Maritime History of the Great Lakes

Scanner, v. 34, no. 8 (May 2002), p. 10

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Ship of the Month - cont'd. 10. dertakings, as a going concern, to a new firm to be called Canada Transpor­ tation Lines Limited, of Montreal. During the autumn of that same year, the name of the new concern was changed to Canada Steamship Lines Limited, re­ portedly out of deference to the wishes of the British (read Furness, Withy) investors. Thus HAMONIC became part of the largest Canadian fleet ever to sail the Great Lakes. The Northern Navigation Company Limited, however, was for many years to remain a separate corporate entity, although wholly owned by C. S. L. The N. N. Co. ships retained the old Beatty Line stack colours and, by 1921, those colours had been adopted for use on all C. S. L. vessels. Not all of the news of 1913 was "good", however, and during the second week of November, the Great Lakes were swept by a series of unbelievably severe storms which together have become known as The Great Storm of 1913. That ca­ tastrophic event took more lives and caused the total loss of more ships than any other meteorological event our lakes ever have witnessed. 235 sai­ lors died and ten big, steel freighters were sunk, the wrecks of four of which never have been found (with any certainty) to this day. HAMONIC was caught out on Lake Superior in the storms, and it was only with great diffi­ culty that she eventually was brought into the safety of Port Arthur. She suffered considerable damage from the huge seas and most of the glass in the pilothouse windows was broken. Captain Foote reportedly stayed in the pilot­ house continuously for four days, and those passengers who were aboard for that late-season trip presented him with a silver tea service in apprecia­ tion of his efforts. On a sadder note, however, HAMONIC was the last ship to see the Algoma Central steamer LEAFIELD before the latter disappeared with all hands in the vicious storm not far from her intended destination of Fort William. Some sources have indicated that HAMONIC was driven aground in the storm, or even that she was grounded intentionally in Whitefish Bay to protect her from further damage, but we have been unable to find any substantiation for either of these allegations. We believe that those reports arose out of con­ fusion of HAMONIC with her fleetmate HURONIC, which also was caught out in the storm on Lake Superior. We quote from the January 1914 issue of "Cana­ dian Railway and Marine World": "The Northern Navigation Co.'s s. s. HURONIC, which grounded at Whitefish Point during the storm of November 9, will be drydocked at Port Huron during the winter, when she will be thoroughly exa­ mined for any possible damage she may have sustained. It is stated that bilge keels will be placed on her in order to prevent her rolling in heavy weather, and that she will receive other improvements. " In addition, "The Port Huron Times-Herald" of November 11, 1913, confirmed that it was HURONIC that was hard aground at Whitefish Point, but that she was in no immediate danger and that tugs had been sent to her assistance. With the entry into regular service of NORONIC in 1914 (she had made one trip down to Sarnia late in 1913, after The Great Storm had abated), Capt. Foote was moved over to the new boat and Capt. A. L. Campbell, formerly of HURONIC, moved up to take command of HAMONIC. James Wilson remained as HA MONIC's chief engineer. Also, with the advent of NORONIC, the venerable SARONIC was taken off the Sarnia - Lakehead service and reassigned to other duties. It was in 1914 that HAMONIC carried one of her most famous passengers. In June of 1914, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of the Sherlock Holmes mystery novels, undertook a lecture tour of Canada, travelling mostly on the trains of the Grand Trunk. On Friday, June 5th, he boarded HAMONIC at Sarnia, voyaging up the lakes in her and disembarking at Port Arthur on Sunday, the 7th. Captain Campbell remained as HAMONIC's master in 1915, but John Smith moved over from HURONIC to take care of HAMONIC's engineroom that year. The 1915 Dominion List still showed HAMONIC as owned by Northern Navigation, but by 1918 her ownership had been transferred to C. S. L. The N. N. Co. continued as the operating entity until about 1925, when the Northern Navigation Division

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