AH-WR-0261

City of Detroit

Passenger And Package Freighter · United States · Lost 1873 · Saginaw Bay & the Michigan Thumb

A Detroit-owned propeller steamer lost with all 20 aboard in a Saginaw Bay storm while towing a barge that survived.

Become Captain of Record See Shipwreck on Map

Artistic recreation based on recorded historical documents. See the documented evidence.

Historically Reconstructed. Drawn from partial documentation of this vessel together with her known class and configuration. See the documented evidence.

The Vessel and Her Loss

City of Detroit was a wooden propeller freighter built in 1866, carrying wheat and flour between Milwaukee and Sarnia. In December 1873, while towing the barge Guiding Star, she sailed into a severe storm on Saginaw Bay and foundered with all 20 aboard. The barge's crew, who cut loose in time, believed her machinery had failed under the strain of the weather.

Vessel

Built: 1866
Registry: US 4378
Builder: Lester
Yard: Marine City, Michigan
Material: Wood
Length: 166 ft
Beam: 28 ft
Tonnage: 652
Propulsion: Steam, propeller
Owners: John Pridgeon, Detroit

Loss

Date: December 4, 1873
Cause: Storm
Location: Saginaw Bay, Lake Huron
Water: Saginaw Bay, Lake Huron
Voyage: Milwaukee, Wisconsin → Sarnia, Ontario
Cargo: 8,000 bushels of wheat, barrels of flour
Aboard: 20
Lives lost: 20
Master: Not established

The Wreck Today

Depth: 160-180
Condition: Upright and mostly intact, with hogging arches visible and engine partially exposed on deck
Orientation: Not established
Discovered: Not established
Protection: Thumb Area Bottomland Preserve

Position

Coordinates: 44.21° N 83.01° W
Accuracy: Reported, unconfirmed
Nearest: Port Austin, Michigan
Region: Saginaw Bay & the Michigan Thumb

The dive-community site 3DShipwrecks.org publishes a specific GPS position (N44°12.473' W83°00.840') for the wreck, discovered by David Trotter's team in 1999 in Saginaw Bay/Lake Huron near Port Austin, MI; this is a hobbyist/dive-resource figure rather than a state-surveyed position.