Copyright USGenNet Inc., 2014 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. XVI Old Series No. 14 Vol. 3. New Series No. 29 Thursday, December 7, 1882 [extracted marine news] Capt. Louis Sterling has got the schooner MERCURY safely moored for the winter. They arrived here last Tuesday after a fine passage for the time of year. HARBORS The season of navigation in this present year closes with a fright- ful amount of casualties and loss of life. "They that go down to the sea in ships" are not to be envied in the life they lead, or dangers braved. But it certainly is in order at all times to advocate any measure that tends to lessen the dangers incident to navigation and furnish a place of refuge to mariners in distress. The question of a harbor of refuge at this point has strenuously advocated by the RECORD from time to time during the past two years and almost every gale fur- nishes grim arguments in favor of the same thing. The last session of Congress, however, in passing an appropriation of $18,000,000 for improvements in all parts of the country gave dema- gogues and people whose interests were not touched, a chance to raise a most unjustifiable cry about the "River and Harbor Steal" when people of intelligence and information knew that the word steal had no business there and should have read "improvement." The effect of this cry will doubtless be to deter Congress from making appropriations at all adequate for a long time in the future. We think it a pity that such a state of things should exist, be- cause although the commissioners may come here as recommended by the Secretary of war, and pass judgement as to whether this is the most desirable point for the establishment of such harbor, in all probabil- ity the actual commencement of operations will be put off for years in spite of all that our representatives may do in the matter. As time rolls on and the commerce of the lakes increases, the necessity of such harbors at the most available points will become so apparent that a demand will be made in a way that will over-ride all opposition; but that is small comfort to the sailors of today. The Atlantic states have seen fit to denounce the Harbor and River bill in no measured terms, ignoring the fact that during the last forty years at least, their own harbors have been built up by the same means. As the star of empire tends westward, the balance of power will be with the states that most need internal improvement, then will a broad and enlightened policy of developing the country by internal im- provements be pursued. In the mean time, and to hasten the day, all aspirants for congressional honors should be pledged to this, no matter what his politics in other matters may be. The DEPERE ran ashore, one mile south of Two Rivers, on Dec. 4. No passengers were abroad (sic), and the crew were all saved. The vessel and cargo were lost. The loss of the R. G. PETERS with all hands, 14 in number, has cast a gloom over Manistee, where they all lived, with the exception of the mate, whose home was in Milwaukee. The schooner COLLINGWOOD was wrecked during the recent gale on Lake Michigan, fifteen miles northeast of Milwaukee. The particulars of the disaster are thrilling in the extreme. Four of the crew, including the Captain, were lost. The center-board chain parted, causing the board to drop down its full length. The additional strain proved too much for the old craft, which went to pieces. The sailors were left strug- gling in the water, and some of them went down. The three survivors had a terrible experience upon a raft. One of them was rendered blind and insane, and died from the terrible exposure. They were rescued by the propeller WISCONSIN, eight miles from Grand Haven. The new dock of the Michigan Central railway company at Mackinaw City has been completed and is ready for business. It is 1,500 feet long and cost $200,000. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Ludington Record Vol. XVI Old Series No. 15 Vol. 3. New Series No. 30 Thursday, December 14, 1882 [extracted marine news] The display of cautionary signals at all lake ports except Milwaukee, Grand Haven, Ludington and St. Joseph will be dis- continued for the season on and after December 15. Mr. Duncan Dewar has secured the contracts for harbor work at Frankfort, Manistee, Whitehall, and Holland. It is not likely that any job will be let at Ludington as the work is being done by day labor. Mr. Dewar informs us that the bidders for the jobs were all experienced men, the next higher bidder being Mr. Talbot, of Buffalo, N.Y. According to contract, the cribs for the piers are to be placed on piles sawed off eighteen feet under water and to be surrounded by sheet piling driven by the "water jet" process. The business is attended with hazard and requires expensive machinery, but Mr. Dewar has