- Huron County -

Loss of the Pointe Aux Barques Life-Saving Crew

Just before sunrise on the morning of April 23rd, 1880, the scow J. H. Magruder was spotted by surfman James Nantau of the Pointe Aux Barques life-saving station. The Magruder was about three miles east of the station and flying a signal of distress. Capt. Jerome G. Kiah and his crew immediately launched the station surfboat to go to the aid of the Magruder. Thirty-four year old surfman, Dennis Deegan, had been on patrol to the north and had come running after spotting the vessel from McGuire's Point. The disaster that followed would go into the annals of U.S.L.S.S. history as one of the most tragic to ever occur.

After getting over the reef the life-savers found the sea heavier than they had expected, but they had been through heavier seas before. They were about a quarter of a mile from the Magruder when disaster struck. A tremendous breaker broke over the stern of the surf-boat, swamping it. Within minutes it had capsized, throwing all into the frigid water. The crew righted the surf-boat only to have it capsized again, and again. Despite their all their experience, training and determination the battle with the cold, wind and wave eventually sapped their strength and, even as Captain Kiah did everything possible to encourage them, the men dropped off one by one. Surfman James Pottinger was the first to go.

Captain Kiah alone survived and was washed ashore with the life-boat about one mile south of the station. He was found by farmer Samuel McFarland and Mr. Shaw, from the lighthouse, suffering from shock and exposure. Supporting him on each side McFarland and Shaw slowly helped Capt. Kiah, his face black and swollen, to the life-saving station. Along the way he murmered several times "Poor boys, they are all gone."

Capt. Kiah was awarded the gold medal of the Life-Saving Service for "the sturdy bravery with which he entered upon the perilous endeavor to aid the shipwrecked upon that occasion, and the intrepidity, the fortitude, and the tenderness which marked his conduct in the calamity which befell him and his crew." Shattered by the loss of his heroic crew who had saved nearly a hundred lives that year, he resigned his position. He would accept the appointment to superintendent following the drowning death of Joseph Sawyer later that year. Capt. Kiah retired in 1915 at the age of 72.

The bodies of crew came ashore within a quarter of a mile of the station. Walter Petherbridge and James Nantau were shipped to Detroit. The bodies of William Sayres, Robert Morrison, Dennis Deegan and James Pottinger were delivered to their family and friends who lived in the county. James Pottinger and Dennis Deegan were buried in New River Cemetery at Port Austin. Deegan left a widow, Elizabeth, 4 children and a grieving mother.

The crew of the Magruder threw over her deck-load and worked the pumps until the wind suddenly shifted. Capt. Conkey hoisted sail and the wind carried her off the reef, arriving in Detroit on the 27th. The Magruder met her end in September, 1896, when she went on the beach near Harrisville and broke up.

- Sources -