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: Mendota OTHER NAME(s): - OFFICIAL NO: 16323 DATE OF LOSS: 10 September 1875 CAUSE OF LOSS: Storm LOCATION: Lake Michigan, off Big Point Sable RIG TYPE: Propeller HULL TYPE: Wood BUILDER: L. Moses, Cleveland - 1857 OWNER(S): Wm. Crossthwaite, Buffalo MASTER: Capt. Albert Fairbanks TONNAGE: 785 t. DIMENSIONS: 192x30x11 CASUALTIES: 11 or 12 of 20 Upbound from Buffalo to Chicago with the barges MORNING STAR and EVENING STAR in tow, all coal laden, when they encountered a fall gale off Big Point Sable. The MORNING STAR broke adrift and, shortly after her arches broke away, the EVENING STAR was cut loose. Seven of the crew made it to one of the lifeboats as the MENDOTA went down. An 8th, Wm. Crossthwaite, son of the owner, clung to a piece of the hurricane deck for nearly 50 hours before he was picked up by the bark NAIAD. *Early accounts list him among the lost however he telegraphed his family from Chicago later. Reported lost: *Wm Crossthwaite F. (or John) Fairbanks (Captain's father) Eliza Fairbanks (Captain's wife) Charles Dean & wife, steward, of Bay City, MI Edward Hughes, 2nd engineer, age 30, of Buffalo Patrick Ryan, 1st Wheelsman, Bay City, MI Wm. Frankford, watchman, Bay City, MI Edward Moynahan, Edward Durow, Edward Mulligan, and John Carsel, deckhands. ======================================================================== Sources: Merchant Vessel List - 1869, 1871 Mansfield, J. B. "History of the Great Lakes" Buffalo Express, 15 September 1875 Chicago Daily Tribune, 14 September 1875