Shipwreck · Sleeping Bear, Michigan
Francisco Morazán
Launched at Hamburg, Germany, in 1922 as the Arcadia, she served on both sides in World War II and was registered in Liberia as the Francisco Morazán in 1959. She left Chicago on November 27, 1960, with more than 1,000 tons of cargo, from hides and canned chicken to bottle caps and toys. Blinded by a snowstorm at night, she drifted off course and ran aground off South Manitou Island, on the spot where the steamer Walter Frost had wrecked 57 years before. The Coast Guard cutter Mackinaw took off the captain’s pregnant wife, and the crew of 14 reached the mainland on December 4. Her hull still stands partly out of the water off the island’s southwest shore, seen from the beach; the island is reached by ferry. Don’t walk or climb on the wreck: the metal is rusted, with exposed nails and unstable structure. In the Manitou Passage Underwater Preserve; divers leave everything as they find it.
Open in the viewer from South Manitou Island, Shipwreck Trail beach →
Quick facts
| Type | Shipwreck, freighter |
|---|---|
| Lost | November 1960 |
| Built | 1922 |
| Position | 44.9966°N, 86.1418°W (approximate, ±40 m) |
| From South Manitou Island, Shipwreck Trail beach | 322 m (1,055 ft), bearing 224° SW |
| Source | Satellite imagery; OpenStreetMap; National Park Service (Sleeping Bear Dunes) |
How to see it
Above water and inside the horizon from South Manitou Island, Shipwreck Trail beach, 322 m (1,055 ft) away, so on a clear day it can be seen from there, and CoastFinder puts a label on it.
Further reading: SS Francisco Morazan (1922) on Wikipedia.
On the website for now. This shipwreck is in the web viewer first. The CoastFinder app covers the North Carolina coast today; follow @coastfinderapp to hear when more coasts arrive.
Nearby
- South Manitou Island LighthouseLighthouse · 4.0 km
- Three BrothersShipwreck · 1.5 m · 4.2 km
- North Manitou Shoal LightLighthouse · 15 km
- Point Betsie LighthouseLighthouse · 35 km
- Frankfort North Breakwater LightLighthouse · 42 km
- South Fox Island LighthouseLighthouse · 49 km
Not for navigation. Positions and depths come from public charts and records, with their sources named above; they are for looking, not for piloting a boat.