Shipwreck · Lake Michigan · Stranded
SS Walter L. Frost
A package freighter built in 1883, lost on Lake Michigan in 1903. The record: “Ran aground on South Manitou Island.”
The vessel
On the record
- Type
- Package freighter
- Builder
- Detroit Dry Dock Company, Detroit, Michigan
- Launched
- June 9, 1883
- Length
- 250 ft (76 m)
- Beam
- 36 ft (11 m)
- Tonnage
- 1,322 GRT; 1,203 NRT
- Propulsion
- 1 × propeller, 10.6 ft in diameter
- Crew
- 21
- Fate
- Ran aground on South Manitou Island.
- Lake
- Lake Michigan
- Coordinates
- 44.9960° N, 86.1425° W
The story
Read the full history
The same year
Also lost in 1903
- SS Erie L. HackleyMichigan · foundered
- Tennie and LauraMichigan · foundered
- MoonlightSuperior
- SS MarquetteSuperior · foundered
The same decade
Michigan losses of the 1900s
- R. J. Hackett1905 · foundered
- SS Appomattox1905 · stranded
- SS Atlanta1906
- SS Eastland1905
- SS Francis Hinton1909
- SS S. C. Baldwin1908 · foundered
On the bottom nearby
Nearest Michigan wrecks
- SS Francisco Morazan0.1 mi · lost 1960
- SS Jarvis Lord7.8 mi
- SS Carl D. Bradley40 mi · lost 1958
- F. J. King42 mi
- SS Australasia51 mi · lost 1896
- SS Lakeland53 mi · lost 1924
Straight-line distance between published positions.
By boat
Closest launches
On the horizon
Nearest lights
- South Manitou Island Lighthouse2.5 mi
- North Manitou Shoal Light Station9.2 mi
- North Manitou Island Light9.9 mi
On shore
Worth the stop
- Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore9.1 mi · dunes
- Point Betsie Lighthouse22 mi · lighthouse
Source
Vessel facts on this page come from the infobox of the English Wikipedia article SS Walter L. Frost, 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.