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Sixty Years Ago May, 1906, was a good month for launchings. Here are some you could have attended: freighter HENRY B. SMITH at American Ship Building, Lorain, May 2; car ferry ASHTABULA, Great Lakes Engineering, St. Clair, May 12; package freighter RUTLAND, Am- erican Ship, Cleveland, same day; passenger ferry BRITANNIA, American Ship, Wyandotte, May 153 freighter SIR THOMAS SHAUGHNESSY, American Ship, Wyandotte, May 19; freighter E.J.EARLING, American Ship, We Superior, same day; sandsucker JOHN M. MCKERCHEY, Great Lakes Engineering, Ecorse, also same day; freighter CHARLES WESTON, American Ship, W. Bay City, May 26, and freighter MICHIGAN, Great Lakes Engineering, Ecorse on same daye These nine vessels made a lot of history in the last 60 years. HENRY B. SMITH, lost Lake Superior with all hands, (25) in the Great Storm of November, 1913. ASHTABULA was sunk in collision with BEN MOREELL, Ashtabula Harbor, or Sept. 18, 1958. RUTLAND went to the Pacific, 191 became ADMIRAL CLARKE. BRITANNIA cut down to tug in World War Il, finally scrapped, Superior, several years ago. JOHN M. _MCKERCHEY foundered off Lor- ain, October, 1950, with loss of one life. CHARLES WESTON became J. LEONARD REPLOGLE, finally SAUCON. Part of World War IT trade-in fleet, she was scrapped, Hamilton, I950. Three of the nine are still th uss SONEeet a +R STR SHHOMES SHAUGHNE: elr ee names and Ee Je EAR: whic ecal Be eerie and now PETER ROB- ERTSONe The steamer MIDLAND QUEEN had quite a May for herself. Early in the month she collided with the WILLIAM G. MATHER at Am- herstburg. She went to Wyandotte for repairs. She then went to the Canadian Lakehead for a load of wheat for Kingston. On her downbound trip she missed the harbor entrance at Port Col- bourne and went ashore east of the breakwater. She had to be lightered of 10,000 bushels of grain before she could be freed. MIDLAND QUEEN ran into a lit- tle further bad luck in 1915 en SNe ae age ee eee eee tion in the North Atlantic. Another interesting accident of May, 1906, involved four Pitts- burgh vessels. "The steamer HOWARD L. SHAW, bound up light with the whaleback BARGE 113 in tow, and the steamer CORALIA, downbound with ore towing the barge MAIA, were in collision at Round Island, above the Sault... A singular feature of the acci- dent was that the deck of the SHAW was swept by the towline of the barge MAIA and her smoke- stack and spars were knocked down. It is a wonder that the pilothouse and everything above deck was not wrecked." Next time you spot HOWARD L. SHAW, realize that you are viewing history. "The sidewheel steamer HURON will be operated between Cleve- land and Green Bay by the Star- Cole Line. The first trip will be made June 25 and the steamer will stop at Toledo, Detroit, Port Huron, Goderich, Kincardine and the Sault." The HURON was the old DARIUS COLE. What a way to go _ to Green Bay! 5 Dave Glick dug up these items out of the Marine Review of May, 1906, and added his own comments (underlined) to up- date us. Nine launchings in one month! We'd be fortunate now to have nine launchings from U. S. lakes shipyards in an entire year-or nine years!