SHIPWRECK REPORT – Pere Marquette 6 (Ex–Mark B. Covell)

MARK B. COVELL in the Chicago River (C. Patrick Labadie / Thunder Bay Research Collection)

IDENTIFICATION & SITE INFORMATION

  • Name: PERE Marquette 6
  • Original Name: MARK B. COVELL
  • Type: Wooden Steam Barge / Passenger & Packet Steamer / Later Barge
  • Rig: Steam Propulsion (Single Screw)
  • Built: 1888, Burger & Burger Shipyard, Manitowoc, Wisconsin
  • Official Number: [To be verified]
  • Final Disposition: Burned as a public spectacle
  • Event Date: July 5, 1936
  • Location: Maritime Bay, Lake Michigan (between Manitowoc & Two Rivers, WI)
  • Coordinates: Unknown (presumed shallow water)
  • Depth: Unknown (believed buried under sand or burned to the waterline)
  • Hull Material: Wood
  • Length: ~160 ft (48.8 m)
  • Beam: ~28 ft (8.5 m)
  • Depth: ~10 ft (3.05 m)
  • Initial Owner: White Lake Transportation Co.
  • Later Owners:
  • Smith & Kitzinger / Manistee & Milwaukee Transportation Co. (1891)
  • Michigan Salt Transportation Co. (briefly in 1906)
  • Pere Marquette Line Steamers (1908)
  • Multiple transportation companies through the 1910s and 1920s
  • Marine Construction Co., Manitowoc, WI (1935)
  • McMullen & Pitz Construction Co. (1936)
  • Propulsion: Steam
  • Converted to Barge: 1935, derrick-equipped Lighter
  • Engine Details: Unknown

HISTORY

MARK B. COVELL (1888–1906)

Originally launched in 1888 as the MARK B. COVELL, this wooden steam Barge was built for the lumber trade, operating between White Lake, Michigan and Chicago. She occasionally carried passengers and became a well-known vessel in regional trade circuits.

PERE Marquette 6 (1906–1930)

In 1906, the vessel was Rebuilt and converted into a passenger and freight Steamer, renamed PERE Marquette 6. Her Hull was sheathed in iron that winter to extend her operational season. She served multiple lines including the Michigan City, Chicago & Western Transportation Co., and Marinette Transit Co., before being converted back into a Barge in 1926.

By 1930, she was dismantled and Abandoned in the Menominee River. However, government pressure led to her removal, and in 1935 she was raised and repurposed again—this time as a derrick Barge.

FINAL DISPOSITION

In a final turn of historical irony, the PERE Marquette 6—a once-proud Steamer—was selected as the climax of Manitowoc’s 1936 Centennial. Her Hull was filled with combustibles, towed offshore between Manitowoc and Two Rivers, and set ablaze before an enthusiastic public audience on July 5, 1936.

Eyewitness accounts and news articles indicate she was soaked in oil, packed with crates, rags, and kindling, and ignited at nightfall. She burned to the waterline and sank in shallow water. Her remains are believed to lie buried beneath the sands of Maritime Bay. The exact site has not been positively located.

CURRENT CONDITION & ACCESSIBILITY

  • Status: Presumed destroyed by fire and sand burial
  • Diving Suitability: No known dive site; remains unconfirmed
  • Search Status: Wreckage has not been conclusively identified. Some sonar targets remain under investigation by NOAA and the Wisconsin Shipwreck Coast National Marine Sanctuary.

LEGACY & SIGNIFICANCE

The PERE Marquette 6 stands as a symbol of the evolution—and decline—of Great Lakes commerce vessels. Her transformation from lumber Barge to passenger Steamer to derrick Barge spans decades of Great Lakes history. Her deliberate burning as public entertainment illustrates a surreal yet poignant example of how aging vessels were discarded before maritime heritage preservation became common.

She may be gone, but she remains a flickering flame in the story of Lake Michigan’s maritime legacy.

REFERENCES & LINKS

KEYWORDS

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