Copyright USGenNet Inc., 2014 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/ ========================================================================= Formatted by USGenNet Data Repository Chief Archivist, Linda Talbott All of the above information must remain when copied or downloaded. =========================================================================== VESSEL NAME: Pal OTHER NAME(s): - OFFICIAL NO: 238189 DATE OF LOSS: 2 May 1947 REASON: Explosion? LOCATION: Lake Michigan, off Pentwater RIG TYPE: Fish Tug, 95 hp marine gasoline motor. HULL TYPE: Wooden BUILDER: Omena, Mich., 1938 OWNER(S): Daniel Loncar, of Pentwater MASTER: same TONNAGE: 17 gt DIMENSIONS: 36 x 11 x 4 CASUALTIES: 3 (Daniel Loncar, Merrill Ginther, Clyde Smith) SURVIVORS: 0 Left Pentwater, Mich., on Saturday, May 3, 1947 at 10 a.m. and headed for fishing nets about 8 miles off shore. About 4 hours later the sound of an explosion was heard from out on the lake by Mrs. Otto Ricktor, residing south of Cedar Banks. Thick fog blanketed the area and she could not see out onto the lake. A search by the local Coast Guard began on Sunday morning when the tug failed to return, aided by the Coast Guard seaplane from Traverse City. On Tuesday a daily beach patrol was established between Pentwater and Little Point Sable. On Monday pieces of the fish tug, including two pieces of charred lumber, some fish boxes and part of a pilot's cabin, came ashore near Juniper beach. The wreckage was positively identified by Frank Larsen, former owner, as having come from the PAL. Nails in the some of the planking that came ashore had been driven out from the inside. According to Coast Guard officers the crew of the tug had a habit of refilling her tanks in mid-lake. Daniel Loncar left a widow, Ida (Shearer), and two small sons; George (age 5), and Robert (age 3). Clyde Smith, resident of Mears, Mich., left a wife and his mother, Mrs. Arlie Smith of Mears, and a brother, Harold of Shelby. Merrill Ginther, a WWI veteran, was a single man. He left a brother, Ralph of Pentwater. ======================================================================== Sources: The Ludington Daily News, Tuesday, May 6-7, 1947 Merchant Vessel Lists