SS John V. Moran

John V. Moran (Official number 76748) was built in 1888 in West Bay City, Michigan, by F.W. Wheeler & Company.[2] John V. Moran was the last of three sister ships built between 1886 and 1888.[4][5][6] Her sister ships were William H. Stevens (1886) and Eber Ward (1888).[5][7]

John V. Moran's wooden hull was 214 feet (65 m) long and 37 feet (11 m) wide. The moulded depth (roughly speaking, the vertical height of her hull) was 22.16 ft (6.75 m).[8] She had a gross tonnage of 1350.38 tons and a net tonnage of 1035.26 tons.[8]

John V. Moran was powered by a two-cylinder 500 hp (370 kW) rpm fore and aft compound steam engine;[2] the cylinders of the engine had bores of 26 inches (66 cm) and 48 inches (120 cm) and a stroke of 40 inches (100 cm).[2] Steam for the engine was produced by a single 12 foot (3.7 m) × 12.5 foot (3.8 m) 110 psi Scotch marine boiler.[2] The engine was manufactured by Samuel F. Hodge & Company in Detroit, Michigan, while the boiler was manufactured by the Lake Erie Boiler Works in Buffalo, New York. She was propelled a single fixed pitch propeller. It was 14.3 inches (36.3 cm) in diameter, and had an 11 inch (27.9 cm) pitch.[2]

John V. Moran was a combination of a bulk freighter and a package freighter, built to carry both bulk (e.g. iron ore, coal) and package freight (e.g. flour). As such, she had cargo hatches in her deck, and her sides.[9] Her hull was reinforced with iron plates for winter transit.[3]

John V. Moran in service for Ward's Detroit & Lake Superior Line

John V. Moran was launched on August 16, 1888.[1] She was built for Ward's Crescent Transportation Company of Detroit, Michigan, and was operated as part of Ward's Detroit & Lake Superior Line, also of Detroit.[1][2][10] Her first home port was Detroit, where she was enrolled at on the same day she was launched.[1] She entered service later in August.[2] She was retrofitted with double hoists for loading cargo in 1891.[2] John V. Moran was transferred/sold to the Crescent Transportation Company.[2][1] During the 1893 shipping season, John V. Moran ran between Buffalo, New York and Duluth, Minnesota.[2] She was sold to the Union Transit Company of Buffalo.[1][2]

John V. Moran ran aground on May 7, 1896, near Sailors' Encampment in the St. Marys River at about 5:00 P.M. Her navigation lights were on, and her crew were endeavouring to free her.[11] John V. Moran signaled to a tug for assistance, but the signals were mistaken by the downbound bulk freighter Maurice B. Grover for a "hurry-up signal". Maurice B. Grover initially tried to pass by John V. Moran's stern, unsuccessfully, and instead tried to head past her bow. However, instead of safely passing John V. Moran, Maurice B. Grover rammed John V. Moran amidships at 7:00 P.M.[11] John V. Moran's owners libeled Maurice B. Grover.[11] The case was tried at the Utica, New York by the United States District Court for the Northern District of New York. Judge Alfred Conkling Coxe Sr. exonerated Maurice B. Grover, claiming that John V. Moran was at fault, as she did not give any danger signals prior to the collision.[11] John V. Moran was repaired in Superior, Wisconsin in June of that year.[2]

In November 1898, John V. Moran was sold to the Crosby Transportation Company of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and ran between the ports of Manitowoc, Wisconsin, Sheboygan, Wisconsin, Muskegon, Michigan and Grand Haven, Michigan.[2]

John V. Moran left Milwaukee, Wisconsin for Muskegon, Michigan on February 9, 1899, at 1:00 P.M., loaded with barrels of flour and miscellaneous cargo.[3][12] At around midnight, while travelling through an ice field, a piece of ice punctured her hull, causing a serious leak. Captain John McLeod[13] ordered that a significant amount of her cargo to be jettisoned in an attempt to keep John V. Moran afloat.[3][12] John V. Moran's crew used her whistle to alert the nearby steamer Naomi. Three of John V. Moran's crew began walking towards Naomi.[3] Naomi's crew noticed the lights of the three crewmen and picked them up. Afterwards, she headed over to John V. Moran, picking up the remainder of her crew.[3] On the morning of February 10, Naomi took John V. Moran in tow, as she was still afloat.[3] Although Naomi managed to tow John V. Moran a few miles nearer to Muskegon, she was eventually abandoned as the crew realized that she would not be able to survive the whole journey.[3] John V. Moran's crew walked back over the ice to her, in order to retrieve their belongings.[3] On the morning of February 12, the car ferry Muskegon which was headed for Muskegon, passed John V. Moran, still afloat.[3]

Ten years after John V. Moran sank, her sister ship, Eber Ward was also sunk by ice on Lake Michigan.[3][14]

The Michigan Shipwreck Research Association of Holland, Michigan began searching for John V. Moran at the beginning of June 2015.[3][13] Despite the patchy newspaper reports from 1899, they were able to narrow down the search area to a 10 square mile (25.9 km²) grid system.[15] At 3:30 A.M. on June 5, the side-scan sonar picked up a shipwreck.[13][15][16] Initially the shipwreck hunters were unsure whether or not the wreck was John V. Moran. Due to the extreme depth of the wreck, sending a diver down to investigate the wreck would have been extremely difficult.[3][13][15] On July 8, the team invited Michigan State Police Underwater Recovery Unit to investigate the wreck.[3][13][15] They sent down a remotely operated vehicle to capture footage in order to identify the wreck.[3] Upon reaching the wreck, the team were able to instantly identify it as John V. Moran when they compared the fully intact wreck seen on the footage captured by the remotely operated vehicle to a historic image of John V. Moran.[3][13][15]

The wreck of John V. Moran rests upright and remarkably intact in 365 feet (111.3 m) of water.[3][13][15] Her pilothouse is intact, her mast, with rigging, is still in place and there is still glass in her windows. Her anchors and all of her railings remain in place.[3][13][15] The only piece of her wreck that appears to be missing is her funnel. The remotely operated vehicle also located a hole in the starboard side of John V. Moran's hull, and some minor damage at her port bow. Her discoverers called her "the most intact steamship wreck on the bottom of Lake Michigan, if not all of the Great Lakes".[3][13][15]