SS Edward Y. Townsend

SS Edward Y. Townsend (official number 203449) was a 603 ft American Great Lakes freighter that served on the Great Lakes. She was primarily used to haul bulk cargoes such as iron ore, coal, grain and occasionally limestone. She was in service from her launching in 1906 to her sinking in 1968. She is best known for sinking on the way to the scrapper, near RMS Titanic, off the coast of Newfoundland.

History
Edward Y. Townsend was built in 1906 by the Superior Shipbuilding Company, of Superior, Wisconsin, for the Cambria Steamship Company of Cleveland, Ohio. She was the longest vessel at the time of her launch, therefore she was given the title 'Queen of the Lakes'. She began service in September 1906.

On April 26, 1909, Edward Y. Townsend collided with the steamer Philip Minch off Whitefish Point, Lake Superior sustaining minor damage. Low water levels on February 1 through February 6, 1926, caused Edward Y. Townsend to run aground near Buffalo, New York.

SS Daniel J. Morrell
Even though Edward Y. Townsend was built by a different shipbuilding company than SS Daniel J. Morrell they were considered sister ships, because they were virtually identical. On November 29, 1966 Edward Y. Townsend suffered a crack in her hull while traveling on Northern Lake Huron (in the same storm that sank Daniel J. Morrell). She was deemed unseaworthy, and laid up in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan for two years.

Sinking
In 1968 she was sold to the Sea-Land Service Inc. for sale in the US Maritime Commission on vessels in the reserve fleet. She was later resold to a Spanish scrapyard. On September 15, 1968, Edward Y. Townsend passed down Port Colborne, Ontario in tow of the tugboats James Battle and Salvage Monarch. On October 1, 1968, she cleared Quebec with the steamer Dolomite, towed by the tug Hudson. She broke free on October 7 in a storm in the Atlantic Ocean, split in half, and sank in the same general vicinity as where the RMS Titanic had sunk, about 400 mi southeast of Newfoundland.