Algerine

Type

Two masted schooner

Also known as

James Scott

Built

1856 by A. Miller in Oswego, New York

Size

113' x 25.9' x 11.2'

Gross tonnage

300

Net tonnage

291

Owner

F.S. Pelton & Boyce Cleveland, Ohio

Captain

James Scott

Cargo

Iron Ore

Date lost

Tuesday, October 23, 1878

Cause of loss

Storm

Lives lost

0. The crew stayed aboard until she was certainly breaking up, then reached shore safely in a yawl.

Registry

Official number 1085. PHMC PASS number 36ER0330.

PHMC site number

36ER0330 ( http://www.phmc.pa.gov/Preservation/ ) The

Position 41.99255, -80.48263 (as charted by RSC, from the Regional Science Consortium shipwreck map)

Recorded location: N 41 59.553 W 80.28.958 Approx. 300 feet off of Raccoon Creek near Springfield, Pennsylvania, 3.5 miles at 68 T from the small boat cut at Conneaut Harbor

No published dive report, depth, visibility or difficulty rating was found for this site. It is not listed among the commonly dived wrecks by any Erie charter consulted, and the historical record describes a vessel that broke completely apart, so do not expect an intact hull.

Algerine was a two masted wooden schooner built in 1856 by A. Miller at Oswego, New York, owned at the time of her loss by F.S. Pelton and Boyce of Cleveland. She was carrying roughly 400 tons of iron ore for C.E. Bingham of Cleveland when a gale caught her off the Pennsylvania shore. The wind stripped her sails, her anchor chains parted, and she drove ashore near Springfield. Captain James Scott kept the crew aboard until it was clear she was going to pieces, then got everyone ashore in the ship's yawl with no loss of life. She was valued at 8,000 dollars and insured for 6,000.

Documented only at the time of loss. Captain Scott reported her fragments strewn two miles or more off the beach near Springfield, and that within about ninety minutes of the crew leaving her there was nothing left but her stem. No modern survey of what remains on site was found.