Ships and Shipwrecks • Ill Door County, Wisconsin Volume Two

CAN.A ISlAND LIGHJ'HOVSE Built ih. 18.69 -Still in Serr.ice ·

Ships and Shipwrecks IN Door County Wisconsin

VOLUME II

COPYRIGHT 1963 COPYRIGHT RENEWED 1986 By LUCY FREDERICKSON BOWER Box 272 FRANKFORT, MICHIGAN

All Rights Reserved

*

PUBLISHED BY

CLARK WILLICK 1406 WEST PROSPECT AVE. APPLETON, WI 54914

Reprinted 1986 Dedication

To Captain John Roen, whose love for the sea and ships hos contributed in many ways to the growth of Sturgeon Boy and Door County. A man of remarkable ability, foresight and daring, his marine salvage operations hove made him known the world over. Making his own way ever since he came to this country from Norway, as a young man, he has always found time to extend a helping hand in friend­ ship to those who needed it. Many of the ships mentioned in this book were owned by him at one time or another. Introduction

Passenger ships played an important part in the history of Sturgeon Bay and Door county. Although there are only a few left on the Great Lakes today, at one time there were well over a hundred, many of them stopping at the piers and harbors in Door county. Before the day of the steamer, travel to Door county was a hazardous ordeal. Early fur traders visited the Indian Trading Posts by canoe and bateau. Later they used small boats equipped with sails such as the fishermen used to lift their nets and take their hauls to distant markets. When schooners made their appearance on Lake Michigan, sturdy pion­ eers began making their way by water to the fertile lands along the lake shore. The trip was long and tedious. Accommodations were poor and people coming in from the east often spent 30 doys or more crowded into small space, some­ times having to sleep on deck or in the cargo hold, while the ship was tossed about by the wind and waves. After Increase Claflin settled in Door county in 1835, the county began to draw more permanent settlers who saw the wonderful opportunities open to them. Lu mbering became an important industry along wi'th trapping, fishing and farming. Small villages sprang up along the shores, and piers a thousand feet or more in length were built out into the lake and Door county's many bays. Homes and stores were built on both sides of Sturgeon Bay and its shores were lined with docks. As the schooners brought in more settlers, ·they also brought in needed supplies for the growing communi'ties and on their return voyage they took out lumber, fish, furs, fresh fruit and vegetables and later as the towns grew, manufactured articles. The demand for a rapid and more dependable means of communication with the outside world made the new type of ship, the steamer, come into its own. The first route, in the l 830's was from Buffalo to Chicago where passen­ gers were transferred to sailing vessels or went overland to reach thei'r destin­ ation. Later a route was added from Buffalo to Green Bay and ships put in at wooding stations on Washington and Horseshoe Islands. The passenger accommodations on these early steamers were crude. At first only curtains partitioned off the cabin for privacy. Those who went steerage were crowded together in the hold along with the freight and house­ hold goods. Later the cabi'ns were enlarged and improved until the ships became commodious floating hotels with music and entertainment. It then became fashionable to take long cruises on a lake steamer during the summer season. As the demand for service grew, scheduled runs were inaugurated from Chicago to other cities on both sides of the lake. Many steamship companies came into being and by the end of the Ci'vil War competition for freight and passengers was keen. At first the scheduled runs on the west side of the lake were only a s far north as Milwaukee with a wild run now and then to Green Bay and inter­ mediate points. One of the fi'rst ships to stop in Sturgeon Bay was the Rossiter. The Goodrich Line was one of the first companies to put Sturgeon Bay and other Door county ports on i'ts list of scheduled stops. Some of the other lines that became well known there were the Hart Line, Barry Line and the Hill Line. [3] The Goodrich steamer Huron. The first ship of the line to operate in Green Bay waters. She was a wooden side-wheeler of 348 ton burden. She was built in 1852 at Newport, Michigan (now Marine City), for Capt. E. 8. Ward, who sold her to Capt. Goodrich in 1855. She we-nt out of service and was dismantled in 1877 at South Haven, Michigan.

The Goodrich Fleet got its start in 1855 when Capt. A. E. Goodrich purchased his first ship, the Huron, from the Ward Line. In 1856 he started carrying freight and passengers on a regular run from Chicago to Milwaukee and as far north as Two Rivers, on occasi'on making a trip to Gree'n Bay and Door county ports. Frank Long, at one time editor of the Door County Advocate, made the trip from Chicago to Green Bay on the Huron in 1856. He relates that he traveled steerage. The ship stopped to take on fuel at various points in Door county and about the only habitations he saw were those of the hardy pioneer owners of the piers. As the boat entered Fox River about sundown a terrible storm arose, and for a time it blew so hard that the croft come very near being driven ashore although the water was comparatively smooth. When she finally got alongside the wharf the panic stricken passengers made a break for the shore, and the weight of several hundred people added to the force of the wind caused ·the boat to tip until her guards were under water. Had it not be:?n for the streng·th and width of the vessel there is no doubt but that o terrible occident would have happened then and there. Th success of the Huron promptad Cop·t. Goodrich to add the Ogontz to hi's fleet and make regular trips to Green Bay and intermediate points. (In 1860 he scrapped her and placed her engines in a new hull.) Then he acquired more ships in rapid succession, the Comat, Wabash Valley, Lady Franklin, Sea­ bird, Sunbeam, Planet, May Queen, Michigan and others. Loter he built the Orion and placed the Michigan's engines in her. In 1869 Capt. Good·rich had the steamer Sheboygan bu i'lt at the Rand yards in Manitowoc and she became a familiar sight in Sturgeon Bay and Door county. [4] An interesting sidelight on the early days is that in 1869 there arrived in Sturgeon Bay 157 steamships and 7 4 sailing shi'ps, in 1872, 317 steamers and 50 sailing ships. After the official opening of the ship canal in 1882, ships were able to make a shorter and easier trip to Sturgeon Bay and commerce grew accordingly. The opening of navigati'on in the spring and the first ship in was always a cause for excitement. New goods arrived to line the merchants' shelves and new settlers arrived by the hundreds. Bands would ploy and the whole town would turn out to see it dock. Sometimes during the summer months a circus ship would arrive in the harbor and that too was cause for excitement as men, women and children would come down to the waters edge to see the animals come ashore. Until after th e turn of the century most of the ships that came to Sturgeon Bay, whether steam or soi'!, brought ot least one person who planned to settle in Door county. Many of the inco ming settlers came from Europe and those who came from the Scandinavian countries often returned to the sea again to make their livelihood.

The sid.e-wheeler Corona built for Goodrich at Manitowoc in 1870 for use on the Chicago and St. Joseph Route. The engine of the steamer Comet was used in her. This engine was originally purchased by E. B. Ward after its use in a U.S. vessel on the Atlantic. The Corona was chartered by the F. & P. M. R.R. for use in cross-lake traffic in 1876. She spent several years on this run before she went to the west shore and was put on a run between Manitowoc, Escanaba and Sturgeon Bay, stopping at all intermediate ports and piers. She was purchased by John J. Ward of Chicago in January 1892 for use during the World's Fair. In the fafl of that year she was purchased by Ben Cowes of Buffalo, and used for excursions from Buffalo to Crystal Beach, Ontario and on the Niagara ·River. He still owned her in 1898 when she was totally de.stroyed by fil\e while a·t the dock in Tonawanda, N.Y. She was 172 feet in length with a 45 foot beam. [5] Many a man from Door county sailed on the ships of the Goodrich, Hill, Barry and Hart line. Some, more independent, bought, and sailed their own shi'ps, both sail and steam. By the e ighties many towns had sprung up in Door county and Sturgeon Bay was a large and well known harbor and town. A look at the ads in the Door County Advocate for 1885 shows the Good­ rich steamer Corona making a tri-weekly run from Manitowoc to Sturgeon Bay and ·the peninsula and the DePere running to Lily Boy two or three times a week during the winter. Often the ships were unable to get to the pier at Lily Boy during the wi'nter due to the heavy ice and teams with sleighs would be driven out to the ships and cargo and passengers token off. At the close of navigation season in Green Bay the canal became a terminus for the Goodrich Line and freight was loaded and unloaded at the Merchants Warehouse near the lake end of the canal. In 1885 the fare from Sturgeon Bay to Milwaukee was five dolla rs and to Chicago six. At the same time Nelson and Smith, in Sturgeon Bay, were offering immigrant rotes from points in Europe to Chicago for eleven to seventeen dollars. Besides the Corona and the DePere, many other ships of Goodrich Line visited Sturgeon Bay and Door county during the many years the company was in operation. Among these were the Atlanta, Menominee, Oconto, Trues­ dell, Sheboygan, Ci ty of Lud ington, Carolina, Chicago, Arizona, Wisconsin and Christopher Columbus. In 1931 the Goodrich company filed a petition in bankruptcy. Rece ivers operated the ships for a short time but in 1933 all operations were suspended and the ships were offered for sale. Thus ended the career of one of the best known passenger lines on Lake Michigan. Duri'ng ·the seventies two enterprising brothers, Captains Cliff B. and Henry W. Hort organized the Hart Steamboat Line. Their firs:t steamer, the Welcome, ran from Green Boy to Red River, Sturgeon Boy, Menominee, Egg Harbor, Fish Creek, Ephraim, Sister Bay, Ellison Bay, Washington Island, Ford River, Escanaba, Nahma, Garden Bay, Fayette, Fairport, Summer Island, Thompson and Manistique. They bought and rebuilt the C. W. Moore and in 1885 placed her on this run maki'ng two round trips a week, leaving Gre en Bay in the evening after the trains arrived. The Welcome was put on a daily run from Green Bay to Sturgeon Bay and Menominee. The Hart Line prospered and more ships were acquired, among them the Bon Ami, Eugene C. Hart, Fannie C. Hart, Harriet A. Hort, Sailor Boy and Thistle. These ships carried passengers, freight and moil to the small islands at the upper end of Lake Michigan running between Green Boy ports and as for east as Mackinac Island and the Soo River. After 1910 business slacked off and by 1919 the last ship, the Bon Ami, hod been sold. At the turn of the ce ntury the Barry Line of Chicago put the Empire State, the Badger State and t he F & PM No. 1 on the Chicago to Menominee run, making stops at Sturgeon Bay. These shi'ps never mode much money for the company and the run was finally ended except for on occasional excursion. In the 90's the Hill Line was started and mode Sturgeon Hay and other points on the peninsula ports of call. This line owned the Cecelia Hill, Flora M. Hill, l. P. Hill and leased the City of Marquette. It went out of business [6] after the Cecelia Hill was burned in 1906 and the Flora M. Hi'll crushed in the ice off Chicago in 1912. By the end of World War I the automobile and railroad had token most of the business of the passenger steamers and most of the runs to Sturgeon Boy were excursions. In 1919 Capt. L. Hill purchased some large seagoing tug hulls and placed passenger cabi'ns on them. He named these ships the Kenosha, Sheboygan and Waukegan. He called this line the West Ports line and established his runs over the old Goodrich routes on the west shore. These ships were often seen in Sturgeon Boy and the peninsula ports. Although he gave all his time and energy to the task the line never turned out to be a financial success. The company was finally token over by o reorganization of the Goodrich company in 1929. Today about the only passenger ships to be seen in Sturgeon Boy ore the North and South American as they make their cruises to Lake Michigan ports. Perhaps when people grow weary of traveling by car and long for ·1hc comfort and relaxation of a journey by ship, once more great ships, like floating hotels, will be seen on the lakes, and a bygone era will be reborn.

Steamer DePere

One of the early Goodrich ships lo maintain a schedule from Chicago to Door county was the wooden steamer DePere. She was built in 1873 for Goodrich at the Rand yards in Manitowoc and placed on the west shore run. She was in year around service, often going as far north as Lily Bay. In the early days there were no corferries to break the ice in the harbors of Manitowoc and Kewaunee or make a channel thro.ugh Sturgeon Bay. As the DePere was the only ship on this run during the winter she had tough going. When she found the ice too heavy to moke a harbor pier or the canal, she would hang off outside and the delayed cargo would be transferred to horse drown sleighs and taken ashore to the anxiously waiting merchants. These some sleighs would also bring out fuel for the ship. Life aboard the DePere was rugged in the wi'nter. The crew's quarters were unheated and a wood stove was used to heat the cabin. The officers stood their watch on the bridge and relayed their orders through on open window or a guff box to the wheelsman in the pilot house, although the temperature often stood at 20° below zero. The men stood six hour watches and often hod to go over the side with sows, slicebars, oxes and pike poles and endeavor to free the boat when she became stuck fast in the ice. The DePere was a well built shi'p and wea·th e red many o s·torm that would have sunk another vessel. The foll following her wild ride across the lake during the Alpena blow in 1880, she was storm driven on the beach at The Lone Pine Tree near Two Rivers. She had been trying to make port during a blinding snow storm. It was well into the following spring before she could be released and put back into service. Two years later she ran aground again in Saginaw Bay and was almost given up as a total loss. Fortunately she was released before she broke up and was again able to put to sea under the Goodrich flag. (7] The steamer DePere in the heavy ice off-shore. Sleighs are being used to transfer the cargo. This picture was taken in 1885.

She maintained schedules on both the east and west shores of lake Michigan for Goodrich until 1892. That year she was sold to S. B. Grummond of Detroit and renamed the State of Michigan. After serving on several different routes she was sold to the Barry line in 1898. While under that flag she was a frequent visitor to Door county. 1901 proved to be a fatal year for her. In the summer while coming out of Racine she had a collision with the tug Kate Williams and stove a $400.00 hole in the Williams. (The Williams remains can be seen in Death's Door Passage.) After thi's all went well until October.

