1871 — Oct 15, steamer R.G. Coburn sinks, Lake Huron storm, no. of Saginaw Bay, MI– ~32

— ~40 Cincinnati Commercial. “How Two Cincinnati Ladies…Drowned…Lake Huron.” 11-5-1871, p8.
— 32 Great Lakes & Seaway Shipping News Archive, Report News (October 15).
— 32 Mansfield (Editor). History of the Great Lakes (Vol. 1). 1899, p. 719.
— 32 McNeil. “R. G. Coburn (Propeller), sunk, 15 Oct 1871.” Maritime History of the Great Lakes.
— ~32 Office of Ocean Exploration and Research, NOAA. “Thunder Bay 2010…Lake Huron’s
— 32 Ratigan. Great Lakes Shipwrecks & Survivals. 1969, pp. 142-143. [Repeats Mansfield.]
— >32 Stein, Janis. “Sunken Treasure.” Huron Shore, Summer 2009, p. 28.
— 32 Swayze. Shipwreck!…Directory of…Shipwrecks on the Great Lakes. 1992, p. 56.
— 31 Nash, Jay Robert. Darkest Hours. 1977, p. 686.
— ~30 Hillsdale Standard, MI. “Loss of the Coburn.” 10-24-1871, p. 2, col. 1.
— 30 Putnam’s Monthly and The Reader. “The Great Lakes.” Vol. 4, No. 5, Aug 1908, p. 609.
— >30 Rutland Weekly Herald, VT. “The Lost Steamer Coburn.” 10-26-1871, p. 4, col. 1.

Narrative Information

Great Lakes & Seaway Shipping News Archive: “On 15 October 1871, R G Coburn (wooden propeller passenger/package freight steamer, 193 foot, 867 tons, built in 1870, at Marine City, Michigan) was carrying 15,000 bushels of wheat, 3,500 barrels of flour and 30 barrels of silver ore from Lake Superior to Detroit. As she came down Lake Huron, she encountered a terrific gale which had driven most vessels to seek shelter. The Coburn fought the wind at Saginaw Bay throughout the night until she lost her rudder and turned broadside to the waves. Her large stack fell and smashed the cabin area and then the cargo came loose and started smashing holes in the bulwarks. About 70 passengers were aboard and almost all were terribly seasick. As the ship began her final plunge beneath the waves, only a few lifeboats were getting ready to be launched and those were floated right from the deck as the ship sank. 32 people perished, including Capt. Gilbert Demont. No women or children were saved.” (Great Lakes & Seaway Shipping News Archive. “Today in Great Lakes History – October 15.”)

Mansfield: “Loss of the Coburn. – One of the greatest disasters of the season [1871] was the loss of the propeller Coburn/ Captain Demont, of E. B. Ward’s Lake Superior line, October 18, in Saginaw bay, whereby 16 passengers, the captain and 15 of the crew, including every officer, except the second mate, were lost. There were upward of 70 persons on board, about 40 passengers, and a crew of 35. Among the passengers were eight women and five children, and two families in the steerage. The Coburn was bound from Duluth [MN] to Buffalo [NY] with wheat and flour. Shortly after passing Presque Isle harbor, the wind commenced blowing from the northeast, and there was so much smoke on the lake that the engine was checked down, and the steamer held head to the wind. A few hours later the wind veered to the southwest and blew a terrific gale. The Coburn labored heavily, but shipped no water of consequence until her rudder was town off when she drifted into the trough of the sea, making her roll heavily, shifting her cargo. Holes were cut in her bulwarks, and the crew set to work throwing her cargo overboard, but the waves washed over her, tore off her smokestacks, and she began settling. Soon the fireman’s gang was stove in and the water rushed into the hold in immense volumes. Ten men got into one of the yawls and seven into the other, leaving the life-boats bottom side up, untouched. When the Coburn went down Captain Demont stood just aft of the texas with his hand on the rail. There were quite a number of persons on the hurricane deck when it floated off, but they were seen only a short time. “The Coburn was a fine, stanch, new propeller of 867 tons burden, well found in every department, having come out in June, 1870.”

Maritime History of the Great Lakes (McNeil): “

Reason for loss: sunk
Lives: 32
Hull damage: $80,000
Cargo: $40,000
Freight: wheat & flour
Remarks: Total loss
Date: 1871
….
Geographic Coverage: Saginaw Bay, Michigan, United States
Latitude: 43.75002 Longitude: -83.66664

(McNeil, William R. (contributor). “R. G. Coburn (Propeller), sunk, 15 Oct 1871.” Maritime History of the Great Lakes (website). Accessed 11-20-2020.)

