View source for Cleveco

{{Short description|Barge sunk in Lake Erie}}
{|{{Infobox ship begin}} 
{{Infobox ship image
|Ship image=
|Ship caption='
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{{Infobox ship career
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|Ship country=United States 
|Ship flag= {{shipboxflag|United States|civil}}
|Ship name=''Cleveco''
|Ship operator=Cleveland Tankers, Inc.<ref name="OSU">{{cite web |url=https://www.ohioshipwrecks.org/shipwreckdetail.php?Wreck=24 |title=Cleveco |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=2024 |website=ohioshipwrecks.org |publisher=[[Ohio State University]] |access-date=December 14, 2024}}</ref>     
|Ship operator (time of loss)= 
|Ship ordered= 
|Ship builder=[[American Shipbuilding Company]]
|Ship yard number=
|Ship laid down=
|Ship launched=
|Ship completed=1913
|Ship acquired=
|Ship in service=1913
|Ship out of service=1942
|Ship fate=Foundered off [[Euclid, Ohio]], December 2, 1942; 18 lives lost<ref name="OSU"/>
|Ship notes=
}}
{{Infobox ship characteristics
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|Header caption=
|Ship type=Tanker barge 
|Ship tonnage=2441<ref name="OSU"/>
|Ship displacement=
|Ship length={{convert|260|ft|m|abbr=on}}<ref name="OSU"/> 
|Ship beam={{convert|43|ft|m|abbr=on}}<ref name="OSU"/>  
|Ship height=  
|Ship draught= 
|Ship draft={{convert|25|ft|m|abbr=on}}<ref name="OSU"/> 
|Ship ice class=
|Ship sail plan=
|Ship propulsion=Pulled by dedicated tugboat
|Ship speed= 
|Ship capacity=30,000 barrels<ref name="Boyer">{{cite book |last=Boyer  |first=Dwight  |author-link=Dwight Boyer  |date=1968  |title=Ghost Ships of the Great Lakes  |publisher=[[Dodd, Mead and Company]]  |pages=194–199}}</ref>  
|Ship crew=18<ref name="OSU"/> 
|Ship notes=
}}
|}

The '''''Cleveco''''' was a manned [[barge]] that was constructed in 1913 by the [[American Shipbuilding Company]] of [[Lorain, Ohio]], to carry crude oil and refined petroleum products that had been pumped or refined in locations adjacent to Lake Erie, particularly northwest Ohio.  The barge operated in this service for 29 years, in 1913–1942, under a variety of ship's names, under it sank on December 2, 1942.  The tragedy caused the deaths of all 18 officers and crew members aboard.<ref name="OSU"/><ref name="Boyer"/>

==Sinking==
In early December 1942, ''Cleveco'' was working within the intense duties of the overall [[World War II]] war effort.  Loaded with fuel oil, the barge left [[Toledo, Ohio]], on December 1 to proceed to the home port of Cleveland. ''Cleveco'' and the dedicated tug pulling the barge, the ''Admiral'' with a crew of 14, passed through the Pelee Passage in western Lake Erie, facing worsening gale conditions.<ref name="Boyer"/>

In the predawn morning hours of December 2, only a few miles from safety, the ''Cleveco'' discovered that its tug had suddenly sunk with all hands.  The oil barge's towing cable was now an anchor in Lake Erie.  The captain of the ''Cleveco'' made radio contact with the Ohio mainland, reported the disaster, and asked for assistance.  Search planes and the [[United States Coast Guard]] responded, and both made brief visual contact with the barge, but were unable to maintain these contacts.  Furthermore, the Coast Guard cutter was not able to rescue the barge's personnel within the conditions created by the storm, which included a harsh west wind and [[lake effect]] snow.<ref name="OSU"/><ref name="Boyer"/>

The Coast Guard's dilemma may have been worsened by the drifting status of the ''Cleveco'' during the attempted rescue hours of the December 2 daylight.  The personnel of the manned barge had apparently cut the towing cable.  Brief radio communications continued in the now-lethal conditions of winter Lake Erie, but they did not convey much information about conditions aboard the ''Cleveco'' except that the barge was taking on water and was about to sink.  The vessel then disappeared.<ref name="OSU"/><ref name="Boyer"/>

By December 3, wreckage of the ''Cleveco'', including the bodies of about half of the crew, were floating off [[Euclid, Ohio]], near Cleveland.  Owner Cleveland Tankers was judged partly liable to the heirs of the barge's officers and crew for the loss of lives, as the barge had been proved to be unseaworthy within the conditions experienced on December 2, 1942.<ref name="OSU"/>

Loaded with leaking fuel oil, the sunken hulk of the ''Cleveco'' had become a toxic waste site.  After many delays, a partly successful salvage operation in 1961 raised the capsized hulk and pumped out some of the oil.  The hunk was then re-sunk off Cleveland, with at least 165,000 gallons of fuel oil remaining aboard.  A second salvage operation in 1995 removed almost all of the remaining fuel oil, and conducted an underwater operation to seal its tanks from further leakage.  The ''Cleveco'' is now accessible to experienced scuba divers.<ref name="OSU"/>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{December 1942 shipwrecks}}
{{Recreational dive sites|wresit}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cleveco}}
[[Category:1913 ships]]
[[Category:Great Lakes freighters]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in December 1942]]
[[Category:Ships lost with all hands]]
[[Category:Shipwrecks of Lake Erie]]
[[Category:Wreck diving sites in the United States]]