SS Samuel Mather (1887)
U.S. merchant ship that sank in Lake Superior / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The SS Samuel Mather was the first of seven U.S. merchant ships to bear that name. The wooden Mather sank in 1891 after she was rammed by the steel freighter Brazil in heavy fog in Whitefish Bay 8 miles (13 km) from Point Iroquois, ending the Mather's 4-year career. Her intact wreck is a rare of example of wooden freighters that plied the Great Lakes and she is a popular scuba diving site. Although there was no loss of life when the Mather sank, her wreck claimed the lives of three scuba divers more than 100 years after she sank. Artifacts from her wreck were illegally removed in the 1980s by the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society. The artifacts are now the property of the State of Michigan and are on display as a loan to the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum. The wreck of the Mather is protected as part of an underwater museum in the Whitefish Point Underwater Preserve.
Samuel Mather (far right) at dock | |
History | |
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United States | |
Name | Samuel Mather |
Namesake | Samuel Mather |
Owner | Pickands, Mather Company |
Port of registry | Cleveland, Ohio |
Builder | Quayle's, Thomas Sons |
Completed | 1887 |
Fate | Sank in Whitefish Bay 21 November 1891 after colliding with the Brazil |
Notes | Official No. 116142 |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | Bulk freighter |
Tonnage | 1576.23 Gross Register Tonnage 1286.72 Net Register Tonnage |
Length | 246 ft (75 m) |
Beam | 40 ft (12 m) |
Depth | 19.3 ft (5.9 m) |
Propulsion | Steam, propeller |
Notes | Sank with no loss of life |