The America circa 1900 | |
History | |
---|---|
Name | America |
Operator | Booth Fisheries Company |
Builder | Detroit Dry Dock Company |
Launched | 2 April 1898 |
Fate | Sank 7 June 1928 |
General characteristics | |
Type | steel freighter |
Length | 183 feet |
Beam | 31 feet |
Depth | 11 feet |
Installed power | 700HP |
Propulsion | triple expansion steam engine |
Notes | Official No. 107367 |
AMERICA | |
Location | North Gap of Washington Harbor, Isle Royale National Park, Michigan |
Coordinates | 47°53′37.9″N89°13′20.6″W / 47.893861°N 89.222389°W |
Area | 5.7 acres (2.3 ha) |
Built | 1898 |
MPS | Shipwrecks of Isle Royale National Park TR |
NRHP reference No. | 84001708 [1] |
Added to NRHP | June 14, 1984 |
America was a packet boat transporting passengers, mail, and packages between settlements along the North Shore of Lake Superior, an inland sea in central North America. Built in 1898, America sank in Washington Harbor off the shore of Isle Royale in 1928, where the hull still remains. The wreck was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984. [1]
America (Official No. 107367) [2] was a steel-hulled ship, built by the Detroit Dry Dock Company in Wyandotte at what is today the Wyandotte shores golf course [3] and launched on April 2, 1898. [4] The ship was 184 feet long, 31 feet wide, and 11 feet in depth. [4] She had a gross tonnage of 486 tons and a net of 283 tons. [4] She was powered by a triple expansion steam engine and two Scotch boilers, manufactured by the Dry Dock Engine Works, delivering 700HP. [4]
Less than a month after her launch, America began a daily run, transporting passengers and packages on Lake Michigan between Chicago and Michigan City, Indiana. [4] [5] The ship remained on this run until 1901; in 1902 she was purchased by the Booth Steamship Company and transferred to service in Lake Superior. [4] [5] There, the ship served as a communications link for the western portion of Lake Superior, running three voyages per week among Duluth, Minnesota, Isle Royale, and Thunder Bay, Ontario and numerous small communities in between. [2] The ship carried supplies in and fish catch out, as well as moving mail and passengers. [2]
America had a number of accidents; the first one barely two weeks after she arrived in Duluth, when the ship ran into an ice floe and stove in her bow. [4] In 1904, she ran too close to the steamer Edwin F. Holmes, destroying five staterooms, and in 1909 she ran aground. [4]
In 1909, the Booth Steamship Company failed and a new company, the Booth Fisheries Company, took over operation of the failed company's assets, including America. [4] In 1911, America was lengthened to 183 feet, increasing the gross and net tonnages to 937 tons and 593 tons respectively. [4] [6] The beam and depth remained the same. The rework added 12 more staterooms, bringing the total to 51, of which 43 were reserved for passengers. [4] In 1914, management of the ship was taken over by the United States & Dominion Transportation Company, a subsidiary of Booth. [4]
Also in 1914, America again ran aground, taking considerable damage. [4] On 7 June 1924, she struck a reef, capsized, and sank off Isle Royale, Michigan; all 47 people aboard survived, and she was refloated, repaired, and returned to service. In 1926, she collided with another steamer, and in 1927 rammed the dock and grounded while coming into port. [4]
On June 6, 1928, America steamed out of Duluth on her normal route. [4] She arrived in Isle Royale's Washington Harbor in the early morning hours of June 7 to drop off passengers, and left again before dawn. [4] Once the ship had cleared the dock, the captain turned over the helm to the first mate. [4] Five minutes later, America hit a submerged reef as she was leaving Washington Harbor. [2] [4] Although the captain returned to the helm and attempted to beach her, America ran aground on a second reef. [2] All 16 passengers and 31 crew aboard were successfully transported to lifeboats. [4] [2] Within an hour, America had settled to the bottom in the north gap of Washington Harbor, leaving only her bow, forward deck, and wheelhouse above the waterline. [2] [4]
Efforts were made to re-float the ship, but the bidding process was delayed, and a salvage company was not lined up until 1929. [4] Over the winter of 1928-29, the wheelhouse was sheared off and the ship was shifted by the ice to sit lower in the water. [4] By that time, it was thought that raising the wreck would not be financially feasible, and indeed, the salvage company was never able to raise the capital required to raise the wreck. [4]
