Great Lakes Shipwrecks

 beginning with the letter

 B

The Great Lakes Shipwreck File

©1999-2007, David D. Swayze, Lake Isabella, MI, all rights reserved

 

Click Here for Source List

 

 


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  B. et T. - See    GILLY   


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  F.W. BACKUS

Other names   :  built as EARL CATHCART, renamed in 1852

Official no.     :  none

Type at loss    :  propeller, wood

Build info       :  1846, E Bates, Amherstburg, Ont

Specs               :  133x25x9, 289 t.[om]

Date of loss    :  1866, Nov 25

Place of loss   :  off Racine, WI (also given in error as near Chicago or Milwaukee)

Lake                : Michigan

Type of loss    :  fire

Loss of life      :  none - those aboard included nine passengers

Carrying         :  hay, horses and cattle

Detail              : Discovered to be afire offshore and run to the beach, where her passengers and crew disembarked.. The tug DAISY LEE towed her out while she was still burning, with the intention of scuttling her, but was unable to do so. After she burned through her towline she drifted back to shore and burned to the waterline. Her live cargo was pushed overboard while she was still well out, but they all swam safely to shore.

Master: Capt. J. Shortell. Probably owned by C.S. Hubbard, Chicago

Builder Bates was from Milan, OH, but built her in Canada.

Seized by U.S. for violation of shipping laws in 1852 and became an American bottom.

Rebuilt in 1861, repaired in 1865.

Sources            :  hgl,lhl,mpl,bb,rsl,nsp


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  MELVIN S. BACON

Other names   :  none

Official no.     : 90657

Type at loss    :  schooner-barge, wood, 3-mast

Build info       :  1874, J. Squires, Vermilion, OH

Specs               :  182x34x14   615g  584n

Date of loss    :  1915, Nov 16

Place of loss   :  near Grassy Island

Lake                : Detroit R.

Type of loss    :  collision

Loss of life      :  none

Carrying         :  light

Detail              : Rammed and sunk by the steamer JOSEPH SELLWOOD, abandoned as a total loss.  Owned by W. E. Chapman of Cleveland, former Gilchrist boat at the time of this accident. Recovered under U.S. Govt contract, sold Canadian in 1919 and dismantled in 1929.

Had operated on the eastern seaboard for some years.

Burned and declared total loss after going ashore near Ashland, WI,Sep 24-5, 1905.

Sources            :   mv,mv,nsp,lss,eas,hcgl


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   BADGER

Other names   :  none

Official no.     :  3156

Type at loss    :  scow-schooner, wood, 2-mast

Build info       :  1881,  Peter Johnson, Ft. Howard, Wis

Specs               :  80x21x4,  65g

Date of loss    :  1899, Oct 24

Place of loss   :   off Cedar River, Michigan

Lake                :  Michigan

Type of loss    :  storm

Loss of life      :  none

Carrying          :  cedar ties

Detail              :  She was bound for Sturgeon Bay or Menominee when she began to fill. Despite her crew's efforts to pump her out for the next 12 hours, she eventually foundered. The crew was taken off by local fishermen before she went down. Master: Capt. Aldrich. Owned at Green Bay.

Sources            :    wgts,bb,nsp

 

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  BADGER

Other names   :  none

Official no.     : C138576

Type at loss    :  barge, wood*, crane-equipped

Build info       :  1914, Marine Iron Works, Duluth  [US#165842]

Specs               :  140(oa)x36x12,   334 t.

Date of loss    :  1929, Nov or Dec

Place of loss   :  Point Abino, Ont. [near Buffalo]

Lake                : Erie

Type of loss    :  foundered

Loss of life      : ?

Carrying         :  none

Detail              : Struck bottom and sank while working over wreck of steamer  BRITON (qv), raised but declared a constructive total loss.

*constructed of fir, one of the few

Sold Canadian about 1923

Sources            :   ns3,bb,mv


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  BADGER STATE

Other names   :  none

Official no.     :  2134

Type at loss    :  bark, wood, 3-mast

Build info       :  1853, James M. Jones, Milwaukee (often seen in error as Buffalo)

Specs               :  150x28x12,     302 t

Date of loss    :  1870, Nov 16

Place of loss   :  off Sleeping Bear Pt.

