Copyright USGenNet Inc., 2017, All Rights Reserved USGenNet Data Repository Please read USGenNet Data Repository 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. =========================================================================== VESSEK NAME: John Mitchell OTHER NAME(S): - OFFICIAL NO: 203943 DATE OF LOSS: 9 July 1911 CAUSE OF LOSS: Collision LOCATION: Lake Superior, off Vermillion Point RIG TYPE: Propeller, bulk freight HULL TYPE: Steel BUILDER: Great Lakes Engineering Works, St. Clair, Mich. - 1906 OWNER(S): C. H. Elphicke MASTER: Capt. John Massey, Chicago TONNAGE: 4,468 gt DIMENSIONS: 420 x 52 x 23 CASUALTIES: 3 of 28 THREE LIVES LOST FROM STEAMER MITCHELL IN COLLISION ----------------------- Five Or Six Buffalo Passengers Now on Boat At Bottom of Lake Superior ------------ Vessel In Collision With Steamer William H. Mack At Vermillion Point ------------ Boat Left Here On Friday Morning Bound For Duluth With Coal ------- Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., July 10 - Three lives were lost early today when the steamer John Mitchell of Chicago was sunk in collision with the steamer W. H. Mack off Vermillion Point, Lake Superior. The John Mitchell was 420 feet long, 52 feet beam and 28 feet deep. She was a steel vessel with a gross tonnage of 4468 and was built in 1906. The William H. Mack is 354 feet long and belongs to the Jenkins Steamship Company of Cleveland. MITCHELL WILL BE TOTAL LOSS Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., July 10 (United Press) - according to members of the crew of the Steamer Matao today, the steamer John Mitchell, west-bound, was sunk last night off Vermillion Point when she collided with the steamer William H. Mack. The William H. Mack is reported lying just off the Point with her bow stove in and her superstructure just above water. No trace of the John Mitchell can be found. The Matao reports passing through wreckage consisting of window screens and life rafts and life-preservers indicating the total loss of the John Mitchell. The Mitchell was loaded with coal for Superior, Mich., and the mack was bound down, light, from Marquett, Mich. BUFFALO PASSENGERS ON THE MITCHELL Carrying five or six Buffalo passengers and a crew of 21 men, the steamer John Mitchell, which steamed out of the harbor here at 2 o'clock Friday morning, early this morning sank off Vermillion Point, according to messages received here this morning. The names of the Buffalo passengers could not be learned in any of the local offices, and, with one exception, the names of the crew are unknown. Joseph M. Frew, aged 21 years, of Princeton, N. J., a fireman was shipped at the office of the Lake Carriers and Seamen here. Capt. John Massey was master of the Mitchell, C. W. Elphicke Co., of Chicago own the craft. A load of 7,000 to 7,500 tons of coal was taken here at the Erie coal dock and was consigned to the Pittsburgh Coal Company, at Duluth. The ship was due to arrive at that port at sundown tomorrow. According to the meager information received, the Mitchell was in a collision with the steamer William H. Mack, of the line of A. T. Kinney & Company, of Cleveland. The Mitchell, it is reported, sank in deep water with all on board; the Mack being driven ashore and saved, though badly damaged. Vermillion Point, where this latest tragedy of the Great Lakes occurred, is about 15 miles west of Whitefish Point, at the entrance to Lake Superior, and about 30 miles from the Soo. Buffalo Evening News July 10, 1911 ======================================================================== Sources: "Shipwrecks of the Great Lakes" Dana Thomas Bowen, 1952 Detroit Free Press - 29 November 1906 Buffalo Evening News, Monday, July 10, 1911 Detroit Free Press - 11 July 1911 Detroit Free Press - 26 December 1911 Escanaba Morning Press - 12 July 1911 Port Huron Times Herald - 10 July 1911 Merchant Vessel List, 1912 (losses)