The Pirate of Lake Michigan
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RoaRing Dan By Dr. Richard J. Boyd Seavey THE PIRATE OF LAKE MICHIGAN n the maritime folklore of the Great Lakes, only one mariner ihas ever been branded a pirate. That person was Captain Daniel Seavey, who spent most of his infamous career on Lake Michigan and in its many ports. So notorious were his exploits that he became known across the region as “Roaring Dan”—a nickname well-suited to his colorful personality and pugnacious disposition. 44 | MICHIGAN HISTORY Daniel Seavey was a large and powerfully built individual for a man of the late 19th century. He stood 6 foot 4 or 5 and weighed RoaRing about 250 pounds. He possessed a barrel chest with long arms terminating in huge hands, all set atop a trim lower body. His Dan hair was sandy, his complexion ruddy, and he spoke with a pronounced New England accent. Seavey was not a Seavey Michigander by birth, coming into the world instead in Maine in Above: At one point, Seavey operated his schooner, the Wanderer, as a floating brothel. Courtesy of the Historical THE PIRATE OF LAKE MICHIGAN 1865. His father was a Collections of the Great Lakes/Bowling Green State University. Facing page, top: A Milwaukee company markets a schooner captain, and rum named for the mariner. Courtesy of Great Lakes Distillery. Below: This Seavey portrait is owned by the Chicago the son quickly took to Historical Society. the sea himself. By the age of 13, he was working aboard local vessels. At 18, he legal name to Mary Silver, an action that will be examined entered the U.S. Navy for a three-year hitch, followed by a later.) In 1900, Roaring Dan surfaced in Escanaba, stint as a deputy marshal for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Michigan, where he married 22-year-old Zilda Bisner— tracking bootleggers and smugglers on reservation lands in another disastrous union. Within four years, Bisner filed several states. for divorce, her declaration describing how Seavey regularly Roaring Dan first appeared near the Great Lakes in the beat her and threatened her life. When confronted with the 1880s at the railhead at Middle Inlet, Wisconsin. While divorce suit, Seavey once again disappeared onto the lake. trapping in this area, he met and married 14-year-old Mary Some years later, he met and wed Annie Bradley on the Plumley, the first of his three wives. By the 1890s, the Garden Peninsula, a marriage that lasted many years. couple and their two daughters had moved to Milwaukee, Seavey operated various businesses in Michigan, some where Seavey bought a small farm and interest in several legitimate and some not. Over the years, he dabbled in waterfront saloons. The Milwaukee Business Directory marine transporting, trapping, logging, lumber milling, and for 1896 confirms that he and a partner operated a tavern even some prizefighting. On the dark side, he also practiced near the city’s harbor. Saloon ownership allowed Seavey to smuggling, poaching, bootlegging, and pimping. These become acquainted with Frederick Pabst, the Milwaukee activities made Dan a readily recognizable character in most beer magnate. lake ports, where even today many a “Seavey story” can be Pabst reportedly encouraged Seavey to invest in a mining recounted. company in Alaska. Roaring Dan then pulled the first One such tale emanates from the small village of of many disappearing acts. Without notice, he sold his Naubinway in the eastern Upper Peninsula. While working Milwaukee properties, deserted his family, and left town, for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Seavey tracked a liquor reappearing in the midst of the Klondike Gold Rush. He smuggler to this hamlet and cornered the outlaw in a local spent several years pursuing a fortune there, but instead tavern. The smuggler boldly declared that no lawman could suffered a big financial loss when the company went bust. ever take him in hand-to-hand combat. Never shirking Seavey came back to Milwaukee, but refused to resume from a fight, Marshal Seavey launched into the violator his family responsibilities and soon vanished onto Lake and the two vigorously punched away for several hours. Michigan. Mary Seavey returned to northern Wisconsin, Roaring Dan finally finished the bout by tipping a piano remarried, and raised a large family. (She also changed her on the battered villain, or so the story goes. The defeated MAY/JUNE 2012 | 45 During this era, a significant horse-racing enterprise had developed in Chicago. Some horse owners were convinced that their thoroughbreds exhibited enhanced stamina when fed a type of marsh hay supposedly grown only in Delta County in the Upper Peninsula. To satisfy the demand, Roaring Dan Above: The working men of Fayette were among those who anticipated the Wanderer’s arrival in port. supplied boatloads of hay to Courtesy of the Archives of Michigan. Below: