Lake Erie
Lake Erie is the fourth largest Great Lake. It has a surface area of 9,940 square miles and is 241 miles long. On average Lake Erie has a depth of 62 feet and at its deepest is only 210 feet deep. Because this is the shallowest of all of the five lakes, it is also the warmest.
More than 1,700 ships lie at the bottom of Lake Erie but only 277 of them have been found.
Famous Shipwrecks:
1. G. P. Griffith - 287 perished marking this shipwreck as Lake Erie's greatest lost of life. Ironically this happened in only 8 feet of water.
2. James H Reed - one of the largest ships to wreck on Lake Erie.
Books:
Lake Erie Stories: struggle and survival on a freshwater ocean
by Chad Fraser
ISBN: 9781550027822
Abstract: Most people think of Lake Erie, the shallowest and second smallest of the Great Lakes, as a sun-drenched, nearly tropical retreat. But it is so much more; mysterious, unpredictable, and known by mariners for its sudden violent weather and dangerous shoals, Lake Erie has been the stage for some of the most dramatic events ever to occur on the North American continent. From the earliest explorations of First Nations and French adventurers to the brazen rumrunners of the Prohibition era and beyond, this fascinating book takes the reader inside the remarkable personalities and harrowing events that have shaped the lake and the towns and cities that surround it. Based on thorough research, extensive travels, and firsthand accounts from the people who have lived, worked and made their names on the lake, Lake Erie Stories takes a fresh look at the history of what may be the most colorful of all the Great Lakes. (Amazon book description)
Erie Wrecks East: a guide to shipwrecks of Eastern Lake Erie
by Georgann and Michael Wachter
ISBN: 9780966131215
Richly illustrated and filled with incredible stories of lost ships and breathtaking survival on Lake Erie, this title allows readers to know the exhilaration of discovering 93 central and eastern Lake Erie shipwrecks. Visit each wreck through: survivors tales of the loss, essential facts about the ship, the history of the vessel and story of its loss, a picture of the ship before it sank, description of the wreck today, underwater photographs, sidescan sonar images, drawings of the wreck, and the LORAN and GPS coordinates of the wreck. (Amazon book description)
Erie Wrecks West: a guide to shipwrecks of Western Lake Erie
by Georgann and Michael Wachter
ISBN: 9780966131222
Abstract: Updated in 2009! Richly illustrated and filled with incredible stories of lost ships and breathtaking survival on Lake Erie, this title allows readers to know the exhilaration of discovering 103 central and western Lake Erie shipwrecks. This complete overview of the majority of the found shipwrecks in western Lake Erie is packed with fascinating stories of lost ships, statistical information, and graphics. The reader visits each wreck through: survivors tales of the loss, essential facts about the ship, the history of the vessel and story of its loss, a picture of the ship before it sank, description of the wreck today, underwater photographs, sidescan sonar images, drawings of the wreck, and the LORAN and GPS coordinates of the wreck. See Erie Wrecks East, Second Edition and Erie Wrecks & Lights for more information on Lake Erie shipwrecks. (Amazon book description)
1850: Death on Erie: the saga of the G.P. Griffith
by J.E. Hopkins
ISBN: 9781456056063
Abstract: "There have been more than 25,000 shipwrecks on the Great Lakes. Beginning with the foundering of LaSalle�s Griffon on a storm-tossed Lake Huron in 1679, to the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald in a gale wracked Lake Superior nearly three centuries later, these huge fresh water seas have taken a tremendous toll. On a warm spring night, at a cost of 287 lives, the single greatest loss of life on Lake Erie, and the third greatest loss on all the Great Lakes, occurred with the wreck of the G.P. Griffith. (Amazon book description)
Disaster on Lake Erie: the 1841 wreck of the Steamship Erie
by Alvin F. Oickle
ISBN: 9781609490980
Abstract: On August 9, 1841, the steamship Erie, one of the most elegant and fastest sailing between Buffalo and Chicago, departed carrying 343 passengers. Many were Swiss and German immigrants, planning to start new lives in America s heartland most never made it. The Erie erupted in flames during the night, and despite the heroic efforts of the crew of the Dewitt Clinton, 254 lives were lost. As news of this disaster spread, internationally renowned artists and writers, including Horatio Alger Jr. and possibly James Fenimore Cooper, wrote about John Maynard, a fictitious heroic helmsman. Historian Alvin F. Oickle s minute-by-minute account weaves together the tragedy of the immigrant families almost at journey s end, the legend of John Maynard that developed in the aftermath and the fury of a fire on an oceanlike lake. (Amazon book description)
Videos:
Underwater Graveyard
by Kenton Kovich
Abstract: Explores the history and ruins of shipwrecks in Lake Erie, including The Indiana "Stone Wreck", The Dean Richmond, The St. James "Schooner X", and The Marquette & Bessemer #2. (taken from WorldCat)
More than 1,700 ships lie at the bottom of Lake Erie but only 277 of them have been found.
