page_title: SS Algoma
section_title: Wreck of Algoma
hierarchical_section_title: SS Algoma / Wreck of Algoma
caption_attribution_description: English: Wreck of the Steamer Algoma off Isle Royale This is an image of a place or building that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places in the United States of America. Its reference number is 84001699
context_page_description: Algoma was a screw steamer built in 1883. She sank off Mott Island near Isle Royale in Lake Superior in 1885 and some of her remains are still on the lake bottom. The wreck was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.
context_section_description: On November 5, 1885, Algoma left Owen Sound for Thunder Bay, carrying general merchandise, railway supplies, and 37 passengers, the fewest it had ever carried.  This was likely attributable to the lateness of the season and the recent opening of a rail route around Lake Superior.  The ship passed into Lake Superior on November 6; when it was about halfway across the lake it ran into a blinding snowstorm.  The sails were set to stabilize the ship, but it drifted off course.  At about 4 am on the morning of November 7, the captain ordered the sails lowered and changed course.  At 4:40 am, shortly after resuming steam power, Algoma ran aground on the southeast shore of Mott Island off Isle Royale.
  The ship was grounded so that the waves pummeled the bow section. At about 6 am, the ship broke in two, with the stern grounded on the shore and the bow drifting off.  Many of the passengers and crew were swept away, but three people made it to shore (only 50 feet, 15 m away) and another 11 remained in the bow section of the ship until the morning of November 8, when the storm abated.  The survivors all got to shore on November 8, and stayed that night with a party of fishermen. On November 9, Athabasca was intercepted and the survivors were taken on to Thunder Bay. 
  Forty-six people died in the wreck of Algoma; there were 14 survivors, including two passengers, 11 crewmen and the captain.  A search party returned to Isle Royale on November 10, but found only two bodies; more bodies and cargo were located in the subsequent months. The force of the storm was such that nearly all the cargo was smashed; only portions of some bodies were found as the waves had "dashed them to pieces against the rocks", and some hull sections were completely flattened.
  The wreck of Algoma was the worst loss of life in the history of Lake Superior shipping.
  Much of the stern of the ship was salvaged in 1886, and much of the bow was either salvaged or drifted away.  The engine from the ship was used in the passenger steamer Manitoba, launched in 1889; Manitoba was used for 60 years on the Great Lakes before decommissioning. An additional salvage operation was carried out in 1903.
caption: The wreck of Algoma
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