Maritime History of the Great Lakes

Scanner, v. 22, no. 6 (March 1990), p. 12

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THE WRECK OF THE ALTADOC 10. Featured as our Ship of the Month No. 177 in the issue of November, 1 9 8 9 , was the Paterson upper lake steamer ALTADOC (I), (a) LAKE SHORE (1 3 ), (b) INDUS (26), which stranded to a total loss on the Keweenaw Peninsula on Thursday, December 8 , 1927. The ship hit the shore only a few hundred feet from the wreck of the Nicholson Universal Steamship Company's automobile car rier CITY OF BANGOR (Ship of the Month No. 1 7 8 , December, 19 8 9 ), which had gone ashore on November 3 0 , 1 9 2 6 . One of the most rewarding aspects of compiling features for "Scanner" is the fact that their appearance quite frequently leads to the discovery of addi tional information which previously was unknown. While it would have been helpful to have had available that material for inclusion in the original feature, the fact remains that one cannot know of the existence of hidden material. That the appearance of an item in "Scanner" ferrets out such de tails, however, is a great joy to u s , and we always take great pains to use the new-found information in a follow-up article as soon as possible. Not long after our ALTADOC feature appeared in "Scanner", Capt. John Leonard, quite by coincidence, ran across a gentleman by the name of Orval Gonyou, who resides in the Welland area. As it turns out, Mr. Gonyou was one of the survivors of the wreck of the ALTADOC, and probably is the last living mem ber of the steamer's crew (although that is supposition on our part). Gonyou, who was only sixteen at the time of the accident, was an oiler in ALTADOC, and he kept a scrapbook of clippings concerning the wreck. We had never be fore seen most of them and, as John Leonard managed to secure for us the loan of the book, we take pleasure in presenting herewith some excerpts from the various accounts of the stranding. Also contained in the book was a fas cinating photograph of the A L T A DOC's engine crew posed in the steamer's en gineroom. That such a photo ever was taken, much less preserved, is nothing short of a miracle. Many of the clippings are undated, and do not show from which paper they were taken, but one obviously came from "The Toronto Daily Star", and it reads, in part, as follows: "'All Safe!' "His voice vibrant with thankfulness and good cheer, Captain Richard D. Simp son, master of the wrecked steamer ALTADOC, which piled up on the rocky shore of Keweenaw Point in a blinding blizzard Thursday morning, sent this message over the long distance telephone to The Star on Sunday (December 11th). "'It was a pretty rough experience,' the captain admitted, 'but you soon get used to that when you sail the lakes this time of year. Just the same, I'm glad the Eagle Harbor (lifesaving) crew showed up when they did. Captain Gla za and his crew of nine coast guardsmen deserve all sorts of credit for their plucky work in getting us off. I want to publicly express my appreciation to them. They braved zero temperatures, high seas, drifting snow and fast-form ing ice. Their courage was not daunted by failing once. They tried again and yet again and in the end, thank God, they won out.'" Of his own crew, Capt. Simpson stated that '"They were wonderful... Few lake crews have been faced with such hardships. But they did not complain. They made the best of it. And right here, I want to speak a word of praise for the four members of my crew who made their way ashore to get help. I am re ferring to Roy Hardman (second engineer), John Keast (deckhand), Roy Burke (fireman) and Walter Lacroix (wheelsman). It was a splendid deed of bravery those men did. How they made their way through the snow drifts and blizzard I don't know. But they did... and now here we are, high and dry and safe. The report also quoted Capt. Simpson on the condition of his crew. Fine n ow . .. The four men who went ashore were buffeted about some and several members of the crew received minor injuries, but on the whole everybody is in remarkably good condition. The agent from Duluth will meet us at Calumet and we shall be going home as soon after that as possible.'" "The Star talked to Roy Hardman on the telephone. He was with the rest of

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