A June 29, 1908 clipping from the Chicago Daily News hints Chicago racetracks—profiting at Seavey’s next exploit. handsomely from the trade. It is thought that Seavey himself man received prompt medical attention, but died of his sold the horsemen on the merits on this exotic feed. injuries during the night. Upon leaving town the next day, Roaring Dan also made considerable cash running a Seavey telegraphed a succinct report: “Outlaw expired while floating bordello. Brothels were known to flourish in resisting arrest!” port towns. Local lawmen tried to curtail these unsavory Roaring Dan was a notorious barroom brawler. At activities, but met with limited success because their Manistee, a resident tough had beaten all local fighters authority ended at the water’s edge. Using this loophole and put out the word that he was seeking new challengers. in the law, some schooner masters would load their vessels Seavey quickly rose to the bait and headed to the town, with prostitutes and liquor and travel from port to port— where he confronted the ruffian in a saloon. A battle then especially on weekends and paydays. ensued. Seavey flattened the Manistee upstart and hastily TheWanderer —Seavey’s 42-foot, two-masted schooner— departed the scene, before the authorities could arrive to was engaged in this activity, with Roaring Dan making the assess the significant property damage. rounds of such communities as Fayette, Nahma, Garden, The captain occasionally fought for money. His most and Escanaba. (Seavey shared this story during interviews famous prizefight occurred in Frankfort during the winter with noted Great Lakes historian Henry Barkhausen in the of 1904. With considerable fanfare, Seavey battled Mitch mid-1940s.) Love, a respected pugilist from downstate. The fight was Seavey became forever famous when he was arrested held on the ice of the frozen harbor, where a shoveled circle for piracy, as served as a makeshift ring. About 200 people reportedly chronicled witnessed the contest, many placing sizable bets on the in lakeshore outcome. The contestants went at it eagerly with bare newspapers. knuckles for nearly two hours. Seavey eventually made These accounts a bloody pulp of Love, who was carted off for medical relate how, on attention by his dejected supporters. Roaring Dan June 11, 1908, apparently cleaned up on the contest, not only collecting Roaring Dan and the main purse but also a percentage on numerous side bets two henchmen placed by his cohorts. stole a small Often carrying a handgun, Seavey was known to be schooner in a crack shot with pistol, rifle, or shotgun. While living Grand Haven, in Frankfort, he set up an illegal fish trap offshore at the thereby initiating harbor’s mouth. This was a natural attraction for other a nautical cat- violators who wished to poach from the poacher. Roaring and-mouse game Dan solved this problem by running a trip line from the with federal trap to a bell in his fishing shack on shore. Anytime the bell authorities. It would ring, Seavey would fire a well-placed rifle shot into was suggested the water near the interloper, thereby discouraging further that Seavey thievery. approached Confidence games were another of Seavey’s many talents. Captain R.J. 46 | MICHIGAN HISTORY McCormick, owner and master of the Nellie Johnson, and several crew members in a local saloon. After some socializing, Seavey enticed the group into more serious drinking until they became immobilized. He then absconded with the schooner and headed to Chicago, intent on selling the ship’s cargo of cedar posts. Surprisingly, Seavey and his crew could not unload the posts on Chicago’s thriving black market, so Above: Roaring Dan hid out in Frankfort after stealing another captain’s ship. Courtesy of the Archives of they headed back across the Michigan. Below: The revenue cutter Tuscarora steamed out of Chicago to bring him to justice. Courtesy of the Historical Collections of the Great Lakes/Bowling Green State University. lake and up its eastern shore. By then, McCormick had hastened to alert government authorities of the theft. On afternoon. Uberroth decided to refuel there and proceed June 20, the federal revenue cutter Tuscarora steamed out of to Frankfort under the cover of night, fearful that Roaring the Windy City in pursuit of Roaring Dan, with Captain Dan might be warned of their approach by his many Preston Uberroth in command. Aboard were McCormick friends in the area. The gunboat arrived in Frankfort about and U.S. Deputy Marshal Tom Currier with an arrest dawn, and sailed on to anchor north of the village below warrant for Seavey. The charge, it was said, was piracy. Point Betsie. In mid-afternoon, the schooner Wanderer was TheTuscarora , a 178-foot, steel-hulled gunboat that spotted sprinting out of the harbor under full sail, headed was reputedly the fastest ship on the lakes, cruised up the across the lake.