SS Puritan prior to World War I |
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| Career (United States) | |
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| Name: | SS Puritan |
| Builder: | Craig Shipbuilding Company Toledo, Ohio |
| Christened: | SS Puritan |
| Completed: | 1901 |
| Acquired: | April 1918 (U.S. Navy) |
| Commissioned: | 20 November 1918 |
| Decommissioned: | 1919 |
| Renamed: | George M. Cox |
| Fate: | Sunk 1933 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Commercial steamship |
| Displacement: | 1,762 tons |
| Length: | 233 ft (71 m) 1901 259 ft (79 m) 1908 |
| Beam: | 40.5 ft (12.3 m) |
| Speed: | 15.6 kts |
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GEORGE M. COX
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| Location: | Near Rock of Ages Light, Isle Royale National Park Michigan[2] |
| Governing body: | National Park Service |
| MPS: | Shipwrecks of Isle Royale National Park TR |
| NRHP Reference#: | 84001749[1] |
| Added to NRHP: | June 14, 1984 |
The USS Puritan, a civilian transport built by Craig Shipbuilding Company in Toledo, Ohio, was launched in 1901, and lengthened by 26 ft (7.9 m) in 1908. The ship sailed on the Great Lakes in passenger service, was purchased by the U.S. Navy at the end of the war, and returned to passenger service after the war. The ship sank in 1933 near Isle Royale in Lake Superior, and its wreck is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
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She mainly operated on Lake Michigan in passenger service between Chicago, Holland, and Benton Harbor.[3]
The Puritan was purchased by the U.S. Navy in April 1918 and commissioned 20 November 1918. Although she was suitable for coastal transport in the English Channel, she may have never left the Great Lakes in naval service. The Puritan was decommissioned in 1919 and sold to a firm in Chicago.[3]
She went back into passenger service from Chicago to other ports on the Great Lakes from 1920 to 1929. At the start of the Great Depression, she was laid up.[3]
The Puritan was purchased in the 1930s by George Cox, who was an entrepreneur from New Orleans, and refitted in an elegant manner. In 1933 the ship was renamed the George M. Cox. On her first cruise with a contingent of special guests, she struck the shoals near the Rock of Ages Light in the fog on May 27, 1933.[4] The 127 passengers and crew were rescued and spent the night in the crowded lighthouse and on the surrounding rocks. The ship was unsalvageable and remained on the rocks until it was broken up in an October storm. It sunk near the wrecks of the Cumberland and the Henry Chisholm. The wreck sits in 10-100 feet of water[4] and is a popular dive site.[5] Approximately 65 dives were made to the Cox in 2009 out of 1062 dives made to wrecks in the Isle Royale National Park.[6]
The George M. Cox wreck was named to the National Register of Historic Places on June 14, 1984, No. 84001749.[1] It is discussed along with other nearby wrecks in Shipwrecks of Isle Royale National Park, TR[7]
This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.
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