Lost November 20, 1873
City of Boston was a propeller of 392 tons, built 1863 at Cleveland for the Northern Transportation Co. of Ohio. She was a wooden vessel, 136 feet long by 25 feet wide.
She was launched on March 14, 1863, but two years later, was reclassified as 136 x 26.3 x 11.2′, 297.58 gross tons. In 1866, the vessel was “readmeasured” at 431.56 gross tons. Two years later, in november 1868 she was sunk in a collision with The Milwaukee in the Straits of Mackinac. Two years later salvors raised the ship from 125 feet — the deepest salvage ever completed on the Great Lakes. On September 3rd, she was towed to Cleveland to be rebuilt as steam barge. By 1872, the City of Boston was acquired by the Vermont Central Line.
On November 20, 1873 the vessel ran ashore south of Frankfort, on the east shore of Lake Michigan. She was laden with corn and flour, nearly all of which will be a total loss.
“The steamer is a complete wreck, broken amidships, stanchions on one side gone and otherwise badly out of shape. She has been abandoned, though her machinery may be saved.” Detroit Free Press, November 25, 1873.
“The propeller City of Boston, of the N. T. Co., which went ashore 3 miles south of Frankfort, last fall, has gone to pieces. The hull lies in 15 ft. of water. There have been countless thousands of wild ducks on the lake during the winter feeding on her cargo of corn.” Buffalo Commercial Advertiser, March 28, 1874
“The wrecking expedition of John Dodd, diver, with tug J.H. Martin and schooner Sea Gem raised the boiler of the sunken propeller City Of Boston, that had lain sunk for the past twelve years, near Herring Creek. The engine will also be raised and brought inside. Mr. Banks, the owner of the wreck, pays them $2,500 for the recovery of the sunken property.” The Marine Record, Thurs. Sept. 1, 1887
THE WRECK IN RECENT TIMES
MSRA first documented the wreck in 2008. Only about three feet of the bow and forward sides of the ship appeared above the sand as the following photographs by Valerie van Heest indicate.
