Albany
Package Freighter · United States · Lost 1893 · Saginaw Bay & the Michigan Thumb
An iron package freighter that sank stern-first after ramming and being rammed near Pointe aux Barques in a fatal fog collision.
Become Captain of RecordSee Shipwreck on Map
The Vessel and Her Loss
Albany was an iron package freighter built in 1884 for the Western Transit Company, part of the New York Central Railway's Great Lakes fleet. On November 7, 1893, in dense fog off Pointe aux Barques, she collided with the steamer Philadelphia. Taken under tow toward shore, she filled quickly and her crew abandoned her before she sank stern-first in about 200 feet of water. Eight of her crew were among the 24 men lost in the combined disaster.
Vessel
- 1884
- US 106306
- Detroit Dry Dock Company
- Wyandotte, Michigan
- Iron
- 267 ft
- 38.5 ft
- 1918
- Steam, fore-and-aft compound engine, coal-fired
- Western Transit Company (New York Central Railway subsidiary)
Loss
- November 7, 1893
- Collision
- About 12 miles off Pointe aux Barques, Lake Huron
- Lake Huron
- Not established
- Not established
- Not established
- 8
- A. J. McDonald
The Wreck Today
- 200 ft
- Not established
- Not established
- Not established
- Within the Thumb Area Bottomland Preserve
Position
- 44.106° N 82.700° W
- Surveyed position
- Pointe aux Barques, Michigan
Position published by the Thumb Area Bottomland Preserve.
Evidence
Overall confidence: Documented (80/100)
Present wreck condition and exact resting position are not established in the sources reviewed.
Build details, ownership, loss narrative, casualty figures.
History of the Great Lakes, Volume I (1891-1898)
Detailed collision and sinking narrative, casualty count.
