Copyright USGenNet Inc., 2019 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: Congress OTHER NAME(s): Nebraska, renamed in 1902 OFFICIAL NO: 18093 DATE OF LOSS: 4 October 1904 CAUSE OF LOSS: Fire LOCATION: S. Manitou Island, Lake Michigan RIG TYPE: Propeller, steam screw HULL TYPE: Wood BUILDER: by Peck, at Cleveland, 1867 OWNER(S): John J. Boland et al., Buffalo MASTER: ? TONNAGE: 1,320 gt, 893 nt DIMENSIONS: 265.5 x 35.5 x 12.9 CASUALTIES: None As NEBRASKA: While owned by Cummings, of Chicago, the NEBRASKA was taken to the Milwaukee Dry Docks Co., where, under a contract, she would be refitted to temporarily adapt her to the carriage of passengers at the Chicago World's Fair. This involved the reconstruction of decks, addition of a temporary canopy, replacement of her old engines, etc. The cost was upwards of $14,000! Passenger business was not as lucrative as Cummings had hoped for and NEBRASKA was sold by U.S. Marshall, at Chicago, for $13,000 on 22 September 1893 to the Milwaukee Dry Dock Co. The following spring the canopy roof used for excursion purposes was removed and four gangways cut in her sides while being converted into a package freighter. Sold to Samuel Neff by the insurance companies in 1902 after lying at a dock in Milwaukee for two years follow- ing a stranding in Thunder Bay, Lake Huron. Sold by Neff to J. J. Bolan and others of Buffalo shortly afterward. Converted for use in the lumber trade at a cost of about $12,000. As CONGRESS On the night of 4 October 1904 CONGRESS was lying at a pier in South Manitou Bay when fire was discovered. The life saving crew succeeded in getting her clear of the dock and other vessels, but all efforts to extinguish the flames were futile and she sank in about 165 feet of water at 11 o'clock the following morning. Carrying a cargo of pine. ======================================================================== Sources: Merchant Vessel Lists - 1903, 1904 Buffalo (N.Y.) Courier, 5 October 1904 Annual Report of the U.S.L.S.S. - 1905 Blue Book of American Shipping - 1903 Inland Lloyds Vessel Register, 1894 Marine Record - 3 July 1902