Heavily laden and top-heavy with a cargo of railroad rails, she sank in a Lake Superior storm near Knife River, Minnesota, in April 1914 with the loss of all hands.

[5] The Benjamin Noble was unique among Lake freighters because her stern cabins were elevated on a poop deck.

Maritime historian Dwight Boyer attributes the 1914 loss of the vessel to a combination of deliberate cargo overloading and the ship's unusual design.

At that time a passing freighter, the Daniel J. Morrell, noticed the lights of one of the ships suddenly disappear.

However, at a key moment in the storm, entry to the harbor was unnavigable after the obsolescent south pier torch light blew out.

The ship lies upright in a trench made when it hit the lake bottom; the bow end is covered in silt.

The aft half of the ship is buried almost up to the level of the main deck, with the hull split just forward of the boiler room.