Excerpts from her log dated Oct. 18, 1901 read: "Capt. Joe Oliver, Master. late Saturday P.M. when about three miles off White Lake, Mich., the engine piston rod in some way broke through the cylinder and then punched a large hole through the bottom of the vessel which caused her to fill rapidly and soon submerge benea·th the surface of the sea." The Coast Guard log of this date reads: "Soon after midnight of Oct. 18 o yawl boat pulled into 'the harbor, and its crew reported to the keeper that the State of Michigan, wi'th her machinery disabled and in a leaking condition, was about four miles off the entrance to the harbor. Keeper immediately started out wi'th the surfboat in tow of a tug, and found the steamer with her deck awash, her crew having abandoned her. He picked up and put upon the tug the remainder of the crew, who were lying by in a small boat; then he ran a hawser to the sinking craft and put two surfmen on board to make it fast. Another tug came, and both pulled upon the hawser, breaking it; whereupon the surfman ran another line, with which the tugs succeeded in towing the steamer about a mile, when she sank. Keeper took her crew to station and gave them a warm breakfast, after which he went out and buoyed the sunken vessel." Thus ended the life of another once proud ship. She was insured for $30,000 and her owners had just made a deal for a more modern ship, the Carolina, a few days before. [8] The Goodrich steamer Carolina at Roeser's dock at Sister Bay. The tug Leona R. is in the foreground.

Steamer Carolina

For many years the Goodrich Line's palatial freight and passenger steam­ er, the Carolina, was a familiar sight as she traded in and about the many picturesque harbors of Door county. The "Carolina" bore four names duri'ng her historic career. She was christened "H artford" when she slid down the ways in Philadelphia, in 1892. Originally designed for service on Long Island Sound, she had a steel hull and wooden decks, and was driven by twin screw engines. She was pi'cked up by the United States government for running guns to ·the Cuban rebels before the United States en·tered the Spanish American War. On Dec. 8, 1898, she was. renamed "Terry" and used as a hospital ship by the Quartermaster Corps., later was used as a troop t ransport. In 1902 she was purchased by the Hackley Transportation Co. and renamed the Charles H. Hack­ !ey. Brought to Lake Michigan, she ran between Chicago and Muskegon. In 1906 she was bought by the Goodrich Co. and renamed "Carolina." She was rebuilt and put on a run from Chicago to Mackinac Island, with stops at Milwaukee, Sturgeon Bay and various Green Bay ports. For many years she was under the command of Capt. D. J. McGarity of Chi'cago, who joined the Goodrich Line in 1904, at the age of 15, and is stil! active today as vice president of the Western Division of the Great Lakes Towing Co. Thoe following are his own words about one of the -:losest calls he had while he was her master: [9] "We left Chicago about 8 p.m., bound for Racine and Milwaukee with a heavy load of freight and quite a few passengers, including our pai'nter foreman, Ira Smith, and his wife. "The "Carolina" had a tendency to go by the head when loaded, and within about two hours leaving Chicago we ran into a northeast s·nowstorm, which caused her to throw her wheels. We filled the after peak w ith water to try to hold them down, but the engineers had to throttle her constantly. The sea made up very fast, and it was impossible to see the jack staff, due to the heavy snow. About 2 a.m. the following morning, when I would judge, we were off Kenosha, she raced her e ngines bad, and threw two buckets off the port propeller. I kept head in·to it until about 8:00 in the morning, when she wouldn't stay up to it, so I decided to turn her around and run back to Chicago where, I had been advised, the snow was easing up. Just about the time I was ready to turn her, she threw the other two blades off the port propeller, but I managed to get her around, and about an hour later the snow broke for a few minutes and I picked vp Wind Point light, and in spite of the fact that there was a tremendous sea, I was able to make Racine Harbor. We laid there until late the following day, then went to Milwaukee and discharged our cargo and from there to Ma'ni'towoc. When we got her on the drydock, we found there was scarcely l / 4 inch difference in the stubs of the blades."

On the left is a stem view of the Carolina in dry-dock in Ma:nitowoc, in 1921, waiting for replacem;ent of port propeller. On the right is a c1oseup of port propeller damaged· during the storm, and showing how the blades were broken off to· almost the same length. [1 O] Back in 1916 when Capt. McGarit y was the youngest captain in the Goodrich fl eet he had another close coll. O n Sunday, December 3rd, on what was to be the next to last trip of the season, the Carolina ran into hea vy fog on her way up the la ke. It was so dense that the captain decided to by-poss the ports of Kewaunee a nd Algoma and make these stops on the return trip. Capt. McGarity held the ship out in the la ke further than usual due to the number of a utomobiles In his cargo. The me tal in them caused the oil compass to wander a nd not g ive o true reading. In t he da ys before t he gyro­ compass many a ship found the beach duri ng periods of poor visi bility although commanded by the best of naviga tors. Such was t he case of the Carolina a t 6:05 p.m., iust a s the capta in was on his way to t he bridge to check the weath er, the Carolina hit a reef off Stoney Creek (near the old town of Foscora). She slid along the bottom for thirty or forty feet before fetching up.

Water began coming into the firehold but the ship seemed in no immediate danger. However the captain gave orders to stand by the lifeboats until a damage obse rvation could be made. The bow of the ship was about three feet out of water so the foreword holds were filled with water and the ship soon rested on a n even keel.

Meanw hile the w ireless operator contacted Milwaukee a nd a message was relayed by telegra ph to the coast g uard stations at Kewa unee and Sturgeon Bay Canal. Later contact w ith Milwaukee w as lost when the incoming water extinguished t he fi res and the ship was without steam, heat, lig hts or power.

Stea mer Ca rolina lying 5,200 feet offshore on the reef at Stoney Creek. The Cana l Station boat and the tug 0 . McMulle n a longside. This rocky reef nea r the tow n of Foscora caused many ships a nd sa ilors grief d uring the past 150 years of shipping. The Good rich steame r Sheboygan w a s also fast aground here for several days in the fan of 1902. [ 11] However the operator was able to hook up some of the batteries from the automobiles in the cargo and again get in touch with the Milwaukee station. As soon os the coastguards learned of the disaster they set out for the disabled ship, but the fog was so dense they hod trouble locating her. There were obout eighty persons aboard the Corolino, including crew ond passengers, and they could hear the sound of the passing boots trying to come to their aid. Bells were rung and signals fi'red and finally everyone tried shouting in unison but it wos 2 a.m. before the cruising canal station crew found them, having gone as far south os Algoma and returned. The passengers were taken ashore by the canol crew who then returned to the ship ond oided by the station crew from Kewaunee took some of the crew ~hore. The two coost guard crews then returned to the disabled ship and stood by until more help could orrive. The heovy fog continued oll doy Monday. The tug Artie come up from Manitowoc but was unable to locate the Corollna and hod to lay over in Sturgeon Bay until Tuesday. In the meantime Capt. Charles McCauley of the steamer Saugatuck (nee Alfred Clark and owned by the Escanaba & Garden .Bay Transportation Co.) made a trip through the fog on Monday and removed the automobiles ond port of the corgo of freight from the Carolina. On Tuesday he returned and took off the balance of the cargo except that which was awash in the hold and probably ruined. The tugs Meyer of Milwaukee, Artie and 0. McMullen of Manitowoc, the Revenue Cutter Tuscarora, steamers J. S. Crouse and Saugatuck, lighter Advance, and several divers were all used in trying to release the Corolrno from the reef. Finally after several days the big tug Favorite arrived on the scene. A piece of canvas (wrecking cloth) was dragged over the hole in the Carolina's bottom where o large rock had pierced her and as soon as the Favorite, with the aid of all available pumps, was able to pull her free of the reef specilly prepared -cement and shoring was set over the canvas, which kept the water out, ond she was towed to the shipyards at Manitowoc for repairs. The next year, her damaged bottom plates replaced, with Capt. McGarity in command, she was bock on her regular run as though she hod never been a victim of one of King Neptune's whims. During the years the steamer Carolina traded around Door County many a youngster, with the permission of the good captain, practi'ced high diving from the flying bridge as the steamer lay at the dock loading and unloading cargo. Foster means of transportation and the depression caused the Goodrich company to file a petition in bankruptcy. In 1935 the Carolina was sold to the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Co. for $3,000. After the Carolina was cut down, al­ most to the waters edge, she was sold in 1937 to Capt. John Roen, who hod expectations of making a stone barge out of her. In 1950 the last of her hull was cut up by the torch at the Roen yard in Sturgeon Boy.

The Sturgeon Bay Advocate reported on August 3, 1901- "The wharf of Capt. E. B. Graham at Fish Creek collapsed on Tuesday night and about 500 barrels of salt went into the drink." [12] '•

Steamer Welcome

Steamer Welcome

The Welcomes, first ship in the Hart line, was built in 1878, as a sidewheel steamer at Fort Howard by A. Johnson for H. W. Hart of Green Bay. She took an excursion from Sturgeon Bay to Ahnapee in 1879 and became the first ship of any size to pass through the new canal.

She was l 00 feet in length with a 19 foot beam when built. In 1893 she was made into a propeller and lengthened to 120 feet and "bustled" (often called a Norwegian rebuild) to 25 feet in width. In 1900 she was purchased by James Eggers of Two Ri"vers and converted into a lumber carrier.

She was in the lumber trade when she stranded near Charlevoix, Mich., during a heavy fog Sept. 16, 1903. The life-savers from the station and two tugs went to her aid but were unable to free her. Rising seas c.aused the vessel to pound heavily on the rocks and ·the captain decided that it was unsafe for his crew to stay aboard her. The maste'r and his crew of nine w ere then taken to the station where they were furnished with food and shelter. Repeated 1ries were made for the next few days to free the stricken ship but by the 24th the captain realized oil efforts were futile and she was given up as a total loss.

(Before the Hart brothers started the Hart ·Steamboat Li ne they operated other ships in and around Green Bay and Oconto, among them the Oconto (nee Eagle), May Queen, Northwest, E. M. Cone and Union.) (13) Steamer C. W. Moore

Steamer C. W. Moore

The stea mer C. W. Moore was the second ship in the Hart line. She was built at Allegan, Mich., in 1881. She was purchased in 1884 by 1hc Har1 brothers ond became o running male of the Welcome.

After many years of service to Green Boy ports she was sold to the Booth line - The U11i'te d States and Dominion Transporta1ion Co. Unde r this flag and hailing out of Duluth she spent much of her time carrying fish, freight and passengers to Isle Royole and other ports along the north shore of Lake Superior. She finally outlived her usefulness and was left to settle on the bottom in the north branch of 1he Chicago River; here she rotted away. She was 124 feet in length with a 24 foot beam.

O n April 2(', 1871 the Advocate reported- "The newly christened village of Foscoro, which is situated a1 the mouth of Stoney Creek in 1he northeast corner of Ahnapee is enjoying a healthy growth. G. W . Fos1er t ells us that some ten or twelve Norwegian fa milies loca1ed there this spring and 1hat more ar'e expecte d soon. land in the vicinity, which was offe red ot government prices a year a go, now finds ready sale at $5 an acre." [14] Launching of the Str. Fannie C. Hart in 1888

Steamer Fannie C. Hart

The wooden steamer Fannie C. Hart was buil t at the Burger Yards in Manitowoc for the Hart Line in 1888. The recovered engine of the W. l. Brown was placed in her. A beautiful ship, 143 feet in length with o 30 foot beam, she was built at the cost of $32,000 and named ofter the oldest daughter of Captain Hart.

She was built originally to carry freight and lumbe r but the demand for passenger accommodations became so great that in o few months she w as sent back to the shipyard and redesigned. She pli'ed the waters of Lake Michigan and Lake Huron between Green Bay ports and the Soo Rive r touching at Mack­ inac island and all intermediate ports with mail, freig ht and passengers.

Afte r the Hart Line ceased regular operations about 1910 she was sold along with othe r ships of the f leet. She w as taken to the East Coast a nd in 1912 wa s remodeled a nd renamed the Rowe and became the "mother ship" to a fleet of oyster boats.

She lay idle from the mid-thirties until she was sold to the Companie de Navigation Marina and transferred to Panamanian registry during March 1942. [ 15] Fannie C. Hart underway between Door County ports

The Fannie C. Hart after she was remodeled and renamed the Rowe. She had tubes for planting oysters placed in her.

[16) Steamer Eugene C. Hart built in Manitowoc in 1890 for the Hart brothers. She was sold during World War I and spent several years trading along the coast of Florida. She finally returned to Lake Michigan with a new name " Norlond." She foundered just south of Milwaukee in 1922. She was 152 feet in length with a 25 foot beam. She carried a crew of 21.

Steamer City of Louisville, after her upperworks were destroyed by fire January 18, 1901 at Benton Harbor and before she was purchased by the Hart brothers. [17] Citr of Louisville after she was rebuilt and renamed Harriet A. Hart. She is shown leaving Green Bay with a full load of passengers.

Steamer Harriet A. Hart

The Harriet A. Hart was launched as the R. C. Reid in 1889. She was 129 feet i'n length with a 26 foot beam. She was built at Saugatuck for Reid and Brittain. In 1895 she was taken over by the Graham and Morton Line. She was rebuilt by them at Benton Harbor and lengthened to 178 feet. They re­ named her City of Louisville. As the Louisville she had most of her upperworks destroyed by fire. She was purchased by the Hart Line in 1902. She was reconditioned and renamed the Harriet A. Hart. She seemed destined to be destroyed by fire as .she burned to the waters edge, in 1905, whi'le on Lake Huron near the entrance to the Soo River. The Captain and first officer had their licenses suspended for thirty days for permitting the crew to smoke on deck and the Chief Engineer and his first assistant had their licenses suspended for ninety days for not having ·the f ire hoses connected with the pump. Luckily there were no casualties.

Jn 1889 the Hart Line boats obtained a good part of their fuel at Sturgeon Bay. Good hemlock wood bei'ng cheaper at $1.50 a cord than slabs at twenty­ five cents less. "We can make the round trip wi'th seven cords," said Capt. Roulette, of the Welcome." while it takes ten of the slabs to do the same amount of work, and then they are not as good as the wood by long odds." [ J8] Steamer Petoskey while in the Hart Line--The picture above shows her at the dock in Sturgeon Bay. The Petoskey was leased or owned by almost every steamship company on Lake Michigan during her lifetime. She was knowoi as the "Hoodex>" ship as her keel was laid, she was launched, and made her maiden voyage on a Friday. (Her story is in Vol. 1 of Ships and Shipwrecks in Door County.)

