1869 — Nov ~5, schooner W.W. Arnold grounds, Lake Sup. storm, ~Two Hearted Riv. MI–10-11

— 11 Paige, Linda. “Mild highs, chilly highs and record rain.” Examiner.com. 11-4-2011.
— 11 Great Lakes & Seaway Shipping News Archive. Report News, November 2008.
— 11 Great Lakes Maritime Database. “ARNOLD, W.W.; 1863; Schooner: US26166, 2012.
— 11 Swayze. Shipwreck!…Directory of…Shipwrecks on the Great Lakes. 1992, p. 27.
— 10 Maritime History of the Great Lakes. “W.W. Arnold (Schooner), sunk, 1 Nov 1869.”
— 10 Wolfe. Lake Superior Shipwrecks: Complete Reference to Maritime…Disasters. 1990, 10.

Narrative Information

Great Lakes & Seaway Shipping News Archive: “On 15 November 1869, W. W. Arnold (wooden schooner, 426 gross tons, built in 1863, at Buffalo, New York) was carrying iron ore when she was driven ashore near the mouth of the Two Hearted River on Lake Superior during the great gale of November 1869. The violent storm tore the schooner apart and she sank quickly losing all hands (11) including several passengers.” (Great Lakes & Seaway Shipping News Archive. Report News, November 2008.)

Great Lakes Maritime Database:
“….Build City…Buffalo….
“Final Disposition, Final Location…Mouth of Two Hearted River, Lake Superior.
“Final Date Month…4
“Final Date Day…11
“Final Date Year…1869
“Final How…Driven ashore & broke up.
“Final Notes…11 lives lost, all hands….
“History….1869, Nov 4 Wrecked; owned J.D. Bothwell, Cleveland….” (Great Lakes Maritime Database, University of Michigan Library. “ARNOLD, W.W.; 1863’ Schooner: US26166, 2012 copyright.)

Maritime History of the Great Lakes: “ARNOLD, W.W. Schooner, cargo ore, foundered in Lake Superior, with all hands; total loss.

“ARNOLD, W.W. Schooner of 426 Tons. Owned at Cleveland by J.D. Bothwell. Bound from Marquette, Mich. to Erie Pa. November 1869, vessel foundered in a gale on Lake Superior with the loss of all hands, ten in number. Loss to Vessel $25,000. Loss to cargo $30,000. Insurance on Vessel $18,000. Insurance on cargo $25,000.

“Marine Casualties of the Great lakes 1863 – 1873. Report of the United States Coast Guard.” (Maritime History of the Great Lakes. “W.W. Arnold (Schooner), sunk, 1 Nov 1869.”)

Paige: “Mild highs, chilly highs and record rain top the list of Michigan weather events on this day [Nov 4] in history. From the National Weather Service archives here are the Michigan weather events that happened on November 4.

“1869 – Northerly gale struck Marquette. This gale caused ships at anchor in the harbor to crash against each other and after the storm subsided, the bay was strewn with wreckage. The schooner W.W. Arnold left Marquette Harbor about 4 pm loaded with iron ore. A few hours later, a storm set in with blinding snow and a ferocious northwest gale. North of Marquette, tin sheathing was blown off the lighthouse on Granite Island. The ship never made it to the Soo Locks. In early December, a mail carrier spotted the hull of a vessel near the Two Hearted River and a search party found the wreck of the W.W. Arnold there. The crew of 9 crew and 2 passengers were encased in ice.” (Examiner.com (Linda Paige). “Mild highs, chilly highs and record rain…Grand Rapids Almanac for Today.” 11-4-2011.)

Swayze: “W W Arnold. Package and bulk freight schooner of 426 t. [tons], launched in 1863 at Buffalo.

“Lake Superior: The Arnold was downbound with a load of ore and several passengers on November 4, 1869, when she was struck by a violent gale. The storm literally tore the schooner apart and she went down with the loss of all 11 aboard at the mouth of the Two Hearted River in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.” (Swayze. Shipwreck! 1992, p. 27.)

Wolfe: “The storms of November 1869…were the worst yet experienced on the lake, the sailing ships bearing the brunt of the blasts. The first accident well illustrated the lonely, utterly desolate south shoreline which bounded sailors on their 140-mile run from Marquette to the Soo. On November 4, the 426-ton schooner W.W. Arnold cleared Marquette about 4 p.m. with 550 tons of iron ore bound for her home port of Cleveland. Under Captain Beardsley, the Arnold carried a crew of eight and two passengers. Three or four hours after she sailed, a frightful northwesterly gale with snow raked eastern Lake Superior. Lighthouse keeper Ashman at Whitefish Point Light reported the most terrific storm in his recollection, and it blew for 24 hours.

