On this day, August 27, 1908, the tow barge S. C. BALDWIN foundered off Twin River Point, Wisconsin.  There were three on board at the time and one was lost.

            The propeller S. C. BALDWIN was built in 1871 at Detroit by Campbell & Owen for the Escanaba & Lake Michigan Transportation Co. of St. Clair, Mich., and measured 160 feet in length, 30 feet in beam and 11.6 feet in depth.  She was reported to be the first double-decked steamer on the lakes.  She cost about $45,000 and was named after one of the officers of the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad.  Her captain was Hugh McGraw and her engineer James Howard. 

            She was launched in March of 1871 and set to carry iron ore between Escanaba, Milwaukee and Chicago.  Just a few months on the job in July she sprung a leak between Sheboygan and Chicago and threw overboard 75 tons of pig iron.

            The BALDWIN had a pretty long career.  In 1881 she was rebuilt to a single deck and rebuilt again in 1884.  Her later years were in the coal and lumber trade.

            On November 20, 1903, bound from Green Bay to Buffalo, she was trying to force her way through ice.  The ice won and cut her bottom.  She sank in about eight fathoms of water about 7 miles northeast of Long Tail Point.  The Goodrich GEORGIA rescued her crew. The load of lumber kept her afloat for a time, but the stern went down and the bow went up out of the water.  She stayed there for the winter but was raised and repaired at Sturgeon Bay by July of the next year and converted into a tow barge.

            The end came for the barge BALDWIN on August 27, 1908.  Bound from Sturgeon Bay with stone in tow of the tug JOHN TORRENT, she turned turtle in heavy seas off Twin River Point about 3 am.  It was not noticed by the TORRENT until daybreak.  She had a crew of three.   Capt. George Heim, of Sturgeon Bay, was picked up that afternoon off Kewaunee by the Goodrich steamer CAROLINE. Life preservers kept him afloat. Another member of the crew was clinging to the overturned boat. Tugs searched for the third crew member for hours, without success. 

Suzette Lopez

Photo Credit:  Great Lakes Marine Collection of the Milwaukee Public Library and Wisconsin Marine Historical Society.