Quick Facts

History & Story

The Grace A. Channon was a three-masted wooden schooner launched in 1873 at the W.S. Ellenwood shipyard in East Saginaw, Michigan. She was built as a “canaller,” a type of Great Lakes vessel designed to fit through the locks of the Welland Canal while carrying the maximum possible cargo. These vessels transported grain from Midwestern ports to eastern markets and returned west loaded with coal to fuel the growing cities and industries of the region.

During her short career, the Grace A. Channon operated on the busy trade routes connecting Chicago, Milwaukee, Buffalo, and other Great Lakes ports. Typical cargoes included wheat, corn, lumber, coal, and iron—commodities essential to the economic growth of the Midwest during the late nineteenth century.

On the night of August 2, 1877, while sailing toward Chicago with a cargo of coal, the schooner collided with the propeller Favorite off the Wisconsin coast near Oak Creek. The collision tore a large hole in the schooner’s port side, and the vessel sank within five minutes. Most of the crew and passengers were rescued, but seven-year-old Alexander Graham, the son of one of the vessel’s owners, was lost in the sinking. During the chaos, Captain Murray’s pet poodle jumped into the water and held onto his shoulders as the captain swam to safety.

The sinking led to a lengthy legal battle between the vessel’s owners and the operators of the Favorite. In 1881 a federal court ruled that the captain of the steamer was at fault after leaving the helm shortly before the collision.

Today the wreck of the Grace A. Channon rests on the floor of Lake Michigan, offering historians, archaeologists, and divers a rare opportunity to study the construction and trade routes of Great Lakes canal schooners.

Photo Highlights

Present-Day Dive Overview

Dive Type: Technical
Depth Range: 165 to 180ft (50.3 to 54.9m)
Certification: This site is suitable for divers with training and scuba certification(s) appropriate for the planned depth and conditions.
Depths are approximate and may vary with lake level, seasonal and weather conditions.

The wreck of the Grace A. Channon was located in 1985 by Kent Belrichard and today rests in approximately 180 feet of water on a sandy bottom off Oak Creek, Wisconsin. The schooner lies upright and remains remarkably intact for a wooden vessel lost in 1877.

Large portions of the hull structure remain standing, including the railing and open cargo holds that still define the schooner’s deck layout. The collision damage that sent the vessel to the bottom is clearly visible, where a break in the hull reveals coal from the ship’s final cargo spilling onto the lakebed.

Several sections of mast and rigging remain on and around the wreck, draped across the deck and scattered on the lakebed. Deadeyes and other rigging hardware can still be found resting on the deck, offering a glimpse into the vessel’s original sailing configuration. Portions of the cabin structure also remain, which is unusual for wooden schooner wrecks of this age.

At the stern, the vessel’s rudder and sternpost remain in place, providing an impressive view of the schooner’s construction and the overall layout of the wreck site.

Artifacts recovered from the wreck, including the ship’s wheel, compass, and port light, are now on display at the North Point Lighthouse Museum in Milwaukee. These items were recovered decades ago when artifact removal from Great Lakes shipwrecks was still legal; today the site is protected, and artifacts are preserved in place for future generations and archaeological study.

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