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City of Concord

41.55° N, 82.55° W (rounded) · Ohio waters · lost 1906

  • Storm
  • Lives lost: 2

41.55° N, 82.55° W · Rounded; not a dive position. Source: Ohio Sea Grant, Shipwrecks & Maritime Tales: City Of Concord.[2]

Built at Cleveland in 1868 as a passenger steamer and later cut down to carry bulk cargo, the City of Concord sank in a September 1906 gale with a load of coal, north of Huron, Ohio. Two crew died; the rest reached shore in a small boat with a single oar.

The story

The City of Concord was built in 1868 at the Ira LaFrinier and Drake shipyard in Cleveland, a wooden propeller steamer of about 135 feet designed to carry passengers.[2,1] Ohio Sea Grant describes her as one of the last of the old Northern Transit Company boats. Around 1890-91 she was converted from passenger and package service into a cargo carrier; the HCGL record describes the change as a reduction to a lumber carrier, and Ohio Sea Grant calls the result a bulk freighter.[2,1]

She led a long and battered life. The vessel record at Bowling Green State University lists machinery breakdowns, collisions and groundings across the lakes, and in December 1893 she burned near Toledo, Ohio, and was repaired.[1,2]

Her end came in late September 1906. Upbound with coal, she was struck by a gale and sprang a leak. Water put out the fires in her boilers, and without steam to run her pumps she could not stay afloat. The crew escaped in a small yawl with only one oar and reached shore, but two men died.[2] Ohio Sea Grant dates the loss to September 27 and Wikipedia's list to September 29; the list places it north of Huron, Ohio.[2,3]

The wreck sits upright in mud in 40 to 45 feet of water. According to a diving guide quoted by Ohio Sea Grant, the rudder, engine, boiler, windlass, chain, decking and a relatively intact hull can all be seen.[2]

Sources differ: Ohio Sea Grant gives September 27, 1906; Wikipedia's list gives September 29.

Questions people ask

How did the City of Concord sink?

In a September 1906 gale she sprang a leak; water drowned the fires in her boilers, so her steam pumps stopped and she sank. Two crew died.

What is left of the City of Concord?

Ohio Sea Grant describes a relatively intact hull sitting upright in 40 to 45 feet of water, with the rudder, engine, boiler and windlass visible.

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.[4][5][6]
  • 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.[7]

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. HCGL vessel record: CITY OF CONCORD, Historical Collections of the Great Lakes, Bowling Green State University. Accessed .
  2. Ohio Sea Grant, Shipwrecks & Maritime Tales: City Of Concord, Ohio Sea Grant College Program. Accessed .
  3. List of shipwrecks in the Great Lakes (Lake Erie section), Wikipedia. Accessed .
  4. 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 .
  5. 43 U.S. Code 2101 - Findings (Abandoned Shipwreck Act), Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School (text of the U.S. Code). Accessed .
  6. 43 U.S. Code 2102 - Definitions (Abandoned Shipwreck Act), Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School (text of the U.S. Code). Accessed .
  7. Ohio Revised Code 1506.32 - Application for salvage permit for submerged watercraft or aircraft, Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Accessed .

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