SS Howard S. Gerken (also known as Rosamond Billett and T.P. Phelan) was a steel-hulled American dredge in service between 1910 and 1926. She was assembled in Winnipeg, Manitoba, in 1910, by components manufactured by the Doty Engine Works of Toronto, Ontario. She was built for the Canadian Northern Railway, and served as a sand dredge on Lake Winnipeg, and the nearby Red River. She was rebuilt in 1920, and was sold several times, before ending up under the ownership of the Gravel Products Corporation, of Buffalo, New York.[1]
On August 21, 1926, after removing sand from the harbour entrance in Erie, Pennsylvania, Howard S. Gerken set sail for Buffalo. While seven miles off Erie, she became caught in a storm, killing three crewmen.[2] [3]