Shipwreck · Lake Superior · Foundered
SS Robert Wallace
A bulk Freighter built in 1882, lost on Lake Superior in 1902. The record: “Sprang a leak and sank on Lake Superior on November 17, 1902 with no loss of life.” The wreck is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The vessel
On the record
- Type
- Bulk Freighter
- Builder
- William H. Radcliffe
- Launched
- April 13, 1882
- Completed
- 1882
- Length
- 220 ft (67 m)
- Beam
- 36 ft (11 m)
- Tonnage
- 1189.56 GRT; 905.38 NRT
- Propulsion
- 550 horsepower compound steam engine
- Fate
- Sprang a leak and sank on Lake Superior on November 17, 1902 with no loss of life
- Wreck site
- 7 mi south of Knife River, Minnesota
- National Register
- Listed October 14, 2009 · ref. 09000828
- Lake
- Lake Superior
- Coordinates
- 46.8470° N, 91.7288° W
The same decade
Superior losses of the 1900s
- Amboy1905 · stranded
- Madeira1905 · foundered
- Moonlight1903
- Niagara (1904)1904
- Noquebay1905 · fire
- Ottawa1909 · fire
- Sagamore1901 · collision
- Sevona1905 · foundered
- SS Cyprus1907 · foundered
- SS D. M. Clemson1908 · foundered
On the bottom nearby
Nearest Superior wrecks
- SS Onoko2.3 mi · lost 1915
- SS Benjamin Noble6.6 mi · lost 1914
- Niagara (1904)7.1 mi · lost 1904
- SS Harriet B.8.8 mi · lost 1922
- Samuel P. Ely12 mi · lost 1896
- Thomas Friant12 mi
Straight-line distance between published positions.
By boat
Closest launches
- Knife River Marina and Harbor7.2 mi
- Knife River Beach7.3 mi
- French River8.5 mi
- Bois Brule River Mouth Access8.9 mi
On the horizon
Nearest lights
On shore
Worth the stop
- North Shore Scenic Drive — Highway 6112 mi · drive
- Gooseberry Falls State Park24 mi · park
- Split Rock Lighthouse30 mi · lighthouse
Source
Vessel facts on this page come from the infobox of the English Wikipedia article SS Robert Wallace, 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.