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« w SHIPS THAT NEVER DIE - No. 241 LA LACKAWANNA Superstitious sailors may well have steered clear of the former steamer LACKAWANNA. Pan, fears went unfounded for despite a disastrous first season she survived for 5 years. This ship was built as Hull 43 of the Great Lakes Engineering Works at Ecorse, Michi- gan. She was launched as the DANIEL B. MEACHAM of the Frontier Steamship Co. and was valued at $385,000. Her maiden voyage commenced July 25, 1908, when she cleared Ashtabula with coal for Superior. On July 28, however, she struck Passage Isle in Lake Superior and was badly punctured. The Canada Towing and Wrecking Co., salvaged the ship and she was repaired for about $40,000. She had not been back in service long when, on October 25, she went aground off the Keeweenaw Penninsula. Salvage operations succeeded on October 27 and repairs cost $85,000, Hardly a successful start! In 1916 this ship was renamed EDWIN E. SLICK and sailed for the Johnstown Steamship Co., until 1925 when that fleet formed part of the Bethlehem Transportation Co. They renamed her LACKAWANNA and this stuck through sales to Buckeye SS Co., in 1966 and Kinsman Marine Transit in 1969. The latter served as manager in 1968. This ship measured 552 x 56 x 31 and was registered at 6,971 gross tons and 5,482 net tons. A 2,000 horsepower triple expansion engine of 23-37-63 x 42 replaced a smaller model about 1945. LACKAWANNA was idle at Erie from 1961 to 1965. She sailed only briefly for Kinsman before laying up at South Chicago in 1969. She was purchased by Marine Salvage in 1970 and then resold to Canadian Dock and Dredge. She loaded stone at Port Colborne in June 1970 and was sunk with two other vessels as a breakwall of Nanticoke on Lake Erie until August 1973. After a brief respite at Toronto LACKAWANNA was towed to Spain for scrap. She cleared Quebec City on August 3, 1974, behind the Polish tug JANTAR and in tandem with the KINSMAN VENTURE. Her later years were, fortunately, unlike her first. The only accident of note in my records is a minor collision with the ROBERT HOBSON on the St. Mary's River in 1951. So much for superstition! Skip Gillham LACKAWANNA Editor's Photo