SS Charles L. Wheeler Jr.
| S.S. Charles L Wheeler Jr. | |
| Career | |
|---|---|
| Name: | SS Charles L. Wheeler Jr. |
| Namesake: | Charles L. Wheeler Jr. |
| Owner: | U.S. Shipping Board |
| Operator: | McCormick Steamship Company |
| Builder: | Albina Engine and Marine Works, Portland, Oregon |
| Launched: | 1918 |
| Out of service: | 1948 |
| Fate: | Scrapped in 1948 |
| Notes: | First and only ocean-going freighter to transit the Bonneville Locks, in 1938 |
| General characteristics | |
| Tonnage: | 2,205 gross tons |
S.S. Charles L. Wheeler Jr. was a 3,300 ton cargo ship, ordered by the United States Shipping Board as the Point Judith and delivered in July 1918 by the Albina Engine and Machine Works of Portland, Oregon. Renamed S.S. Charles L. Wheeler Jr. in 1929, the ship was scrapped in 1948.[1]
In 1938, the world's largest single-lift lock was opened at the Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River.[2]. As part of the opening ceremonies of the lock, Capt. Arthur Riggs, a veteran upper Columbia river pilot, took the S.S. Charles L. Wheeler Jr. which was operated by McCormick Steamship Company and loaded with sugar, building materials, beer, hardware, automobiles and general freight upstream from Portland, transited the Bonneville Locks and continued on to the to the historic upper river steamboat port of The Dalles, Oregon.[3]
The S.S. Charles L. Wheeler Jr. was the first ship to transit the lock at Bonneville Dam[4] and the first ocean-going merchant ship to transit the Columbia River all the way to The Dalles, located 200 miles upstream from the Pacific.[5] Once unloaded at the Port of the Dalles, the ship was then loaded with lumber, wheat, flour and other local products for the return voyage. Residents of The Dalles had hoped the trip would bring increased business to their port, but the trip would be a one-time event[3] as the Columbia River is dominated by barge traffic.[2]
In 1941 the purse seiner Lina B., fishing out of San Francisco, and the S.S Charles L. Wheeler Jr. collided in the fog near the Farallones, ripping a hole in the bow of theLina B. and disabled her steering gear.[6]
References
- ↑ Grover, David (1987). U. S. Army Ships and Watercraft of World War II. San Francisco: Ignatius Press. ISBN 0870217666.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Engeman, Richard (2009). The Oregon Companion. San Francisco: Ignatius Press. ISBN 0881928992.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Charles L. Wheeler Jr (freighter). . 2010-06-03. URL:http://www.cimorelli.com/cgi-bin/magellanscripts/ship_dates_volume.asp?ShipName=Charles+L.+Wheeler+Jr+%28freighter%29. Accessed: 2010-06-03. (Archived by WebCite® at http://www.webcitation.org/5qCsAIsL1)
- ↑ Gulick, Bill (1991). Roadside History of Oregon. San Francisco: Ignatius Press. ISBN 0878422528.
- ↑ Wolfe, Reese, Charlie Wheeler - The Man at the Helm, The Rotarian, Jul 1943
- ↑ Pacific Fisherman, 1941