been an acceptable government contractor during the past fifteen years and never failed to give satisfaction to the powers that be, in a single instance. We therefore predict that his prerent (sic) exten- sive contracts will be well and satisfactorily done. TERRIBLE EXPERIENCE OF WRECKED SAILORS ON LAKE MICHIGAN Milwaukee, Nov. 25. - The propeller WISCONSIN that reached here at 8 o'clock this morning, brought the news of the total wreck of the schooner COLLINGWOOD, bound from St. Helena, Ont. to Chicago, lumber laden. The wreck occurred at 6 P.M., on Thursday, thirty miles east of this city in Lake Michigan. At 11 o'clock last night the WISCONSIN picked up a frail craft with three half frozen men in it. When thawed out they said that they were the only survivors of the COLLINGWOOD, which had been capsized in Thursday's gale. The men had been on the raft (a part of the deck of the wrecked vessel,) thirty-one hours, and had suffered untold agonies. The survivors were R. D. Sheldon, mate, and Nicholas Johnson and Frank Macafee, seamen. The steward, Jefferies, had died from exposure on the raft. Johnson gave the following graphic account of their experience: During the gale on Thursday afternoon, the vessel got waterlogged, and we worked the one pump that was aboard for all it was worth. At about 4 P.M. the pump got chocked and things began to look pretty blue. The gale was blowing from the northwest, and about five o'clock the sea caused the vessel to roll over. We rested on the broadside until the top mast went out, and the vessel straightened up on her beam end. She remained in this position for about an hour, and then all of a sudden, the decks burst up, caused by the pressure of the water against the cargo of posts, and she rolled over and went down head first. The entire crew, eight of us, were all hanging for dear life to the taffrail, thinking that it would be the last thing that would give way. After she settled down the third sea washed us over- board. The captain and the three men lost were seen floating with posts under their arms. Four of us got on a piece of the deck, and very soon every vestage of the wreck and the other four men had dis- appeared. On the raft we floated at the mercy of the mad waves, the sea repeatedly rolling over us. To make matters worse, the steward became a raving maniac on Thursday night, and it was all two of us could do to keep him on the raft. All through the night and during Friday, the man fought us, and several times he succeeded in getting into the water but we dragged him back. At about four P.M. yesterday his strength gave out, and he died. We held on to his body for a while, but had to let it wash overboard, as we had no way of fastening it to the raft. Early yesterday morning all of us became almost totally blind from the exposure. That, of course only tended to aggravate our sufferings. How we managed to live so long under the circumstances the Lord only knows. Last night we were so sleepy and fatigued that it was with difficulty that we could keep our eyes open. The raft gradually began settling as the posts under it absorbed the water, and from dark until the time we were found we stood in the water all the time, nearly knee deep. If there had been any place to sit down, we would have gone to sleep and froze to death. We continued walking from one end of the raft to the other, and some one would occassionlly go to sleep and step overboard and the others would pull him back on the raft. Macafee walked off the raft three times last night. He would have died in a few hours if we hadn't been picked up. He was beginning to act crazy, and was so numb that it was with diffi- culty we kept him on his feet. The vessel was unseaworthy, and with the cargo, a loss of $10,000 is entailed. The COLLINGWOOD was owned by Capt. Willetts and Little Brothers of Chicago. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Ludington Record Vol. XVI Old Series No. 16 Vol. 3. New Series No. 31 Thursday, December 21, 1882 [extracted marine news] [no marine news in this issue] --------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Ludington Record Vol. XVI Old Series No. 17 Vol. 3. New Series No. 32 Thursday, December 28, 1882 [extracted marine news] The F. & P. M. boats bring an enormous amount of freight from Milwaukee. They are making good time. A man employed as fireman on one of the F. & P. M. boats got ashore last Wednesday and drank sufficient whisky to fill him with quarrel and offence. He decided to re-organize Geo. E. Tripp and after giving considerable provocation produced a dirk. Mr. Tripp was backing into a place of safety and seizing an ax felled his assail- ant to the floor. The unfortunate (?) man wears considerable plaster where his nose used to be. ===========================================================================