Copyright USGenNet Inc., 2017 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/ ========================================================================= NOTICE TO USERS - These files are protected by the The Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998. Information contained herein is provided for research purposes and may be freely linked to. Copying for redistribution or presentation by any person, persons or organization is not allowed without the written permission of the author/submitter. Formatted by USGenNet Data Repository Chief Archivist, Linda Talbott All of the above information must remain when copied or downloaded. =========================================================================== VESSEL NAME: Mary Ellen Cook OTHER NAME(s): - OFFICIAL NO: 90763 DATE OF LOSS: 1934 CAUSE OF LOSS: Abandoned (1923) LOCATION: Lake Michigan, Sturgeon Bay RIG TYPE: Schooner, 3 masts HULL TYPE: Wood BUILDER: R. W. Loutit, Grand Haven, MI - 1875 OWNER(S): Door County Country Club MASTER: - TONNAGE: 132 gt, 126 nt DIMENSIONS: 118 x 25 x 7 CASUALTIES: 0 The MARY ELLEN COOK was typical of a schooner engaged in the lumber trade. Her name is remembered in Great Lakes legend and lore due to her "jumping" the break- water at Chicago during a gale on May 22, 1883, in full view of a few hundred onlookers. The COOK was lumber laden and bound for Chicago, Capt. Val Valentine in command, when she was overtaken by a nor'easter of extraordinary violence. The Chicago breakwater light had been extinquished by the storm and the COOK was driven against the break-water. It should have been all over for the venerable old girl right then but Providence had other plans. A large wave lifted her bow and then carried her over the breakwater. Her bottom was damaged in her "jump" and she waterlogged inside. In July, 1922, the Door County Country Club purchased the MARY ELLEN COOK at Menominee for $100. She made the voyage to Sturgeon Bay under her own canvas and was beached on the north shore of the bay to be used as a "novelty pier." In 1927 a fire broke out her cabin area. Her damaged transom was rebuilt, but only as a boat dock. By 1934 her delapidated appearance had become an eyesore for local residents and her condition so deteriorated that she could no longer be used as a dock. In March of that year she was set afire and burned. Her scattered remains can be found just off the end the pier at the Leathem Smith Lodge. ======================================================================== Sources: Buffalo Evening News - 22 May 1883 Merchant Vessel List - 1881, 1887, 1920 Door County News - 1 March 1934 The Lumber Manufacturer and Dealer, Vol. 70 - 28 July 1922