Muskegon

• Type: Package Freighter
• Builder: Ira Lafinter
• Built: 1872
• Length: 211 feet
• Beam: 39.9 feet
• Draft: 12.5 feet
• Weight: 1199 gross tons
• Date Sunk: October 6, 1910
• Depth of wreck: 32 feet

The Muskegon (aka Peerless) was a steamer vessel built as a combination passenger and package freight vessel for the Leopold and Austrian Lake Superior Line out of Chicago. It was constructed in 1872 as the Peerless by Ira Lafinter at Cleveland, Ohio. This vessel was part of a class of package-freighters that were built to serve as multi-purpose non-bulk freight and passenger carriers. When the Peerless was first in service, primarily as a passenger freighter, it had a main salon with clerestory windows and a specially designed dome with stained glass windows. In addition to the main salon, the Peerless had two separate salons, one for women and one for men. The Peerless was renamed the Muskegon in 1908 after the Muskegon and Chicago Navigation Company purchased the ship. This vessel was re-fitted twice: once as a bulk cargo carrier for lumber (lumber- hooker) and later as a sand-sucker. Because of its re-fitting, it was considered a package-freighter. There was also folklore that the Muskegon served as a floating gambling house and bordello for a very brief time around 1907-1908.

Reportedly the vessel burned to just above the water line at the Indiana Transportation Company’s dock. The cause of the blaze was believed to be the ignition of kerosene or oil residue that was near the boilers. The vessel sunk at the dock after the fire and stayed there until June 10, 1911, when the vessel was re-floated and towed out of the harbor to be scuttled. No lives were lost when the ship burned and the Indiana Transportation Company salvaged some of the sand-sucking machinery which was then later added to the J. D. Marshall. The Muskegon is listed in the National Register of Historic Places because it is representative of a variant type within the specialized class of steam powered vessels and because it contains unique naval architectural design features of a distinct class of package/freighters constructed during the 1870s.