Steamer City of Green Bay, originally the M. C. Hawley. She was a side­ wheel steamer when she came out in 1880. Her upper works were destroyed by fire while at the dock in Green Bay in the fall of l 887. She was then rebuilt as a propeller, and was 131 feet in length w ith a 20 foot beam. She was operated along with the Fannie C. and Eugene Hart by the Gr.een Bay Transportation Co. after they took over the Hart Line interests in 1902. She burned off Whistlers Point in Saginaw Bay in 1909. [ 19) Steamer Sailor Boy built in 1891 at Bay City. She was 91 feet in length with a 2 1 foot beam. While own.ed by t he Hart Transp.ortation Co. she alternated with thf.' Thistle and Bon Ami on the runs between Green Bay ports. Hailing out of Sturgeon Bay they ran as far north as Escanaba, Gladstone and Nahma. After her sale by the Hart Transportation Co. she ran on Lake Superior for sev­ e ral years until she burned on May 12, 1924 and drifted ashore just above Osceola Point. Her remains can still be seen on the west side of Portage Lake in the Keweenaw Waterway. The Hart Transportation Co. was owned by Capt. C. ft Hart one of the brothers that stcuted the original Hart Line.

Steamer Bon Ami heading for Sturgeon Bay while making her rounds of Green Bay ports. [20] The Bon Ami after the fire in 1919. She is in boxes at the Sturgeon Bay Dry Dock Co. while under conve rsio n, afte r her purchase by Katherine Murphy. This p ic ture shows her new se:ond stack, a dummy. In the background on the left can be seen the stern of the stone barge I. N. Foste r and the Peshtigo Reef Lightship. In the foreground is the tug A. W. Luedtke.

Steamer Bon Ami

The Steamer Bo n Ami was built in Sauga tuck, Mich., in 1894 and w a s purchased from the receivers of the Booth Li ne by the Hart Line in 1908. She was a familiar sig ht in Door co unty for many years as she mad:! her way a long its shores, stopping at the many harbors a nd piers to load and unload passengers a nd freig ht. The last ship of a once famous fleet, she was damaged by fire whil e idl

The Hart steamer Thistle was sold to John Purvis of Gore Bay, Onta rio in January 1917. Her picture is in Volume I Ships and Shipwrecks in Door County. She was originally built a s a yacht in 1887 and was converted and joined the Hart fleet in 1888. [21] The North Shore after she was abandoned at Sturgeon Bay. There were two other ships by this name.

Schooner Oak Leaf early in her life. Standing out to sea· with a cargo of lumber on her deck. [22] Schooner Oak Leaf

On the 14th of April, 1866, a three-masted schooner was launched at the shipyards of E. M. Peck, in Cleveland, Ohio. The ship was chri"stened "Oak Leaf" and was destined to put in many years of service on the Great Lakes. She was a large schooner, being 160 ft. in length with a 31 ft. beam, and capable of carrying 375 tons of corgc. She went into service as one of the many ships in the famous fleet belonging to Capt. Henry Kelly of Lorai·n, Ohio.

Her early years were spent trading between ports on lokeErie and Lake Michigan. During most of this time she was under the command of Capt. Hugh Morrison, o husky, one armed skipper, from Cleveland, Ohio. She usually carried o crew of from six to eight men.

In her later years as she plyed her way up and down the lakes she often met another schooner bearing the some name. This ship was smaller, being o two-master and only 86 ft. long with o beam of 24 ft. (This ship was built in Gibraltar, Mich., in 1895 and was lost in 1910.) Both ships carri'ed lumber and general cargo. The Oak leaf was a sturdy, well built schooner and was always com­ manded by men who kept her shipshape at a ll times. Outside of seeking the assistance of a tug now and then or springing a leak in her wooden hull and having to be pumped out, her 62 year career was singularly free of trouble. She changed hands many ti"mes over the years. At one time she hailed out of Chicago and at another out of Milwaukee.

By 1918 her type of cargo hod been taken over by steamers and roil-

Oak leaf after she was converted into a tow barge. Tied up in Sturgeon Bay Canal waiting for the str. I. N. Foster to take her in tow. The d-:mkey boiler forward was used for pumping her out and hoisting gear. [23] roads and she was converted into a tow barge. Her last years were spent as a stone barge in the Sturgeon Bay Stone Co. fleet. As a stone barge she usually carried a crew of two or three men and was towed by the steamer I. N. Foster. The Foster was owned by the same company.

By 1928 she had outlived her usefullness and was laid to rest beside two of her tow-mates, the Ida Corning and the Empire State, at face of the old quarry dock on the Sawyer side of Sturgeon Bay. Part of the hull can still be seen at low water. Recently, enterprising skin divers were able to locate one of her anchors and bring it ashore. This anchor has been acquired by the Door County Historical society and will be placed as an historical marker near Eagle Lighthouse in Peninsula Park.

Steamer Empire State and Schooner Ida Corning

. The remains of the steamer Empire State and the schooner Ida Corning lie beside the remains of the Oakleaf in Sturgeon Boy. They were two of the many ships to wind up in the "Boneyard." The Empire State in her pri'me was a well-known passenger ship. Built in 1862 at Buffalo for the Western Transit Company, she carried many an immigrant to the new lands opening up in the mid-west. She was 212 feet in length with a 33 foot beam. A well appointed ship, she was very popular with the many prominent people who traveled up and down the Great Lakes after the Civil War. She had several differen·t owners and by the turn of the

The Empire State before she burned in 1906. [24] century had been purchased by the Barry Bros. Transportati'on Co. Her run'ning mate was the Badger State. During the years she was port of the Barry Fleet she made many trips to Door county ports as a competitor of the Goodrich Line. On July 7, 1900 during a dense fog the Empire State, with many passengers and general cargo aboard, seeking passage through Sturgeon Bay, grounded near Little Sturgeon. The fol lowing day she was dragged off and towed to the shipyard at Sturgeon Bay. Here she was placed in the drydock for repairs and found to be rudde rless. She was used for many excursions from Chicago to Wisconsin cities. In 1902 she not only carried the carnival owned by Morris and Berger from Sheboygan to Sturgeon Bay but she made a round trip from Marinefte and Menominee with a load of happy excursionists who came to e'njoy the shows. O n Christmas Day in 1906 she burned at the Barry Dock in Chicago. The cost of repairing her w a s too great so she was made into a stone ba rge and taken over by the Sturgeon Bay Stone Co. owned by Lars Jensen and Soren Termonsen. She was towed by the steamer I. N. Foster along with the Oakleaf and the Ida Corning. The Ida Corning was built in East Saginaw, Mich. in 1881 and was smaller than the Empire State. A schooner, she was 168 feet in lengt h and had a 31 foot beam. Originally she was one of the many ships engaged in carrying lumber and other cargo on La ke Mi'c higon. In 1907 she was purchased from the Hines lumber Co. of Chicago by the Sturgeon Bay Stone Co. as an unrigged barge, and placed in the stone trade. The I. N. Foster towed these ships and ma ny others, laden with stone

The schooner bal'ge Ida Corning at the Frankfort, Michigan, pier unload­ ing stone. The steamer I. N. Foster, owned by the Sturgeon Bay Stone Company, that towed her can be seen in the background. f 25 J from Sturgeon Bay, to many harbors on lake Michigan. The stone was used for breakwaters as well as in the construction of the many new buildings in the growing towns along the lake shore. After the stone trade fell off, the Oakleaf, Empire State and Id a Corning were left moored at the stone quarry dock. For many years people fi'shed and swam from their decks. Fi'nally the deck planking decoyed to such on extent that it was hazardous to venture aboard them, and in 1931 the company, afraid of being sued for damages, had them burned. Their remains gradually sank to the bottom and con still be seen at low water.

Remains of the Ida Corning and Empire State can still be seen at the old quarry on the Sawyer side of Sturgeon Bay. (above)

Remains of the Oak leaf lie nearby. (right)

[26) ..... M I

Steamer W. L. Brown exchanging cargo at the Furnace dock in Green Bay. She often carried cargos of pig-iron from DePere to Racine and Chicago.

Steamer W . L. Brown

Thurday morning, Oct. 21 , 1886, the stea mer W. L. Brown, commanded by Capt. F. W. Spofford, foundered south west of Green Island off Peshtigo Reef as she was fighting her way in the teeth of o southerly gale. The Brown was bound for the furnace at DePere, Wis. with a heavy load of iron ore out of Escanaba. A short time after she left port it started to blow and was soon making a sea. The wooden hull of the Brown labored heavily in the big head sea. Not only did she sh i"p tons of water on her decks but started leaking in he r holds. Steam and hand pumps were manned but the ship steadily filled with water. Shortly ofter passing to the eas1ward of Green Island the captain was notified that the pumps were unable to gain on the rapidly filling holds and he decided to come a round and make a run for the lee of the island and beach her. A signal of distress run aloft was seen by Capt. Tufts of the tug John Leathern, enroute to Menominee from Sturgeon Boy. He at once made for the sinking vessel hoping to render assistance. As Capt. Tufts approached the ship he saw the crew going over the side and taking to the lifeboat. The lifeboat hod just pulled away when the Brown sank. A loud explosion was heard os she was engulfed by the icy waters of Green Bay. The explosion was no doubt caused by the impri soned air in the holds as it made its escape through the hatches and deck. The tug picked up the crew and the few personal items they had been able to save and took them on into Menominee. From there they were able to get passage to their homes. [27] The Brow'n was of 365 tons gross register and was 140 feet in length with a 28 foot beam. She was a wooden ship and it was believed that the disaster was caused by the cargo not being properly trimmed whlle loading, the strain being greater in one place than another. When the ship began diving into the heavy seas the weight of her cargo caused the seams to open and the water to seep in. This theory is no doubt correct as many another ore-laden wooden ship caught out in bad weather found a qui'et resting place beneath the waters of the Great Lakes, due to uneven cargo distribution between decks. The Brown was built originally in 1856 for the Western Tronspor to1ion Company and christened "Neptune." In 187 4 she burned at East Saginaw and her portly burned hull was taken to Green Bay. There she was rebuilt in 1880 at Andrew A. Johnson's shipyard for the Notional Furnace Company of Green Bay. She was owned by the Noti'onal Iron Company at the time of her loss. The winter before she foundered she was equipped with a new boiler. As this was of considerable valve, a syndicate was formed which floated an appropriation to cover the expenses of locating the Brown and raising her boiler and machinery. The later port of May in 1887 and the early port of June the little steamer Temperance, commanded by Capt. Deffoe, spent several days trying to locate the sunken ship. Grappling hooks were dragged over her stern but this method failed to loca·te the Brown. In the meantime Capt. F. H. Williams of Manitowoc was engaged to do the diving and recovery work on the Brown as soon as she was located. He was to be paid twenty-five dollars a day for his services. Capt. Williams was a practical diver and carried a magnet aboard his ship for locating metals. When the Temperance failed to locate the Brown, the tugs Spalding and Evenson were hired. They used a long line strung between them to sweep the bottom of the bay. After operating this way for several hours the llne caught on a spar and the ship was finally located in about sixty-six feet of water. A buoy was attached to the wreck to await the arrival of a diver. On June 28 Capt. Williams arrived in Sturgeon Bay with the wrecking tug Grace Wi'lliams. Capt. Williams went to the location of the wreck intending to give it his personal attention. After checking it over with his assistant he declined the job as his assistant refused to work with him in that depth of water. In July William Marshall of Sturgeon Bay purchased a diving outfit for three hundred dollars from Capt. Williams with the intention of diving to the wreck and helping to raise the boiler. He was not experienced enough for the job and the syndicate was forced to send to Detroit for another diver. July 10 Frank Dwyer arrived with his old master and trainer, George W. Mortin. Together with assistants the men went out to survey the wreck. After looking it over they were pessimistic about the chance of any salvage but agreed to make every possible effort. Frank Dwyer was able to make good headway in the recovery of the boiler and machinery. Dynamite was used to blow the deck off. Cartridges were placed on the deck beam a nd exploded by electrici1y. A bag of sand was placed over the cartridge causing the full force of the explosion to fall on the planks. The anchors and chains were brought to port by a tug. By the 6th of August the boiler had been raised and brought to Sturgeon Bay. Bad weather [28] hampered the efforts to raise the other machinery and those who were conver­ sant with the cost of salvaging were saying that it would cost the syndicate ten dollars for every one they got back. It was not until the middle of September that the engine was raised and taken to Sturgeon Bay suspended from o dump scow. In April of 1888, the boiler and engine of the Brown were taken to Manitowoc to be placed in the new Hart Brothers ship, the Fannie C. Hart, being built there. The hull of the Brown still li es on the bottom. Adolph Roeser of Sister Boy relates that when they were diving for ·the bodies of those lost on the Hackley they come across ·the remains of the Brown. At that ti'me her hull was still intact. Perhaps some enterprising skin diver will uncover her remains in the not too distant future.

Steamer City of Glasgow

While driving along the shores of Lake Michigan and Green Bay on Door County's many picturesque highways, remains of several ships con be seen in shallow water or high on the beach. One such wreck li es near the once thriving community of Lily Boy three m iles north of the canal. It was here, in what is now the front yard of Dr. T. L. Tolan's cottage, that the once proud steamer City of Glasgow come ashore on the evening of Oct. 6, 1917. She stranded there during a fierce southerly gale, broke in two and become a total loss. Today her remains ore called "Our Wreck" by the Tolons and have become a tourist and amateur skin-divers attraction. Parts of her can still be seen from the beach. The top end of her broken stem is often seen breaking the surface of the sea, still headin g in a westerly direction 0$ she did when she came ashore. Her battered hull li es i'n two sections which ore some distance apart, and ports of her monstrous spars ore embedded in the ever shifting sands just north of the broken hull. The woode n steamer City of Glasgow was a fast ship and in her day was considered one c [ the largest and best afloat. She was built in 1891 ot West Boy City by James Davidson for Thomas Grange. She was 297 feet in length with a 41 toot beam. When Capt. Charles Hutchinson started his famous fleet of ships, known today as the Pioneer Steamship Company, and managed by the Hutchinson Company, the City of Glasgow is said to hove been his first purchase and the nucle us of his fleet. She was then under the command of Capt. Charles E. Benham and for several seasons she towed the barge Abyssinia in the coal, grain and iron ore trade from Chi'cago, Du luth to Buffalo.

