Shipwreck · Lake Superior · Fire
Ottawa
A tugboat built in 1881, lost on Lake Superior in 1909. The record: “Burned and sank 29 November 1909.” The wreck is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The vessel
On the record
- Type
- Tugboat
- Builder
- Built in 1881 at Chicago
- Launched
- 1881
- Length
- 151 ft (46 m)
- Beam
- 28 ft (9 m)
- Tonnage
- 610.8 gross tons
- Fate
- Burned and sank 29 November 1909
- Wreck site
- Russell, Wisconsin
- National Register
- Listed June 8, 1992 · ref. 92000594
- Lake
- Lake Superior
- Coordinates
- 46.8832° N, 90.7637° W
The same year
Also lost in 1909
- SS Marquette & Bessemer No. 2Erie · foundered
- SS Oscar T. FlintHuron · fire
- SS RussiaHuron · foundered
- SS W. P. ThewHuron · collision
- SS Francis HintonMichigan
- SS John B. CowleSuperior · foundered
The same decade
Superior losses of the 1900s
- Amboy1905 · stranded
- Madeira1905 · foundered
- Moonlight1903
- Niagara (1904)1904
- Noquebay1905 · fire
- Sagamore1901 · collision
- Sevona1905 · foundered
- SS Bannockburn1902 · foundered
- SS Cyprus1907 · foundered
- SS D. M. Clemson1908 · foundered
On the bottom nearby
Nearest Superior wrecks
- Noquebay11 mi · lost 1905
- Sevona11 mi · lost 1905
- Lucerne11 mi · lost 1886
- SS R. G. Stewart14 mi · lost 1899
- Antelope14 mi · lost 1897
- PS City of Ashland14 mi · lost 1887
Straight-line distance between published positions.
By boat
Closest launches
- Red Cliff2.3 mi
- Bayfield City Boat Launch5.8 mi
- Little Sand Bay Access7.4 mi
- Onion River Access10 mi
On the horizon
Nearest lights
- Raspberry Island Light6.3 mi
- La Pointe Light11 mi
- Chequamegon Point Light11 mi
On shore
Worth the stop
- Apostle Islands National Lakeshore6.5 mi · park
Source
Vessel facts on this page come from the infobox of the English Wikipedia article Ottawa (tug), 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.