SS Eastland was a passenger ship based in Chicago and used for tours. On 24 July 1915, the ship rolled over onto its side while tied to a dock in the Chicago River. In total, 844 passengers and crew were killed in what was the largest loss of life from a single shipwreck on the Great Lakes.
The PS General Slocum was a sidewheel passenger steamboat built in Brooklyn, New York, in 1891. During her service history, she was involved in a number of mishaps, including multiple groundings and collisions.
USS Michigan was the United States Navy's first iron-hulled warship and served during the American Civil War. She was renamed USS Wolverine in 1905.
The Lexington was a paddlewheel steamboat operating along the Northeastern coast of the United States from 1835 to 1840. Commissioned by Cornelius Vanderbilt, it was one of the fastest and most luxurious steamers in operation.
USS Sable (IX-81) was a United States Navy training ship during World War II, originally built as the passenger ship Greater Buffalo, a sidewheel excursion steamboat. She was purchased by the Navy in 1942 and converted to a training aircraft carrier to be used on the Great Lakes. She lacked a hangar deck, elevators, or armament and was not a true warship, but she provided advanced training of naval aviators in carrier takeoffs and landings.
RMS Titanic sank in the early morning hours of 15 April 1912 in the North Atlantic Ocean, four days into her maiden voyage from Southampton to New York City. The largest ocean liner in service at the time, Titanic had an estimated 2,224 people on board when she struck an iceberg at around 23:40 on Sunday, 14 April 1912. Her sinking two hours and forty minutes later at 02:20 ship's time on Monday, 15 April, resulted in the deaths of more than 1,500 people, making it one of the deadliest peacetime maritime disasters in history.
SS Princess was a steamboat that operated on Lake Winnipeg in Canada from 1881 until 1906. The vessel was built in Winnipeg, Manitoba by the Jarvis & Burridge shipyard, and it was regarded as the pride of Lake Winnipeg and as the finest lake steamer west from the Great Lakes and east from the Rocky Mountains. The vessel has a total of 40 spacious passenger cabins, and outwardly it resembled many of the Mississippi River paddle steamers. The vessel had a top speed of approximately 25 knots.
Bonnington was a sternwheel steamboat that ran on the Arrow Lakes in British Columbia from 1911 to 1931. Bonnington and two sisterships were the largest sternwheelers ever built in British Columbia. Bonnington was partially dismantled in the 1950s, and later sank, making the vessel the largest freshwater wreck site in British Columbia.
James B. Colgate was a whaleback steamer that sank off the shores of Long Point, Ontario, Canada, in Lake Erie on 20 October 1916. This day was dubbed "Black Friday" because of its fierce winds and towering waves wreaking havoc on numerous vessels traveling on Lake Erie's waters. The James B. Colgate, loaded with coal, left on its final voyage from Buffalo, New York, heading for Fort William, Ontario today known as Thunder Bay. The vessel had a tonnage of 1,713 tons and measured 308 feet (94 m) in length. Captain Walter Grashaw was the only surviving member of the 26-man crew.
SS M.M. Drake was a wooden steam barge that towed consorts loaded with coal and iron ore on the Great Lakes. She came to the rescue of the crews of at least four foundering vessels in her 19-year career only to meet the same fate in her final rescue attempt. Drake sank in 1901 off Vermilion Point after a rescue attempt of her consort Michigan. Her rudder, anchor, and windlass were illegally removed from her wreck site in the 1980s. They are now the property of the State of Michigan. The rudder is on display as a loan to the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum and the anchor and windlass are on loan for display to Whitefish Township Community Center. The wreck of Drake is protected as part of an underwater museum in the Whitefish Point Underwater Preserve.
SS Columbia (1880–1907) was a cargo and passenger steamship that was owned by the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company and later the San Francisco and Portland Steamship Company. Columbia was constructed in 1880 by the John Roach & Sons shipyard in Chester, Pennsylvania for the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company.
The Royal Tar fire was a ship fire, in 1836, in which the passenger steamship Royal Tar caught fire and burned, while transporting a circus with its animals.
The Phoenix was a steamship that burned on Lake Michigan on 21 November 1847, with the loss of at least 190 but perhaps as many as 250 lives. The loss of life made this disaster, in terms of loss of life from the sinking of a single vessel, the fourth-worst tragedy in the history of the Great Lakes.
Atlantic was a steamboat that sank in Lake Erie after a collision with the steamer Ogdensburg on 20 August 1852, with the loss of at least 150 but perhaps as many as 300 lives. The loss of life made this disaster, in terms of loss of life from the sinking of a single vessel, the fifth-worst tragedy in the history of the Great Lakes.
The PS Anthony Wayne was an early wooden-hulled sidewheel steamship that sank on April 28, 1850, in Lake Erie off the coast of Vermilion, Ohio, after two of her starboard side boilers exploded. The number of people on board the ship at the time of incident is estimated to be about 100. The ship's clerk reported that there were 80 to 100 people on board, which included the crew, with about 30 of them surviving.
Walk-in-the-Water was a sidewheel steamboat that played a pioneering role in steamboat navigation on the Great Lakes. She was the first such craft to run on Lake Erie, Lake Huron and Lake Michigan. Launched in 1818, she transported people and supplies to sites and points of interest around the Great Lakes, before being grounded and wrecked in a gale force storm in Buffalo's bay in 1821. According to some sources, Walk-in-the-Water's name originated from an Indian's impression of a steamboat moving ("walking") on the water with no sails.
SS Russia was an iron-hulled American Great Lakes package freighter that sank in a Lake Huron gale on April 30, 1909, near DeTour Village, Michigan, with all 22 of her crew and one passenger surviving.
SS Merchant was an American iron–hulled passenger and package freighter in service between 1862 and 1875. The first iron–hulled merchant ship built on the Great Lakes, she was built in 1862 in Buffalo, New York, by the David Bell shipyard, out of components manufactured in Black Rock, New York, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She was built for James C. and Edwin T. Evans of Buffalo, under whom she carried passengers and freight. Merchant made her maiden voyage in August 1862, sailing from Buffalo to Chicago. Between late 1872 and early 1873, she was lengthened by 30 feet (9.1 m), and had her passenger cabins removed. Also in 1873, Merchant was sold to the Erie & Western Transportation Company of Erie, Pennsylvania.
SS John Mitchell was a steel-hulled, American lake freighter in service between 1907 and 1911. She was built in 1906 by the Great Lakes Engineering Works in St. Clair, Michigan, for the Cornell Steamship Company of Chicago, Illinois, which was managed by C.W. Elphicke. She entered service in 1907, and had a sister ship named William B. Davock. Throughout her career, John Mitchell carried iron ore and coal. On October 4, 1908, she ran aground at Indiana Harbor, Indiana, while loaded with iron ore.
PS Keystone State was a wooden-hulled American paddle steamer in service between 1849 and 1861. She was built in 1848 in Buffalo, New York, by Bidwell & Banta for ship-owner Charles M. Reed of Erie, Pennsylvania, and operated as part of his "Chicago Line". A luxuriously furnished palace steamer, she operated between Buffalo and Chicago, Illinois, while also making stops at various other ports. She was built for the passenger and package freight trade, frequently carrying both wealthy passengers and European immigrants who desired to settle in the Midwestern United States. Due to the Panic of 1857, Keystone State and several other paddle steamers were laid up. When the American Civil War began in 1861; she was refurbished, and put back into service.
United States
