National Register of Historic Places

CHOCTAW (shipwreck)

Presque Isle Township, Presque Isle County, Michigan
Listed
December 10, 2018
Type
Site
Period
Listed
Ref No.
100003214

About this property

SS Choctaw was a steel-hulled American freighter in service between 1892 and 1915, on the Great Lakes of North America. She was a so-called monitor vessel, containing elements of traditional lake freighters and the whaleback ships designed by Alexander McDougall. Choctaw was built in 1892 by the Cleveland Shipbuilding Company in Cleveland, Ohio, and was originally owned by the Lake Superior Iron Company. She was sold to the Cleveland-Cliffs Iron Company in 1894 and spent the rest of her working life with it. On her regular route between Detroit, Escanaba, Marquette (all in Michigan), and Cleveland, she carried iron ore downbound, and coal upbound. On July 11, 1915, in foggy conditions, Choctaw was upbound for Marquette on Lake Huron with a cargo of coal from Cleveland. East of Presque Isle Light, the freighter was rammed by the downbound Canadian canaller Wahcondah. Although Choctaw sank in only 17 minutes, her crew of 22 escaped, and was picked up by Wahcondah. For a long time, shipwreck hunters searched for the wreck of Choctaw due to her unique design. The wreck was located by a team from the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary on May 23, 2017, almost 102 years after she sank. She was discovered resting under 300 feet (90 meters) of water, lying on her starboard side with the bow partially buried in the lake bottom. The wreck was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on December 10, 2018.

Location

Presque Isle Township, Presque Isle County, Michigan

Categories

COMMERCEENGINEERINGHISTORIC - NON-ABORIGINAL
Sources

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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Questions about this property

When was CHOCTAW (shipwreck) listed on the National Register?

CHOCTAW (shipwreck) was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on December 10, 2018.

What type of historic resource is CHOCTAW (shipwreck)?

CHOCTAW (shipwreck) is classified as a site in the National Register of Historic Places.

What is the period of significance for CHOCTAW (shipwreck)?

The period of significance for CHOCTAW (shipwreck) is recorded as the listed era.

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