Thomas Wilson 1902
Marker: recorded wreck position (Steam era).
Key facts
| Name | Thomas Wilson | Wikidata label |
|---|---|---|
| Year lost | 1902 | English Wikipedia lead text (year following a loss verb, parsed) |
| Era | Steam era | derived from year |
| Ship type | whaleback | Wikidata P31 instance of |
| Cause of loss | Collision | 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 | 46.7833, -92.0694 | Wikidata P625 coordinate location (CC0) |
About the wreck
Thomas Wilson was a whaleback freighter built in 1892 and used to haul bulk freight on the Great Lakes. The ship sank in Lake Superior just outside the harbor of Duluth, Minnesota, United States, on 7 June 1902, after a collision with the George Hadley. The wreck of the Thomas Wilson is one of the best remaining examples of a whaleback steamer, and it is also significant for the changes made in operating procedures at the Duluth harbor. The remains of the ship were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1992.
Diving & visiting
The ship rests in 70 feet (21 m) of water less than a mile outside the entrance of the Duluth Ship Canal. The stern of the ship is substantially complete, though a large section of the hull of the midship has been broken apart due to other ships dragging anchors through the wreck. The bow is also intact with its turret, capstan, and distinct triple tow rings on the tip of the bow. The interior of the ship has survived largely intact, with relatively few items having been removed by divers. Some artifacts are on display at the Meteor Maritime Museum nearby in Superior, Wisconsin, together with information about Thomas Wilson.
The wreck was listed on the National Register of Historic Places under the name Thomas Wilson (Whaleback Freighter) Shipwreck in 1992 for its state-level significance in the themes of engineering and…
Location
- Recorded position: 46.7833, -92.0694 (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 Thomas Wilson (shipwreck) (revision 1373453601), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section and section(s) “The wreck 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
- May Flower (shipwreck) 1891 · 5 km
- USS Essex 9 km
- SS Onoko 1915 · 23 km
- SS Robert Wallace 27 km
- SS Harriet B. 1922 · 35 km
- SS Benjamin Noble 1914 · 35 km
Browse more: North America wrecks · wrecks off United States · Steam era