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Submitted by Linda Talbott
for the USGenNet Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/
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Formatted by USGenNet Data Repository Chief Archivist, Linda Talbott
All of the above information must remain when copied or downloaded.
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    VESSEL NAME:   Reindeer
    OTHER NAME(s): Commerce
    OFFICIAL NO:   - (Canadian)
    DATE OF LOSS:  19 October 1857
    CAUSE OF LOSS: Storm
    LOCATION:      Lake Michigan, abt. 8 mi. north of Big Point Sable
    RIG TYPE:      Sidewheel steamer, polly-wog, passenger & freight
    HULL TYPE:     Wood
    BUILDER:       John Quain, Portsmouth, Ont. - 1848
    OWNER(S):      Holcomb & Henderson, Montreal
    MASTER:        Capt. George Patterson, Kingston
    TONNAGE:       236 t [om]
    DIMENSIONS:    134.1 x 23.8 x 9.2
    CASUALTIES:    23 of 25

                   As COMMERCE was in collision with the steamer DESPATCH
                near Port Maitland and sunk May 6, 1850, while transporting
                British troops. Thirty-eight lives lost. Raised and rebuilt
                at Cantin shipyard, Montreal, as steamer REINDEER.

                   Driven ashore by a strong southwest gale and broken up
                by heavy seas. Carrying 8,500 bushels wheat and 61 bbls
                tallow. The two survivors were both firemen who could not
                remember exactly how they made shore. Most anything of
                value that came ashore was snatched up by locals.


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Sources: Annual Report of the Board of Lake Underwriters - 1858
         Hartford (Ct) Times, 31 October 1857
         Swayze, David D. "Shipwreck!" - 1992
         Great Lakes Maritime Database - University of Michigan