Wreck of Niagara
United States
- Position
- About 43.3° N, 87.9° W (within about 10 km)
- Sank
- —
- Cause
- —
- Depth
- —
Protection status
Location generalised to protect a protected site
The position shown is generalised to within about 10 km. The exact position is not published.
Officially designated: National Register of Historic Places listed place.
Legal basis: National Register of Historic Places listed place.
How this was decided: Voydar's protection rules, from the sources we hold, confidence 90%. When in doubt, Voydar generalises the position.
Niagara was a 245-foot (75 m) long sidewheel palace steamer launched in 1845. It carried passengers and cargo around the North American Great Lakes. It was owned by the Collingwood Line. On September 23, 1856, the Niagara left Sheboygan, Wisconsin, headed for Port Washington, Wisconsin, on Lake Michigan, carrying 170 passengers and a heavy load of cargo. Fire broke out in the area of the engine room at around 6:00 pm, and the steam engines and the paddlewheels soon stopped. The steamer, which was 4–5 miles offshore, quickly became engulfed in flames and smoke. Efforts to use the fire hose were unsuccessful. The passengers panicked while trying to board the lifeboats, capsizing all but one of them. Many jumped overboard into the water, which was reported to be too cold for anyone to survive in it. Several ships in the area rushed to the scene and rescued most of the passengers.
History from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA.
About this wreck
Niagara is a recorded shipwreck site. Voydar shows wreck locations alongside live ship traffic, free, from Wikidata and public hydrographic records.
Other wrecks named Niagara
These wreck sites share the name Niagara. Until September 2026 they shared one web address; each now has its own page.
| Wreck | Location | Lost | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| Niagara | United Kingdom | — | 55.5° N, 4.7° W |
Use this data
This page is also available as JSON, free, with the source and licence of every section. Sections whose sources do not permit redistribution are listed as withheld.
GET /api/v1/wrecks/29787Using this data in code?
Every account gets a personal API allowance: 2,500 credits a month free, 25,000 with Pro. Pro adds internal business use; API plans add building the data into your own products.