“The Arnold failed to arrive at the Soo. Days later, when this news was communicated back to Marquette, concern was felt for the vessel, especially since the captain was well-known in Marquette and Munising; also, one passenger, Willie H. Boyes, had been a clerk at the post office in Marquette, hence an acquaintance of many townspeople. Initially, vesselmen could hardly believe her lost. She was a stout, seaworthy craft only six years old, built at Buffalo, rated A-1 and valued at $19,000. Captain Beardsley was a highly competent master. But as days went by and incoming ships reported no sign of the Arnold, the outlook was ominous. Of course, Marquette people were aware that there was virtually no civilization between Munising and Whitefish Point, nor on the eastern Canadian shore. It might have been possible for the ship to be ashore someplace where it would take the crew days to walk out. Yet, sailors well knew that any unfortunate ship trapped in the breakers of the south shore in that kind of tempest would stand little chance of survival without help from shore, and there was no one in that country to give such aid. November ran out with no word on the Arnold.

“Finally, on December 7, an Indian mail carrier reached Munising with dreadful news. He had observed the shattered hull of a dark-colored vessel hurled on the beach at the mouth of the Big Two-Hearted River, about 25 miles west of Whitefish Point. Wreckage was everywhere, but ice and snow covered everything. The mail carrier reported that he had talked to an Indian trapper who had walked the beach at the Two-Hearted River four days after the storm; the trapper had counted 10 bodies at the water’s edge. Four Munising men, David Sang, J.S. Wood, J.T. McCullam and A.S. Perinier, left the next day for the site, reaching the location after four days of intermittent coasting and snowshoeing along the shore. Stopping with trapper David Blucher at Grand Marais, they confirmed that the November 4 storm had been terrible at that spot. The water in Grand Marais harbor had been raised four feet by wind blasting in from the lake. The mail carrier’s report was confirmed. The shattered hull lay dismasted off the mouth of the Two-Hearted River, the main mast in the river mouth and miscellaneous wreckage plastered over the 50-foot cliffs which rise some 50 yards south of the lake. But no bodies remained. One of the searchers did find the ship’s nameboard, W.W. Arnold.

“Subsequently, with an early spring and the snow mostly gone in the first week of April 1870, parties from both Munising and the Soo visited the scene. The schooner had struck off the river mouth, torn her bottom out and disintegrated. Those aboard had no chance in the roaring surf. Pieces of the wreck were scattered all the way to Whitefish Point, and a body, presumed to be that of the captain, was found and buried four miles east of the hull….Investigators surmised that a broken foremast had caused the accident. The mast was found snapped off 20 feet above the deck, and there were signs that the boom had been chopped away. As the sails had been carried close reefed on the main mast, found near the hull, the loss of the foremast simply put the ship at the mercy of the northwesterly gale, and she had been tossed ashore to her demise….” (Wolfe. Lake Superior Shipwrecks: Complete Reference to Maritime…Disasters. 1990, pp. 10-11.)

Sources

Great Lakes & Seaway Shipping News Archive. “Report News (November 2008).” Accessed at: http://www.boatnerd.com/news/archive/11-08.htm

Great Lakes Maritime Database, University of Michigan Library. “ARNOLD, W.W.; 1863’ Schooner: US26166, 2012. Accessed 11-22-2012: http://quod.lib.umich.edu/t/tbnms1ic/x-14266/1

Maritime History of the Great Lakes. “W.W. Arnold (Schooner), sunk, 1 Nov 1869.” Accessed 11-22-2012 at: http://images.maritimehistoryofthegreatlakes.ca/46044/data

Paige, Linda. “Mild highs, chilly highs and record rain.” Examiner.com. 11-4-2011. Accessed 11-22-2012 at: http://www.examiner.com/article/mild-highs-chilly-highs-and-record-rain

Swayze, David D. Shipwreck! A Comprehensive Directory of Over 3,700 Shipwrecks on the Great Lakes. Boyne City, MI: Harbor House Publications, Inc., 1992.

Wolff, Julius F., Jr. Lake Superior Shipwrecks: Complete Reference to Maritime Accidents and Disasters. Duluth, MN: Lake Superior Port Cities, Inc., 1990.