SS ''Frank O'Connor'' was a

bulk carrier A bulk carrier or bulker is a merchant ship specially naval architecture, designed to transport unpackaged bulk cargo—such as Grain trade, grain, coal, ore, steel coils, and cement—in its cargo holds. Since the first specialized bulk carrie ...

ship that sank in

Lake Michigan Lake Michigan ( ) is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume () and depth () after Lake Superior and the third-largest by surface area (), after Lake Superior and Lake Huron. To the ...

off the coast of North Bay, Door County, Wisconsin, United States in 1919. In 1994 the shipwreck site was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

History

Originally called the ''City of Naples'', the ''Frank O'Connor'' was built in West Bay City, Michigan in 1892. The vessel was renamed in 1916. On September 29, 1919, ''Frank O'Connor'' left

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is a Administrative divisions of New York (state), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and county seat of Erie County, New York, Erie County. It lies in Western New York at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of ...

en route to

Milwaukee, Wisconsin Milwaukee is the List of cities in Wisconsin, most populous city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the List of United States cities by population, 31st-most populous city in the United States ...

carrying 3,000 tons of coal. Three days later, she passed through the

Straits of Mackinac The Straits of Mackinac ( ; ) are the short waterways between the U.S. state of Michigan's Upper and Lower Peninsulas, traversed by the Mackinac Bridge. The main strait is wide with a maximum depth of , and connects the Great Lakes of Lake M ...

and was expected to make port ahead of schedule. On October 3 at 4:00 p.m., a fire broke out in the bow. Roughly an hour later, the ship's steering gear was destroyed by the fire, leaving it drifting in the water about two miles off the coast of Cana Island. The keeper of the Cana Island Light had noticed the burning vessel from land and, along with his assistant, was able to tow the ''O'Connor''s crew on their lifeboats to shore. A portion of the ''Frank O'Connor''s cargo was later recovered, but the ship itself remained lost. Despite the fire, most of ''Frank O'Connor''s machinery remained intact and upright, making it a popular archaeological and recreational site. The ship is owned by the State of Wisconsin and the site is managed by the

Wisconsin Historical Society The Wisconsin Historical Society (officially the State Historical Society of Wisconsin) is simultaneously a state agency and a private membership organization whose purpose is to maintain, promote and spread knowledge relating to the history of ...

and the

Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR) is a government agency of the U.S. state of Wisconsin charged with conserving and managing Wisconsin's natural resources. The Wisconsin Natural Resources Board has the authority to set polic ...

. She lies in of water about off Cana Island.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Frank O'Connor 1892 ships Shipwrecks of Lake Michigan Shipwrecks of the Wisconsin coast Shipwrecks on the National Register of Historic Places in Wisconsin National Register of Historic Places in Door County, Wisconsin Maritime incidents in 1919 Ships built by James Davidson Great Lakes freighters Wreck diving sites in the United States