SS ''James Carruthers'' was a Canadian

Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes spanning the Canada–United States border. The five lakes are Lake Superior, Superior, Lake Michigan, Michigan, Lake Huron, H ...

freighter built in 1913. The ship was owned by the St. Lawrence & Chicago Steam and Navigation Company of

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

, Ontario, with the official registry number 131090. The ''James Carruthers'' was lost 9 November 1913 on

Lake Huron Lake Huron ( ) is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is shared on the north and east by the Canadian province of Ontario and on the south and west by the U.S. state of Michigan. The name of the lake is derived from early French ex ...

during the

Great Lakes Storm of 1913 The Great Lakes Storm of 1913, historically referred to as the Big Blow, the Freshwater Fury and the White Hurricane, was a blizzard with hurricane-force winds that devastated the Great Lakes Basin in the Midwestern United States and Southwest ...

. The crew of 22 perished with the vessel. How she sank remains unknown along with the location of the wreck.

Construction

The ''James Carruthers'' was built at

Collingwood, Ontario Collingwood is a town in Simcoe County, Ontario, Canada. It is situated on Nottawasaga Bay at the southern point of Georgian Bay. Collingwood is well known as a tourist destination, for its skiing in the winter, and limestone caves along the Nia ...

by the Collingwood Shipbuilding Company; her

yard number The yard (symbol: yd) is an English unit of length in both the British imperial and US customary systems of measurement equalling 3 feet or 36 inches. Since 1959 it has been by international agreement standardized as exactly 0.9 ...

was 00038. She was a steel-hulled, propeller-driven lake freighter; in length, wide and deep. The gross register tonnage was 7,862 and the

net register tonnage Net register tonnage (NRT, nrt, n.r.t.) is a ship's cargo volume capacity expressed in "register tons", one of which equals to a volume of . It is calculated by subtracting non-revenue-earning spaces i.e. spaces not available for carrying cargo, ...

, 5,606.

Final voyage

On the evening of November 6, 1913, the ''James Carruthers'' loaded a total of 375,000 bushels of

wheat Wheat is a group of wild and crop domestication, domesticated Poaceae, grasses of the genus ''Triticum'' (). They are Agriculture, cultivated for their cereal grains, which are staple foods around the world. Well-known Taxonomy of wheat, whe ...

Fort William, Ontario Fort William was a city in Ontario, Canada, located on the Kaministiquia River, at its entrance to Lake Superior. Incorporated as a town in 1892 and as a city in 1907, it was amalgamated with Port Arthur and the townships of Neebing and McIntyre ...

. Her destination was

Midland, Ontario Midland is a town located on Georgian Bay in Simcoe County, Ontario, Canada. It is part of the Huronia/Wendat region of Central Ontario. Located at the southern end of Georgian Bay's 30,000 Islands, Midland is the economic centre of the region ...

, on the shores of

Georgian Bay The Georgian Bay () is a large bay of Lake Huron, in the Laurentia bioregion. It is located entirely within the borders of Ontario, Canada. The main body of the bay lies east of the Bruce Peninsula and Manitoulin Island. To its northwest is t ...

. Captain William H. Wright had conferred with another downbound skipper, S.A. Lyons of the , and planned to travel down

Lake Superior Lake Superior is the largest freshwater lake in the world by surface areaThe Caspian Sea is the largest lake, but is saline, not freshwater. Lake Michigan–Huron has a larger combined surface area than Superior, but is normally considered tw ...

together. Wright commented on his new boat, "We've still to learn all her tricks, and some of the lads in the

fo'c'sle The forecastle ( ; contracted as fo'c'sle or fo'c's'le) is the upper deck of a sailing ship forward of the foremast, or, historically, the forward part of a ship with the sailors' living quarters. Related to the latter meaning is the phrase " ...

are complaining that the paint in their rooms is still a little sticky." By 3 o'clock on the morning of November 8, the first hints of the storm blew over Lake Superior. The winds quickly shifted from southwest to northwest, bringing with them freezing temperatures, snow squalls, and high waves. The ''James Carruthers'' and the ''J.H. Sheadle'' were better than halfway to the Soo when the storm hit. By the evening, both vessels were locking through and snaking their way down the St. Mary's River. While going down the river the Canadian freighter passed the upbound ''Midland Prince''. At 12:53 on the morning of November 9, the ''James Carruthers'' was sighted taking on coal at the Picklands, Mather & Company dock near De Tour, Michigan. Shortly after refueling, the ''James Carruthers'' entered

, with the ''J.H. Sheadle'' a short distance behind. The lights of the ''James Carruthers'' were visible for a short time aboard the ''J.H. Sheadle'' as they sailed on a southeastern heading. A little after dawn, the ''James Carruthers'' turned to port on a course that would keep her south of

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and on a straight line for Georgian Bay. The ''James Carruthers'' was not seen after.

Aftermath

After the great storm finally blew itself out late on November 10, copious amounts of wreckage from several boats began to wash onto Lake Huron's shores. Evidence of the ''James Carruthers'' was slow at first, until great amounts of debris from Canada's newest and largest freighter began coming ashore, mostly near Kincardine and

Point Clark Point Clark is a lakefront cottage community on Lake Huron, in the municipality of Huron-Kinloss, Ontario, Canada. It is approximately 15 kilometres south of Kincardine and 40 kilometres north of Goderich. Main streets include Huron Road and La ...

. A large field of wreckage was found offshore between Kincardine and Goderich, nearly south of the ''James Carruthers''s known course. Several bodies of the crew washed ashore as well, mostly around Point Clark. Captain Wright was identified by his large red mustache. Most of the bodies wore

life jacket A personal flotation device (PFD; also referred to as a life jacket, life preserver, life belt, Mae West, life vest, life saver, cork jacket, buoyancy aid or flotation suit) is a flotation device in the form of a vest or suit that is worn by a u ...

s and heavy coats, indicating that they had had time to prepare for disaster. During the height of the storm late on the afternoon of November 9, several witnesses heard steamer whistles and sighted distress rockets far offshore of Inverhuron. It was concluded that the rockets were from the ''James Carruthers'' as most of her wreckage and crew were found in the vicinity. How the brand-new freighter sank, and how she came to be so far off course (she was bound for Georgian Bay) are mysteries. To date, the wreck of the ''James Carruthers'' has not been located.Boyer, Dwight. ''True Tales of the Great Lakes''. Cleveland: Freshwater Press, 1971. (pgs. 293-294)

References

External links

University of Detroit MercyHistorical Collection of the Great Lakes Great Lakes Vessels Online Index
{{DEFAULTSORT:James Carruthers, SS Shipwrecks of Lake Huron Maritime incidents in 1913 1913 ships Ships built in Collingwood, Ontario Ships lost with all hands Missing ships Great Lakes freighters Ships powered by a triple expansion steam engine