The SS James Carruthers was a Canadian Great Lakes freighter built in 1913. The ship was owned by the St. Lawrence & Chicago Steam and Navigation Company of Toronto, Ontario, with the official registry number 131090.

The Great Lakes Storm of 1913 was a blizzard with hurricane-force winds that devastated the Great Lakes Basin in the Midwestern United States and Southwestern Ontario, Canada, from November 7 to 10, 1913. The storm was most powerful on November 9, battering and overturning ships on four of the five Great Lakes, particularly Lake Huron.