SS Choctaw

'SS Choctaw was named after the Choctaw Indian tribe from the southern United States.[4] She was built in 1892 on the banks of the Cuyahoga River by the Cleveland Shipbuilding Company for the Lake Superior Iron Company of Ishpeming, Michigan.[5][6] She was 266.9 feet (81.4 m) in length with a 38.1-foot (11.6 m) beam,[7] and had a 17.9-foot-deep (5.5 m) hold and water bottom. She had a gross tonnage of 1573.61 tons and a net tonnage of 1256.28 tons.[8][9] The vessel had a cutaway stern and seven cargo hatches, and there were no interior bulkheads between the forward collision bulkhead and the engine bulkhead in her stern. When fully loaded, Choctaw could carry 2,800 short tons (2,500 t), at which time she would draw a 16-foot (4.9 m) draft.[10] She was powered by a 900 hp (670 kW) triple expansion steam engine, steam for which was provided by two coal-fired Scotch marine boilers. Choctaw was one of only three semi-whaleback ships ever built; there was an identical sister ship named Andaste and a "near-sister" ship named Yuma.[6][11][12][13][upper-alpha 1]

Choctaw and Andaste had an unusual design. They were straight-back steel freighters, similar to the iconic whaleback design invented by Captain Alexander McDougall but unlike whalebacks, they had straight sides and a conventional bow.[16] This combination meant from the waterline upward, their sides sloped inward in a "tumble-home" configuration. This hybrid design was known as "semi-whalebacks" and like the true whalebacks, they were vulnerable to getting a wet deck in stormy conditions.[6][17]

Port-side view of Choctaw

Choctaw was launched May 25, 1892, as hull number #17[18] and entered service on June 24, 1892, with the official number #126874.[8] On April 19, 1893, Choctaw was traveling on Lake St. Clair when the cylinder head blew out and the engine exploded. The explosion killed two crew members and injured another.[9][12] On May 20, 1896, Choctaw collided with the larger steel freighter L.C. Waldo, which tore a 10-foot (3.0 m) hole in Choctaw's starboard side and the ship sank onto a shoal at the Soo Locks .[9] On June 1, 1896, temporary repairs were made to Choctaw in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, before she sailed to Cleveland, Ohio.[9][19][20]

At around midnight on May 26, 1900, Choctaw ran aground near Pointe aux Pins on Lake Erie.[21] On April 26, 1902, Choctaw struck a rock or hit the bottom after being lifted by heavy seas near Marquette, Michigan, and partially sank after reaching the shelter of Marquette Harbor.[12][22]

Choctaw was in Marquette Harbor on November 9, 1913, during that year's Great Lakes Storm when her Captain Charles Fox saw the 545-foot-long (166 m) steel freighter Henry B. Smith leave the shelter of the harbor. This would be the last time Henry B. Smith was seen afloat; she was one of the twelve ships that were lost during the storm.[23]

Wahcondah c. 1911

On July 11, 1915, the weather conditions on Lake Huron were very foggy.[24] Choctaw, under the command of Captain Charles A. Fox, was upbound from Cleveland, Ohio, with a cargo of coal and was bound for Marquette, Michigan.[12][25] At around 5:30 a.m. Wahcondah, which was downbound with a cargo of wheat from Fort William, Ontario to Montreal,[26] sighted Choctaw. Upon sighting the other vessel, the captain of Wahcondah ordered the engines of his ship to be reversed but this did not stop Wahcondah from slicing into the port side of Choctaw between her 1st and 2nd cargo hatch. After the collision, the captain of Wahcondah lost sight of Choctaw. The crew of Wahcondah relocated Choctaw after sighting her tall funnel through the heavy fog. Eventually, Captain Fox ordered Choctaw's lifeboats to be lowered but the vessel sank so quickly some of her crew could not make it to her lifeboats in time and had to jump overboard.[27] The crew of Choctaw reached Wahcondah in their own lifeboats.[28] Although Choctaw sank in only 17 minutes, her entire crew of 22 escaped.[9][12][29] Wahcondah took the crew of Choctaw to Sarnia, Ontario.[30] The approximate location of Choctaw's sinking was given as five–six miles (8.0–9.7 km) east of Presque Isle Light.[1][31] According to Fox:

