History & Site Description of the John B. Cowle

Brief History of the John B. Cowle
The John B. Cowle (official number 77559) was a steel bulk freighter 420 feet long, 50 feet of beam and 24 feet in depth. It was built in 1902 by the Jenks Shipbuilding Company in Port Huron, Michigan for the Cowle Transportation Company of Fairport, Ohio.

On July 12, 1909 the John B. Cowle sank in three minutes after a collision with the Isaac M. Scott taking fourteen of the twenty-four crew members to their watery graves. It was a foggy day and the maiden voyage for the 504 foot Hanna steamer Isaac M. Scott. The Cowle had just loaded 7,023 tons of iron ore in Two Harbors, Minnesota and was down bound with her cargo. The Scott was up bound without a cargo when the Cowle loomed out of the fog in her path. The Scott cut the Cowle broadside piercing twenty feet into the hull then pulled back leaving the badly damaged Cowle to sink rapidly. Only ten of the crew were fished out of the water by the crew of the Scott and the passing steamer Frank H. Goodyear. The Isaac M. Scott was also badly damaged but managed to limp back to port. The captain of the Cowle Wallace Rogers survived the incident and was sited for operating his vessel too fast for the conditions.

The Site: Due to its size and depth the Cowle is usually two separate dives from two separate moorings -- the bow mooring and stern mooring. The bow dive is a view one of the few intact pilot houses in Lake Superior. Although stripped of its furnishings the pilot house is still very intact. The bow cabins are a Texas cabin configuration which is where the captains quarters and office are behind and slightly lower than the pilot house. The lake bottom is 220' but the pilot house roof starts at 180'.

The stern is also a rare sight. From the break in the hull the stern slopes up toward the surface which puts the propeller and rudder well off the bottom. What an awesome sight to see a massive propeller and rudder looming above your if you drop to 190' for the view. The shallowest point is the stern rail at about 140' and the bottom below is 220'. When you descend on the stern you will see the remains of the auxiliary wheel with its rudder indicator on the top. There is also a stern anchor and several spare propeller flukes on the back deck. The boiler exploded when Cowle sank totally destroying the center of the stern cabins. The port side of the stern cabins is the most intact. You can also see the engine if you swim into the cabin wreckage.