Shotline Diving

Connecting You to the Depths of the Great Lakes

Northerner (1871)

Explore the wreck of the Northerner, a wooden propeller steamer lost in Lake Superior due to a grounding and subsequent fire.

Shotline Diving Wreck Profile

  • Name: Northerner
  • Type: wooden propeller steamer
  • Year Built: 1871
  • Builder:
  • Dimensions: Length X ft (Y m); Beam; Depth of hold
  • Registered Tonnage:
  • Location: Outside L’Anse, Michigan, Lake Superior
  • Original Owners: Ward’s Lake Superior Line

Wreck Location Map

Vessel Type

  • Wooden propeller-driven steamship, common on Lake Superior for both passenger and freight service in the late 19th century. Dimensions and tonnage are not readily available in current catalogs and require further archival investigation.

Description

  • The Northerner was a wooden propeller steamer that primarily operated in freight service, contracted by Ward’s Lake Superior Line. It was skippered by Captain Peter McKinnon.

History

  • On December 7, 1892, the Northerner, under Captain Peter McKinnon and laden with barrelled oil and steel rails, ran aground on Keweenaw Point due to poor visibility amid a snowstorm.
  • Salvage operations followed: approximately 2,000 barrels of oil were jettisoned to refloat her. She was eventually towed to L’Anse and tied up for repairs.
  • A final fire broke out on December 12, 1892, aboard the moored vessel. The blaze consumed her, and she was determined a total loss. No deaths were reported during the incident.

Significant Incidents

  • No fatalities reported during the grounding or subsequent fire.

Final Disposition

  • Final location: moored at L’Anse harbor, subsequently destroyed by fire.
  • Likely remains include burned wooden hull and salvage debris still lying where she burned.
  • No modern survey or diver documentation has surfaced yet.

Current Condition & Accessibility

  • No record of Notices to Mariners or hazard markers associated with the wreck are currently known.

Resources & Links

The Northerner’s loss is a typical yet instructive 19th-century Great Lakes cargo steamship disaster: a grounding under poor visibility followed by a destructive fire at port. She carries historical interest both for early propane/oil transport and Lake Superior freight logistics. While human lives were spared, her total destruction underscores the vulnerability of wooden steamships and the challenges of firefighting in cold maritime environments. Documentation of her remains would significantly enrich the catalog of Lake Superior shipwrecks.