Wreck of the Steamer City of New York



Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, 

Sunday Nov. 27, 1921

Freighter Goes Down With Loss Of All Hands In Big Lake Storm Off Stony Point

Bodies Of Victims Recovered; One Woman And Two Children Lose Lives In Ontario Tragedy

   Oswego N.Y. Nov. 26.,-- Nine Persons Lost Their Lives When The Lake Steamer City Of New York Sank In Lake Ontario Off Stony Point In A Storm Late Yesterday

Four bodies Recovered

Five bodies-one woman and four men-were picked up by the steamer Isabella H. At 8 A.M. today and brought here. The bodies were found in a yawl belonging to the City of New York. Near by another boat bearing the steamer’s name was drifting but it was empty. This boat undoubtedly was the one in which Captain Harry Randall, master of the ill-fated steamer. His two boys and a member of the crew, sought safety when the steamer went down. It is believed they were washed from the boat.

The dead are:

Captain Harry Randall, Seeley’s Bay Ontario

Mrs. Harry Randall his wife

Two children of Captain and Mrs. Randall

Esley Warren mate, Seeley’ Bay Ontario's

Harry Dorey, deckhand Seeley’s Bay Ont.

Ear Dorey engineer, Seeley’s Bay Ont.

Joseph G. Gallagher, fireman Kingston Ontario

Frank Gallagher deckhand, Kingston Ontario

Bodies Badly bruised

The bodies of the victims brought here were badly bruised, probably as a result of being buffeted about on the storm-tossed water of the lake.

The City of New York left here about 2 a.m. Thursday, bound for Trenton, Ontario, with a load of phosphate. Trenton is about a 100 miles from here by water and the steamer would have put in there Thursday night under ordinary conditions. A heavy storm, however, descended upon the lake and continued until late yesterday.

The City of New York was built in 1863 and rebuilt three times since. She was 136 feet long with a beam of 271/2 feet. She registered 360 gross tons.



Buffalo Morning Express

Monday Nov. 28, 1921

Identifies two of Lake Victims

Says one of the bodies is that of Captain Randall’s wife; ship wreckage sighted

By the Associated Press

Oswego, Nov. 27.-Captain John Randall of Seeley’s Bay Ont., father of Capt Harry Randall master of the City of New York, which foundered in Lake Ontario last Thursday, arrived her today and identified two of the five bodies which were recovered and are no at a local morgue, as those of Mrs. Georgia Randall, wife of the captain of the steamer, and Wesley Warren, the mate, Captain Randall was not acquainted with the other members of his son’s crews and could not identify the other two bodies believed to be those of Harry and Earl Dorey, of a man named Gallagher. A relative of the Dorey brothers was on his way here tonight.

It is reported her tonight that another member of the crew whose name has not appeared in the list of victims was Stanley Tapps, a twelve year old cabin boy of Kingston, Ont., Nine persons including the two children and Capt and Mrs. Randall are thought to have lost their lives.

Captain Ben Bowen of the steamer Sicken, arrived here late today with the report that he hadseen considerable wreckage which he believed to be that of the City of New York about fifteen miles northeast of here.


Cape Vincent Eagle

December 2, 1920

Ship Breaks in two on a rock off the Main Duck Islands

A Kingston Dispatch, dated, November 27, is as follows:

“Late on that fateful Tuesday afternoon we made the shelter of the Main Ducks after a terrible battle with the wind and sea,” said Harry Randall, master of the steam barge John Randall, when he arrived here late yesterday, afternoon, after being missing for eight days and practically given up for lost her an hour before word of the safe arrival of Picton, Ontario, was received

“We made shelter in a by near the Main Ducks and prepared to ride out the storm, but about 1:30 o’clock Wednesday, morning the wind shifted and suddenly the vessel broke loose from her moorings and drifted on a rock 50 feet from shore. We remained on her until the middle of Wednesday afternoon and then as the sea was increasing and after she had broken in two, we decided to abandon her and make for shore. We used life belts and succeeded in making our way through the rough icy water to the shore and had to walk a mile before we reached the lighthouse.”

Captain Randall stated that the crew suffered from exposure both on the vessel and on their way through the water, to shore and then to the lighthouse, but that all had recovered. The wind and the heavy sea prevented them from getting from the Ducks to the mainland to communicate with relatives till Thursday morning, when they reached South Bay and went on to Picton..

Captain Randall denied that his vessel had been leaking or that she was steaming badly. He stated that both the coal and machinery can easily be salvaged, but fears that the hull will be a loss as it was badly broken. The vessel lies in shallow water and can be reached by boat hooks.”

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