43°29′10″N 78°43′34″W / 43.486085°N 78.726060°W / 43.486085; -78.726060

Nisbet Grammer
History
United Kingdom
NameNisbet Grammer
OperatorEastern Steamship Company
Port of registry United Kingdom, Liverpool, England
BuilderCammell Laird & Company, Birkenhead
Laid downFebruary 2, 1923
LaunchedApril 14, 1923
IdentificationBritish Registry #146208
FateRammed by the Dalwarnic on Lake Ontario
General characteristics
Class and typeCanaller
Tonnage
Length253 ft (77 m)
Beam43.3 ft (13.2 m)
Height20 ft (6.1 m)
Installed power2 x Scotch marine boilers
PropulsionTriple expansion steam engine

The Nisbet Grammer was a lake freighter that served on the North American Great Lakes from her commissioning in 1923 until her sinking in 1926.[1]

Sinking

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Bow view of the Nisbet Grammer

She sank on May 26, 1926, after the Dalwarnic, a freighter of similar size collided with her.[1] The Dalwarnic's bows pierced one of her holds, but all her crew were rescued.

Both vessels encountered a fog bank on the night of the collision, about 30 miles (48 km), east of the Niagara River.[2][3] The Nisbet Grammer had reduced her speed to half-speed. Still, the vessels were too close to avoid a collision when they sighted one another in reduced visibility of the fog bank. She sank in fifteen minutes, in 500 feet (150 m) of water.

Location

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The exact location of her wreck was unknown for 88 years, until an expedition found it off Somerset, New York.[1] Researchers searched for the wreck for six years.[4] The wreck is the largest steel-hulled shipwreck in Lake Ontario.

References

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  1. ^ a b c Skip Gillham (April 2015). "Shipwreck: Nisbet Grammer" (PDF). NOAA. pp. 11–12. Retrieved 2015-08-16.
  2. ^ Sarah Moses (2014-09-30). "Largest steel steamer to sink in Lake Ontario discovered by team of shipwreck explorers". Niagara, New York. Retrieved 2015-08-17. The Dalwarnic struck the Grammer on the port side near the stern just forward of the boiler house and engine compartment. A lifeboat from the Nisbet Grammer was deployed as was a yawl from the Dalwarnic in which the crew was able to safely escape from the sinking steamship. Within less than 15 minutes the Nisbet Grammer hull filled with water and sank stern first into the depths of Lake Ontario.
  3. ^ "Steamer Goes Down After Ontario Crash". St. Catharines, Ontario: Milwaukee Sentinel. 2015-06-01. p. 19. Retrieved 2015-08-17. The vessel went down fifteen minutes after a collision with the Dalwarnic of the Canadian National Railway Line.
  4. ^ Allie Goodrick (2014-10-04). "Steamship Wreck From 1926 Found in Lake Ontario". Weather channel. Retrieved 2015-08-17.