Stretching some 32 km into the middle of Lake Erie (from the north shore), Long Point has become the 'nautical graveyard' of many a ship. This peninsula extends halfway across the lake and with it's sandbars, has become both a place of refuge from storms for knowledgable seamen as well as an area feared by many ... especially those unfamiliar with it. In the 1800s, when many ships lacked the sophisicated navigational equipment of today (such as radios, radars, depth finders, etc) many became shipwrecked along this finger of land. When the southwestern winds would blow, many ships or smaller cargoes would find themselves being driven straight to the shores with little hope of being about to avoid a fast, and most often damaging meeting with the shoreline. If a mariner was familiar with the Point, often they could use it to their advantage by sailing around the tip of the Point into the protected waters of Long Point Bay where they'd ride out the storm. However, prior to 1830 this proved to be most difficult as there was not a lighthouse to mark the end of the Point. This is still today an area of refuge from the gales of the Lake. However, even once around the tip of the Point, all dangers are not gone. The Bluff Bar, about 4 miles from the Lighthouse on the north side of the Point (on the bay side), is a jut of land that's constantly changing with water movement and is about 3 miles long. At times it can under 20 feet of water and other times be almost totally above water level.

Shipwrecks

Following is a list of a few of the shipwrecks of Long Point. I will add more from time to time and welcome anyone who has a story to share about this unique peninsula to email me and I can include it in this part of my homepage.

1883	[Nov14]	The 135-foot schooner "Edmund Fitzgerald" (no, not the famed LakeSuperior shipwreck one), sunk in Long Point Bay taking with it all 8 crewmen.
1893	[Oct 14-15]	One of the worse gales of the great lakes struck. 41 lives were lost and 2 ships capsized including 250-foot "Wocken" with 17 aboard ... only 3 survived.
1897	[Nov.6]	Steamer "Idaho" sunk in Long Point Bay with a cargo of Xmas toys and supplies bound for Milwaukee. Only 2 crewmen survived by climbing into the crosnest which remained about water-level. When they were finally rescued, their arms were literally frozen to the mast.
1899	[Dec.5]	Toronto steamer "Niagara" lost 8 miles east of Long Point. 16 men died.
1907	[July20]	'Miracle of Long Point Bay' ... Four teenage girls braved the stormy waters off Port Ryerse in a canoe for 8 hours.
1922	[Nov18]	Shipwreck of the "City of Dresden" off Long Point - cargo of liquor was washed ashore.

More Shipwreck info *NEW*

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If you have anything to add to this feel free to me.

Some of the books I own and gotten info from include: *NEW*

Name of Book	author	# of pg
The Lake Erie Quadrangle - Waters of Repose	Dave STONE & David FREW	285
Long Point Last Port of Call	Dave STONE	144
Ghost Ships of Long Point (map)	Dave STONE

If possible check out the Great Lakes Historical Society Museum in Vermillion, Ohio for lots more shipwreck information.  If in the Port Rowan, Ontario area, be sure to visit Backus Mill Conservation Center to see Dave Stone's "Shipwrecks of Long Point" Exhibit.

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