DATE OF LAUNCH: 1908
DATE AND LOCATION OF LOSS: November 10, 1913, Lake Huron, near Port Hope, Michigan
DATE LOCATED: 1985
SHIP DETAILS: John A. McGean was built in 1908 by the American Shipbuilding Company at their shipyard in Lorain, Ohio. She was named for one of the company’s directors. She was 432 feet long, with a beam of 52 feet and a draft of 28 feet, and measured 5,100 gross register tons.
CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE LOSS: The John A. McGean sailed out of Lake Erie on November 7 with a load of coal bound for Lake Superior. At 2:10am on November 9, the ship cleared Port Huron and headed into Lake Huron with fresh northwest winds on its bow. A few minutes behind the McGean was the steamer Isaac M. Scott, also headed north. The two vessels hugged the western lakeshore to take advantage of the protective effect of the landmass, but after reaching the Thumb were forced to head straight north into Lake Huron.
According to the Goderich Signal-Star, “Trotter pieced together the McGean’s final terrifying moments on Sunday, Nov. 8, 1913. From the pilothouse, Captain Nye ordered his Chief Engineer, Calvin Smith, to stoke the McGean‘s boilers hot enough to keep her steam engines running the ship ahead of the waves to avoid being overwhelmed and swamped. When the winds shifted direction, mountainous waves battered the McGean from all sides making it impossible to steer.
As the McGean plunged into a trough something hard struck her keel bending it at a 45-degree angle and breaking off one of her propeller blades. Whatever struck the McGean, all on board knew the ship was helpless and rudderless at the mercy of the waves.
A monster wave carried away the wheelhouse and stove in the McGean’s engine room skylights and deck hatches. In seconds, Lake Huron’s icy waters swamped the engines and flooded the ship’s holds. The crew had only moments to react. Engulfed by the waves, the giant 432-foot McGean rolled over and vanished under the waves. For decades afterwards, it was said, area residents collected buckets full of coal from the McGean‘s holds off the beach.”
DISCOVERY AND FINDINGS: The John A.McGean was not found until 1985, when it was discovered near Port Hope, Michigan by marine archaeologist David Trotter with damage indicating that she had been swamped by a large wave. The wreck lies in 175 feet of water and is upside down on the lake bottom.
Portions of the wreckage were found by a local doctor along the shoreline at Bayfield, Ontario in mid-November 1913.
INTERESTING FACTS: The body of chief engineer Calvin Smith was found near Black’s Point, Ontario (just south of Goderich, Ontario) in late November 1913. Second cook D.M. Betts’ remains were identified at the morgue in Goderich, Ontario via a photograph and details furnished by the Lake Carriers’ Association. His remains were sent home to Girard, Pennsylvania on November 20, 1913.
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