AH-WR-0154

SS Marquette & Bessemer No. 2

Railroad Car Ferry · United States · Lost 1909 · The Lake Erie Islands

A railroad car ferry vanished with all hands crossing Lake Erie in a December gale, and has never been found.

Artistic recreation based on recorded historical documents.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

Marquette & Bessemer No. 2 carried loaded railroad cars daily between Conneaut, Ohio, and Port Stanley, Ontario. On December 7, 1909, she left Conneaut into a strengthening gale and was never seen again. A lifeboat with frozen victims and scattered wreckage later confirmed her loss, but the ferry itself was never located. It remains one of the Great Lakes' enduring maritime mysteries.

Vessel

Built: 1905
Registry: US registry no. 201514
Builder: American Ship Building Company
Yard: Cleveland, Ohio
Material: Steel
Length: 338 ft
Beam: 54 ft
Tonnage: 2514
Propulsion: Steam, twin screw, coal-fired quadruple expansion engines
Owners: Marquette & Bessemer Dock & Navigation Company, Conneaut, Ohio

Loss

Date: December 7, 1909
Cause: Storm
Location: Lake Erie, between Conneaut, Ohio, and Port Stanley, Ontario
Water: Lake Erie
Voyage: Conneaut, Ohio → Port Stanley, Ontario
Cargo: 30 railroad hopper cars of coal, plus cars of steel beams and iron castings
Aboard: Not established
Lives lost: Sources report between 30 and 38 lost; the exact number aboard was never firmly established.
Master: Robert R. McLeod

The Wreck Today

Depth: Not established
Condition: Not established
Orientation: Not established
Discovered: Not established
Protection: Not established

Position

Coordinates: Not established
Accuracy: Position not established
Nearest: Conneaut, Ohio
Region: The Lake Erie Islands

Ohio Sea Grant's official shipwreck database states plainly that the wreck's location is 'Unknown' and that despite decades of searching by divers and researchers 'the M&B#2 has never been found,' and unverified diver claims of finding it 'have never been substantiated'; a Wikidata coordinate exists but is not tied to any cited discovery and was not used.