Legacy Notes & Full Historical Record

This section preserves the original unedited Shotline content for this wreck so that no historical detail is lost as we transition to the new logbook format.

M. I. WILCOX CO. (Official No. 67145, 1880–1920)

Shotline Diving Wreck Profile

• Name: M. I. Wilcox Co.
• Other Names: Jessie P. Logie (original), J.V. Lutts, C.B. Wallace
• Official Number: 67145
• Year Built: 1880
• Builder: Whaling Shipbuilding, Buffalo, New York
• Vessel Type: Wooden steam tug / steam barge (converted)
• Hull Material: Wood
• Number of Decks: 1
• Propulsion: Screw propeller, steam-powered
• Dimensions:
  • Length: 12.5 m (41 ft)
  • Beam: 3.7 m (12 ft)
  • Depth: 1.8 m (6 ft)
• Gross Tonnage: 14 tons
• Net Tonnage: 10 tons
• Final Location: Niagara River
• Date of Loss: 18 September 1920
• Disposition: Burned, total loss

Vessel Type

A classic Great Lakes wooden steam tug, later repurposed as a small steam barge and barge tender. These compact vessels provided essential services for harbours and nearshore trades, including towing, barge handling, and passenger transport over their long careers.

Description

The M. I. Wilcox Co. began as a modest 41-foot sidewheel steam tug with a wooden hull, built for harbor and towing work. She was later rebuilt for use as a passenger steamer under the name C.B. Wallace, then adapted once more as a barge tender and finally renamed M. I. Wilcox Co. in the late 1890s. Throughout her service, she retained a single-deck arrangement and compact engine house typical of Great Lakes harbor tugs.

History

• 1880: Launched in Buffalo as Jessie P. Logie, a steam tug.
• Late 1880s: Converted to a steam barge, later renamed J.V. Lutts.
• 1891: Refitted and renamed C.B. Wallace as a passenger steamer.
• 1897: Re-registered under the corporate name M. I. Wilcox Co. and likely employed as a barge tender.
• 1890s–1910s: Worked in harbor towing and light freight on the lower Great Lakes and Niagara River region.
• 18 September 1920: Burned while laid up or at anchor in the Niagara River, reported as a total loss. No casualties noted, and the vessel was removed from the registry afterward.

Final Disposition

Total loss by fire on 18 September 1920, Niagara River, New York/Ontario. Officially abandoned and struck off.

Located By & Date Found

No modern dive survey or verified location is reported. Any remains are presumed fully destroyed or dispersed by river current.

Notmars & Advisories

None noted.

Resources & Links

• Maritime History of the Great Lakes
• Great Lakes Vessels Online Index — Bowling Green State University
• David Swayze Shipwreck File
• Great Lakes Rex Historical Resources
• Port Huron enrollment records

Conclusion

The M. I. Wilcox Co. is an excellent illustration of how Great Lakes steam vessels were repeatedly rebuilt, adapted, and re-used. Starting as a tug, then a passenger steamer, and finishing as a barge tender, her forty-year career spanned an era of enormous change on the lakes. Ultimately, like many small working vessels of her day, she ended in flames and was lost to time, a reminder of the challenges of wooden steam technology in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Keywords, Categories, Glossary Terms

steam tug • wooden hull • Niagara River • Great Lakes working vessels • barge tender • fire loss • 19th-century conversions • shipwreck

If you’d like, I can help dig into Port Huron Times Herald or Buffalo newspapers from 1920 for more on the fire, or look further into her earlier passenger operations as C.B. Wallace — just let me know!

m-i-wilcox-co-us-67145-jessie-p-logie-j-v-lutts-c-b-wallace 1920-09-18 18:40:00