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Isabella J. Boyce

41.70° N, 82.78° W (rounded) · Ohio waters · lost 1917

  • Stranded
  • Lives lost: None recorded

41.70° N, 82.78° W · Rounded; not a dive position. Source: Ohio Sea Grant, Shipwrecks & Maritime Tales: Isabella J Boyce.[2]

Built in 1889 as a small freighter, the Isabella J. Boyce spent her last years sucking sand from the bottom of western Lake Erie. In June 1917 she ran onto a reef off Middle Bass Island, caught fire and burned. No one died, and her remains lie scattered in about ten feet of water.

The story

The Isabella J. Boyce was built in 1889 by Burger & Burger at Manitowoc, Wisconsin, a wooden propeller about 138 feet long, and first enrolled at Grand Haven, Michigan.[2,1] She began as a bulk freighter. In 1915 she was converted at Buffalo into a sandsucker, fitted with a new engine to work as a dredge for the Interlake Sand and Gravel Company.[2]

Sandsuckers were a familiar sight on shallow Lake Erie in the early twentieth century. As Ohio Sea Grant explains, quoting a Great Lakes shipwreck directory, such a vessel anchored over a sandy area, drew up sand and water through a suction pipe, strained out the sand on board and delivered it to builders ashore.[2]

The Boyce had a close call before her final loss. In November 1914 she caught fire, burned and sank off Green Island, but she was raised and returned to work.[1] Her luck ran out on June 6, 1917, when she stranded on East Point Reef off Middle Bass Island. Fire broke out and she burned to a total loss. No one was killed.[1,3] According to the vessel record at Bowling Green State University, another steamer later took her new boiler.[1]

What remains lies scattered on the bottom in about 10 feet of water off Middle Bass Island, according to the Bowling Green record quoted by Ohio Sea Grant.[2] Ohio law requires a permit from the state, approved by the Ohio History Connection, to recover, alter, salvage or destroy anything on a wreck in Ohio's part of Lake Erie.[4]

Questions people ask

What was a sandsucker?

A dredge vessel that anchored over a sandy area, drew up sand and water through a suction pipe, and separated the sand on board for delivery ashore. The Isabella J. Boyce was converted to one in 1915.

How did the Isabella J. Boyce sink?

She ran aground on East Point Reef off Middle Bass Island on June 6, 1917, then caught fire and burned. No lives were lost.

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.[5][6][7]
  • 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.[4]

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

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