Shipwreck · Lake Erie · Foundered
SS Howard S. Gerken
A dredge built in 1910, lost on Lake Erie in 1926. The record: “Sank in a storm on Lake Erie.”
The vessel
On the record
- Type
- Dredge
- Builder
- Doty Engine Works of Toronto, Ontario
- Launched
- October 10, 1910
- Completed
- 1910
- Length
- 155 ft (47 m)
- Beam
- 24 ft (7 m)
- Tonnage
- 679.46 GRT (1910–1920); 1,322 GRT (1920–1926); 462.04 NRT (1910–1920); 803 NRT (1920–1926)
- Propulsion
- 2 × fixed pitch propellers
- Fate
- Sank in a storm on Lake Erie
- Lake
- Lake Erie
- Coordinates
- 42.2736° N, 80.0560° W
The story
Read the full history
On the bottom nearby
Nearest Erie wrecks
- SS Marquette & Bessemer No. 213 mi · lost 1909
- SS James H. Reed38 mi · lost 1944
- Walk-in-the-Water73 mi · lost 1821
- James B. Colgate87 mi · lost 1916
- SS William Edenborn96 mi · lost 1905
- SS Sir William Siemens100 mi
Straight-line distance between published positions.
By boat
Closest launches
- Shades Beach7.4 mi
- New Lagoon8.1 mi
- Old Lagoon8.2 mi
- Lawrence Park Boat Ramp - PWC Only8.3 mi
On the horizon
Nearest lights
- Presque Isle Light8.0 mi
- Erie Harbor North Pier Light8.1 mi
- Erie Land Light9.0 mi
On shore
Worth the stop
- Presque Isle State Park8.4 mi · park
- Erie Land Lighthouse8.9 mi · lighthouse
Source
Vessel facts on this page come from the infobox of the English Wikipedia article SS Howard S. Gerken, retrieved 2026-10-11. We print the fields as recorded and add nothing; a missing field means the record is silent. Tonnage and dimensions were often measured more than one way in their day, so they can differ between sources.
Chart shoreline generalized from Natural Earth (public domain). Not for navigation. Something wrong or missing? Write to contact@greatamericanlakes.com.