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Alpena (Boat)The Alpena is a sidewheel steamer that sunk in Lake Michigan in the "Big Blow", an October 15, 1880 storm that sank numerous ships. Built in 1866, by the Thomas Arnold of Gallagher & Company of Marine City, Michigan, the Alpena was 197 feet in length, 27 feet in breadth, with a depth of 12 feet. It was rated at 654 tons displacement. At least 80 people died when the ship, also carrying a large cargo of apples, capsized in the middle of the lake. The ship was on a trip from Grand Haven, Michigan to Chicago, Illinois and was spotted at 8:00 am on October 16 in heavy seas. Some time later, probably due to a shift in the cargo on deck caused by the waves, it capsized and drifted northwest. On the 17th, debris including a piano came ashore in Holland, Michigan while apples and wood debris were found at Saugatuck. There is also a Great Lakes ship currently of that name, formerly the Leon Fraser, owned by Inland Lakes Management, an affiliate of the Lafarge Corporation. It is used as a bulk freighter to haul cement. Built in 1942 and equiped with a steam turbine engine, it is 519 feet long, 67 feet in breadth with a draft of 35 feet. It has a 15,550 ton capacity. It was renamed in 1991. The Alpena is a moderate sized ship in the Great Lakes fleet; the largest Lakers are almost twice its length and breadth and carry four times its cargo. Like many of the Lakers, this ship is confined to the Great Lakes because it is too large (in this case, of too great a draft) to pass the canals and locks of the St. Lawrence Seaway. External link
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