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F.H. Prince

41.60° N, 82.68° W (rounded) · Ohio waters · lost 1911

  • Fire
  • Lives lost: None recorded

41.60° N, 82.68° W · Rounded; not a dive position. Source: Ohio Sea Grant, Shipwrecks & Maritime Tales: F H Prince.[1]

The 240-foot wooden steamer F.H. Prince ended her career as a sand dredge and burned off the east end of Kelleys Island in August 1911. Her crew of 18 all escaped. Her keel, ribs and a boiler lie in shallow water, a popular site for snorkellers and divers.

The story

The F.H. Prince was launched in 1890 at Detroit by the Detroit Shipbuilding Company, a wooden propeller steamer about 240 feet long built to carry package freight.[1] She was named for Frederick Henry Prince, a Massachusetts financier whose client, the Rutland Transit Company, owned the ship.[1] In 1910 she was converted into a 'sandsucker', a dredge that pumped sand and gravel from the lake bottom for the construction trade around the islands.[1]

On August 8, 1911, she caught fire, and her captain ran her aground at the east end of Kelleys Island. Other sand dredges tried to put out the flames with their pumps without success.[1] The burned hull was left smouldering while the owners, salvors and captain argued over whether she could be saved, and on August 14 she caught fire again and was declared a total loss.[1] No one died; the captain and the crew of 18 were saved. Her engines and boilers were salvaged in 1914, but one boiler was left behind.[1] Wikipedia's list of Great Lakes shipwrecks records the loss under a slightly different date, August 18.[2]

The wreck lies about half a mile offshore, east of the Kelleys Island airport, in 16 to 18 feet of water. Waves and ice have scattered parts of it, but the keel and keelsons, many ribs, planking and engine works remain over roughly the length of the old hull.[1] Depending on lake levels, the remaining boiler can be only about four feet below the surface, a hazard for boats that do not know it is there. Visibility varies widely with lake conditions and algae.[1]

Ohio Sea Grant notes that the Great Lakes Historical Society published a detailed technical report on the vessel and on the island's sand, gravel and limestone industries.[1]

Sources differ: Ohio Sea Grant gives August 8, 1911; Wikipedia's list gives August 18.

Lives lost: Captain and crew of 18 saved.

Questions people ask

Did anyone die when the F.H. Prince burned?

No. The captain and her crew of 18 were saved when she caught fire off Kelleys Island in August 1911.

How deep is the F.H. Prince wreck?

About 16 to 18 feet, according to Ohio Sea Grant; a remaining boiler can be only about four feet below the surface at some 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: F H Prince, 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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