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Idler

41.65° N, 81.95° W (rounded) · Ohio waters · lost 1900

  • Storm
  • Lives lost: 6

41.65° N, 81.95° W · Rounded; not a dive position. Source: Idler disaster.[1]

The yacht Idler, once an America's Cup contender, sank in minutes when a summer squall caught her under full sail off Cleveland on July 7, 1900. Six women and children of the Corrigan shipping family drowned while every crew member survived, and the captain was later indicted for manslaughter.

The story

The Idler was a schooner yacht built at New Haven, Connecticut, in 1864 by F. Colgate, about 97 feet long and later lengthened, and had once competed for the America's Cup. In October 1899 the Cleveland shipping and iron-ore magnate James Corrigan bought her in poor condition and had her almost entirely rebuilt.[1]

On June 30, 1900, Corrigan, his brother and their families set off on a pleasure cruise across Lake Erie and Lake St. Clair. The men and one woman left the yacht at Port Huron, and the Idler headed home to Cleveland with seven passengers and her crew under Captain Charles J. Holmes.[1]

Early on the afternoon of July 7, northwest of Cleveland, a squall came up from the northwest. The captain thought it would bring little more than rain, and the yacht kept her sails up even as passing boats were surprised to see her canvas still set.[1] When the wind struck, about 16 miles northwest of Cleveland, she went over on her beam ends. Open deadlights, a companionway and a skylight let the lake pour in, and she sank within minutes. Six of the seven passengers died, all of them women and children: Corrigan's wife, three daughters, a granddaughter and a niece. All of the crew survived.[2,1]

Corrigan blamed Holmes for failing to take in sail, and local sailors doubted the crew's claim that the squall had been unusually severe. A coroner's inquest was hampered when most of the crew went home to Norway, and although a federal grand jury indicted Holmes for manslaughter, the case was dropped when witnesses could not be brought back.[1] The yacht was raised, towed into Cleveland and passed to a new owner. She sank again in 1904 after ice carried her out into the lake, and was broken up.[1,3]

Lives lost: Six of the seven passengers, all women and children of the Corrigan family, drowned; all the crew survived.

Questions people ask

Who died on the yacht Idler?

Six of the seven passengers, all women and children of James Corrigan's family: his wife, three daughters, a granddaughter and a niece. All of the crew survived.

Was anyone held responsible for the Idler disaster?

A federal grand jury indicted Captain Charles J. Holmes for manslaughter, but the case was dropped when witnesses could not be brought back to testify.

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. Idler disaster, Wikipedia. Accessed .
  2. List of shipwrecks in 1900, Wikipedia. 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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