1854 — Dec 8, steamer Westmoreland sinks/ice-laden, Lake MI storm, Manitou Passage, MI–17

— 17 Berman, Bruce D. Encyclopedia of American Shipwrecks. 1972, p. 267.
— 17 Great Lakes & Seaway Shipping News Archive. Report News (December 2008).
— 17 Lakeland Boating. Volume 42, Issue 7, 1987.
— 17 Lytle and Holdcamper. Merchant Steam Vessels of the [U.S.] 1807-1868. 1952, p. 245.
— 17 Mansfield. History of the Great Lakes (Volume 1). 1899, p. 900.
— 17 McNeil. “Westmoreland (Propeller), sunk, 7 Dec 1854.” Maritime History…Great Lakes.
— 17 Shelak, Benjamin J. Shipwrecks of Lake Michigan. 2003, p. 169.
— 17 Swayze, David D. Great Lakes Shipwrecks W. “Westmoreland.”
— 17 Swayze. Shipwreck!…Directory of Over 3,700 Shipwrecks on the Great Lakes. 1992. 246.
— 17 Watertown Chronicle, WI. “Sinking of the Propeller Westmoreland.” 12-27-1854, 2.
— 17 Western Historical Company. History of St. Clair County, Michigan. 1883, p. 440.

Blanchard note on date of loss: Several dates are shown in sources below – Dec 2, Dec 7, Dec 7/8 and Dec 8. From our reading of the Watertown Chronicle, WI (“Sinking of the Propeller Westmoreland.”) 12-27-1854, p. 2, it appears to us that the loss was in the early morning hours of December 8, roughly about or shortly after 2:00 a.m.

Narrative Information

Berman: “Westmoreland…665 [tons]. 1853 [built]. Dec 2 [sic], 1854. Foundered. Sleeping Bear, Mich. 17 lives lost.” (Berman, Bruce D. Encyclopedia of American Shipwrecks. 1972, p. 267.)

Great Lakes & Seaway Shipping News Archive: “On 8 December 1854, Westmoreland (wooden propeller passenger/package freight vessel, 200 foot, 665 tons, built in 1853, at Cleveland, Ohio) was carrying supplies for Mackinac Island, including liquor and supposedly $100,000 in gold. She capsized in a storm due to the heavy seas and the weight of the thick ice on her superstructure. She sank in the Manitou Passage in Lake Michigan and dragged one of the loaded lifeboats down with her. 17 lives were lost. There were many attempts to find her and recover her valuable cargo, but her wreck wasn’t found until 1874, twenty years after she sank.” (Report News {December 2008}. “Today in Great Lakes History – December 08.”)

Lakeland Boating. Vol. 42, Issue 7, 1987: “The Westmoreland went down on December 7, 1854, in an ice storm near South Manitou Island in Lake Michigan. Seventeen lumberjacks lost their lives, but fourteen crewmen and passengers survived the wreck of the steamer from Milwaukee….”

Lytle and Holdcamper: “Westmoreland…665 [tons]…foundered…12 2 1854…Sleeping Bear, Mich. …17 [lives lost].” (Lytle and Holdcamper. Merchant Steam Vessels of the [U.S.] 1807-1868. 1952, p. 245.)

Mansfield: “Westmoreland, prop., 800 t., sunk ’54, near Manitous island, 17 lives lost, wreck discovered, ’72.”

Shelak: “Caught by a storm somewhere in Manitou Passage on December 7 and 8, 1854, the Westmoreland experienced ice freezing to its superstructure. Unable to maintain its balance in the large waves, the craft capsized. As it sank, the Westmoreland destroyed one of its lifeboats, killing 17 passengers and crew. The Westmoreland was reported to be carrying a small fortune in gold and liquor. This was in addition to supplies destined for Mackinac Island.” (Shelak. Shipwrecks of Lake Michigan. 2003, p. 169.)

Swayze:
“Type at loss: propeller, wood, passenger & package freight
“Build info: 1853, Lafrenier & Stevenson, Cleveland
“Specs: 200x28x12, 665 t.
“Date of loss: 1854, Dec 7-8
“Place of loss: Manitou Passage
“Lake: Michigan
“Type of life: 17
“Carrying: supplies for Mackinac Is. – wheat, flour and barreled beef
“Detail: She capsized and foundered due to heavy weather and an overload of ice in her
superstructure. She sand one of her own lifeboats as she went down. The survivors were picked up by the schooner Whirlwind….”

(Swayze, David D. Great Lakes Shipwrecks W. “Westmoreland.” (webpage).)

Newspaper

Dec 27: “Seventeen Lives Lost!! – We glean the following particulars of the loss of the Pr. [propeller] Westmoreland, from the Racine Advocate, which received its information from Mr. C. Wright, the engineer:

“The propeller left Chicago on Saturday, the 2d of December. Stopped at Milwaukee, and took on 500 barrels of flour, and then started for the North, expecting to get wood at Port Washington, but the sea was so heavy that they were obliged to return to Milwaukee for wood. On Wednesday morning [6th] the propeller left Milwaukee again, and made the south point at the Manitou Island on Thursday [7th] at 10 o’clock. The sea was heavy and the ice had formed so much on her bows and sides, that she became water logged, and her fires put out.

“She then floated about four hours after her fires were out [2a.m., 8th?], drifting to sea some fourteen miles, the passengers and crew remaining on board until she began to go down. The boats were launched, and the largest yawl was lost in launching. The passengers and crew filled the life-boat from the hurricane deck. There were ten passengers on board; two of whom were ladies, and the crew consisted of twenty-three persons. After they got into the life-boat it was upset, and two passengers were lost and twelve of the crew. The two ladies were saved.

“The survivors made the shore at Platte River Bay in Michigan, where they stopped about 40 hours. They then started for the Manitou Island in their boats, and were obliged to stop [unclear] some ten miles north of where they started. The crew all went north except the first and second engineers and the second mate, who footed it on the beach to Manistee, where they took the Whirlwind and arrived at this place yesterday forenoon.” (Watertown Chronicle, WI. “Sinking of the Propeller Westmoreland.” 12-27-1854, p. 2.)

Sources

Berman, Bruce D. Encyclopedia of American Shipwrecks. Boston: Mariners Press Inc., 1972.

Great Lakes & Seaway Shipping News Archive. Report News (December 2008). “Today in Great Lakes History – December 08.” Accessed 2-8-2021 at: http://www.boatnerd.com/news/archive/12-08.htm

Lakeland Boating. Volume 42, Issue 7, 1987.

Lytle, William M., compiler, from Official Merchant Marine Documents of the United States and Other Sources; Holdcamper, Forrest H. (Editor, and Introduction by). Merchant Steam Vessels of the United States 1807-1868. “The Lytle List.” Mystic, CT: Steamship Historical Society of America (Publication No. 6), 1952. Accessed 8-16-2020 at: https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015018039084&view=1up&seq=7

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

McNeil, William R. “Westmoreland (Propeller), sunk, 7 Dec 1854.” Maritime History of the Great Lakes (website). Accessed 2-9-2021 at: https://images.maritimehistoryofthegreatlakes.ca/38257/data?n=2

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 W. “Westmoreland.” (webpage). Accessed 2-9-2021 at: http://www.boatnerd.com/swayze/shipwreck/w.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.

Watertown Chronicle, WI. “Sinking of the Propeller Westmoreland.” 12-27-1854, 2. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=33387639

Western Historical Co. History of St. Clair County, Michigan. A.T. Chicago: Andreas & Co., 1883, 790 pages. Digitized by Google. Accessed 2-8-2021 at: http://books.google.com/books?id=77N6AAAAMAAJ