Topic starter
22/10/2009 9:39 pm
I read today that the infamous laker the Steamer Milwaukee sank in a lake storm on this date (October 22nd 1929)...not far from Milwaukee in Lake Michigan...
My Grandfather Zahn had always remarked to me how in the month of October 1929, was not only a black period for the financial markets, but also for lake steamers, as several shipwrecks occurred that month alone...
The Milwaukee sank, with all hands lost, 52 souls in all, with only 21 eventually recovered...
22/10/2009 11:15 pm
Not a Laker, but in a similar Great Depression situation, our wharfboat, the former steam sternwheel towboat LORETTA HOWARD, was launched on October 23rd, 1929, by President Hoover. He happened to be in Louisville for the Ohio River Canalization celebration, and the Howards were able to have him come over to launch the boat for publicity. Then of course the boat languished for a couple of years at the shipyard as the Depression set in.