A group of divers in the 1960s attempted to raise America and bring her to Duluth for service as a museum ship. [2] This later attempt was also unsuccessful due to Lake Superior storms and, it was rumored, sabotage by a diver who wanted America to stay where she was. [2]
America lies along a steep underwater cliff, with the wreckage sitting as deep as 85 feet to as shallow as only two feet to the surface, [6] and can be easily seen by visitors arriving in Washington Harbor. [2] The ship lies about 190 feet from Isle Royale. The hull is completely intact, as are the belowdeck cabins and the stern. [2] The forward part of the superstructure is missing due to the elements and salvage operations. [6] [7] The effects of winter ice can be seen as far down as 30 feet below the surface, and alterations to the vessel from earlier salvage attempts are apparent. [4]
America is one of the most popular wrecks for diving in Isle Royale National Park, [5] with over 210 dives in 2009 out of 1062 dives made to wrecks in the park. [8] The pressure from the number of dives and the lake motion near the surface has caused the wreck to deteriorate. [2] Nearly all portable objects have been stripped from the wreck by souvenir-hunting divers. [4] Isle Royale National Park has joined in an informal partnership with the Great Lakes Shipwreck Preservation Society (GLSPS) to preserve and monitor America. [7] In 1996, the GLSPS repaired one of the ship's interior walls, and they have reattached other pieces and otherwise worked to stabilize the ship. [7]
One of the Americas lifeboats was on display at the America dock in Snug Harbor in the Rock Harbor Channel on Isle Royal, but was washed into the lake in 2017. [9]
The following is a list of Registered Historic Places in Keweenaw County, Michigan.
This National Park Service list is complete through NPS recent listings posted October 11, 2024.
USS Puritan, a civilian transport built by Craig Shipbuilding Company in Toledo, Ohio, was launched in 1901, and lengthened by 26 ft (7.9 m) in 1908. The ship sailed on the Great Lakes in passenger service, was purchased by the U.S. Navy at the end of the war, and returned to passenger service after the war. The ship sank in 1933 near Isle Royale in Lake Superior, and its wreck is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
SS Kamloops was a Canadian lake freighter that was part of the fleet of Canada Steamship Lines from its launching in 1924 until it sank with all hands in Lake Superior off Isle Royale, Michigan, United States, on or about 7 December 1927.
The Thomas Wilson was a whaleback freighter built in 1892 and used to haul bulk freight on the Great Lakes. The ship sank in Lake Superior just outside the harbor of Duluth, Minnesota, United States, on 7 June 1902, after a collision with the George Hadley. The wreck of the Thomas Wilson is one of the best remaining examples of a whaleback steamer, and it is also significant for the changes made in operating procedures at the Duluth harbor. The remains of the ship were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1992.
Samuel P. Ely is a shipwreck in Two Harbors, Minnesota listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It was a schooner that sailed the Great Lakes carrying iron ore, coal, and other bulk freight. It was built in 1869 and was a fairly typical example of the 200-foot schooner built in the 1870s, though she was reinforced for the demands of carrying iron ore.
SS Comet was a steamship that operated on the Great Lakes. Comet was built in 1857 as a wooden-hulled propeller-driven cargo vessel that was soon adapted to carry passengers. It suffered a series of maritime accidents prior to its final sinking in 1875 causing the loss of ten lives. It became known as the only treasure ship of Lake Superior because she carried 70 tons of Montana silver ore when it sank. The first attempts to salvage its cargo in 1876 and 1938 were unsuccessful. Comet was finally salvaged in the 1980s when the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society illegally removed artifacts from the wreck. The artifacts are now the property of the State of Michigan and are on display as a loan to the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum. The fate of her silver ore cargo is unknown. Comet's wreck is now protected by the Whitefish Point Underwater Preserve as part of an underwater museum.
The Glenlyon was a freighter built in 1893; it was sunk off the shore of Isle Royale in Lake Superior in 1924 and the remains are still on the lake bottom. The wreck was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.
Algoma was a screw steamer built in 1883. She sank off Mott Island near Isle Royale in Lake Superior in 1885 and some of her remains are still on the lake bottom. The wreck was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.
