The LC Waldo
This Great Lakes History Log is presented by Filer Credit Union and the Port of Ludington Maritime Museum.
Masters of the PM Steamers
By Rob Alway, Editor-in-Chief
In the historical record of Ludington shipping, Capt. John Wesley Duddleson is remembered as the first skipper of the SS Flint & Pere Marquette No. 2 break-bulk freighter. But, that assignment was a mere footnote compared to the heroic efforts he and his crew on the freighter L.C. Waldo, undertook on Nov. 9, 1913 during the most devastating storm in recorded history of the Great Lakes. The rescue of the crew of the Waldo, shipwrecked on Lake Superior, is legendary, and an example of Duddleson mastery skills of navigation and leadership. It is a rare tale in the aftermath of the storm that ultimately took the lives of 250 sailors and sank dozens of ships including 12 with all hands lost.
The L.C. Waldo
On Friday, Nov. 7, 1913, the SS L.C. Waldo left Two Harbors, Minn. carrying iron to Cleveland, Ohio. The 451-foot freighter had a crew of 24, which included two women. Within 18 hours the ship would be gone, but the entire crew would be saved.
One of the best accounting of the incident comes in William Ratigan’s book “Great Lakes Shipwrecks & Survivals,” originally published in 1960 and revised in 1977.
“Huge waves broke over the Waldo’s bows and raked her decks with spray that froze and encased her with tons of ice,” Ratigan wrote, describing Capt. Duddleson’s experience in the pilot house that evening.
“It was like being in the solitary cell of a madhouse, with an insane wind screaming murder in the darkness. At visibility zero he steered by compass alone, and prayed for his guardian angel to keep a sharp lookout.”
At midnight, Duddleson laid a course for Manitou Island off the Keweenaw Peninsula, hoping to gain the island’s shelter.
A giant wave ripped the pilothouse off the ship. Duddleson and his wheelsman were swept away with the pilothouse but were able to leap for a hatchway and escape.
“Gallantly the Waldo raised her bows and plunged forward into the maelstrom of Lake Superior, but her pilothouse was gone, her compass demolished, her electric light plant out of commission, her main steering wheel so damaged that she could not maintain a course against the wind. In the roaring night she began to founder,” Ratigan wrote.
“The wheelsman inched his way aft, over the ice-sheathed deck , and completed his slippery round trip. The two Lakemen set the hand compass on a stool and, for four hours, wrestling the spokes of an auxiliary wheel, they steered a course by the ghostly light of a flickering hurricane lantern.”
The wrecked Waldo, 1913
The L.C. Waldo was built in 1896 by F.W. Wheeler & Co. of West Bay City, Mich. (now part of Bay City). Owned by Roby Transportation Co., in which Duddleson was part owner of, the Waldo was originally 387 feet long, 48 feet wide with a depth of 23.8 feet. In 1905, the ship was lengthened to 451.5 feet.
The story of the November 1913 storm begins much like the other devastating Great Lakes storms. The late fall temperatures were moderate, in the 50s and then the weather suddenly changed. By Nov. 7, a string of low-pressure centers in Canada had consolidated into a low-pressure center southwest of Lake Superior which became the first storm. At the same time, warm air pushed into the central Great Lakes from the south. By Nov. 8, the storm was moving east through northern Lake Huron while strong northerly winds developed behind it over Lake Superior.
On Nov. 9, the second storm formed over the Carolinas and Virginia. The northern portion of the storm began sweeping warm moist air from the Atlantic Ocean over colder air in the Ohio area producing heavy snows. The northwest portion of the extremely powerful storm began creating strong winds from the north along the long axis of Lake Huron, building large waves. By Nov. 10, 24 hours of such building had created immense waves which ships were subjected to along with the high winds as the center of the storm crossed north/northwest over Lake Erie near Toronto. Surface pressures went as low as 968.5 hectopascals, the lowest of the 1913 storm.
The storm would last three days, striking Lake Huron the hardest.
The Waldo came within half a mile of the passage between Gull Rock and Keweenaw Point, “an amazing feat of seamanship in a storm that made other masters miscalculate their ship’s positions by as much as a hundred miles,” Ratigan stated. “But the slim half-mile margin proved fatal to the Waldo. With a smash and a shudder she fetched up on a reef running out from Gull Rock on Manitou Island.”
