned for that fleet from the American Ship Building Company. One of her sister ships included R. E. Schuck, later named Hydrus. She was named in honour of Captain Lewis Woodruff, a prominent citizen of Cleveland, who maintained a financial stake in the Gilchrist fleet.
Contrary to customs on the Great Lakes, Lewis Woodruff was launched at 12:00 on 5 August 1903, a Wednesday, when most launchings were carried out on Saturdays. She was christened in front of a substantial crowd by Martha Wood of Bellevue, Ohio, one of Gilchrist's guests at the event.
She was built on the channel system, a longitudinal frame style introduced on the Great Lakes in the mid-1890s. It consisted of several rows of flanged steel plates running the entire length of a vessel's bottom, deriving its name from the "channels" between the frames. This method provided vessels with additional strength, as well as preventing damage sustained in groundings from spreading to other areas of the hull, and increasing cargo capacity. In spite of rapid advances in shipbuilding technology, the hold of Lewis Woodruff remained reminiscent of those found on wooden lake freighters. Between 1882 and 1904, the cargo holds of all iron and steel freighters contained stanchions, vertical columns designed to support their decks; and steel angles which were the equivalent of the knees used on wooden freighters.
Her 12 hatches, which were longitudinally in depth, were positioned apart, when measured from their centres. Her hull contained three watertight bulkheads. The cargo hold was divided into four separate compartments; the first of which was in capacity, while the remaining three had a capacity of . Her overall capacity was listed as .
Lewis Woodruff was a medium-sized freighter by the standards of the early-20th century. Her hull had an overall length of , a length between perpendiculars of . Additionally, the hull was in beam, and in depth. The measurements of her register tonnage were calculated as 4,707 gross and 3,380 net tons, respectively.
She was powered by a 90 rpm triple expansion steam engine; the cylinders of the engine were , , and in diameter, and had a stroke of . Steam was provided by two Scotch marine boilers in diameter, in length, with a working pressure of . The boilers were each fitted with four furnaces, accounting for a combined grate surface of , and a total heating surface of . The engine and boilers were supplied by the American Ship Building Company's yard in Cleveland.
Service history Lewis Woodruff was assigned the US official number was 200211, while her port of registry was Fairport, Ohio.
She was completed by 26 August 1903, and was scheduled to embark on her maiden voyage on 29 August, after taking on fuel at the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad's coal dock in Lorain. She was set to sail to Duluth, Minnesota, without cargo, where she would load a cargo of iron ore. However, while travelling to the Baltimore & Ohio coal dock, Lewis Woodruff struck a pile, shearing off a blade of her propeller. She was forced to dock for repairs. Lewis Woodruff began her maiden voyage on 2 September. She passed Detroit, Michigan, at 04:00 on 2 September; and locked through the Soo Locks at Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, at 05:30 a day later. She arrived in Duluth on 5 September.
While loaded with a cargo of coal, Lewis Woodruff ran hard aground on Walpole Island in the St. Clair River, early on the morning of 28 August 1904, due to dense fog. Her bow lifted out of the water, with the Detroit Free Press speculating that lightering would be necessary to free her. The tugs Ottawa and Sarnia of the Reid Wrecking Company succeeded in freeing her late on 28 August.
In late-June 1905, Lewis Woodruff was involved in a collision with the freighter W. C. Richardson in fog. She struck W. C. Richardson on the starboard side, while underway in the vicinity of the Soo Locks. Lewis Woodruff bow suffered severe damage in the accident. She passed Port Huron, Michigan, on 6 July, downbound for Cleveland, where she was scheduled to receive an inspection and repairs. The Plain Dealer estimated repairs would take a week to ten days.
On the night of 7 August 1909, while loaded with iron ore, Lewis Woodruff became wedged at the coal dock at Irishtown Bend in the Cuyahoga River. The freigher B. Lyman Smith, also inbound for the dock, became similarly stranded. Three other vessels were moored at the dock, leaving little room for Lewis Woodruff and B. Lyman Smith to pass. Tugs were able to remove the jam in over an hour, with none of the vessels suffering damage.
In addition to previous larger libels, several Gilchrist vessels, including R. E. Schuck, had smaller ones placed on them in January 1910, while docked in Superior, Wisconsin.
Due to his rapid commissioning of several large vessels, Gilchrist accrued significant debts. The Panic of 1907 significantly impacted business on the Great Lakes, ensuring a significant glut of vessels in comparison to the quantity of cargo available to them. The Gilchrist fleet went into receivership in 1910, with Shane and George A. Garretson of the Bank of Commerce, major financiers of the business, being appointed as receivers. Following further financial hardship, the sale of the fleet was ordered by the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio in August 1912. A large portion of the fleet was sold at auction on 6 March 1913. Lewis Woodruff, along with seven other vessels, was appraised at $205,000 ($ in ).
She was sold to the Pickands Mather & Company of Cleveland, becoming one of 17 freighters absorbed into their newly-formed Interlake Steamship Company. She received the new name Argus, in an allusion to Greek mythology.
Final voyage
On 4 November 1913, Argus cleared Sandusky, Ohio, for Buffalo with of soft coal, under the command of Captain Paul Gutch. She arrived in Buffalo on 7 November, loading a further of coal; she departed late that same day, and proceeded to Chicago, Illinois. As Argus sailed westward on 8 November, Lake Erie began experiencing inclement weather, with heavy snowfall severely limiting visibility. By nightfall, she had reached the Livingstone Channel in the Detroit River, passing Detroit, Michigan, at 17:40 on 8 November. Argus passed Port Huron, cleared the St. Clair River, and sailed upbound into Lake Huron on the morning of 9 November.
As Argus reached open waters, she encountered the large waves, significant snowfall, and sea smoke resulting from the most destructive storm in the history of the Great Lakes. Winds reached average speeds of , peaking at off Harbor Beach, Michigan. The shape of Lake Huron, combined with the decreased surface friction of water allowed northwesterly winds the unimpeded ability to intensify. Sailors reported waves reaching at least in height.
Late on the afternoon of 9 November, the Pittsburgh Steamship Company's freighter George C. Crawford was travelling downbound, after the ferocity of the storm compelled her crew to turn around and seek shelter in lower Lake Huron. Her captain, Walter C. Iler, spotted Argus labouring in the storm, struggling to remain clear of the troughs between the waves. Argus bow and stern each crested a wave, causing her unsupported midsection to buckle. Iler described his experience to the Detroit Free Press in the week following the storm. The only boat I saw was one of Pickands, Mather & Co.'s fleet, the Argus I think it was. The storm swung her around in the trough of the sea, and she appeared to crumple like an eggshell and then disappeared.
Argus was the only victim of the storm whose sinking was witnessed. All 28 members of her crew were killed.
Aftermath
Twelve ships sank during the storm of 1913, eight of them on Lake Huron. Argus was a $200,000 ($ in ) loss to her owners, with financial losses due to vessel destruction or damage from the storm totaling $3,055,000 ($ in ). In the aftermath of the storm, wreckage and bodies from Argus began drifting ashore, primarily concentrated around the Canadian southeastern shore of Lake Huron. The Lake Carriers Association offered a reward of $25 ($ in ) for the recovery of each individual body.
Wreck