SS Western Reserve

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The Western Reserve prior to her sinking
History
United States
NameWestern Reserve
NamesakeWestern Reserve
OwnerMinch Transportation Co.
Builder
Cleveland Shipbuilding Co., Cleveland
CostUS$200,000
Yard number9
Launched20 August 1890
Maiden voyage6 October 1890
HomeportCleveland
IdentificationUS Official Number 81294
FateSank, 30 August 1892
General characteristics
TypeBulk carrier
Tonnage
Length300 ft 7 in (91.62 m)
Beam41 ft 2 in (12.55 m)
Depth21 ft 0 in (6.40 m)
Propulsion
triple expansion
Speed12 knots (14 mph; 22 km/h)

The SS Western Reserve was a propeller

steel plate. Her steel construction made it possible for the vessel to carry heavier loads of freight than her wooden rival steamships.[2]

A commemorative plaque of the Western Reserve in Muskallonge Lake State Park

The Western Reserve foundered on August 30, 1892, in Lake Superior. She had been traveling upbound in ballast to Two Harbors, a port serving the Minnesota iron ranges, for a load of iron ore. Of the 32 officers, men, and passengers aboard, 31 were lost and there was but one survivor, wheelsman Harry Stewart. Stewart made land on a desolate stretch of shoreline between Grand Marais and Deer Park on the Upper Peninsula of far northern Michigan, and lived. The list of those lost included the ship's owner, Peter Minch. Upon being debriefed, Stewart's description of the metal fatigue and structural failure of the 1.5-year-old lake vessel created almost conclusive evidence that the shipbuilders had improperly used brittle steel contaminated with sulfur and phosphorus.[3][failed verification] Coverage by The New York Times of the disaster was headlined: "The Steamer Broke in Two."[4] Eight weeks after the Western Reserve disaster, the W.H. Gilcher - which had been built at the same time with similar mill runs of steel plate - disappeared on northern Lake Michigan.[5] The disasters, loss of life of seamen and a well-known shipowner, and ensuing scandal led to permanent changes in the types of steel approved for use in U.S. and Canadian shipbuilding.[3] Despite several searches, the wreck of the Western Reserve has never been located.[6]

RMS Titanic

Similar changes were not made to British law, which continued to allow the use of brittle steel in shipbuilding after 1892. Examples of British shipbuilding art included the

samples were taken of her rivets and hull plates, forensic engineers reported that the non-ductility of the iron and steel used to build her could have played a significant role in speeding up its structural failure after Titanic hit the iceberg. Meanwhile, in the United States and Canada in the first half of the twentieth century, lake freighters built with the improved standards for steel were bumping through Great Lakes ice floes and suffering damage, but not sinking.[citation needed
]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Western Reserve". Bowling Green State University. Retrieved March 15, 2016.
  2. ^ "Gilcher, W.H." Great Lakes Vessel History. Retrieved March 12, 2016.
  3. ^ a b "Steamboats and Sailing Ships". Huron Marine Society. Archived from the original on 2016-03-18. Retrieved March 15, 2016.
  4. ^ "Lake Superior, MI Steam Barge 'Western Reserve' Disaster, Sept 1892". GenDisasters.com. Retrieved March 16, 2016.
  5. Dodd, Mead and Company
    . pp. x, xiii.
  6. ^ "The Tragic Loss of the Western Resereve". Brendon Baillod. 26 June 2020. Retrieved June 28, 2020.
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