1942 — Dec 3, Cleveco Tanker-Barge sinks, Lake Erie Blizzard, 6m north of Euclid, OH–18

— 22 Great Lakes & Seaway Shipping News Archive. Report News (July 2009).
— 19 AP. “14 Drowned as Tug Sinks in Lake Erie.” Evening Independent, Massillon, OH. 12-2-1942, 1.
— 19 Great Lakes & Seaway Shipping News Archive. Report News (December 2008).
— 18 Alchem Incorporated. Erie-Ashtabula Shipwrecks.
— 18 AP. “18 Drowned as Barge is Lost.” Evening Independent, Massillon, OH. 12-4-1942, p1.
— 18 AP. “Contact is Lost with Barge, Adrift on Lake.” Evening Independent, Massillon, OH. 12-3-1942, 1.
— 18 Evening Gazette, Xenia, OH. “Fear 32 Deaths in Lake Tragedy,” Dec 5, 1942, p. 1.
— 18 Swayze. Great Lakes Shipwrecks Beginning with the letter C.
— 18 Swayze. Shipwreck!…Directory of…Shipwrecks on the Great Lakes. 1992, p. 55.

Narrative Information

Alchem: “Cleveco: Steel tanker barge of 250 ft sank on 12/2/1942 in a raging blizzard after a heroic but unsuccessful rescue attempt just West of Cleveland, Ohio. Around 04:00 the watch on the Cleveco noticed that the line to the tow vessel the Admiral went downward indicating that the tug had sunk. The Cleveco cut loose and dropped both anchors, but began to drift. Rescue vessels and aircraft were called but could not locate the Cleveco in the blinding snowstorm. After about 12 hours the Cleveco radioed that it was taking water and would soon lose its generators. The radio then went silent. The search continued through the following night at great risk to all involved. The Cleveco sank with the loss of all 18 crewmen on board. At the time the vessel was carrying 1,000,000 gallons of oil from Toledo to Cleveland. In the early 1960s the Cleveco was raised and was being towed toward Fairport Harbor when it encountered a gale and went back to the bottom. In the summer of 1995 the remaining oil was removed from the wreck. It currently lies inverted several miles off Euclid, Ohio. We have confirmed the location of this wreck as being 41deg 47.47′, 81deg 36.00′. Please note! The NOAA charts all give an erroneous location for this wreck and are off by over a half mile! The same of course applies to any NOAA derived charts and preprogrammed DGPS type instruments. For further information see the Admiral entry number (B91).”

Davin & Witte: “The Cleveco was built in 1913 by the American Ship Building Company in Lorain, Ohio, as a tank ship for carrying oil, and it was later converted to a tank barge. The wrought iron barge was 260 feet in length, 43 feet in breadth, and 25 feet in depth and was owned by Cleveland Tankers, Inc…On December 2, 1942, the Cleveco was in transit from Toledo to Cleveland under tow by the tug Admiral. The barge was carrying 1.2 million gallons of Bunker C (no. 6) oil. While underway en route to Cleveland, the tug and barge became engulfed by a severe storm and blizzard. They had nearly reached their destination when the Admiral sank and the towline was cut. The Cleveco was adrift and at the mercy of the storm. Despite search and rescue efforts by the Coast Guard and others, the Cleveco met the same fate as the Admiral. The Cleveco capsized and sank on December 3, six miles north of Euclid, Ohio, in approximately 30 feet of water.

“This disaster claimed the lives of everyone on board both the tug and the barge, a total of 32 people, making it the worst disaster on Lake Erie since 1916.” (Davin & Witte 1997. “Cleveco Underwater Oil Recovery: Removing a 50-Year-Old Threat.” Int. Oil Spill Conf. Paper)

Great Lakes & Seaway Shipping News Archive, Dec 2008: “On this day in 1942, the Tug Admiral and tanker-barge Cleveco encountered a late season blizzard on Lake Erie. The Admiral sank approximately 10 miles off Avon Point, Ohio, with a loss of 11. The Cleveco sank 30 hours later off Euclid Beach with a loss of 19.” (Great Lakes & Seaway Shipping News Archive. Report News (December 2008).)

