THUNDER BAY – The 233-foot, steel-hulled, George M. Cox, seen here piled on the Rock of Ages Reef off Isle Royale in 1933, began her life named “Puritan” in 1901. The package freighter was built in Toledo, Ohio, for the Graham and Morton Transportation Company until she was sold to the US government for conversion to a troop carrier in 1918.
She returned to civilian service following the war and underwent a name change in 1933 to George M. Cox. Unfortunately, the ship slipped off the rocks into deep water shortly after this photo was shot.
Today the Cox is a favourite site for divers.
Text by Tory Tronrud, Thunder Bay Museum
Photo courtesy of the Thunder Bay Museum