On this day September 12, 1900, the Canadian canal schooner ALBACORE stranded east of the Kingston life-saving station near Oswego, New York, after being caught in a gale that ripped her sails away before the crew could reef them. This gale was a product of the Galveston hurricane, a category 4 that came ashore on September 9th with winds of 145 mph and took the lives of at least 8,000 people, most from the Galveston, Texas, area.
Photo at top of page: The ALBACORE on the beach, September 1900
The ALBACORE drifted helplessly without any sails and was pounding on the gravel bottom. The tug NAVAGH tried to help but she couldn’t hold on to her. The schooner’s crew of seven were rescued by the life-saving crew and the ALBACORE was left on the beach, all were sure she would soon be released.
Within a week or two her owner Capt. Charles Redfern sold the ALBACORE to the South Shore wrecking company stating she would stay on the beach until spring. An early November storm sealed her fate and she became a total loss.
The ALBACORE was a two-masted canal schooner built in 1872 at Port Dalhousie, Ontario, by A. Muir. She measured 136.5 feet in length, 26.3 feet in beam and 11.4 feet in draft.
The A. Muir and Company was the Muir Brothers of Port Dalhousie and were led by Alexander the oldest of seven brothers, all at least six feet in height. His brothers William, Bryce, David, Archibald and Samuel would all be part of the business including commanding the vessels they built. C. H. J. Snider author of the Schooner Days series in the Toronto Telegram devoted several articles about the brothers. All the vessels they built had names beginning with “A” except for the NIAGARA (which they thought would be sold in England but the English did not like the fact that she had a centerboard), the GROTON and the MARGARET A. MUIR. In some cases Sam Perry would be listed as the builder. He was the boss of the Muir Brothers shipyard crew.
Suzette Lopez
PHOTO CREDIT: Great Lakes Marine Collection of the Milwaukee Public Library and Wisconsin Marine Historical Society.
