SS Nisbet Grammer
43°29′10″N 78°43′34″W / 43.486085°N 78.726060°W
 Nisbet Grammer
| |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom | |
| Name | Nisbet Grammer |
| Operator | Eastern Steamship Company |
| Port of registry |  United Kingdom, Liverpool, England |
| Builder | Cammell Laird & Company, Birkenhead |
| Laid down | February 2, 1923 |
| Launched | April 14, 1923 |
| Identification | British Registry #146208 |
| Fate | Rammed by the Dalwarnic on Lake Ontario |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Canaller |
| Tonnage | |
| Length | 253 ft (77 m) |
| Beam | 43.3 ft (13.2 m) |
| Height | 20 ft (6.1 m) |
| Installed power | 2 x Scotch marine boilers |
| Propulsion | Triple expansion steam engine |
The Nisbet Grammer was a lake freighter that served on the North American Great Lakes from her commissioning in 1923 until her sinking in 1926.[1]
Sinking
[edit]
She sank on May 26, 1926, after the Dalwarnic, a freighter of similar size collided with her.[1] The Dalwarnic's bows pierced one of her holds, but all her crew were rescued.
Both vessels encountered a fog bank on the night of the collision, about 30 miles (48 km), east of the Niagara River.[2][3] The Nisbet Grammer had reduced her speed to half-speed. Still, the vessels were too close to avoid a collision when they sighted one another in reduced visibility of the fog bank. She sank in fifteen minutes, in 500 feet (150 m) of water.
Location
[edit]The exact location of her wreck was unknown for 88 years, until an expedition found it off Somerset, New York.[1] Researchers searched for the wreck for six years.[4] The wreck is the largest steel-hulled shipwreck in Lake Ontario.
References
[edit]- ^ a b c Skip Gillham (April 2015). "Shipwreck: Nisbet Grammer" (PDF). NOAA. pp. 11–12. Retrieved 2015-08-16.
- ^
Sarah Moses (2014-09-30). "Largest steel steamer to sink in Lake Ontario discovered by team of shipwreck explorers". Niagara, New York. Retrieved 2015-08-17.
The Dalwarnic struck the Grammer on the port side near the stern just forward of the boiler house and engine compartment. A lifeboat from the Nisbet Grammer was deployed as was a yawl from the Dalwarnic in which the crew was able to safely escape from the sinking steamship. Within less than 15 minutes the Nisbet Grammer hull filled with water and sank stern first into the depths of Lake Ontario.
- ^
"Steamer Goes Down After Ontario Crash". St. Catharines, Ontario: Milwaukee Sentinel. 2015-06-01. p. 19. Retrieved 2015-08-17.
The vessel went down fifteen minutes after a collision with the Dalwarnic of the Canadian National Railway Line.
- ^ Allie Goodrick (2014-10-04). "Steamship Wreck From 1926 Found in Lake Ontario". Weather channel. Retrieved 2015-08-17.