Owner Joseph C. Gilchrist Fate Sank, October 15, 1903 Launched 1881 Builder Cleveland Nearest city La Pointe | Laid down October 15, 1903 Construction started 15 October 1903 Length 72 m Added to NRHP 13 February 2008 | |
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Name Republic (1881-1890)
Marquette (1890-1903) Identification Official number 110465 Status Added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1991 | ||
Marquette is a shipwreck off the shore of Michigan Island in the Apostle Islands area of Lake Superior, just northeast of Bayfield, Wisconsin, United States.
Ship history
The wooden-hulled lake freighter was built by the Globe Iron Works Company of Cleveland, Ohio, in 1881, and named Republic. She was renamed Marquette in 1890.
On October 15, 1903, while about 5 miles east of Michigan Island and carrying a cargo of iron ore, she sprang a leak and began to sink. The crew escaped in lifeboats.
The ship now lies 200 feet (61 m) underwater, with the bow largely intact but the stern badly broken up. The wreck was discovered in 2005, but divers did not reach it until the following year. Mapping and documenting the shipwreck was a joint venture between the Great Lakes Shipwreck Preservation Society, the Wisconsin Historical Society - State Historic Preservation Office, and the Great Lakes Shipwreck Research Foundation. The ship was listed on the Wisconsin State Register of Historic Places on July 20, 2007 and on the National Register of Historic Places on February 13, 2008. These listings protect the wreck from potential claimants and divers who would pilfer artifacts.