AGNES W.

The Roswell P. Flower, also known as the Agnes W., was a bulk freighter that was built in 1887 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Constructed by Wolf & Davidson, the vessel was a single-decker with hold beams, diagonal straps, a single watertight bulkhead, a steel boiler house, and a reinforced bow. The hull was made of wood, and it had one deck. The original owner of the ship was the Milwaukee Steamship Co., located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Powered by a for-and-aft compound engine with two cylinders, the Roswell P. Flower had four masts and a screw propulsion system. The engine, built by S.F. Hodge & Co. in Detroit, Michigan, in 1887, had dimensions of 30 and 54 inches by 45 inches and generated 850 horsepower at 73 revolutions per minute. The ship was equipped with two boilers, manufactured by M. Davis & Co. in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1887, with a firebox size of 9 feet by 16 feet and a steam pressure of 100 pounds.

Measuring 264 feet in length, with a beam of 38.1 feet and a depth of 17.7 feet, the Roswell P. Flower had a gross tonnage of 1593.40 tons and a net tonnage of 1165.48 tons. It had a carrying capacity of 2400 tons.

Sadly, the Roswell P. Flower met its final fate on July 3, 1918, when it stranded at Canada Point, Drummond Island, in Lake Huron. The ship was attempting to enter the St. Mary’s River during a storm but ended up stranded. Despite efforts to save it, the vessel was pounded to pieces and lost. Its final cargo consisted of grain.

Throughout its history, the Roswell P. Flower had various owners and undertook different operations. It towed the barge Donaldson in 1887 and the barge C.P. Grover in 1888. The ship experienced several grounding incidents, including one in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on April 21, 1887, and another near Cedar Point shoal above Points aux Pins, Ontario, in Lake Erie, on July 14, 1890. In 1892, it was wrecked on a reef near Waugoschance Point in the western Straits of Mackinac. The vessel changed owners multiple times and underwent a name change to the Agnes W. under the ownership of John D. Wanvig et al. in Milwaukee in 1915. Later, in 1918, it was owned by D.W. Stocking in Duluth, Minnesota, before meeting its final end on Drummond Island.