Sweetheart (Schooner), U22397, sunk, 1880

This morning another piece of the schooner SWEETHEART, which was sunk about a mile and a half above the mouth of the St. Clair River last fall, floated down the river.
      Port Huron Daily Times
      Thursday, April 14, 1881
     


      Dispatches received here yesterday announces the striking of the steam barge TECUMSEH, with the schooner G.C. FINNEY in tow, on the wreck of the schooner SWEETHEART, sunk near the mouth of the St. Clair River last fall. She was making about 3 inches per hour. Three Detroit river tugs tried to release her, but could not do so. The FINNEY went on under sail, being uninjured. Another attempt was to have been made yesterday afternoon to release her with pontoons and tugs.
      Buffalo Morning Express
      May 5, 1881 1-7




RAISING SUNKEN WRECKS. -- The treatment of sunken wrecks has been for some years a cause of dissatisfaction among vessel-owners and ship captains on the lakes. If the wreck lies in such a position that the risk and expense of raising it will probably be more than the value of the recovered craft, the owners or insurers leave it lie where it sank, to become an obstruction to navigation......
      What follows is illustrated by the case of the schooner SWEETHEART, which was sunk in Lake Huron, just above the head of the St. Clair River. Those interested in the schooner made no effort to raise her, the profitableness of the undertaking being doubtful. It was considered useless to make application to Government, as the aid given in previous cases was judged to be not properly appreciated by the beneficiaries. The wreck lay so nearly in the direct channel as to be a constant peril to navigation. Some persons who saw a means of doing a public service and getting paid for it purchased an old hull, moved it above the sunken schooner, and maintained a light upon it, levying to tribute on vessel-owners along the line of the lakes for the maintenance of this private lightship... ( part of article)
      Cleveland herald
      July 27, 1881
     
      . . . . .
     
The wreck of the schooner SWEETHEART has been raised and towed nearer the American side, and is no longer a hindrance to vessels passing on the lake.
      Port Huron Daily Times
      Friday, September 30, 1881
     
      . . . . .

A Port Huron dispatch to the Free Press says: The sunken schooner SWEETHEART was raised and towed into the river this evening by the Port Huron Wrecking Company, after some difficulty. It was first thought that there were but eighty tons of ore left in her, but it has been found that there is over 300, which accounts for the parting of the chains under her bottom on two different occasions. She is now in Sarnia Bay, but tomorrow she will be lifted again so that her decks will be out of water. Then she will be patched up, pumped out and placed on the dry-dock for repairs.
      Cleveland Herald
      Monday, October 3, 1881
     

Schooner SWEETHEART. U. S. No. 22397. Of 538.97 gross tons; 512.02 tons net. Built Detroit, Mich., 1867. Home port, St. Clair, Mich. 175.0 x 32.0 x 13.0.
      Merchant Vessel List, U. S., 1885