Lake Name: Lake Superior
Shipwreck Name: Samuel Mather
Shipwreck Pictures

Vessel Type: Wooden Steamer
Location: Whitefish Bay, MI
Vessel Build Info: 1887, Cleveland
Shipwreck Specs: 246x40x19, 1576g 1287n
Official Number: 116142
Names Other: none

Sinking Detail
Loaded with wheat from the port of Duluth, the Samuel Mather encountered a thick fog just after rounding Whitefish Point shortly after midnight on November 22, 1891. At about three in the morning, the Mather’s lookout spotted that dreaded apparition so feared by Great Lakes mariners, another vessel on a collision course! Far too late for either captain to take evasive action, the steel package freighter Brazil cut into the Mather on her starboard side. Yet fortunately, calm waters allowed all of the crew of the Mather to escape the wreck and be taken aboard the Brazil with no injuries.

The Samuel Mather took 25 minutes to sink which gave the crew time to launch her lifeboats. Apparently such a slow descent allowed air to escape gradually from the sinking ship, leaving her masts and after cabins still intact. The wreck is in amazingly good shape, with only a small 1-foot wide by 6-foot tall hole in her side where the Brazil made contact with her bow. Powered by both sail and steam, she is a technical diver’s dream, lying in 180 feet of water.

Loss Date: 11/22/1891
Loss Place: Off Pt. Iroquois, Whitefish Bay
Loss Life: none
Loss Reason: Collision
Vessel Cargo: Wheat

Shipwreck Description
The Mather is the most intact example known of a late 19th century wooden propeller steamer designed to carry bulk freight located in Whitefish Bay. She is 246 feet long at 1,576 gross tons. She was one of the first wrecks to be located by the Shipwreck Society in its founding year of 1978.

Dive Type: Technical
Depth Deck(ft): 155 ft
Depth Bottom(ft): 180 ft
Depth Deck(m): 47 m
Depth Bottom(m): 55m

Additional Info: Whitefish Point Underwater Preserve