Rensselaer Republican, Volume 16, Number 12, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 November 1883 — LAKE DISASTER. [ARTICLE]

LAKE DISASTER.

Foundering of the Propeller Manistee, in Lake Superior. ll■ 1 ■ I Her Entire Grew of Thirty-five Find a Watery Grave. There seems to be no doubt that the pas-. senger propeller Manistee, belonging to Leopold & Austrian, of Chicago, has been lost In Lake Superior, and that every soul on board, about thirty-five in number, has perishedThe iU-starred vessel left Duluth on Saturday, Nov. 10, and, being caught in the furious gale that swept the lakes for several succeeding days, put into Bayfield harbor, where she laid until the following Friday, when she proceeded to Ontonagon. The unfortunate vessel, it is believed, encountered and succumbed to the fury of the second storm. Portions of wreckage \ave been found. There were only seven passengers on hoard at the time, all the others having been transferred at Bayfield to the City of Duluth, for Houghton. It is more than likely that all the crew have been lost, as nothing has been heard from them. The Manistee was built in Cleveland by E. W. Peck, in 1876. In 1878 she was cut in two and lengthened thirty feet and soon after was put on the Lake Superior trade. Lloyd gives her no rating and she was valued at $25,000. Sho was very low iu the water and had but little power for her Size. She carried 1,550 barrels of flour and 230 tons of feed. Her registered tonnage was 679 tons. The only particulars of the disaster so far received are embraced in the following telegram from Duluth: “The propeller Manistee, loaded with merchandise for Ontonagon, left Duluth Nov. 10. She was windbound at Bayfield till Thursday. She then transferred all her passengers to the City of Duluth, which was bound for Houghton, and cleared for Ontonagon at midnight. Nothing was heard from her until noon to-day, when the tug Maythem, which had been sent to look for her, returned. Last night, at a point forty-five miles northeast of Ontonagon, the tug picked up a bucket marked ‘Manistee,’ and a part of the pilot-house, it js supposed that the propeller foundered during the severe storm of last Friday. The wind was then from the Northwest and the thermometer briow zero. The tugs Maythem and Boutin are now looking for traces of the wreck or crew. It is not p: s tilde that the men could have escaped in ' small boats, and if the Manistee had drifted to the north shore she would have been seen and reported by the Canadian steamers coasting" there/ The propeller Ontario, which arrived at Fort Arthur j.o dav, sawnothing bf the Manistee, and there is no doubt that she is lost, with all on board. Following ate the names of her officers; John M’Kay, Captain; George M. Seaton, Purser; F. M.. Kilby, Steward: AndyMack, First Mate; Harry Smith, Second Mate; Fat Cullen, First Engineer; John Payne, Second Engineer; Ed Bowden, cook. There were about thirty-five souls on board, including pflicergv-Waiters.-sailars, chamberninids, and deck hands. A Hancock (M’c’i.) dispatch says: All hope of any of the Manistee's crew being saved is abandoned. The last seen of her was at 8:40 o’clock on the evening of Nov. 15. It a :'B thought hgr machinery broke down when well out at sea, and she beiame unmanageable. She was then beyond the shelter of the Apostle island, and, in the attempt to return, foundered. At Bayfield all passengers for Hancock were transferred, and only seven destined for Ontonagon remained on board. The crew ebnsisted of twenty-eight persdns, and the loss is therefore thirty-five. Capt. McKay was a skillful sailor and very popular on the lakes. He leaves a family, consisting Of a wife and daughter, who reside in Cleveland. The Manistee was considered a stauuch, seaworthy craft, arid had, bidden out many severe gales on Lake Superior.