Like all other ships of her time, before the introduction of modern navigational instuments, she hod many a fight for survival with the elements. Sept. 17, 1905, she stranded at North Point, 5 miles north of Milwaukee, during a heavy fog. The life-saving crew took out 35 stevadores to the ship [29] The City of Glasgow in her prime

and worked with them in jettisoning 325 tons of coal to lighten the ship. They also ran hawsers and helped in other ways to free the ship. The City of Glasgow was finally pulled free by a tug on the afternoon of the 18th. In 1907, on Nov. 27, coal laden for the city of Green Bay, the City of Glasgow heading south down the bay and running before a gale from the north with hea vy snow, ran hard aground on Peshtigo Reef. The following day several tons of her cargo were jettisoned and tugs were able to drag her off into deep water. She was able to proceed on her way although her hull sustained considerable damage. After unloading she was moored at Green Boy for the w inter and repairs. Dec. 3 she caught fi re and was badly burne d. Whilo tugs and dty fire hoses were pouring water into her she sank. In tJ:ie spring of 1908 she was sold to Leathern and Smith. May 28 she was raised from the bottom of the channel and towed lo the Smith yards at Sturgeon Bay. Examinction of her hull showed that her after end was damaged beyond repair. Her machinery was taken out and she was left la ying at the dock for two years. In 1910 she was dragged out and pulled onto the dock at the foot of Liberty Street to facilitate her reconstruction into a crushed stone barge. He r badly burned after end was cut off and a new one built on. In 1911 she was launched for a second time but without power. She was then placed in the stone t rade as a tow-barge. Her ofter end was burned in 1912 and completely destroyed at the Smith dock. This was the quickest and easiest way to getting the bolts and iron out of the hulk for scrap. [30] Shortly after she was rebuilt and out to sea again, she and the converted schooner Adriatic were made consorts of the big tug Hunsader. Loading at the Leathern Smith quarry in Sturgeon Bay they carried various types of stone to Lake Michigan ports for building and filling.

Capt. Serface was ih ·command of the tug and in charge of the tow. Chris Olson was master of the Adriatic and had four sailors in his crew. Sanford Clark, Tollif Tollifson, Jan pollister, Julius Helser and a woman cook, Mrs. Ervin Devoe. The City of Glasgow had a smaller crew of two, Chris Wilmer and L. E. Thorstensen.

After unloading their cargo of Ni'agara Limestone in Chicago, on Oct. 4, 1917, they were towed outside and headed back home, in light trim, for another cargo. They were favored with fair weather on the return trip north and came to anchor outside Manitowoc while the tug went inside for supplies, etc. Underway once more they were making good time up the west shore with a moderate tail wind until they came abreast of Kewaunee when It breezed up from the southward and began making a sea.

About 7 p.m. on the 6th the Hunsader and her two consorts arrived outside the shi'p canal and the tug blew the barges down to shorten the towlines before entering the canal. When the tug started ahead again and took up the slack between her and the yawning barges, the line parted and the barges were cast helplessly adrift. They headed for the beach before the gale and the seas. With the ever increasing wind against the tug and the nearness of the shallow water along the shore it was impossible for the tug to come about and pass another line to the barges. So the captain made for the canal and notified the Coast Guard station there of his loss. When Capt. Olson on the Adriatic saw the tug leave he ordered all 1he anchors on the bottom and the line between the two barges cast off. As the barges drifted side by side toward the beach at Li ly Boy they often crashed together with the rise and fall of the sea, doing much damage and making it hard for the frightened crew to keep their feet. The anchors did not hold and they soon fetched the beach. The City of Glasgow being of lighter draft came in much closer to the beach before she finally settled on the bottom. After midnight the wind started to moderate and the coastguards were able to toke the crew of two off the Glasgow. Although she was broadside to the beach making some lee water, in the roaring surf and stormy darkness this was a hazardous venture. The Adriatic had rolled herself around into the wind on her dragging anchor and was riding better. As her crew was not considered to be in any immediate danger they were not taken ashore until ofter daylight. After the storm was over the Adriatic was soon released and towed home to the Smith yard. Here a few repairs w e re made and she w as soon happily at sea again with another foc'sle yarn to her credit. The Ci'ty of Glasgow having been broken in two by the storm was [31 ] The waters rise and fall over the hull o·f the Glasgow in he r final resting place north of the canal. The square end of her broken hull makes it obvious that she came apart where she had once bee n spliced t,i)gether. He r bow is now headed right on the cottage, made from the pilot house of the steamer Renfrew, belonging to John Purves. She lies about 200 feet offshore. abandoned. Everything a loft went by the board and only her anchors and chain were salvaged. Today she rests peacefully in Lily Bay with the sea gulls for company whi'le curious people, seeing her remains, wonder about her history.

Another visitor to Door County in days of old was the side-wheel steamer Kewee naw. She was 202 feet in length with a 30 foot beam. On July 9, 1885, she took an excursion of 500 people from Green Bay to Sturgeon Bay. [32] /

' · .jJ 't r J

I I

The schooner Adriatic, with tow lines fore and ah, as part of a large tow. Tugs often picked up several sailing ships and towed them in line across the bay, thru the canal and up and down rivers. Her after spar has been removed. This was often done as steam took over sail; spars and rigging handicapped the exchange of cargo. Afterwards the ships were sometimes called Jacka ss rigged.

Schooner Adriatic

The barge Adriatic, running mate of the City of Glasgow on that fatal night of Oct. 6, 1917 was originally a schooner. She was built in 1889 at West Bay City, Mich. for M. A. Bradley of Cleveland. She was a sturdy three master 200 feet in length with a 35-foot beam. As the faster and larger steamers began taking away her cargoes she was idle much of the time and by 1913 had been purchased by Leathern and Smith of Sturgeon Bay. She was used as a stone barge by them and became their first self-u'nloader. Many a Door county lad spent his first days at sea aboard her. Among them . were L. J . Van Dreese (now Assistant Superintendent of the Green Bay and Western Railroad) and Merril Anderson of Sturgeon Bay. rn 1914 Anderson's father, Capt. "Slack" Anderson of the tug Hunsader, encouraged the lads to take a job as sole crew members of the Adriatic. Afthough they were young and inexperienced they had no trouble in carrying out their duties on the trip across the lake from Sturgeon Bay to Ludington. After helping to unload the cargo of crushed stone, and taking a few hours well-earned shore leave, they set off on the return trip to S1urgeon Bay. All went well until they were just outside Big Point Sauble where they met [33] a gale from the north. Soon the flying spray was seething across the decks of the Adriatic. The boys had not had much experience with heavy weather as their duties had consisted mostly of firing the small boiler that furnished steam for the hoisting and towing gear and while on wat·ch at the wheel, so far always in fair weather, hold the barge steady on the tug ahead. As the seas grew larger they had difficulty in hangi'ng onto the wheel, not knowing enough to lash it, and soon the Adriatic was yawing back and forth on the towline. This caused the tug to lose headway and often be thrown broadside to the sea. Unable to gain enough headway to come about and realizing the perilous position of both the tug and her tow, Capt. Anderson blew distress signals. These were heard by a passing lower laker which hove to. A line was passed and made secure. Then the lower laker towed the 1Hunsader and Adriatic back to the lee of the land where the life savers. who had heard the distress call, met them. The life-savers then took over and assisted the vessels inside the harbor. (In 1915 this service became part of the Coast Guard.) The Adriatic spent three weeks in Ludington making repairs before she put to sea again. The rest of the year of 1914 proved to be routine. Then along came 1915 and the Adriatic mode the headlines once more. In May she came in too dose to the beach and stranded iust off Pent­ water, Mich. The coast guards from the station, seeing her plight, went out and passed lines to her, and succeeded i'n floating her free. After this the season was uneventful until she was coming up the west shore in tow of tug Leathern D. Smith on Oct. 22. Just outside Kewaunee they ran into rought weather and the captain of the Smith decided to make the harbor and ride out the storm inside. Just after they entered the piers the Adriatic ,.\

The Adriatic; on the left as a self-unloader, the steam barge Edward Buckley in the c;enter, the tug Leathern D. Smith on the right, wintering at Sturgeon Bay. [34) The bare ribs of the Adriatic show above the water where she rests outside the pilings northwest of the railroad bridge. yawed around and her stern crashed into the range light on the south shore pier and knocked it over i'nto the harbor. The next day the crew of the Adriatic and the Coastguordsmen went out and hoisted the framework up onto the pier. The iron rods and beams were badly twisted and the tower was partially wrecked. A temporary light was placed on the pier until a new one could be erected. As soon as the weather abated the Smith a nd her slightly damaged tow proceeded on to Sturgeon Boy. The Adriatic rode out many a storm that destroyed other ships, such as the one on Oct. 6, 1917 when the City of Glasgow was lost. She remained ·in service until 1927 when her operation no longer proved profitable a·nd she was tied up at t he Smi'th Dock. Finally abandoned in 1930, she sank to rest beneath the waters of the bay. Here her remains can still be seen just north west of the railroad bridge on the southeasterly end of the old Smith Company dock.

From the Door County Advocate-October 5, 1882: "Capt. Tom Howley, owner of the steamer M. C. Hawley, (later the City of Green Boy) is having more than his shore of trouble. Only a few weeks ago he was fined $500 by the United States officers for some deficiency in his arrangement for carrying passengers, and now he is again cited to appear at Milwaukee on two counts, the fines aggregating $1, 100, and then and there to show cause why he should not pay the penalty. The revenue cutter Andy Johnson's trip to Green Bay lost week was on business connected with this matter. This is pretty rough on Capt. Hawley, and It is not to be wondered at that he feels discouraged at the gloomy outlook."

In 1887 T. N. Jacobs secured a contract to gel out 100 knees for Leathern & Smith. To be used in the construction of a new ship. He received $1.00 apiece for them. (The ship knees were a natural growth of timber with two arms, near­ ly in the shape of a right angle. They were used to connect different timbers and beams In the days of wooden ships.) [35] The steamer City of South Haven outbound w ith a foll load of passengers, early in her life while on the Chicago & South Haven Express Route. Notice the scroll work on her bow and the white a nchors.

Steamer City of South Haven One of the ships that burned during the ragi'ng fire at the Sturgeon Bay Shipbuilding and Drydock Company yard on the night of Dec. 2, 1935, was the steomer E. G. Crosby. One of the fastest passenger ships of her day, she had hod a colorful career. Built in 1903 at Toledo, Ohio, for the Dunkley and Williams company of Chicago, she was christened the "City of South Haven" and placed on a run between that city and Chicago. She was 247 feet in le ngth with a 40 foot beam and was pointed white. Her color, graceful lines, and speed caused her to become known as "The White Flyer." Jn 1906 her running mate was the Eastland; at that ti'me both ships were owned by the Chicago and South Haven Line. The Eastland disaster in 1915, with the loss of over 800 lives, is well remembered as one of the greatest in American marine history. Both ships carried freight as well as passengers. During the summer months the frei'ght was mostly fruit from the many farms around South Haven, St. Joseph and Benton Harbor. Loaded on board the ship at night it reached Chicago in time for the early morning market. The City of South Hoven also carried moil between Chicago and southern Michigan ports. Excursions from Chicago aboard the South Hoven were long remembered. Luxurious accommodations, kept spotless by a tireless crew, gourmet meals, and (36] music for continuous dancing were among the highlights of the trip which cost just one dollar. Her life on Lake Michigan was interrupted for a few years when she was taken over by the U. S. Shipping Board during World War I and placed in service on the Atlantic. After the war, from 1920 to 1922, she saw service on a run from Miami to Havana. She was renamed "City of Miami" and became a floating bar on this run. In 1923 she was replaced by a larger ship and was sold to Milwaukee parties. On her return to Lake Michigan she was renamed "E. G. Crosby." (There were two ships by thi's name, the other was the Wisconsin). By the early thirties passenger and freight trade had fallen off to such an extent that it was no longer profitable to run her. She was taken to Sturgeon Bay and tied up at t he dock. Here she was partially destroyed in the fire of 1935. At the beginning of World War· II, when ships were needed so desperately, plans were made for her return to service. Upon inspection she was found to be beyond repair and p lans for her reconstruction fell through. She was finally scrapped in the forties. Thus another stately ship found her final resting place in Door county. However she is not forgotten as some of her parts are still in the county, such as her steering wheel, clock and barometer. - -- - -·------"'f'.":- - ·---

Steamer E. G. Crosby after returning home from Miami and the east coast and receiving her new name. At this time she was owned by the Wisconsin & Michigan Transportation Company and operated out of Milwau!

The Steamers Manitou and Puritan

One of the many ships purchased by Capt. John Roen of Sturgeon Bay, and eventually cut up for scrap, was the once proud and magnificent steamer, Isle Royale. Built in 1893 as the Manitou for the Lake Michigan and Lake Superior Transportati'on Co., she was a fast, beautiful and well appointed passenger shi'p with room for package freight and automobiles betwsen decks. 304 feet in lenqth with a 42 foot beam, she had more than twice the tonnage of any ~f the other ships of the fleet. In 1900 the wooden ships of the line were sold and she was the sole survivor of the line which became known as the Manitou Steamship Co. Originally she ran be·tween Chicago and Mackinac Is land, making stops at some of the other resorts enroute. She was very popular with Chicago's (• socialites who looked forward to carefree voyages aboard her each summer. In 1906 she was purchased by the Northern Michigan Transportation Co. '~ In 1918 in a reorganization of the NMT Co. and several other steamship lines, she and the Puritan as well as the Missouri, Illinois and Kansas became part of the new li ne, the Michigan Transit Co. In 1928 another reorganization took place and the company became known as the Michigan Transit Corporation, wi'th only the Manitou and Puritan under their flag. By the thirties Michigan had many well built highways and people no longer cared about the pleasure of music and dancing or just resting on the leisurely tri'p aboard lake ships but preferred to speed up the shores in their own cars. Business fell off and the Puritan and Mahitou no longer made money [ 40] ~ I

PurHan at the old Northern Michigan Dock in Ludington. The small steamer White Swan, of Manitowoc, can be seen on the le-ft. Her remains rest peacefully on lie Aux Galets Reef in the northern end of Lake Michigan.

for their owners. They were sold in 1933 to a new company known as the Isle Royale Transit Co.

This company renovated the steamers with the idea of using them as excursion ships between Chicago and Port Arthur, Canada, with stops at Isle Royale on Lake Superi"or. At the time of their renovation the ships received new names, the Manitou becoming the Isle Royale and the Puritan the George M. Cox after one of the new owners. This company, however, was not destined for success.

