Sailor Boy US 23514 – Lake Superior Steamer Shipwreck (1923)

Shotline Diving Wreck Profile

• Name: Sailor Boy
• Type: wooden propeller excursion steamer
• Year Built: 1868
• Builder: Ira Lafrinier
• Dimensions: Length ~65 ft (20 m); Beam; Depth of hold
• Registered Tonnage:
• Depth at Wreck Site: 3 m / 10 ft
• Location: Off Osceola Point, Hancock, MI
• Official Number: 23514

Wreck Location Map

Vessel Type

Single-screw wooden excursion steamer (passenger & package freight), small harbor steamer.

Description

A wooden-hulled, propeller-driven passenger steamer, utilized for excursions and light freight. Upper works burned away; hull remains intact underwater with machinery, propeller, and steering gear preserved.

History

• Construction & Operation
  • Built 1868 in Cleveland, OH. Served over five decades on Great Lakes waterways under various owners.
• Ownership & Operation
  • Likely operated in Keweenaw Waterway and Hancock area—specific ownership records not currently located; typical for local excursion steamers.
• Incident
  • On May 12, 1923, Sailor Boy caught fire at the Stringer’s Sawmill dock in Hancock. Mooring lines burned through, and she drifted and sank ~30 ft from shore.
  • Fire circumstances were described as “under very suspicious circumstances.”
  • No records of casualties or crew losses have been found; as an excursion vessel it may have been unmanned or lightly crewed at time of fire.

Final Disposition

• After burning, Sailor Boy sank in shallow water next to the dock. No formal salvage noted; hull left submerged. Likely declared a total loss.
• No legal or insurance documentation located; absence may reflect small operation scale.

Current Condition & Accessibility

• The wreck is well-known to divers; documented by Brendon Baillod (Baillod.com) and Michigan Tech/NOAA initiatives.
• Hull remains upright, with intact machinery, propeller, and steering components. Depth 10–20 ft makes it a popular shallow dive site.

Resources & Links

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Sailor Boy is a historically rich, shallow-water wreck with intact machinery and vessel structure. Its survival since 1923 offers valuable insights into small excursion steamer design, late 19th-century wooden shipbuilding, and early 20th-century industrial accidents. The suspicious fire adds intrigue requiring more archival research—e.g., insurance records, sawmill correspondence, local newspapers (The Mining Gazette, Hancock Evening Journal). Underwater archaeology on site could document surviving artifacts and construction features.