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Alva B

41.51° N, 82.03° W (rounded) · Ohio waters · lost 1917

  • Stranded
  • Lives lost: None recorded

41.51° N, 82.03° W · Rounded; not a dive position. Source: Ohio Sea Grant, Shipwrecks & Maritime Tales: Alva B.[1]

The small Buffalo-built steam tug Alva B ended up in the shallows off Avon Point, Ohio, in November 1917, after a gale caught her on a run from Sandusky to Cleveland. Her crew got ashore, and her scattered boiler and timbers now lie in about ten feet of water.

The story

The Alva B was a wooden steam tug about 73 feet long, built at Buffalo, New York, in 1890 and later owned by the American Towing Company of Buffalo.[1] Besides towing, Ohio Sea Grant notes, she was used at times to search for other shipwrecks in the lake.[1]

Off Cleveland, while she and the tug American Eagle were both looking for harbour-bound ships to tow, the two tugs collided. The Alva B took the damaged American Eagle in tow, but the other tug sank in 36 feet of water about a quarter-mile northwest of the harbour breakwall; the Alva B rescued all of her crew.[1]

Her own loss came on November 1, 1917, off Avon Point at Avon Lake, Ohio. Accounts conflict. One story says the captain and crew mistook the lights of a lakeside amusement park for Cleveland harbour and ran aground close to shore. Another says she had been laid up at Sandusky until her hull dried out, began leaking in a gale on the way to Cleveland, and was deliberately beached to save her crew.[1] Wikipedia's list simply records that she ran aground off Avon Point in a storm.[2]

Waves and ice have broken up what was left. Timbers, planking, the steam boiler and engine parts lie scattered in 10 to 12 feet of water on sand, rock and gravel, and at low lake levels the boiler can be a hazard to boats.[1]

Lives lost: Ohio Sea Grant: beached to save the captain and crew.

Questions people ask

How was the tug Alva B lost?

On November 1, 1917, off Avon Point, Ohio. Accounts differ: she either ran aground after mistaking shore lights for Cleveland harbour, or began leaking in a gale and was beached to save her crew.

Is the Alva B wreck shallow?

Yes. Ohio Sea Grant describes scattered remains in 10 to 12 feet of water; the boiler can be a hazard to boats at low lake levels.

Learn more

Museums and groups are linked for further reading; they are not connected with this site.

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.[3][4][5]
  • 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.[6]

How Lake Erie wrecks are protected

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.

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Sources

  1. Ohio Sea Grant, Shipwrecks & Maritime Tales: Alva B, Ohio Sea Grant College Program. Accessed .
  2. List of shipwrecks in the Great Lakes (Lake Erie section), Wikipedia. Accessed .
  3. 43 U.S. Code 2105 - Rights of access (Abandoned Shipwreck Act: title to abandoned shipwrecks), Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School (text of the U.S. Code). Accessed .
  4. 43 U.S. Code 2101 - Findings (Abandoned Shipwreck Act), Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School (text of the U.S. Code). Accessed .
  5. 43 U.S. Code 2102 - Definitions (Abandoned Shipwreck Act), Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School (text of the U.S. Code). Accessed .
  6. Ohio Revised Code 1506.32 - Application for salvage permit for submerged watercraft or aircraft, Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Accessed .

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