Copyright USGenNet Inc., 2015 All Rights Reserved USGenNet Data Repository Please read USGenNet Copyright Statement on this page: Transcribed and submitted by Linda Talbott for the USGenNet Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ ========================================================================= Formatted by USGenNet Data Repository Chief Archivist, Linda Talbott All of the above information must remain when copied or downloaded. =========================================================================== The Ludington Record Thursday, September 7, 1882 [Extracted marine news] The steambarge M. BUTTERS, which left her last Saturday, reports picking up the schooner S. BATES, water logged, in the middle of the lake and towing her into Milwaukee, where she was run into shallow water. The BATES, lumber loaded, was bound for Chicago, from this city, and sprung a leak. When the BUTTERS took her line the crew were exhausted at the pumps. The harbor of refuge, which THE RECORD has so often spoken in favor of, is likely soon to meet with some good practical attention from headquarters. Copies of the enactment of congress No. 194 relative to harbor improvement, are issued. The secretary of war has been directed, at his discretion, to cause examinations or surveys, or both, and estimates of costs of improvements proper to be made, at various points, 141 in all, in all parts of the union. Of Ludington it says: "Harbor at Ludington, Michigan, with a view to examination by a board of engineers and report of a plan, and expense of same, for maing a harbor of refuge." Some time must necessarily elapse before the report is submitted and acted upon. In the meantime the usual appropriations for the necessary repairs and further improvement of the harbor, as it now exists, will be made. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The Ludington Record Thursday, September 14, 1882 The steam barge ALBERT MILLER reported burned last week was found by the tug CROWELL, Friday, safe on the ground and in 12 feet of water, one-fourth mile north of big point Sauble light house, where she was scuttled and sunk by her crew. Nothing but her upper works are burned and at least two-thirds of her cargo will be saved. She will be raised and repaired at a moderate cost. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The Ludington Record Thursday, September 21, 1882 On and after Sunday, Sept. 24, the steamer JOHN A. DIX will leave Allen's dock for Milwaukee every Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday evening. The excursion from East Saginaw which arrived here Tuesday noon was freight with about eight hundred passengers. The programme was that the new propeller NO. 1 was to take them to Manistee, but owing to some miscalculation, the several hundred barrels of salt with which the boat was to ballasted were not at hand, and in consequence Capt. J. B. Muir refused to venture out with such an enormous top weight as the excursionists would have made. Several of the boys were somewhat disgruntled, but the captain's course in the matter is to be commended. The F. & P. M. new iron propeller was here Tuesday and was an object of much investigation and comment. She has the appearance of being staunch and strong. The lower hold is left entirely free from boiler or machinery so as to obtain more room for freight for which she is especially adapted. The cabin and bedrooms are well furnished with comfortable quarters for passengers. The boiler and machinery being on deck, there is not much room for the accommodation of passen- gers, but the boats are built with a view to being fit for winter navigation. Capt. J. B. Muir has charge of the boat and is an experi- enced commander. It is claimed at Port Huron that the water in the St. Clair river is higher this season than 25 years past. There was a tidal wave on Lake Michigan one day last week, the water in some harbors rising suddenly from two to three feet. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The Ludington Record Thursday, September 28, 1882 A WATERY GRAVE. Foundering of the Propeller ASIA in Georgian Bay. At Least One Hundred Lives Lost The Scramble for the Boats. The steame ASIA was lost in a storm on Georgian Bay, on Thursday, Sept. 14, and of 100 persons on board only two are known to have survived. A dispatch from Collingwood, Ontario, says D. A. Tinkis and Christy Ann Morrison, supposed to be the only survivors of the wreck of the steamer ASIA, have arrived here. Tinkis reports that he boarded the ASIA near Owen sound, in company with J. H. Tinkis and H. B. Gallagher, of Manitou. The steamer was crowded. All the staterooms were full, and many passengers were lying on sofas and the cabin floor. About 11 Thursday morning a storm struck her. "My uncle, J. H. Tinkis, jumped up and said the boat was doomed. Dishes and chairs were flying in every direction. We left the cabin and found difficulty in getting on deck, the boat rolling so heavily. I got a life-preserver and put it on. The boat fell into the trough of the sea, and would not obey the helm. She rolled heavily for about twenty minutes, when she was struck by a heavy sea and foundered, and went down with the engines working about half past 11. The ASIA was making for French river, and had men, horses and lumbermen's supplies for the shanties. I saw three boats loaded. I was in the first boat. About eight were with me. At last more got in, till the boat was overloaded and turned over twice. The people clung to my life-preserver, which got displaced, and I threw it off. I then left the boat and swam to the Captain's boat, which was near by, and asked John McDougall, the purser, to help me in. He said it was but little use, but gave me his hand. When I got in there were eighteen in the boat. By that time there was a larger number in and clinging to the boat I had left. I know nothing of the third boat. Our