‘Oswego Fleet’ fades into history (From the Oswego Times, December 4, 1886) With this week may be considered closed a rather remarkable season on the lakes and one which has been especially fatal to Oswego vessels. For the past 10 years the Oswego fleet has been dropping off one by one until the number is wonderfully small compared with the big grain fleet which used to sail in and out of this port in the early days. Then the annual statement of the whereabouts of the Oswego vessels, where laid up, etc., was an important item and one which was full of interest to a vast number of people. Now, while there are still many Oswego men who follow the lake for a livelihood, a good many of them are employed in vessels which do not come to this port and the sailors only come home in winter. Look at the record of disasters this year. The Belle Mitchell went down on Lake Erie and was so completely lost that only a little drifting wreckage was left to tell the story. The O.M. Bond went down
