Shipwreck · Lake Michigan · Foundered
SS John V. Moran
A package freighter built in 1888, lost on Lake Michigan in 1899. The record: “Holed by ice, and sank on Lake Michigan.”
The vessel
On the record
- Type
- Package freighter
- Builder
- F.W. Wheeler & Company of West Bay City, Michigan
- Launched
- August 16, 1888
- Completed
- August 1888
- Length
- 214 ft (65 m)
- Beam
- 37 ft (11 m)
- Tonnage
- 1350.38 GRT; 1035.26 NRT
- Propulsion
- 1 × fixed pitch propeller
- Crew
- 24
- Fate
- Holed by ice, and sank on Lake Michigan
- Lake
- Lake Michigan
- Coordinates
- 43.1634° N, 86.6856° W
The story
Read the full history
The same year
Also lost in 1899
- SS Margaret OlwillErie · foundered
- TypoHuron · collision
- SS R. G. StewartSuperior · fire
The same decade
Michigan losses of the 1890s
- Margaret A. Muir1893 · foundered
- SS Australasia1896 · fire
- SS Chicora1895 · foundered
- SS J. M. Allmendinger1895
- SS L.R. Doty1898 · foundered
- SS W.H. Gilcher1892 · foundered
On the bottom nearby
Nearest Michigan wrecks
- SS Henry Cort18 mi · lost 1934
- SS Ironsides20 mi
- SS Michigan27 mi · lost 1885
- PS Alpena30 mi · lost 1880
- SS Milwaukee (b. 1868)32 mi
- SS Novadoc38 mi · lost 1940
Straight-line distance between published positions.
By boat
Closest launches
On the horizon
Nearest lights
On shore
Worth the stop
- Grand Haven State Park23 mi · beach
Source
Vessel facts on this page come from the infobox of the English Wikipedia article SS John V. Moran, 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.
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