''Madeira'' was a

schooner barge A schooner barge is a type of ship; a schooner converted as a barge. Schooner barges originated on the Great Lakes in the 1860s and were in use until World War II, although a few survived into the 1950s. Even though steamboats were used for time- ...

that sank off the coast of

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

Lake Superior Lake Superior in central North America is the largest freshwater lake in the world by surface areaThe Caspian Sea is the largest lake, but is saline, not freshwater. and the third-largest by volume, holding 10% of the world's surface fresh wa ...

on November 28, 1905. A schooner barge is a type of ship that functions like a

barge Barge nowadays generally refers to a flat-bottomed inland waterway vessel which does not have its own means of mechanical propulsion. The first modern barges were pulled by tugs, but nowadays most are pushed by pusher boats, or other vessels ...

, in that it is towed by a steamship, but also has sails like a

schooner A schooner () is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than the mainmast. A common variant, the topsail schoon ...

. This type of ship evolved from wooden sailing ships that were cut down into barges and towed behind wooden steamships, a practice which originated in the late 1880s in coastal areas. This design was commonly used in the

Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes in the mid-east region of North America that connect to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River. There are five lakes ...

for transporting grain, iron ore, and other products.

History

''Madeira'' was built at the Chicago yard of the Chicago Shipbuilding Company in 1900 primarily of heavy steel plates that were riveted together, with wood joinery used in other places. The ship had a flat plate

keel The keel is the bottom-most longitudinal structural element on a vessel. On some sailboats, it may have a hydrodynamic and counterbalancing purpose, as well. As the laying down of the keel is the initial step in the construction of a ship, in Br ...

and was shaped very flat and full to maximize cargo capacity. The career of the ship is mostly unknown, except for some notoriety gained when it struck the former

Sault Ste. Marie International Bridge The Sault Ste. Marie International Bridge spans the St. Marys River between the United States and Canada connecting the twin cities of Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan and Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. The bridge is operated by the International Bridge ...

at Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan in 1902.

Final voyage

On November 28, 1905, ''Madeira'', under tow of the steamer ''William Edenborn'', was caught in a fierce storm with winds around 70 to 80 miles per hour, blowing snow onto the deck and kicking up huge swells. The captain of ''William Edenborn'' feared the loss of his ship and made the decision to cut the ''Madeira'' loose. Some speculated at the time that the crew tried to set anchor and ride out the storm, but the wreck site later revealed that both anchors were still intact at the bow. About two hours after it was cut loose, ''Madeira'' crashed into a cliff named Gold Rock. One of the crewmen leapt to shore with a safety line and was able to bring eight other men to safety. The first mate went down with the ship. Two days later, the tugboat ''

Edna G ''Edna G'' is a tugboat which worked the Great Lakes and is now preserved as a museum ship. ''Edna G'' was built by the Cleveland Shipbuilding Company in 1896 for the Duluth and Iron Range Railroad at a cost $35,397.50. She was named for the dau ...

'' rescued the stranded crewmen.

Wreck

In 1955, divers from the Frigid Frogs dive club in Duluth, Minnesota, first explored the wreck, but reported that there was little or no treasure on board. In 1960, a salvage company purchased the rights to the ship from the Pittsburgh Steamship Division of

U.S. Steel United States Steel Corporation, more commonly known as U.S. Steel, is an American integrated steel producer headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with production operations primarily in the United States of America and in severa ...

Corporation. Divers removed one of the anchors and the ship's wheel, which were sold to the nearby Split Rock Trading Post. In 1974, a wrecking crew spent significant effort salvaging steel from ''Madeira''. The ship currently lies broken in three sections. The bow is upside-down in of water, and the stern, containing a large steam winch and open hatches, lies on its starboard side at . A small, roofless pilot house is at .

References

{{Recreational dive sites, wresit 1900 ships Ships built in Chicago Maritime incidents in 1905 Schooner barges Shipwrecks of Lake Superior Shipwrecks on the National Register of Historic Places in Minnesota National Register of Historic Places in Lake County, Minnesota Schooners of the United States Barges of the United States Shipwrecks of the Minnesota coast Wreck diving sites in the United States