Wreck of the Goodyear
By James Donahue
The ore carrier Frank H. Goodyear was the flagship of the Buffalo Steamship Company fleet. Named for the man who developed the famous Pullman railroad car, the Goodyear was distinguished by an ornate Pullman car attached to her deck. That railroad car, complete with a grand piano and fine furnishings, went to the bottom of Lake Huron with the Goodyear and seventeen terrified crew members after a collision with the freighter James B. Wood in thick fog off Point aux Barques.
The date was May 23, 1910. The Goodyear’s holds were stuffed with iron ore and the boat was steaming toward its home port of Cleveland. It was about time for a change in the morning watch, so the cooks, Frank H. Bassett and his wife, Lillian, of Algonac, Michigan, were busy preparing a hearty breakfast for the crew. Their three-year-old son, John, was with them in the mess hall nearby. The Bassetts sounded the call to breakfast at 5:45 AM and many of the sailors were already gathered in the mess when they heard a ship’s whistle very close by. Almost immediately there was the sound of metal slamming into metal and the four hundred sixteen-foot-long freighter lurched so violently that many of the men were knocked off their feet. The Wood’s bow had slammed into the port bow of the Goodyear.
The first response by the crew was the wrong one. Everybody ran out on deck to see what happened. Nobody realized how little time they had to save themselves. The Goodyear was virtually sliced in two and was already starting its fall to the bottom even as the crew stood gawking at the steamer Wood’s crushed bow looming overhead. Bassett, perhaps prompted by the fact that he had his family on board, took immediate steps to save his wife and son. He put life preservers on them. As he was doing this, Basset said there was a jerk under his feet and something struck him in the back of the head, knocking him unconscious. He miraculously came to floating in the water and in the end was one of only five survivors.
Another survivor was Frank’s mother, Emma Bassett, the boat’s porter. She said she was scrubbing the cabin floors when she heard the whistles of both boats sounding. “The fact that we were so close attracted my attention and I went on deck. A moment later the crash came and I grabbed one of the life preservers.” Mrs. Bassett said she slung the preserver crudely over one arm and jumped over the rail into the water. She want under for what seemed a long time, then came back to the surface only to sink again. Finally she said she came to the top and managed to hang onto some floating debris until the yawl boat from the Wood arrived and sailors pulled her into it. “It was awful. While I was probably in the water for but a few minutes, it seemed like hours,” she said.
A member of the Wood’s crew said he watched the sinking from the deck of his boat. It was a scene he probably carried to his grave. “Standing amidships on the Goodyear were the entire crew, all huddled together, and I could see first one and then another jump overboard. But suddenly the Goodyear made a lurch to one side and went down out of sight, leaving a big hole in the water. The suction carried the crew down with it. The next I saw was a woman come to the top with a child in her arms. One of the hatches then bubbled up and struck her. I was forced to turn my head from the sickening sight,” the man said. The woman and child, undoubtedly Lillian and John Bassett, were killed by the crushing blow of the big wooden hatch cover as it came up from under them. Another witness said the air pressure from the inrushing water blew some of the hatch covers high in the air moments before the Goodyear sank. They believed other crew members may have been killed as the covers fell back into the water on top of them.
The other survivors included fireman Frank Mollick of Chicago and engineer George Grant of Carsonville, Michigan, who both ran from the engine room after the crash and jumped overboard. Capt. F. R. Hemenger of Algonac also survived. He declined comment about the wreck and about his personal experience.
Captain Gibson, master of the Wood, said he was too upset to talk about the accident. He ordered lifeboats lowered, and his crew spent seven hours searching the area for survivors before the Wood returned to Port Huron. The steamer William Siemens, Capt. William McElroy, arrived on the scene shortly after the accident and stood by for several hours. McElroy said he heard the whistles of the two boats and then the crash from about a mile away. The Goodyear was found in 2003 in over two hundred feet of water about thirty-five miles off the tip of Michigan’s Thumb District.
