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Stephen F. Gale

41.74° N, 81.88° W (rounded) · Ohio waters · lost 1876

  • Foundered
  • Lives lost: 7

41.74° N, 81.88° W · Rounded; not a dive position. Source: Ohio Sea Grant, Shipwrecks & Maritime Tales: Stephen F Gale.[2]

The Chicago-built brig Stephen F. Gale, by then rigged as a schooner, went down with all seven aboard northwest of Cleveland in late November 1876, loaded with stone. Her fate was pieced together from wreckage: her books washed ashore near Fairport.

The story

The S.F. Gale was built at Chicago in 1847 by James Averill, a two-masted wooden brig about 122 feet long. She was first enrolled at Chicago that April, was remeasured there in 1865 and was re-rigged as a schooner in 1870.[1] By 1876 she was counted among the Cleveland vessels, owned and commanded by Captain Andrew Hillson.[2]

Her last voyage, as the Cleveland Herald pieced it together, began when she cleared Cleveland on November 13, 1876, with coal for Port Stanley, Ontario. From there she went to Kelleys Island and loaded lime and stone for Erie, Pennsylvania.[2] She never arrived. The HCGL record dates the loss to November 28, 1876, about 18 miles northwest of Cleveland, and counts seven lives lost.[1] Wikipedia's list of Great Lakes shipwrecks gives the same date.[3]

For days after, rumors ran along the Cleveland docks. A scow-schooner arriving from Lake Huron reported passing the masts of a sunken vessel about sixteen miles out, and each overdue Cleveland vessel was named in turn as the victim. The question was settled when the Gale's books came ashore on the headlands west of Fairport, where other wreckage had landed the day before. The Herald concluded that everyone aboard had died.[2] A diving guide quoted by Ohio Sea Grant adds that her cabin floated all the way to Fairport.[2]

The wreck sits upright on a mud bottom in about 70 feet of water, silted up to her deck. According to a Cleveland diver's description published by Ohio Sea Grant, the bow has split open, but the windlass, anchor chain and capstan remain, piles of stone still cover the deck, a stove sits where the cabin stood, and both rails still carry their deadeyes.[2]

Lives lost: All hands were lost.

Questions people ask

How was the wreck of the S.F. Gale identified in 1876?

Her books washed ashore on the headlands west of Fairport, Ohio, near other wreckage, which settled weeks of dockside rumor about which overdue vessel had sunk.

How deep is the Stephen F. Gale?

About 70 feet. She sits upright on a mud bottom northwest of Cleveland, according to a diver's description published by 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: GALE, S.F., Historical Collections of the Great Lakes, Bowling Green State University. Accessed .
  2. Ohio Sea Grant, Shipwrecks & Maritime Tales: Stephen F Gale, 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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