Shotline Diving Wreck Profile
- Name: Manistique
- Type: Screw Steamer
- Year Built: 1882
- Builder: Linn & Craig
- Dimensions: 151 ft × 31 ft × 13 ft
- Registered Tonnage: 474 gross tons
- Location: Lake Huron
- Official Number: 96860
- Original Owners: Sarnia Bay Towage & Salvage Co.; Reid Towing & Wrecking Co.; Sincennes-McNaughton
- Number of Masts: Unknown
Wreck Location Map
Vessel Type
A wooden-hulled screw steamer equipped with a sizable steam engine (21″ × 37″ × 36″), well-suited for heavy freight and salvage operations. She measured around 150 ft in length, indicative of a robust mid-size Great Lakes cargo vessel. Originally built in 1882, she appears to have undergone at least one major rebuild extending her service life into the early 20th century.
Description
The Manistique was a durable wooden screw steamer built in 1882 and refitted once before her final years as a salvage/towing vessel. A long career culminated in intentional disposal by fire and scuttling in Lake Huron on October 18, 1933. She remains a prospective wreck site but lacks precise location data. Locating her resting place would require targeted archival digging and sonar research—potentially rewarding for maritime archaeologists and historians interested in Great Lakes ship disposal practices of the early 20th century.
History
- 1882: Launched by Linn & Craig at Gibraltar, MI. Engine sourced from Detroit Drydock & Engineering Co.
- 1907: Owned by Sarnia Bay Towage & Salvage Co.
- 1928: Ownership transferred to Reid Towing & Wrecking Co., Sarnia.
- 1929: Transferred to Sincennes-McNaughton, a major Canadian salvage and towing firm.
- After this last transfer, she was apparently not employed by Sin-Mac—records suggest disuse.
- On October 18, 1933, Manistique was intentionally burned and scuttled in Lake Huron by Sincennes-McNaughton. The burn appears to have been a deliberate wrecking strategy to dispose of the vessel.
Significant Incidents
- No Notices to Mariners or hazard warnings have been located. Her scuttling was likely carried out officially, minimizing navigational impact—a standard disposal protocol of the time.
Final Disposition
The scuttling date, recorded as 18 October 1933, indicates that the vessel’s hull was destroyed via fire and then sunk purposely. This was likely a cost-saving measure versus attempting costly salvage. The location in Lake Huron, however, is not precisely defined—no sonar records or coordinate logs appear in public wreck databases. This suggests the wreck remains uncharted or lies in deeper water.
Current Condition & Accessibility
- Unknown exact location: Without hydrographic survey corroboration, the wreck remains unverified by divers or authoritative wreck registries.
- Presumed state: Likely fragmented due to fire, possibly scattered on the lakebed. Its sinking wasn’t registered as hazardous, implying it was deep enough or deliberately sunk in a non-navigable zone.
Resources & Links
[shotline_reference_links slug=”manistique-c-96860″ title=”References & Links”]
Recommended further steps include investigating Sincennes-McNaughton internal archives for scuttling logs or coordinates, examining Great Lakes Hydrographic surveys from the early 1930s, searching Department of Marine & Fisheries Canadian records for Notices to Mariners in October 1933, and engaging sonar surveys in mid-Lake Huron at likely deep-water disposal areas.
Full Wreck Record — complete historical article, construction details, voyage logs, incident reports, dive conditions, and all research sources.
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