By dawn of Nov. 8, the captain ordered everything lashed fast, but the ship had no chance against the wind and waves, which pounded it on the rocks. The life rafts and lifeboats were swept away before the crew could lay a hand on them, Ratigan wrote. “When the forward deckhouse went over the side, the captain ordered all hands on deck and into the battered after deckhouse.
“The engine room gang came up just in time and the deck watch came riding the lifeline from bow to stern as the waves broke over them, only bare-survival moments before the Waldo broke in two.” As a result, the ship’s engines were flooded and there was no longer any heat.
The chief engineer came up with the idea of taking the captain’s bathtub from his quarters and use it as a stove. The crew managed to get wood from bits and pieces of the ship. They eventually got down to the end of the food supply, two cans (some accounts state tomatoes, some peaches). Capt. Duddleson ordered that the food would go to the two women, the men all agreed.
The ship became encased in ice as the waves struck it non-stop. Late Saturday evening, the steamer Lakeland caught sight of the Waldo, but couldn’t get close enough to help. However, the Lakeland carried wireless radio, a rarity at that time.
Surfmen from U.S. Life Saving stations at Eagle Harbor and Portage Township (near Houghton) responded. Eagle Harbor’s station had opened the previous year and it was closer to the Waldo. Early Sunday morning rescuers, under the command of Capt. Thomas H. McCormick, manned a 26-foot motorized boat (the larger boat was under repair). A tug from the Portage station, under the command of Capt. Charles A. Tucker, also arrived.
The life saving crews were able to safely rescue every person from the Waldo to safety. In a storm that took the lives of over 250 sailors, it was nearly miraculous that every person onboard the ship survived. Much of that credit can be given to Capt. Duddelson, who was 67 years old at the time of the incident, with 46 years of experience sailing on the Great Lakes. His seamanship guided the ship to a point that few could have done.
Duddleson’s connection to legendary Great Lakes ships doesn’t end with the L.C. Waldo or the F&PM No. 2. In 1913, he was captain of the W.B. Davock. The Davock, under the command of another captain, would go down in history as being one of the two ships with all hands lost between Ludington and Little Point Sable in the Armistice Day Storm, Nov. 11, 1940.
Capt. John W. Duddleson
Capt. John W. Duddleson
John Wesley Duddleson was born on Aug. 12, 1846 in Upper Sandusky, Ohio, the son of George W.B. Duddleson (1824-1900) and Lucretia (Curtis) Duddleson (1825-1860).
Both sets of Duddleson’s grandparents were considered pioneers of the Upper Sandusky area. George Duddleson’s brothers were involved in the maritime industry. Thomas Jefferson Duddleson (1829-1885), known by his middle name, and William Duddleson (1817-1905) both served as mates.
The Duddleson family moved to Indian Mill, Ohio where they owned a farm.
John left the family farm in 1860, at the age of either 14 or 15, and became a machinist apprentice until 1863, when on Dec. 22 he joined Company F of the Ninth Ohio Cavalry.
While serving during the Civil War, Duddleson’s company saw combat multiple times in Alabama and Georgia.
The Ninth Ohio Cavalry participated in Gen. Tecumseh Sherman’s March to the Sea campaign, conducted through Georgia from Nov. 15 to Dec. 21, 1864. Duddleson achieved the rank of corporal and served until 1865.
Thomas W. Palmer
Duddleson’s sailing career began in the summer of 1867 when he visited his uncle Jefferson and shipped with him in the scow Ino, staying with the vessel until the spring of 1869. He then joined the steamer Jay Cooke as a wheelsman, under the command of Capt. John Edwards.
In the spring of 1870, he was appointed mate of the SS Mary Pringle. In 1872, he was assigned mate of the SS Michigan, which operated between Toledo, Ohio and Ogdensburg, NY on Lake Erie. In the spring of 1873, he became mate of the steamer Young America which operated on Lake Ontario.
In 1874, Duddleson was appointed mate of the steamer Marine City, under the command of Capt. Angus Keith, then was transferred to the steamer Buckeye at the end of the season, which became his first command. The Buckeye was a 144-foot-long vessel.
