AH-WR-1736

Ottawa

Schooner · United States · Lost 1911 · Door County & Lake Michigan

The wire-rigged schooner Ottawa was lost off Stony Point in 1911; all five crew died while trying to reach shore.

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Artistic recreation based on recorded historical documents.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

Ottawa was built in 1874 at Grand Haven by Duncan Robertson as a wooden, two-masted schooner. The institutional history identifies her as the first wire-rigged schooner on the Great Lakes. Carrying lumber from Manistique toward Chicago on April 13, 1911, she turned back toward Sturgeon Bay in a storm and fog. She grounded on the rocky reef off Stony Point, north of Algoma; all five crew died after their damaged yawl sank. The hull was too badly damaged to raise and was stripped, with lumber recovered through holes blasted in the deck.

Vessel

Built: 1874
Registry: US registry no. 19408
Builder: Duncan Robertson
Yard: Grand Haven, Michigan
Material: Wood
Length: 115 ft
Beam: 25 ft
Tonnage: 163.29 gross tons
Propulsion: Sail
Owners: Not established

Loss

Date: April 13, 1911
Cause: Grounding
Location: Rocky reef off Stony Point, six miles north of Algoma, Wisconsin
Water: Lake Michigan
Voyage: Manistique, Michigan → Chicago, Illinois
Cargo: Lumber
Aboard: 5
Lives lost: 5
Master: Not established

The Wreck Today

Depth: 20 ft
Condition: Institutional account describes bilge, hull framing and some decking, pounded by waves and ice.
Orientation: Not established
Discovered: Not established
Protection: Not established

Position

Coordinates: 44.68° N 87.37° W
Accuracy: Reported, unconfirmed
Nearest: Clay Banks, Wisconsin
Region: Door County & Lake Michigan

Position converted from the institutional inventory’s published degrees and decimal minutes; survey accuracy is not independently established.

Evidence

Overall confidence: Documented (80/100)

The institutional inventory reports a shallow wreck position and twenty-foot depth; their current survey accuracy is not independently verified.

Wisconsin Historical Society and Wisconsin Sea Grant — Wisconsin Shipwrecks
Builder, construction, dimensions, wire rig, identity, final April 1911 grounding and yawl fatalities, failed raising and salvage, reported depth/condition and inventory position.