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Individuals desiring to use this material in their own research may do so. ========================================================================= Formatted by U.S. Data Repository Chief Archivist, Linda Talbott All of the above information must remain when copied or downloaded. =========================================================================== Idaho: Foundered Date: November 6, 1897 Location: Lake Erie, enroute from Buffalo to Milwaukee Type: propeller, steamer Hull Type: Wooden Owner: Capt. E. M. Peck Master: Capt. Alexander Gillies Length: 220 ft Casualties: 19 Survivors: 2 1897 Wreck of the Idaho - The wreck of the steamer Idaho off Long Point, on the night of November 5, was the most serious disaster of 1897 on the Great Lakes. This is true as regards both the number of lives lost and the monetary loss. The vessel sank, and with her went down 19 of the 21 men who constituted the ship's company. The two survivors were Louis LaForce, second mate, and William Gill, a deck hand. The steamer herself was old, and was in- sured for not more than $10,000 or $15,000; but the amount of property aboard is esti- mated at from $75,000 to $100,000. The Idaho left Buffalo with package freight for Milwaukee on the afternoon be- fore the wreck. A November gale caught her before she reached Long Point. Her captain, Alexander Gillies, made the unfort- unate decision to push on, leaving astern the safe shelter behind the Point. Twelve miles beyond Long Point the Idaho began to ship water, and part of the crew was ordered to the pumps. After a little while the water got into the engine room, and then in the fire hold. Then the captain attempted to head the steamer around to get back under Long Point. As she veered a great roller swept over her, throwing her into the trough of the sea and washing half a dozen of the crew off the deck into the lake. All hands were at once ordered to the pumps. One of the pumps broke, and the captain organized a line of fire buckets. Inch by inch, however, the water crept up until it was bubbling around the edge of the fires. In ten minutes the fires were quenched and the ship was at the absolute mercy of the sea. All then went on deck to lower the an- chors in the hope that the ship would right herself. While the men were giving more line to the port anchor the stern began to sink and every wave slopped over it. Sud- denly the moon broke through the clouds and the crew got the first light they had seen since the engine fires were extin- guished. Gill saw the captain running for- ward, when a wave swept him far from the ship and as it passed the clouds closed over the moon and the night was black again. Gill and La Force found themselves on the end of the deckhouse, and scrambled into the rigging as the Idaho went down. They scrambled to the crow's nest, and there the Mariposa found them in the morning. While working at the pumps Gill and La Force had stripped themselves to shirt and trousers, and there they clung, sprayed by every wave. Others of the crew tried to launch one of the small boats and were swamped with it. Looking about them Gill and La Force saw that all of their com- panions had been lost. La Force, who was just above Gill, sighted a vessel just at daybreake and signaled fran- tically for it, but it steamed by, and La- Force temporarily went mad with despair. He beat his head against the mast, prayed, sang and threatened Gill, whose position was less secure, and who was lost if he let go with one hand. To add to their misery, hail began to fall and cut their faces. It was past noon when the Mariposa came in sight. The men were too stiff to signal her. They saw the Mariposa change her course, and Captain Root bring her alongside. He lowered a small boat, but it was wrecked instantly. Three times he tried it. Finally he brought the Mariposa right up against the spar, and her crew lifted the men aboard. Gill was so cold that he could not unfasten his hands. La Force says he was in the hold when the stern began to sink. The crew made a frantic dash for the deck, and one of the men was trampled to death, by his com- panions, madly eager to escape. Resolutions adopted by the Buffalo Merchants Exchange, commending Capt. Frank Root of the Mariposa for his skill and courage in rescuing the two survivors, contained this paragraph: --In bringing a great steel steamer nearly 350 feet long, in such a heaving sea, alongside the spar to which the two unfortunate men were cling- ing for their lives with a skill and nicety PAGE 777 which enabled the rescue to be successfully made, Captain Root and his officers and crew not only proved themselves possessed of the highest skill and discipline as sea- men, but showed a courage, coolness and nerve which belong only to the truly brave. Their seamanship and their courage were both brought to a supreme test, and both proved unsurpassed." The owners of the Mariposa also commended Captain Root for his exploit, and thus gave precedence to humanity over the danger to which the stearmer was necessarily subjected in ap- proaching the sunken Idaho. In a letter to Captain Root, President Mather of the Minnesota Steamship Com- pany, owners of the Mariposa, said: "I wish to express to you, and through you to all your brave crew, my sincere apprecia- tion of the unusually skillful seamanship, coolness, nerve and bravery displayed by you all in rescuing the two poor survivors of the Idaho, and to say further that not- withstanding the risk thereby involved to the safety of the steamer, your act has the hearty commendation of this company and of myself. In some recognition I wish you to give your first mate and your chief engineer an extra month's salary each, and to all the other members of your crew an extra half-month's salary each, for which draft is inclosed herewith; and as for your- self, will you please call at our office upon your arrival down and receive in person from us a testimonial of our regard and es- teem." When, in answer to this letter, Captain Root called at the office of Mr. Coulby, manager of the transportation de- partment of the company, he was present- ed with a beautiful gold watch. The Idaho was one of the oldest steam vessels on the lakes. She was built in 1863. A few years ago the Western Transit Company, which owned the boat, took her out of commission and she lay idle at Buf- falo until a month or so before her loss. She was 220 feet long, with a net tonnage of 906. During the G. A. R. Encamp- ment the Idaho was used by the naval vet- erans as a lodging place. ======================================================================== Sources: "Shipwrecks of the Great Lakes" , Dana Thomas Bowen, 1952 Mansfield, "History of the Great Lakes", vol. 1, pub. 1899