In 1875, he became master of the Maine, operated by the Northern Transportation Line. In the spring of 1876, he was captain of the steamer Oswegatchie and then, in 1877, was the skipper of the Nashua, for two years.
In 1879, he was appointed master of the side-wheel passenger steamer Grace McMillan, that operated between Wyandotte and Gross Ile, Michigan and Amhersburg, Ontario, which he sailed until September 1881 when he took command of the new steamer Thomas W. Palmer out of Buffalo, NY.
The F&PM No. 2
Flint & Pere Marquette Railway steamers
The Flint & Pere Marquette Railway reached Ludington on Dec. 1, 1874. It began cross-lake shipping from Ludington to Sheboygan, Wis. in May 1875, utilizing the leased vessel John Sherman under the command of Capt. John Stewart. After a year, railroad officials determined the Sherman was too small and contracted with the Goodrich Transportation Company in 1876. After seven years of paying other companies to haul the freight, the F&PM ordered its own ships, ending the contract with Goodrich in 1883.
In September 1882, Capt. Duddleson began his career for the Flint & Pere Marquette Railway as captain of the railroad’s second break-bulk vessel, the Flint & Pere Marquette No. 2.
While a railroad official, Sandford Keeler, based out of company headquarters in Flint, technically managed the Ludington shipping operation, Duddleson was seen as being in charge of the docks and ships at the F&PM’s western terminus. He was known as the commodore of the fleet.
“Mr. Keeler was a shrewd, far sighted man in the world of commerce and transportation, but he had no practical qualifications which fitted him for the immediate management of steamboats,” an article in the 1904 edition of the Ludington Record Appeal stated. “As a matter of fact, this department in the early days was directed almost absolutely by Capt. John Duddleson whose word and will on matters pertaining to marine was law.”
The wooden F&PM No. 1 and No. 2 were built by Detroit Dry Dock Company (hull nos. 59 and 60, respectively). They were each 144.1 feet long, 30.2 feet wide with a depth of 12.1 feet. The vessels were operated with fore-and-aft compound steam engines, each equipped with one firebox boiler built by Desotell & Hutton, Detroit. The No. 1 operated at 562 hp while the No. 2 operated at 600 hp.
Both were typical Great Lakes propellers at the time, with their engines aft and a single tier of cabins for 25 passengers on the spar deck. A spar deck is the upper deck of a ship that extends from stem to stern.
The Ludington break-bulk freighter fleet was known locally as the “black boats” because of their color scheme.
The F&PM No. 1 arrived in September 1882 under the command of James Brown Muir with the F&PM No. 2 arriving shortly afterward. In 1883, the two ships were lengthened to 181 feet.
With an increase in traffic in the late 1880s the railroad expanded its fleet by three more wooden vessels: F&PM Nos. 3, 4, and 5, built in 1887, 1888, and 1890, respectively. Nos. 3 and 4 were break-bulk and passenger steamers, similar to the original pair, but larger. No. 5 was a package freighter built without passenger accommodations. It was intended mainly for winter flour movements across the lake.
The Nos. 3 and 4 were each 186.6 feet long, 34.5 feet wide with a draft of 12.4 feet. The No. 3 was built by John Craig of Gibraltar, Mich. under contract from the Detroit Dry Dock Company (Hull No. 77) while the No. 4 was built by Detroit Dry Dock (Hull No. 89). they were powered by a fore-and-aft compound steam engine with two Scotch boilers built by Dry Dock Engine Works.
Capt. John Duddleson oversaw the construction of the F&PM No. 3 and had the honor of being its first master. In the spring of 1888, he was first captain of the F&PM No. 4, leaving the railroad that winter when he became a co-owner of the Roby Transportation Co., in partnership with Ludington businessman George W. Roby and his son-in-law Lewis C. Waldo.
G.W. Roby
George W. Roby
G.W. Roby (1823-1900) was born in Ohio and served as an Ohio state senator. In 1845, he began practice as a physician in Pike County, Ohio and continued in practice until 1863. He then became a pharmacist in Columbus until 1871, moving to Ludington that year where he changed careers and founded the lumber firm George W. Roby & Co., located near the foot of Madison Street (present location of Occidental Chemical). The company operated a mill on Pere Marquette Lake beginning in 1872 and also had a company store at 210 Sixth St. At its inception the company reportedly owned some 140 million feet of standing pine. The mill was sold in 1886 to Pardee, Cook & Co. It was destroyed by fire in 1890 and never rebuilt.
