• Source: PS Alpena

The PS Alpena was a sidewheel steamer built by Thomas Arnold of Gallagher & Company at Marine City, Michigan in 1866. She was operated by the Goodrich Line after being purchased from Gardner, Ward & Gallagher in April 1868. The Alpena sank in Lake Michigan in the "Big Blow" storm on October 15, 1880, with the loss of all on board.




Construction



Built in 1866, by the Thomas Arnold of Gallagher & Company of Marine City, Michigan, the Alpena was 197 feet (60 m) in length, 27 feet (8.2 m) in breadth, with a depth of 12 feet (3.7 m). It was rated at 654 tons displacement. The vessel was driven by a steam engine, and photographs of the vessel show its walking beam suspended above the paddlewheels.




Sinking


At least 60 people died when the ship, also carrying a large cargo of apples, capsized in the middle of the lake. The ship was on a trip from Grand Haven, Michigan, to Chicago, Illinois, and was spotted at 8:00 am on October 16 in heavy seas. Some time later, probably due to a shift in the cargo on deck caused by the waves, it capsized and drifted northwest. On the 17th, debris including a piano came ashore in Holland, Michigan, while apples and wood debris were found at Saugatuck. A section of beach near Holland where debris was found is still called Alpena Beach. The loss of life is estimated at about 60-consisting of about 25 crew and about 35 passengers




Similarly named ships


Another ship named Alpena was a freighter built in 1874 and burned to the waterline in 1891. Another Alpena was a tugboat which sank in 1943 at Huron, Ohio.
SS City of Alpena was a paddlewheel steamboat operating between Detroit and Mackinac Island by the Detroit and Cleveland Navigation Company from 1893 to 1921. She was 285 ft (87 m) long, carried 400 passengers, and was powered by 2,000 hp (1,500 kW) steam engines.

There is also a Great Lakes ship named Alpena, formerly the Leon Fraser, owned by Inland Lakes Management, an affiliate of Lafarge. It is used as a bulk freighter to haul cement. Built in 1942 and equipped with a steam turbine engine, it was originally 639 feet (195 m) long, 67 feet (20 m) in breadth with a depth of 35 feet (11 m). It has a 15,550 ton capacity. It was renamed, shortened and converted to a bulk cement carrier in 1991. The Alpena is a moderate sized ship in the Great Lakes fleet; the largest Lakers are almost twice its length and breadth and carry four times its cargo. She is able to transit the canals of the St. Lawrence Seaway due to her small size.




See also


List of maritime disasters in the 19th century
List of storms on the Great Lakes
Sea Wing disaster
SS Eastland




References






= Citations

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External links


1880 Alpena sinking
Michigan Shipwrecks.org - Alpena

Kata Kunci Pencarian:

• PS Alpena
• List of disasters in the United States by death toll
• List of shipwrecks in the Great Lakes
• PS Lady Elgin
• PS Anthony Wayne
• Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary
• Kurt Saxon
• SS Carl D. Bradley
• Tom Poston
• PS Lotta Bernard