Benjamin Noble (1914)

Launch of Benj. Noble

Benj. Noble on the Water

"Sank This Trip"

The steel steamer Benjamin Noble, built in 1909 by the Detroit Shipbuilding Company, was built to carry steel rails and other similar cargo.  By 1914, she was on her sixth season of service for the Capital Transportation Company of Detroit.

On this final trip, the ship was led by Captain John Eisenhardt of Milwaukee. This was his first voyage as master. He had obtained his master’s papers in 1908, but had remained as first mate until the 1914 season. At only 31 years old, he was then the youngest captain on the Great Lakes.

The ship was carrying almost 3,000 tons of rails consigned to the Great Northern Railroad in Superior, Wis. As the ship passed by the Soo locks, Captain Eisenhardt wrote a letter to his sister, expressing both his elation at commanding the Benjamin Noble and his uncertainty due to the unusually heavy amount of cargo she was carrying.

The Noble entered Lake Superior on April 25. She was accompanied by the wooden lumber steamer Norwalk. On the morning of April 27th, gale warnings were issued in the twin ports of Duluth and Superior. The Noble was only a few miles behind the Norwalk as the two vessels were engulfed by a terrible storm that went on from the evening of April 27th to the morning of the 28th. The storm was described as “one of the wildest spring gales to ever afflict the western lake,” with gusts of wind reaching 64 mph being recorded in Duluth.

The captain of another ship saw the lights of two vessels at 3am the morning of April 28th near Knife Island, located 17 miles from Duluth. He reported that as he was watching the vessels fighting with the tumultuous waters, the lights of the sternward ship disappeared.

The Norwalk made it to the Duluth Harbor at 4:30 am, but the Benjamin Noble was never did. Within a few days, wreckage had washed ashore, but to this day the ship itself has never been found. The documents below provide eyewitness accounts and theories as to the fate of the Benjamin Noble.