Copyright USGenNet Inc., 2017 All Rights Reserved USGenNet Data Repository Please read USGenNet Copyright Statement on this page: Transcribed and submitted by Linda Talbott for the USGenNet Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ =========================================================================== Formatted by USGenNet Data Repository Chief Archivist, Linda Talbott All of the above information must remain when copied or downloaded. =========================================================================== The Ludington Record Vol. XVII, Old Series No. 9 Vol 4. New Series No. 24 Thursday, November 1, 1883 [extracts of marine news] The contracts with the Goodrich boats to carry the mails between here and Milwaukee expires Nov. 15th. Between Saturday and Sunday evenings a large fleet of vessels arrived at this port. Twelve of them were ready for sea again on Tuesday night. Their aggregate cargos amounted to 2 1/2 million feet. Mr. Scott em- ployed eighteen tallymen. The F. & P. M. steamer No. 2, Capt. Duddleson, has evidently improved in speed since she has been length- ened. Yesterday morning the lake was crossed from off Cheboygan to Ludington in four hours, and the actual distance made was sixty miles. (Transcriber's Note: This should likely have been Sheboygan, not Cheboygan.) -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Ludington Record Vol. XVII, Old Series No. 10 Vol 4. New Series No. 25 Thursday, November 8, 1883 [extracts of marine news] John A. Mitchell has completed the survey and map of the proposed piers at Cross Village north of Little Traverse. His report will be sent to Col. Lockwood for approval. As there is no natural harbor at that place the proposed improvement is much needed and will cost in the neighborhood of $300,000. The Muskegon life-saving station is being moved to a point about half a mile nearer the lake on the north pier and is to be enlarged and provided with a look-out tower. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Ludington Record Vol. XVII, Old Series No. 11 Vol 4. New Series No. 26 Thursday, November 15, 1883 [extracts of marine news] The P. M. L. Co. are strengthening their dock by driving a row of stout spiles in front. During the month of October, 1883, the F. & P. M. steamers 1 and 2, brought over from Milwaukee 17,499,631 pounds of freight bound for the east and Europe, besides 73,239 bar- rels of flour and feed. Same boats took from Ludington for Milwaukee 50,000 barrels of salt and 100 cars of merchandise. All this was handled through the freight house at this place. This does not include local freight originating at Ludington and consigned along the line of the road nor freight received from off the road for Ludington proper. The revenue cutter, ANDY JOHNSON, is under orders to go to Mackinac to meet the new government steamer recently built at Buffalo and intended for Mobile. The FESENDEN is acting as envoy for the new steamer to Mackinac and the JOHNSON will accompany her to Chicago. She goes down the Mississippi. Sunday's Storm. On Sunday afternoon, and extending far into Monday, a sweep- ing, freezing gale prevailed along the entire chain of lakes which for severity equals any ever known, adding largely to the already long list of marine disasters, and attended with great sacrifice of life. The velocity of the gale at this point was nearly forty miles per hour, and though no serious mishap occured here, all seemed glad when the storm was over. On Sunday morning the barge MARS in attempting to gain the harbor was driven across the channel and while drifting in, raked several rods of the trestle work away, leading from the light house. The schooner lost her jibboom, bobstay and stem; they have been replaced. The failure of the signal service to give warning of the storm of Sunday has brought the service into general disre- pute, and vessel owners, vessel masters, shippers, and under- writers are loud and bitter in their expressions against it. From every port where accidents occured on Sunday come reports of the excellent service done by the life saving crews in saving lives, vessels and cargos. It is thought that the service could be made more efficient by connecting the stations by telephone. Other Ports. The schooner LILLY E. went ashore at Manistee Sunday morning. The life-saving crew got the crew off all right. She is owned by M. Engelman of that place. She had on board 2,200 bushels of oats, which were unloaded Monday; only about one-fourth of them damaged. The vessel lies up high on the beach. Insured for $7,000. The schooner CHARLES LULING, in attempting to make Pentwater port Sunday at 1 o'clock struck the pier and went on the beach. She is high and dry and no lives lost. She is insured. About two o'clock the same day the steam barge NORMAN, owned by H. G. Peters, of Manistee, attempted to make port but