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Ivanhoe

Ohio waters · lost 1855

  • Collision
  • Lives lost: None recorded

No public position. General area: About 3.5 to 3.7 miles north of Avon Lake, Ohio.

The coal schooner Ivanhoe was run down at night by another schooner, the Arab, soon after leaving Cleveland in October 1855. Everyone aboard got into the yawl and was picked up by a passing steamer. Divers later nicknamed the wreck 'the Jug Wreck' after a large crock found on it.

The story

The Ivanhoe was a wooden schooner built in 1848 at Irving, New York, about 110 feet long, owned in 1855 by the firm of Tod, Rhodes and Company and used to carry bulk cargoes such as ore and coal.[1]

In early October 1855 she left Cleveland bound for Mackinac with about 300 tons of coal. That night, a few miles off what is now Avon Lake, she was struck and sunk by another vessel.[1] Newspaper reports reprinted by Ohio Sea Grant tell the story from both sides. A Buffalo paper reported that the Ivanhoe had been run into by an unknown vessel and that her yawl, carrying eight men, a boy and two women, had been picked up by the propeller Ohio and brought into Cleveland. The Cleveland Plain Dealer reported that the schooner Arab had come into port saying she had collided with a vessel, probably the Ivanhoe, soon after leaving Huron.[1] Ohio Sea Grant counts all eleven people aboard as saved.[1] Wikipedia's list of Great Lakes shipwrecks also records her loss in a collision with the Arab, though under an April date.[2]

The divers who first found the wreck called it 'the Jug Wreck' because of a large crock-type jar they found there.[1] A description by a diver and member of the Maritime Archaeological Survey Team, reprinted by Ohio Sea Grant, says the bow has collapsed and is buried, while a samson post, a large pawl bitt standing about ten feet off the bottom, the windlass, the timbers framing the centreboard and both railings remain, with coal scattered everywhere. The deck beams are at about 50 feet.[1] The team was surveying the site in 2007.[1]

Sources differ: Ohio Sea Grant gives October 4, 1855; Wikipedia's list gives April 10, 1855.

Lives lost: All aboard were picked up by the propeller Ohio (Ohio Sea Grant).

Questions people ask

How did the Ivanhoe sink?

She was run into at night by the schooner Arab in October 1855, a few miles off present-day Avon Lake, Ohio, with a cargo of coal. Everyone aboard was rescued.

Why is it called the Jug Wreck?

Divers who first found it named it after a large crock-type jar discovered at the site, according to Ohio Sea Grant.

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: Ivanhoe, 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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