SS Senator

SS Senator was a steel-hulled Great Lakes freighter that sank on Lake Michigan with the loss of nine lives and 268 Nash automobiles, on Halloween of 1929 after she was rammed in heavy fog by the bulk carrier Marquette. She lies in 450 feet (140 m) of water 16 miles northeast of Port Washington, Wisconsin. On April 12, 2016 her wreck was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Senator (Official number 116725) was built in 1896 by the Detroit Dry Dock Company of Wyandotte, Michigan. Her hull had an overall length of 420 feet (130 m), and she was 410 feet (120 m) between her perpendiculars, her beam was 45.6 feet (13.9 m) wide and her cargo hold was 28 feet (8.5 m) deep. She had a gross register tonnage of 4048.75 tons and a net tonnage of 3178.66 tons. She was powered by a 1,450-horsepower (1,081 kW) triple expansion steam engine which was fueled by two coal-burning Scotch marine boilers.

Senator was launched on June 20, 1896 as hull number #122. She entered service on July 25, 1896. Senator was used to carry bulk cargoes such as iron ore, coal and later automobiles. She was also built using two unique early Great Lakes bulk carrier building techniques which were steel arches and a moveable water ballast system. She was originally owned by the Wolverine Steamship Company of Detroit, Michigan and named for George W. Roby (1823-1900), a retired Michigan lumberman whose son, John B. Roby, was president of the company. George W. Roby had been a state senator in Ohio before moving to Ludington, Michigan in 1871 and already had a wooden steamer of 1889 named for him.

At the time of Senator's launching, the newspaper Marine Review wrote two articles speaking of the steamer's characteristics. The first article published on June 11, 1896, reads:

The second article which was published on June 25, 1896, reads:

In 1898 Senator loaded 224,000 bushels of corn at Milwaukee, Wisconsin which was one of the largest cargoes loaded at that port, at that time.

In June 1898 Senator got stuck on Ballard's Reef near Detroit.

On August 21, 1909 Senator suffered what was possibly the most significant incident in her career prior to her sinking, and that was when the steamer Norman B. Ream struck and sank her off Pipe Island in the St Marys River. Norman B. Ream tore a large hole in her starboard side, and her crew had hardly any time to run her on the middle ground before her hull filled with water. On September 12, 1909 Senator was raised and taken to a dock. On October 6, 1909 Senator was towed into the port of Cleveland, Ohio. On the following day she was placed in Dry Dock No.2 for repairs which cost $90,000. She was out of commission for the rest of the shipping season.

On October 31. 1929 Senator, under the command of Captain George Kinch was transporting a cargo of 268 Nash automobiles (worth $251,000) from Milwaukee, Wisconsin to Detroit, Michigan. Meanwhile, the ore carrier Marquette, under the command of Captain W.F. Amesbury was bound from Escanaba, Michigan for the steel mills of Indiana with a load of iron ore. The two ships collided, with Senator sinking in 8 minutes. Several of the crew jumped into the water while others made it onto the Marquette. A tugboat rescued 15 men from the lake. Of the crew of 28, seven died. The dead included Captain Kinch.

The exact location of the Senator was discovered by Paul Ehorn and Rob Polich on June 10, 2005, using a Klein 531 side scan sonar. The depth at the wreck site is 430 feet (130 m).