ALGOMA

About this property

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. Algoma (Official #85766) was built in 1883 by Aitken & Mansell in Glasgow, Scotland, for use by the Canadian Pacific Railway Company. Algoma was 262 feet (80 m) long, with a 38-foot (12 m) beam, a depth of 23 feet (7 m), and had a gross register tonnage of 1,750 tons as originally built. It was powered by a compound steam engine driving a single screw, and had two masts in case of an engine breakdown. The ship was designed to accommodate 240 first-class passengers and 500 in steerage. Canadian Pacific ordered three ships from Aitken & Mansell: Athabasca, launched on July 3, 1883; Alberta, launched on July 12, and Algoma, launched on July 31. The three ships were identical. The company intended to use the ship as a passenger vessel on the Great Lakes, running from Thunder Bay on Lake Superior to Owen Sound on Lake Huron. Alberta and Algoma sailed from Glasgow on September 25, taking 13 days to cross the Atlantic and arrive in Montreal, Quebec. However, ships of Algoma's size were too long to pass through the Welland Canal, so Algoma was cut in half, with the bow and stern moved through the canal separately on pontoons. The ship was rejoined in Buffalo, New York, and cabins were added, increasing the tonnage to 1,773 tons. Additional work was done on the cabins during the winter of 1883–1884, including the installation of electric lighting; Algoma and its sister ships were probably the first Great Lakes ships to be electrified. The newly outfitted Algoma, costing a total of $450,000 to build, was relaunched on May 11, 1884. The three Canadian Pacific steamers immediately set time records for their runs. Algoma clocked 39 hours, 42 minutes on the run between Owen Sound and Thunder Bay, and journeyed from Toronto to Thunder Bay in the "unprecedented short time of 47 hours." There was some concern that the new steamers were disregarding safety to minimize their run times; indeed, Alberta was involved in a collision with the steam barge John M. Osborn in July 1884 near Whitefish Point which resulted in the loss of three lives. On November 5, 1885, Algoma left Owen Sound for Thunder Bay, carrying general merchandise, railway supplies, and 37 passengers, the fewest it had ever carried. This was likely attributable to the lateness of the season and the recent opening of a rail route around Lake Superior. The ship passed into Lake Superior on November 6; when it was about halfway across the lake it ran into a blinding snowstorm. The sails were set to stabilize the ship, but it drifted off course. At about 4 am on the morning of November 7, the captain ordered the sails lowered and changed course. At 4:40 am, shortly after resuming steam power, Algoma ran aground on the southeast shore of Mott Island off Isle Royale.

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Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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