Office of Ocean Exploration and Research, NOAA: “Steamer R. G. Coburn
“Built in 1870, the 193-foot (ft) steamer R. G. Coburn…foundered in a gale north of Saginaw Bay on October 15, 1871. As many as 32 passengers and crew lost their lives in the tragedy. All of the ship’s officers were drowned, save for the second mate, who later revealed that the vessel’s rudder broke free. For two horrific hours before dawn, the vessel lay at the storm’s mercy, while an increasing sense of panic spread throughout the passengers.

“As the Coburn slipped below the cold Lake Huron waters, two of her three lifeboats drifted off unused, adding significantly to the loss of life. The Coburn was reportedly carrying 12,000 bushels of wheat, 2,900 barrels of flour, and — most significantly — silver ore. The quantity of silver ore is unknown. The wreck has not yet been located.” (“Thunder Bay 2010: Cutting Edge Tech & the Hunt for Lake Huron’s Lost Ships.” 2010.)

Putnam’s Monthly and The Reader: “The R. G. Coburn…laden with copper, sank there [Saginaw Bay] in 1871, with a loss of thirty lives.” (Putnam’s Monthly and The Reader. “The Great Lakes.” Vol. 4, No. 5, Aug 1908, p. 609.)

Stein: “Built…for E.B. Ward’s Lake Superior Line, advertisements of the day touted the steamer …as possessing ‘all the late improvements for the better safety and security of passengers.’ Before her launch the Toledo Blade reported, the Coburn ‘has water-tight compartments and when completed will be one of the most perfect steamers afloat on our inland seas.’ Another advertisement announced the R.G. Coburn as ready ‘this season for pleasure and health-seeking travelers and tourists, with special regard to safety and comfort. Her cabins and staterooms are spacious and well ventilated, while her cuisine is equal to that of any first class hotel in the country.’….

“…on October 15, 1871, the Coburn’s crew, captained by Gilbert Demont, prepared to leave Duluth, Minn., bound for Buffalo, N.Y. With about 75 people including crew and passengers, the Coburn carried in her holds 3,500 barrels of flour, 15,000 bushels of wheat, and 30 barrels of silver ore—though varying accounts of the number of silver barrels were later reported.

“When the Coburn reached the tip of the Thumb, visibility had decreased so much that a great many ships rather than continuing their trek southward, hunkered down, seeking shelter in the waters of the Saginaw Bay. Though the Coburn’s engine had been checked down, she nevertheless crept forward. To add to the mayhem, the wind suddenly veered from the southwest, blowing up a strong gale. Recently built, and large and powerful for its day, perhaps the captain thought the Coburn invincible….

“While the Coburn rolled in the ever-increasing waves, passengers sought the safety of their cabins, too sick to think beyond the moment…about 4 a.m. the Coburn lost her rudder. Now powerless, the Coburn rolled into the troughs of the sea. Waves broke over her deck. Barrels of silver ore broke loose and smashed holes in her bulwarks, allowing the hull to fill with water. More cargo shifted. Crewmembers began to throw cargo overboard. A relentless Lake Huron then pounded the Coburn with a wave so mighty it knocked off her smokestack, smashing her cabin.

“Because the smokestack did not break off at the top of the deck but rather down inside the cabin, the escaping steam created a deafening noise that rivaled the storm. Smoke filled the cabins. The risk of fire, great. Many of these passengers, no strangers to hardship but too sick from the rolling sea to move, remained in their rooms and resigned themselves to their fate. For those who had already lost all hope, death would be but a five-hour wait—the time it took the Coburn to sink.

“Rare for the times, the Coburn carried two lifeboats and two yawl boats, but nobody on board believed a small boat could survive. Still some tried….When the Coburn started to sink about 20-25 miles north of Pointe aux Barques [MI], the hurricane deck blew off; those passengers clinging to the deck washed away with the storm.

“About 9 a.m. and in haste, two of the four boats successfully launched and, now, these smaller crafts faced a ferocious Huron. Eight people filled one yawl boat while 10 men occupied the other. Crew-member Captain Gordon commanded one of the boats. According to an October 24, 1871, edition of the Toronto Globe, the other two boats washed ashore in Kincardine, Ontario. ‘While one of the boats was empty, the other contained two dead bodies. One of these was a mulatto man, and the other, a young man, white, who was dressed in a suit of gray. It was also reported that considerable quantities of flour were coming ashore.’

