Checotah
Schooner · United States · Lost 1906 · Saginaw Bay & the Michigan Thumb
A waterlogged lumber schooner cut loose from her tow in a 1906 gale, now a deep, well-equipped wreck in the Sanilac Shores preserve.
Become Captain of RecordSee Shipwreck on Map
The Vessel and Her Loss
Checotah, originally built in 1870 as George D. Russell, was a wooden schooner-barge that carried lumber on the Great Lakes. On October 30, 1906, while in tow with two other barges behind the tug Tempest, she sprang a leak in a gale off Michigan's Thumb and had to be cut loose. Her crew of five escaped safely and were rescued within the hour. The wreck was found by sport divers in 1988 and lies broken but rich in artifacts in deep water off Port Sanilac.
Vessel
- 1870
- US official no. 85267
- Not established
- Not established
- Wood
- 200 ft
- 34 ft
- Not established
- Sail (towed at time of loss)
- Not established
Loss
- October 30, 1906
- Storm
- Off Sanilac County, Michigan
- Lake Huron
- Not established
- Lumber
- 5
- 0
- William Somerville
The Wreck Today
- 117 ft
- Badly broken; sank bow-first and struck bottom in that position
- Upright, tilted to starboard
- 1988
- Within Sanilac Shores Underwater Preserve
Position
- 43.602° N 82.470° W
- Surveyed position
- Port Sanilac, Michigan
Evidence
Overall confidence: Documented (80/100)
Michigan Underwater Preserve Council
Depth, coordinates
Great Lakes shipwreck history account
Loss narrative, crew, discovery
