SS Chester A. Congdon

In 1843, the gunship USS Michigan, built in Erie, Pennsylvania, became the first iron-hulled vessel built on the Great Lakes.[1] In the mid-1840s, Canadian companies began importing iron vessels prefabricated by shipyards in the United Kingdom. However, it would not be until 1862 that the first iron-hulled merchant ship, Merchant, was built on the Great Lakes.[1] Despite the success of Merchant, wooden vessels remained preferable to iron ones until the 1880s, due to their inexpensiveness, and the abundance of timber.[2][3][4] In the early 1880s, shipyards around the Great Lakes began to construct iron ships on a relatively large scale,[4][5] and in 1884 the first steel freighters were built there.[6][7] By the 1890s, the majority of ships constructed on the lakes were made of steel.[8][9] The late 19th and early 20th centuries saw a rapid increase in the size of lake freighters; the first 400 feet (121.9 m) freighter was built in 1895, the first 500 feet (152.4 m) freighter was constructed five years later.[10]

Salt Lake City (US official number 204526) was built in South Chicago, Illinois, in 1907 by the Chicago Shipbuilding Company.[11][12] She was launched into the Calumet River on August 29, 1907, as hull 74.[11][13][14] She was built for W. A. and H. B. Hawgood's Holmes Steamship Company of Cleveland, Ohio, and was christened by Dorothy Holmes.[12][15] Salt Lake City was the third last ship of the so-called "10,000-ton capacity class".[16][17][lower-alpha 1] She set the record for the fastest completion of a ship between its launching and maiden voyage at a Great Lakes shipyard.[19][20] Salt Lake City was built for use in the grain trade on the Great Lakes.[21]

Built with an arched frame system designed to create an unobstructed cargo hold, Salt Lake City was equipped with 32 telescoping hatch covers.[13][22][23] The hatches were 9 feet (2.7 m) wide, and were placed on 12 feet (3.7 m) centers.[13][24] Salt Lake City had a cargo capacity of 10,200 long tons (10,364 t).[13][23] Her cargo hold was divided into three separate compartments, which had capacities of 3,700 long tons (3,759 t), 3,100 long tons (3,150 t) and 3,400 long tons (3,455 t).[13] Salt Lake City was fitted with side-ballast tanks located between the hull plating and the cargo hold beneath the deck arches.[24][25]

The hull of Salt Lake City had an overall length of 552 feet (168.2 m), and a length between perpendiculars of 532 feet (162.2 m).[15] Her beam was 56 feet (17.1 m) (some sources state 56.16 feet (17.1 m) or 56.2 feet (17.1 m)) wide.[11][26][27] Her hull was 31 feet (9.4 m) (some sources state 26 feet (7.9 m), 26.42 feet (8.1 m), 26.5 feet (8.1 m) or 27 feet (8.2 m)) deep.[11][27][28][29] Salt Lake City had a gross register tonnage of 6,530 (or 6,371.39) tons, and a net register tonnage of 4,843 tons.[11][13][24]

She was powered by a 1,765 hp (1,316 kW) 83 rpm triple expansion steam engine; the cylinders of the engine were 23.5 inches (59.7 cm), 38 inches (96.5 cm) and 63 inches (160.0 cm) in diameter, and had a stroke of 42 inches (106.7 cm).[13][15][30] Steam for the engine was provided by two coal-fired, induced-draft 180 pounds per square inch (1,200 kPa) Scotch marine boilers, 14.5 feet (4.4 m) in diameter, and 11.5 feet (3.5 m) long.[13][15][24] The engine and boilers were both built by the American Shipbuilding Company in Cleveland.[13][28][24]

Salt Lake City early in her career

Salt Lake City was enrolled in Cleveland on September 11, 1907, and her home port was Fairport, Ohio.[13][28] She began her maiden voyage on September 19, leaving the shipyard under the command of Captain James Owen.[19][20] In 1911, the Holmes Steamship Company merged into the Acme Transit Company, which was managed by H. B. Hawgood.[13] On February 2, 1912, Salt Lake City was sold to the G. A. Tomlinson managed Continental Steamship Company of Duluth, Minnesota.[11][13] She was renamed Chester A. Congdon, in honour of lawyer and entrepreneur Chester Adgate Congdon.[13][31][32] Her home port was changed to Duluth.[24]

In April 1912, Chester A. Congdon was in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, when she broke away from the tugs towing her and struck the freighter Charles Weston, damaging two of her own hull plates in the process.[33] While waiting for fog to lift on Lake Michigan on August 10 that same year, Chester A. Congdon drifted onto a shoal roughly 4 miles (6.4 km) north of Cana Island.[13] She damaged 90 hull plates and around 50 frames, arriving in Superior, Wisconsin, on August 20 for repairs that took ten days to complete.[34]

