SS W. C. Franz was an American–built lake freighter built in 1901, in Wyandotte, Michigan. She was built under the name Uranus by the Detroit Shipbuilding Company for entrepreneur Joseph C. Gilchrist's Gilchrist Transportation Company. She remained with the company until 1913, when she was sold to the Algoma Central Steamship Company in 1913, and was renamed W. C. Franz.
While heading for Fort William, Ontario, on 21 November 1934 to load grain, she encountered thick fog on Lake Huron. At roughly 03:25, while approximately southwest of Thunder Bay Island, W. C. Franz was struck by the package freighter Edward E. Loomis, and gradually began to fill with water, sinking almost two hours after the collision. Four crewmen drowned.
Her wreck rests mostly intact in of water.
History Design and construction Uranus (US official number 25339) was built by the Detroit Shipbuilding Company in Wyandotte, Michigan, as yard number 140. She was one of six identical freighters commissioned by Joseph C. Gilchrist, all of them were named after planets in the Solar System. Uranus, the last of the planet class to be completed, was launched on 20 April 1901.
She was built on the channel system, a longitudinal frame style introduced on the Great Lakes in the mid–1890s. It constituted several rows 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 Uranus remained reminiscent of those found on wooden lake freighters. Between 1882 and 1904, the cargo holds of all iron and steel freighters contained stanchions and steel angles which were the equivalent of the knees used on earlier wooden freighters. The stanchions within her hull were located apart, at the spaces between Uranus 10 hatches, which were in depth. Her hull contained three watertight bulkheads. Her cargo hold was divided into three separate compartments, the first of which was in capacity, the second was , while the third was . Her overall capacity was listed as .
The hull of Uranus was in length, as well as in beam. The moulded depth, roughly speaking, the vertical height of Uranus hull, was . The measurements of her register tonnage were calculated as 5,531 gross register tons and 3,991 net register tons, respectively.
She was powered by a 85 rpm triple-expansion steam engine; the cylinders of the engine were , , and in diameter, and had a stroke of . Steam was provided by two water-tube 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 built by the Detroit Shipbuilding Company in Wyandotte.
Final voyage and wreck The wreck of W. C. Franz rests mostly intact in of water, with the exception of the damage suffered in the collision.
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