The Big Blow: Lost Ships of the Great Lakes

An early winter storm doomed the Alpena and her passengers making one of the deadliest wrecks on the Great Lakes

Mario Sicula posted in Oppositelock

13w ago

1.2K

History

The PS Alpena was a side wheel steamer built in Marine City, Michigan in 1866. She was 197 feet long and had a single cylinder vertical beam steam engine powering two 24 foot wheels. A beam engine used an overhead beam that pivoted to transfer power from the engine to the wheels. An example of a beam engine is shown below.

Example of a beam engine

Example of a beam engine

A beam engine was common on sidewheelers of that time and the beam itself was often visible above the ship. The Alpena's beam is visible in the lead image and is outlined in the below image.

The steam engine beam of the Alpena

The steam engine beam of the Alpena

The Alpena generally ran a route from Muskegon to Grand Haven and then from Grand Haven across the lake to Chicago. She carried both cargo and passengers and the trip from Grand Haven to Chicago taking about a day and a half. The route generally took her more or less straight across the lake and then south along the Wisconsin coast to Chicago.

Alpena's likely route

Alpena's likely route

Disaster

When the Alpena left Grand Haven on October 15, 1880 it was by all means a pleasant autumn day. Temperatures where around 65F with light winds out of the southwest. She left Grand Haven at 9:30PM with at least 80 passengers and various cargo including ten car loads of apples on her deck. Around 1:00AM she passed by the steamer Muskegon who reported that everything seemed normal, but the wind had begun to shift and build. By 3:00AM the Alpena found herself in the "worst gale in Lake Michigan recorded history" which would eventually earn the nickname the "Big Blow".

Artists depiction of the Alpena in the storm

Artists depiction of the Alpena in the storm

The storm brought temperatures down to below freezing and wind gusts up to 80mph in Milwaukee. Even though only a few inches of snow fell, the wind was so fierce it drove the snow into high drifts bringing rail and automobile traffic to a standstill in both Milwaukee and Chicago. The winds even broke windows in hundreds of homes over the course of the storm. The storm blew for 3 days over the Great Lakes and afterwards Lake Michigan was reportedly white for days following the storm; one lightkeeper's theory being the limestone rocks along the lake shore were pulverized adding a fine dust to the lake that eventually settled.

This storm was actually the start of what would be one of the worst winters the upper plains and midwest states have ever experienced. This is the winter that Laura Ingalls Wilder's "The Long Winter" is based on. I recommend watching the below video for more information on the extremes seen during this winter.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNGn_-msT1M

Between 6:00AM and 8:00AM the Alpena is reported to have been seen struggling in the storm by the schooner "Irish" and the barge "City of Grand Haven" about 35 miles off the Wisconsin coast near Kenosha. Later that day the captain of another ship, "Hattie Wells", claims to have watched the Alpena turn about, likely in an attempt to run with the wind and make it back to Grand Haven. Unfortunately per the captain, "She was halfway around and that wind just took right hold of her and turned her over. She was swamped and she sank and we couldn’t do a thing about it. We watched her disappear under the waves." Evidence of her sinking didn't show up until days later as winds and currents washed it ashore a 20 plus mile stretch of Michigan coast near Manistee. The debris included apples, a piano, freight, ship decking, and only a few bodies.

The Alpena in ice

The Alpena in ice

Makings of a Disaster

There were no survivors to tell the story of what happened and only a few bodies were ever recovered. The total loss of life is unknown as the only passenger list went down with the ship. Most historians put the number though between 80 and 100 people who perished that night making it one of the deadliest wrecks in Great Lakes history.

To this day the wreck of the Alpena hasn't been found, so determining how she sank is all guesswork and eyewitness accounts. Reports from other ships indicate she may have turned on her side and drifted a while like that. While the one captain claims to have seen her slip below the waves it may have been that she just slipped out of sight in the storm, as another ship reported seeing her laying on her side. A few other reports indicate she may have drifted north as far as Sheboygan some 80 miles away.

One of the two prevailing theories as to why she rolled is the load of apples on her deck shifted in the storm causing her to start listing leaving only one paddle in the water. With limited control she would have been at the mercy of the storm and combined with the list a wave or wind might have been enough to roll her over. The other theory is to just accept what the captain of the "Hattie Wells" claimed, that she was turning around and the wind was simply fierce enough to blow her over. When she rolled over likely happened around 10:00AM as one of the bodies recovered had a watch that was stopped at 10:15.

Drawing of the Alpena underway

Drawing of the Alpena underway

Why she rolled is only one part of the mystery. The other is where she finally sank. Not only are there some reports to indicated she drifted in the storm for a while, but the debris that did wash ashore in Michigan indicates she may have drifted almost all the way back to Michigan before finally sinking. Some of the debris recovered was fairly heavy equipment and the piano that washed ashore was said to barely float. These items seem to indicate she broke up rather close to the Michigan as it would have been unlikely for the heavier debris to have made it very far to shore.

The last clue to her location didn't appear until almost 30 years later. In 1909 after a January storm, the nameboard from the Alpena's paddlewheel washed ashore near Holland, MI. This last piece of evidence most likely means she rests in relatively shallow water, at least shallow enough for a storm to break a piece loose. All of this adds up to there being over 150 miles of near shore waters that she could be resting in. It's likely only a matter of time before she'll be found, but how long that is remains to be seen.

This story also posted on opposite-lock