Maritime History of the Great Lakes

Scanner, v. 32, no. 2 (November 1999), p. 8

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Ship of the Month - cont'd. 8. As a result of her position in deep water, no effort ever was made to sal­ vage THEANO, and she remains in her watery grave to this day. * * * The steel-hulled bulk carrier LEAFIELD (Br. 97990) was built in 1892 at Sun­ derland, England, as Hull 89 of the Strand Slipway Company. She was built to the order of S. S. Leafield Company Ltd., and she was registered at Newcastle for her entire life. She was named for the Oxfordshire home village of her owners. LEAFIELD was 249. 0 feet in length (b. p. ), 35. 3 feet in the beam, and 16. 6 feet in depth, her tonnage being calculated as 1454 Gross and 1176 Net. Her cargo capacity was 2, 000 tons. She was powered by a triple expansion steam engine, which was built by the North Eastern Marine Engineering Company at Sunderland, although we cannot find a record of the date of the engine's construction. It had cylinders of 19, 31 and 51 inches bore, with a 33-inch stroke. She had one Scotch boiler, and although we do not know its dimensions, its age or its builder, we do know that it had 58 square feet of grate surface and 2, 180 square feet of heating surface, and generated steam at 160 pounds per square inch. LEAFIELD was more successful in lake trade than either MONKSHAVEN or THEANO, and she lasted substantially longer, although eventually she also came to a violent end. A premonition of her eventual demise came in the form of an ac­ cident which LEAFIELD suffered on Saturday, August 17th, 1912, when she went aground on Beausoleil Island in Georgian Bay. She was salvaged, repaired and returned to service, although she had suffered some $15, 000 in bottom damage in the incident, a not insubstantial sum in those days. But worse was yet to come for LEAFIELD. MONKSHAVEN had fallen victim to "The 1905 Blow", the second-worst series of storms in Great Lakes history, but LEAFIELD was to succumb to the lakes' worst-ever disaster, the series of cy­ clonic disturbances which together formed what we ever since have referred to as "The Great Storm of 1913". No other storm or series of storms ever caused the total loss of so many major lake vessels, or the complete disap­ pearance with all hands of so many staunch steamers. Sixty-six years later, some of the wrecks have never yet been found. The first storm warnings were hoisted at Duluth during the morning of Fri­ day, November 7th, 1913, and the first part of the storm struck there at the supper hour that day. Gale conditions lasted until Sunday, November 9th, and then abated briefly but soon struck again with even more force. Although Lake Superior bore the first of the storm's effects, Lakes Michigan and Hu­ ron soon felt the fury of the elements, and the worst loss of ships and human lives was to occur on Lake Huron. Appointed as LEAFIELD's officers for the 1913 season had been Captain A. Mc­ Intyre and Chief Engineer L. B. Cronk, but by November, Captain Baker had taken command of the ship. He might well have wished to have been elsewhere. With a crew of 18, LEAFIELD cleared Sault Ste. Marie at 8: 30 a. m. on November 7th, 1913, bound for Fort William with a cargo of steel rails and assorted track fastenings which had been produced by Algoma Steel and were being shipped to the Canadian Pacific Railway. LEAFIELD was a staunch little ship, and despite her heavy lading, she slowly fought her way up Lake Superior, sailing into the teeth of the gale. By November 9th, she finally was nearing her destination, had passed Isle Royale, and was about to enter Thunder Bay, where she would have found shelter. The last persons ever to see the LEAFIELD were the crew of the Northern Na­ vigation (Canada Steamship Lines) passenger and freight steamer HAMONIC, which passed the LEAFIELD just off Angus Island. HAMONIC's master, Captain Baird, and his first officer, both reported seeing LEAFIELD through a momen­ tary lull in the blizzard, and said that she seemed to crest a huge wave and then disappear from sight. It was at first thought at the Lakehead that LEA-

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