Hesper
Bulk Freighter · United States · Lost 1905 · The Minnesota North Shore
A wooden ore freighter that broke apart on a reef in a blinding spring snowstorm, its wreck now resting beneath the breakwater it helped inspire caution around.
Become Captain of RecordSee Shipwreck on Map
The Vessel and Her Loss
Hesper was a wooden-hulled bulk freighter launched in 1890 for the Bradley Transportation Company, hauling iron ore and grain on the Great Lakes. On May 4, 1905, a fierce late-spring snowstorm drove her off course near present-day Silver Bay, Minnesota, and hurled her onto a reef. All 16 aboard escaped by lifeboat before the ship broke up. The wreck lay forgotten until divers located it in 1961.
Vessel
- 1890
- Ship Owners Dry Dock Company
- Cleveland, Ohio
- Wood
- Not established
- Not established
- Not established
- Steam, single screw, three masts
- Bradley Transportation Company
Loss
- May 4, 1905
- Storm
- Reef off Silver Bay, Minnesota, Lake Superior
- Lake Superior
- Duluth, Minnesota
- Not established
- 16
- 0
- Captain E.H. Heaton
The Wreck Today
- 42 ft
- Well preserved but split apart at the turn of the bilge; port and starboard sides lie parallel to the hull bottom.
- Not established
- 1961
- Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, 1992.
Position
- 47.29° N 91.26° W
- Approximate position
- Silver Bay, Minnesota
Rounded to the Silver Bay harbor area; exact NRHP survey coordinates not confirmed in sources reviewed.
Evidence
Overall confidence: Documented (85/100)
Exact present-day coordinates of the wreck are not confirmed in the sources reviewed; the harbor-area location is well established.
Minnesota Historical Society / State Historic Preservation Office
Loss narrative, crew count, depth, wreck condition.
MNopedia (Minnesota Historical Society Press)
Vessel build history and prior towing of Samuel P. Ely.
