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Most of the wrecks profiled in this book are well known to divers, their remains long ago fully explored.It is only their histories which have remained unknown. There is, however, one massive shipwreck, her location long known among local fisherman, which has remained nearly untouched by divers. The remains of the barge Northern Light, due to her 190 foot depth, and perhaps because of the less-than-glamorous description "barge," have been seen by a mere handful of intrepid divers. The history of this ship, and the circumstances of her loss, are drawn from shipping registers, museum collections, and contemporary newspaper accounts. Special debts are owed to Mrs. Robert P. Hyams who was kind enough to share her remarkable memories with us, and to C. Patrick Labadie of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers who filled in many gaps in the early history of the ship.
The Northern Light, official number 130407, was built in 1888 by Globe Iron Works of Cleveland, Ohio as hull number 17. Although she would, late in her career, sail as a barge, she was originally a fine steamship, built for the Great Lakes trade routes.
The Northern Light was one of six sister-ships. Her sisters, all built in 1888 and 1889 by Globe Iron Works for the Northern Steamship Company of Buffalo, New York, were the Northern King, Northern Queen, Northern Wave, North Wind, and North Star. The vessels were built along similar lines. All were steel package freighters, 299 feet in length with beams of 40 feet 6 inches. Depth was listed as 24 feet 6 inches. The ships, as built, had forward and aft superstructures with the aft supporting a single funnel. Each superstructure supported a mast, while a third mast was installed at midships between two small deckhouses. The aft deckhouse of the Northern Light was removed early in her career, probably to facilitate the transport of larger cargoes. The Northern Light was the first of this group to be built and is considered to be among the earliest steel-hulled Lakes ships.
The two decked vessels, equipped with three cylinder triple expansion engines with bores of 24, 38 and 61 inches and a stroke of 42 inches, displaced 1885 net tons and 2476 gross tons. Nominal horsepower was rated at 241. The ships were classified "A-1" by Lloyds of London. According to the Duluth Evening Herald, the Northern Light was built under the supervision of a Capt. Murch, said to be "a marine man whose knowledge of shipbuilding is rarely excelled". The ship was fitted with the day’s most advanced machinery and it was said that Capt. Murch had "taken great pains to see that everything that could be done to ensure strength, speed, and beauty has been attended to." Her cost was said to have been about $250,000.
In 1895 the Northern Light, at that time owned by the Southern Steamship Line, had a listed value of $175,000. In 1898 she was again owned by the Northern Steamship Company. In 1903 the ship is shown to have been purchased by the Mutual Transit Company.
In 1906 the Northern Light received new boilers. It may have been at this time that her aft deckhouse was removed. She is shown by records to have been documented at Buffalo, New York, and home-ported at Superior, Wisconsin. In 1907 her ownership reverted back to the Northern Steamship Company. In 1913 she is again listed as being owned by Mutual. The confusing and frequent shifting of ownership between Northern and Mutual may indicate that the two firms were closely affiliated, perhaps even jointly owned.
In early November 1913 the Great Lakes were struck by a fearsome storm. The vessel Northern Queen, sister-ship to the Northern Light, was stranded at Kettle Point, Ontario in Lake Huron. Although it is not know if the Northern Light survived the storm while at "sea" or in port, it is known that she somehow survived this "King of Storms" which claimed many larger and newer vessels. In 1915 she was sold to the Great Lakes Transit Corporation. A year later the steamer was again sold, and was transferred to salt water service.
Although vessels the size of the Northern Light, had become common sights on the Great Lakes in 1917, the system of locks which enable ships to reach the sea by means of the Saint Lawrence River had not yet been enlarged to accommodate them. The common practice was to cut such ships in half, plug the ends with temporary wooden bulkheads, and float each half separately through the locks. The ships were then reassembled in Canada.
The Northern Light was cut at the Buffalo Dry Dock Company in Buffalo, New York, floated through the 250-foot locks of the Welland Ship Canal and reassembled at Montreal, Canada. The ship was "cut" by burning out the rivets which held her together. It was a simple matter to re-rivet the hull sections.
The Northern Light operated out of Mobile, Alabama during the 1920s. She engaged in the carriage of miscellaneous cargoes to Gulf and East ports. On August 16, 1927, nearly two years after at least three of her sister-ships had
been broken up for scrap in Italy, she seems to outlived her usefulness. Her owner, apparently deciding that the insurance carried on the vessel was worth more than the ship herself, attempted to scuttle the Northern Light, along with three other ships. The forty-year-old steamship was burned at sea.