Famous Shipwrecks:
1. G. P. Griffith - 287 perished marking this shipwreck as Lake Erie's greatest lost of life. Ironically this happened in only 8 feet of water.
2. James H Reed - one of the largest ships to wreck on Lake Erie.
Books:
Lake Erie Stories: struggle and survival on a freshwater ocean
by Chad Fraser
ISBN: 9781550027822
Abstract: Most people think of Lake Erie, the shallowest and second smallest of the Great Lakes, as a sun-drenched, nearly tropical retreat. But it is so much more; mysterious, unpredictable, and known by mariners for its sudden violent weather and dangerous shoals, Lake Erie has been the stage for some of the most dramatic events ever to occur on the North American continent. From the earliest explorations of First Nations and French adventurers to the brazen rumrunners of the Prohibition era and beyond, this fascinating book takes the reader inside the remarkable personalities and harrowing events that have shaped the lake and the towns and cities that surround it. Based on thorough research, extensive travels, and firsthand accounts from the people who have lived, worked and made their names on the lake, Lake Erie Stories takes a fresh look at the history of what may be the most colorful of all the Great Lakes. (Amazon book description)
Erie Wrecks East: a guide to shipwrecks of Eastern Lake Erie
by Georgann and Michael Wachter
ISBN: 9780966131215
Richly illustrated and filled with incredible stories of lost ships and breathtaking survival on Lake Erie, this title allows readers to know the exhilaration of discovering 93 central and eastern Lake Erie shipwrecks. Visit each wreck through: survivors tales of the loss, essential facts about the ship, the history of the vessel and story of its loss, a picture of the ship before it sank, description of the wreck today, underwater photographs, sidescan sonar images, drawings of the wreck, and the LORAN and GPS coordinates of the wreck. (Amazon book description)
Erie Wrecks West: a guide to shipwrecks of Western Lake Erie
by Georgann and Michael Wachter
ISBN: 9780966131222
Abstract: Updated in 2009! Richly illustrated and filled with incredible stories of lost ships and breathtaking survival on Lake Erie, this title allows readers to know the exhilaration of discovering 103 central and western Lake Erie shipwrecks. This complete overview of the majority of the found shipwrecks in western Lake Erie is packed with fascinating stories of lost ships, statistical information, and graphics. The reader visits each wreck through: survivors tales of the loss, essential facts about the ship, the history of the vessel and story of its loss, a picture of the ship before it sank, description of the wreck today, underwater photographs, sidescan sonar images, drawings of the wreck, and the LORAN and GPS coordinates of the wreck. See Erie Wrecks East, Second Edition and Erie Wrecks & Lights for more information on Lake Erie shipwrecks. (Amazon book description)
1850: Death on Erie: the saga of the G.P. Griffith
by J.E. Hopkins
ISBN: 9781456056063
Abstract: "There have been more than 25,000 shipwrecks on the Great Lakes. Beginning with the foundering of LaSalle�s Griffon on a storm-tossed Lake Huron in 1679, to the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald in a gale wracked Lake Superior nearly three centuries later, these huge fresh water seas have taken a tremendous toll. On a warm spring night, at a cost of 287 lives, the single greatest loss of life on Lake Erie, and the third greatest loss on all the Great Lakes, occurred with the wreck of the G.P. Griffith. (Amazon book description)
Disaster on Lake Erie: the 1841 wreck of the Steamship Erie
by Alvin F. Oickle
ISBN: 9781609490980
Abstract: On August 9, 1841, the steamship Erie, one of the most elegant and fastest sailing between Buffalo and Chicago, departed carrying 343 passengers. Many were Swiss and German immigrants, planning to start new lives in America s heartland most never made it. The Erie erupted in flames during the night, and despite the heroic efforts of the crew of the Dewitt Clinton, 254 lives were lost. As news of this disaster spread, internationally renowned artists and writers, including Horatio Alger Jr. and possibly James Fenimore Cooper, wrote about John Maynard, a fictitious heroic helmsman. Historian Alvin F. Oickle s minute-by-minute account weaves together the tragedy of the immigrant families almost at journey s end, the legend of John Maynard that developed in the aftermath and the fury of a fire on an oceanlike lake. (Amazon book description)
Videos:
Underwater Graveyard
by Kenton Kovich
Abstract: Explores the history and ruins of shipwrecks in Lake Erie, including The Indiana "Stone Wreck", The Dean Richmond, The St. James "Schooner X", and The Marquette & Bessemer #2. (taken from WorldCat)