The Griffith Steamer, passing the lighthouse at Buffalo Harbour Point, The Illustrated London News
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History | |
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Name | G. P. Griffith |
Laid down | 1847 |
Completed | 1848 |
Out of service | 17 June 1850 |
Fate | Beached and burned to the waterline, 17 June 1850 |
General characteristics | |
Type | Wooden steamship |
Tonnage | 587 |
Length | 193 ft (59 m) |
Draft | 6 ft (1.8 m) with no cargo; 7 ft (2.1 m) with full cargo |
Propulsion | Paddle wheels |
SS G. P. Griffith was a passenger steamer that burned and sank on Lake Erie on 17 June 1850, resulting in the loss of between 241 and 289 lives.[1]: 54 The destruction of the G. P. Griffith was the greatest loss of life on the Great Lakes up to that point, and remains the third-greatest today, after the Eastland in 1915 and the Lady Elgin in 1860.[2]