Whitefish Point & Eastern Lake Superior
The turn every laker had to make
Every vessel leaving Lake Superior funnels past Whitefish Point toward the locks at Sault Ste. Marie.
Superior gives a following sea a three-hundred-mile fetch, and November gales drive it straight down onto the point. Ships running for the shelter of Whitefish Bay had to hold a converging course in snow and spray, with reefs off the point and a shoreline that offered almost no refuge. The stretch has been called a graveyard since the nineteenth century, and the losses include both wooden schooners and the largest ore carriers on the lakes.
Loading chart…
Records in These Waters
AvailableA.A. Parker
AH-WR-2011Munising, Michigan
1903 · Steamer
AvailableAdella Shores
AH-WR-1992Whitefish Point, Michigan
1909 · Steam Screw
AvailableAlex Nimick
AH-WR-0512Whitefish Point, Michigan
1907 · Wooden Bulk Freighter · 22 ft deep
AvailableAnnie Coleman
AH-WR-2010Munising, Michigan
1879 · Schooner
AvailableAnnie M. Peterson
AH-WR-1995Grand Marais, Michigan
1914 · Schooner-Barge
AvailableAtlanta
AH-WR-1999Deer Park, Michigan
1891 · Schooner-Barge
AvailableBannockburn
AH-WR-1496Lake Superior
1902 · Bulk Freighter
AvailableBarge 129
AH-WR-1997Vermilion Point, Michigan
1902 · Whaleback Barge
AvailableBermuda
AH-WR-2003Munising, Michigan
1870 · Canal Schooner
AvailableC.F. Curtis
AH-WR-1993Grand Marais, Michigan
1914 · Steam Screw
AvailableComet
AH-WR-0014Whitefish Point, Michigan
1875 · Package Freighter
AvailableCyprus
AH-WR-1518Deer Park, Michigan
1907 · Bulk Freighter
AvailableElma
AH-WR-2006Munising, Michigan
1895 · Schooner-Barge
AvailableGeorge
AH-WR-2007Munising, Michigan
1893 · Schooner
AvailableHenry B. Smith
AH-WR-1495Marquette, Michigan
1913 · Bulk Freighter
AvailableHerman H. Hettler
AH-WR-1498Munising, Michigan
1926 · Wooden Bulk Freighter
AvailableHuronton
AH-WR-1998Whitefish Point, Michigan
1923 · Bulk Freighter
AvailableIndiana
AH-WR-0268Crisp Point, Michigan
1858 · Freighter · 110 ft deep
AvailableJohn B. Cowle
AH-WR-0015Whitefish Point, Michigan
1909 · Bulk Freighter
RegisteredJohn M. Osborn
AH-WR-0267Whitefish Point, Michigan
1884 · Bulk Freighter · 160-170 deep
AvailableJulia Palmer
AH-WR-0513Bay Mills, Michigan
Deliberately sunk in 1848 to serve as a dock, following a severe 1847 storm survived earlier in her career. · Sidewheel Steamer · 10 ft deep
AvailableKiowa
AH-WR-0721Grand Marais, Michigan
1929 · Bulk Freighter · 20-40 deep
AvailableLambton
AH-WR-1526Whitefish Bay
1922 · Lighthouse Tender
AvailableM.M. Drake
AH-WR-0510Vermilion Point, Michigan
1901 · Wooden Steam Barge · 45-50 deep
AvailableManhattan
AH-WR-0720Munising, Michigan
1903 · Bulk Freighter · 20-40 deep
AvailableMary Jarecki
AH-WR-1499Grand Marais, Michigan
July 1883 · Wooden Bulk Freighter
AvailableMary M. Scott
AH-WR-2005Munising, Michigan
1870 · Canal Schooner
AvailableMichael Groh
AH-WR-2004Munising, Michigan
1895 · Steam Barge
AvailableMyron
AH-WR-0016Whitefish Point, Michigan
1919 · Bulk Freighter
AvailableNiagara
AH-WR-0509Whitefish Point, Michigan
1887 · Schooner Barge · 100 ft deep
AvailableNucleus
AH-WR-1996Vermilion Point, Michigan
1869 · Barquentine
AvailableOriole
AH-WR-2009Munising, Michigan
1862 · Schooner
AvailableSelden E. Marvin
AH-WR-1994Grand Marais, Michigan
1914 · Schooner-Barge
AvailableSitka
AH-WR-2012Munising, Michigan
1904 · Steamer
AvailableSmith Moore
AH-WR-0719Munising, Michigan
1889 · Steam Barge · 70-105 deep
AvailableSS John Mitchell
AH-WR-0095Whitefish Point, Michigan
1911 · Bulk Freighter · 130-150 deep
AvailableSS Samuel Mather
AH-WR-0269Whitefish Point, Michigan
1891 · Bulk Freighter · 155-180 deep
AvailableSS Superior City
AH-WR-0266Whitefish Point, Michigan
1920 · Bulk Freighter · 210-270 deep
AvailableSS Vienna
AH-WR-0096Whitefish Point, Michigan
1892 · Propeller-Driven Steamer · 120-148 deep
AvailableWabash
AH-WR-2008Munising, Michigan
1883 · Schooner
AvailableWestern Reserve
AH-WR-1497Deer Park, Michigan
1892 · Bulk Freighter
AvailableZillah
AH-WR-0270Whitefish Point, Michigan
Date of loss not established in sources reviewed · Bulk Freighter · 230-250 deep
