Copyright USGenNet Inc., 2023 All Rights Reserved USGenNet Data Repository Please read USGenNet Copyright Statement on this page: Submitted by Linda Talbott for the USGenNet Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ ========================================================================= NOTICE TO USERS - These files are protected by the The Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998. Information contained herein is provided for research purposes and may be freely linked to. Copying for redistribution or presentation by any person, persons or organization is not allowed without the written permission of the author/submitter. Formatted by USGenNet Data Repository Chief Archivist, Linda Talbott All of the above information must remain when copied or downloaded. =========================================================================== VESSEL NAME: Put-In-Bay OTHER NAME(s): - OFFICIAL NO: 208636 DATE OF LOSS: 3 Oct 1953 CAUSE OF LOSS: Burned, scrapped LOCATION: River Rouge, MI RIG TYPE: Propeller, passenger HULL TYPE: Steel BUILDER: Detroit Ship Building Co, Wyandotte, MI - 1911. OWNER(S): T. H. Browning & David Lowe MASTER: - TONNAGE: 1182.00 gt, 731 nt DIMENSIONS: 226 x 46,41 x 17.50 CASUALTIES: none For many years she carrued passengers from Detroit to Sandusky, OH., making stops at the popular tourist destinations of South Bass Island, Cedar Point and Put-in-Bay. In 1949 she was sold and put on the Detroit to Port Huron run, making stops along the way. When launched she was the largest steel hull excursion steamer on the great lakes and could carry 3,500 passen- gers in style. The dining room woodwork was mahogany throughout. The promenade deck was almost entirely given over to the ball room, the floor embracing 8.000 square feet. This was entirely enclosed in glass with sliding doors. The richly furnished private parlors were finished in white mahogany with antique silver trimmings on a pale blue background. One of the largest orders ever recieved by A. A. Gray Co., the Woodward avenue furniture house, was that of the interior furnishings of the new steamer Put-in-Bay. Her sailing career ended in 1951 and in May, 1953, she was sold by U.S. Marshal for scrap to satisfy a debt. The new owners had her towed out into Lake St. Clair and burned her wooden superstructure so the wreckers could get to her steel skeleton more easily. Her hull was taken to River Rouge and scrapped. More than 20,000 people crammed the beach in the rain to watch her end. Boats also gathered and, as the flames began to die down, their whistles and horns sounded a death knell. One of the cruisers carried a sign "pall-bearers for the Put-in-Bay." To quote the Port Huron Times Herald of Oct. 4, 1953; "Even the skies were weeping Saturday night as they burned the Put-in-Bay." ======================================================================== Sources: Green's Marine Directory of the Great Lakes - 1915 Detroit Evening Times - 24 June 1911 Port Huron Times Herald - 4 Oct 1953