Barge No. 1
Car Ferry Barge · Lost 1918 · Thunder Bay & Lake Huron
A 309-foot wooden rail-car barge broke up on a North Point reef in 1918, scattering crates of live chickens ashore.
Become Captain of RecordSee Shipwreck on Map
The Vessel and Her Loss
James Davidson built Barge No. 1 at West Bay City in 1895, one of four huge wooden barges for the Lake Michigan Car Ferry Barge Company carrying rail cars from Peshtigo to Chicago. Sold in 1910, she worked out of Sturgeon Bay carrying pulpwood and bulk freight. On November 8, 1918, she ran onto a reef near Thunder Bay's North Point in a storm and broke up. Crates of live chickens from her cargo washed ashore on Thunder Bay Island.
Vessel
- 1895
- James Davidson
- West Bay City, Michigan
- Wood
- 309 ft
- 44 ft
- 1,544 gross tons
- Unpowered (towed)
- Not established
Loss
- November 8, 1918
- Storm
- Reef near North Point, Thunder Bay, Lake Huron, Michigan
- Lake Huron
- Not established
- Lumber and crates of live chickens
- Not established
- Not established
- Not established
The Wreck Today
- 42 ft
- Not established
- Not established
- Not established
- Within Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary
Position
- 45.02° N 83.30° W
- Approximate position
- Alpena, Michigan
Sanctuary-published site position (mooring/GPS listing); displayed rounded.
Evidence
Overall confidence: Documented (85/100)
Crew numbers, casualties and the towing vessel are not established in the source reviewed.
NOAA Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary — Shipwrecks: Barge No. 1
Specification table and complete description read; underlying archival records not independently inspected.