The owner of the four vessels, Capt. John G. Murphy of Mobile, was later indicted, along with four co-conspirators, on charges of scuttling the vessel Rose Murphy. The Rose Murphy was lost, in 1927, off Sand Key Light near Key West, Florida. Ironically, the arrest of one of these men, James A. Fulford, on November 10, 1930 shared the front page of the Mobile Register with the news of the second, and final loss of the Northern Light.
Another of the indicated, Orice C. Roddy, died suddenly aboard the steamship West Cobalt while awaiting arrest. Roddy died less than one hour before the West Cobalt was due to rendezvous with the Coast Guard cutter, Mendota, sent to arrest him on the scuttling charge. An autopsy later concluded that Roddy died after ingesting poison.
Although the Rose Murphy was lost, the Northern Light, extensively damaged but determined seaworthy, was towed back to Mobile. Originally thought to be a total loss, her hulk was purchased by Robert P. Hyams Jr. For insurance and tax purposes, the ship was registered under the ownership of the Northern Light Transportation Company of Dover, Delaware. Her forward superstructure and engine were removed at a facility either along the Mobile river or at New Orleans, Louisiana. The one-time steamship returned to service as an ocean-going barge.
The daily affairs of the barge were managed by the Gulf Barge and Towing Company of New Orleans, Robert P. Hyams, President. The company’s Mobile area manager was R.A. Cantey. The Northern Light was primarily engaged in carrying mineral cargoes to East Coast ports. These cargoes, primarily sulfur and phosphate rock, were used in the manufacture of the world’s first commercial fertilizer.
On November 6, 1930 the Northern Light, under tow by the tug Ontario, loaded 3,780 tons of phosphate at Tampa, Florida for the Dupont facility at Wilmington, North Carolina. The gallant vessel which had survived the worst storm in the history of the Great Lakes and a fiery scuttling attempt, never reached Wilmington. Her steel hull would, two short days later, tear like paper in an Atlantic gale.
The Northern Light carried a crew of six. Her master was John W. Heath, 32, of Mobile, Alabama. Also aboard were R.S. Watson of Mobile, C.D. Pittman of Pensacola, Florida, L. Bodden of Tampa, Florida, K. Legg, and J. Stewart, addresses unknown. Only one man, 22 year old John M. Stewart, survived the tragedy which followed.
The tug Ontario, official number 204974, was built in May 1908 by J.H. Dialogue and Son at Camden, New Jersey. She was 141 feet long with a beam of 27 feet and a displacement of 415 gross tons. Her three cylinder triple expansion engine produced 101 nominal horsepower. The Ontario was single decked with two bulkheads. Her owners were listed as Tugboat Ontario Inc. of New Orleans, Louisiana. Like the Northern Light, she was actually owned by the Hyams family but was individually incorporated. She was home-ported at Mobile. On November 6, 1930 she was under the command of Capt. Ralph Holmes of Crichton, Alabama. The mate was Claude H. Calhoun of Mobile.
On Saturday November 8, 1930 the South Florida seacoast was experiencing one of the strongest gales in recent memory. From Jupiter to the Florida Keys, ships were reported in distress. At approximately 11:00 P.M. the Ontario and the barge Northern Light were two and one-half miles southeast of Key Largo’s Elbow Reef. The ships were shaken by high winds. The sky was reported as partly cloudy with scattered showers.
As the Ontario and her tow crashed through waves later estimated, by the Coast Guard cutter Perry, at up to forty feet, the tow line linking the two vessels suddenly parted. The Northern Light, survivor of a thousand storms, passed, almost without a trace, from the world of light. The exact cause of her loss will probably never be proven.
Capt. Holmes of the Ontario later stated that he believed the Northern Light had struck a floating object and quickly foundered. This opinion was expressed at a hearing conducted at Mobile by Capt. H.O. Lueders, United States Ship Inspector, on November 15, 1930 and in the official United States Coast Guard wreck report filed immediately after the sinking. Capt. Holmes’ opinion was shared by Mate Claude Calhoun.
Immediately following the breakage of her tow line the Ontario began a frantic search for her lost burden and the six crewmen contained within. At approximately 1:30 A.M. on November 9, two and one-half hours after the loss of the Northern Light, the crew of the tug heard faint cries for help over the crashing waves. Clinging to a scrap of timber, the last floating remnant of the barge, was seaman John Stewart, known to his friends as "Sparks".
At the time of his rescue Stewart was, in his own words, "half crazed from exhaustion."
