DATE OF LAUNCH: June 12, 1909
DATE AND LOCATION OF LOSS: November 10, 1913, Lake Huron, near Northpoint, Michigan
DATE LOCATED: 1976
SHIP DETAILS: Isaac M. Scott was built at the American Shipbuilding Co. shipyard in Lorain, Ohio, United States and launched on June 12, 1909.
CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE LOSS: In the pre-dawn hours of November 9, 1913, Isaac M. Scott, loaded with a cargo of coal worth $22,000 bound for Milwaukee, Wisconsin left port at Cleveland, Ohio for the last time. She was one of several big freighters that passed out of the St. Clair River into Lake Huron and straight into the path of the deadliest storm in Great Lakes history, including the John A. McGean. Captain A. McArthur had been master of Isaac M. Scott since her maiden voyage back in 1909 and sailed with 27 other men on Isaac M. Scott’s last voyage.
On November 9, 1913 at around 10:30 a.m. H. B. Hawgood was running before the storm when they spotted Isaac M. Scott, still heading north and making heavy weather of it, off Tawas Point, Michigan, just hours before the brunt of the storm struck. When communication was restored and newspapers began carrying accounts of the storm Isaac M. Scott was only listed as missing. The body of Captain McArthur washed up at Southampton, Ontario on December 11, 1913 while still wearing his life preserver. One of her lifeboats was found 23 miles north of the Chantrey Island lighthouse, off Southampton, Ontario. All 28 crew members perished in the disaster.
DISCOVERY AND FINDINGS: Isaac M. Scott remained missing for 63 years. Located by divers in 1976 about six miles off Northpoint, Michigan, she rests upside down and is half buried in mud under 180 ft. of water with her nose still pointed into the storm.
INTERESTING FACTS: Isaac M. Scott’s maiden voyage was marred by tragedy. At 4:00 a.m. on July 12, 1909, while traveling northwest about two miles off the Whitefish Point lighthouse in a dense fog, Isaac M. Scott rammed John B. Cowle. John B. Cowle sank within a few minutes taking 14 of her 24 crewmen with her to the bottom. The survivors were picked up by Isaac M. Scott and taken back to port. Isaac M. Scott suffered damage to about 25 plates, which cost $30,000 in repairs.
In March 1910, the Virginia Steamship Company settled claims filed by relatives of men lost in the sinking of John B. Cowle in the amount of $20,000. Following an investigation and hearings, the United States Steamboat Inspectors at Marquette suspended Captain Rogers of John B. Cowle, as well as its pilot, Edward E. Carlton, for 30 days. They further ruled that both ships had been sailing too fast for the weather conditions, and that John B. Cowle had failed to properly signal. F. W. Wertheimer, who had been piloting Isaac M. Scott that day, was subsequently suspended for one year.
Isaac M. Scott was one of the vessels lost during the Great Lakes Storm of 1913, a storm described in the book “Lore of the Lakes” as “…the most disastrous that has ever swept our Great Lakes, both from loss of life and property this unprecedented.” The storm of heavy snow, bitter cold winds and frightening high waves took the lives of an estimated 235 mariners, 178 of which were lost on Lake Huron alone. Her final resting place is now part of the 448 square mile Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary and Underwater Preserve.
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