The Charles A. King was a wooden schooner built in 1863 in Cleveland, Ohio, The vessel measured approximately 140 feet in length with a 26-foot depth of hold, typical of a mid-19th-century cargo schooners operating on the Great Lakes. During her career, she transported bulk commodities such as coal between ports, helping supply fuel for the region's growing industrial centers.
On September 26, 1895, the Charles A. King was crossing Lake Huron with a cargo of coal bound from Toledo, OH to Bay City, MI when the vessel encountered a powerful northwest gale. Approximately 12 miles off of Harbor Beach, MI, the schooner began taking on water as heavy seas battered the hull. As the situation worsened, the crew abandoned the vessel. A nearby steamer, the E. C. Pope, witnessed the vessel's distress and rescued all the sailors as the Charles A. King sank beneath the waves. Although the ship was lost, all six crew members survived.
The wreck of the Charles A. King now rests on the bottom of a stretch of Lake Huron sometimes called the "Graveyard of the Great Lakes." Over time, the schooner became one of many historic shipwrecks preserved in the cold freshwater of the region. Today, the wreck remains a site of interest for recreational divers and maritime historians studying the ships that once carried commerce across the Great Lakes.
On September 26, 1895, the Charles A. King was crossing Lake Huron with a cargo of coal bound from Toledo, OH to Bay City, MI when the vessel encountered a powerful northwest gale. Approximately 12 miles off of Harbor Beach, MI, the schooner began taking on water as heavy seas battered the hull. As the situation worsened, the crew abandoned the vessel. A nearby steamer, the E. C. Pope, witnessed the vessel's distress and rescued all the sailors as the Charles A. King sank beneath the waves. Although the ship was lost, all six crew members survived.
The wreck of the Charles A. King now rests on the bottom of a stretch of Lake Huron sometimes called the "Graveyard of the Great Lakes." Over time, the schooner became one of many historic shipwrecks preserved in the cold freshwater of the region. Today, the wreck remains a site of interest for recreational divers and maritime historians studying the ships that once carried commerce across the Great Lakes.
Cargo Manifest for the C. A. King, 11 July 1865.
512 tons of iron ore, bound from Marquette, MI
to Cleveland, OH.
512 tons of iron ore, bound from Marquette, MI
to Cleveland, OH.