Copyright USGenNet Inc., 2015 All Rights Reserved USGenNet Data Repository Please read USGenNet Copyright Statement on this page: 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. =========================================================================== VESSEL NAME: L. J. Conway OTHER NAME(s): - OFFICIAL NO: 15955 DATE OF LOSS: 17 November 1886 CAUSE OF LOSS: Storm LOCATION: Lake Michigan, near Flower Creek, 7 mi. N of Whitehall RIG TYPE: Schooner, 2 masts HULL TYPE: Wood BUILDER: at Manitowoc, WI - 1873 OWNER(S): Henderson & Peterson lumber, Muskegon, MI MASTER: Capt. Thomas Smith, of Muskegon TONNAGE: 90.45 gt DIMENSIONS: 80 x 22 x 6 CASUALTIES: 5 [all] Returning to Muskegon loaded with corn and grain when she was overtaken by a viscious storm and grounded about 100 feet from shore where she was smashed and torn at by relentless waves. Although in obvious when spotted by locals, with her crew fighting for survival, nothing was done to rescue ship or crew. It was three days after locals first came across her wreck before anyone was notified. Two weeks later the Bluffton Weekly Chronicle carried the news that Capt. Smith's body had been found on the beach near Montague but there was no sign of the $1,000 that was known to have been in his pocket. He left a widow and four small children living in Muskegon. There was no insurance on either vessel or cargo. The L. J. CONWAY had a narrow escape in December, 1882, when she was caught out on the lake by a severe storm. So long overdue that she was thought to have been a storm victim, the CONWAY was found by the tug HALLIDAY and towed into Chicago looking for all the world like a solid block of ice. ======================================================================== Sources: Swayze, David D. "Shipwreck!" - 1992 Sherman, Elizabeth B. "Beyond the Windswept Dunes" - 2003 Merchant Vessel List, 1885 Bluffton (Indiana) Weekly Chronicle, 2 December 1886 The Pentwater News, 25 November 1886 Marine Record, 25 November 1886