The steamship W.H. GILBERT was a steel freighter built by F. W. Wheeler & Company in West Bay City in 1892. It was constructed for the Empire Transit Company, a fleet controlled by the Wolvin interests of Duluth. The ship had U.S. Registry number 81382 and measured 328 feet in length, 42.5 feet in width, and 20.5 feet in depth. It had a gross tonnage of 2,820 and a net tonnage of 2,002.
W.H. GILBERT was equipped with a powerful triple expansion engine with cylinders measuring 23 inches, 37 inches, and 62 inches in diameter and a 44-inch stroke. This made her a very fast freighter.
In 1901, along with several other Wolvin ships, W.H. GILBERT became part of the Pittsburgh Steamship Company fleet. For twelve more years, she carried ore as a Silver Stacker. In 1913, she was sold to the Lakewood Steamship Company, a subsidiary of Hutchinson based in Cleveland.
Tragically, on May 22, 1914, W.H. GILBERT was lost in a collision with the freighter CALDERA. The collision occurred 15 miles off Thunder Bay Island in Lake Huron. This information is sourced from the Telescope Magazine and the Institute for Great Lakes Research in Perrysburg, Ohio.
