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Sultan

41.60° N, 81.62° W (rounded) · Ohio waters · lost 1864

  • Storm
  • Lives lost: 7

41.60° N, 81.62° W · Rounded; not a dive position. Source: Ohio Sea Grant, Shipwrecks & Maritime Tales: Sultan.[2]

The brigantine Sultan sailed from Cleveland into a September storm in 1864 with 200 tons of grindstones and sank east of the city. Seven of the eight aboard died; the first mate survived the night lashed to a mast. Divers documented the wreck, grindstones still stacked on deck, in 2011.

The story

The Sultan was a two-masted wooden brigantine built at Chicago in 1848 and rebuilt at Cleveland in 1863. She was about 127 feet long and was owned by Thatcher, Burt & Company of Cleveland.[1,2] On her last trip she carried roughly 200 tons of grindstones, along with some lumber and barrel staves.[1]

On September 24, 1864, her young captain, Nelson Webster, took her out of Cleveland for Buffalo in a storm, against the advice of older lake sailors, according to the account by Cleveland Underwater Explorers (CLUE) that Ohio Sea Grant publishes. Heavy seas bounced her hull off the bar at the mouth of the Cuyahoga River several times on the way out. As the storm grew, the crew threw grindstones overboard to lighten her and worked the pumps as water filled the forecastle. Then the cargo shifted, she rolled onto her starboard side, and her yawl swamped as it was launched. Two men who climbed into it drifted away and were never seen again.[2]

The other six climbed the rigging as she sank, leaving only her mastheads above the waves. No ship came out in that weather. The foremast gave way first and three men drowned. During the night the second mate and then the captain lost their hold. The first mate, Elizur Spear, tied himself to the mainmast and was taken off the next morning by the steamers City of Cleveland and North Star.[2] Wikipedia's list of Great Lakes shipwrecks also records her as lost in a storm off Cleveland.[3]

In August 2011 CLUE divers surveyed a wreck east of Cleveland in about 50 feet of water that had been found with the help of searcher Rob Ruetschle. Stacks of grindstones along the starboard rail confirmed the identification, and the remains of the foremast were found broken off at deck level.[2,1] The team measured the hull at about 125 by 23 feet, close to the figures on her 1848 enrollment, and CLUE later published a full archaeological report on the site.[2,1]

Lives lost: Only the first mate, Elizur Spear, survived, tied to the mainmast overnight.

Questions people ask

How was the wreck of the Sultan identified?

By her cargo. When Cleveland Underwater Explorers surveyed the site in August 2011, they found stacks of grindstones along the starboard rail, matching the 200 tons she carried in 1864.

Did anyone survive the Sultan?

One man. First mate Elizur Spear tied himself to the mainmast overnight and was rescued the next morning; the other seven aboard died.

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. Welcome to Cleveland Underwater Explorers, Cleveland Underwater Explorers (CLUE). Accessed .
  2. Ohio Sea Grant, Shipwrecks & Maritime Tales: Sultan, 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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