L.C. Clark
Lewis C. Waldo
Lewis Clark Waldo (1853-1921), was born in Ithaca, NY, the son of Albert Waldo (1815-1873) and Sarah (Kennedy) Waldo (1819-1911). The family moved to Milwaukee when Lewis was a child. He came to Ludington in 1873, the same year the town was incorporated as a city, and became the store manager for Roby.
On Oct. 8, 1876, Waldo married Roby’s daughter, Mary Elizabeth “Minnie” Waldo (1850-1919). The couple had two sons and four daughters.
Waldo served as Ludington city treasurer in 1878 and 1879. He also was a stockholder in the original Ludington State Bank, which was incorporated in 1890 and rechartered in 1882 as the First National Bank of Ludington. He served as president of the bank under both charters.
Waldo was also the inaugural president of the Ludington Masonic Temple Association when it was organized in April 1888.
SS George W. Roby
The SS George W. Roby
The freighter George W. Roby was built by F.W. Wheeler & Co. at West Bay City (now Bay City) during the winter of 1888-1889 at a value of $128,000. The ship was 294 feet long with a beam of 41 feet and a depth of 21.5 feet. Its coal-fired boilers were operated by a triple expansion engine at 850 hp. Its home port was Detroit.
Duddleson oversaw the construction of the ship. On May 14, 1889, under Duddleson’s command, the ship made its maiden voyage, delivering coal to the Milwaukee Gas Light Co.
“Capt. Duddelson’s Price,” read the headline of published in the May 15, 1889 Milwaukee Sentinel. “The new steamship George W. Roby made her first appearance at this port yesterday, and is discharging a coal cargo at the gas dock. She is among the largest carriers on the lake. Capt. Duddleson, who was for many seasons commodore of the Flint & Pere Marquette fleet, is her master, and he also has a $25,000 interest in her.”
Later that year, in December, the Roby Transportation Company was organized. It seems to have been common practice for businesses, at least in the maritime industry, to begin prior to formally incorporating.
In 1895, Roby Transportation Co. ordered another vessel, the L.C. Waldo. Also built by F.W. Wheeler & Co. at West Bay City, the Waldo (Hull No. 112) was originally 387.3 feet with a beam of 48 feet and a depth of 23.8 feet. Duddleson again oversaw the ship’s construction.
After the Waldo began service, the Roby was then traded to the ship yard which sold it in 1896 to the Lakeland Transportation Co. In 1905, it was converted to a bulk freight barge by American Ship Building Co. at Lorain, Ohio. On Sept. 17, 1905, it was grounded at Lime Kiln Crossing on the Detroit River. Up-bound with a load of coal, the barge was being towed by the SS Major. An attempt was made to lighten its load and on Sept. 19 a fire broke out destroying it. The vessel was scuttled with dynamite to save the cargo. The Roby’s capstan is now on display at the National Museum of the Great Lakes in Toledo.
The wreck of the L.C. Waldo on Nov. 8, 1913 was not the ship’s first accident. On May 20, 1896, the ship, under Duddleson’s command, was down bound on the St. Mary’s River carrying ore laden when it collided with the steamer Choctaw, under the command of Capt. John Ward.
The Waldo struck the Choctaw nearly amidships on its starboard side, cutting a hole about 10 feet long from deck to bilge. The damage to both vessels was estimated to be about $10,000. Nobody was hurt in the crash.
Personal Life
Daughter Ellen “Nellie” Duddleson
John Duddleson’s personal life saw a lot of tragedy. Two of his wives passed away and he lost one child at childbirth.
On Dec. 19, 1871, Duddleson married Eva Ellen Saunders (1853-1877) of Trenton. Their first child, Ellen Maud “Nellie” Duddleson was born on Sept. 13, 1874. Eva died giving birth to their second child, who also died, on Jan. 2, 1877. She was buried at Woodmere Cemetery in Detroit.
Son William Van Duddleson
On April 8, 1878, Duddleson married Emily Loretta Smith (1860-1896) in Ludington. They had two sons, John Marshall, known as Marshall, born on Nov. 13, 1881, and William Van, known as Van, born on May 14, 1883. Emily died in May 1896 while in San Jacinto, Cali. with her two sons.
