SS Muskegon
Package Freighter · United States · Lost 1910 · Chicago & Southern Lake Michigan
Built as the passenger steamer Peerless, later renamed Muskegon, she burned in 1910 off Michigan City and became Indiana's first National Register shipwreck.
Doctor Bob
See Shipwreck on Map
The Vessel and Her Loss
Launched in 1872 at Cleveland as the passenger and package freighter Peerless, the vessel was renamed Muskegon in 1907 and repurposed first as a lumber hooker and then as a sand-sucker. On October 6, 1910, she caught fire while unloading sand off Michigan City, Indiana, and burned to the waterline with no loss of life. She was later refloated and scuttled offshore, and her wreck was the first in Indiana listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Vessel
- 1872
- US registry no. 20470
- Ira Lafrinnier
- Cleveland, Ohio
- Wood
- 211 ft
- 39.8 ft
- 1275.57
- Steam, single screw
- Independent Sand Company (at loss)
Loss
- October 6, 1910
- Fire
- Off Michigan City, Indiana
- Lake Michigan
- Not established
- Sand
- Not established
- 0
- Not established
The Wreck Today
- 32 ft
- Not established
- Not established
- 1987
- Listed on the National Register of Historic Places; site slated to become part of a nature preserve near Mount Baldy.
Position
- 41.717° N 86.933° W
- Surveyed position
- Michigan City, Indiana
Evidence
Overall confidence: Documented (85/100)
Build specifications, dimensions, NRHP listing, and loss narrative.
Indiana DNR Lake Michigan Coastal Program
Service history, conversion history, and salvage detail.
