Morning Star
Sidewheel Steamer · United States · Lost 1868 · The Lake Erie Islands
A Detroit and Cleveland Line passenger steamer that sank within fifteen minutes after colliding with the schooner Cortland on a dark Lake Erie night in 1868.
Become Captain of RecordSee Shipwreck on Map
The Vessel and Her Loss
Morning Star was a wooden sidewheel steamer built in 1862 for the Detroit and Cleveland Steam Navigation Company, carrying passengers and freight between Cleveland and Detroit. Just after midnight on June 20, 1868, she collided with the schooner Cortland off Lorain, Ohio, and sank within about fifteen minutes. Survivors clung to her torn-away hurricane deck for three hours before being rescued by the steamer R.N. Rice; dozens died in the disaster, with the exact toll never fully established. She lies in the central basin of Lake Erie, marked by a mooring buoy.
Vessel
- 1862
- US official number 16463
- Alvin A. Turner
- Trenton, Michigan
- Wood
- 243 ft
- 34 ft
- 1075
- Steam, sidewheel, vertical beam engine
- Detroit and Cleveland Steam Navigation Company
Loss
- June 20, 1868
- Collision
- Off Lorain, Ohio, Lake Erie
- Lake Erie
- Cleveland, Ohio → Detroit, Michigan
- Pig iron, kegs of nails, mowing machinery, boxes of glass, stone, cheese, barrels of oil, and other packaged freight
- Not established
- 30
- E.R. Viger
The Wreck Today
- 59-68
- Much of the hull and debris settled into a soft mud/silt bottom; paddlewheels, boiler, and walking beam remain prominent
- Not established
- Not established
- Not established
Position
- 41.614° N 82.209° W
- Surveyed position
- Lorain, Ohio
Evidence
Overall confidence: Documented (82/100)
The exact number of lives lost is uncertain, as passenger manifests were incomplete.
Ohio Sea Grant, Shipwrecks and Maritime Tales of Lake Erie
Dimensions, ownership, cargo, wreck location, and depth.
Wikipedia, Morning Star (1862 ship)
Collision account, rescue details, and casualty uncertainty.