“Those in the yawl boats fared much better. The southbound bark Zack Chandler picked up Coburn survivors about four o’clock Sunday afternoon, while the Canadian schooner Robert Gaskin, rescued the others. It’s been assumed more Coburn passengers were plucked from the water. Frozen, exhausted, penniless – but alive.

“Battered pieces of the Coburn were found along the Canadian shoreline, and bodies, too, continued to wash ashore. Those surviving crewmembers unanimously stated the Coburn would have weathered the storm, but for the incident with her rudder. Others sitting in judgment stated what a shame it was the Coburn sank, for there were ways to steer a ship without a rudder, though it would have been a tremendous undertaking.

“Of the estimated 75 passengers and crew, Lake Huron claimed at least 32, including Captain Demont, who, according to the Toronto Globe, stood aft of the texas deck with his hand on the rail when the Coburn sank. The passenger list included eight women and four children.

“Well over a century after the Coburn disaster, divers still search for the wreck…” (Stein, Janis. “Sunken Treasure,” Huron Shore, Summer 2009, p. 28.)

Swayze: “R G Coburn. Wooden passenger and freight propeller of 867 t. [tons] and 193 ft., launched in 1870.

“Lake Huron: The loss of this steamer on October 15, 1871, is subject to a number of contradictory reports. The one-year-old ship foundered with a cargo of either grain or copper ore and the loss of 32 of 85 aboard. The location of the accident is given variously as Presque Isle, Saginaw Bay, or Harbor Beach, Michigan, or on Lake Superior. The Presque Isle report has the most support.”

Newspapers

Oct 20: “Detroit, October 20. – The arrival of the propeller Brooklyn, of the Northern Transportation Line, yesterday brought intelligence, according to the statements of the captain, that two more boats of the lost steamer R. G. Coburn had been picked up on Lake Huron, containing eighteen persons, and that they had been transferred by the vessel that picked them up to the propeller S. D. Caldwell, and were on the way to Mackinaw.

“This morning the following dispatch was received:

Marine City, October 20. – To Captain Eber Ward, Detroit: the following men from the R. G. Coburn are at Mackinaw: W. L. House, second mate; H. M. Rhodes, of Windsor, trader; Martin Maherring, James Warwick, watchmen; F. Mumford, Charles Miller, James Ludner, colored; R. Kelley, passenger. The news comes by steamer Magnet. [signed] H. Hester.”

(Cincinnati Commercial, OH. “The Lost Steamer Coburn.” 10-21-1871, p. 1.)

Oct 20: “A dispatch from Detroit says; The fine passenger steamer R. G. Coburn, of E. B. Ward’s Lake Superior line, foundered in Saginaw Bay last Sunday [15th]. Seven of the crew and three of the passengers are known to have been saved. Two boats with officers and the balance of the crew are missing. The Coburn was on a voyage from Duluth to Buffalo with twelve thousand bushels of wheat and three thousand barrels of flour. She was valued at $80,000, and insured for $50,000.”
(Sandusky Daily Register, OH. “Marine Matters….The R. G. Coburn Lost.” 10-20-1871, p. 4.)

Oct 24: “The steamer R. G. Coburn was foundered in Saginaw bay on Sunday Morning, the 15th. Of about 50 persons, passengers and crew, only about 20 are known to be saved. The boat was a total loss. Among the missing are Capt. Atwood [sic, Demont] of the Coburn, Lt. [William] Atwood, of the U. S. Army, R. M. Smith, Indian Agent, who was returning with his family from the upper lakes. The Coburn belonged on the Cleveland and Duluth line, and was one of the largest boats on the lakes. She was owned in Detroit…” (Hillsdale Standard, MI. “Loss of the Coburn.” 10-24-1871, p. 2, col. 1.)

Oct 24: “Boston, Oct, 24, — It is feared that Prof. James T. Hodge, of Plymouth, Mass., was lost in the steamer R. G. Coburn, who was on his way home from Lake Superior, where he had been engaged in geological explorations.” (Quincy Daily Herald, IL. “Boston.” 10-25-1871, p. 1, c.3.)