Great Lakes & Seaway Shipping News Archive, July 2009: “On this day in 1961, the barge Cleveco, originally lost with a crew of 22 during a December 02, 1942, storm on Lake Erie, was floated by salvagers, towed outside the shipping lanes, and intentionally sunk.” (Great Lakes & Seaway Shipping News Archive. Report News (July 2009).)

Swayze: “Tow of the steel tug Admiral, she was struck by an extremely violent gale. During the struggle she found herself still attached to tug after the latter had sunk. She fought with the gale for hours while the Coast Guard Cutter Ossipee came to her aid. The cutter stood by for some time after Cleveco’s crew declined assistance. Later when they wanted to be taken off, Ossipee, which had pulled back for fear of a collision, could not relocate her visually. Cleveco finally went off radio contact and sank with all hands.” (Swayze. Great Lakes Shipwrecks Beginning with the letter C.)

Newspaper

Dec 2: “Cleveland, Dec. 2 – Fourteen men drowned before dawn today as the 89-foot tug Admiral, swept by strong, freezing winds, went down off Avon Point.

19 Others Await Rescue

“Another seamen aboard the oil barge Cleveco, commanded by Capt. William Smith of Cleveland, awaited rescue from their powerless 250-foot craft as coast guard cutters, tugs and the civil air patrol fruitlessly searched the area for tug survivors.

“The disaster – Lake Erie’s worst since 18 men went down on the Canadian vessel Sand Merchant in a 1936 storm – occurred about eight miles off Avon Point as the Admiral was towing the Cleveco here from Toledo with between 8,000 and 10,000 tons of fuel oil. Company officials said they could not explain the sinking….

“The Cleveco was constructed in 1913 at Lorain, O., and displaces 2,441 gross tons.

“Coast guard life boats from Cleveland and Lorain and one tug from each port were sent to the scene.

“The Cleveco reported the sinking to the coast guard, relaying information that the ‘Admiral’ disappeared. The tow line remained intact….” (Associated Press. “14 Drowned as Tug Sinks in Lake Erie.” Evening Independent, Massillon, OH. 12-2-1942, 1.)

Dec 3: “Cleveland, Dec. 3 (AP) – Coast guard vessels attempted to restore contact today with the 250-foot oil barge Cleveco, which had drifted through a wintry night after cutting loose from the tug Admiral, whose sinking cost 14 lives.

“The ice-sheathed barge, with 18 men aboard, lost radio communication with the nearby coast guard cutter Ossipee shortly before dusk yesterday, when water put her generators out of commission and crippled at least a part of her heating system.

“The Ossipee reported early today she had lost contact, said district coast guard headquarters, and two civil air patrol planes were dispatched from Cleveland and Willoughby to scout the area, about 10 miles off Cleveland.

“A motor lifeboat also was sent out. A coast guard spokesman said it was believed the barge and the Ossipee had drifted some distance apart. The cutter probably did not want to stay too close to the Cleveco because of the heavy waves, he added….” (Associated Press. “Contact is Lost with Barge, Adrift on Lake.” Evening Independent, Massillon, OH. 12-3-1942, p. 1.)

Dec 4: “By the Associated Press. Cleveland, Dec. 4 – The owners’ report, ‘all hands lost,’ added 18 men of the tanker-barge Cleveco today to the 14 drowned aboard the tub Admiral as coast guard inspectors opened an investigation of the worst Great Lakes disaster since the November gale of 1940.

“Commander Earl B. Hull, chief of Merchant marine inspectors for the Cleveland coast guard district, said the investigation of the double sinking was being conducted. No details will be announced, he added.

“A Toledo man listed on the Cleveco casualty list issued by Cleveland Tankers, Inc., which operated both the barge and its tug for Allied Oil Co., was reported by a relative to have missed the barge when it left Toledo. A company spokesman said it was possible another man had substituted at the last minute.

“Albert P. Quinn said in Toledo his brother-in-law, John R. Tompsett, had telephoned him from downtown Toledo Wednesday morning, after the sailing.

“The life-jacketed bodies of eight of the Cleveco’s crew were found near a long patch of oil slick late yesterday, nearly 18 hours after the vessel was first sighted. This led owners to conclude the barge, carrying 24,000 barrels of oil to eastern war plants, went down in the high seas and declare ‘in all probability all hands on board have been lost.’

