AH-WR-0269

SS Samuel Mather

Bulk Freighter · United States · Lost 1891 · Whitefish Point & Eastern Lake Superior

A wooden wheat freighter rammed by the steel Brazil in fog, sinking slowly enough to save every man and leave one of the best-preserved wooden wrecks on the Lakes.

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Artistic recreation based on recorded historical documents. See the documented evidence.

Documented Likeness. Drawn from surviving builder's plans or clear photographs of this vessel. See the documented evidence.

The Vessel and Her Loss

Samuel Mather was a wooden bulk freighter that served only four years before the steel-hulled Brazil rammed her in fog near Whitefish Point in November 1891. She sank slowly enough for her entire crew to escape safely aboard the Brazil. Found in 1978, she remains one of the best-preserved wooden freighters on the Great Lakes, though later stripped of artifacts by illegal salvage.

Vessel

Built: 1887
Registry: US 116142
Builder: Thomas Quayle's Sons
Yard: Cleveland, Ohio
Material: Wood
Length: 246 ft
Beam: 40 ft
Tonnage: 1576
Propulsion: Steam, propeller
Owners: Pickands, Mather Company

Loss

Date: November 21, 1891
Cause: Collision
Location: Whitefish Bay, about 8 miles from Point Iroquois
Water: Lake Superior
Voyage: Duluth, Minnesota
Cargo: Wheat
Aboard: Not established
Lives lost: 0
Master: Not established

The Wreck Today

Depth: 155-180
Condition: Remarkably intact, with two of three masts still standing
Orientation: Not established
Discovered: 1978
Protection: Whitefish Point Underwater Preserve

Position

Coordinates: 46.57° N 84.71° W
Accuracy: Reported, unconfirmed
Nearest: Whitefish Point, Michigan
Region: Whitefish Point & Eastern Lake Superior

Dive-survey GPS coordinates (46°34.263'N 84°42.357'W) for the intact wreck in Whitefish Bay, about eight miles from Point Iroquois, are published by dive-documentation sites (3DShipwrecks.org, Superior Trips); no government survey coordinate was found.