Shipwreck · Lake Huron · Collision
SS W. P. Thew
A wooden steam barge built in 1884, lost on Lake Huron in 1909. The record: “Collided with SS William Livingston and sank, 22 June 1909.”
The vessel
On the record
- Type
- Wooden steam barge
- Builder
- Henry D. Root
- Launched
- 1884
- Length
- 132 ft (40 m)
- Beam
- 24 ft (7 m)
- Tonnage
- 403 GRT (after 1888 rebuild)
- Propulsion
- Steeple compound steam engine, screw propeller
- Fate
- Collided with SS William Livingston and sank, 22 June 1909
- Lake
- Lake Huron
- Coordinates
- 45.0451° N, 83.1534° W
The same year
Also lost in 1909
- SS Marquette & Bessemer No. 2Erie · foundered
- SS Oscar T. FlintHuron · fire
- SS RussiaHuron · foundered
- SS Francis HintonMichigan
- OttawaSuperior · fire
- SS John B. CowleSuperior · foundered
The same decade
Huron losses of the 1900s
- Metamora1907 · stranded
- Minnedosa1905 · foundered
- SS Etruria1905 · collision
- SS Kaliyuga1905 · foundered
- SS New Orleans1906
On the bottom nearby
Nearest Huron wrecks
- SS D. M. Wilson2.0 mi
- SS D. R. Hanna4.2 mi · lost 1919
- PS New Orleans4.2 mi · lost 1849
- SS Isaac M. Scott5.7 mi · lost 1913
- MV Nordmeer6.3 mi · lost 1966
- Typo6.8 mi · lost 1899
Straight-line distance between published positions.
By boat
Closest launches
- Alpena Municipal Marina13 mi
- North Riverfront Park13 mi
- Snug Harbor15 mi
- Rockport16 mi
On the horizon
Nearest lights
- Thunder Bay Island Light2.1 mi
- Middle Island Light13 mi
- Alpena Light13 mi
On shore
Worth the stop
- Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary14 mi · park
Source
Vessel facts on this page come from the infobox of the English Wikipedia article SS W. P. Thew, 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.