On this day November 20, 1871, the schooner E. B. ALLEN was headed to Buffalo from Chicago with a cargo of grain when it collided with the schooner NEWSBOY off Thunder Bay. The ALLEN sustained a large hole on her portside and began to sink. Her crew was rescued by the NEWSBOY.
The ALLEN was built in 1864 at Ogdensburg, New York, by H. C. Pierson. She had two masts and measured 134.4 feet in length, 26.1 feet in beam and 11.2 feet in depth.
Three years before her loss on September 16th, the ALLEN collided with the schooner PERSIAN off Forty Mile Point three miles from shore. The ALLEN’s bow tore the PERSIAN’s starboard quarter almost to the center cargo hatch. The PERSIAN headed towards shore but went down taking her crew of ten with her. The ALLEN’s captain, seeing the PERSIAN heading towards shore, did not realize how damaged she was and continued on his way.
The wreck of the E. B. ALLEN is part of the Thunder Bay Marine Sanctuary. The following is our Shipwreck Ambassador Cal Kothrade’s story and photos of his dive on the ALLEN.
Every wreck diver has his or her favorite type of vessel to explore, mine as I have lamented many times here before, is a schooner. Growing up on sailboats gallivanting around Lake Michigan with my father may have had something to do with it. Perhaps it was the walk along the deck boards of the ill-fated ALVIN CLARK during my formative years. No matter, I am always grinning from ear to ear when I get to photograph another.
The E. B. ALLEN, hereafter to be referred to as “ALLEN”, was no different. At 134 feet in length, one might think she was three masted, but she was not, only two. A fantastic little boat to dive on, she is upright, intact, and not too deep at 100 feet. Her hold is empty and easily swimmable, with the added bonus of the fatal wound that put her in Jone’s locker, a ramming by the vessel NEWSBOY, readily visible on her portside.
Photo at top of page: Bow of the E. B. ALLEN
As I reached the bottom of the mooring line, a perennial gift to dive boats and their patrons from the Thunder Bay Marine Sanctuary, I could see through the seventy feet or so of vis that I had a short swim between me and the wreck. A shadowy shape looming in the distance displaying the classic lines of a Lake schooner. I was elated to explore my first Lake Huron sailing ship, and with a few dozen fin kicks, I soon was hovering over her bow, taking in the windlass, exposed deck beams, and the gap in the rail once occupied by the bow sprit and jib boom.
Mast of the E. B. ALLEN
Plenty of sunlight filtering down through the clear water had already promoted a healthy layer of fledgling algae despite this only being the first week of June. The fluorescent green added a boost of color to the otherwise uniform shade of brown Quagga mussels that unreservedly covered the ALLEN. Her masts are broken off, but the lower portion of the foremast remains, protruding up from the keel through her deck, resting on the port rail.
Stern of the E. B. ALLEN
Entry to the hold can be achieved by descending between the deck beams as nearly all of her deck boards have long since rotted away. I chose to enter from the stern however, the missing transom creating an all too inviting entry point that allowed me to traverse the full length of the hold. The obligatory photo-op showcasing the large hole in her side, the fatal wound that put her here in 1871, soon emerged as I neared the bow.
Hold of the E. B. ALLEN
Decks of the E. B. ALLEN
The ALLEN proved to be a great start to four days of historic wreck dives in the NOAA sanctuary, the first of its kind in the Great Lakes. My five travel companions and I were treated to freighters, steamers, schooners and clear blue water reminiscent of the Caribbean. If it hadn’t been 42 degrees Fahrenheit, I might have thought I was off St. Croix in the U.S.V.I. This trip was my first time submerging in Lake Huron, the ALLEN being one of the very first dives of an ensuing love affair with Huron’s incredible water and wrecks that to this day remains unblemished.
Still images were taken with a Canon T1-I Rebel DSLR mated to a Canon 10-22mm super-wide rectilinear lens, in an Ikelite housing using natural light and Ikelite DS-161 Movie strobes X2. Post production was performed in Adobe Lightroom.
Photos by Cal Kothrade
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Cal Kothrade is the Shipwreck Ambassador of the Wisconsin Marine Historical Society, a diver, a photographer and an artist. His work can be viewed at www.calsworld.net
This story was originally posted on November 20, 2023.
