The SS Comet was a steamship that operated on the Great Lakes. The Comet was built in 1857 as a wooden-hulled propeller-driven cargo vessel that was soon adapted to carry passengers. She suffered a series of maritime accidents prior to her final sinking in 1875 causing the loss of ten lives. She became known as the only treasure ship of Lake Superior because she carried 70 tons of Montana silver ore when she sank. The first attempts to salvage her cargo in 1876 and 1938 were unsuccessful. The Comet was finally salvaged in the 1980s when artifacts from the wreck were illegally removed by the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society. The artifacts are now the property of the State of Michigan and are on display as a loan to the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum. The fate of her silver ore cargo i