1892 John B. Ketcham 2d 1937
Steel Great Lakes bulk lumber carrier
Built at Toledo OH by Craig Shipbuilding Co., Hull 52
210’ LOA, 193’ LBP, 40’ beam, 15’ depth
1 deck, hatches @ 24’, coal-fired boiler, steeple compound engine, 500 IHP
Enrolled at Toledo OH July 19, 1892 (#2)
193.4 x 40.5 x 13.0, 908.88 GT, 779.82 NT US 77037 to:
Craig Shipbuilding Co., Toledo OH (home port Toledo OH)
Built on shipyard account for sale as a lumber carrier
Entered service 1892
Sold 1892 to Oscar P. Bills and Edmund E. Koch (1/2 ownership each)
Sold 1893 to Huron Transportation Co., Au Sable MI, H. N. Loud, Mgr. (home port to Buffalo NY)
Home port to Port Huron MI 1899
Grounded May 20, 1910 at the head of the West Neebish Channel, St. Mary’s River. Downbound, struck a crib and sank, blocking the channel. Abandoned to underwriters as total loss. Raised by Reid Wrecking Co., Port Huron MI and Sarnia ON and towed to Port Huron for repairs. Sold at auction Feb 11, 1911 to Reid Wrecking Co., Sarnia ON. Operated by Reid by his Spokane Steamship Co.
Transferred to Canadian flag 1913 and renamed John B. Ketchum 2nd (home port to Sarnia ON)
Enrolled Canadian at 193.0 x 40.5 x 12.3, 1109 GT, 763 NT Can 130436
Sold Jan 27, 1916 to Canada Shipping Co., Montreal QC, F. E. Hall & Co., Mgr. (home port to Montreal QC)
Sold Jan 2, 1918 to George Hall Coal Corporation of Canada, Montreal QC
Firm reorganized 1922 as George Hall Coal and Shipping Corporation
Fleet sold March 10, 1926 to Canada Steamship Lines, Montreal QC
Renamed Coalhurst 1927
Sold late 1927 to James Playfair, Midland ON and renamed Neebing (2)
Sold 1928 to Dominion Towing & Salvage Co., Port Arthur ON
Fleet sold 1929 to Sin-Mac Lines, Montreal QC
Foundered Sept 24, 1937 in Nipigon Strait, Lake Superior. 5 lives lost. Enroute from Paradise Island to Red Rock ON towing barge Coteau, both loaded with gravel, foundered in high sea and sank immediately when her boiler exploded.
See history in Scanner April 1994 (211)
Note: John B. Ketcham 2d, the man for whom this vessel was named, was a Toledo OH banker who apparently was also an officer of Craig Shipbuilding Co., which built her, and this was the name she displayed during her entire career under the U. S. flag. Beginning early in the twentieth century, however, the U. S. government’s annual Merchant Vessels directories and various privately issued marine directories began spelling her name as Ketchum rather than Ketcham. When she transferred to Canadian flag, her name was enrolled (and presumably displayed) as John B. Ketchum 2nd.
Note: A number of sources say this vessel was renamed Greenland between 1920 and 1922 but this is not supported by the registers of the time, including the Canada List of Shipping, the Register of the American Bureau of Shipping and the Great Lakes Red Book. The 1927 Red Book shows her as Coalhurst, ex Ketchum (II!). Greenland may have been an unofficial renaming. More research is needed here.
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