The steambarge Lloyd S. Porter (1893)

1. General

See also the entry for the steambarge Lloyd S. Porter in our ships Database.

NOTATIONS:
(2) As built, US register 0/N 141264. Propulsion: Screw; Engine Steeple compound, 2 cylinders, 16, 32 X 26", 400 hp at 129rpm; engine built by Phoenix Iron Works, Port Huron, 1892. Boiler built by Phoenix Iron Works, 1893. Capacity: 450,000 board feet of lumber or 650 tons
(3) Reregistered Picton, Ontario, O/N 94927; Registered Date: 1901-05-06; Registered Number: 2 of 1901; City: Picton, Prince Edward, Ontario; Dimensions: Length: 159.75, Breadth: 29.42, Depth: 10.00, Tonnage (Net): 379.45, Tonnage (Gross): 488.63

4. History

• 1893, 11 March: Launched. Built for the lumber trade.
• 1898-1902: To Atlantic Coast.
• 1898, 23 October :Collided with and sunk by steamer Turret Age near St. Croix, QUE, St. Lawrence River; raised by Donnelly Wrecking & Salavage Co.
• 1900, 1 May: Purchased by John Hannan, Ogdensburg, NY.
• 1901, 6 May: Purchased by A.W. Hepburn, Picton, Ontario.
• 1905, 2 March: Transferred to Bernard and James Hepburn, Picton.
• 1905, 17 April: Transferred to the Ontario and Quebec Navigation Co.
• 1914, 11 April: Sold to Alphonse A. Larscque, Montreal, QUE.
• 1917, 10-11 May: Burned; operated by Sincennes-McNaughton Co. for CSL.

Newspaper and other transcriptions

5. 1898, 26 October; Port Huron Daily Times: The steamer Turret Age, Captain Brady, of the Black Diamond Steamship Line, which arrived at Montreal on Tuesday, October 25, 1898, reported that she had collided with the American steam barge Lloyd S. Porter near Ste. Croix, about 40 miles above Quebec City, on Sunday night, October 23. The Lloyd S. Porter, which struck full across her bows, filled rapidly and sank in five minutes. Only her masts and wheel house are above water. No lives were lost. Captain Snow of the Lloyd S. Porter and about eleven of the crew escaped in a lifeboat and landed on the north shore a short distance above the village of Ste. Croix. The five remaining crewmen and the pilot, J. B. Labranche, climbed the masts and were rescued by a lifeboat from the Turret Age. The Porter was bound from Port Huron to New York and had left Montreal on Saturday, October 22. She lies in about 60 feet of water and will probably be raised.
6. Scanner, v. 11, n. 3 : The same newspaper, in its edition of Saturday, November 12, 1898, reported that the Donnelly Wrecking and Salvage Company of Kingston, Ontario, had begun salvage operations. A further report in the same paper, dated September 2, 1899, stated that the PORTER had been raised. The steamer was towed to drydock after being raised and, in due course of time, was rebuilt.
7. Scanner, v. 11, n. 3 : Reports that, during the legal settlement, A.W. Hepburn is reported to have been involved, although he purchased the rebuilt barge more than a year later. Willis Metcalfe, in "Marine Memories" states that Hepburn owned the Porter, but suggests that he did not formally transfer it to his name until the Canadian registration had been completed.
8. British Whig (Kingston, ON), 30 Jul 1902: p.5 MARINE INTELLIGENCE : Swift's wharf: steamer Kingston up and down. Craig's wharf: steamer Persia bound westward; steamyacht Wherenow from Thousand Island points. M.T. company elevator: steamer Lloyd S. Porter and consort Isabella Reid, Toledo, with 62,000 bushels of wheat; tug Thomson and three light barges from Montreal; tug Thomson cleared for Oswego with two light barges to load coal.
9. British Whig (Kingston, ON), 13 Apr 1907 : ... The steamer Alexandria was launched this morning, and the S.S. Lloyd S. Porter went on the ways for repairs. A diver was here, from Kingston, this week, and discovered a plate off the Porter's keel. ... Capt. Heffernan will be the master on the S.S. Lloyd S. Porter this season.
10. British Whig (Kingston, ON), 22 Apr 1908 p.8 IN MARINE CIRCLES. : The steambarge Lloyd S. Porter, which is now in Belleville harbor with a cargo of coal, had quite an exciting experience while going up the bay on Monday. The vessel was just opposite Northport in Big Bay when there was a sudden jar that shook the boat from stem to stern. There was considerable ice floating, but the captain says it was something more solid than ice that was struck. On examination there was found to be a large hole in the port bow of the vessel, and that the water was pouring in very fast. The captain beached the vessel near Northport, when the injury was repaired and the steamer after being pumped out, was able to proceed on its way to Belleville, and the damage is being permanently repaired. There is quite a lot of ice in the lower part of the bay yet.
11. Metcalfe also (same title, "Marine Memories") recounts the accident on 18 September 1913 (note: the Scanner gives the date as 13 September) when "in the Welland Canal ... a collision between the Porter and the steamer Fairfax resulted in the Porterbeing sunk in the canal near Port Robinson. The Fairfax, bound up light, had her bow smashed, The Porter was carrying a load of coal at the time of the accident. Both boats formerly of the Hepburn Fleet, were owned by the Ontario and Quebec Navigation Company of Picton."

References and source notes

(1-3) Various registers, mainly Picton, Prince Edward County, Ontario.
(4) Based in part on the Great Lakes Collection, Patrick Labadie.
(5-11) As cited in text.