1908 City of Cleveland 3 1954
Steel sidewheel Great Lakes passenger and package freight vessel
Built at Wyandotte MI by Detroit Shipbuilding Co., Hull 168
Launched Jan 5, 1907
420’ LOA, 402’ LBP, 54’ beam, 22’ depth
5 decks, coal-fired boilers, inclined compound engine, 6000 IHP
Hull launched at Wyandotte yard, towed to Detroit MI yard for addition of cabins and fixtures. Completed except for installation of carpeting and furniture and scheduled for late June commissioning when extensively damaged by fire May 13, 1907, requiring complete rebuilding of her superstructure and delaying her entry into service until spring 1908.
Enrolled at Detroit MI May 14, 1908 (#74)
390.0 x 54.2 x 22.3, 4568 GT, 2403 NT US 204080 to:
Detroit & Cleveland Navigation Co., Detroit MI (home port Detroit MI)
Entered service 1908
Renamed City of Cleveland III 1912
Boilers converted to oil firing about 1950
Severely damaged June 26, 1950 in collision with Norwegian MV Ravnefjell in fog off Harbor Beach MI, Lake Huron. Five passengers killed. Downbound returning from annual Detroit Chamber of Commerce cruise to Lake Michigan. Laid up at Windsor ON and did not operate again.
Sold 1954 to Ventimiglia Demolition Co. for conversion to a barge but destroyed by fire Oct 20, 1954.
Hull scrapped 1956 at Buffalo NY
See history in Scanner March 2004 (#283)
Also in Great Lakes Ships We Remember II p. 66
0844
I was Asst, Purser aboard the CIII on the collision date 6/24/1950 My Father was Asst engineer aboard CIII in 1919 where he met my mother who was a housemaid aboard.
I .have pictures on the day of the collision