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John Pridgeon Jr.

41.59° N, 81.98° W (rounded) · Ohio waters · lost 1909

  • Storm
  • Lives lost: None recorded

41.59° N, 81.98° W · Rounded; not a dive position. Source: Ohio Sea Grant, Shipwrecks & Maritime Tales: John Pridgeon Jr.[2]

The 221-foot wooden steamer John Pridgeon Jr. capsized in a rising westerly gale off Cleveland in September 1909 with a cargo of lumber. A nearby steamer took off her crew. She lies on her side with her big propeller and engine still in place.

The story

The John Pridgeon Jr. was built at Detroit in 1875 by the John P. Clark Company, a wooden propeller about 221 feet long, first enrolled at Detroit that May.[1,2] She was named for a Detroit shipping man, John Pridgeon Jr., whose career Ohio Sea Grant summarises from a vessel history.[2] In 1902 she was cut down from a package freighter to a bulk carrier, and by the end of her career she belonged to John Boland of the Buffalo firm Boland & Cornelius.[1,2]

She had her share of mishaps: a machinery breakdown and a collision in 1883, and a grounding at Geneva, on the Ohio shore, in 1893.[1] Her last voyage came on Saturday, September 18, 1909, when she was carrying lumber. In heavy seas she began to leak and became waterlogged. A shipwreck directory quoted by Ohio Sea Grant says a rapidly rising westerly gale swung her broadside to the troughs of the waves and rolled her over; her crew was picked up by the steamer Maryland, which was nearby.[2,1]

A Buffalo newspaper of September 21, 1909, reprinted by Ohio Sea Grant, reported that a Great Lakes Towing Company captain had found the wreck, that she was a total loss, and that she would have to be dynamited to recover part of her lumber.[2]

The wreck lies about twelve miles northwest of Cleveland. According to a diving guide quoted by Ohio Sea Grant, she rests on her port side with the stern almost upside down, and the huge propeller, the engine and much of her lumber cargo can still be seen.[2]

Lives lost: The crew was taken off by the steamer Maryland.

Questions people ask

How did the John Pridgeon Jr. sink?

Leaking and waterlogged in heavy seas, she was turned broadside by a rising westerly gale and capsized on September 18, 1909, about twelve miles northwest of Cleveland. Her crew was rescued.

What can be seen at the John Pridgeon Jr. wreck?

She lies on her port side, stern nearly upside down, with her large propeller, engine and part of her lumber cargo visible, 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.[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. HCGL vessel record: PRIDGEON, JOHN, JR., Historical Collections of the Great Lakes, Bowling Green State University. Accessed .
  2. Ohio Sea Grant, Shipwrecks & Maritime Tales: John Pridgeon Jr, Ohio Sea Grant College Program. 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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