SS John B. Cowle was one of the early Great Lakes bulk freighters known as "tin pans". She was the first of two ships named for prominent Cleveland, Ohio citizen and shipbuilder John Beswick Cowle. In 1909 on her maiden voyage SS Isaac M. Scott rammed John B. Cowle in heavy fog off Whitefish Point. John B. Cowle sank in three minutes, taking 14 of her 24-man crew with her. Artifacts from her wreck were illegally removed in the 1980s. Her artifacts are now the property of the State of Michigan and are on display as a loan to the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum. The wreck of John B. Cowle is protected as part of an underwater museum in the Whitefish Point Underwater Preserve.