The Cumberland was a wooden-hulled side paddlewheeler built in 1871; it was wrecked off the shore of Isle Royale in Lake Superior in 1877 and the remains are still on the lake bottom. The wreck was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.
The Henry Chisholm was a wooden freighter that sank off the shore of Isle Royale in Lake Superior in 1898 and the remains are still on the lake bottom. The wreck was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.
SS Monarch was a passenger-package freighter built in 1890 that operated on the Great Lakes. She was sunk off the shore of Isle Royale in Lake Superior in 1906 and the remains of her wreck and cargo are still on the lake bottom. The wreck was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.
The George Spencer was a wooden lake freighter that sank on along with her schooner barge Amboy on Lake Superior, near Thomasville, Cook County, Minnesota in the Mataafa Storm of 1905. On April 14, 1994, the wrecks of the Spencer and the Amboy were listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The SS Lakeland was an early steel-hulled Great Lakes freighter that sank on December 3, 1924, into 205 feet (62 m) of water on Lake Michigan near Sturgeon Bay, Door County, Wisconsin, United States, after she sprang a leak. On July 7, 2015, the wreck of the Lakeland was added to the National Register of Historic Places.
The following index is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Wikipedia's articles on recreational dive sites. The level of coverage may vary:
The Niagara was a large wooden tugboat that sank on June 4, 1904 on Lake Superior near the town of Duluth, Minnesota, Lake County, Minnesota after running aground near Knife River. On April 14, 1994 the wreck of the Niagara was added to the National Register of Historic Places.
PS Lotta Bernard was a wooden-hulled sidewheel steam barge that served on the Great Lakes from her construction in 1869 to her sinking in 1874. She was built in Port Clinton, Ohio, in 1869 by Lewis M. Jackson for S.W. Dorsey of Sandusky, Ohio. When she entered service, she was chartered by the Northern Transportation Company to carry cordwood from the Portage River and Put-in-Bay to Cleveland, Ohio. In 1870, Lotta Bernard was sold to Luman H. Tenney of Duluth, Minnesota. During this time, she was contracted to haul building materials from Bark Bay, Wisconsin, to Duluth to be used in the construction of the first grain elevator in that port. Lotta Bernard was sold to John D. Howard of Superior, Wisconsin, in 1871.
SS S.R. Kirby was a composite-hulled bulk carrier that served on the Great Lakes of North America from her construction in 1890 to her sinking in 1916. On May 8, 1916, while heading across Lake Superior with a cargo of iron ore and the steel barge George E. Hartnell in tow, she ran into a storm and sank with the loss of all but two of her 22-man crew off Eagle Harbor, Michigan. For over 102 years the location of S.R. Kirby's wreck remained unknown, until June 2018, when her wreck was discovered by the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society (GLSHS) in 825 feet (251 m) of water, completely broken up.
SS Emperor was a steel-hulled Canadian lake freighter in service between 1911 and 1947. She was built between 1910 and April 1911 by the Collingwood Shipbuilding Company in Collingwood, Ontario, for Inland Lines, Ltd., of Midland, Ontario. She entered service on May 3, 1911. Emperor was sold to Canada Steamship Lines of Montreal, Quebec. Under the ownership of Canada Steamship Lines, she carried a wide variety of cargoes, but most frequently iron ore to Point Edward, Ontario, where it would be transported to Hamilton, Ontario, by train. After the opening of the fourth Welland Canal, Emperor carried the ore directly to Hamilton. She was involved in several accidents throughout her career.
SS Chester A. Congdon was a steel-hulled American lake freighter in service between 1907 and 1918. She was built in 1907 by the Chicago Shipbuilding Company of South Chicago, Illinois, for the Holmes Steamship Company, and was intended to be used in the grain trade on the Great Lakes. She entered service on September 19, 1907, when she made her maiden voyage. In 1911, Salt Lake City was sold to the Acme Transit Company. A year later, she was transferred to the Continental Steamship Company, and was renamed Chester A. Congdon, after lawyer and entrepreneur Chester Adgate Congdon. She was involved in several accidents throughout her career.
{{citation}}
: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link){{citation}}
: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)