Bradford H. Townsend (Great Lakes Freighter)
History:
The Bradford H. Townsend was an iron ore freighter on the Great Lakes. Launched in 1948, the Townsend was the first ship to be built for the Duluth Steamship Company to be diesel powered, as well as the first new ship for them after the war. She was famous in the Duluth area for surviving heavy storms and serving well into the season after most ships had been in winter layup for weeks. DSC was known to have ships out late in the season most years in general, largely due to the companies cutthroat nature which helped it grow in the first place. The Townsend went out especially late, even more so than other DSC ships because DSC believed that ship technology had come so far in the 15 years since the last one of their ships was launched that there was less risk to it. This approach was mirrored with the company's other postwar diesels as well. This all back fired on the company in late November of 1961, when the ship's captain decided to take her out, despite forecasts for a particularly nasty blizzard in order to get his crew home in time for Thanksgiving. Leaving Duluth bound for Detroit, this was to be the ship's last voyage of the season before it joined the rest of DSC's fleet in winter layup at the Soo. Leaving port the weather wasn't terrible for November on the lakes, but just after nightfall a massive storm started up, snow cutting visibility to almost zero and massive waves battering the ship from her front quarter. Around 4am, the Coast Guard Station in Duluth received a distress call from the Townsend, saying she was taking on water. She reported her position to be about 40 miles south of Isle Royale in the middle of the lake, a figure that was off by more than 20 miles. Another distress call would come at 4:16, saying that the stern of the ship was no longer visible from the wheelhouse after the lights had gone out. They said that they were now making 0 knots. A new position was given that they'd turned north and believed to be about 1 mile north of their last position, waves now coming from dead ahead of them. The last thing the Coast Guard station heard was the sound of glass breaking in the wheelhouse before the transmission went dead as the ship finally lost power. Two crewman from the engine room made it to the lifeboats and later testified that the stern snapped off of the bow and lost power. They said the bow remained powered and afloat for ten more minutes until the wheelhouse flooded and she went down. They were the only survivors of the 33 man crew.
To Start:
1. Make your way down to the engine room, located under the crew quarters at the stern
2. Press "Engage Air Starter" button on both engines, a yellow light should come on
3. Wait for the yellow light to go off and be replaced by a green light
4. Turn the "Start Engine" key and you should be good to go
To Sink:
1. Make your way down below the officer's quarters to the forward bulkhead of the access tunnel running bow to stern
2. In the center of the main bulkhead is a sliding door labeled "Closet", go inside
3. Turn the key to unlock button
4. Press "Scuttle" button
The ship should break up after a few minutes, waves can speed this up
Used in creation:
[url=https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1723900494]https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1723900494[/url]
[url=https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2280999235]https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2280999235[/url]