Lake                : Michigan

Type of loss    :  storm

Loss of life      :  none

Carrying         :  240 cords wood

Detail              :  Bound Grand Traverse Bay for Chicago, she stranded and wrecked on the tip of Sleeping Bear dune. Homeport: Chicago

Built on a salt-water model. Rebuilt and strengthened in 1862

Sources            :   nb,smi,hgl, soundings,nsp,rsl


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  BADGER STATE

Other names   :  none

Official no.     :  2111

Type at loss    :  propeller, wood, bulk freight

Build info       :  1862, Mason & Bidwell, Buffalo

Specs               :  213x33x17  802g 494n

Date of loss    :  1909, Dec 6

Place of loss   :  at Marine City, MI

Lake                : St Clair R

Type of loss    :  fire

Loss of life      :  15

Carrying         :  ?

Detail              : Caught fire at her dock. After firefighters could not contain the blaze, she was cut loose and drifted to Fawn Isl,  where she burned herself out.

Built as a passenger steamer, converted to a floating pool hall for a couple of years around 1905-6, until purchased by  H. M. Loud's Sons Co. in May, 1906, and converted to a lumber boat.

Image

Sources            :  eas,slh,sol,ns1,ledc,mv,mpl,nsp,hcgl


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  BADGER STATE

Other names   : none

Official no.     :  224114

Type at loss    :  propeller tug, oil screw, wood

Build info       :  1924, I. H. Larsen, Marinette, WI

Specs               :  60x14x9,   45g 30n

Date of loss    :  1939, Nov 9

Place of loss   :  off Northport, MI, Grand Traverse Bay [also given as Northport, WI]

Lake                : Michigan

Type of loss    :  (storm)

Loss of life      :  1

Carrying         :  none

Detail              : Foundered off Northport.

In 1934 she was owned by Great Lakes Dredge & Dock; out of Chicago.

Sources            :   sol,h,mpl,bb,mv


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  HORACE H. BADGER

Other names   :  built as schooner KATE GILLETT last name in 1882. Often called H. H. BADGER.

Official no.     :  14164

Type at loss    :  schooner, wood, 3-mast

Build info       :  1867, Miller, Conneaut, OH  as 2-mast schooner

Specs               :  129x30x10  264g  259n

Date of loss    :  1903, Jun 11

Place of loss   :  Cleveland, OH

Lake                : Erie

Type of loss    :  storm

Loss of life      :  none

Carrying         :  coal

Detail              : Driven on the breakwater and broken up by storm waves. Crew of 7 rescued by Lifesaving Service. Master: Capt. Robert Thompson.

Ashore and declared lost at Cross Village, MI, September of 1895, and again near Alpena, September, 1896.

Rebuilt in 1882 after wrecking near Marinette, Wis., enlarged, converted 2-mast to 3.

Sources            :   nsp,ns1,h,mv,ledc,mpl,eas,hcgl


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  BAHAMA

Other names   :  none

Official no.     :  2380

Type at loss    :  schooner-barge, wood, 3-mast, bulk freight

Build info       :  1863, Goble, Oswego, NY as a 3-mast schooner

Specs               :  136x26x13  333g  317n

Date of loss    :  1903, late May

Place of loss   :  Windmill Point, Ont.

Lake                : Erie

Type of loss    :  hull failure

Loss of life      : none

Carrying         :  stone

Detail              : She had just picked up a load of stone at the location shown and was being moved from the dock when one side of her hull collapsed out and she fell to the bottom. She was so thoroughly destroyed that she was dynamited a few days later to obliterate her remains. She had recently been brought from Chicago to Buffalo with her towmate YANKEE and cut down to a stone barge. Owned by Hughes Bros. & Bangs, Buffalo, contractors on the Buffalo breakwater.

Also reported total loss in storm on Huron 9/17/93 , and reported foundered near Alpena in 1895.

One source says she was lost on Cleveland breakwater in 1903 and others she was abandoned in 1904.

Sources            :   phr,osdo,wb,tel,slh,mv,nsp


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   CAROLINE E. BAILEY

Other names   :  none

Official no.     :  none

Type at loss    :  schooner, wood

Build info       :  1855, Bailey, Madison Dock, OH

Specs               :  88x21x7, 121 t.

Date of loss