On this day August 29, 1926, the ZILLAH foundered four miles south of Whitefish Point in Lake Superior during a terrible summer storm.  She was loaded with limestone and started taking on water faster than her pumps could handle.  The decision was made to abandon ship in the lifeboats.   The captain and crew were rescued by the Str. WILLIAM B. SCHILLER.

Photo at top of page: ZILLAH with her tows in the Soo River, 1918.

EDWARD SMITH when new

            Built in 1890 as the EDWARD SMITH at West Bay City, Michigan, by F. W. Wheeler & Co. for William H. Gratwick of Buffalo, she measured 201.7 feet in length, 37 feet in beam and 13 feet in depth.   She became known as the EDWARD SMITH NO. 2 to avoid confusion with another EDWARD SMITH built in 1883 at Marine City, Michigan.

EDWARD SMITH with barges GRACE HOLLAND and ALOHA

            On July 17, 1900, the SMITH caught fire in Lake Erie and ran ashore at Avon Point near Cleveland, Ohio.   The damage was mainly the aft end and included her boilers and machinery. Her stern was sitting in deep water.   She was raised and taken to Cleveland where she was thoroughly rebuilt.   She was sailing again by October that year and her name was changed to ZILLAH.

ZILLAH dated 1915 at the Soo

            Today the ZILLAH is a dive site about 2.8 miles south-southeast of Whitefish point.   She rests in 250 feet of water.  Because of the depth, divers usually visit her in two separate dives, one for the bow and one for the stern.

Suzette Lopez

PHOTO CREDIT:  Great Lakes Marine Collection of the Milwaukee Pubic Library and Wisconsin Marine Historical Society.