“Boats and planes continued today a search for the bodies of seamen still missing. The tug Admiral, while towing the Cleveco from Toledo to Cleveland, sank Wednesday with loss of her 14-man crew. Both vessels were operated by Cleveland Tankers, Inc., for its parent, the Allied Oil Co.

“The double disaster was the worst on the Great Lakes since 67 lives were lost in November 1940. On ‘Black Tuesday,’ Oct 22, 1929, 68 were drowned when the car ferry Milwaukee and the freighter Wisconsin sank in Lake Michigan.

“The first identified bodies from the Cleveco were those of:

Edward J. Crooks, 33, Cleveland, wheelsman.
Allen Duguid, 57, Bayonne, N.J., fireman.
Bjor Alvier, 50, Avon Lake, O., chief engineer.
Mike Zacherass, deckhand, age and address unknow.

“The bodies recovered were found by the coast guard cutter Ossipee and a motor lifeboat about six miles northwest of Fairport Harbor, O., but vessel owners expressed the opinion the Cleveco possibly sank in 50 feet of water six miles off Euclid Beach – an amusement park just east of Cleveland.

“The 250-foot steel-hulled barge was last sighted at 1 a.m. yesterday.” (Associated Press. “18 Drowned as Barge is Lost.” Evening Independent, Massillon, OH. 12-4-1942, pp. 1, 8.)

Dec 7: “Cleveland, Dec. 7 –(AP)—Bodies of two more crew members of the sunken barge Cleveco were recovered yesterday from Lake Erie. They were those of Arthur Nettleton, 27, of Detroit, and John J. Sawed, 41, of Buffalo, N.Y….” (AP. “Bodies of Lake Seamen are Being Recovered.” Athens Messenger, OH, 12-7-1942, p. 1.)

Sources

Alchem Incorporated. Lake Erie Alphabetical Shipwreck Index. “Lake Erie Shipwreck Map ‘C’ and Index.” Accessed 11-18-2020 at: http://www.alcheminc.com/asht.html

Associated Press. “14 Drowned as Tug Sinks in Lake Erie.” Evening Independent, Massillon, OH. 12-2-1942, 1. Accessed 11-18-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/evening-independent-dec-02-1942-p-1/

Associated Press. “18 Drowned as Barge is Lost.” Evening Independent, Massillon, OH. 12-4-1942, p1. Accessed 11-18-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/evening-independent-dec-04-1942-p-1/

Associated Press. “Bodies of Lake Seamen are Being Recovered.” Athens Messenger, OH, 12-7-1942, p. 1. Accessed 11-18-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/athens-messenger-dec-07-1942-p-1/

Associated Press. “Contact is Lost with Barge, Adrift on Lake.” Massillon Evening Independent, OH. 12-3-1942, 1. Accessed 11-18-2020: https://newspaperarchive.com/evening-independent-dec-03-1942-p-1/

Associated Press. “Plan Secret Inquiry into Two Sinkings.” Sandusky Register Star News, OH. 12-5-1942, p. 1. Accessed 11-18-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/sandusky-register-star-news-dec-05-1942-p-1/

Davin, Commander John J. Jr. and John A. Witte, Jr. “Cleveco Underwater Oil Recovery: Removing a 50-Year-Old Threat.” International Oil Spill Conference Proceedings 1997, pp. 783-788. Accessed at: http://www.iosc.org/papers/00287.pdf

Evening Gazette, Xenia OH. “Fear 32 Deaths in Lake Tragedy,” Dec 5, 1942, p. 1. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=87495116

Great Lakes & Seaway Shipping News Archive. Report News (December 2008). Accessed at: http://www.boatnerd.com/news/archive/12-08.htm

Great Lakes & Seaway Shipping News Archive. Report News (July 2009). Accessed at: http://www.boatnerd.com/news/archive/7-09.htm

Swayze, David D. Great Lakes Shipwrecks Beginning with the letter C. Accessed 9/6/2009 at: http://www.boatnerd.com/swayze/shipwreck/c.htm

Swayze, David D. Shipwreck! A Comprehensive Directory of Over 3,700 Shipwrecks on the Great Lakes. Boyne City, MI: Harbor House Publications, Inc., 1992.