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/ ========================================================================= Formatted by USGenNet Data Repository Chief Archivist, Linda Talbott All of the above information must remain when copied or downloaded. =========================================================================== VESSEL NAME: Reindeer OTHER NAME(s): Commerce OFFICIAL NO: - (Canadian) DATE OF LOSS: 19 October 1857 CAUSE OF LOSS: Storm LOCATION: Lake Michigan, abt. 8 mi. north of Big Point Sable RIG TYPE: Sidewheel steamer, polly-wog, passenger & freight HULL TYPE: Wood BUILDER: John Quain, Portsmouth, Ont. - 1848 OWNER(S): Holcomb & Henderson, Montreal MASTER: Capt. George Patterson, Kingston TONNAGE: 236 t [om] DIMENSIONS: 134.1 x 23.8 x 9.2 CASUALTIES: 23 of 25 As COMMERCE was in collision with the steamer DESPATCH near Port Maitland and sunk May 6, 1850, while transporting British troops. Thirty-eight lives lost. Raised and rebuilt at Cantin shipyard, Montreal, as steamer REINDEER. Driven ashore by a strong southwest gale and broken up by heavy seas. Carrying 8,500 bushels wheat and 61 bbls tallow. The two survivors were both firemen who could not remember exactly how they made shore. Most anything of value that came ashore was snatched up by locals. ======================================================================== Sources: Annual Report of the Board of Lake Underwriters - 1858 Hartford (Ct) Times, 31 October 1857 Swayze, David D. "Shipwreck!" - 1992 Great Lakes Maritime Database - University of Michigan