Copyright USGenNet Inc., 2016 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: Lac La Belle OTHER NAME(s): - OFFICIAL NO: 15803 DATE OF LOSS: 13 October 1872 CAUSE OF LOSS: Storm LOCATION: Lake Michigan, 20 miles off Racine, WI RIG TYPE: Propeller, bulk freight & passenger HULL TYPE: Wood BUILDER: LaFrinier Bros., Cleveland, OH - 1864 OWNER(S): Englemann Transportation MASTER: Captain H. W. Thompson, of Milwaukee TONNAGE: 1,187 t DIMENSIONS: 218 x 36 x 12 CASUALTIES: 3 - 6 (most refrences say 5) After leaving Milwaukee she sprung a leak forward in heavy seas, the precise origin of which could not be located. The pumps were unable to keep up with the inflow of water and, as she settled lower, one of the dead eyes burst in. According to one survivor statement this occurred while still in view of the Milwaukee ironworks. The water rose rapidly and soon put out her fires. After a valiant effort to save the vessel, the crew and passengers took to the five boats. Reportedly 5 men were lost when they became panic-stricken and could not be induced nor forced into the boats. The five boats all survived the ordeal. One landed at Milwaukee, two at Racine, one at Kenosha and one picked up by the schooner KATE L. BRUCE near Evanston. Nearly a month later the bodies came ashore at Pentwater and Little Point Sable. Reportedly among them were: W. H. Straight, passenger, of Lemars, Iowa H. Freeman, passenger, of Bedford, Iowa Henry Sparks, cook of the LAC LA BELLE one unknown - described as about 40 years old, five feet ten inches in height, 160-180 pounds, black hair and whiskers tinged with gray. Nov. 23, 1866 - On a clear night the LAC LA BELLE was rammed on her port side, just abaft of the fore-chains, by the MILWAUKEE. The collision nearly cut the LAC LA BELLE in two and sank her in about two minutes with loss of two lives. - St. Clair river, just above the flats. - Both vessels found at fault. The men lost: James Evans, chief engineer Henry Rudd, steward, Buffalo, N.Y. ======================================================================== Sources: The Chicago Daily Tribune, 15, 16 & 28 October 1872 The Pentwater News, 18 & 25 October 1872 The Pentwater News, 22 November 1872 Fr. Edward J. Dowling Marine Historical Collection Reports of Admiralty and Revenue Cases - 1876 Port Huron Daily Tribune, 2 January 1996 Brehm, Victoria "A Fully Accredited Ocean" Essays on the Great Lakes - U of M Press - 1998