boat rolled over, and I missed McDougall. The people were hanging on to the spars and other parts of the wreckage. Our boat was full of water, and the sea was constantly breaking over us. One of the first to die on the boat was the cabin-boy. He was dying, and being supported by one of the men, when a wave washed him overboard. The next to go was a boat hand who jumped out. I could see him paddling around in the water for nearly a hundred yards. Our number were now reduced to seven, five of whom died before reaching the beach. Capt. Savage, who was the last to die, expired in my arms about midnight Thursday. John Little of Sault Ste. Marie, the mate of the McDonald, and two others, names unknown, also died. The boat finally stranded near Point au Barrie about daylight Friday, with Miss Morrison and myself only surviving. I put the bodies out on the beach and pried the boat off with an oar, but did not haul it out. Miss Morrison and I went down the beach in a boat to Derrick, about two miles distant, and laid on the beach all night. About 8 o'clock Saturday morning an Indian came along, and I engaged him to bring us to Parry sound. He would not bring the bodies." There were probably about 100 persons on board the ASIA. Miss Morrison's Story. In the coroner's investigation at Parry Sound, Miss Christy Ann Morrison, the only lady survivor of the wreck of the steamer ASIA, testified as follows: I got up on Thursday morning feeling very seasick. It was pretty rough all the morning. I think it was about 11 o'clock the first intimation I had of danger was from the noise made by the horses. I asked the mate if there was any danger. He said they had already thrown off the horses, and would throw off what freight they could. I then went back to my berth, and the boat rolled so much to one side that I got a life-preserver and put it on. Half an hour, possibly, had elapsed between the first idea I had of danger and my putting on the life-preserver. After putting on the life-preserver I sat by the cabin door until the water came into the cabin. Then by catching hold of the cabin door and railing I managed to get on the upper deck of all. The boat then seemed to be settling down, one side being much the undermost. The life boat happened to be close to where I got to. I lowered myself into the water, and the Captain caught me and held me from sinking till the mate came and helped me into the boat. At that time there were twelve in the boat. I did not know any in the boat except the first mate and a Miss McNab, my room-mate. A number of people from the other boats came into our boat. The reason why they came into our boat was that they upset. The reason why they upset was the roughness of the sea. They did not seem overcrowded. One reason that they upset was that they had not a sufficient number of oars. One of the other boats had one, another had not any oars but two. The reason I know they had so few oars was that they came alongside of our boat and asked the Captain if we had any to spare. I did not see any person left on board the steamer after we left the ship's side. The boats ran along together for a little, then the other two upset. They upset three times. Every time they righted a few were missing. The third time I did not see anyone clinging to them at all. I only saw two boats beside our own. Six of the passengers of the two boats came into ours. About twenty minutes afterward our boat capsized. She righted. I held on to the ropes, or life-lines going round the boat, so that when she righted I was in again. After we righted I heard some one say three were gone. We then sailed or drifted before the storm. Our boat capsized three times. Each time some were missing. I did not notice any one to be hurt on the boat's righting except the mate, who had got a scratch below his eye. After our number was reduced to seven the boat did not capsize any more. It was because the storm moderated that we ceased to capsize. The last capsize took place shortly before dark. Before dark the mate said he saw land, and after dark we saw a lighthouse which the mate said was Bying Inlet light. When we saw the light all cheered up considerable, but soon after one of the strangers died, name unknown. The only members of the crew that I knew in our boat were the Captain and mate. After the stranger died two others died almost immediately together. They just seemed to perish. They did not seem to have sustained any internal injury. I did not hear them complain of any injury. About midnight the mate succumbed, and about ten minutes after him the Captain died. The person I have called the mate was named John McDonald, who was a second cousin of mine. The person I have called Captain was named John Savage, Captain of the steamer ASIA. At the time they died the sea was quite calm, and the wind was moderate. Shortly after daybreak I and Mr. Tinkis landed. The bodies were still in the boat. After landing we drug the boat on shore and walked along a piece, and, finding we could not walk, we returned to the boat, and Mr. Tinkis took the bodies out of the boat and laid them on the island. We then got into the boat again, and rowed along with an oar we had picked up (having lost our oars when we capsized) to find a place - a habitable place. That was the last I saw of the bodies. I know that we left the bodies of John Savage, John McDonald and three other men on the island on which we first landed. On the following (Friday) night we slept on the rocks. Next morning we again got into our boat and rowed until, in despair, we gave up. We went ashore again, laid down and slept. Then the Indian came along, and we engaged him to bring us here. Mr. Burr Caswell is about to sever his connection with the Big Point Sauble lighthouse. His successor, who is from Green Bay, has already put in an appearance. ===========================================================================