Lake Erie shipwrecks
Estimates of how many ships lie in Lake Erie run into the thousands. This gazetteer tells the stories of 51[1] of them with full, cited pages, lists 118[1] more recorded losses, and follows 5[1] storms that sank several ships at once. Where a reusable public source gives a position, the map shows it rounded to about a kilometer; protected and Ontario sites show only the general area.
Positions and depths are approximate. NOT FOR NAVIGATION. Use current official charts. Pins are rounded positions, not dive positions. Restricted sites are not shown.
By era
By cause
By area
Western basin and the islands
Ohio's central shore
- Lake Serpent
- G.P. Griffith
- Ivanhoe
- Sultan
- Cortland
- Morning Star
- Stephen F. Gale
- Two Fannies
- Margaret Olwill
- Idler
- Dundee
- John B. Lyon
- Queen of the West
- Sarah E. Sheldon
- John Pridgeon Jr.
- Marquette & Bessemer No. 2
- Alva B
- Mecosta
- Sand Merchant
- Admiral
- Cleveco
- James H. Reed
- Craftsman
- Hickory Stick
- North Carolina
- Duke Luedtke
- Dump Barge (Cleveland)
- East Breakwall Barge (Cleveland)
New York waters
Ontario waters
Storms
Other recorded losses
118[1] more losses with too little documented history for a page of their own, each with its source.
Look, don't take
Look, don't take. Shipwrecks and everything on them are protected by law; removing or disturbing anything can be a crime.
- United States: under the Abandoned Shipwreck Act (43 U.S.C. § 2105) the U.S. claims title to abandoned shipwrecks embedded in a state's submerged lands, or resting on them and eligible for the National Register, and transfers that title to the state.
- Ohio: R.C. 1506.32 requires a permit from the Director of Natural Resources, approved by the Ohio History Connection, to recover, alter, salvage or destroy abandoned property on, in or near a submerged watercraft or aircraft in Lake Erie.
- Michigan: MCL 324.76107 forbids recovering, altering or destroying abandoned property on Great Lakes bottomlands without a joint state permit; penalties run from a misdemeanor to a felony punishable by up to 10 years.
- New York: Education Law § 233 makes it a class A misdemeanor to investigate, excavate, remove, injure or destroy objects of historical or archaeological interest on, in or under state-owned lands without the written permission of the Commissioner of Education.
- Pennsylvania: title to abandoned shipwrecks in Pennsylvania's part of Lake Erie passes to the Commonwealth under the federal Abandoned Shipwreck Act, and state permission is required to disturb them.
- Ontario: under the Ontario Heritage Act no one may alter a marine archaeological site or remove an artifact from it without a provincial licence; fines for breaking this rule can reach $1,000,000.
Diving Lake Erie wrecks is dangerous: cold water, poor visibility, depth, entanglement and boat traffic. Nothing here is dive guidance or a dive position. Dive only with proper training, a qualified operator and current information from the groups that maintain moorings.
Wreck diving in Lake Erie: safety and law
Sources
- Lake Erie Gazetteer data: this site's own compiled records (lighthouses, shipwrecks, storms), Lake Erie Gazetteer (WeldonPC). Accessed . Values computed by us from this data.