“Mrs. Duddleson had been ailing for some time, and last October, by the advice of physicians, left with her two young sons, Marshall and Van… for San Jacinto, California,, where the captain’s only brother, Jefferson Duddleson, lives,” an article in the June 18, 1896 Saginaw Courier Herald stated. “Her husband was called west, but too late, arriving two days after the funeral. He brought the motherless boys back to their desolate home, stopping a few days with his sister, Mrs. Eddy Brown, en route for Cleveland, where his steamer lies.”
Emily was about 36 years old. At the time, Marshall was 14 years old and Van was 12. Her death occurred about the same time the Waldo collided with the Choctaw.
John’s brother, Thomas Jefferson Duddleson (1848-1931) was the superintendent of the Nevada Northern Railroad.
On Oct. 18, 1888, Capt. Duddleson married for a third time. He was wed to Ina M. Cross Saunders (1864-1937).
Daughter Ellen married Walter Kellogg Fifield on Dec. 21, 1892 in Ludington. They had two children, Katharine (1893-1980) and Emily (1895-1988). Ellen died in 1910 about the age of 36.
Son Marshall would follow in his father’s footsteps and become a Great Lakes captain. Beginning in 1913, he was master of the William B. Davock. Though no longer under his command, on Nov. 11, 1940 would sink on Lake Michigan just west of Pentwater with all hands lost. The Armistice Day Storm would be considered the second worst storm in recorded history to hit the Great Lakes.
Marshall and his wife, Anna Gertrude, were married on Jan. 16, 1907. They had a daughter, Anne Elizabeth (1912-2009). He died on Jan. 3, 1967 in Pascagoula, Miss at the age of 65. He and Anna are buried at Hillcrest Memorial Gardens in Fort Pierce, Fla.
Son Van, though, led a different life. Census records in 1910 list him as a farmer in Orondo, Wash. He married Emily Luella O’Leary (1888-1956) and did not have any children, though Emily had a son named Tom. In January 1934, Van was sentenced to 15 years in prison for forgery. He died in prison on Aug. 22, 1945.
Capt. John W. Duddleson, left, with his son, Capt. John Marshall Duddleson, and granddaughter, Elizabeth, about 1916 near Bradenton, Fla.
Retirement and death
Following the wreck of the Waldo, Capt. Duddleson retired and became a draft inspector for two years in Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. Two years later, he returned to the lake.
“But the lure of pounding surge, the thrill of battle with the elements and the beauty of Lake Superior called him back and in 1915 he became master of the M.A. Bradley,” a newspaper story in 1927 stated.
The M.A. Bradley was built in 1908 by Great Lakes Engineering Works at Ecorse (Hull No. 38) for Alva Steamship Co. of Cleveland. It was 482 feet long with a beam of 52 feet and a depth of 30 feet. In 1915, the ship was sold to Merrimac Steamship Co. of Cleveland and transferred to Stewart Furnace Co. in 1924.
It appears that Duddleson commanded the M.A. Bradley up to the year he passed away.
John Wesley Duddleson died on April 23, 1927 in Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. He was buried at Riverside Cemetery there.
“The veteran sailor was buried in Riverside cemetery, overlooking St. Mary’s river and visible to scores of captains to whom Capt. Duddleson was known after sailing the lakes for 56 years,” an article in the May 1, 1927 edition of the Saginaw News stated. “He had been a skipper for nearly half a century.”
M.A. Bradley
Masters of the PM Steamers series:
Capt. John Stewart was first skipper of the Ludington fleet 150 years ago
Capt. Muir commanded first Ludington ‘black boat’ until his death
Filer Credit Union with offices in Manistee, Ludington, East Lake, and Bear Lake; filercu.com; 800.595.6630
The Mason County Historical Society is a non-profit charitable organization that was founded in 1937 that does not receive any governmental funding. It owns and operates the Port of Ludington Maritime Museum in Ludington, Historic White Pine Village in Pere Marquette Township, and The Rose Hawley Archives and the Mason County Emporium and Sweet Shop in downtown Ludington.
For more information about donating to and/or joining the Mason County Historical Society, visit masoncountymihistory.org.
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