Copyright USGenNet Inc., 2016 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: Clifton OTHER NAME(s): Samuel Mather, renamed in 1923 OFFICIAL NO: 116484 DATE OF LOSS: 22 September 1924 CAUSE OF LOSS: Storm LOCATION: Lake Huron, off Forty-Mile Point RIG TYPE: Propeller, whaleback, bulk freight HULL TYPE: Steel BUILDER: American Steel Barge Co. - 1892 OWNER(S): Progress Steamship Co. MASTER: Capt. Emmett Gallagher TONNAGE: 1,713 gt DIMENSIONS: 308 x 38 x 24 CASUALTIES: 27 (all) CLIFTON was bound for Detroit from Sturgeon Bay, WI. with a cargo of crushed stone and was last reported pass- ing Mackinaw at 10:20 a.m. Sunday, the 21st. A severe gale swept the lakes that day and concern was raised when she was overdue at Detroit. Her fate was realized when wreck- age, including broken hatch covers and the forward end of a pilot house were picked up by the steamer GLENCAIRN about seventy miles from Goderich on the Detour-Goderich course. The pilot house searchlight and clock, which was stopped at 4 o'clock, were also recovered. During the previous summer she had been fitted out with the new Smith self-unloading device at the L. D. Smith Dock Company, Sturgeon Bay. The following list of 30 victims was published in the Door County Advocate on October 3, 1924. There are likely 2 men included who were not on the CLIFTON at the time she was lost. Emmett D. Gallagher, captain, St. James, Michigan Walter J. Oertling, chief engineer, Sturgeon Bay, Wis. Edward L. Peck, first mate, Green Bay, Wis. Anthony P. McDonough, second mate, New York Joe Shield, wheelsman, St. James, Mich. Peter Burns, wheelsman, St. James, Mich. Harvey Jensen, watchman, Sawyer, Wis. Leo Brauer, watchman, Institute. Sam Stevenson, cood, wife and baby, Benton Harbor Emil J. Bonnett, assistant cook, Detroit John Hamilton, assistant cook, Detroit C. H. Diller, porter, Detroit J. E. Sullivan, first assistant engineer, Mitchell, S.D. Bernard Haen, oiler, Sturgeon Bay Roland Writt, oiler, Escanaba Kenneth Dorey, handyman, Manitowoc, Wis. Russell Erdman, oiler, Sawyer, Wis. P. Canty, Toledo, Ohio Edward Miller, fireman, Detroit George Maples, conveyor operator, Sturgeon Bay Pearl Purdy, conveyor operator, Sturgeon Bay A. J. Olson, deck hand, South Chicago, Ill. Bernard Soderstrom, deck hand, Washburn, Wis. George Husak, deck hand, Sturgeon Bay Stanley Guth, deck hand, Algoma, Wis. Robert Stedman, coal passer, Sturgeon Bay, Wis. Harold Hart, coal passer, Sturgeon Bay, Wis. Lawrence Haen, oiler, Sturgeon Bay, Wis. ======================================================================== Sources: Merchant Vessel Lists - 1900, 1920, 1925 Beeson's Marine Directory - 1898 Door County Advocate, 3 October 1924 Traverse City Record-Eagle, 26 September 1924 Chicago Daily Tribune, 29 September 1924