Lake Superior Shipwrecks
Madeira

Photo of the Madeira

Historic Name: Madeira (U.S. Registry 93020)

Vessel Type: Schooner-barge

Architect/Builder: Chicago Shipbuilding Company


 View from the starboard bow, ca. 1900-1905; Institute for Great Lakes Research, Bowling Green State Univeristy

(Madeira) (space)
The Madeira was built and launched at the Chicago Yard of the Chicago Shipbuilding Company in 1900. It had a plate keel and was shaped very flat and full to maximize cargo capacity with minimum draft. The vessel was built to carry bulk cargoes of grain, lumber or iron ore economically about the Great Lakes and on the coasts, under tow of a steam powered freighter. The shipwreck Madeira is historically significant as the best and one of the few known surviving examples of a schooner-barge. Though the Madeira was lost in a violent storm and is broken into numerous pieces scattered about the lake bottom, the major diagnostic elements of the hull are relatively intact. The Madeira's value is enhanced by its relationship to Split Rock Lighthouse, which was built partially because of the Madeira's loss. The remains of the Madeira were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1992.

Underwater image of the Madeira


orange dotHistoric Description
orange dotConstruction and Career
orange dotDescription of the Loss-Wreck Event
orange dotPost-Depositional Impacts
orange dotPresent Description
orange dotStatement of Significance Summary
orange dotHistoric and Underwater Photographs

Diver examines the Madeira wreck; Larry Race, Detroit Lakes, MN


Adapted from the National Register of Historic Places nomination written by: Brina J. Agranat and Kevin J. Foster, Panamerican Consultants, Inc.


|--Hesper-- |--Onoko-- |--Madeira-- |--Thomas Wilson-- |--U.S.S. Essex--|
|--Amboy-- |--George Spencer-- |--Niagara-- |--Samuel P. Ely--|
|--Back to Minnesota Lake Superior Shipwrecks--|