Wreck of the Appomattox
Milwaukee Journal - Nov. 3, 1905
Milwaukee Journal - Nov. 3, 1905
Three freighters ran aground off Lake Park and Whitefish Bay at 3 o’clock this morning. No lives were lost.
One, the Appomattox, now has two feet of water in her hold. She and her tow-barge, the Santiago, are now in considerable danger, owing to the high wind, although they are somewhat protected, lying as they do north of North Point. The Appomattox and the Santiago were bound from Toledo to the yards of the Milwaukee Western Fuel Co. The Appomattox has on board 3,443 tons of soft coal, and the Santiago has on board 4,735 tons. Both are on rocky bottom. The tugs Hagerman and Simpson are at work on the two freighters. With the assistance of the life-saving crew, their cargoes of coal are being dumped into the lake. A third vessel, the Iowa, bound from Sturgeon Bay to Milwaukee, also ran aground in the fog. Capt. John Rawley, in command of the Iowa, is one of the older captains of the Goodrich Fleet, and is thoroughly familiar with the course. The accident, therefore, cannot be accounted for in any other way than the density of the fog, which obliterated all guides. “There was a heavy fog offshore this morning,” reported Capt. Rawley. “It was this that caused us to run ashore.” The Appomattox is a ship of 2,643 gross tons. She is 319 feet long, has a breadth of 42 feet and a depth of 23 feet, and is considered the largest wooden-hulled freighter ever to be built on the lakes. Eighteen men constitute her crew. She was built in 1896 at West Bay City, Mich., and her port of hail is Duluth. She was in command of “Big Frank” Haverer. |