AH-WR-0490

North Wind

Package Freighter · United States · Lost 1926 · Georgian Bay & the North Channel

A steel Globe Iron Works package freighter, last of six sisters in Great Lakes service, lost to fog and a grounding near Manitoulin Island in 1926.

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Artistic recreation based on recorded historical documents.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

Launched in 1888 at Cleveland's Globe Iron Works, North Wind was one of six steel sister ships built for the Northern Steamship Company. By the mid-1920s she was the last of the class still working the Great Lakes, having been rebuilt as a bulk freighter. In July 1926 she grounded on a rock in fog near Little Current in the North Channel and slid into deep water. Her crew survived, and her large, intact wreck is now a popular technical dive site.

Vessel

Built: 1888
Registry: US official number 130419
Builder: Globe Iron Works
Yard: Cleveland, Ohio
Material: Steel
Length: 299.5 ft
Beam: 40.8 ft
Tonnage: 2476.35
Propulsion: Steam, triple expansion, single screw
Owners: Northern Steamship Company, Duluth, Minnesota (original); Buckeye Steamship Company, Cleveland (at loss)

Loss

Date: July 1, 1926
Cause: Grounding
Location: Near Robertson Rock, Clapperton Island, Georgian Bay
Water: Lake Huron (Georgian Bay, North Channel)
Voyage: Not established
Cargo: Not established
Aboard: Not established
Lives lost: 0
Master: Not established

The Wreck Today

Depth: 70-128
Condition: Upright and largely intact, with extensive penetration opportunities.
Orientation: Not established
Discovered: Not established
Protection: Not established

Position

Coordinates: 45.98° N 81.87° W
Accuracy: Approximate position
Nearest: Little Current, Manitoulin Island, North Channel
Region: Georgian Bay & the North Channel

The Gerald C. Metzler Great Lakes Vessel Database (Wisconsin Maritime Museum) and the Alpena Public Library's Great Lakes Ships archive both describe the wreck's location as approximately 1/4 mile NE of Robertson Rock, Clapperton Island, Georgian Bay; coordinates here are approximated from that named position, not a plotted GPS fix, since no source gave exact numeric coordinates.