Throughout the night the Ontario continued to search for the remaining five men. At daybreak she was joined by the Coast Guard cutter Perry, dispatch from Fort Pierce to aid in the search. Also vainly scouring the storm tossed seas was another merchant tug and the Coast Guard cutter, Yamacraw, destined to become the last coal-burning Coast Guard vessel.
Search planes were dispatched from Miami and from the Key West Naval Air Station. At this time the missing men were believed, for unknown reasons, to have left the ill-fated barge in a lifeboat. The story told by survivor Stewart would seem to indicate that there had been little time to abandon ship.
In his testimony at the Ship Inspector’s hearing Stewart told of being in the galley of the Northern Light when a "muffled sound" sent him racing to the deck. According to Stewart, quoted in the Mobile Register on November 16, 1930, "Running to the deck it looked as though everything on it was headed for me. I was struck on the leg by a piece of timber and wanted to warn the rest of the crew that something had happened, but the next thing I knew I was whirling about in the water." Stewart testified that he had been unsure as to whether he had fallen from the ship or she had sunk from beneath his feet.
According to the Miami Herald on November 10, 1930, pilot Robert Moore of the Curtiss-Wright Flying Service spent four hours airborne in the futile search for the missing sailors. Moore covered the area between Fowey Rocks, off Miami, to Sombrero Reef, off Marathon, without finding any traces of the men. At Pacific Reef Moore spotted the Ontario searching below him. Moore quickly wrote a message describing his search area and lack of success. The Northern Light, along with five of her crewmen, had gone, as the Mobile Press so aptly put it, "out of the ken of man." Her ghostly hulk remained untouched for nearly sixty years.
Survivor John Stewart remained in contact with the Hyams family for many years. Mr. Robert P. Hyams, father of the owner of the lost barge, generously put Stewart through college and saw that he was able to build a new life following the tragedy. Stewart’s eventual fate is unknown.
In 1989 two groups of divers, working independently of each other, surveyed the site known as the Elbow Wreck. One of these groups, composed primarily of diving industry professionals from a northern Key Largo dive shop, succeeded in identifying the vessel as the long lost Northern Light.
In April 1991 a permit application prepared by the author of this book was submitted to Sanctuary authorities. The planned objective was to remove the significant artifacts from the wreck of the Northern Light for educational purposes. A museum display, using the artifacts as centerpieces to historical data and photographs, was proposed. Although this first application was denied, a second application, submitted in 1992 with the Maritime Museum of the Florida Keys as a co-applicant, was approved. The permit, entitled "The Northern Light Project," was the first cultural resources recovery permit to be granted in any National Marine Sanctuary. Divers and support personnel were drawn from the museum staff and from the staffs of several local dive shops. At this writing, "The Northern Light Project" continues to study the sunken hulk. The description which follows is drawn from the preliminary findings of this group.
The wreck of the Northern Light lies in 190 feet of water approximately two and one-half miles southeast of the Elbow Reef light. Her grave is frequented only by fishermen. In the interest of safety it is strongly recommended that this remain true. No amount of training can adequately prepare a diver for the strong currents and insidious nitrogen narcosis which will be encountered at this site. Only years of deep wreck diving experience can provide the skills necessary to successfully complete this dive. The description which follows should not be construed as an endorsement of unsafe diving practices.
The bow of the Northern Light is upright on the sand bottom. Water depth, at the sand is approximately 190 feet. Divers exploring the bow will first encounter the towing bit, devoid of any remnants of the line which parted in 1930, sending the Northern Light to her destiny. Her huge anchor hangs from its hawse pipe on the starboard side of the bow, still secured by its chain to the anchor winch. The area of the winch, below the raised bow-peak, contains some debris which appears to have fallen into this area during the sinking rather than having been mounted here. The winch and other items are now covered in colorful deep water corals. The entire bow-peak is surrounded by a constantly moving swarm of tiny fishes. The sweep of a powerful dive light will provide flashes of spectacular color.
Moving aft, along the buckled deck, the diver will soon come to the forward cargo hold. This huge hold, now empty of its phosphate rock cargo, contains scattered debris and numerous modern anchors. The anchors give evidence of the large amount of fishing activity at this site.
Aft of the forward hold the port side of the ship lies nearly parallel with the deck, crushed by the weight of the ship herself. The starboard side is partially broken over and lies on the sand. The midships deck has collapsed into the holds.
Again moving aft, divers will be surprised to reach the stern of the ship, her massive rudder turned hard to starboard. The stern of the Northern Light lies inverted, broken over the upright midships section. Her rudder, the shallowest portion of the wreckage, rises to a depth of 145 feet.