The Puritan on her first trip as the George M. Cox stranded, during a (· dense fog on May 27, 1933 on Rock of Ages Reef at the west end of Isle Royale. This was one of the strangest strandings on our inland seas.

As the ship fetched up at almost full speed the water was just deep enough for her bow to slide up on the rocks unt il i't was out of water and her stern was partly submerged. Imagine the surprised and frightened passengers and crew in various parts of the ship,. and particularly in the main cabin, trying to find a hand hold as they slid aft together wi'th the grand piano and other furniture. The Cox hung al this angle for several days after the coast guard had taken off the passengers and crew. Daring island beachcombers managed to strip her of much of her finery and equipment before a stormy sea worked her loose. Shaking her proud head a fe w times, she sli d off the rocks and sank beneath the deep cold waters of Lake Superior where she still rests. The Isle Royole ran for the rest of what proved to be a very unprofitable [ 41] season and tied up for the win1er in Manistee, Mich. As things looked no better in 1he spring 1he company decided to cease operations. In 1936 the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Corp. purchased the Isle Royale. A few weeks later, on Oct. 12, a kerosene stove used to heat the cabin exploded and set fire to the shi'p. Edward Horan the 73 year old shipkeeper was burned to death. His charred body was found on the blackened springs of his bunk when the fire was finally extinguished by the Manistee fire department. After the fire the remains of the Isle Roya le were towed to Manitowoc by

Two views of the Puritan as the George M. Cox after she stranded

at the Southwest end of Isle Royale J I in 1933. Notice the men standing on the listed ship's side. Shortly after this picture was taken she slid off the rocks to rest on the bottom in about 100 feet of water.

(42] Remains of the steamer Isle Royale at the shipyard dock in Manitowoc. Picture taken just before she was purchased by Capt. Roen and towed to his yard at Sturgeon Bay. the tug Wyoming, and taken to the shipyard to be cut up for scrap. After her stack, spars and upper works were removed the lower hull was sold to Capt. John Roen who planned to convert her to a pulpwood barge. However he acquired other hulls better sui'ted to this purpose and had the Isle Royale cut up for scrap. Thus ended the career of one of Lake Michigan's finest and best known passenger ships.

The schooner Frank D. Barker ran aground on Spider Is land on October 1, 1887, during heavy fog. The tug Spaulding went to her aid the following day but was unable to release her. Capt. Lynch the owner abandoned his vessel to the underwriters. The shi'p was of about 300 tons burde n and was insured for $6,000 on the hull. Her outfit was removed by the underwriters and placed in the barn of the Sturgeon Bay Lumber Co. for storage. E. S. Minor paid the underwriters $1,700 for the hull. He made several attempts to release her the following year. Finally the effort was given up after storms partly released her and she swung around and capsized. Her hull went to pieces and all the money and hard work spent on her went for naught.

In January 1888 Capt. Cox and Company established a halfway house on the ice of Green Bay, between Sturgeon Bay and Marinette. Travelers over the 25 mile stretch of ice reported accommodations for both men and beast ample. [43] City of Benton Harbor at the dock in Benton Harbor while owned by Grcham & Morton.

Steamer City of Benton Harbor

The winds were howling wildly on the cold, dark night of November 24, 1938, when the whistles began to blow and the bells to ring and the dreaded cry of "Fire" was heard along the Sturqeon Bay waterfront. Fanned in'to an inferno by the raging winds, fire of an unknown origin swept through the wooden interior of the steamer City of Benion Harbor. So rapid was its course that the sleeping ship-keeper and his wife barely made the dock before the whole ship was a mass of flames. Although the city firemen and others fought all through the stormy night to save her it was in vain. By morning she was .· completely gutted.

The City of Ben ~ on Harbor had been a proud and beautiful ship. Built in 1904, at Toledo, Ohio, for the Graham and Morton Transportation Company, she was a steel-hulled, side-wheeled, freight and passenger steamer. Two hun­ dred sixty feet in le ngth w ith a 36 foot beam she had feathering paddles on her sidewheels and developed 3,000 horse-power. A wonderful ship at sea, she was very fast, beautiful designed, and was famous for her palatial passen­ ger accommodations. She carried the flog of her original owners for over 20 years on the express run between Chicago and Benton Harbor and St. Joseph. This route was advertised as the "Dustless Roule to Happy land." The steamer City of Chicago often ran opposite her on t his route. [ 44 ] City of Benton Harbor with a new paint job after being taken over by the Goodrich Line.

By the mid-twenties highways were taking the trade away from the shipping lanes and the no longer profitable Graham and Morton Line was sold to the Goodrich Transportation company. Although the City of Benton Harbor's colors were changed to those of the new owners she still operated on the old run until 1933. By this time passenger and freight trade had fallen off to such an extent that she and others of her kind were left idle at the docks. After two years when no use could be found for her she was ordered sold. And on December 16, 1935, along with three other ships of the old Graham and Morton fleet, she was sold at audion by the U. S. District Court of Grand Rapids, Mich., to satisfy a mortgage foreclosure. The highest bidder was Captain John Roen of Sturgeon Bay. He pur­ chased her along wi·th the three others, the City of St. Joseph, the City of Saugatuck and the City of Holland. (All four ships were named after Mi'chigan cities.) Shortly after the sale, and before the ships could be towed across the lake to the Roen shipyards, the City of St. Joseph was partially destroyed by fire. When the other three ships finally reached the yards, Captain Roen decided that the City of Benton Harbor was much too fine a ship to scrap or use as a tow barge. In 1936 he had her scraped and painted, completely cleaned and refurbished and fitted out as a so-called "Show Boat." She was taken to Green Bay in hopes that she would a·ttract the high­ spirited class of trade that this type of ship did on the Mississippi. However this was not the case and her operation proved to be unprofitable so she was l45] City of Benton Harbor a~er she was fitted out as a show boat. Notice her white stack.

returned to Sturgeon Bey. Here she remained ct the Roen yards until she was gutted by fire the followi"ng year. After the fire Captain Roen was going to have her made into a tow barge but later decided to scrap her instead. This was done in 1940. Today all that is left of her are the happy memories. and souvenirs collected by the many thousands of people who enjoyed the dining, and music and dancing aboard her on their way across the blue waters of Lake Mi'chigan during her heyday.

FO!t SAL1';. ' ' · & C. MASHEK . - Y. MABllEK. C. M.ASllEK For Sale or Rent, V. & C. MASHEK, ON YOUR OWN TET.~MS, Dealers lu 'l'HE PROPER'l'Y KNOWN AS Dry Goods, Groceries, HORN'S PIER, PROVISIONS, &c. (the Pier juet rebuilt,)

Also Maoulaclurcre of and Dealers in With the Far m, Store-buililiug, Dwel­ lings, Barns, Ha)'·l'1·ps;i, Scales, Lumber, Shingles, Ti es, Posb, Shells, &c. Poles, Wood, Bark, &c. Apply to Stores and Piers located at Lily Bay and W. H. HORN, Whitefish Bay. Mill at lily Bay. 238 South Water St., Chicago. R"'l'he hii:uost mnrl

Steamer City of Mackinac while on the Toledo to St. Ignace run.

Steamer City of Holland

The steamer City of Holland, purchased by Captain John Roen at the auction, along with three other shi'ps of the old Graham and Morton Line, at Benton Harbor, Mich., in 1 935, was another of the many ships to be destroyed at the "Boneyard" at Sturgeon Bay. Originally named the City of Mackinac, she and her sister ship the City of Alpena were built for the Detroit and Cleveland Steamship company at Wyandotte, Mich., in 1893. They were twin ships wi'th steel hulls and wooden upper works. They were approximately 266 feet in ler.gth with a 69 foot beam; their engines were 200 horse power and drove side-paddle wheels of the feathering type. They were the first ships of this type to have a bow rudder. This rudder enabled them to bock out unassisted from small harbors. These two ships w e re built especially for the run from Toledo to St. Ignace. At least one of them ran duri'ng the entire season of navigation. During the summer they both ran on this route·. They carried passengers and freight to the many towns along the shore of lake Huron on their way to and from the Straits. For more than 20 years they usually had a full ioad of passengers f and freight, but with the beginning of World War I business began to fall off and in 1919 the two ships were tied up at Detroit and put up for sale. They were purchased by the Graham and Morton company of Chicog"\ in 1921 to be used on the run from Chicago to Saugatuck and Holland, Mich. The two ships were renamed; the Ci'ty of Mackinac became the City of Holland and the City of Alpena became the City of Saugatuck. When the Goodrich Line and the Graham and Morton Line merged in 1924 the two ships contin ued to run under the new ownership. However freight and passenger traffic fell off to such an extent that by 1933 the company was forced to stop all operations. The ships then lay idle at the dock untii 1935 when they were sold under the auctione·er's hammer. [47) City of Mackinac re named Ci ty of Holland, after she was taken over by the Goodrich Line .

After their purchase by Captain Roen the twins were taken across the lake to Sturgeon Bay. The City of Holland remained tied to the dock there until the summer of 1940 when he decided to scrap her. Tractors with long chains were used to drag ashore and break up her once beautiful cabins and upper works. Later her steel hull also disappeared by the flame of the cutting torch. Thus died o ship that during her prime was a welcome sight in many a lake port but finally was cast aside in the name of progress. Note: This ship was not the only one named City of Holland.

City of Holland during the process of being scrapped. [ 48] Steamer City of Alpena while flying flag of the Detroit and Cleveland Steam Navigation Co. and operating on the Lake Huron Division.

Steamer City of Saugatuck

The steamer City of Alpena, later Ci'ty of Saugatuck, was destined to outlive her sister ship, the City of Mackinac. Built in the same shipyard at Wyandotte in 1893, there was little difference. in the hulls of these two ships. Both had bow rudders, 200 horse-power engines and side-wheel .paddles; they were spoken of as "·twins". The City of Alpena was the better known of the two ships as her pi'cture was used on a 1901 commemorative U.S. postage stamp titled "Fast Lake Navigation". With the City of Mackinac she mode the run up the west shore of Lake Huron from Toledo to St. Ignace under the ownersh!p of the Detro:t and Cleveland Steam Navigation Co. In 1912 when the changes were made in the •\ names of many of ·the ships of the line, both ships had II added to their names. The two ships were purchased by the Graham and Morton Line in 1921, after several years of idleness, and given new names. The City of Alpena became the City of Saugatuck and the City of Mackinac, the City of Holland. Carrying passengers and freight the two ships alternated on the runs from Chicago to Benton Harbor and St. Joe.

The City of Saugatuck joined th~ Goodrich fleet in the merger of 1924. Along with other ships of the line she lay idle at the dock in Benton Harbor from 1933 until she was purchased by Captain John Roen In 1935. After arriving at the shipyard in Sturgeon Boy she was cut down and made into a tow barge. She was named Leona after Leo na Wolters of the (49] same city. While in the Roen fleet she spent most of her time carrying pulpwood to various paper mills on the Great Lakes. In 1946 she was sold to the Northern Paper Mills, Ltd. of Green Boy, Wis., and Hanson, Ontario, and placed under Canadian registry. Her name was changed to Normil. Along with other pulpwood barges she was towed by the steamer Norco (ex Inca ). According to her log most of her trips were betwee n Green Bay ond Little Current in Georgian Boy. Her usual load was around 700 cords of pulpwood. After l 0 years she returned to Sturgeon Boy where she lay idle al a dock on tho Sawyer side during the winte r of 1956-57. In the spring she was sold to the Green Metal Company for scrap. She was then towed to Menominee, Mich., and moored at the upper end of the old Carpenter Cook slip. During the summer of 1957 she was cut up. Tractors with tackle were used to haul her stem portly out of water; then men with torches would cut out chunks just small enough to handle and haul away. When she was almost to the water line the tractors would drag on her again until more of her hull was accessible for cutting. Th is process was repeated until the lost rivet in her keel was hauled owoy for junk. So, although she outlived the th ree other ships purchased with her by Captain Roe n in 1935, the time fina ll y come when all that was left of this once stately ship were a few life preservers stomped with her name, the log books, her once highly polished steering wheel, and her pilot house and captain's room.

The steamer City of Saugatuck while owned by the Graham and Morton Transportation Co. (50) The City of Saugatuck as the towbarge Normil, at the old Carpenter Cook slip in Menominee .

I•

The Normil in the process of being cut up by the Green Metal Co.

[51] The pOlot house and captain's room from the City of Saugatuck, now a summer cottage at Jack­ sonport, owned by Mrs. Mabel Spencer.

Steamer City of Chicago, her decks loaded with happy passengers, enter­ ing Benton Harbor while owned by the Graham a.nd Morton Line.

[52) Steamer City of St. Joseph

Of the four shi'ps purchased by Captain John Roen at the sale in Benton Harbor in 1935 the City of St. Joseph was the only one ·that was not even1ually destroyed by man, she plunged to her death in the welcoming arms of the sea. The City of St. Joseph had a long life and a varied career. She was built at Bay City in 1890 for the Graham and Morton Line. The steel-hulled, side­ wheel steamer was origi"nally 226 feet in length with a 34 foot beam; in 1905 she was lengthened to 254 feet in order to i·ncrease her cargo and passenger space. She was a graceful ship with double smoke-stacks and lofty spars. After a short speech and a bottle of spirits broken across her bow she hit the water for the first time as the City of Chicago. As she was built to carry passengers as well as cargo between Chicago and the twin cities of Benton Harbor and St. Joseph, no money was spared in making her appointments truly lu xuri"ous. Her state-rooms were large and comfortable, assuring a good night's rest. The 200 foot Grand Saloon was magnificent with its wood paneling and brass fittings, its skylight with imported stained glass windows, heavy black walnut and mahogany furniture and floor covered wall to wall with deep-piled red velvet carpet. Food, prepared by foreign chefs, could be served to 200 people at one time in the large dining room. Her specially designed honeymoon suite was known from coast to coast. So truly outstanding was she that her interiors were often used as the back­ ground for early movies. The ship was usually laid up during the winter months so for the most part the cross lake runs were fairly routi'ne. The passengers enjoyed music and dancing or the plays and operas that were often performed for their enter­ tainment.

