SS Anna C. Minch

The Anna C. Minch, sometime before 1912
History
United States
Name	Anna C. Minch
Operator	Kinsman Transit Co. Cleveland, Ohio (1903-1926)
Builder	American Ship Building Company
Yard number	00415
Completed	1903
Identification	U.S. Registry #107846
Fate	Sold to the Western Navigation Co. Fort William, Ontario Canada
Canada
Name	Anna C. Minch
Operator	The Western Navigation Co. Fort William, Ontario Canada
Acquired	1926
Identification	Canadian Registry #153113
Fate	Sank off Pentwater, Michigan during Armistice Day Blizzard on 11 November 1940
General characteristics
Type	Bulk freighter
Tonnage	4,285 GRT 3,229 NRT
Length	380 ft (120 m)
Beam	50 ft (15 m)
Height	28 ft (8.5 m)
Propulsion	Triple expansion steam engine
Crew	24

SS Anna C. Minch was a cargo carrier which foundered, broke in two, and sank in Lake Michigan during the Armistice Day Blizzard on 11 November 1940. The Anna C. Minch was a steam-powered, steel-hulled bulk freighter constructed in 1903 by the American Ship Building Company at Cleveland, Ohio.

All twenty-four of the crew were lost when the ship sank. The cargo she was carrying at the time of her sinking was hardwood lumber. Her wreckage is located one and a half miles south of Pentwater, Michigan, not far from the wreckage of the SS William B. Davock, which foundered and sank in the same storm.

Ship history

The Anna C. Minch was struck by the steamer Harvey D. Goulder while at the Cargill grain elevator in Superior, Wisconsin on 12 April 1907, resulting in $2000 in damages. On 12 November 1911 she struck a dock in the Chicago River. At Lorain, Ohio on 30 September 1915 she struck the south end of a bridge protection pier on the Erie Avenue Bridge. The Theodore H. Wickwire and the Anna C. Minch tore loose from their mooring lines on Buffalo Creek, drifted downstream and damaged several steamers along with crushing a yacht against a concrete dock on 27 March 1916. She collided with the steamer Charles M. Warner on Lake St. Clair and suffered severe bow damage on 6 November 1916. She was struck by the steamer Steel King on 18 November 1917 while moored at the dock at Toledo, Ohio, suffering starboard bow damage. Her mooring was damaged from the Cleveland, Ohio breakwall when she was struck by the steamers Matthew Andrews and Philip Minch on 26 February 1918. Her rudder was damaged when she was grounded one mile below the St. Clair Ship Canal on 31 August 1920. The Anna C. Minch was struck by the steamer Harry W. Croft at Buffalo, New York on 20 October 1920, also she was grounded in fog on the north end of Bois Blanc Island in the Straits of Mackinac on 17 October 1921. On 21 December 1921 she suffered gale damage at Erie, Pennsylvania and then ice damage in the same location on 23 February 1922. She struck the bottom twice when entering Conneaut, Ohio on 17 October 1923. She suffered wheel damage at Milwaukee, Wisconsin on 22 November 1923. The Anna C. Minch struck the dock at Duluth, Minnesota on 1 November 1924 and also struck a dock at Buffalo, New York on 28 October 1925. She was stranded in fog at Fox Point, Wisconsin on 4 December 1925 and was leaking when she was freed by tug boats.

Sinking

The Anna C. Minch, carrying a load of hardwood lumber, was caught in the Armistice Day Blizzard on 11 November 1940. She broke in two and sank during the storm. Captain Donald Kennedy and the remaining twenty-three crew were lost. No bodies were ever recovered. Her wreckage is located one and a half miles south of Pentwater, Michigan, not far from the wreckage of the SS William B. Davock, which foundered in the same storm.

References

• Great Lakes Vessels Online Index: Anna C. Minch

External links

• University of Detroit Mercy
• Boatnerds.com - Shipwrecks