For eight decades Scott Cameron has lived and worked around the Upper Great Lakes. He has watched the passing of small coastal steamers, opulent passenger ships, and freight carriers come and go from Lake Superior to Lake Huron and Georgian Bay.
After retiring as a history teacher in 1992 he created a second career as an author, lecturer, and story teller about late 19th century and early 20th century shipping.
The stories you are about to read are designed for the general reader as entertainment embedded in scholarship.
Steamboat Stories of the Upper Great Lakes
For every ship there are a thousand planks. For every plank there are a thousand nails. For every nail there are a thousand stories.
Chinese Proverb
Explore the tales of 19th and early 20th century steamboats on Lake Superior, Lake Huron, and Georgian Bay
Click on an image below to read the story
Once called the Macassa, then the Manasoo, sank in 1928 near Owen Sound. Six sailors made it to a raft. A harrowing story.
William Gibbard was “murdered by persons unknown” in 1863. Can you solve the mystery?
“A Wreck Strewn Shore Tells of a Grim Tragedy”
Nov 21, 1936
The steamer Manitoulin in flames races to the shore while some passengers jump overboard.
Canada’s First Prime Minister escapes from the “Jaws of Death”
The Jane Miller was lost with all hands in November 1881
Fire and death on the docks at Duluth
Delivering the mail in the 19th Century on the Upper Lakes
Uncle Sam tries to face down the 1870 Red River Expedition
OWEN SOUND
The Misfortunes of a boat that sank many times
Mulligan’s Reef is in shallow water
A young boy jumps overboard