Oct 26: “The steamer R. G. Coburn was lost on Lake Huron on the 12th inst. [sic; 15th]. Two of her boats have been washed ashore near Kincardine Ontario, one empty, the other having in her two dead bodies, those of a colored man and boy. The Coburn had five boats, one was stove, two were found with persons alive in them, and two are now found with no one living. It can hardly be otherwise than that the persons who failed to save their lives in the boats perished. In all probability they number as many as thirty, at the lowest estimate, and among them are doubtless the captain, Gilbert Demont, Indian Agent Smith and his wife, Major Atwood, and all the ladies on board, of whom there are reported to have been eight. From what can be learned of the scenes during the last hours of the steamer, the ladies very likely went down with the boat, either unable to remain outside or lacking the hardihood. It seems likely, too, that several men went down with her, as several were seen in the cabin just before she sank.” (Rutland Weekly Herald, VT. “The Lost Steamer Coburn.” 10-26-1871, p. 4, col. 1.)

Oct 28: “The Buffalo Express, of the 28th, says: A dispatch received by Captain E. P. Door from R. McIntosh, Collector at Kincardine, Ontario, states that yesterday afternoon two bodies came ashore at that place. They were identified as those of the porter and a deck hand of the lost propeller R. G. Coburn.” (Daily Register, Sandusky, OH. 10-31-1871, p. 4, col. 4.)

Nov 1: “The fine passenger steamer, R. G. Coburn, nearly new, plying between Buffalo and Duluth, Lake Superior, on her return voyage, foundered off Saginaw Bay, Lake Huron, Sunday morning, Oct. 15th. There were on board between thirty-five and forty passengers and thirty of the crew, all of whom, except six of the crew, went down with the vessel. A wind commenced blowing Saturday night, a short time after the Coburn had passed Presque Island, and before daylight it had assumed the violence of a gale. In the tossing of the steamer the rudder became detached, and in a short time the sea began to pour into one side. At about 8 o’clock, Sunday, with a violent lurch, she went down. Among the lost were Mrs. Thomas [Mary] Holton and Miss Mary Mann, of Cincinnati, Prof. James T. Hodge, of Plymouth, Mass., and R. M. Smith, Agent for the Indians at Mackinaw. Mr. Smith was an esteemed layman of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and was appointed by the Government to the Indian Agency on the nomination of the Missionary Society. He was a good and true man in all official as well as private relations.” (Western Christian Advocate, Cincinnati, OH. 11-1-1871, p. 5, col. 1.)

Nov 5: “Mrs. Mary (Sayer) Holton, wife of Thomas Holton, a clerk in the American Express Office, this city [Cincinnati], went down in Lake Huron, with forty odd other souls, on the propeller R. G. Coburn, as already mentioned in this paper, Sunday morning, October 22 [sic, 15th]. Her husband has returned after a faithful but unsuccessful search for her body along the shores of the lake….the only melancholy satisfaction he derived was to glean some particulars of how his poor sick wife met her death.

“It seems that the majority of the passengers were too terribly sea-sick to leave their berths and attempt even to cling to the top of the cabin. The vessel having lost her rudder, rolled fearfully, reducing the sea-sick passengers to such a condition as to preclude much of an effort to save themselves, although all had timely warning of the great danger.

“The Superior Times says:

There were thirty-two passengers in all, eight of them being ladies. Nearly all of the passengers were confined to their rooms by sea-sickness, and when roused up a few minutes before the sinking of the steamer, they were so sick and exhausted that they expressed a willingness to die in their berths. Mrs. Palmer and Miss Mary Mann never left their rooms, but Mrs. Holton, being locked in her room, and unable to find her key, heroically tore the door off the hinges, and after struggling with the sea of water which then filled the cabin, succeeded in reaching the upper deck, and was seen standing within a few feet of the Captain when the boat sank out of sight. Three life boats and eighteen men having left the steamer before she sank, were saved.

Among the lost were Mrs. Mary Holton, daughter of Mr. James Sayer, and sister of Mrs. P. E. Bradshaw; Mrs. Helen Palmer and young son, widow of the late Alonzo Palmer, and daughter of Judge Thomas Clark, and sister of Mrs. Richard Relf, and Mrs. R. B. McLean, of this place; Miss Mary Mann, daughter of the late Judge William Mann, whose now sorrowing mother and three sisters reside in Cincinnati.

These three ladies were well known in Superior. Miss Mann was a beautiful and accomplished lady, and an excellent artist, and was universally respected for her many good qualities. Mrs. Holton had been here on a visit to her parents and sister all summer, and was just returning to her home in Cincinnati, when the terrible fate met Her. Mrs. Helen Palmer was on her way to spend the winter with relatives in Toledo, and leaving loving relatives and kind friends here, was buoyant with the thoughts of a happy visit, but met a watery grave….” (Cincinnati Commercial, OH. “How Two Cincinnati Ladies Were Drowned in Lake Huron.” 11-5-1871, p. 8.)