Remains of the City of Chicago after fire had destroyed her cabin decks and upper-works. [53] The City of Chicago after she was rebuilt and renamed the City of St. Joseph. Her pilot house was changed and her two stacks were replaced by one.

Once in a while there was a little excitement d ue to inclement weather which gave everyone aboard something to talk about on their return home. Such was the case when the City of Chicago, with 57.5 aboard her, stranded about a mile south of the St. Joseph life-saving stati'on on June 21, 1895, during foggy weather. The ship's sig'nol of distress was answered by the station keeper who launched the surfboat and went to her aid. Soundings were made to locate the deepest water, and with the aid of a hastily summoned tug the City of Chicago was pull ed free in about three hours with no damage done. However in 1914 she was not so lucky as the foll owi'ng Lifesaving Service report shows: "When within 5 miles of the end of her run in the early morning of September l, 1914, the 1,439 ton passenger steamer City of Chicogo, bound from St. Joseph, Michigan to Chicago, with 94 passengers, a crew of 56, and a full cargo of fruit, was discovered by her master to be on fire amidships. To avoid panic no alarm was sounded, and the presence of the fire was kept secret on board until the master was able to lay his vessel, head-on, upon the breakwa ter protecting Chicago Harbor. As the steamer rested upon the barrier referred to she lay withi'n a few feet of t he old Chicago Life-Saving Station. The station lookout had observed smoke issuing from her before she struck, and the keeper and crew lost no time in beginning the work of exti'nguishing the blaze. The women a nd children on board were carried down ladders set against the steamer's side. With everybody safely landed, the life·saving crew devoted their entire attention to subduing the fire, and succeeded, with the help of a fire tug, in putting it out after three hours effort. The flames extin­ guished, the station crew spent the remainder of the day running lines, carry- [54] ing the steamer's officers and owners to and fro, and in performing other services incident to getting her off. At 1 a.m. of the 2nd, fire again broke out below deck. This the station crew put out unassisted. The vessel was finally hauled off and taken to a slip." Most of her upper structures and insides were destroyed by the fire. What remained of her was towed ·to the shipyards in South Chicago where she was completely rebuilt. Little change was made in her appearance other than that her double stacks were replaced by a single one. She was renamed the City of St. Joseph and placed back on her old cross-lake run. As time went on and the freight and passenger business fell off she became part of the Goodrich fleet during the merger in 1924. She continued on the same run until about 1933. Along with othe r ships she lay idle until she was purchased by Captain Roen in 1935. ·Before she left Benton Harbor for her new home across the lake she once again caught fire and was partially destroyed. She was converted into a pulp­ wood barge in 1938 at the Roen Yards in Sturgeon Bay and placed in the trade with others of the fleet. The barges carried pulpwood from out of the way spots on Lake Superior to the paper mills, usually the ones in Green Bay.

As a barge she proved herself well and made a profitable and easy towing carrier. On September 21, 1942, the barges, City of St. Joseph, Captain William Mcleod in command and the Transport (ex-Detroit River Ferry) Captain Ray Williamson in command, were in tow of the tug John Roen, with Captain Leon Taylor as her master. They were downbound from Grand Marais, Mi'nnesota, on Lake Superior to the Port Huron Sulphite and Poper Company on Lake Huron with heavy loads of 8 foot pine logs. When the tug and her tows were nearing Keweenaw Peninsula it breezed up from the northward. The wind increased rapidly until it reached gale force.

s:ia..iz::.~at. Steamer City of St. Joseph, rebuilt as a pulpwood barge, at the dock in Sturgeon Bay, Wis. At her right is the City of Saugatuck. Picture taken in 1940. (55] The ever-mounting seas made a jerking strain on the tow-line as well as washing over the decks of the two barges. Around 9:30 p.m. the seas put out the fires on the Transport and shortly after midnight the tow-line parted between the Transport and the City of St. Joseph. The powerless City of St. Joseph, with anchors dragging, broached to and riding the trough of the seas laid over on her sides. With each roll she shipped more water across her deck which loosened her food and started it shifting and going over the sides. Helplessly she drifted toward a rocky reef near shore. By three in the morni'ng the seas hod swept all the crew off the ship and into the churning surf. They fought their way to land through the swirling pulpwood, tossed by the breakers and caught by the undertow. All mode ii to shore except the capta in's wife, Katherine Mcleod, whose body was found on the beach the next morning in the storm-driven pulpwood. The Transport also drifted toward shore and the tug, in order to save herself, had to cut the tow-line. The Transport stranded on some rocks near shore. Her crew made land safely. After the storm was over wrecking crews were able to salvage her cranes and other machinery. Her broken remains can sti ll be seen high on the rocks. The Ci ty of St. Joseph lies nearby in about 20 feet of water. Her name can still be seen and it marks the spot where once more the sea took its toll.

Freighter Frank O'Connor

Early in the evening of Oct. 2, 1919, a red glow in the sky over Lake Michigan startled many a resident along Door County's eastern shore. They soon learned that this g low was caused by the galla nt freighter Fronk O'Connor fighting for her life against a raging fire.

The steamer Frank O'Connor was a wooden ship 301 feet in length with a 42 foot beam. At the time she was built at West Bay City, Michigan, in 1892, she was considered one of the largest freighters on the lakes. Originally named the City of Naples, she had carried cargo up and down the lakes for nearly 30 years. At the time of the disaster she was owned and operated by the O'Connor Transportation Company of North Tonawanda, N.Y. They had renamed her. The O'Connor finished loading her cargo of 3,000 tons of hard coal at Buffalo on September 29th. She was then towed down the river while the crew finished battening down the hatches, stretching the life-line aloft and making ready for sea. As the ship neared the harbor entrance ·the tow line was toke n in; then wi·th a farewe ll salute to the t ug, she headed up the la ke toward the unloading dock a t Milwaukee, a lmost a thousand water miles away. She had exceptionally fine sailing weather the length of Lake Erie; made good ti me stemming the currents of the Detroit and St. Clair Rivers; beat her regular running time up Lake Huron wi1h a fair wind; blew her name signal to the marine reporte r at Mackinaw, and then started down Lake Michigan for Milwaukee on Od. 2. [56] The steamer Frank O'Connor while she was undergoing re pairs in the drydock at Buffalo in 19 17. The freight and passenge r steamer Juniata, which later became the Milwaukee Clipper, can be seen in the background.

Afte r checking the weathe r the captain decided to keep the lee of the west shore close aboard after leaving Lansing Shoal. Favored by the quietness of a li'g ht head wind the crew members off watch decided to forego their usual card games and focs'I yarns for a good night's rest before reaching port.

Just as the ship drew a breast of Cana Island there was the sudden sound of alarm bells and all Hell broke loose with the dreaded cry of Fire! The watchman while sounding the ship on his rounds had discovered smoke curl ing up from one of the afte r hatches.

The aroused crew under the supervision of the mate hurriedly removed the tarpaulin and raised the hatch covers. They were driven back by the billow­ ing smoke and before the water hoses could be turned i'nto the hold the new draft caused by the open hatch turned the smoke into soaring flames.

At the first alarm Captain William J. Hayes had ordered the ship turned about, before the wind to lessen the draft, and she was now headed in toward the land near North Boy. When he saw that oil the firefighting equipment was having no effect on the raging fire in the wooden ship's hold and that soon all above water would be destroyed, he ordered the enginee rs to open the sea cocks to hasten her sinking, and o il hands to abandon ship. [57] Baileys Harbor Coast Guard Station about 1907, when it was still 1

Rowing away in the lifeboats (with a "white ash breeze" as power by oars was often called) they headed on Cana Island light, while over the stern they could see their old home make her welcome death plunge as the fire went out and she· submerged beneath the surface of the sea. In the meantime the crew at the Baileys Harbor Coast Guard Station had received word of the disaster and hod taken off in the lifeboat to go to the ship's aid. On reaching the Cano Island lighthouse they found the O'Connor's crew of twenty-one safe and sound although weary and shaken by their experience. The coast guardsmen took the crew to the Baileys Harbor station where they were given food and o night's lodging. The following day the station captain took them into town where he arranged for their transportation to Sturgeon Boy. From there they were soon homeward bound. (One of the O'Connor's crew members was Gardener Kerker of Sturgeon Bay.) The O'Connor went to her final resting place off Porker's Reef near North Boy and remains of what may be her hull were recently found by skin­ divers.

The little schooner Willard A. Smith went aground at Horseshoe Bay in October 1893. She was caught lying at pier in the bay during a blow and driven ashore. She went to pieces almost immediately. The crew was rescued from the rigging by a yowl boat. The Smith was owned by Eugene Cordier and Capt. Hans Peterson. [58] The steomer Renfrew os a pockoge freighter. She hos o lood of outos on deck os well os her regulor cargo in the hold.

Strangers in Sturgeon Bay

For more than a hund red years ships have found their final resting ploce in the famous "Boneyard of lake Michigan" - Sturgeon Boy. This has been the final stop for almost every type or class of ship. Among the first were the mackinaw boats and schooners, then as years went by came wood and steel passenger ships, freighters, ferry boats, ore carri'ers, tugs and many a small yacht or pleasure craft.

Most of these were frequent visitors to Door county waters and when they outlived their usefulness came home to die. Some were stripped and burned, others were torn down to a bore hull and filled with stone and then sunk for a dock or pier facing; some were condemned and abandoned to sink beneath the surface of the sea where, on a clear day, broken ports of the m con still be seen. Now and then a stronger would arrive and she would be destroyed ofter all salvageable material hod been removed.

Among these strangers were the steamers Renfrew and Portsmouth. Although they sometimes passed close to the canal light. during bad weother, on their way up and down the west shore of lake Michigan, they were almost stra ngers to Door county waters. These were two of the largest ships to come to the boneyard. The Renfrew was built in Cleveland in 1893 and was 324 feet in le ngth w ith a 42 foot beam. A package freighter, she had many changes in name and ownership. When she came out she was named the Alva after her fi rst owner, Capt. Alva Bradley of Cleveland. When owned by t he Chicago & Du luth Trans­ portation Co. she was named the Minnetonka; The Great l akes Tr onsportotion Co. of Midland, Ont., her next owners named her Glenfinnan. Her final owners the Canada S. S. Lines named her Renfrew, the name she carried to the end. [59) --~-...... - --!~;;.~··::;, ~~...... ~· . ..~..

l>IM'.•...t.;><.-' •••.:~;. The steamer Portsmouth, flying light, upbound for a nother cargo of red iron ore.

The Portsmouth was built in 1896 a t Chicago. A b ulk freight barge, she was built of steel a nd w as 352 feet in length with a 44 foot beam. As she was equipped with sail she w a s classified as a schooner. She came out as t he George E. Hartnell and was owned by the Northwest Transportation Co. Among her later owners were the Paisley S. S. Co. of Cleveland and the Cleveland Cliffs Transportation Co. of the same place. In t he 20's she was purchased by the Great Lakes Transportati'on Co. of Midland, Ont., and in 1923 triple expansion engines were placed in her. Her name was changed to Glensannox and as a steamer she put cut to sea once more. Later she was taken over by the Canada Steamship lines and renamed the Portsmouth. This is the name she bore when the Canada S. S. Lines decided to scrap her along with the Renfrew. Thus these two ships reached t he end of their careers in 1937-38 when they joi ned so many once proud ships in t h ~ peaceful waters of Sturgeon Bay.

The schooner Kittie Laurie is a total wreck between Eagle Harbor and Little Sister Bay, and this undoubted ly is the last of the little vessel. The Kittie left Ell ison Bay a nd started for Ephraim, but somehow managed to run asher~ and as she is quite an old craft she forthwith began to break up, and it is quite probable that the hull is a total wreck by this time. The Kittie was built at this port by Capt. Robt. Laurie in 1872, and her gross register is only a li'ttle over thirteen tons. Severa l years ago the vessel was purchased by Capt. Nicholi Anderson, of Ephraim, w ho owned her at t he t ime she went ashore. There was no insurance on the craft and her loss was therefore total. - Door County Advocate, Aug. 17, 1889 [60] Gallant Men of the Sea

