Shipwreck · Lake Superior · Foundered
SS Marquette
A lake freighter built in 1881, lost on Lake Superior in 1903. The record: “Sank October 15, 1903.” The wreck is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The vessel
On the record
- Type
- Lake freighter
- Builder
- George Presley & Company
- Launched
- April 21, 1881
- Completed
- May 16, 1881
- Length
- 254 ft (77 m)
- Beam
- 36 ft (11 m)
- Tonnage
- 1343.23 GRT; 1117.91 NRT
- Fate
- Sank October 15, 1903
- Wreck site
- 5 mi miles east of Michigan Island
- National Register
- Listed February 13, 2008 · ref. 08000027
- Lake
- Lake Superior
- Coordinates
- 46.8319° N, 90.4297° W
The same year
Also lost in 1903
- SS Erie L. HackleyMichigan · foundered
- SS Walter L. FrostMichigan · stranded
- Tennie and LauraMichigan · foundered
- MoonlightSuperior
The same decade
Superior losses of the 1900s
- Amboy1905 · stranded
- Madeira1905 · foundered
- Niagara (1904)1904
- Noquebay1905 · fire
- Ottawa1909 · fire
- Sagamore1901 · collision
- Sevona1905 · foundered
- SS Bannockburn1902 · foundered
- SS Cyprus1907 · foundered
- SS D. M. Clemson1908 · foundered
On the bottom nearby
Nearest Superior wrecks
- Moonlight2.4 mi · lost 1903
- SS R. G. Stewart3.6 mi · lost 1899
- Noquebay8.5 mi · lost 1905
- SS Ira H. Owen16 mi · lost 1905
- Ottawa16 mi · lost 1909
- Lucerne18 mi · lost 1886
Straight-line distance between published positions.
By boat
Closest launches
- Red Cliff17 mi
- Bayfield City Boat Launch18 mi
- Saxon Harbor Access 219 mi
- Saxon Harbor Access 119 mi
On the horizon
Nearest lights
- Michigan Island Light4.2 mi
- Gull Island Light5.2 mi
- Outer Island Light17 mi
On shore
Worth the stop
- Apostle Islands National Lakeshore14 mi · park
Source
Vessel facts on this page come from the infobox of the English Wikipedia article SS Marquette (1881), 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.