Jan 1, 1881: “The Marine City Reporter urges the selection of Mrs. Josephine Robinson, of that place, for postmistress at the legislature. Mrs. Robinson should have a hearing, as she is worthy and capable and has two children dependent upon her for support. Her husband was one of the officers of the ill-fated steamer R. G. Coburn, and went down at his post of duty when that craft was lost.” (Northern Tribune, Cheboygan, MI. 1-1-1881, p. 8.)

Sources

Cincinnati Commercial, OH. “Deaths.” 11-1-1871, p. 6, col. 3. Accessed 11-19-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/cincinnati-commercial-nov-01-1871-p-6/

Cincinnati Commercial, OH. “How Two Cincinnati Ladies Were Drowned in Lake Huron.” 11-5-1871, p. 8. Accessed 11-19-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/cincinnati-commercial-nov-05-1871-p-8/

Cincinnati Commercial, OH. “The Lost Steamer Coburn.” 10-21-1871, p. 1. Accessed 11-19-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/cincinnati-commercial-oct-21-1871-p-1/

Daily Register, Sandusky, OH. 10-31-1871, p. 4, col. 4. Accessed 11-19-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/sandusky-daily-register-oct-31-1871-p-4/

Great Lakes & Seaway Shipping News Archive. Report News (October 2006). “Today in Great Lakes History.” Accessed at: http://www.boatnerd.com/news/archive/10-06.htm

Hillsdale Standard, MI. “Loss of the Coburn.” 10-24-1871, p. 2, col. 1. Accessed 11-19-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/hillsdale-standard-oct-24-1871-p-2/

Mansfield, John Brandts (Ed. And Compiler). History of the Great Lakes (Vol. 1). Chicago: J.H. Beers & Co., 1899. http://www.linkstothepast.com/marine/chapt36.html — Google digitized: http://books.google.com/books?id=iHXhAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_v2_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q=&f=false

McNeil, William R. (contributor). “R. G. Coburn (Propeller), sunk, 15 Oct 1871.” Maritime History of the Great Lakes (website). Accessed 11-20-2020 at: https://images.maritimehistoryofthegreatlakes.ca/details.asp?ID=44031

Nash, Jay Robert. Darkest Hours – A Narrative Encyclopedia of Worldwide Disasters from Ancient Times to the Present. New York: Pocket Books, Wallaby, 1977, 792 pages.

Northern Tribune, Cheboygan, MI. 1-1-1881, p. 8. Accessed 11-19-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/the-northern-tribune-jan-01-1881-p-8/

Office of Ocean Exploration and Research, NOAA. “Thunder Bay 2010: Cutting Edge Tech & the Hunt for Lake Huron’s Lost Ships.” 2010. Accessed 11-20-2020 at: https://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/10thunderbay/background/wrecks/wrecks.html

Putnam’s Monthly and The Reader, Vol. 4. New Rochelle, NY: The Knickerbocker Press, Apr-Sep 1908. Google digitized. Accessed 11-19-2020 at: http://books.google.com/books?id=-LhPAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=true

Quincy Daily Herald, IL. “Boston.” 10-25-1871, p. 1, c.3. Accessed 11-19-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/quincy-daily-herald-oct-25-1871-p-1/

Ratigan, William. Great Lakes Shipwrecks & Survivals (New Revised and Enlarged Edition). Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1969.

Rutland Weekly Herald, VT. “The Lost Steamer Coburn.” 10-26-1871, p. 4, col. 1. Accessed 11-19-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/rutland-weekly-herald-oct-26-1871-p-4/

Sandusky Daily Register, OH. “Marine Matters….The R. G. Coburn Lost.” 10-20-1871, p. 4. Accessed 11-19-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/sandusky-daily-register-oct-20-1871-p-4/

Stein, Janis. “Sunken Treasure: Lost with potentially 30 barrels of silver aboard, the R.G. Coburn is Lake Huron’s Treasure Ship.” Huron Shore, Summer 2009, pp. 26-28. Accessed at: http://view.digipage.net/?userpath=00000043/00008921/00042491/&page=28

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

Western Christian Advocate, Cincinnati, OH. 11-1-1871, p. 5, col. 1. Accessed 11-19-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/western-christian-advocate-nov-01-1871-p-5/