Additionally, the partially broken bow allowed a more thorough examination of nearly all hull construction features than is normally possible at other shipwreck sites. Built in in Detroit, the Niagara is an early example of a class of large "outside" tugboats developed for use in the Great Lakes logging industry. The evening of June 4, marked the loss of the ship at Knife Island.
Coming from Duluth, the Niagara was caught in heavy seas while battling a malfunctioning compass. While it crashed into the rocks along the island's shoreline, the 11 crewmen and two passengers on board were rescued just before the ship began to break apart. Today, the remains of the Niagara rest on a rocky slope of Knife Island. The wreckage is broken into four main sections: the stem, the starboard side and keel, a detached section of starboard rail and the port side.
A wooden-hulled, bulk-freighter steamship, the Hesper played a significant role in the Great Lakes iron ore industry and the grain trade. On May 3, , the ship was caught in a late spring snowstorm, a phenomenon hardly unknown to Minnesotans. The mile-an-hour northeaster drove the steamship well off its intended course and hurled the vessel onto a reef, which now marks the southwest edge of Silver Bay Harbor. After enduring a pounding for some time, the Hesper was lifted over the reef by a giant wave, only to founder and break up in 42 feet of water.
The man crew, along with Captain E. Heaton, were able to launch two lifeboats and pull away moments before the ship broke into pieces. The wreck has remained well preserved in the waters of Silver Bay Harbor.
Originally named the Helena , the Amboy was a single-decked, wooden-hulled, full-rigged three-masted schooner constructed especially for Minnesota's iron ore trade. While being towed by the steamer George Spencer , both ships fell victim to the notorious Mataafa Storm of Taconite Harbor on November 28, while en route to Duluth. Built in , this wooden bulk freighter went down with the Amboy. It remained slightly more intact than its counterpart, and still lies at the site of the wreck, just off the beach and approximately one mile from Sugar Loaf Cove.
The Madeira was an unpowered schooner-barge normally towed behind a steamship, a common practice that cut the cost of transporting bulk cargoes of iron ore, lumber and grain. Another victim of the infamous storm of November , she sank on November 28 around 3 am. After drifting from the William Edenborn , the helpless Madeira crashed into the shores of Gold Rock and began breaking up.
As a result of Seaman Fred Benson's heroic acts, all but one member of the crew were saved. This shipwreck is historically significant as the best and one of the few known surviving examples of a schooner-barge.
Though it did break into numerous pieces, the major diagnostic elements of the hull are relatively intact. The steel bulk freight steamer was built in Michigan in The last voyage of the Benjamin Noble began ominously with the words of warning from the customs officer to Captain Eisenhardt: "I should not like to ride with you, you are over-loaded. All hands were lost. Ironically, the ship had been specifically designed to withstand heavy weather.
In , she was found feet down and approximately eight miles off of Knife Island. Having hit the bottom hard, part of the vessel is buried beneath a trench it created upon impact. However, most of the ship remains intact and undisturbed, including equipment such as cargo, lifeboats and a bell.
Launched from Cleveland in , the steamer Onoko was the first iron-hulled, iron-screw steam freighter on the Great Lakes. Due to its economic success it became the prototype for the Great Lakes bulk freighter, a very large and important class of commercial ship that made possible the cheap transport of raw materials for the steel industry, including iron ore, coal and limestone.
On September 15, just 25 miles out of Duluth and carrying , bushels of wheat, the Onoko developed a serious leak under its machinery.
In 35 minutes, it had sunk in feet of water. Because the ship is almost entirely unchanged, intact, and undisturbed, it continues to provide valuable shipbuilding technology information, evaluative data about the performance of pioneer iron ships, and insights into the requirements of manning ships in the late 19th century.
Famous for his clipper ships, McKay was one of the most prominent shipbuilders in this nation's history. Gilcher , as the ship has not been found.
A gale had spread over Lake Michigan that day, and a few ships around the islands thought they may have seen it. In the poor weather and dark of night, however, no one could say for sure.
The Helen Strong was only 2 years old when it left Buffalo, New York, with a nearly full load of passengers and cargo bound for Toledo, Ohio, in November Its rudder was torn off and a steam pipe burst when the ship became caught in a sudden storm. With no power or steering, the ship was washed up against a foot high rocky cliff, where it became lodged on rocks in the pounding surf.
In the pitch black, two crewmen dared to jump off the ship onto the cliff face, where they managed to grab tree roots. They climbed to the top and lowered a rope. Nearly 60 people climbed up the cliff in the middle of the stormy night. The morning light revealed people still trapped on the boat, so the rope was lowered again. Incredibly, only two people were lost in the wreck.
Griffith , carrying passengers, caught fire. The crew sounded the fire alarm and turned the boat toward shore, which was roughly three miles away. Passengers came on deck, aware of the danger. But land—and safety—were in sight. A half-mile from shore, the ship grounded on a sandbar. The fire spread quickly, and the crew told the passengers to save themselves. Panicked travelers jumped overboard in a vain attempt to reach the beach.
The captain threw his family into the water, jumped in, and then disappeared under the waves with them. Only around 30 people were ultimately able to swim to shore. The remains of the ship, still burning, were eventually towed back to land. The Goliath , carrying a flammable cargo of shingles, lumber, and hay, was also loaded with about kegs of blasting powder for its journey from Detroit to Lake Superior in September A fire started as it neared Saginaw Bay in Michigan, likely caused by sparks from the smokestack.
The inferno quickly spread through the combustible cargo as the crew frantically tried to extinguish it. About five miles from shore, the fire reached the hold containing the powder kegs. A massive explosion ensued , which was seen and felt for miles. Only the ship's cook survived. Figuring the ship was doomed, he had lowered a small boat and fled, escaping just before the powder exploded.
In September , a group of Confederates, led by a spy, hijacked two passenger steamers, the Philo Parsons and the Island Queen. They planned to capture the SS Michigan , which was guarding the prison island.
The spy—Major C. Before searching for the Hudson, Eliason and Smith — guided by input from author and historian Frederick Stonehouse — had pinpointed a square-mile search area offshore from Eagle River.
They knew there was a chance that grid held not just the Hudson, but two other wrecks — the Sunbeam that sank in , and the S. Kirby that vanished in And Eliason and Smith, after several trips to identify targets using sonar, dropped a camera into the water above a promising target in mid-July and captured images of a previously undiscovered, largely intact wreck.
But basically all the steel is there," including the triple expansion steam engines. And there are the many, many hours spent scouring the lake bottom with sonar, hoping to find signs of a possible wreck. It's not as easy as one would like it to be.
The Hudson and Kirby are likely tied for the second-deepest wrecks yet located in the Great Lakes. Eliason and Smith were also involved in the discovery of the deepest — the Scotiadoc, found in about to feet of water near Thunder Bay, Ontario, in If the weather cooperates, Eliason and Smith are hoping to get back out on the lake this fall to gather more images of the Hudson, and perhaps do some more searching for the still-elusive Sunbeam.
A hoped-for return trip on Sept. According to legend, recounted by the Zenith City history website , a spectral Hudson and its ghostly crew still sail the waters of Lake Superior offshore from the Keweenaw on that day. Jerry Eliason will give a presentation on the Hudson at the annual Gales of November conference held in Duluth on Nov.
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