The Engineer’s Story
By James Donahue
When the tug Columbia arrived at East Tawas, Michigan, the evening of May 24, 1901, she carried two bedraggled and still dripping sailors, both wrapped in blankets and huddled in a warm cabin just over the engine room. They were second engineer Thomas Murphy and deckhand George McGinnis, the only survivors of the wrecked steamer Baltimore, which broke up on a shoal that morning off Au Sable during a Lake Huron gale.
The Columbia was searching for a tow barge that broke loose from the tug during the storm when it came upon Murphy and McGinnis lashed to a piece of floating wreckage. The men were brought to a private home in East Tawas where they were given warm, dry clothing and a meal. McGinnis appeared to be out of his head and Murphy was too exhausted at first to be questioned. Later, after he gained strength, authorities were anxious to talk to him. Everybody wanted to know what happened to the Baltimore and her crew of thirteen other sailors.
When he told his story, Murphy said the Baltimore, with Capt. M. H. Place at the helm, was bound from Lorain, Ohio, to Washburn, Wisconsin with a load of coal. “We had in tow a large steam drill and scow. When off Thunder Bay last night, Captain Place saw that the steamer was making bad weather, for the waves had smashed in the engineer’s quarters and the washrooms (on the starboard side at the stern), and water was running into the hold.” The gale was blowing out of the northeast.
Place saw his boat was taking too much of a beating on the course it was taking, so he steered southwest for Tawas, putting the wind at his stern and hoping to duck on the lee side of Tawas Point. But Place lost his bearings in the storm and darkness of the night, and ran the vessel on a reef about a mile off Au Sable. Murphy said the ship immediately began to break up. “The seas broke over her and carried away the deckhouse, then the after cabin and finally the smokestack fell. Both rails were broken in two just aft of the forward deckhouse, and we knew it was only a few minutes before the steamer went to pieces.
Place yelled “It is every man for himself now.” Murphy said he saw the captain’s wife, who was aboard as the boat’s stewardess, standing next to Place. “The look of despair on her face was something I will never forget. It was awful. We took the captain’s advice and every man started to save himself as best he could. Some of the boys took to the rigging, but McGinnis and I lashed ourselves to a ringbolt in a piece of the after cabin, and we were washed overboard shortly afterward. The strain was too much for McGinnis, and he went crazy before we had been in the water very long. He tried to throw me off the wreckage, but I talked to him and encouraged him to hold on. Twice he got loose and tried to drown us both, but each time I succeeded in quieting him. I told him a boat was coming to take us off, and then I would get him tied fast again.”
The men struggled in this way for six long hours, battling the elements and each other to stay alive until help came.”Our wreckage was big enough to make a raft, but it was small and the seas swept it constantly. The passenger steamer City of Holland passed by us, but we were too far away for her crew to see us. It made me feel pretty despondent for a time, fir I was getting very weak and the seas broke over my head so as to drive the breath out of my body at times.” About 2:00 PM, at about the time Murphy had given up hope of being rescued, the Columbia came steaming up.
Also lost in the wreck were first mate Michael Breathen, Capt. Louis Laffriner, an old shipbuilder who was aboard to make some internal renovations; John Delders, second steward; wheelmen Edward Owen and C. W. Sears; watchmen George W. Scott and Herbert inning; engineer Peter Marcoux and fireman August Anderson.
The Baltimore was a new command for Place. He had been master of the Germanic for several years and after buying an interest in the Baltimore, was taking the boat out for one of the first trips of the season when it wrecked. He brought his wife along as a member of his crew. The vessel was originally named the Escanaba when built in 1881. It was two hundred one feet long and carried about two thousand tons of freight. The hull was wood.
By James Donahue
When the tug Columbia arrived at East Tawas, Michigan, the evening of May 24, 1901, she carried two bedraggled and still dripping sailors, both wrapped in blankets and huddled in a warm cabin just over the engine room. They were second engineer Thomas Murphy and deckhand George McGinnis, the only survivors of the wrecked steamer Baltimore, which broke up on a shoal that morning off Au Sable during a Lake Huron gale.
The Columbia was searching for a tow barge that broke loose from the tug during the storm when it came upon Murphy and McGinnis lashed to a piece of floating wreckage. The men were brought to a private home in East Tawas where they were given warm, dry clothing and a meal. McGinnis appeared to be out of his head and Murphy was too exhausted at first to be questioned. Later, after he gained strength, authorities were anxious to talk to him. Everybody wanted to know what happened to the Baltimore and her crew of thirteen other sailors.
When he told his story, Murphy said the Baltimore, with Capt. M. H. Place at the helm, was bound from Lorain, Ohio, to Washburn, Wisconsin with a load of coal. “We had in tow a large steam drill and scow. When off Thunder Bay last night, Captain Place saw that the steamer was making bad weather, for the waves had smashed in the engineer’s quarters and the washrooms (on the starboard side at the stern), and water was running into the hold.” The gale was blowing out of the northeast.
Place saw his boat was taking too much of a beating on the course it was taking, so he steered southwest for Tawas, putting the wind at his stern and hoping to duck on the lee side of Tawas Point. But Place lost his bearings in the storm and darkness of the night, and ran the vessel on a reef about a mile off Au Sable. Murphy said the ship immediately began to break up. “The seas broke over her and carried away the deckhouse, then the after cabin and finally the smokestack fell. Both rails were broken in two just aft of the forward deckhouse, and we knew it was only a few minutes before the steamer went to pieces.
Place yelled “It is every man for himself now.” Murphy said he saw the captain’s wife, who was aboard as the boat’s stewardess, standing next to Place. “The look of despair on her face was something I will never forget. It was awful. We took the captain’s advice and every man started to save himself as best he could. Some of the boys took to the rigging, but McGinnis and I lashed ourselves to a ringbolt in a piece of the after cabin, and we were washed overboard shortly afterward. The strain was too much for McGinnis, and he went crazy before we had been in the water very long. He tried to throw me off the wreckage, but I talked to him and encouraged him to hold on. Twice he got loose and tried to drown us both, but each time I succeeded in quieting him. I told him a boat was coming to take us off, and then I would get him tied fast again.”
The men struggled in this way for six long hours, battling the elements and each other to stay alive until help came.”Our wreckage was big enough to make a raft, but it was small and the seas swept it constantly. The passenger steamer City of Holland passed by us, but we were too far away for her crew to see us. It made me feel pretty despondent for a time, fir I was getting very weak and the seas broke over my head so as to drive the breath out of my body at times.” About 2:00 PM, at about the time Murphy had given up hope of being rescued, the Columbia came steaming up.
Also lost in the wreck were first mate Michael Breathen, Capt. Louis Laffriner, an old shipbuilder who was aboard to make some internal renovations; John Delders, second steward; wheelmen Edward Owen and C. W. Sears; watchmen George W. Scott and Herbert inning; engineer Peter Marcoux and fireman August Anderson.
The Baltimore was a new command for Place. He had been master of the Germanic for several years and after buying an interest in the Baltimore, was taking the boat out for one of the first trips of the season when it wrecked. He brought his wife along as a member of his crew. The vessel was originally named the Escanaba when built in 1881. It was two hundred one feet long and carried about two thousand tons of freight. The hull was wood.