LAURA GRACE C107171

Table of Contents

Video: James Montanus

Tugboat
Snorkel
76ft Lengths
Long Pond Channel
Lake Ontario

The LAURA GRACE was a wooden tug (towboat) built in Collingwood, Ontario, in 1901. Constructed by Robert J. Morrill, it was initially owned by the Lake Superior Tug Co. located in Port Arthur, Ontario, with a possible ownership connection to Thomas Marks. The tug had a screw propulsion system powered by a steeple compound engine with two cylinders. The engine was reportedly taken from the tug MARY ANN, built by the Doty Engine Works in Goderich, Ontario, in 1890. It also featured a 16 + 18 x 22″ Scotch boiler from the MARY ANN, constructed by John Inglis & Company in Toronto, Ontario, in 1890. The LAURA GRACE had a length of 76 feet, a beam of 16 feet 6 inches, a depth of 11 feet, and a tonnage of 85 gross tons and 58 net tons.

In December 1910, the LAURA GRACE was involved in the salvage of the steel steamer DUNELM in Port Arthur, Ontario. By December 6, 1918, it had changed ownership and was owned by the Montreal Transportation Co. based in Port Arthur, Ontario. However, on that same day, the tug ran aground near Rochester on Lake Ontario. The final location of the LAURA GRACE was identified as the Long Pond Outlet in Greece, New York, with a depth of 15 inches.

Following the incident, the LAURA GRACE was not listed in subsequent editions of the Canadian “Liste des Navires,” indicating that it was presumed abandoned. The tug’s history reveals that it was initially built for the Pigeon River Lumber Co. in Port Arthur, Ontario, but was soon sold to James Whalen’s Lake Superior Tug Co. before being purchased by the Montreal Transportation Co. for $24,500. The tug met its unfortunate end on December 6, 1918, when it was lost on Grandview Beach near Charlotte (Rochester), New York. Fortunately, all nine men and a woman aboard the vessel were saved.

Sources for this information include the Montreal Transportation Co. Annual Directors’ Reports from 1919 to 1920, Montreal Transportation Co. Cash Book for the LAURA GRACE from May to December 1918, Montreal Transportation Co. Directors’ Minutes on May 14, 1918, Montreal Transportation Co. Engineer’s Log for the India from April 25 to June 1, 1918, Montreal Transportation Co. Ship’s Log for the Mary P. Hall, as well as various publications and records such as Bascom and Gillham’s “Early Ships of Canada Steamship Lines,” Bowling Green Great Lakes Vessels Online Index, Bureau Veritas Great Lakes Register 1919, Canada List of Shipping from 1910, 1912, and 1915, Canadian Heritage Ship Information Database, Green’s Marine Directory of the Great Lakes 1920, Marine Museum of the Great Lakes Canadian Ship Registers online, New Mills List, Detroit Marine Historian September 1952, and Scanner February 1979.