We did not see the Wahcondah until she was within ten feet [3.0 m] of us. She caught us on the port side and struck beams or else she would have cut us in two. We put off in the lifeboats as quickly as possible after we knew the ship could not float. The Choctaw listed to port and began to go down at the head. Then she righted and began to list to the starboard. As she shifted to starboard her stern rose out of the water and she rolled over, going down bottom side up. We were in the yawl boats about 400 feet [120 m] away when she rolled. It sounded as if a million dishes and hundreds of sticks were being broken as the ship rolled over.[32]

The day after she sank, Captain Nelson Brown of the steamer James H. Reed spotted Choctaw's upper cabins floating off Presque Isle, Michigan, and was able to read the ship's name as he approached them.[33] Nine days after Choctaw sank, 40 feet (12 m) of her cabin and several timbers were discovered one mile (1.6 km) north of Middle Island.[33]

Choctaw was a very sought-after shipwreck because of her unique "straight back" design. Several unsuccessful attempts to locate the ship were made; several of them resulted in the discovery of one or more other wrecks.[12][34]

Shipwreck hunter Stan Stock conducted an independent search for Choctaw in 2003; he located the wreck of the schooner Kyle Spangler but failed to find Choctaw.[12] Shipwreck hunters from Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary collaborated with Stock in 2008 to map the wreck of Kyle Spangler. In August 2008, they partnered with the University of Rhode Island but rather than finding Choctaw, they located the wreck of the passenger steamer Messenger.[12]

In 2011, a group consisting of expert shipwreck hunters and high school students tried to locate Choctaw. Their search effort was charted in a documentary named "Project Shiphunt". Although they failed to locate Choctaw, they found the wrecks of the steel hulled freighter Etruria ,which sank on the lake after a collision with the steamer Amasa Stone,[35] and the schooner M.F. Merrick, which sank in 1889 after a collision with the steamer Rufus P. Ranney.[34]

Sonar image of Choctaw

Between April and July 2017, Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary collaborated with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Office of Ocean Exploration and Research to test new equipment including unmanned aircraft systems and autonomous underwater vehicles that were designed to search for missing shipwrecks.[36] On May 23, 2017, researchers from Thunder Bay Marine Sanctuary discovered two shipwrecks in the deep waters of Lake Huron,[37][38] off the coast of Presque Isle, Michigan.[36][39] The researchers carried out several investigations between June and August; these investigations confirmed the identities of the early wooden hulled freighter Ohio and Choctaw.[39][40] Ohio was lost on September 26, 1894, when she collided with the schooner Ironton.[36][41][42] Both wrecks are in a place known as "Shipwreck Alley", which is a 448-square-mile (1,160 km²) area of the Lake Huron shoreline that holds an estimated 200 shipwrecks. The US Federal Government named the area the nation's first National Freshwater Marine Sanctuary in 2000.[43][44]

Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary did not announce their discovery until September 1, 2017, and avocational shipwreck hunters continued to search for Choctaw.[45] On August 13, 2017, independent researcher Dan Fountain found Choctaw using a modified fishfinder. On August 20, he returned to the site with veteran shipwreck hunters Ken Merryman and Jerry Eliason to survey the wreck with Eliason's homemade hi-definition drop video system, positively identifying the wreck as Choctaw.[46]

Propeller of Choctaw

The remains of Choctaw rest in about 300 feet (91 m) of cold, fresh water. When the vessel sank, the captain reported she "settled by the head soon after the collision, but shortly before she disappeared she rolled to starboard and capsized, going down bottom side up".[25] The wreck rests on her starboard side, nearly upside down, with the exposed section of her hull rising at an angle from the lake bottom. The upper level of her stern cabins broke away when she sank, leaving only the weather deck level cabins intact. The wreckage of her pilothouse lies beside her hull.[33] The entire bow, including the section between the first and the second hatch where the collision occurred, is completely buried and only the last three of her seven cargo hatches remain exposed.[12] There is a sizeable debris field surrounding her wreck, with most of the visible artifacts located near her stern.[33]

The wreck of Choctaw was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on December 10, 2018, for its state-level significance in engineering and maritime history.[47][3]