Smith & Post (1866)

Shotline Diving Wreck Profile

• Name: Smith & Post
• Type: Wooden cargo steamer
• Year Built: 1866
• Builder:
• Dimensions: Length X ft (Y m); Beam; Depth of hold
• Registered Tonnage:
• Location:
• Original Owners: Lake Carriers’ Association

Wreck Location Map

Vessel Type

• Wooden-hulled steam tow vessel adapted to lightship duties—a rare hybrid, likely refitted with stationary lighting atop pilothouse. No registration number located. Requisitioned temporarily by the Lake Carriers’ Association to serve as navigational aid.

Description

• Traditional Great Lakes wooden tow vessel, steam-powered (likely single-screw), with auxiliary tow equipment. No tonnage or engine specifics recovered. When chartered as lightship, would have had deck fixtures and lamp housing.

History

• 1866–1901: Operated as tow/vessel (details obscure)
• Pre-August 1901: Chartered by Lake Carriers’ Association under Lighthouse Service authority to fill a lightship station on the Great Lakes.
• July–August 1901: Anchored in place as floating navigational aid
• August 7, 1901: A fire erupted aboard, causing her to founder—not salvaged and deemed irrecoverable

Significant Incidents

• On August 7, 1901, the vessel caught fire and foundered; no detailed logs of crew loss or salvage found (“none” in records). Declared total loss.

Final Disposition

• Vessel burned and sunk; charred wreck likely broke apart. No subsequent salvage noted, no hull remains recorded in NOAA or local marine hazard logs. As a lightship, she was an official navigational aid yet ended in total loss.

Current Condition & Accessibility

• No specific Notice to Mariners archived referencing Smith & Post. Discontinuation of station implied. No post-sinking hazards notified, likely due to rapid settlement of wreck in shallow waters.

Resources & Links

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Smith & Post stands as a rare example of a Great Lakes towing vessel pressed into lightship duty. Her demise by fire and sinking on August 7, 1901, abruptly ended her service. With no record of recovery, she likely rests as a wooden-hulled wreck—though its location and condition are unverified. Further archival research and targeted survey could illuminate her role and fate more fully.