AH-WR-1673

Grace A. Channon

Three-Masted Canal Schooner · United States · Lost 1877 · Chicago & Southern Lake Michigan

A canal schooner sunk by a collision off Oak Creek in 1877, with its cabin surviving on the lakebed.

Become Captain of Record See Shipwreck on Map

Artistic recreation based on recorded historical documents.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

Interpretive Reconstruction, drawn to convey the vessel's era, type and general form. See the documented evidence.

The Vessel and Her Loss

Grace A. Channon was built at East Saginaw in 1873 as a three-masted schooner sized for the Welland Canal. It carried coal, grain, lumber and iron during four years of service. On August 2, 1877, Favorite struck its port side while it carried coal toward Chicago, and it sank within five minutes. Seven-year-old Alexander Graham died; Favorite rescued everyone else. Kent Bellrichard located the wreck in 1985, and its hull and cabin survive in 205 feet of water.

Vessel

Built: 1873
Registry: US registry no. 85309
Builder: W. S. Ellenwood and Company
Yard: East Saginaw, Michigan
Material: Wood
Length: 140.7 ft
Beam: 26.2 ft
Tonnage: 265.99 gross tons
Propulsion: Sail
Owners: Built for Henry Channon and Henry L. Graham of Chicago

Loss

Date: August 2, 1877
Cause: Collision
Location: Off Oak Creek, Wisconsin, southeast of Milwaukee
Water: Lake Michigan
Voyage: Buffalo, New York → Chicago, Illinois
Cargo: Approximately 550–600 tons of anthracite coal; final-voyage narrative gives 600 tons.
Aboard: Not established
Lives lost: 1
Master: Not established

The Wreck Today

Depth: 205 ft
Condition: Intact hull and cabin on a sandy bottom; broken masts and rigging scattered on deck.
Orientation: Upright, on an even keel
Discovered: 1985
Protection: Not established

Position

Coordinates: 42.930° N 87.603° W
Accuracy: Surveyed position
Nearest: Oak Creek, Wisconsin
Region: Chicago & Southern Lake Michigan

Institutional confirmed-location map publishes N 42°55.798′, W 87°36.157′; converted directly from degrees and decimal minutes.

Evidence

Overall confidence: Documented (88/100)

Total persons aboard is not established in the source reviewed.

Wisconsin Historical Society / Wisconsin Sea Grant — Wisconsin Shipwrecks
Construction and registered original hull dimensions, service, final voyage, total-loss outcome and surviving remains. Tonnage is gross register tonnage, not displacement.