An independent referenceOhio · Pennsylvania · New York · Michigan · Ontario
Lake Erie Gazetteerlakeerie.info

Cortland

Ohio waters · lost 1868

  • Collision
  • Lives lost: 2–10
  • Location withheld

This site's location is withheld. Ohio Sea Grant: location protected to preserve the integrity of the wreck. This page shows the general area only.

The three-masted bark Cortland, carrying iron ore to Cleveland, collided with the passenger steamer Morning Star near midnight in June 1868 off Lorain, Ohio. Both ships sank and more than 30 people died. The Cortland was one of Lake Erie's most sought-after wrecks until divers found her in 2005.

The story

The Cortland was launched at Sheboygan, Wisconsin, in 1867, a three-masted wooden bark about 174 feet long. Wikipedia describes her as the largest sailing vessel built at Sheboygan up to that time, at a cost of $50,000.[2,1] In her first season she ran aground at Buffalo and was freed.[1]

In June 1868 she left Escanaba, Michigan, for Cleveland with about 891 tons of iron ore, eleven crew and one passenger.[2] Close to midnight on a rainy night, she met the sidewheel steamer Morning Star, outbound from Cleveland to Detroit, north of what is now Lorain. Accounts disagree over the bark's lights: Ohio Sea Grant relates that a mate had taken a dim navigation lamp below to clean it, while the Cortland's captain insisted his lights were good and that he rang his bell before the collision.[3,4] The steamer struck the bark and sank within about 15 minutes; the Cortland drifted off and took about an hour and a half to go down.[2] Survivors of both vessels were picked up by passing steamers.[2]

The death toll on the Cortland is given as 2 by Wikipedia and 10 in the vessel record at Bowling Green State University; at least 30 more died on the Morning Star.[2,1] Salvors recovered her rigging and sails within weeks, but attempts to raise the hull in 1869 and 1870 failed and she was abandoned.[1]

For well over a century her position was unknown. On July 30, 2005, members of the Cleveland Underwater Explorers found her off Avon Point in roughly 60 to 70 feet of water.[2,5] In 2006, under a State of Ohio permit, they and archaeologists from the Great Lakes Historical Society raised her bell.[3] Ohio Sea Grant keeps her location protected.[3]

Sources differ: June 20 (HCGL, Ohio Sea Grant) or June 21, 1868 (Wikipedia); the collision happened close to midnight.

Lives lost: Wikipedia gives 2 dead on the Cortland; the HCGL record gives 10. At least 30 more died on the Morning Star.

Questions people ask

How did the Cortland sink?

She collided with the steamer Morning Star near midnight in June 1868 off Lorain, Ohio. Both vessels sank; the Cortland took about an hour and a half to go down.

When was the Cortland found?

Divers from the Cleveland Underwater Explorers found her on July 30, 2005, off Avon Point in about 60 to 70 feet of water. Her location is kept protected.

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.[6][7][8]
  • 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.[9]

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.

Nearby lighthouses

Nearby shipwrecks

Nearby · Sponsored

Run a heritage-tourism business near Cortland? Sponsor this page: $79/year. Sponsor this page

Sources

  1. HCGL vessel record: CORTLAND, Historical Collections of the Great Lakes, Bowling Green State University. Accessed .
  2. Cortland (1867 ship), Wikipedia. Accessed .
  3. Ohio Sea Grant, Shipwrecks & Maritime Tales: Cortland, Ohio Sea Grant College Program. Accessed .
  4. Ohio Sea Grant, Shipwrecks & Maritime Tales: Morning Star, Ohio Sea Grant College Program. Accessed .
  5. Welcome to Cleveland Underwater Explorers, Cleveland Underwater Explorers (CLUE). Accessed .
  6. 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 .
  7. 43 U.S. Code 2101 - Findings (Abandoned Shipwreck Act), Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School (text of the U.S. Code). Accessed .
  8. 43 U.S. Code 2102 - Definitions (Abandoned Shipwreck Act), Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School (text of the U.S. Code). Accessed .
  9. Ohio Revised Code 1506.32 - Application for salvage permit for submerged watercraft or aircraft, Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Accessed .
  10. List of shipwrecks in the Great Lakes (Lake Erie section), Wikipedia. Accessed .

Page checked . Spotted an error? Send a correction.