SS Pere Marquette 18
.jpg) Pere Marquette 18 passing under the State Street Bridge in Chicago while in tow of the tug T.T. Morford
| |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Name | Pere Marquette 18 |
| Operator | Pere Marquette Railway Company |
| Port of registry | Grand Haven, Michigan, U.S. |
| Builder | American Ship Building Company |
| Yard number | 412 |
| Launched | August 16, 1902 |
| In service | October 1, 1902 |
| Out of service | September 9, 1910 |
| Identification | US Registry #150972 |
| Fate | Flooded and sank on Lake Michigan with the loss of 29 lives |
| Wreck discovered | July 23, 2020 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Train ferry |
| Tonnage | |
| Length | |
| Beam | 56 feet (17 m) |
| Depth | 19.42 feet (5.92 m) |
| Installed power | 6 × Scotch marine boilers |
| Propulsion | 2 × 3,000 hp (2,200 kW) triple expansion steam engines |
| Speed | 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph) |
SS Pere Marquette 18 was a steel-hulled Great Lakes train ferry that served on Lake Michigan (primarily between the four ports of Ludington, Michigan and Kewaunee, Manitowoc and Milwaukee, Wisconsin) from her construction in 1902 to her sinking in 1910.
On September 9, 1910 while bound from Ludington for Milwaukee with 62 passengers and crew and 29 rail cars filled with general merchandise and coal, Pere Marquette 18 began taking on massive amounts of water. The pumps were turned on, but all attempts to save her were futile, and she sank off the coast of Sheboygan, Wisconsin. Her fleetmate, Pere Marquette 17 was nearby and managed to save 35 of her passengers and crew. Twenty-seven people on board Pere Marquette 18 were killed, while Pere Marquette 17 lost two of her own crew during the rescue. As none of her officers survived to recount what happened, the true cause of Pere Marquette 18's flooding remains a mystery.
The wreck of Pere Marquette 18 was discovered in July 2020 in about 500 feet (150 m) of water about 25 miles (40 km) east of Sheboygan by a wreck hunting team from Minnesota.
History
Design and construction
Pere Marquette 18 (Official number 150972) was designed by Robert Logan and was built in 1902 by the American Ship Building Company of Cleveland, Ohio. She was launched on August 16, 1902 as hull number 412 and was christened by Beatrice Logan, the designer's daughter.
Her steel hull had an overall length of 350 feet (106.68 m) (one source states 358 feet, 109.12 m), and a keel length of 338 feet (103 m). Her beam was 56 feet (17 m) (one source states 57.6 feet, 17.6 m) wide, and her hull was 19.42 feet (5.92 m) (some sources also state 19.5 feet, 5.9 m, 19.6 feet, 6.0 m, 20 feet, 6.1 m or 21.7 feet, 6.6 m) deep. She had a gross register tonnage of 2,909 tons, and a net register tonnage of 1,722 tons (other sources also state that she had a gross register tonnage of 2,777 tons and a net register tonnage of 1,660 tons, a gross register tonnage of 2,775 tons and a net register tonnage of 1,685 tons or a gross register tonnage of 2,443 tons).
She was equipped with two 3,000-horsepower (2,200 kW) (some sources state 2,500 hp, 1,900 kW) triple expansion steam engines which were powered by steam from six Scotch marine boilers. The boilers were 13 feet (4.0 m) in diameter and 12 feet (3.7 m) in length, each with a corrugated furnace with a diameter of 3.6 feet (1.1 m). The boilers each had a working pressure of 175 pounds per square inch (1,210 kPa). She was driven by two 12-foot (3.7 m) fixed pitch propellers, which propelled Pere Marquette 18 to a maximum speed of 13 or 14 knots (24 or 26 km/h; 15 or 16 mph).
Pere Marquette 18 had two decks and two masts. She had four railroad tracks on her main deck, which could accommodate up to 30 railroad cars. She contained 50 staterooms and several other rooms, providing sleeping accommodation for 250 people. When combined, the rooms and the decks enabled Pere Marquette 18 to carry up to 5000 people. She was equipped with electricity, which was operated at the pilothouse.
The total cost of Pere Marquette 18 was $400,000.
Service history
Pere Marquette 18 was built for the Pere Marquette Railway Company of Grand Haven, Michigan. The Pere Marquette Railway Company intended to use her for cross lake service on Lake Michigan, between the lake's western side (the ports of Kewaunee, Manitowoc and Milwaukee, Wisconsin) and the lake's eastern side (the port of Ludington, Michigan).
She received her first enrollment in Cleveland, Ohio on July 19, 1902; her initial home port was Saginaw, Michigan. She received her permanent enrollment in Port Huron, Michigan on March 6, 1903; Port Huron also became her home port. Sometime during her brief career, she received her final in Grand Haven. Her home port also changed multiple times during her career; one of these ports was Ludington, and her final home port was Grand Haven. Her call whistle was long-long-short.
On November 4, 1903 Pere Marquette 18 rescued the crew of six from the sinking schooner barge A.T. Bliss, which while bound from Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin for Ludington broke loose from the tug Sidney Smith. In 1907, Pere Marquette 18 was chartered by the Chicago and South Haven Steamship Company of Chicago, Illinois for the Independence Day weekend. In 1909, Pere Marquette 18 was chartered by the Chicago and South Haven Steamship Company for service as an excursion steamer between. Her car deck was planked over, in order to host dancing and music. Several fruit machines were also installed. She spent the summers of 1909 and 1910 giving pleasure cruises between Chicago and Waukegan, Illinois.
A the end of her 1910 pleasure cruise season, Pere Marquette 18 was converted back to a train ferry. On September 8, 1910 after passing an official government inspection in Ludington, she rejoined the train ferry fleet.
