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W.R. Hanna

41.65° N, 82.68° W (rounded) · Ohio waters · lost 1886

  • Storm
  • Lives lost: None recorded

41.65° N, 82.68° W · Rounded; not a dive position. Source: Ohio Sea Grant, Shipwrecks & Maritime Tales: W R Hanna.[1]

A flat-bottomed scow schooner built at Sandusky in 1857, the W.R. Hanna was driven ashore and broken up by an October gale in 1886 off Kelleys Island while loaded with cut stone. Her blocks of limestone still lie in a few feet of water over what is left of the hull.

The story

The W.R. Hanna was a scow schooner, a sailing vessel with a square bow and stern rather than a pointed one: single-decked, two-masted and about 86 feet long, built at Sandusky, Ohio, in 1857 by William R. Hanna.[1] A centreboard trunk about 24 feet long, a retractable keel common on scows, ran through her middle.[1] By the time of her loss she belonged to a Toledo ice dealer.[1]

In October 1886 she was loaded with medium-sized blocks of cut limestone from Kelleys Island; researchers cited by Ohio Sea Grant believe the cargo was bound for Detroit.[1] On October 14 a gale drove her ashore off the north side of the island, where the waves pounded her to pieces. No loss of life was reported. The vessel, valued at about $1,000, was uninsured.[1,2]

The site lies in only 3 to 8 feet of water over a sand and boulder bottom, and it is recorded as an Ohio state archaeological site.[1] The stone cargo covers most of the remaining structure. When researchers studied the site in 1999 they measured 27 of the rectangular limestone blocks to estimate the size of the load; the blocks are concentrated along the central part of the wreck.[1]

Together with the steamer Adventure and the dredge F.H. Prince, the Hanna is one of three Kelleys Island wrecks documented in detail by the Great Lakes Historical Society and Ohio Sea Grant, whose underwater guide slates helped turn the island's shallow wrecks into an accessible lesson in the local stone trade.[3]

Lives lost: No loss of life was reported.

Questions people ask

What kind of vessel was the W.R. Hanna?

A scow schooner: a two-masted, single-decked wooden sailing vessel with a square bow and stern, about 86 feet long, built at Sandusky, Ohio, in 1857.

How did the W.R. Hanna sink?

An October 1886 gale drove her ashore off Kelleys Island and broke her up while she carried cut limestone. No one was reported lost.

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. Ohio Sea Grant, Shipwrecks & Maritime Tales: W R Hanna, Ohio Sea Grant College Program. Accessed .
  2. List of shipwrecks in the Great Lakes (Lake Erie section), Wikipedia. Accessed .
  3. Shipwrecks and Maritime Tales of Lake Erie Shipwrecks - an Ohio Sea Grant website, Ohio Sea Grant College Program. 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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