M.I. Wilcox Co – Other Tug Shipwreck (1920)

Shotline Diving Wreck Profile

• Name: M. I. Wilcox Co.
• Type: Wooden steam tug / steam barge (converted)
• Year Built: 1880
• Builder: Whaling Shipbuilding, Buffalo, New York
• Dimensions: Length: 41 ft (12.5 m); Beam: 12 ft (3.7 m); Depth of hold: 6 ft (1.8 m)
• Registered Tonnage: 14 tons gross; 10 tons net
• Location: Niagara River
• Official Number: 67145
• Original Owners: M. I. Wilcox Co.
• Number of Masts: 1

Wreck Location Map

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.

Significant Incidents

• 18 September 1920: The vessel burned while laid up or at anchor in the Niagara River, resulting in a total loss.

Final Disposition

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

Current Condition & Accessibility

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

Resources & Links

[shotline_reference_links slug=”m-i-wilcox-co-us-67145-jessie-p-logie-j-v-lutts-c-b-wallace” title=”References & Links”]

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.