Boatnerd Discussion Forum

[quote]The Argo was operating illegally on Lake Erie at the time it sank. The 120-by-34-foot, New York harbor barge was not approved for Great Lakes usage, Gillcrist said.[/quote]
I'm curious as to how its "illegality" has now been determined at this late date. On 3 May 1937 the [i]Argo[/i], while being towed by the [i]Syosset[/i], collided with the barge [i]Seaboard No. 44[/i] near Phoenix, New York, destined, I assume, for Lake Huron. The accident resulted in an investigation and eventually a law suit, but at no time was the barge deemed "illegal," and this was just months before it sank. If the barge were not approved for petroleum carriage in lake use, its cargo could never have been insured. The vessel had been extensively rebuilt for the transport of petroleum from its original covered lighter configuration, as the published side scan sonar image indicates, below. Was its illegality determined at the Lorain inquest into the foundering?

Found this in the Detroit Free Press.

http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2015/10/27/barge-shipwrecked-lake-erie-1930s-leaking-oil/74685112/

Two hundred thousands gallons of petroleum is equal to 4762 barrels. Using the standard rule of thumb of 7 barrels of petroleum is equal to 1 ton, the barge cargo would have been around 680 tons.

[quote]One mystery we did refer to was the ARGO's disappearance from registration serials like American Merchant Vessels after 1915 until the 1930's.[/quote]
Article 4 of the Customs Regulations of the United States (1915) exempted from documentation "[b]oats or lighters not being masted, or if masted and not decked, employed in the harbor of any town or city, and not carrying passengers." Clearly, the lighters of the Independent Pier Company would qualify, operating only within Philadelphia harbor. I imagine its conversion to a tank barge occurred around when the [i]Syosset[/i] was converted to barge canal service, 1936. It obviously would have to re-enter documentation since it became a vessel engaged in common carrier service on American (indeed, international) coastal waters.

[quote="Guest"]An article I read said that the Argo is the worst of 5 high risk wrecks in the Great Lakes. What/where are the other four?[/quote]


[url]http://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/protect/ppw/wrecks_regions.html#greatlakes[/url]

An article I read said that the Argo is the worst of 5 high risk wrecks in the Great Lakes. What/where are the other four?

[quote="NMGL"]
One mystery we did refer to was the ARGO's disappearance from registration serials like American Merchant Vessels after 1915 until the 1930's.[/quote]

I'm not quite sure why, but East Coast harbor barges such as lighters, carfloats and scows frequently went in and out of documentation. For instance, the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western stopped registering most of their barges about 1946. Yet other railroads started documenting older, never documented barges in that same era. I suspect there may have been some tax implications for the owners that encouraged documentation, while undocumented barges provided savings since they did not have to be inspected or dry docked regularly.

The US Army Corps of Engineer's Transportation Series publications, such as TS5 [i]Transportation Lines of the Atlantic, Pacific and Gulf Coasts[/i] provide some documentation of unregistered barges, but they didn't begin publication until the later 1930's.

If I were to guess, perhaps the [b]Argo[/b] became undocumented as a lighter, but returned to documentation after conversion to a tank barge.

The data provided in the NOAA report certainly had some significant errors, of which you noted several. NOAA and their contractor did 86 other reports like this one and there is a bit of "cookie cutter" approach evident.

I believe that the reference to a diver in Port Clinton knowing where the location of the wreck was based on some internet shipwreck websites. I think the boots on the ground for the NOAA contractor did not "throw themselves into the heat of primary source research".

That said, NOAA should be credited with getting the ball rolling. In fact, because of the NOAA report, the US and Canadian Coast Guard performed a worst case scenario training event in 2014 assuming a catastrophic leak.....even though they did not know the exact location.

Having now been interviewed about a dozen times for this story, I am amazed at how often reporters get it wrong. All of Mr. Lafferty's comments are accurate and known to us all.

One mystery we did refer to was the ARGO's disappearance from registration serials like American Merchant Vessels after 1915 until the 1930's.

We would like to know when she was converted to a tanker barge and when her tonnage was significantly changed from around 800 tons to around 400 tons.

Also reports from the crew suggest that the boat never "turned turtle" but rather turned 90 degrees and was on her side. The two crewman took lines from the tugboat off the side of the barge and were pulled to the safety of the tug. She sank sometime later as the CAPT reported she was still bobbing at the 90 degree position when he headed toward Lorain.

Hmmm, 100,000 gallons of crude is less than 2500 barrels, and 100,000 gallons of benzol is also less than 2500 barrels of refined petroleum. Depending on the specific gravity of the crude, and given the length of time the barge has been on the bottom, and the temperature of the water, the crude may well not be a problem, as it may be about the consistency of asphalt. The benzol is a different story, but saying that this is a potential "environmental disaster" is really stretching it. Problem yes, but not a disaster.

The NOAA assessment also assumed it sank in Canadian waters, which now appears to be incorrect.

It doesn't look like much historical research was done as part of the assessment process. The Argo assessment also implies there is no active commercial fishing on Lake Erie. Yet there are still active fisheries on both sides of the border

[url]http://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/protect/ppw/pdfs/argo.pdf[/url]

The assessment also mentions that one recreational diver claimed he knew where this wreck was. I can't believe a diver would be so protective of his " find" that he would refuse to provide the location of a barge laden with oil. In my mind, if he knew it was leaking, that borders on criminal negligence.

Today's News Channel carries a story about the loss of the barge [i]Argo[/i] and makes this quizzical claim:
[quote]The Argo is a bit of a mystery. Historical records show it sank during a storm on Oct. 20, 1937, in 40 feet of water off Canada's Pelee Island. It was about 13 miles north of Lakeside and being pulled by a tugboat. No one knows who operated the Argo, where she departed from or where she intended to go.[/quote]
The [i]Argo[/i] left the Canadian Soo from the Algoma Steel plant in tow of the tug [i]Syosset[/i] with a split cargo of 100,000 gallons of crude oil and 100,000 gallons of benzol, destined for New Jersey via the New York State Barge Canal. Both vessels were owned by Woodford J. Townsend of Bayonne, New Jersey. The Coast Guard vessels [i]Tahoma[/i] out of Cleveland and [i]Frederick Lee[/i] of Toledo searched for the [i]Argo[/i] off Kelleys Island to no avail. The [i]Syosset[/i] rescued the barge's two crew members, both from New York, after the vessel turned turtle. There was an inquiry held at Lorain investigating the sinking.

The [i]Argo[/i] was built 1911 at Baltimore by the Spedden Shipbuilding Company for the Independent Pier Company of Philadelphia as a steel covered lighter. The [i]Syosset[/i] was built 1899 at Philadelphia by Neafie & Levy for the Long Island Rail Road Company. It originally had a double compound steam engine, 20-40 x 28, but was replaced in 1934 when the tug was cut down for Barge Canal service by a 6-cylinder Superior Diesel, 420-bhp. The tug remained in service until the early 1980s, I believe.

Here is a view of it on the Barge Canal.