By Suzette Lopez
On March 18, 1896, the CITY OF BANGOR was launched at West Bay City, Mich., by F. W. Wheeler & Co. She slide down the ways on an almost even keel and struck the water lightly. Her swell broke the ice for a long distance in the river. Eddy Bros. & Shaw named her after the former home of several of her owners, Bangor, Maine. Bangor was honored. In the window of Caldwell Sweet’s drug store, located on the corner of Bangor Avenue and Washington Avenue in Bangor, Maine, photographs were proudly displayed along with a complete description of the new steel steamship.
The CITY OF BANGOR measured 372.5 feet in length and 44.8 feet in beam. On her maiden trip she loaded wheat in Duluth and sailed to Buffalo, averaging a speed of 15 miles per hour. In 1905, she was lengthened 72 feet to 444.5 and refit as an automobile carrier.
The most interesting photos of her are after she stranded on Keweenaw Point in Lake Superior during a severe storm on Tuesday, November 30, 1926, with a load of 240 brand new Chrysler cars. A ship loaded with cars rode high in the water, not like one full of iron ore or grain. The high winds sent the ship to shelter behind Keweenaw Point. The mountainous waves crashed icy water over the decks, her steering failed and she drove onto the rocks. .Eighteen autos that were spiked to her decks actually slipped overboard when she grounded on the rocks and by Friday they were frozen in ice at the shore.
The CITY OF BANGOR and her crew of 29 men were stranded on the desolate shore. Their ship was damaged from the grounding.
Luckily for them, the freighter THOMAS MAYTHAM and her crew of 24 became stranded near the same area 24 hours later. Two men from the MAYTHAM braved the high seas in a yawl and made it to shore where they borrowed a gasoline launch from a settler and got word to the Coast Guard Station at Eagle Harbor. The Coast Guard went to the rescue of the MAYTHAM taking her crew of 24 aboard the cutter, started out for Eagle Harbor and shortly discovered the CITY OF BANGOR. Her crew had abandoned their ship and swam or waded ashore. Many were suffering from frozen feet and hands. They were covered with a sheet of ice when found huddled on the beach.
The Coast Guard crew of 9 added the 29 men to the 24 crew of the MAYTHAM. All were taken to Copper Harbor. The MAYTHAM crew was then taken to Eagle Harbor. The cutter returned to Copper Harbor the next day to pick up the BANGOR crew and took them to Eagle Harbor to receive medical care and recover.
By December Lake Superior was frozen from the ship to the shore. This allowed the Chryslers to be taken off. In February a ramp was lowered and the cars backed or driven onto the ice and drove on an ice road to Copper Harbor. In March, the road was finally plowed and the cars were driven to Calumet, loaded on rail flatcars and returned to Detroit for reconditioning.
The CITY OF BANGOR was given up as a total loss in May of 1927. Her machinery was removed but she stayed about 200 feet off shore. An article in the Nor’easter in 2006 said she was being salvaged. The workers had hoped to recover 4,000 tons of metal by dynamiting the ship apart and using acetylene torches to cut her up.
Photo on top of page:
CITY OF BANGOR with load of automobiles
Other photos:
Photo Credit: Great Lakes Marine Collection of the Milwaukee Public Library and Wisconsin Marine Historical Society.
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Suzette Lopez is the Executive Director of the Wisconsin Marine Historical Society
