Copyright USGenNet Inc., 2019 All Rights Reserved USGenNet Data Repository Please read USGenNet Copyright Statement on this page: Submitted by Linda Talbott for the USGenNet Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ ========================================================================= NOTICE TO USERS - These files are protected by the The Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998. Information contained herein is provided for research purposes and may be freely linked to. Copying for redistribution or presentation by any person, persons or organization is not allowed without the written permission of the author/submitter. Formatted by USGenNet Data Repository Chief Archivist, Linda Talbott All of the above information must remain when copied or downloaded. =========================================================================== VESSEL NAME: David Dows OTHER NAME(s): - OFFICIAL NO: 157029 DATE OF LOSS: 29 November 1889 CAUSE OF LOSS: Waterlogged & foundered LOCATION: Lake Michigan, abt 6 mi. from S. Chicago breakwater RIG TYPE: Schooner, 5 masts HULL TYPE: Wood BUILDER: Bailey Bros., at Toledo, 1881 OWNER(S): John Corrigan et al, Cleveland MASTER: Capt. Thomas Roche TONNAGE: 1,4181 gt DIMENSIONS: 265 x 37 x 18 CASUALTIES: 0 The DAVID DOWS left Erie on November 16th with coal for Chicago. She was taken in tow by the big steamer AURORA, which already had the schooner GEORGE W. ADAMS in tow, when near the head of Lake Michigan. Soon afterward a heavy northeast gale began blowing which veered to the northward and increased in violence. Great waves threw the AURORA's wheels out of the water as wind driven snow hid the trio from each other. The gale had gradually blown the boats eastward. When Chicago was seen to the westward the AURORA, one of the most powerful steamers on the lakes, was unable to turn her tow and had no choice but to cast them off and run for assistance. The DAVID DOWS had been taking on water and, as the AURORA left them, the crew gave up hope, and the pumps. Eight men lashed themselves in the rigging. Four of them finally manned the lifeboat and went to the ADAMS. Near daybreak the tug T. T. MORFORD arrived on the scene and quickly returned to port, returning with the life-saving crew and the tug CHICAGO. By this time the DOWS was so iced up that it was impossible to slip or heave up her anchors. A few minutes after the men departed the DOWS she gave a heavy lurch to port and went down. Newspaper accounts describing the frozen condition of the crew hinted that some of them may have lost limbs as a result. Crew List: Thomas Roche, Captain E. J. Donohue, first mate Martin Johnson, second mate Robert Keyes, donkeyman Michael Gallagher, cook Augustus Anderson, sailor Peter Johnson, sailor Andrew McKay, sailor William Lawrence, sailor ======================================================================== Sources: Merchant Vessel List - 1881 R. L. Polk Marine Directory, 1884 Chicago Tribune, 30 November 1889 Buffalo Evening News, 7 August 1908 Annual Report of the U.S.L.S.S, 1890