1887 — Oct 3, propeller California founders, Lake Mich. storm, off St. Helena Isl., MI–9-14

— 14 Harper’s Monthly Magazine. “Monthly Record of Current Events,” Vol. 76, 1888, 322.
–9-14 Shelak. Shipwrecks of Lake Michigan, “Lists of Shipwrecks by State, Mich.” 2003, 195.
–5-14 Swayze. Shipwreck!…Directory of…Shipwrecks on the Great Lakes. 1992, p. 44.
— 13 Iowa Postal Card, Fayette, IA. “The News of the Week,” Oct 12, 1887, p. 6, col. 2.
— 13 Philadelphia Record Almanac 1888. “General and Local Events, October, 1887,” p. 95.
— 9 Mansfield. History of the Great Lakes (Vol. 1). Chicago: J.H. Beers & Co., 1899, p. 747.
— 9 Shelak. Shipwrecks of Lake Michigan, “Lists of Shipwrecks by State, Mich.” 2003, p.172.
— 9 Swayze. “Great Lakes Shipwrecks C.” boatnerd.com. Accessed 11-15-2020.

Narrative Information

Great Lakes & Seaway Shipping News Archive: “The Port Huron Times reported the following shipwrecks from a severe storm that swept the Lakes over 2-3 October 1887: Schooner City of Green Bay lost near South Haven, Michigan; the schooner-barge Charles L Hutchinson, lost near Buffalo, New York; the steam barge Albion and her consort the schooner-barge Ark ashore near Grindstone City, Michigan; the 3-mast schooner Ebenezer ashore near Holland, Michigan; the wooden package freighter California sunk in the Straits of Mackinac; the schooner Holmes ashore at Middle Island on Lake Huron; the schooner Garibaldi ashore near Port Elgin on Lake Huron; the barge Mayflower disabled near Grand Haven, Michigan; the schooner D S Austin ashore at Point Clark; and the schooner Henry W Hoag ashore at Erie, Pennsylvania.” (“Today in Great Lakes History – October 2002.”)

Harper’s: “October 3d.—Propeller California wrecked on Lake Michigan. Fourteen lives lost.”
(Harper’s 1888, p. 322.)

Philadelphia Record Almanac 1888: October 4 [sic], 1887. “The passenger propeller California from Chicago for Montreal, and the schooner Havana, of Kenosha, Wis., wrecked on Lake Michigan, and thirteen lives lost.” (“General and Local Events, October, 1887,” p. 95.)

Swayze at boatnerd.com: “California…
Date of loss: 1887, Oct 3
Place of loss: 1 mi off St. Helena Isl, Straits of Mackinac
Lake: Michigan
Type of loss: storm
Loss of life: 9 of 25
….
Detail: Overwhelmed by a storm and sank about 7 mi due W of the current Mackinac Bridge N anchorage. Some of her lost crew are buried at Mackinac City….
(Swayze. “Great Lakes Shipwrecks C.” boatnerd.com. Accessed 11-15-2020.)

Newspaper

Oct 12: “The propeller California, laden with corn and pork, was wrecked on the 4th off St. Helena’s Island, near Mackinaw, Mich., and of the twenty-seven persons on board thirteen perished.” (Iowa Postal Card (Fayette). “The News of the Week,” Oct 12, 1887, p. 6, col. 2.)

Sources

Great Lakes & Seaway Shipping News Archive. “Today in Great Lakes History – October 2002.”

Harper’s New Monthly Magazine. “Monthly Record of Current Events,” Vol. 76, No. 451, Jan 1888, p. 322. Accessed 11-15-2020 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=-y09AAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

Iowa Postal Card, Fayette, IA. “The News of the Week,” Oct 12, 1887, p. 6, col. 2. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=143257909

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

Philadelphia Record Almanac 1888. “General and Local Events, October, 1887,” p. 95. The Philadelphia Record, 1888. Accessed 11-15-2020 at: https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.hxpnn1&view=1up&seq=203&q1=

Shelak, Benjamin J. Shipwrecks of Lake Michigan. Big Earth Publishing, 2003. Partially digitized by Google. Accessed at: http://books.google.com/books?id=4CBCcye0n6IC

Swayze, David D. “Great Lakes Shipwrecks C.” Accessed 11-15-2020 at: http://www.boatnerd.com/swayze/shipwreck/c.htm

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