By James Donahue
The ore carrier Frank H. Goodyear was the flagship of the Buffalo Steamship Company fleet. Named for the man who developed the famous Pullman railroad car, the Goodyear was distinguished by an ornate Pullman car attached to her deck. That railroad car, complete with a grand piano and fine furnishings, went to the bottom of Lake Huron with the Goodyear and seventeen terrified crew members after a collision with the freighter James B. Wood in thick fog off Point aux Barques.
The date was May 23, 1910. The Goodyear’s holds were stuffed with iron ore and the boat was steaming toward its home port of Cleveland. It was about time for a change in the morning watch, so the cooks, Frank H. Bassett and his wife, Lillian, of Algonac, Michigan, were busy preparing a hearty breakfast for the crew. Their three-year-old son, John, was with them in the mess hall nearby. The Bassetts sounded the call to breakfast at 5:45 AM and many of the sailors were already gathered in the mess when they heard a ship’s whistle very close by. Almost immediately there was the sound of metal slamming into metal and the four hundred sixteen-foot-long freighter lurched so violently that many of the men were knocked off their feet. The Wood’s bow had slammed into the port bow of the Goodyear.
The first response by the crew was the wrong one. Everybody ran out on deck to see what happened. Nobody realized how little time they had to save themselves. The Goodyear was virtually sliced in two and was already starting its fall to the bottom even as the crew stood gawking at the steamer Wood’s crushed bow looming overhead. Bassett, perhaps prompted by the fact that he had his family on board, took immediate steps to save his wife and son. He put life preservers on them. As he was doing this, Basset said there was a jerk under his feet and something struck him in the back of the head, knocking him unconscious. He miraculously came to floating in the water and in the end was one of only five survivors.
Another survivor was Frank’s mother, Emma Bassett, the boat’s porter. She said she was scrubbing the cabin floors when she heard the whistles of both boats sounding. “The fact that we were so close attracted my attention and I went on deck. A moment later the crash came and I grabbed one of the life preservers.” Mrs. Bassett said she slung the preserver crudely over one arm and jumped over the rail into the water. She want under for what seemed a long time, then came back to the surface only to sink again. Finally she said she came to the top and managed to hang onto some floating debris until the yawl boat from the Wood arrived and sailors pulled her into it. “It was awful. While I was probably in the water for but a few minutes, it seemed like hours,” she said.
A member of the Wood’s crew said he watched the sinking from the deck of his boat. It was a scene he probably carried to his grave. “Standing amidships on the Goodyear were the entire crew, all huddled together, and I could see first one and then another jump overboard. But suddenly the Goodyear made a lurch to one side and went down out of sight, leaving a big hole in the water. The suction carried the crew down with it. The next I saw was a woman come to the top with a child in her arms. One of the hatches then bubbled up and struck her. I was forced to turn my head from the sickening sight,” the man said. The woman and child, undoubtedly Lillian and John Bassett, were killed by the crushing blow of the big wooden hatch cover as it came up from under them. Another witness said the air pressure from the inrushing water blew some of the hatch covers high in the air moments before the Goodyear sank. They believed other crew members may have been killed as the covers fell back into the water on top of them.
The other survivors included fireman Frank Mollick of Chicago and engineer George Grant of Carsonville, Michigan, who both ran from the engine room after the crash and jumped overboard. Capt. F. R. Hemenger of Algonac also survived. He declined comment about the wreck and about his personal experience.
Captain Gibson, master of the Wood, said he was too upset to talk about the accident. He ordered lifeboats lowered, and his crew spent seven hours searching the area for survivors before the Wood returned to Port Huron. The steamer William Siemens, Capt. William McElroy, arrived on the scene shortly after the accident and stood by for several hours. McElroy said he heard the whistles of the two boats and then the crash from about a mile away. The Goodyear was found in 2003 in over two hundred feet of water about thirty-five miles off the tip of Michigan’s Thumb District.