SS Ohio and schooner-barge Ironton collide and sink in Lake Huron
- When
- 1894
- Where
- Lake Huron
- Episodes
- 2
In September 1894, the wooden-hulled Great Lakes freighter SS Ohio collided with the schooner-barge Ironton on Lake Huron, sinking both vessels. Five crew members from the Ironton, including Captain Peter Girard, perished. The Ohio had departed Duluth with grain, while the Ironton was being towed by the steamer Charles J. Kershaw.
Episodes
- Collision and Sinking
SS Ohio and Ironton collided on Lake Huron in September 1894, causing both vessels to sink.
- Crew Losses
Five Ironton crew members, including Captain Peter Girard, died after the sinking.
Background and detail
Background. SS Ohio was a wooden-hulled Great Lakes freighter constructed in 1875 by Ohio resident John F. Kershaw. In September 1894, she departed Duluth, Minnesota, carrying a cargo of grain bound for Ogdensburg, New York. The vessel served on the Great Lakes from her construction until her sinking in 1894.
Collision and Sinking. The steamer Charles J. Kershaw was towing two schooner barges, Moonlight and Ironton, when the collision occurred. Both the SS Ohio and the Ironton sank as a result of the impact. The incident took place on Lake Huron, one of the five Great Lakes of North America.
Casualties. Following the sinking, the passing steamer Charles Hebard rescued two members of the Ironton's crew. However, five crew members from the Ironton perished in the disaster, including Captain Peter Girard. These losses marked a significant maritime tragedy on the Great Lakes.
People involved
- Peter Girard · Captain of Ironton
- John F. Kershaw · Builder of SS Ohio
Sources
- SS Ohio (1875) Wikipedia, revision of 2025-12-16
- Lake Huron Wikipedia, revision of 2026-10-04
Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.