Posted by Randy Johnson on May 16, 19100 at 16:41:20:
In Reply to: finding the ship wreck posted by jonny jr on May 15, 19100 at 14:50:40:
Loss of the Cyprus and her Captain
by Teddy Remick
Inland Seas Summer 1965 Volume 21 number 2
It is often said that when a person is born it is written in the big book how and when he shall die. I have often wondered if this is also true of vessels, for they are always personally referred to as "she" or "her". If it is true, there was very little to record on the steel steamer Cyrpus. Maybe it was written up on the pages like this: Cyprus launched Sept. 17,, 19097; will make one full trip and discharge one full cargo; death will take place at 7:45 pm Oct. 11, 1907. Her captain will die with her."
The Cyrpus built at Lorain Ohio was 42 feet long, with a 52 foot beam, a depth of 28 feet and 7,400 tons capacity. On Sept. 21, 1907, she left Lorain Ohio, on her maiden voyage for the upper lakes. At the head of the Lakes she loaded up with iron ore and delivered it safely to Fairport Ohio.
When she left on her second trip, which was again to the head of the Lakes, Capt. Frank B. Huyck, took his wife and two sons with him. On arriving at Duluth the captain's wife and sons went to St. Paul to stay over a trip with the wife's sister. It was here that they first heard of the disaster through newspaper accounts. which listed them also as victims of the disaster.
In letters received in 1961 from Franklin Huyck, son of the late Capt., he tells of his trip up the lakes with his father, plus a little of his dad's life. The following is what he wrote us concerning the career of Capt. Huyck:
My father was first captain of the Chumming, an Erie RR boat. The union called a strike and lost it. The company refused to take any of the men back including the captain. He sailed one year as mate (first think) on the Amasa Stone ulnder his friend Capt. Reid. He was promised the first new boat out, which was the Cyprus. He made one round trip on her and then took the family on the second. On the way back she went down.
From newspaper accounts owned by Franklin Huyck and loaned to Great Lakes Research, to be copied for our files. I noted two possible reasons for the sinking of the Cyprus. One was that her plates opened and she sprang a leak and sank; the other, that her hatches were not battened down and water poured into the holds sinking the vessel.
The account gin in the newspaper on the probability of her having sprung a leak read as follows:"The Steamer George Stephenson of the Pittsburgh Steamship Company, while locking through this morning reported that she had passed the Cyprus late yesterday/. A red stack was distinguishable in the water behind her, indicating that the iron plates had spring and that the iron with which the ship was loaded was discoloring the water."
The second theory, that of water pouring through the hatches, was deducted from a statement by Ca[pt. Harbottle of the steamship Stephenson. He states that his vessel passed within 150 feet of the Cyprus, so close that he was able to see that the hatches of the latter ship were not covered in the customary way to keep out the water. A heavy sea was running and the decks of the Cyprus were continually awash with the big combers that broke over her rails.
Franklin Huyck states also that the hatches were not battened down, but tell why. The hatches on the Cyprus were not battened down because the ship carried no tarpaulins with which to do so. She had a new type hatch cover which was supposed to be watertight. The captain must have had doubts about these hatches, for in his letters, Mr. Huyck and heard him tell the first mate" I'll never make another trip without tarpaulins.: Franklin Huyck also watched his father show the mate how the new type of cover would allow the hatches to leak.
There was only one survivor of the Cyprus sinking- Second Mate J.C. Pitt. He was found on the beach the morning after the disaster. After constant nursing he regained consciousness and told the following story of the disaster: " The Cyprus was making fairly good weather in the storm when suddenly the cargo shifted, giving the craft a heavy list. This was about 7pm. when the vessel was off Deer Park in the regular course of vessels bound up and down. Water began pouring in the hatches and a panic ensued, many of the crew putting on life preservers. Suddenly, the freighter rolled over on her side and almost instantly plunged to the bottom."
Pitt and three other crew members were near a lifeboat. They cut it loose and cast off just in time to escape the whirlpool caused when the vessel went down. The Cyprus sank between 7:00 and 7:45 p.m. and the four men clung to the raft until 2:00 in the morning. Five times the raft was flipped over in the surf near the rocky shore, and with each struggle the men grew weaker. On its fifth flip the raft left only one of the men alive; it was again caught upon the surf, but this time thrown up on the beach. The mate had just enough strength left to crawl away from the reach of the waves, then fell on the sand exhausted and unconscious, remaining here until found by the patrol of the Life Saving Station.
The Cyprus had loaded with iron ore at the Great Northern dock at Allouez Bay, and had departed from there. Thursday Morning. She was reported seen by Capt. Smith of the steamer Jenkins at 10.00 Friday morning about ten miles south of Stannard Light. She was on course for the Soo, rolling heavily in the sea, but flying no distress signal. On the 11 The at 7;45,pm she sank 18 miles north of Deer Park Station, which is about 30 miles south of Grand Marais on the shore of Lake Superior.
From Deer Park Station on Oct. 12, 1907, an official report was sent to Washington, which stated: "Steamer Cyprus, ore laden, foundered 7:45 p.m. 11th instant, eighteen miles north of station (Deer Park); twenty two drowned; second mate reached shore on life raft, one-half mile east of station; two bodies found; first mate and watchman."
After the sinking of the Cyprus, all the vessels the company owned were issued tarpaulins, but to me it was like locking up the barn after the horse was stolen.
: does anyone know of the Cyprus shipwreck?