History #
The AURORA was a propeller-type wooden bulk freighter built in 1887 by Miller & Murphy in Cleveland, Ohio. It had official number 106493 and measured 290 feet in length, 41 feet in width, and 22.33 feet in depth. The ship had a gross tonnage of 2282 and a net tonnage of 1859. It was primarily used for carrying cargo.
On December 12, 1898, the AURORA caught fire and was gutted while stranded near Bois Blanc Island in the Detroit River. The ship had been towing the barge AURANIA and was carrying 85,000 bushels of wheat at the time of the incident. The fire occurred after the ship ran aground and the surrounding ice froze around it. Fortunately, there were no reported casualties from the incident.
The hull of the AURORA was scuttled in eighteen feet of water after the fire. It was later recovered in 1900 and converted into a schooner-barge. However, the converted vessel was reportedly destroyed by fire in 1932 at Ferrysburg, Michigan, after being abandoned there in 1927.
The AURORA had several owners throughout its history. It was initially owned by John Corrigan of Cleveland and later passed on to the Morton Salt Company. In its later years, it served as a sand barge for the Construction Materials Company in the Chicago area before being towed to Grand Haven, Michigan, where it was burned on the north side of Harbor Island.
Please note that the information provided is based on historical records and may not include all the details of the ship’s history.
