Maitland

The Maitland is a three-masted wooden schooner, rigged as a bark, that lies upright and intact in 85 ft (26 m) of water in the Straits of Mackinac, with depths from 70 to 85 ft (21 to 26 m). She is 133 ft by 25 ft (41 m by 8 m) and rated intermediate to advanced.

She was built in 1861 at Goderich, Ontario. On the evening of June 11, 1871 she was loaded with corn from Chicago for Buffalo when the schooner Golden Harvest was seen too close ahead to avoid a grazing blow. Rigging was lost on both vessels, but the fatal blow came from the schooner Mears, following behind, which slammed into her starboard side and sank her in minutes. The crew escaped in their yawl boat and no lives were lost.

On the deck is a large windlass, and the hatch openings lead to a heavily silted interior. The anchors are gone but the chains still dangle from the hawse-pipes. The deck-house roof lies upside down off the starboard side, the rudder remains hard to port, and the collision damage area is falling inwards. A helix mooring sits just off the port bow, with a small line leading to the rail for use when visibility is reduced.