In the early days of shippi'ng on Lake Michigan before Life-Saving Sta­ tions were established, very little could be done to aid a ship that was dis­ abled, foundering, or stranded and in danger of breaking up. Sometimes an­ other ship could get to the side of the distressed vessel and remove the crew or get near enough to pass a line aboard and tow the ship to safer w aters. If, however, a ship ran into trouble during a violent storm there was little onlookers could do but stand helplessly on the beach while the ship broke up and watch for any survivors who might be washed ashore. At other times a heroic man like James Larsen took matters in his own hands, and at the risk of life and limb went to the rescue. The following is the Life-Saving Service account of his feat: "A gold medal was awarded to James Larsen of Sister Bay, Door County, Wisconsin, for the very gallant rescue, on the night of Octobe r 16, 1880, of the crew of seven men of the British bark Two Friends, of Port Burwell, Ontario, wrecked in North Bay, a small harbor on the Wisconsin shore, near the northerly end of Lake Michigan. It se~ms that a fleet of nearly 30 vessels had sought refuge there from a heavy southerly gale, and among them was the Two Fr i"ends, deeply laden with salt. Being the last to arrive, and as the boy was crowded, she was compelled to anchor in an exposed berth directly at the entrance, where the sea had an unbroken sweep from the lake and it was very rough. She came to with both anchors at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, and two hours later dragged ashore on the northerly side of the bay, where she almost immediately swung broadside to the sea, and fell over on her starboard side, or off shore. Thus exposed, her deck was in a short time swept of everything movable, the cabin was smashed i'n, the boat was washed from the davits and stove in pieces on the rocky shore, and the crew was drive'n to the rigging. Although several other vessels were aground up the boy none of their people were yet ashore, and the only persons on the beach at the time were James Larsen, a fisherman of the locality, and his hired assistant, Ole M. Rasmussen. They were before long, however, joined by the crew of one of the other stranded vessels who had landed in their own yawl. Larsen begged their aid wi'th their boat, but this was refused, the captain offering in excuse that his boot could not li've in such a sea as was running where the bark lay. They, however, aided him in an effort to throw a small line ·to the vessel by means of a shot-gun, but the distance, one hundred yards, was too great, and the attempt failed. Thi's idea was doubtless due to his previous training as a surfmon at one of the lifesaving stations on that coast. With the approach of night a driving snowstorm set in and as the vessel showed signs of breaking up, the situati'on of the people in the rigging became very alarming. The party on the shore were now dropping off one by one to seek shelter, believing that nothing further could be done until daylight the next morning. This left Larsen and his comrade alone. The two remained some hours longer watching the vessel and listening to the piteous cries of the people for help, which could plainly be heard above the howling of the gale, until the brave Larsen could stand it no longer, and he resolved to get a boat at all hazards and attempt the rescue alone, although Rasmussen, who was himself a boatman tried to dissuade him from it. It should be stated that Larsen's own boat had been driven on the rocks by the gale and damaged so badly t hat it was unfit for use. But for th i's he would have ventured out soon ofter the bark struck. He at lost succeeded at about 10 o'clock in borrowing a light, 14-foot clinker-built boat from William Marshall, the superintendent of the North Boy property, in spite of remonstrances of several persons, among [ 61] whom were captains of vessels in the bay, who derided his earnestness and characteri'zed the project as foolhardy; some going as far as to say that no one but a lunatic would think of going out to the wreck in such a sea, and that he would surely lose his own life. Jn fact so strong was the opposition and the belief t hat Larsen would be dashed back against the rockbound shore, that it was only when he offered to deposit with the owner, the money value of the boat that he obtained consent for its use. Undeterred by the many objections, he sent for the boot, which hod to be carried some distance through the woods, and then fastening a small line about his waist, he took his seat, and when a favorable moment presented shoved off, and in seven trips brought the bark's crew, one at a time, safely ashore, the entire operation toking him just one hour and a half. The last man was landed precisely at midnight. He had several narrow escapes, the boat being swamped no less than five times, and the utmost d ifficulty was encountered in getting the numbed and almost ex­ hausted men off the wreck. This was done by their lowering themselves from the jib-boom, it being too dangerous for him to go alongside or even to lay in his oars. As the night was bitter cold it is altogether i'mprobable that the men would have survived until morning, a·nd in light of the evidence presented no doubt was entertained that their escape was due entirely to Larsen's daring and self-sacrifice, and this was held to entitle hi'm the highest award within the province of the Service to bestow. The grateful sailors pressed him to accept a pecuniary reward, but this, although a poor man, he chivalrously declined." The Life-Saving Service grew from a small beginning of a few little shocks along the Atlantic coast manned by volunteer crews to an establishment wi'th many stations along oil the shore lines of the United States. In the beginning most of t he stations were served by volunteer crews commanded by a salaried keeper. Volunteers were paid only if it could be proved that the lives had actually been saved. In other words the men could brave the hazards of the elements and endanger their own li ves to take crews off a stri'cken ship and if the ship did not break up, and the crew returned to it, it was presumed that had the men stayed aboard they would not have perished and therefore the volunteers were not paid. As most of the volunteers were poor men and had to leave their jobs to go to the aid of stricken vessels, it can readily be seen that other arrangements had to be made if the service was to a id the rapidly growing number of ships on the oceans and on the Great Lakes. In 1871 Sumner I. Kimball became the head of the Morine Revenue Bur­ eau, of the Treasury Department, whi'ch was in charge of the Life-Saving Service. After making a survey of the system and the condition of equipment and build­ ings he began reorganizing the service a nd plans were made to build life-saving and life-boat stations at all points where they w e re needed. The life-boat sk1tions, originally, were primarily for rendering assistance i'n the saving of lives aboard stricken ships and were manned by a paid keeper and volunteer crews. The life-saving station us ually had paid surfmen who lived at the station or nearby as well as the keeper. The pay of the keeper was small, in 1877 it was still only $200 a year. Jn some coses o surfmon on regu lar duty at the rote of $40 a month earned more than the keeper. The keeper of a station was a man of many responsibilities. He was inspector of customs, watched for smugglers, took charge of salvaged cargo, went with his men to all disasters, saw that the station was a lways in top shape and equipment ready for instant use, drilled the men in the use of surfboat a nd life-saving equipment, kept journals and weekly sent written reports to head- (62] Sturgeon Bay Canal Coast Guard Station. In the background are the lig htho use, boats on the w ays, ready for a ny emergency, a nd lookout tower. O n the right can be seen coa stguardsmen pra cticing right ing a boat during o ne of the ir frequent drills. This picture was ta ke n about t he year the cana·I crew we nt to the aid of the steame r Carolina. This is o ne of the few sta~io n s left on the Great Lakes that is still fu ll y manned. quarters. On his. head fell the blame or comme ndation for the manner in which assistance was rendered. In 1878 his pay was raised to $400 a year, $200 less than that of a light-house keeper who was not required to risk his life in saving others. The life of the surfman was also arduous. He patrolled the lonely beaches at night for many miles, ofte n stumbling over unseen obiects. Where stations were not too far apart, the two patrolmen would meet a nd report, where stations were isolated the patrolman punche d timeclocks to show t ha·I he was ever on the lookout for vessels in d istress. During the day he stood his watch in the lookout tower. He spent hours in drill on the handling of surfboat~ and lifeboats and in the use of the lyle gun and breeches buoy. He was ever ready to go to the aid of those who needed his services. These men never had a full night's rest and o nly 12 hours off a wee or 24 in two wee ks. The y lived apart from their families and friends. Tod it seems a miracle that the service attracted so many valiant men. Although the first lighthouse was built in Door County in 1836, on Is land, it was not until 1886 that the county hod a lifesaving station. Origi the first one was planned for Baileys Harbor, but the opening of the shi'p caused it to be built at its present location on land donated by the Ship Ca Afte r the canal siation was opened the keeper and his crew w busy; sometimes going to the aid of ships as far away os Kewa unee d id in November, 1886. In the lotte r port of the forenoon on th e 17th, th e crew of; received word, via telegraph from Kewaunee, that two vessels had V [63 ] I ed on the beach and that several others that were anchored off that point were in danger of dragging ashore. A northeast gale was raging with o heavy sea and the roods were bod from recent rains so the keeper telephoned for two teams to meet him at Bay View, four miles from the station. The beach appar­ atus was transported across ·the canal on o tug, the weather making it inadvis­ able to use the surfboat. By changing horses at Ahnapee, the life-saving crew was able to reach Kewaunee by 6:30 that eveni'ng. Two schooners were found anchored o short distance off the land. A Coston signal was fired to let the crews know that assistance was at hand. The surfmen kept o strict watch on the vessels until daybreak when o signal of distress was shown by one of the ships, the George W. Bissell. They im­ mediately borrowed o boot from a nearby fisherman and started out in on attempt to reach her. When the life-savers come alongside they discovered that the crew of six men were nearly fami'shed, having been without food for two days. The station men had hod hard and dangerous work reaching the ship as the wind hod hauled to the southwest and, accompanied by snow, was blowing strong. However, they volunteered to toke the captain ashore and to return wi1h him as soon os he could obtain supplies. They mode o safe landing on their return to the shore but when they were ready to toke off again they were advised by the townspeople not to try to make the ship as the seas were running v,ri'th great force and dashing over the pierheads. But the surfmen were not to be discouraged and fearlessly set out on their errand of mercy. By courage and skill they reached the ship and put the captain and provisions safely on board. Upon their return to the shore they found that their help was no longer needed so they started bock to the station some 25 miles away. They arrived there shortly before midnight. It was not unti'I 1896 that stations were established at Plum Island and Baileys Harbor and some of the load was taken off the Sturgeon Bay station.

Beach cart with equipment (completely loaded this weighed a thousand pounds or more), showing how the men pulled the cart by me·ans of ropes over their shoulders. This cart had metal tires, the carts in use today have rubber tires and are pulled by truck or tractor. [ 64) On May 25, 1896, before the Plum Island station was fully manned and equipped, the steamer Thomas Cronoge stranded at 6 o.m., during heavy fog, about one mile from the station. Upon hearing the signal of distress, the keeper and two surfmen who were there and a volunteer launched a skiff and enlisting the aid of the Pilot Island Lighthouse keeper, who was at the station in his sloop, were towed to the scene of the stranding. In the meantime the mote of the Cranoge hod been picked up by a passing steamer and taken to Esco'nobo where he obtained a towboat. When he returned with the tug the life-savers rendered a ssistance by carrying messages and running lines until the vessel was finally f loated free. Sometimes the stations provided food and clothes for crews of disabled or wrecked ships, such as the Ba ileys Harbor station did on August 8, 1896 for the crew of the schooner Emeline. The Emeline capsized about 25 miles from the station during a squall. The crew of four men managed to escape in the ship's yawl and made for the beach. The keeper sow the small boot with the wet and hungry men and took them to the station. There they were given food and dry clothing. The keeper then procurred a tug, and with the surfboat in tow, took his crew and went out to the capsized vessel. After searching for six hours they finally found her drifting about on her beom ends. The life-savers made the booms and sails fast, and then ran a towline from th e tug and towed the ship into the harbor. The surfmen worked for four days saving the gear and helping to right and raise the schooner, but all efforts failed and she proved to be a total loss. Often when a ship was lost the life-savers were able to attach o line to her anchors and float a buoy, then when the weather cleared they were able

A century old anchor from the bark Two Friends is now used as a lawn decoration at Gordon's Lodge at North Bay, near Baileys Harbor, Wis. Recently the remains of the Two Friends have been found by skin divers on Marshall's Reef in North Bay. She lies in about twenty feet of water.

[65) to salvage the anchors. They always tried to salvage as much of the cargo as they could and hold i't in trust for the owners. The men were called on in case of drownings and were often able to restore breathing, or recover the body. The life-savers were always ready to aid anyone who needed them and were coiled upon to help put out fires, release mired animals, take people on and off isolated islands, and to do many things not of a life-saving nature. This they did willingly. In 1915 the Revenue Cutter Service and the Life-savi'ng service were combined under the Trea sury Deportment and named the "Coast· Guo rd." In 1939 the Bureau of Lighthouses was transferred from the Departme nt of Commerce to the Coast Guard. Today the Lighthouse Service i's comple te ly merged with the Coast Guard. A man who enlists today in the Coast Guard may serve on a ship, at a station or be in charge of a lighthouse. It is hard to believe when one sees the equipment at o station today that of one time the men pulled the beach carts by means of ropes over their shoulders to many of the w recks, as horses w e re not always available. That instead of power boats such as ore used now to guickly reach a disaster the men rowed for long hours. Al though the station men are very seldom called upon to go to the aid of large ships nowadays, thanks to modern methods of navigation, they ore sti ll called to aid small boots and yachts in distress throughout the navigation season. In the winter the Coast Guard ice-breakers go wherever needed to break channels for ice bound shi'ps, such as the carferries trying to go through Sturgeon Bay o'nd Green Bay. The service has proved that down through the years they were as their motto says "Semper Paratus" - Always ready.

Side-whee'I steamer Dove. Built in Trenton, M ichigan in 1867 she w as 187 feet in length with a 24 foot beam. She w as one of the many passenger ships to· visit Door County in the eighties. [66) Steamer Sparta on the beach wJth coast guard boat standing by.

Steamer Sparta

A few days before that disastrous storm on Nov. 11, 1940, known since as the "Armistice Day Blow," the freighter Sparta passed through the Soc Locks, upbound. She was in ballast, heading for the iron ore docks at Duluth. Shortly ofter she passed Whitefish Poi'nt on Lake Superior, heading on up the Lake, the wind began to breeze up from the north. When he saw the falling glass and increasing wi'nd the captain decided to seek shelter under Grand Island, near Munising, Mich. As she neared Pictured Rocks at Grand Portal the Sparta, being in light trim and with the sea and wind abeam, refused to look away from the land and into the pounding seas and high winds. She began drifting sideways and closer and closer into the frothing teeth of the angry surf roaring along the rocky shore. As darkness approached in the late afternoon of Nov. 5, she was storm driven at full speed for up on a rocky ledge near Minor's Castle, about 15 mi'les east of Munising. The wind at that time was estimated at about 60 miles per hour. Shortly after she fetched up the captairi ordered her scuttled (by o pening all the seacocks). This fi lled her entire le ngth with water and prevented the rise and fall the incoming seas from pounding her on the rocks and causing considerable damage. Seei'ng that the lives of the crew were in no immediate danger, the captain took some of his men and made far the shore in a life boat. On reaching shore he notified the nearest Coast Guard Station which was in Munising. Later, the rest of the crew and most of their belongings were removed from the ship. The Sparta was then abandoned and left to spend the winter at the mercy of the elements. When spring came she was patched up, rai'sed, and dragged off the beach by the tugs of the Roen Steamship Company. Capt. John Roen had her towed to his shipyards at Sturgeon Bay where he planned to have her repaired. When a marine survey showed that the cost of her repairs would be more than her value, he ordered her dismantled.

[67] The Sparta as she looks today. She is now a graving dock for the Sturgeon Bay Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co. A Corps of Engineers barge can be seen inside and the port bow of the tanker Comet high on the right.

Her upper works were removed and her hull was cut in two. The for­ ward part of her hull has been used since at his yard as a drydock for small craft. A part of the after end of her hull was towed north where it was used as a breakwa·ter facing at Capt. Roen's cottage at Burnt Bluff, near Fairport in upper Michi'gan. Thus ended the gallant career of another proud ship that outwitted the locker of "Old Davey Jones" for 38 years and brought her crew safely to shore every fall and faithfully sailed out with them every spring. The steamer Sparta and her sister ship the Shasta were built in Lorain, Ohio, in 1902. They were 380 feet in length with a 50 foot beam and had a net tonnage of 3,370. They originally hailed out of Cleveland and the Sparta had been christened the Frank W. Hart and the Shasta, C. W. Watson. The Sparta usually carried a crew of 25 men. At the time of her strandi'ng she was owned by the National Steamship Company of Duluth. * The following appeared in the Door County Advocate on August l 0, 1889. "The captain of the schooner David Stewart did considerable 'kicking! because it required six days to hoi'st a thousand tons of coal out of his vessel. He finally got away Tuesday, clearing for Escanaba to load ore for Cleveland. The coal heavers got twenty cents a ton for discharging the cargo and they undoubtedly earned the money, as it would be hard to find a more dirty and disagreeable job than to remove coal from the hold of a vessel with the primitive appliances in use at this port." [68] I ..,,,- 1\

Schooner fleetwi n~ frozen in for the w inter of 1887, near Sturgeon Bay Bridge. Hull repairs were easier to ma ke from the ice them from a dock.

