Rensselaer Republican, Volume 27, Number 38, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 May 1896 — PERISH IN THE LAKE. [ARTICLE]

PERISH IN THE LAKE.

FIVE OF A SCHOONER'S CREW DIE IN THE WAVES. • • 1 „ # The Mary D. Ayer Sinks as the Result of a Collision with the Steamer Onoko—Vessel Floats Help* lessly for Hours a Prey to the Gale. Collision Off Racine. The schooner Mary D. Ayer collided with the steamer Onoko, in Lake JJichlgan, off Grosse Point. Eleven hours later, while the steamer City of Duluth .wag trying to tow it ashore near B,acine, the schooner sank, andfive of the crew were drowned and the remaining two were saved and taken to Chicago. From the time of the collision until she was picked up, drifted a distance of forty-live miles. The spqt where she was taken hold of by the City of Duluth was about fifteen miles from shore. There was a dense fog on the lake at the time, and Without an instant's warning the,schooner loorifetTup directly ahead of the steamer. jib-boom of tlie Ayer ran into tin 1 pilot house of the OnpkOj’barelyTni.ssing the wheelman, and then tore, its way. out through, the end.-" The rail from bow to quarter was torn from its fastenings by the jib-boom, and at last that spar gave way. The bows of the schooner were brokeh in by the impact of thAegllisinn, and her master immeal iately ordered her anchor overboard. The Onoko, which is one of the few iron boats on the lake nnd belongs to the Minch fleet of Cleveland, was-eoming up Lake Michigan loaded with iron ore for the Illinois Steel Company at South Chicago. The Mary 1). Ayer, one of Ed E. Ayer's fleet of cedar vessels, was bound down the lake light from Chicago to A-1--pena. Rain had been falling heavily all the evening, making it impossible to see any distance.