SS Pere Marquette 18 1910
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Marker: recorded wreck position (Steam era).
Key facts
| Name | SS Pere Marquette 18 | Wikidata label |
|---|---|---|
| Year lost | 1910 | Wikidata P793 significant event, point-in-time qualifier |
| Era | Steam era | derived from year |
| Ship type | train ferry, steamship | Wikidata P31 instance of |
| Nearest coast | United States | Natural Earth (public domain) |
| Position | 43.7417, -87.3044 | Wikidata P625 coordinate location (CC0) |
About the wreck
SS Pere Marquette 18 was a steel-hulled Great Lakes train ferry that served on Lake Michigan (primarily between the four ports of Ludington, Michigan and Kewaunee, Manitowoc and Milwaukee, Wisconsin) from her construction in 1902 to her sinking in 1910.
On September 9, 1910 while bound from Ludington for Milwaukee with 62 passengers and crew and 29 rail cars filled with general merchandise and coal, Pere Marquette 18 began taking on massive amounts of water. The pumps were turned on, but all attempts to save her were futile, and she sank off the coast of Sheboygan, Wisconsin. Her fleetmate, Pere Marquette 17 was nearby and managed to save 35 of her passengers and crew. Twenty-seven people on board Pere Marquette 18 were killed, while Pere Marquette 17 lost two of her own crew during the rescue. As none of her officers survived to recount what happened, the true cause of Pere Marquette 18's flooding remains a mystery.
The wreck of Pere Marquette 18 was discovered in July 2020 in about 500 feet (150 m) of water about 25 miles (40 km) east of Sheboygan by a wreck hunting team from Minnesota.
Diving & visiting
On July 23, 2020 wreck hunters Jerry Eliason of Cloquet, Minnesota and Ken Merryman of Fridley, Minnesota were searching for Pere Marquette 18 using a side-scan sonar and an archived account from the United States Life-Saving Service; they eventually located an anomaly in the middle of Lake Michigan, roughly 10 hours into their search. Eliason and Merryman were initially confused about the nature of the target, believing it to be a school of fish.
The wreck of Pere Marquette 18 rests in about 500 feet (150 m) of water about 25 miles (40 km) off Sheboygan, Wisconsin. Her stern is completely buried in mud, with her bow rising 70 (21 m) to 100 feet (30 m) off the lake bottom at a 30° to 40° angle. Her decks have collapsed, and her pilothouse, which broke off and spun around when she sank, lies on her stern. One of her rail cars is also visible. A field of debris surrounds her wreck. Her wreck is completely covered in invasive zebra mussels. As her stern is completely buried in mud, it is unlikely that the cause of her sinking will ever be known.
Until her discovery, Pere Marquette 18 was the largest undiscovered shipwreck on Lake Michigan.
Location
- Recorded position: 43.7417, -87.3044 (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 Pere Marquette 18 (revision 1376095688), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section and section(s) “Discovery”, “Today”; 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
- Robert C. Pringle 1922 · 21 km
- SS Selah Chamberlain 1886 · 28 km
- Hetty Taylor shipwreck 1880 · 29 km
- Home 1858 · 30 km
- Gallinipper 32 km
- Byron shipwreck 1867 · 34 km
Browse more: North America wrecks · wrecks off United States · Steam era