Chester Congdon History

History of the Chester A. Congdon

The Chester Congdon (Official Number 204526) was built as the steel hull bulk freighter Salt Lake City in 1907 by the Chicago Ship Building Co. of South Chicago Illinois. The dimensions of the Salt Lake City were 532 ft in length, 56 ft in beam and 26 ft in draft with a gross tonnage of 6530 tons and a net tonnage of 4843 tons.. It was of US registry and owned by Holmes Steamship Co. of Cleveland, Ohio. The Salt Lake City was powered by a 1,765 horsepower triple expansion steam engine with cylinders of 23.5", 38" and 65." Two induced draft Scotch boilers of 14 1/2 ft diameter supplied the steam.

In 1911 the Continental Steamship Co., managed by G.A. Tomlinson of the Tomlinson Co., Duluth bought the Salt Lake City and renamed it the Chester A. Congdon. It was named after the prominent Duluth lawyer and entrepreneur who had made his fortune in mining and grain interests. This is the same Congdon who built the Glensheen mansion which is now a popular Duluth tourist attraction.

The eleven year shipping career of the Chester Congdon was relatively uneventful with the exception of two groundings. Its final voyage started at 2:28 am on November 6, 1918 as it left Fort William with 380,000 bushels of wheat. After nosing out onto the lake into a southwest gale for a couple of hours the captain decided to return to the shelter of Thunder Bay to wait for better weather. By 10:40 am the seas had subsided and the ship departed again only to head into a thick fog. The captain decided to run for 2.5 hours at nine knots then stop if the fog didn't lift. He then planned to wait until he could see the Passage Island light to navigate the gap between Isle Royale and Passage Island. Unfortunately at 1:08 pm the Congdon struck the southerly extent of Canoe Rocks near Isle Royale (now called Congdon Shoal). He immediately dispatched a boat to Passage Island, about 7 miles away, to request help from the lighthouse keeper and second boat, a fisherman's launch to Fort William.

Several tugs and barges were dispatched from Fort William to rescue the crew and lighter the cargo. All crew members were rescued aboard the barge Empire. The attempt to lighter the grain was not as successful. Only 50,000 to 60,000 bushels or about 20% of the wheat was saved. On November 8 another storm this time from the southeast with winds up to 55 miles per hour swept the lake and broke the ship in two. The stern settled in deep water ending the lightering attempt. Much of the bow machinery was eventually saved before it was also washed off of the shoal. The crew returned to Fort William in time to join the November 11 World War I Armistice celebrations.

At the time, the wreck of the Chester A. Congdon, valued at $1.5 million including cargo, was the largest financial loss in Great Lakes history.