Monarch – Passenger Package Freighter 1890-1906 (SHIPWRECK)
Monarch – Passenger Package Freighter 1890-1906 (SHIPWRECK)
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“A Beautiful Ship: The magnificent New Monarch of the Beatty Line. Far the finest running to Duluth, Destined to be the popular passenger ship of the Upper Lakes… The cabin is finished in white and gold, and will be lighted by electricity. There are 62 staterooms and a bathroom. Doors between each alternate stateroom can be thrown open… Each Stateroom has a double lower and single berth for nearly 200 passengers.”
The Monarch ran its route for sixteen seasons and as happened to many ships, wrecked on its last trip of the season in 1906. After loading its cargo listed as wheat, oats, salmon, and general merchandise on December 6, 1906, the Monarch departed for Sarnia at 5:25 PM into the face of a blinding snowstorm. What caused the Monarch to run full speed into the Palisades that night has never been completely established. It could have been the frozen taffrail log, or the storm driven wind or current or a combination thereof that pushed the Monarch several miles off course to the southwest.
What is known is that in less than 50 feet of visibility, the Monarch ploughed headlong into the Palisades a little after 9:00 PM, Thursday November 6, 1906 on the coldest day of the year. After the scraping grinding collision the captain immediately ordered the engines full reverse. Fortunately the engineer realizing the extent of the damage disobeyed the order and kept the engine engaged forward to hold the ship on the shore, which probably saved the lives of the passengers and crew. As in many of the Great Lakes shipwreck accounts there was a hero in this story too. James D. McCallum, a deck hand, miraculously made it to shore with a line that almost all of the passengers used to escape the sinking ship. There seemed to be no agreement in the accounts of how he did what others were unable to do. One man J. Jacques, a watchman, perished in the escape.
The survivors huddled around fires and in a makeshift tent built from canvas from the ships storage for four days until they were rescued on Monday, November 10. The stewardess Rachel McCormick made pancakes from the flour also salvaged from the ship. It was Sunday before the seas subsided enough that the lighthouse keeper from Passage Island could row the four miles to investigate the smoke coming from their fires on the island. He picked up one man purser Reginald Beaumont, who waded and swam through the icy waters to the lighthouse keeper’s boat. They flagged down a the steamerEdmonton which took Beaumont back to Port Arthur where the owners immediately mounted a rescue party. The tugs James Whalen and Laura Grace departed Port Arthur at 6 a.m. on Monday to pick up the survivors, but neither could land or pick up anyone at the Palisades. The entire group of survivors had to hike across the island to Tobin or Rock Harbor to be rescued by the tugs. A cold and exhausted group of crew and passengers from the Monarch arrived back in Port Arthur Monday night at 8 p.m. thankful to be alive.
The Monarch was a 240 ft wooden steamer than ran aground in 1906 at Blake Point. It lies in water starting at 10 ft running to just over 70 ft. for the majority of the wreckage. The ship is mostly broken up and would be just the proverbial boards on the bottom if it weren’t for the numerous artifacts of cargo and hardware that litter the site (anchor, grain bottles, bathtub, tools, boxes of steel rivets, etc.) A very interesting dive site. The ship ran aground at this point in a blinding snowstorm. One of the crew braved the freezing cold water and rough waves and made it ashore and climbed these rock cliffs to attach a rope. A line was rigged and the passengers and crew were all ferried ashore with this rope except for one crewmember who fell and died in the icy water. The rest of the survivors were able to build a fire and even made meals with some canned salmon and supplies carried from the ship. Eventually the group hiked 7 miles across the island in the snow for rescue. An inspiring story when looking at these cliffs the survivors climbed to get ashore in terrible stormy weather.
- Year Built- 1890
- Configuration- Passenger-package freighter
- Dimensions- 259 ft. length, 35 ft. beam, 15 ft. depth
- Engine- Triple expansion steam 900 HP
- Top speed- 14 mph
Full Article
Wreck-Site Information
Video of Wreck
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