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The September 1900 gale

· Lake Erie losses: 2 pages · Lives lost on Lake Erie: 10

Also called: Great Storm of 1900 (on Lake Erie), Galveston hurricane remnants

In September 1900 the remnants of the hurricane that had just destroyed Galveston, Texas, tracked north to the Great Lakes. On the night of September 11–12 they swept Lake Erie with westerly gales, sinking the ore steamer John B. Lyon off Conneaut and the schooner-barge Dundee off Cleveland.

Early in September 1900 a hurricane devastated Galveston, Texas. What was left of it moved north, and on the night of September 11–12 it crossed Lake Erie with westerly winds that, according to a contemporary newspaper quoted by Ohio Sea Grant, reached about 60 miles an hour, with almost the whole length of the lake for the waves to build.[1,2] Wikipedia's list of 1900 shipwrecks calls it the Great Storm of 1900.[3]

The schooner-barge Dundee was bound from Duluth for Ashtabula with iron ore, towed by the steamer John N. Glidden. To save his own ship, the Glidden's master cut her loose. The Dundee lost her rudder, and her crew and cook climbed into the rigging and tied themselves to the masts. The cook was lost in the night; the six crewmen were rescued.[4] She sank about 14 miles north-northwest of Cleveland, where she still sits upright, one of the most complete wrecks in the central basin.[4]

Farther east, the wooden ore steamer John B. Lyon, launched at Cleveland in 1881, foundered a few miles off Conneaut, Ohio, near the Pennsylvania line. Nine of her crew died, and Wikipedia records seven survivors; the first newspaper reports had said that all but two of a crew of 16 were lost.[1,2]

The records do not all agree. Wikipedia's 1900 list gives the same toll, nine killed and seven survivors, for both ships, and places both near Ashtabula, while Ohio Sea Grant's account of the Dundee records a single death, her cook. Wikipedia's list of Lake Erie shipwrecks gives the Dundee a November date.[3,4,5] This page follows the ship-by-ship accounts: ten lives in all.[1,4]

Lives lost: John B. Lyon: nine; Dundee: one (her cook).

Ships lost

Questions people ask

Did the 1900 Galveston hurricane reach Lake Erie?

Its remnants did. On the night of September 11–12, 1900, they crossed Lake Erie with westerly gales of about 60 mph, sinking the John B. Lyon and the Dundee.

How many died in the September 1900 gale on Lake Erie?

Ten, by the ship-by-ship accounts: nine crew of the John B. Lyon and the Dundee's cook. Wikipedia's 1900 list gives a higher figure for the Dundee.

Learn more

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.[6][7][8]
  • 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.[9]

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.

Sources

  1. SS John B. Lyon, Wikipedia. Accessed .
  2. Ohio Sea Grant, Shipwrecks & Maritime Tales: John B Lyon, Ohio Sea Grant College Program. Accessed .
  3. List of shipwrecks in 1900, Wikipedia. Accessed .
  4. Ohio Sea Grant, Shipwrecks & Maritime Tales: Dundee, Ohio Sea Grant College Program. Accessed .
  5. List of shipwrecks in the Great Lakes (Lake Erie section), Wikipedia. Accessed .
  6. 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 .
  7. 43 U.S. Code 2101 - Findings (Abandoned Shipwreck Act), Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School (text of the U.S. Code). Accessed .
  8. 43 U.S. Code 2102 - Definitions (Abandoned Shipwreck Act), Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School (text of the U.S. Code). Accessed .
  9. Ohio Revised Code 1506.32 - Application for salvage permit for submerged watercraft or aircraft, Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Accessed .

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