The Emily P. Weed, later renamed Sevona, was a steam screw vessel built in 1890 in Bay City, Michigan. It served as a freight carrier, transporting various cargoes, including iron ore, and was also involved in the package freight trade. In 1898, the vessel changed ownership and was renamed Sevona.
In 1904, the Sevona underwent modifications, including lengthening and an increase in tonnage, as well as the addition of an electric light plant. However, tragedy struck the vessel on September 2, 1905, during a gale on Lake Superior. The Sevona struck Sand Island reef or shoal near New York Island in the Apostle Islands and broke in two. There were twenty-three people on board at the time, and sadly, seven lives were lost. The vessel was carrying a valuable cargo of iron ore worth $220,000 and was bound for Lake Erie from Duluth.
Due to the hazard it posed to navigation, the wreck of the Sevona was dynamited by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 1909. Before the explosion, the boilers and engine were salvaged from the vessel.
Today, the remains of the Sevona lie in 20 feet of water on Sand Island Shoal. After the shipwreck, salvage operations took away the engine, boilers, and hull plating, leaving only the lower steel hull below the tank top and turn of the bilge. The lower hull consists of two large sections, one oriented east-west and the other northwest-southeast. These lower hull sections are relatively intact and include lower hull plating, keel, keelson, stringers, floors, and parts of the steel tank top plate. Surrounding the main sections is a debris field containing plates, frames, beams, and other structural materials. The seabed beneath the wreck is flat sandstone.
The Sevona’s wreck provides divers and historians with a glimpse into the past, as it rests as a silent witness to the maritime history of the Great Lakes.
