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Duke Luedtke

41.69° N, 81.96° W (rounded) · Ohio waters · lost 1993

  • Foundered
  • Lives lost: 1

41.69° N, 81.96° W · Rounded; not a dive position. Source: Ohio Sea Grant, Shipwrecks & Maritime Tales: Duke Luedtke.[1]

The most recent loss in this gazetteer, the tug Duke Luedtke sprang a leak and capsized north of Avon Lake, Ohio, in September 1993 while Coast Guard crew were aboard trying to save her. A young Coast Guard seaman was trapped and lost; the tug lies in about 70 feet of water.

The story

The Duke Luedtke spent most of her long life under another name. She was built in 1917 by the Great Lakes Towing Company in Cleveland as the tug Alpena, about 67 feet long, and worked for that company until 1945.[1] She passed through several owners after that, the last of them Luedtke Engineering Company of Frankfort, Michigan, from 1972, and in 1974 she was rebuilt, lengthened slightly and renamed Duke Luedtke.[1]

On September 21, 1993, she was bound from West Harbor, Ohio, for Ashtabula when she began taking on water for no obvious reason. She had been taking on water since shortly before midnight on September 20. Her captain radioed for help, and Coast Guard boats from Cleveland and Lorain answered. One came alongside to pump while two Coast Guardsmen went down into the engine room to find the leak.[1] Shortly before 1 a.m. the tug suddenly listed to port and sank stern first, damaging the 41-foot Coast Guard boat beside her. The tug's captain and two crewmen went into the water and were picked up; one of the Coast Guardsmen escaped by breaking out through a porthole. The other, a 20-year-old seaman, was trapped. Divers and helicopter crews searched through the next day, and his body was recovered from the hull that afternoon, according to reports reprinted by Ohio Sea Grant.[1]

The tug went down about 14 miles north of Avon Lake and lies in roughly 67 to 70 feet of water.[1] Wikipedia's list of Great Lakes shipwrecks records her as capsizing and sinking after springing a leak.[2]

Lives lost: A 20-year-old Coast Guard seaman who had boarded to help was lost.

Questions people ask

When did the Duke Luedtke sink?

On September 21, 1993, about 14 miles north of Avon Lake, Ohio, after springing a leak on a trip from West Harbor to Ashtabula.

Was anyone killed?

Yes. A 20-year-old Coast Guard seaman who had gone below to look for the leak was lost when the tug capsized.

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: Duke Luedtke, 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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