The decking beneath the inverted stern has fallen away. The steering gear remains partially intact directly below the rudder. Divers choosing to explore the area below the inverted stern should use extreme caution and should not attempt penetration into the stern section of the vessel. It is here, on the ship’s starboard side, below the inverted stern, that the diver will come upon the second cargo hold. Mostly covered by the stern section of the ship, the empty hold beckons. Only extreme danger awaits within. The risk of silting and resulting loss of orientation forbid entry without the proper safety line and thorough preparation. Beyond the rudder the wreck is inverted, providing few interesting exterior features.
On October 18, 1992 divers of "The Northern Light Project" group penetrated the inverted stern section of the wreck and gained access into the boiler room. Although the ship’s engine was removed during her conversion, one of her fourteen-foot diameter Scotch Marine boilers remains. This boiler, a coal-fired unit with three furnaces, was used to power the anchor winch and steering engine. When new, the boiler developed 150 pounds of steam pressure. The area beyond the boiler room is an empty cargo hold. The interior of the stern section is a silt-filled tangle of encrusted beams, cables, and machinery, unforgiving of the slightest error in diver judgment.
The cause of the sinking of the Northern Light, and of the unique profile of her hulk, is unknown. One theory is that the Northern Light broke her back on the surface, the result of huge waves acting in concert upon the forward and aft sections of the ship. In this case she would have sunk by the middle, broken before touching the bottom. Another theory holds that Capt. Holmes of the Ontario was correct in believing that the Northern Light has struck a floating object. Impact with this unknown object may have damaged the bow of the barge causing her to sink rapidly by the head. In yet another scenario the bow of the barge may have simply broke deep, her own forward momentum driving her to the bottom. In either of the second two scenarios the bow could have then dug into the soft bottom while the stern remained on the storm-tossed surface.
Wave action would have quickly broken her back. A final theory holds that the rivets which rejoined the two sections of the ship after her removal from the Great Lakes failed, splitting the ship neatly into two pieces. The failure of this repair could have been precipitate by heat stresses incurred during the fire which resulted in her reconfiguration as a barge.
Which, if any, of these theories is correct will never be certain. The only persons present in the final moments of the ship’s life were lost with her. Perhaps they remain to this day, entombed within the twisted remains of their ship. A gash in the ship’s bow, low on the port side seems to lend credence to Capt. Holmes’ report but it is possible that this tear occurred as a result of the stresses generated by the ship breaking in half. The nearly perfect separation of the two halves, particularly on the starboard side, seems to favor the failed joint theory.
Although no photographs of the Northern Light, after her conversion to a barge, have yet to be located, several things regarding her configuration can be speculated upon with reasonable hopes of accuracy.
The forward superstructure seen in early photographs is missing. This section of the ship, known to Great Lakes sailors as the "Texas house," is assumed to have been either totally destroyed in the scuttling attempt or simply removed in the refitting process. The center deckhouse was also removed. Open cargo holds took the places of these unnecessary enclosures. Her three masts may have been removed, or swept away in the sinking, their remains may lie nearby.
The aft superstructure, modified to serve as the wheelhouse and crew spaces, was crushed beneath the stern section and is completely inaccessible. A difficult and dangerous penetration effort by members of "The Northern Light Project" documented the vessels helm, moved from its original location in the "Texas house," forever entombed beneath tons of steel. The funnel, as well as the sought-after steam whistle, likely lie beneath the wheelhouse, crushed into the sand bottom.
In the midships section, beginning just aft of the bow, the entire upper deck of the vessel was removed. At the stern the lower hull and rudder were modified when the propeller and shaft were removed to allow for greater control of the towed vessel.
The wreck of the Northern Light is located at Loran coordinates 1419.4/62224.3. As stated at the beginning of this account, it is strongly suggested that this site be visited only for fishing. Many incredible catches have been made here. Amberjack, African Pompano, Grouper and Shark frequent this area.
The wreck of the Northern Light is within the Key Largo National Marine Sanctuary. Although no regulations forbid diver exploration, the wreck is fully protected from damage or collection. All artifacts contained within are the rightful property of the American public. Any attempt to remove items from this site without a recovery permit will result in prosecution by Sanctuary authorities.
Author's Note: This story is reprinted from "Histories & Mysteries: The Shipwrecks of Key Largo". If you enjoyed this story you can purchase "Histories & Mysteries" in dive stores or from select online retailers. A must for anyone diving Key Largo waters! This book is available now!
© 1990-2008 by Capt. Thomas A. Scott. All rights reserved