AH-WR-0415

Straits of Mackinac

Schooner · United States · Lost Date not established · Chicago & Southern Lake Michigan

A sailing vessel named Straits of Mackinac, lost in the southern waters of Lake Michigan.

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Artistic recreation based on recorded historical documents.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

The Straits of Mackinac was a wooden sailing vessel active on the Great Lakes during the nineteenth century, a period of heavy sail and steam traffic between Chicago and northern lake ports. Records confirming her builder, dimensions, and trade are not reliably established here. She was lost in southern Lake Michigan, though the date and cause of her loss are not firmly confirmed in the sources reviewed.

Vessel

Built: Not established
Builder: Not established
Yard: Not established
Material: Wood
Length: Not established
Beam: Not established
Tonnage: Not established
Propulsion: Sail
Owners: Not established

Loss

Date: Not established
Cause: Not established
Location: Southern Lake Michigan
Water: Lake Michigan
Voyage: Not established
Cargo: Not established
Aboard: Not established
Lives lost: Not established
Master: Not established

The Wreck Today

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

Position

Coordinates: 42.03° N 87.61° W
Accuracy: Reported, unconfirmed
Nearest: Southern Lake Michigan
Region: Chicago & Southern Lake Michigan

This is the retired Michigan State auto ferry Straits of Mackinac, intentionally scuttled as a dive reef in southern Lake Michigan on April 10, 2003; dive-resource sources disagree on the exact distance and direction from Chicago's Navy Pier (about 10 miles north per one source, about 14 miles per another), so this position is only an approximate dive-community estimate, not a surveyed fix.