Schooner Fl eetwing

On Sept. 26, 1888, the heavily laden schooner Fleetwing was wind­ driven hard ashore on the rocky beach at Garrett Boy, thus becoming another of the many ships to be destroyed in the waters of Door county. The Fleetwing was a sturdy, well-built, three masted schooner, built at Manitowoc in 1867 and hailing out of Chicago. She was a trim and shapely ship, 136 feet in length with a 29 foot beam. Launched during the boom that followed the Civil War she carried cargo of various kinds to the many ports along the shores of Lake Michigan. She often ran into Green Boy where she brought supplies to the many new towns and picked up return cargoes of lumber, grain and other commodities. During her years of service she ran into little trouble other than an occasional stranding on a sand bar for a few hours until the wind changed or she was pulled free; such as the time on Sept. l 0, 1888 when she ran aground on Green Island during the night and it took the combined efforts of three tugs to release her. Usually she suffered little or no damage. Perhaps the stranding on Green Island was a forewarning of a more serious disaster to come, for otherwise the crew had no premonitions except for the oft repeated superstition "that a woman aboard brought bod luck!" They watched the leather-aproned lumber shavers finish trimming the deck load and began their own task of making ready for another trip at sea. [69] Dusk was approaching when the mooring lines were taken in and the crew worked the vessel away from the dock by hoisting the outsi'de anchor. Feeling the wind, her sails were set for the trip across the bay. Sliding a long on a port tack with an increasing westerly wind she made good way. After leaving Green and Chambers Island well to the starboard the captai'n shaped his course and hoped for o fast trip through the dreaded Death's Door Passage and on int o the waters of the big lake. In the early days of sa i'I it required o lot of luck and first class seamanship to make the passage after dark or in periods of poor visibility. Although the wind was rapidly increasing the Fleetwing carried all possible canvas and soon fetched the dark shadows of the high land close aboard on her starboard bow. In the darkness the captain mistakenly took Death's Door Bluff for Table Bluff and dropped her off to the eastward for a passage through the narrows of the Door and the open waters beyond. After running a short time on this heading the captain became alarmed at se eing no welcoming loom of an opening in the darkness or the lights of Plum and Pilot Islands up ahead and ordered the helm "hard down" and com­ manded the watch to "about shi'p." While trying to bring her head up and come in stays she ran out of sea room and fetched up standi'ng, with a terrible splinter­ ing crash, on the rocky beach. The sudden stop combined with the force of the wind on the flying-canvas caused the mizzen-mast to sheer off at deck level and topple over the side. As the ship's bow slid up on the rocks her sloping stern slowly filled with water and settled o'n the bottom. This gave the crew, including the woman cook, ti me to gather a few belongings and srcamble safely over the side and make for shore and the welcoming lights of a house nearby. This was the home of Andrew and Mary Nelson who gave them food and shelter. (The Nelsons built the fi'rst store and pier at Garrett Bay in the early eighties and later owned a stone quarry. Their daughter, Ella Nelson Dana, who still spends her summers at Garrett Bay, remembers as a child hearing much of the story of the loss of the Fleetwing.) The next day the Nelsons t ook the captain and his crew to Ellison Bay where arrangeme nts were made for their transportation home. There were no tugs In the immediate vicinity to aid in pulling the disabled Fleetwing off the rocks so she was at the mercy of the· wind and sea until tugs could be sent from Sturgeon Bay. The tug Spalding with wrecking equipment in tow was the first to arrive at the scene. She had no more than installed a pump on the wreck when it started to blow a gale from the northeast and operations were suspended. The tug was compelled to seek shelter in Eagle Harbor. When the storm was over the tug returned and found that the ship had almost gone to pieces where she lay.

When the owners ~f the cargo. Wells, Ludington and Van Schaick, learned of the disaster they sent the tug Burton and two lighters to Garrett Bay in an effort to salvage it. The steambarge Ni'collet was also pressed intc1 service. Thus almost the entire cargo of lumber was saved. Unfortunately the ship was covered by only $3,000 insurance. The winter before the captain, who was half owner, had been offered $8,000 for her which was refused and instead $6,000 had been spent in making repairs and reno­ vations. In October 1888 the captain of the schooner Conquest purchased all usable equipment and the Fleetwing was abandoned by the underwriters. [70] There were two schooners with the name of "Fleetwing" operating on Lake Michigan at this time. The other one went aground north of Frankfort, Mich. in 1893. She was loaded with a cargo of barreled beer and many a wife hod to toke a round turn on her husband to keep him off the beach.

Accordi'ng to the Door County Advocate for November 30, 1901, there were six passenger steamers in the port of Sturgeon Bay the previous Tuesday. They were the Iowa, Georgia, Eugene Hart, City of Louisville, Gty of Marquette and City of Green Bay.

1 The beautiful 65 foot schooner Utopia. Designed and built in 1946 by Peterson Builders, Inc., of Sturgeon Bay. The Utopi'a has a well proven steel bottom and wood topsides. Carrying on her stern the name of her home port "Sturgeon Bay, Wis." she was a real advertisement for the city as she made her way around the world on a cruise that lasted from l 956 to t 959. During this trip she traveled down Lake Michigan, through the Chicago Drainage Canal to the Mississippi, and then on down to the Gulf of Mexico. From here she made her way across three oceans and ten secs, touching at many exotic ports before she came back home via the new St. Lawrence Seaway. She also made a long voyage during l 947 and t 948, touching at many ports on both sides of the Atlantic. She is owned by the· Peterson family and is lying at the Peterson Builders dock awaiting another cruise. [71] ,

Steamer Sturgeon Bay on the ways, just before her launching in 1918. The bow of the steamer Niko can be seen astern. (The Niko stranded in 1924 on Garden Island and later her machinery was salvaged by Capt. John Roen.)

Steamer Sturgeon Bay

In the files of the Rieboldt and Wolter Yards of Sturgeon Bay, Hull No. 61 was the big wooden ship "Sturgeon Bay," christened i'n honor of her place of birth. She was 250 feet in length with a 44 foot beam. Built as an experimen1 she was the largest wooden ship built on the Great Lakes for the government. Built in 1918 for United States Shipping Board she really got around and led a rather bumpy life. In service on the Great Lakes and also on the Atlantic, she was storm driven ashore in places too numerous to mention, from the beaches south of the Canal to those of Grand Haven and on the Atlantic as far south as the warm shores of Florida. She was used during the war for coastal training cruises and later returned to the lakes where she was used as o Naval Reserve Training Ship. She was ahead of her times by being o real home for t he boys; being equipped for movies, recreation of all sorts and having five chairs i'n her barber shop and a clothing store. After she was no longer needed by the government she was sold to private enterprise and later converted to a sand and stone barge. In 1933 she was condemned and like many another ship built in Sturgeon Bay, too tough and seaworthy to die battling the elements, she had [72] The Sturgeon Bay in use as a training ship on the Great Lakes. to be sent to her final resting place by the hand of man, being sunk as a dock facing i'n Cleveland in 1934. In 1963 another ship of the same name was launched at the Sturgeon Bay Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co. A trawler, she wi ll carry the name of "Sturgeon Bay" as she plys up and down the Atlantic for the Charlevoix Transportation company owned by Capt. John Roen.

An artist's conception of a life-boat drill. Some say this might have been aboard the Sturgeon Bay when she was a training ship. [73] Ads in la75 showi'n?. G R EEN 13A.Y the various points WEST & EAST SHORE · w here stops were mode LI N E ! ~ 18 7 5 . !1.a:sS'Gt by passeng e r steamers.

~ IS76 ~ C.•UT. TIIOS. UAWJ.J-: Y, Will run iln1·iug the ~en.son of 1 8 7 l., tu (-1111· nccUon with Lhe Wisconsin Ccnlrnl I:. i: • lcnvlng on nrrlvnl ol morning tmln, 111 i: GRE EN BAY o'clocl< A . M. 'l'nc&lny :mil ~altml:1y, 1ouc·h .,\NO lng nt Oconto, Peshtigo, Little nn. Sturgeon Bay, Menominee, Cellar River, Escanaba, and Fay· GOODRICH TRAN SPORTATION ette :Furnace- TO UC HIN G AT SAME PO INTS ON C O lVI PANY . RETUR N. For Frclg'ht or t'n f:.~ngc np1>l)' to t hi' \\' i•· consln ecn1rnl lt. Jt. 1•11:1$<,llg<:a· lh'I"'' 111 Green I::iy, or CREEN BAY LINE U . N. LAN(~ TO~ & C.:O., JOH N DAY, .Jn., ,'t, J1tw. Shippe rs or Ft·cl(.l'_ht wlll ploi1se t 11k t\ l°l'<'li• hl lo G. 11. J,Al\G'!'O,'\ ,'(; CO'l:i Jloc:i.. Green B n:v, i'q w!I ~V I h, 1875. ·.1.111r ·

Truesdell, ~ I S7:5 ~~ Ca.pt . F. W. SPAFFORD, EAST SHORE LINE LEAVES C JIJCAGO KV Kltl' '.l'UESIJA 1' }:\' KN INH A'f 7 U'l?Llll?ll: , T h e S t eamer AND \\' 1Y.iL i·ou -.)U A 'I' QUEEN CITY r ish Crook, M onominoc, Bt u1•!:'oon Will 1·un en O'c!oclr A • .M. r or r reight or P a ssage. n1>ply to 'l'H Jo~ l ' It 0 l' J.; I ,J.J-:t! :ELMORE & KllLLY. C>CC>N"TC> Green Pny, Mt1)' 2 llh, 1875. .1;,1 r. Capt. JOHN H, GEHEN,

LEA.'\'ES C HIOACO e\'MY ltr itl11y cYe· GARRF;TT Uil Y STORK n lng Ill 7 o 'cloclc. lllHI w lll ton ch at J\lE­ NOMINEF., STU fc G~~Ol\ l iAY, OCONTO, GltEJo: N IlA 1, .DE .l:'l m J~ . ANDRE W NE LSON, ltETUilNHW Dcnlor iu f ,EAV ES G ll :ii: 1'~N l\;,\ y O\'Cl'f .Mon1lny ('VIJ­ General Merchandise & Pier Owner. nlng, 11ml wlll t o uch nt OCO N'J.'0, :l'l'lf }!· Gl!:ON' IlA Y, Jlm NO AllNl~ J,; 1<111 1 l~ I Sll G AlutWL'l ' BAY, 1)00lt CO., Wli:l. CREEK. W ood. Tio3. r• n'4t.~, Dark ••~ c .• by t.ho 01t1"t:'h. F Olt 1'' REJGll'l' Olt PAS.'IACl.1-~ Al'l' t.Y OX llOA n» O H ·ro L ••T. VAY, ll. lt VltSON, Ad by Andrew Nelson in Green llny. .lll llw1rnl:v.r, A . l C. UOOJ>IUCH, P1·011ltlO n l, C l1 lc 111~ <>. whose front yard 1he 11 ·16-tf Fleetwing co me to rest. [74) Index

Ship Page Adriatic -----__ ------______- - - ______33 Bon Ami ------21 Carolina ______---- ______9 City of Alpena ------49 City of Benton Harbor ------44 City of Chicago ------52 City of Glasgow ------29 City of Green Boy ------19 City of Holland ------47 City of Louisville ------· 17 City of Mackinac ------47 City of St. Joseph --- - - ·· ·------53 City of Saugatuck ------49 City of South Hoven ------36 Corona ------5 C. W. Moore ------14 DovDePeree ______------_-----______- ----__-______------667 E. G. Crosby ------37 Empire State------24 Eu gene C. Hart ------17 Fannie C. Hart ------15 Fleetwing ------69 Frank O'Connor ------56 George M. Cox ------42 Harriet A. Hart ------18 Huron ------4 Ida Corning ------24 Isle Royale ------43 Keweenaw ______32 Manitou _ ------___ ------40 Norm ii ------51 North Shore ------22 Oak leaf ------23 Petoskey _ ------______------______19 Portsmouth ------59 Puritan __ _ ------____ --- - ______40 Renfrew ------59 Rowe ------16 Sailor Boy ------20 Sparta ______------_ ---- ______67 State of Michigan ------8 Sturgeon Bay ------72 Two Friends ------61 Utopia ____ ------______------__ 71 Welcome ------13 W. l. Brown ------27

[75] We wish to thank the following for their help in assembling the data and pictures for this book:

Capt. John Roen Ivan Light Capt. Art Anderson George Honold Capt. Frank Hamilton George Vargo Capt. Orin Angwald Edwin Wilson Capt. John Kane Ray Anderson Capt. V. W. Williamson J. F. Bertschinger Capt. Carl Richter W. C. Schilling Capt. D. J. McGarity C. R. Christianson Capt. W . J . Farley W. A. MacEacham Capt. H. C. Inches Earl Bonville Capt J . H. Ferris Rev. E. J. Dowling S. J. Capt. Palmer E. LaPlante H. E. Koepke Capt. Leif Weborg Kenneth Smith Capt. C. M. Jacobson Walter Haertel Capt. H. Nelson Clifford Chambers Capt. Duncan W. Hill Robert Peterson Lorry Geiger Ellsworth Peterson Tony Jessen Phil Gordon Roy Valicthka Carl F. Fredrickson Adolph Roeser Kewaunee Enterprise Fay Temby Door County Advocate Joe Perry Manitowoc Herald Times John Berger Marine Historical Society of Detroit Clarence Koyen Great Lakes Historical Society Andy Houston Wakefield Museum Chan Harris Manitowoc Public Library Steve Krauss Great Lakes Maritime Institute John Purves Door County Historical Society Stanley Voight

and

Mesdames Mable Temby, Hannah Rogers, Ella Dana, Erma Brick, Evelyn Perry, T. L. Tolan, A. E. Lawrence, R. LeClair. C. B. Eaton, Earl Banville, and Mi sses V. L. Sauer, Imogene Christenson, and Janet Coe Sanborn

[76]

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