Lafayette, Shipwreck site in Lake Superior, Minnesota
The SS Lafayette was a 454-foot bulk carrier that operated in the Great Lakes during the early 1900s under the Pittsburgh Steamship Company.
The vessel split into two sections during the intense Mataafa Storm of 1905 near Encampment Island, resulting in one crew member losing their life.
The Lafayette belonged to the College Line fleet, named after universities attended by Pittsburgh Steamship executives, alongside Harvard, Cornell, Princeton, and Rensselaer.
The wreck site coordinates at 47.094917, -91.54935 mark the location where the stern section remained on rocks while waves destroyed the bow section.
The stern section of the Lafayette found new life in 1909 when shipbuilders incorporated it into the construction of another vessel, the J.S. Ashley.
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