AH-WR-0185

SS Tahoe

Steamship · United States · Lost August 1940, with the precise day reported variously · Lake Tahoe

The grand steamer of Lake Tahoe, obsolete after the ring road opened, was scuttled in the lake's deep clear water in 1940 and still rests nearly intact on the slope off Glenbrook.

Become Captain of Record See Shipwreck on Map

Artistic recreation based on recorded historical documents.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

SS Tahoe was built in 1896 by Union Iron Works for lumber magnate Duane L. Bliss, her hull shipped in sections and assembled at Glenbrook, Nevada. For nearly forty years she was the largest and most celebrated steamer on Lake Tahoe, carrying mail, freight and up to two hundred passengers around the lake. She lost her mail contract in 1934 as an all-weather highway encircled the lake and was laid up at Tahoe City. In 1940 her owner scuttled her a mile off Glenbrook rather than see her scrapped, and technical divers first reached the intact wreck in 1999.

Vessel

Built: 1896
Builder: Union Iron Works (hull built in sections, assembled at Glenbrook)
Yard: San Francisco, California
Material: Steel
Length: 169.75 ft
Beam: 17.83 ft
Tonnage: 154 tons displacement
Propulsion: Twin triple-expansion steam engines, twin screws
Owners: Duane L. Bliss; later William Seth Bliss

Loss

Date: August 1940, with the precise day reported variously
Cause: Intentional sinking
Location: About one mile off Glenbrook, Nevada
Water: Lake Tahoe
Voyage: Not established
Cargo: Not established
Aboard: 0
Lives lost: 0
Master: Not established

The Wreck Today

Depth: About 365 feet at the bow to 475 feet at the stern, on a sloped bottom
Condition: Largely intact, resting on a slope of roughly thirty degrees.
Orientation: Not established
Discovered: 1999-2002
Protection: National Register of Historic Places

Position

Coordinates: 39.09° N 119.95° W
Accuracy: Approximate position
Nearest: Glenbrook, Nevada
Region: Lake Tahoe

SS Tahoe was scuttled in 1940 about one mile off Glenbrook, Nevada and now lies in roughly 400-475 feet of water; the National Register of Historic Places nomination (2004) locates the wreck at Glenbrook, Douglas County, NV, and a dive-resource GPS listing gives the surface position above the wreck as approximately 39.0916, -119.95427.