On September 26, 1913, Chester A. Congdon struck the breakwater in Fairport harbor, damaging her steering quadrant. She was repaired in Fairport.[35] As Chester A. Congdon was travelling on the Detroit River in October 1915, her bilge scraped along the bottom near Grosse Pointe, Michigan due to low water levels. Several of her rivets were sheered off, causing her hull to leak; she was repaired in Superior.[13][36]

On November 5, 1918, Chester A. Congdon arrived in Fort William, Ontario, where she loaded 380,000 bushels of wheat at the Ogilvie & Pacific grain elevators.[27][37][lower-alpha 2] At 2:28 a.m. (EST) the next day, she left Fort William for Port McNicoll, Ontario, under the command of Captain Charles J. Autterson.[27][37][38] Shortly after passing Thunder Cape, Chester A. Congdon encountered a heavy storm. At 4:00 a.m., Captain Autterson decided to head back into Thunder Bay for 7–8 miles (11.3–12.9 km), and anchor until the storm subsided.[27][37][38] Chester A. Congdon headed back into open water at 10:15 a.m. By that time the wind had stopped, however the waves were still present. After she passed Thunder Cape, a thick fog descended on Lake Superior.[27][37][38] Captain Autterson set a course for Passage Island at 10:40 a.m., with the intention of running for 2.5 hours at a speed of 9 knots (17 km/h; 10 mph), and anchoring if the fog remained.[27][37][38] At 13:08 p.m., Chester A. Congdon ran aground on the southern reef of Canoe Rocks, on the northeast point of Isle Royale, her officers not having heard the fog signal from Passage Island.[32][37][38]

Chester A. Congdon after she broke in two

The lifeboats were lowered, one of which headed to Passage Island (roughly 7 miles (11.3 km) away) to request assistance from the lighthouse keeper.[37] A launch, occupied by two fishermen arrived at the scene to render assistance.[32][37] The fishermen took the second mate to Fort William, however the launch broke down, causing them to not reach their destination until 6:00 a.m. on November 7.[32][37] After the second mate relayed the news, the manager of the Canadian Wrecking & Towing Company, J. Wolvin, dispatched the wrecking barge Empire, and the tugs A.B. Conmee and Sarnia to the wreck.[37] It was reported that Chester A. Congdon's first tank on her port side, and the first and second tanks on her starboard side were full of water.[37] It was hoped that removing her cargo would be enough to refloat her. The removed grain was to be loaded onto the barge Crete.[37] On November 8, a storm with 55 miles per hour (88.5 km/h) winds forced the salvors to abandon the wreck.[32][40][41] Chester A. Congdon's crew was removed by Empire, which then sought shelter at Isle Royale.[32][40] By the time the salvage crew returned to Chester A. Congdon's wreck, it had broken in two between the 6th and 7th hatches, and the stern had sunk.[32][41]

Chester A. Congdon was declared a total loss.[42] On November 29, it was announced that businessman James Playfair of Midland, Ontario, had purchased her wreck for $10,000 (equivalent to $120,786 in 2021), with the intention of raising it in early 1919.[32][43][44] By about December, Chester A. Congdon's wreck had sunk, sliding down both sides of the reef.[32][43]

There were no deaths when the freighter sank. However, the wireless operator on Empire seriously injured his thigh when it became caught in the hoisting gear.[42] Only 50,000 to 60,000 bushels of her cargo was removed.[42][45] At over $1.5 million (equivalent to $18.1 million in 2021), she was the largest financial loss on the Great Lakes up to that point, as well as Lake Superior's first $1 million shipwreck.[21][42][44][46] As a result of the First World War, the price of wheat was $2.35 (equivalent to $28.00 in 2021) per bushel. Chester A. Congdon's cargo was valued at over $893,000 (equivalent to $10.8 million in 2021), her hull at $365,000 (equivalent to $4.41 million in 2021), and the disbursements at $369,400 (equivalent to $4.46 million in 2021).[41][42][44]

Chester A. Congdon, along with her sister ship D.R. Hanna (lost on Lake Huron in 1919), remained the largest shipwrecks on the Great Lakes until the loss of the self-unloading freighter Carl D. Bradley in 1958.[47][lower-alpha 3] Chester A. Congdon remained Lake Superior's largest shipwreck until the sinking of the freighter Edmund Fitzgerald in 1975.[47]