List of shipwrecks in the Great Lakes

The Great Lakes, a collection of five freshwater lakes located in North America, have been sailed upon since at least the 17th century, and thousands of ships have been sunk while traversing them. Many of these ships were never found, so the exact number of shipwrecks in the Lakes is unknown; the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum approximates 6,000 ships and 30,000 lives lost, while historian and mariner Mark Thompson has estimated that the total number of wrecks is likely more than 25,000. In the period between 1816, when the Invincible was lost, to the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald in 1975, the Whitefish Point area alone has claimed at least 240 ships.

Lake Superior

Lake Huron

Lake Michigan

Lake Erie

Lake Ontario

Largest wrecks

See also

• Graveyard of the Great Lakes
• List of shipwrecks of western Lake Superior
• List of Great Lakes shipwrecks on the National Register of Historic Places

References

External links

• The Great Lakes Shipwreck File, a list maintained by David D. Swayze which details over 4,900 shipwrecks. (Archived by the Wayback Machine.)
• Great Lakes Hold Fortune in Treasure Archived 12 February 2023 at the Wayback Machine, Port Light, Volume 3, Number 43, Door County, Wisconsin, November 15, 1945, page 3

Further reading

• Kohl, Cris (2008). The Great Lakes Diving Guide (2nd ed.). West Chicago: Seawolf Communications. ISBN 978-0967997698. Thumbnail histories, descriptions and locations of more than 1,000 Great Lakes shipwrecks located to date.
• Kohl, Cris; Forsberg, Joan (2007). Shipwrecks at Death's Door (1st ed.). West Chicago, IL: Seawolf. ISBN 978-0967997681.. A guide to hundreds of northern Lake Michigan shipwrecks.
• Kohl, Cris (2005). The 100 Best Great Lakes Shipwrecks: Lake Ontario, Lake Erie, Lake Huron (2nd ed.). West Chicago, IL: Seawolf Communications. ISBN 0967997658. Detailed stories of 100 significant shipwrecks, plus, in appendices, brief information about several hundreds more.
• Kohl, Cris (2005). The 100 Best Great Lakes Shipwrecks: Lake Michigan, Lake Superior (2nd ed.). West Chicago, IL: Seawolf Communications. ISBN 0967997666. Detailed stories of 100 significant shipwrecks, plus, in appendices, brief information about several hundreds more.
• Wachter, Georgann & Michael (2003). Erie Wrecks East: A Guide to Shipwrecks of Eastern Lake Erie (2nd ed.). Avon Lake, Ohio: CorporateImpact. ISBN 096613124X. Identifies 110 wreck locations.
• Wachter, Georgann & Michael (2001). Erie Wrecks West: A Guide to Shipwrecks of Western Lake Erie (2nd ed.). Avon Lake, Ohio: CorporateImpact. ISBN 0966131223. Identifies 103 wreck locations.
• Wachter, Georgann & Michael (2007). Erie Wrecks & Lights. Avon Lake, OH: CorporateImpact. ISBN 978-0966131253. Identifies 45 wreck locations.