struck the pier and went on the beach. The crew were all saved. The barge is a total wreck; no insurance. She had on board seventy tons of coal. At last accounts the upper works had all disappeared leaving nothing in sight but the boiler and portions of the machinery. SIX PERSONS LOSE THEIR LIVES. A dispatch from Petoskey to the Detroit Free Press gives the following particulars of the drowning of State Superintendent of Fisheries O. M. Chase, of Detroit, and six others by the capsizing of a sail boat in Grand Traverse Bay Sunday evening. Supt. Chase, Mr. Armstrong, of the State Fish Hatchery, near Petoskey, and Mr. Brownell, of Detroit, being engaged in col- lecting the ova of white fish at the fisheries on Lake Michi- gan, desired to cross from Harbor Springs to Petoskey. A fish- erman named Detweiler engaged to take them in his sail boat. It was blowing a gale, and flurries of snow darkened the sky, as they embarked at 4 p.m. Sunday. Fisherman Detweiler, his two sons and a nephew composed the crew of the sail boat. The wind was from the northwest, and though the seas from Lake Michigan came rolling in at a fearful height, the Harbor Springs shore being sheltered, the water there was compara- tively calm. Chase, however, had misgivings and said he was inclined to wait until morning. Detweiler assured him of the perfect safety of the sail boat, of the seamanship of himself and crew, and of his knowledge of the bay. They were pretty well across the four miles of water when the sail boat was over-set. A lady at Petoskey saw it and Fisherman Atkins went to the rescue. Sailing up near the scene of the disaster he saw two men clinging to the bottom of the boat, hailed them and obtained an answer. It was dark, and the boat was at the edge of the breakers. Atkins was obliged to tack, and when he came about the boat and the two men had disappeared from sight. The man who answered was undoubtedly Chase, being a man of great vigor and endurance. The boat was found next morning on the beach at Bayview, badly broken up. None of the bodies of the seven men who set sail in her have as yet been cast up, or recovered. Chief Engineer Wright has made the following recommenda- tions for Michigan harbors: Ontonagon harbor $60,000, Menominee harbor $22,000, Calumet harbor $41,400, Harbor of Refuge, Portage Lake $140,000, Manistee harbor $50,000, Ludington harbor $40,000, Muskegon harbor $100,000, St. Joseph harbor $60,000, Hay Lake channel, St. Mary's river, $500,000, Cheboygan harbor $26,000, Detroit River, Lime- Kiln Crossing, $227,700. THRILLING EXPERIENCE. Richard H. Rossor, engineer of the steam yacht CORA K. C., of the Banks ferry line, had an experience Wednesday after- noon at the bottom of Saginaw river which almost cost him his life. He relates the story as follows: We were lying at the Keystone mill dock along side of a raft of logs. I had taken a lot of boom chains and was going to carry them across the raft. I wound them across my neck and then step- ped upon the logs. The weight of the chains and myself was so great that the log would not carry me and the end on which I stood sunk so deep that I slipped off and went to the bottom of the river a depth of 16 feet. I knew I must surely drown if I could not get the chains off. I had my senses all the time and sitting on the bottom of the river, unable to move, I began to unwind the chains from my body. Every second seemed an hour and it was with great diffi- culty that I held my breath. My efforts to get rid of the chains were finally rewarded, and as rapidly as I sank, I came to the surface. In my rising I came up under the raft and making a desperate plunge, I ran my head between two logs, spreading them apart admitting my face to the air once more. I tell you that breath of air tasted good. In coming up my forehead was bruised by striking the log but that is the only injury done to me. Captain Deitzel of the CORA K. D., saw his engineer go down and had given him up for drowned. Imagine his surprise when Rossor came to the surface. The captain thinks Rossor must of been under the water two or three minutes. It was surely a hair-breadth escape, and illus- trates what presence of mind will do. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Ludington Record Vol. XVII, Old Series No. 12 Vol 4. New Series No. 27 Thursday, November 22, 1883 [extracts of marine news] The Pentwater News commends the Ludington life saving crew for their zeal and energy displayed last Sunday in going to the rescue of the barge NORMAN. Fortunately their services were not required, but the prospect of dangerous duty found them ready. WIND AND WATER A Season of Great Disaster on the Northern Lakes. (From the Chicago Times) The northwesterly gale which has prevailed almost steadily on the chain of great lakes since Sunday last is the most disastrous to life and property that has occurred in any one gale since 1867. The total number of wrecks are forty, which includes vessels going ashore, as well as those which went to pieces, and the total number of lives lost was sixty- eight, so far as known. Beside these there are some vessels missing, or, rather, have not been heard from since the terrible gale began to blow. It is probable that all these will turn up, as they may be safely sheltered in harbors about the lakes. Speaking in this connection, it may be of interest to know that the season, as a whole, has been the most disastrous to shipping and insurance men alike than was ever known before in the history of navigation on the lakes. The whole season has been marked by disasters ter- rible in their nature and entailing heavy loss upon insur- ance companies. This was partly due to an unpropitious and stormy season, but largely to the inexcusable mistakes of the signal service. They have missed every gale of wind in such a way as to encourage vessel masters to leave port on the verge of veritable hurricanes. Such was the case last Sunday, and also last May. To go further back, they made the same mistake before the great gale of Oct. 16, 1880. Then followed the terrible disasters to the ALPENA, WELLS BURT, and, lastly, the AKELY. LAKE REGION LIGHT-HOUSES. (Washington Telegram) The report of the light-house board says the Eleventh Light-house district (upper lake region) contains 117 seperate light stations and embraces 2,500 statute miles of lake coast. The district has become so large that it has become unwieldy. No Inspector can perform his other duties and visit each of its 117 light stations once each three months, as required by the regulations for the inspection of the lights and the payment of the keep- ers, as the stations are too numerous and too far apart. The completion of the Northern Pacific railroad has given a stimulus to the navigation of the upper lakes, and it is evident that as the commerce of the upper lakes in- creases additional lights and more buoys will be required. It is therefore recommended that the Light-house district which embraces the upper lakes be divided; that the por- tion which embraces Lake Michigan and Green Bay be set off and called the Seventeenth Light-house district, with headquarters at Milwaukee, and that the portion which embraces Lake Huron and Lake Superior be set off, retain- ing the old name, with headquarters at Detroit. The in- crease in the aids to navigation over the number in 1852, when the district was constituted, and the prospective increase in the near future makes the division quite necessary. The gallant and meritorious service done by the life saving crews on all parts of the lake coast has called forth many words of commendation. This gallant and truly humanitarian part of the public service is worthy of all support and the politician who would attempt, in congress, to cut off appropriations would be likely to hear some- thing drop when he wanted a renomination. All hail to the life saving crews and the spirit that prompts to the development of the service. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Ludington Record Vol. XVII, Old Series No. 13 Vol 4. New Series No. 28 Thursday, November 29, 1883 [extracts of marine news] The tug PEARL is fishing at this point for the present. The ALDRICH is laid up and Capt. Caswell has gone into winter quarters. The terrible gale of yesterday has left two vessels on the beach between here and Pentwater. Schooner BESSIE BOLT succeeded in gaining this harbor during the heavy breeze of last Sunday. The schooner EMMA NELSON with a cargo of merchandise for various houses in this city, was driven ashore near Grand Haven in last weeks gale but has been towed off and is now in this port. Schooner KEWEENAW was loaded yesterday by Weimer & Rath. The cargo goes to Racine, and is the last of the season to be shipped on a sailing vessel. The barge M. F. BUTTERS will take several more cargoes if the weather permits. The Miller brothers - Dave and Dan who with their crew, rescued twelve of the sailors of the foundered steamer, H. C. AKELY, during the heavy gale of last week, are receiving substantial tributes from the public. Upon the arrival of their schooner, the DRIVER, at Grand Haven, a public meeting was held, eulogistic speeches were made, and the neat little sum of $1,184 subscribed as a token of a appreciation of their act of bravery. In addition to this $250 was sent them from Muskegon. $750 of the amount raised went to pay off a mortgage on the schooner, $100 to a sailor who also risked his life by going to the rescue in a yawl boat, and the balance equally di- vided among the entire crew. A handsome sum is also being raised for the widow of Capt. Strech, of the ill fated steamer, Montague Lumberman. ==========================================================================