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: John P. March OTHER NAME(s): often seen only as J. P. March OFFICIAL NO: 13482 DATE OF LOSS: 30 October 1878 CAUSE OF LOSS: Storm LOCATION: Lake Michigan, Good Harbor, near Sleeping Bear Point RIG TYPE: Schooner, 3 masts HULL TYPE: Wood BUILDER: Crozier, at Vermillion, OH - 1864, (as a bark) OWNER(S): Benton & Pierce, Chicago MASTER: Capt. John Debbage, 54 E. Fifth St., Oswego TONNAGE: 355.87 t. DIMENSIONS: 146x 30 CASUALTIES: 4 of 8 Loaded with coal from Cleveland for Chicago the J. P. MARCH sought refuge in the harbor at Beaver Island when it encountered a storm with high winds from the southwest. As the winds died down the MARCH weighed anchor and made sail on the morning of the 30th. She was within fifteen miles of the Manitous when the wind suddenly shifted to the northwest and began blowing a gale. In the darkness blinding snow Capt. Debbage mistook the mainland for South Manitou Island and the MARCH struck near Good Harbor. Capt. Debbage and first mate, Frank Andress, died while attempt- ing to reach shore on makeshift rafts. The cook, Mary Murray or Morey, and her son James, died of exposure while awaiting rescue. The remaing crew, Second Mate Moses Mason, and seamen Albert Pegger, James McFie and Edward McKevitt were taken off by local fishermen. Called a schooner but still listed as a bark in Merchant's Vessel List for the year ended June 30, 1878. Capt. John Debbage was 1/8 owner. ======================================================================== Sources: Oswego Morning Herald, 4 November 1878 Chicago Inter Ocean, 5, 6 & 12 November 1878 Merchant Vessel List - 1869, 1871, 1878