48°47′03″N 87°25′20″W / 48.78417°N 87.42222°W
 Gunilda before she sank
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| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom | |
| Name | Gunilda |
| Namesake | Variant of Gunhild, an old Germanic feminine name meaning "war" |
| Owner |
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| Port of registry |
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| Identification | UK official number 104928 |
.svg){kind=small} United States | |
| Owner | William L. Harkness (1903-1911) |
| Operator | New York Yacht Club |
| Port of registry |
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| Builder | Ramage & Ferguson, Leith, Scotland |
| Yard number | 149 |
| Launched | April 1, 1897 |
| In service | 1897 |
| Out of service | August 11, 1911 |
| Identification | US official number unknown |
| Fate | Sank off Rossport, Ontario |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Yacht |
| Tonnage | |
| Length | 195 ft (59 m) |
| Beam | 24.7 ft (7.5 m) |
| Draft | 12 feet (3.7 m)/14.2 ft (4.3 m) |
| Installed power | 2 × 160 psi turbine boilers |
| Propulsion | Triple expansion steam engine |
| Speed | 14 knots (16 mph) |
Gunilda was a steel-hulled Scottish-built steam yacht in service between her construction in 1897 and her sinking in Lake Superior in 1911. Built in 1897 in Leith, Scotland by Ramage & Ferguson for J. M. or A. R. & J. M. Sladen, and became owned by F. W. Sykes in 1898; her first and second owners were all from England. In 1901, Gunilda was chartered by a member of the New York Yacht Club, sailing across the Atlantic Ocean with a complement of 25 crewmen. In 1903, she was purchased by oil baron William L. Harkness of Cleveland, Ohio, a member of the New York Yacht Club; she ended up becoming the club's flagship. Under Harkness' ownership, Gunilda visited many parts of the world, including the Caribbean, and beginning in 1910, the Great Lakes.
In the summer of 1911, Gunilda's owner, William L. Harkness, his family and friends were on an extended tour of northern Lake Superior. They were headed to Rossport, Ontario and then planned to head into Lake Nipigon to do some fishing for speckled trout. As she was about 5 miles (8.0 km) away from Rossport, Gunilda ran hard aground onto McGarvey Shoal on the north side of Copper Island. Most of the passengers were taken to Rossport. Harkness stayed behind to supervise the salvage, hiring the tug James Whalen and a barge to tow Gunilda off the shoal. On August 11, 1911, after she was pulled free, she suddenly rolled over to starboard, filled with water, and sank. Harkness and his family were picked up by James Whalen.
Her wreck was rediscovered in 1967 resting in 270 feet (82 m) of water, completely intact, with even the gilding on the hull surviving. Gunilda's wreck was the subject of multiple failed salvage attempts. In the late 1960s, Ed and Harold Flatt made multiple unsuccessful attempts to salvage her. Throughout the 1970s, Fred Broennle also made several unsuccessful attempts to raise Gunilda. In 1980, Jacques Cousteau and the Cousteau Society used the research vessel Calypso and the diving saucer SP-350 Denise to dive and film the wreck. The Cousteau Society called Gunilda the "best-preserved, most prestigious shipwreck in the world" and "the most beautiful shipwreck in the world".