MARQUETTE (shipwreck)

About this property

SS Marquette was a wooden-hulled, American Great Lakes freighter built in 1881, that sank on Lake Superior, five miles east of Michigan Island, Ashland County, Wisconsin, Apostle Islands, United States on October 15, 1903. On the day of February 13, 2008 the remains of the Marquette were listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Marquette (Official number 110465) was built as the Republic in 1881, in Cleveland, Ohio by George Presley & Company for the Republic Iron Company of Marquette, Michigan to be their new flagship. Her wooden hull had an overall length of 245 feet (75 m), and a between perpendiculars length of 235 feet (72 m). Her beam was 35.58 feet (10.84 m) wide and her hull was 18.42 feet (5.61 m) deep. She had a gross register tonnage of 1343.23 tons, and a net register tonnage of 1117.91 tons. She was powered by two 36-by-63-inch (91 cm × 160 cm) low pressure steam engine, and a 12-by-18-inch (30 cm × 46 cm) boiler. The Republic was one of a transitional class of lake freighter that employed innovative hull strengthening technologies (such as iron strapping), that helped them accommodate greater gross register tonnage, and longer, stronger hulls. She was launched on April 21, 1881. On May 10, 1881, the Republic made her maiden voyage to Marquette, Michigan, while towing the schooners Ironton, and the E.P. Beals. In May 1887 she grounded on Grand Island, Michigan. On May 15, 1890, while towing the schooner Grace Holland on Lake Superior, the Republic broke her crank pin of her aft engine after passing Lime Island. She was later towed to Cleveland, Ohio for repairs, where her old engine was replaced with a fore and aft compound engine that was built by the Globe Ironworks Company of Cleveland, Ohio. Later in 1890, the Republic was renamed Marquette. On October 14, 1903 the Marquette arrived in Ashland, Wisconsin, where she loaded 1319 tons of ore at the Central Ore Dock and 700 tons of ore at the Northwestern Ore Dock, that she would then take to Cleveland, Ohio. At around midnight, her crew reported a leak from an unknown source to Captain Caughill, who went below the decks to have a look at the leak. After seeing that water was entering at an alarming rate; he ordered all of the Marquette's pumps to be turned on, and ordered a course change to Michigan Island which was about 25 miles away. As she neared Michigan Island, she settled deeper and deeper into the water. At around 2:45 A.M., Captain Caughill ordered 13 of her crew to board the lifeboats. Captain Caughill, the second engineer, the second mate and a watchman stayed on the Marquette to guide her to Michigan Island. About an hour later, she foundered, and the four men abandoned her in a lifeboat. As she sank, air trapped below her decks blew her cabins off. She was valued at $65,000 and the cargo was valued at $50,000.

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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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