SS Benjamin Noble 1914
Marker: recorded wreck position (First World War).
Key facts
| Name | SS Benjamin Noble | Wikidata label |
|---|---|---|
| Year lost | 1914 | Wikidata P793 significant event, point-in-time qualifier |
| Era | First World War | derived from year |
| Ship type | lake freighter | Wikidata P31 instance of |
| Cause of loss | Storm or weather | Keyword match in English Wikipedia lead sentence |
| Nationality / flag | United States | Wikidata P8047 country of registry |
| Nearest coast | United States | Natural Earth (public domain) |
| Position | 46.9333, -91.6667 | Wikidata P625 coordinate location (CC0) |
About the wreck
The SS Benjamin Noble was a lake freighter that operated on the Great Lakes. Built in 1909 by the Detroit Shipbuilding Company, she was 239 feet (73 m) in length and had a beam of 40 feet (12 m). She was built as a "canaller," a vessel designed for use in what were then the dimensions of the Welland Canal, but was converted by her owners for service in the open Great Lakes. Heavily laden and top-heavy with a cargo of railroad rails, she sank in a Lake Superior storm near Knife River, Minnesota, in April 1914 with the loss of all hands.
After more than 90 years as a ghost ship, the hulk of the Benjamin Noble was rediscovered in the autumn of 2004. The wreck was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2007 as NRHP site #07000984.
Diving & visiting
The Duluth-bound Benjamin Noble entered Lake Superior on April 25, 1914, under command of Captain John Eisenhardt from Milwaukee, WI; the Noble was his first command. Also bound for Duluth was the lumber steamer Norwalk, which trailed the Noble and eventually passed her on the 27th. That night, however, a fierce spring gale hit the lake. The Noble was apparently following the Norwalk until around 3am when both ships were near Knife Island. At that time a passing freighter, the Daniel J. Morrell, noticed the lights of one of the ships suddenly disappear.
Had she been able to make anchor in the sheltered port of Duluth, the Benjamin Noble would have been saved.
In the Autumn of 2004, a shipwreck research team consisting of Jerry Eliason, Kraig Smith, Ken Merryman and Randy Beebe were searching for the Robert Wallace when their side scan sonar picked up the outlines of a shipwreck. Randy Beebe described the event:
Location
- Recorded position: 46.9333, -91.6667 (Wikidata P625 coordinate location (CC0); may be approximate)
- Nearest coast: United States
Wreck positions on this site are for interest only and are not for navigation. Many wrecks are war graves or legally protected: never disturb human remains or remove artefacts, and check local law before diving.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article SS Benjamin Noble (revision 1372505638), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section and section(s) “Wreck”, “Discovery”; condensed by selecting paragraphs; citations and formatting removed. No text added. This excerpt is available under the same licence.
Wreck facts from Wikidata (CC0).
Nearby wrecks
- SS Harriet B. 1922 · 4 km
- Samuel P. Ely 1896 · 9 km
- SS Robert Wallace 11 km
- SS Onoko 1915 · 13 km
- Thomas Friant 16 km
- May Flower (shipwreck) 1891 · 30 km
Browse more: North America wrecks · wrecks off United States · First World War