During the night of November 30, 1926, the Eagle Harbor Coast Guard crew were heading for Copper Harbor with 22 men they had saved from the Thomas Maytham. As they rounded Keweenaw Point, they came across another ship encased in ice and abandoned. This was the City of Bangor.
As the Coast Guard boats continued on towards safety, they
finally saw the crew of the City of Bangor on the shore. After
shouting instructions back and forth, the Coast Guard boats went on
to Copper Harbor to unload the Maytham crew. They then returned to
the City of Bangor crew, fought through the breakers and rescued the
crew of 29.
The men were in bad shape. When the City of Bangor hit the rocks, the hull was ripped open, and water poured into the engine room, drowning her fires. The ship was dark and cold. The lake spray froze over the steel ship, creating an iceberg.
When the seas moderated the following day, the crew reached
shore in the lifeboat. There they found a couple feet of wet snow and
nothing else - no road, no people, no houses. They built a fire and
spent a cold night in the woods. The men were without adequate
clothing for the freezing temperatures. There was no food. The ship's
officers forcibly kept the men moving to prevent them from succumbing
to the cold. When sighted by the Coast Guard, they were exhausted and
nearly all in. Many were suffering from frostbite and would require
hospitalization. All of her crew were rescued by the Eagle Harbor
Coast Guard, in spite of the blizzard and below zero
temperatures.
A double rescue in one day and night was unusual, but so was the cargo of the City of Bangor. Her cargo consisted of 248 brand new 1926 Chryslers.
The wind was so fierce that 18 cars on the deck were blown into the lake. Later the remains of these cars washed up on the Keweenaw beaches. The City of Bangor was upbound from Detroit to Duluth when she went up on the rock reef, in an area of heavy forest between Keweenaw Point and Copper Harbor.
Most of the cars were in the Bangor's hold and thus in
excellent condition. Eventually all of the cars,
outside of those blown into the
lake, were recovered. When the water surrounding the steamer froze
solid enough, a ramp was built to the deck and the Chryslers were
driven off and over the ice to Copper Harbor. There, they were kept
until spring when the roads could be plowed open. Taken to Calumet,
they were loaded on a Detroit train, shipped by rail back to Detroit
and, after repairing, resold.
Several Chryslers did remain in the Copper Country area where their proud owners swear they are the "finest cars they ever owned." The City of Bangor later slid off the reef during the spring storms and has become a site for SCUBA diving.
During World War II she was cut up for scrap, although some of
the vessel still remains.
Information from Great Wrecks of the Great Lakes, Frederick Stonehouse, Harboridge Press, Marquette MI 1973 and Keweenaw Shipwrecks, Frederick Stonehouse, Avery Color Studios, Au Train MI, 1988
Website for each wreck in the Keweenaw. New ones are put up as wrecks are discovered. At this time, there are over 30 divable wrecks in the area and well over 60 yet to be discovered.
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