On this day July 3, 1918, the AGNES W. went ashore on Drummond Island about ten miles east of Detour with a cargo of grain. Thick fog and smoke from fires on Drummond Island were the cause. She was reported to be full of water and later pounded to pieces. Her crew was safe.
Built for the Milwaukee Steamship Company, she was launched as the steamer ROSWELL P. FLOWER on January 22, 1887, at Milwaukee’s Wolf & Davidson’s shipyard. At the time she was the largest boat ever built on Lake Michigan, measuring 280 feet in length and 38 feet in beam. Her capacity was 80,000 bushels of grain or 2,400 tons of iron ore.
Photo at top of page: The Steamer AGNES W.
The steamer ROSWELL P. FLOWER
She was named after Roswell Pettibone Flower of the banking house of R. P. Flower & Co., who was appointed Minister to France in 1881, elected to the 51st and 52nd United States Congresses 1889 -1891 and would go on to serve as the 30th Governor of New York from 1892 to 1894 during which time he signed into law the creation of the City of Niagara Falls.
Her launch was a big event drawing over 300 spectators in the rain. The Milwaukee Sentinel captured it in their article of January 23rd:
“At precisely 4 o’clock yesterday afternoon the new steamship ROSWELL P. FLOWER was launched at Wolf & Davidson’s shipyard. Mr. Wolf stood at her stern and Mr. Davidson at the bow, each giving a signal simultaneously that she was starting. She slid gracefully off the ways into the water, amide the tooting of half a dozen whistles. All agreed that it was a most pretty launch. Despite the disagreeable weather fully 300 people, including a large number of vessel captains and business men, witnessed the launch from beneath their umbrellas. As the FLOWER recovered herself she sat gracefully on the water, drawing about eight feet aft and five feet forward.
“As has already been stated in The Sentinel, the FLOWER is the largest vessel ever built on Lake Michigan. It is expected she will carry 2,000 tons of coal or ore. She was commenced last spring and during the summer was sold for a consideration of about $118,000 to a stock company including Roswell P. Flower, of New York, after whom she is named, John S. George, Thomas Shea, C. H. Haskins, Henry C. Payne, Roswell Miller, Charles J. Cary, Phillip Ranney, David Vance and Frank Vance, of Milwaukee. She will be under the management of David and Frank Vance, and will be fitted out as a grain, ore and coal carrier. Work will be pushed on her as rapidly as possible to have her ready at the opening of navigation.
“Her length of keep is 264 feet; length over all, 280 feet; beam 38 feet; lower hold 11 feet deep; upper hold 8 feet. She is steel-strapped throughout, and to give her additional strength has a steel arch 20 inches wide and three-fourths of an inch thick, extending from stem to stern. Her upper works include a pilot-house and texas forward, a deck-house amidships and a commodious cabin aft. All of the quarters will be well arranged. The captain will have a parlor, bed-room and bath-room adjoining. She will have four masts. Her engine is a fore and aft compound built in Detroit, the high pressure cylinder being 30 inches bore and 45 inches stroke, and the low pressure cylinder 54 inches bore and 45 inches stroke. She is to have two boilers 9 feet in diameter and 16 feet long, of nine-sixteenths inch steel. She will have a steam steering apparatus, a steam windlass and capstan forward and a steam capstan aft.”
The trial trip of the FLOWER was also a big social event in Milwaukee. On April 13th nearly 100 invited guests enjoyed a 25 mile ride about the lake with many spectators on land enjoying the view as well.
The AGNES W. with the tug RACINE
In 1915, the FLOWER became the AGNES W. being renamed after the daughter of A. C. Wanvig the managing owner of the Milwaukee Steamship Co.
Suzette Lopez
PHOTO CREDIT: Great Lakes Marine Collection of the Milwaukee Public Library and Wisconsin Marine Historical Society.
