SS ''Frank O'Connor'' was a bulk carrier that sank in

Lake Michigan Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume () and the third-largest by surface area (), after Lake Superior and Lake Huron. To the east, its basin is conjoined with that o ...

off the coast of

North Bay, Door County, Wisconsin North Bay is a small Unincorporated community located on Lake Michigan in the town of Liberty Grove in northern Door County, Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest stat ...

, United States. In 1994 the shipwreck site was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

History

Originally called the ''City of Naples'', the ''Frank O'Connor'' was built in

West Bay City, Michigan West Bay City was a city in Bay County the U.S. state of Michigan. The City was formed from the communities of Banks, Salzburg, and Wenona. The city existed from 1877 to 1905 when it was merged with Bay City, Michigan. History Bangor/Banks Jose ...

in 1892. The vessel was renamed in 1916. On September 29, 1919, ''Frank O'Connor'' left Buffalo, New York en route to Milwaukee, Wisconsin carrying 3,000 tons of coal. Three days later, she passed through the

Straits of Mackinac The Straits of Mackinac ( ; french: Détroit de Mackinac) are the short waterways between the U.S. state of Michigan's Upper and Lower Peninsulas, traversed by the Mackinac Bridge. The main strait is wide with a maximum depth of , and connects ...

and was expected to make port ahead of schedule. On October 3 at 4:00 p.m., a fire broke out in the bow. Roughly an hour later, the ship's steering gear was destroyed by the fire, leaving it drifting in the water about two miles off the coast of Cana Island. The keeper of the Cana Island Light had noticed the burning vessel from land and, along with his assistant, was able to tow the ''O'Connor''s crew on their lifeboats to shore. A portion of the ''Frank O'Connor''s cargo was later recovered, but the ship itself remained lost. Despite the fire, most of ''Frank O'Connor''s machinery remained intact and upright, making it a popular archaeological and recreational site. The ship is owned by the State of Wisconsin and the site is managed by the Wisconsin Historical Society and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. She lies in of water about off Cana Island.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Frank O'Connor 1892 ships Shipwrecks of Lake Michigan Shipwrecks of the Wisconsin coast Shipwrecks on the National Register of Historic Places in Wisconsin National Register of Historic Places in Door County, Wisconsin Maritime incidents in 1919 Ships built by James Davidson Great Lakes freighters Wreck diving sites in the United States