Lake Steamer Sinks Enroute to Winter Port

The steamer Lakeland bound from Kenosha to Detroit without cargo to lay up for the winter sank shortly before noon Wednesday six miles off Sturgeon Bay.

The crew of 30 including Capt John McNeely, Buffalo, and Engineer Clarence Dierson, was taken safely aboard the carferry Ann Arbor No. 6, and in the cutter of the Sturgeon Bay coast guard crew.

All Pumps are Started

The steamer sprung a bad leak off Manitowoc. As soon as Captain McNeely was aware that the vessel was taking water rapidly the steam pumps were stared and all the crew were put to work of the hand pumps.

The influx of the water gained, steadily, however and finally the ship was listing to starboard at a 45 degree angle. The SOS was sent out and picked up by the Ann Arbor 6, which was bound across from Michigan to Manitowoc. Capt. A.L. Larson put about his ship and headed for the rapidly sinking Lakeland. Meanwhile the wireless had picked up the shore station at Manitowoc and the Sturgeon Bay coast guard, the lookout of which had already perceived the ship’s distress. The coast guard ship reached the disabled vessel a short time before the carferry.

Stand by as ship sinks

Capt. Larson and the coast guard stood by after the crew was safely aboard their vessels and watched the Lakeland slowly sink. A half four after the last members of the crew was saved, the ship rolled over and disappeared beneath the waves.

The Lakeland was owned by the Thompson Transit Co, of Cleveland and had been an automobile carrier between Detroit, Cleveland, Milwaukee and Chicago for several years. This was to have been its last trip of the season.

The Lakeland was formerly known as the Cambrian and was built in 1887 for the Pittsburgh Steamship Co., the Marine Transportation division of the United States Steel Corporation.

The Lakeland was a steel hulled vessel, 280 feet long 40 feet beam and had a carrying capacity of 3,000 tons.

Holds fills Quickly

One of the members of the crew told the following story of the sinking:

We sprang a bad leak about 10 miles from Sturgeon Bay canal but nobody knew it until the ship began to list. Then we found the hold half full of water and we knew it was all up with the ship. We sent out distress signals and the Ann Arbor carferry, noticed our trouble and came alongside. The coast guard lookout at Sturgeon Bay reported trouble and the coast guard came out too. The steamer was pretty well down when we left her.

* last paragraph was illegible.