The Collision of the City of Cleveland III, Part 2
By Wayne "Skip" Kadar

We continue with the saga, as Kadar describes the ship’s impending disaster.

The fog was so thick visibility beyond ten feet was impossible. The men on deck were deafened by the blast of the Cleveland’s foghorn, answered by a ship somewhere in the fog off the Cleveland’s port. Several Chamber members gathered, joking about the drill until one of them noticed through the fog that the Cleveland had sustained damage towards the stern. They moved closer for a look and suddenly realized the seriousness of the situation.

Chief Boatswain’s Mate, Kenneth Call, of Coast Guard Station Harbor Beach, was on ship to shore radio communicating with Captain Rolf Thorson of the Norwegian freighter, S.S. Ravnefjeel. The freighter was north bound on Lake Huron in the upbound shipping lane about four miles off shore. The captain reported that fog limited visibility to no more than a few feet; he was concerned that his radar showed a ship in their vicinity.

Chief Call instructed the captain to keep sounding his fog signal and to proceed slowly.

The radar indicated the ship near was downbound about four miles off shore and moving at a fast rate of speed. Then the ship disappeared from the radar screen, indicating it was too close for the Ravnefjeel’s radar to pick it up.

“Starboard!” Captain Thorson ordered, realizing the Ravnefjeel was on a collision course with the other ship.

On the bridge of the City of Cleveland III, Captain Kiessling, heard a fog signal close to his position. He stepped out, listened and surmised it came from a ship, which was also on a downbound heading. However, he could not verify the direction of the other ship because the radar on the Cleveland was inoperable.

The hulk of a freighter suddenly came into view. Realizing a collision was imminent Captain Kiessling ordered the wheel to starboard to veer away from the freighter. The freighter rammed the passenger ship on the port side just astern of midship. The collision was a glancing blow from fore to aft. One survivor described it as if a huge spoon had scooped out a section of the side of the ship. The spoon scooped out a section more than 60 feet long and extending from the first deck to the fourth.

Captain Kiessling, on the bridge of the Cleveland ordered a distress signal be sent out, which was picked up by the Harbor Beach Coast Guard station. Chief Call and his men quickly launched the motor lifeboat and sped to the scene, some four miles south and east of the Harbor Beach Coast Guard Station. Upon reaching the collision site the lifeboat had to work its way through floating wreckage. “There were pillows, bedding, and other furnishings cluttering the area,” Call said.

After the collision, the Ravnefjeel immediately backed off and stopped. Two lifeboats were lowered. Rowing towards the Cleveland, one stopped to retrieve something floating on the water…a body. The other lifeboat moved toward the damaged section of the Cleveland, towards voices of men screaming for help. They cautiously maneuvered around the debris towards the cries of men obviously in pain.

Passengers on deck watched as the crew poked at the damage with pike poles, pulling wreckage away until two men were uncovered. The men were in the water, tangled in wreckage. Pulled aboard the lifeboat, the men lay motionless.

The observers on the upper deck watched the lifeboat as it turned towards the stern; the crew began rowing hurriedly. The lifeboat disappeared behind the damage for a while, then reappeared as it moved forward towards a forward freight companionway of the Cleveland.

Someone from the group on deck watching the rescue saw a third man in the lifeboat. The man was large with a full beard. “That’s Dewhirst in the bow, I can see his whiskers!” It was Tom Dewhirst, badly injured, but alive.

Dewhirst had suffered leg and chest injuries, including several painful broken ribs. Dewhirst, from his Harbor Beach Hospital bed, later recounted that one moment he was in his cabin and the next he was in the cold water with wreckage falling on him.

“It kept falling on me. Every side of me it fell on me, and smashed my whole body. I had to keep swimming deeper to get away from it. I swam about 20 minutes and when I found some wreckage I climbed onto it. I don’t remember where I was but I saw the Cleveland drifting away.”

Look for the conclusion in next month’s issue as Kadar describes the rescue efforts, saving those who were injured and mourning those who had died.

Wayne “Skip” Kadar’s latest book entitled, Great Lakes Passenger Ship Disasters can be purchased at the Corner Store in Harbor Beach or by calling the publisher, Avery Color Studios, Inc. at 1-800-722-9925. Avery Color Studios is the publisher of an extensive list of Great Lake books.