Copyright USGenNet Inc., 2013, All Rights Reserved U.S. Data Repository Please read U.S. Data Repository Copyright Statement on this page: Submitted by Linda Talbott for the US Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ ========================================================================= U.S. Data Repository NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization. Non-commercial organizations desiring to use this material must obtain the consent of the transcriber prior to use. Individuals desiring to use this material in their own research may do so. ========================================================================= Formatted by U.S. Data Repository Chief Archivist, Linda Talbott All of the above information must remain when copied or downloaded. =========================================================================== NAME: Reliance OTHER NAME(s): - REASON: foundered in storm DATE: 13 Dec 1922 LOCATION: Lake Superior TYPE: Tug HULL TYPE: BUILDER: OWNER: Lake Superior Paper Co. MASTER: Capt. D. A. Williams TONNAGE: LENGTH: BEAM: DEPTH: CASUALTIES: 27 SURVIVORS: 9 27 MISSING ON LAKE SUPERIOR --------------- Paper Company's Tug Boat Foundered in Storm Wednesday --------- PARTY OF NINE ARRIVE --------- Others of 36 on Board Unheard of and Snowstorm Prevents Search ------ Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., Dec. 17. -- Twenty-seven persons are missing and are believed to have been drowned or died from exposure following the dis- aster which overtook the tug Reliance when it hit the rocks of Lizzard is- land four days ago. This was the fear expressed by offi- cials of the Superior Paper company, owner of the tug, who tonight for the first time admitted that in addition to the crew of 14, the Reliance car- ried 22 passengers. Seven survivors of the wreck reached here last night. Two others, Mr. and Mrs. John Harten, cooks, were suffering so from cold and exposure that they were left at a station of the Algoma Central railroad for medical attention. The last seen of the missing 27 per- sons was Wednesday morning when the Reliance, battling through a blinding snowstorm, went on the rocks off Lizzard island, stripped her wheel and sank al- most immediately. Captain D. A. Williams and 24 others who were forward took one lifeboat while nine others, including Mr. and Mrs. Harten, took the other. The second boat drifted several hours in the storm and was blown ashore on the Canadian mainland 85 miles north of here. Mrs. Harten was so exhausted that the party was held up 36 hours in an Indian shack before it was able to start inland toward the railroad, which was reached Saturday. The survivors express little hope that the others survived the storm. The announcement by the company tonight said that in addition to the crew of 14, the Reliance carried 20 lumberjacks, an official of the company's forestry depart- ment, and a fisheries company agent who had been picked up by the Reliance on its last trip to the lumber camps. The missing men, it is said by the sur- vivors, left the wrecked tug in a launch which was carried by the Reliance in addition to its two lifeboats. It is pointed out that if the survivors reached Lizzard island in the storm, they were without food. If they reached an is- land where there were huts their problem of fighting the cold would not be so great but, being without weapons, their chances of obtaining food were declared to be slender. The tug Gray late today had not reached the spot where the Reliance sank, according to wireless advices, but was still fighting the snowstorm. The wrecking tug Favorite of St. Ignace passed here at noon today to aid in the search. The Lizzard islands are a few miles off the northern Ontario mainland, 73 miles north of Point aux Pins, at the western entrance to the St. Mary's river. The eastern end of Lake Superior is sparsely settled from Batechewana bay to Micki- picoten harbor, a distance of more than 50 miles, and the nearest railroads are ten or fifteen miles inland from the point where part of the crew walked ashore over the ice. A snowstorm driven by a 40 mile wind, has again caused postponement of the rescue of any survivors. The tugs Gray and Favorite have been forced to take shelter for the night. ======================================================================== Sources: Lewiston Morning Tribune, Lewiston, Idaho, December 18, 1922